The Mean Kitty Song - Thanks, BC!

Check this out. I love this. You will too. Thanks for the video SPM Films and thanks for sharing, BC!

Cool Green Product!

I have ALWAYS tried to find ways around wasting plastic baggies. I reuse them, wash-n-use them, recycle them... but I have never been able to totally get around the waste, except to actually stop using them; which... I should have but didn't.

Thanks to a lovely coworker, I now have a replacement that has totally come to my rescue! Check this out! The Wrap-N-Mat is like a sandwich bag but with so many more awesome features. First, it is a baggie which also opens up to make an awesome little mat (to eat on). And second, this little piece of awesomeness is totally washable and reusable!

The Wrap-N-Mat is really neat because it allows you to save baggies and stop wasting money while it also gives you a clean eating place and a way to say that you are doing your part! Check out the Wrap-N-Mat and stop wasting money and resources today!

Hyperthyroidism & Graves Disease

I get a lot of people looking for information on both Hyperthyroidism and Graves Disease here on the 'tude. I not an expert but am always learning and trying to get the knowledge to help those that have inquired. And while I am dealing with both and have been able to gain lots of valuable information, I am definitely always interested in hearing what y'all have to say.

I am trying to make it a point to post more information here and to be a valuable resource for those seeking answers. These are complicated diseases and they should be battled from all angles. Please seek me out for questions and while I know I have not been the best at this in the past, I will definitely do what I can to answer any questions or share any knowledge I have.

I am also very interested in hearing what information or resources you can share. I enjoy learning and would love to share what knowledge you have with others. Thank you all for your readership and please let me know if there is anything you would like me to include or try to answer for you.

Thanks! =)

Help the Kiddos!

Family Link is an awesome organization that helps find foster and adoption homes for kids in need. Check out their website and help spread the word about this amazing service.

www.familylinkkids.com

Adoption does not have to be outrageously expensive; Family Link guides the way through adoption and fostering services and makes it easy and pain free. If you or anyone you know has ever thought about fostering or adopting children, please share this website and encourage others to do some additional investigation. Visit the website and ask questions. The support group with this organization is incredible and they help so many kiddos.

If you are not able to adopt or foster, no worries; help spread the word to others. You never know who may have thought about this so share it with your friends and family and encourage them to share it as well. Visit Family Link and spread the word. Thanks for thinking of the kiddos who need a loving family. =)

Prayers for Our World...

The world seems to be going a bit crazy at the moment. My prayers go out to the countries, states, and individuals affected by the recent events involving the massive (and continued) oil spill, flooding, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc. etc.

We have a beautiful world and a lot of wonderful people. Let's work together to get our world back on its feet. We are in this together. =)

SunChips... They're Way Cool!

I want to give a big thanks to SunChips... not only are their commercials super neat and their product an amazing contribution to our world, but they are super kind and supportive of their customers as well!

SunChips replied to my previous post discussing their awesome compostable bags and way-cool commercial. They thanked me for my post and welcomed me to check out more info on their website. Thank you SunChips! The follow up was truly touching and really goes to show how committed they are to their customers, their product and our world in general.

Their website is: http://www.sunchips.com/. Also friend them on Facebook! Check 'em out. SunChips offer a tasty, environmentally-friendly product and are owned and operated by some pretty cool folks.

Rock on SunChips, ROCK ON!!!

This is an excellent commercial from beginning to end. Not only is the commercial whimsical and creative but the product is equally as awesome. SunChips are awesome and have been a favorite chip of mine since I was a kiddo. And now... they're using compostable packaging!!! What a contribution to our society and world. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! We appreciate you SunChips!!!

What the Heck is That?

Gardening questions? Ever wonder what kind of flower grows in your garden? I know I have!

GO HERE


GardenStops.com - check out the Plant Finder, it's good stuff.
(FINALLY!!!! I am super excited.)

=) Enjoy =)

Our Plastic Planet - More Mom Goes Green Awesomeness

Originally posted by Doreen from Mom Goes Green, it's pure amazingness for the world. Spread this awesomeness, PLEASE!

