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Posts Tagged ‘Environmental Working Group’

What’s In Your Water Bottle?

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

The Environmental Working Group recently released a report on 173 water bottle products and came up with some surprising results!  You may think its safe to drink your water but much of the information disclosed by the water bottle companies are kept top secret from consumers.  The EWG, a non profit organization, mined for details on where the water comes from, how or if the water is treated, and even went so far to act as consumers, making calls to water bottle companies to see if they would reveal all.  Undeniably, many companies weren’t so forthcoming with the results.

Here are the three brands that made top rank:  Gerber Pure Purified Water, Nestle Pure Life Purified Water, and Penta Ultra Purified Water.  So the question is, does your 1 litre water bottles make the grade?

EWG Report

Does your water bottle make the grade?

Here’s how you can find out:  173 Water Bottles results list.

Blogger Laurali Star can also be found on The Damsel in the Attic.

Green Halloween® is a nationwide non-profit initiative started by mother-daughter team Corey Colwell-Lipson and Lynn Colwell. In 2010, Green Halloween became a program of EcoMom® Alliance and has events in cities across the U.S.

Make your own (healthier) Halloween face paints

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

face paints

For the last two days, we’ve  promised to share the easy-to-make, healthy face paint recipe from our book, Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family.

So (drum-roll, please) here it is! Direct from page 100…

Make your own perfectly natural face paints

A test performed by Washington Toxics Coalition and a Seattle-area investigative reporter found that even children’s products labeled as non-toxic may be laced with known toxins such as lead. Store-bought, non-toxic face paints are no different and can expose you and your children to an array of chemicals and preservatives, including BHA, formaldehyde, kohl (due to lead), phthalates, and parabens, which the Environmental Working Group states, can disrupt the hormone (endocrine) system, and [in one report] were found in the breast cancer tumors of 19 of 20 women studied. Given that most face paints and pencils contain parabens, your best bet is to make them yourself. You might just save some money doing it this way too.

To DIY-for face paints:

  • 1 tsp cornstarch
  • ½ tsp water
  • ½ tsp all natural diaper rash cream, such as the California Baby brand (we know, we know, it sounds weird, but it works)
  • 1-2 drops natural/ organic food coloring

In a small bowl, mix water and cornstarch. Add baby cream and food color and mix a bit more.

Budget101.com can also help to turn you into a Hollywood worthy make-up and wardrobe artist with their list of do-it yourself, chemical-free or easy to alter recipes for all your kids costume requests, from the sweet to the gross and ghoulish.

Not the DIY type?

Purchase mineral-based makeup from EcoMom.com or TerraFirmaCosmetics.com.

(Photo by Holli Dunn)

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Have you made your own face paints? Have another recipe you’d like to share? We’d love to hear it. Add your comment, below.