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I have been on a “plastics kick” recently. Not with overusing them or anything crazy like that, but just in the way that I’ve been thinking about them lately… a lot.

It’s a love/hate relationship. They’re everywhere and they’re supposedly here to simplify and make products affordable. They’re a part of our lives. We can look in every corner of our homes and see unbelievable amounts of plastic. It’s inevitable.

But consider this…

• Think about some of your favorite childhood toys… and all of the toys and trinkets you’ve ever purchased since childhood…
• Think about every hairbrush, comb and toothbrush you’ve ever used…

• 

• Think about the disposable serveware and utensils you purchased for a party you hosted or used at an event you attended…
• Think about all the water bottles and beverages you bought while you ran errands…
• Think about the thousands of plastic bags you’ve accepted…
• Think about the buckets, containers, wastebaskets, pitchers, shower curtain liners and scrub brushes that you’ve throw away because they looked overused…
• Think about the packaging of anything you have ever purchased…
• Think about the electronics and appliances you’ve purchased and replaced for an upgrade…

Now think about this…

They STILL EXIST ON THE PLANET. Every single piece of plastic ever manufactured is still here. It has never gone away.

The idea of this is overwhelming. I am clearly not without fault, because I’ve certainly used my fair share right along with you, but it is just astonishing to know that every plastic we have ever touched is STILL HERE… and they are polluting, poisoning and contaminating every landfill where they eventually come to rest.

It is simply inevitable that we will always use plastics, but every time I make a purchase I’m going to remember that statement and hopefully make better choices.

Environmental Issues - Our Kids' Reality

Please read the post shown below. It was posted today by Doreen from her blog, Mom Goes Green. I had to share because it's such a touching post- sweet and eye-opening.

Save the website because it's awesome. Then, read all the posts on the blog because you're awesome. Then, tell everyone you know because you want to help the world be awesome.

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Environmental Issues - Our Kids' Reality

By: Dorren from MomGoesGreen(dot)com

The other night while I was looking at my Twitter account, our daughter snuggled up next to me on the couch. Within 10 seconds she said “Aww, Mommy. Thank you!”

I couldn’t imagine what prompted that little show of love, but I sure did enjoy it! I said “you’re welcome, but thank you for what, honey?” She said “That, Mommy!” and pointed to the quote on my Twitter page that read: “I’m just trying to do my part to help make the world a better place for my children.” At that moment, I realized that what I’m doing (and what we’re ALL doing) really does make a difference.

Ironically, this comment came on the heels of reading a recent study on kids’ fears about the environment. While they should be worrying more about playing with their friends, homework, watching their favorite TV shows or earning a sweet treat after dinner, these fears about our world are very real to them.

This study, commissioned by Habitat Heroes, uncovered some interesting facts, including:

• 1 in 3 children (ages 6-11) fear that the planet won’t exist when they grown up
• More than half (56%) believe the Earth will not be as good a place to live
• Girls worry more than boys, but overall, kids in metro areas worry more than those in rural settings
• 28% say they fear the extinction of animals more than anything else
• Nearly 25% worry about enough safe drinking water

The results don’t surprise me, because this is a part of their reality, and it’s also a reminder that they are “listening” and know that concerns truly exist in today’s world. Had you asked any of us these questions when we were 8, I don’t imagine the worry would have been as great (if there at all).

(Habitat Heroes has also developed a great site for kids to learn, play and find ideas to help the environment. If they are afraid, maybe this will help them to learn and discover ways to help.)

But my favorite result was this: An amazing 95% of the children believe that their parents are trying to save the environment by recycling, using reusable batteries and conserving electricity and water.

Whether that is true or not, I believe the message is this… they believe in us, so we have to do our best not to let them down.

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Good stuff. Again, check out Mom Goes Green and spread the word!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reply to Bill - Water Disagreement

Recently, a reader emailed me about one of my posts. Reader Bill was replying to my post called "Think We Can't Make a Difference?" with the video about our carbon footprint. I posted the video because I thought the message was good and that everyone could benefit from some piece of information presented.

Bill's email was very pleasant but he had one major disagreement; the video talks about tap water and that most is perfectly fine for us. In my opinion, the video was awesome all the way through and the video doesn't say that all tap water is perfectly fine, it says most. The video is more than likely speaking for tap water found in the U.S. and it doesn't say anything untrue- most tap water in the U.S. is perfectly fine for you. Who really knows what is in the water. It could be chemicals, it could be poisons; it could be a million things. If we listened to what everyone said was bad about every single thing, we wouldn't have anything to drink, eat, or use.

An article from The New York Times (shown below) sums it up, in my opinion. I have to respectfully disagree with you Bill. I very much appreciate your readership, your awesome input, and the great information your shared. Keep 'em coming! =)
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Bad to the Last Drop

By TOM STANDAGE

Published: August 1, 2005

London

IT'S summertime, and odds are that at some point during your day you'll reach for a nice cold bottle of water. But before you do, you might want to consider the results of an experiment I conducted with some friends one summer evening last year. On the table were 10 bottles of water, several rows of glasses and some paper for recording our impressions. We were to evaluate samples from each bottle for appearance, odor, flavor, mouth, feel and aftertaste - and our aim was to identify the interloper among the famous names. One of our bottles had been filled from the tap. Would we spot it?

We worked our way through the samples, writing scores for each one. None of us could detect any odor, even when swilling water around in large wine glasses, but other differences between the waters were instantly apparent. Between sips, we cleansed our palates with wine. (It seemed only fair, since water serves the same function at a wine tasting.)

The variation between waters was wide, yet the water from the tap did not stand out: only one of us correctly identified it. This simple experiment seemed to confirm that most people cannot tell the difference between tap water and bottled water. Yet they buy it anyway - and in enormous quantities.

In 2004, Americans, on average, drank 24 gallons of bottled water, making it second only to carbonated soft drinks in popularity. Furthermore, consumption of bottled water is growing more quickly than that of soft drinks and has more than doubled in the past decade. This year, Americans will spend around $9.8 billion on bottled water, according to the Beverage Marketing Corporation.

Ounce for ounce, it costs more than gasoline, even at today's high gasoline prices; depending on the brand, it costs 250 to 10,000 times more than tap water. Globally, bottled water is now a $46 billion industry. Why has it become so popular?

It cannot be the taste, since most people cannot tell the difference in a blind tasting. Much bottled water is, in any case, derived from municipal water supplies, though it is sometimes filtered, or has additional minerals added to it.

Nor is there any health or nutritional benefit to drinking bottled water over tap water. In one study, published in The Archives of Family Medicine, researchers compared bottled water with tap water from Cleveland, and found that nearly a quarter of the samples of bottled water had significantly higher levels of bacteria. The scientists concluded that "use of bottled water on the assumption of purity can be misguided." Another study carried out at the University of Geneva found that bottled water was no better from a nutritional point of view than ordinary tap water.

Admittedly, both kinds of water suffer from occasional contamination problems, but tap water is more stringently monitored and tightly regulated than bottled water. New York City tap water, for example, was tested 430,600 times during 2004 alone.

What of the idea that drinking bottled water allows you to avoid the chemicals that are sometimes added to tap water? Alas, some bottled waters contain the same chemicals anyway - and they are, in any case, unavoidable.

Researchers at the University of Texas found that showers and dishwashers liberate trace amounts of chemicals from municipal water supplies into the air. Squirting hot water through a nozzle, to produce a fine spray, increases the surface area of water in contact with the air, liberating dissolved substances in a process known as "stripping." So if you want to avoid those chemicals for some reason, drinking bottled water is not enough. You will also have to wear a gas mask in the shower, and when unloading the dishwasher.

Bottled water is undeniably more fashionable and portable than tap water. The practice of carrying a small bottle, pioneered by supermodels, has become commonplace. But despite its association with purity and cleanliness, bottled water is bad for the environment. It is shipped at vast expense from one part of the world to another, is then kept refrigerated before sale, and causes huge numbers of plastic bottles to go into landfills.

Of course, tap water is not so abundant in the developing world. And that is ultimately why I find the illogical enthusiasm for bottled water not simply peculiar, but distasteful. For those of us in the developed world, safe water is now so abundant that we can afford to shun the tap water under our noses, and drink bottled water instead: our choice of water has become a lifestyle option. For many people in the developing world, however, access to water remains a matter of life or death.

More than 2.6 billion people, or more than 40 percent of the world's population, lack basic sanitation, and more than one billion people lack reliable access to safe drinking water. The World Health Organization estimates that 80 percent of all illness in the world is due to water-borne diseases, and that at any given time, around half of the people in the developing world are suffering from diseases associated with inadequate water or sanitation, which kill around five million people a year.

Widespread illness also makes countries less productive, more dependent on outside aid, and less able to lift themselves out of poverty. One of the main reasons girls do not go to school in many parts of the developing world is that they have to spend so much time fetching water from distant wells.

Clean water could be provided to everyone on earth for an outlay of $1.7 billion a year beyond current spending on water projects, according to the International Water Management Institute. Improving sanitation, which is just as important, would cost a further $9.3 billion per year. This is less than a quarter of global annual spending on bottled water.

I have no objections to people drinking bottled water in the developing world; it is often the only safe supply. But it would surely be better if they had access to safe tap water instead. The logical response, for those of us in the developed world, is to stop spending money on bottled water and to give the money to water charities.

If you don't believe me about the taste, then set up a tasting, and see if you really can tell the difference. A water tasting is fun, and you may be surprised by the results. There is no danger of a hangover. But you may well conclude, as I have, that bottled water has an unacceptably bitter taste.

Tom Standage, author of "A History of the World in Six Glasses," is the technology editor of The Economist

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The above article can be found here. Pretty interesting, aye?

Think We Can't Make a Difference?

Everyone can do this! Can you imagine what a difference it would make if each one of us adhered to everything in this video everyday? It could be incredible.

Try it. Spread the word... It's our world.

What's the Flippin' Deal?

I just don't get it.

I just saw a commercial that was talking about energy efficient light bulbs; they were saying that if every one of their 200 million customers used one it would be like taking 11 million cars off the road...

If? IF! Why is there even a flippin' choice? Why can't the entire world just stop making regular energy-burning bulbs?! Why can't every major business be required to use solar energy? Imagine what amazing things that could do- every day, every year, and not because we feel like it. HELLO!!!!!!

Please get energy efficient bulbs. Why wouldn't you? Why not? Why would you get anything else? Do it.

♣ Go Green! An Eco-friendly & Economic Way to Move- 41pounds.org ♣

I wanted to include this GO GREEN reminder on such a very green day. Please take some time to read this information (originally posted by41pounds.org) and add their blog to your blog roll. Please help save your world!
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If you are on the move to a new home, a new job, a new life, check out Box Quest, a company that helps you to find and buy used moving boxes and packing supplies in your local community. Some people sell their boxes for cheap and some give them away for free.

You might also want to check out Freecycle, a network of regional email lists through which individuals give away stuff, including moving boxes and just about any other thing you could possibly need. Each of these web sites allows you to search by locale, so you can find your recycled boxes as close to home as possible.

Once you’ve moved and unpacked, you can use these sites to sell or give away your boxes to other folks. Keep the cycle going and keep the trees in our forests!

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Please check out Box Quest and Freecycle- they're AWESOME! And please go visit 41pounds.org and their blog.

One last thing? Tell everyone you know.

Update: Changing Label Title to Include More

I've changed the label, Save the Earth.

I originally entitled the series after a club I started when I was in middle school; my best friend and I started a club to save the earth and I wanted to continue it by helping to spread the word on important issues- big or small.

However, I recently realized the label didn't necessarily encompass all that I wanted to post about. I've relabeled all posts formerly called "Save the Earth" and the series will continue as SAVE THE WORLD.

It seemed appropriate since I want to include both social and animal issues as well as environmental matters.

Please let me know if there's something you'd like me to include to help spread the word even farther. =)

Petland Investigation: Pet Store Sells Puppy Mill Dogs

I have no words.

Spread the word and be aware.

Save the Earth!

Couple points about this VERY important phrase...

1) I remembered a cool part of my life when I was Google-ing! I found a Google and a memory all in one again! AND it had to do with one of my blogs! That's a triple deluxe!

I was looking through some images for an upcoming blog and I saw one of them that reminded me of a club I used to be in. My best friend Krystina and I had a club when we were in elementary school- it was called SAVE THE EARTH. It was just the two of us and we would walk around with Pickett signs and make plans to save the earth. Maybe we made a difference- it couldn't have hurt!

2) That made me realize that I hadn't pointed out one of my favorite blogs- 41pounds.org.

There's a link above and on the right under AMY LOVE BLOGS. Go check it out! There's a lot of great info on ways we can help save this awesome planet- starting with junk mail. Junk mail- ridiculous, wasteful, sad. Stop it! Be able to say you helped. I can.

3) I'll be adding to SAVE THE EARTH as much as I can. I started at Christmas and plan to continue, so stay tuned! Help the fight- start blogging and spread the word!

Are Those Real?

Well they should be!!!

Here are some Christmas Tree Facts to help you decide how to buy... should you go with a real or a fake? I think it's pretty darn obvious.

Real: The Pros

Has a real fragrance.

While growing, real trees produce a significant amount of oxygen that is released into the environment, protect the soil from erosion and provide refuge for wildlife.

Each acre of Christmas trees produces the daily oxygen requirements for 18 people.

Real Christmas trees are the best environmental option for consumers, according to former Greenpeace president Patrick Moore.

Real Christmas trees reduce carbon emissions by absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen, which people, plants and the environment need to survive.

Real Christmas trees are renewable, and growers plant one or more trees to replace every tree they harvest. It takes six or seven years for an evergreen to grow to a normal tree height. Planting takes place between January and May. About 40 to 45 million trees were planted in 2007 in North America.

Many times, Christmas trees are grown in soil that won't support other crops.

The majority of trees come from the United States and Canada.

Used trees can be recycled in a variety of ways. Trees are 100% biodegradable. Decomposing trees add nutrients back into the earth. Eco-friendly.

Cheaper initial purchase.

Real: The Cons

Require daily care and watering. The U.S. Fire Administration says well- watered trees are not a problem. "Dry and neglected trees can be."

Can be messy, especially on carpet.

Can affect some people with allergies.

Sometimes difficult to decorate.

Often trunks are not straight.

Often die before season is complete.

Artificial: The Pros

Faster, easier to set up.

Requires little care.

No time wasted shopping and hauling.

Cheaper when calculated over life span.

Don't affect people with allergies.

Symmetrical, easier to decorate.

Most are pre-lit.

Available in many colors.

Most fold easily for storage.

On average, a high-quality 6- to 8-foot artificial tree can go for about $300 and should last about 10 years.

Artificial: The Cons

Inexpensive versions look fake.

Takes up valuable storage space.

Generates no fragrance.

No variation from year to year.

Lighting strings might burn out in four or five years.

Nonbiodegradable.

Lead is used in the process of making PVC plastic.

Fake trees cannot be recycled and end up in landfills.

Petroleum, used to make plastic, is a non-renewable resource, as are metals.

Not ecofriendly.

(This information is courtesy of: www.fresnobee.com)

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Yep- pretty obvious.

This year, Jon and I got our first real Christmas tree (as adults) and had an absolute blast! It's not hard to remember to water it and all the rest of the so-called 'Cons' are just silly or are actually pretty fun (unless you have bad allergies- that would suck). AND all the good things that go along with getting a real tree... how could you not!?!

Jon and I started out thinking we'd be getting an artificial tree. Then I went to work and asked some coworkers which they would get and why. They listed a whole bunch of good reasons to 'keep it real' and in a few minutes, they had me totally sold. I told Jon about it when I got home and we made our decision. I researched it a little more and got real excited- I was going to get a real tree and I was going to feel awesome about it!

You should too.

Don't help contribute to our destruction. Help contribute to our success.