aThere are five labels you may see on your supermarket shelf. They include 100% organic, Organic, Made with Organic Ingredients, Free-range/Cage-free, and Natural. Pretty self-explanatory right? Maybe not as much as you would think….

100% Organic
This label on produce means the fruit or vegetable was grown completely WITHOUT synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. Meat or dairy products wearing this label ensures that all the USDA stipulations concerning hormones, feed, and time spent outdoors were met.

Organic
This type of produce or meat doesn’t meet the standards of products labeled “100% Organic”, however the majority of its ingredients have been approved for organic use by a nationwide certification organization called the National Organics Standards Board

Made With Organic Ingredients
Foods with this label let consumers be assured that the item is made with no less than 70% organic ingredients and rules.

Free-range/Cage-free
This is a term that can be used for poultry but not for eggs and is very unclear on the rules of time spent outdoors as well as the quality of feed. Poultry can be considered at different levels of organic quality and still be in this category.

Natural
This label can only be used for meat and poultry and states it was raised and sold using no artificial coloring, chemical preservatives, or ingredients. There’s no certification process that meat or poultry producers must comply with in order to place the term on their labels.

As the organic market grows you will begin to see more products on your supermarket shelf. Many experts hope that with the increase in products that the UDSA will become stricter on their qualifications and clearer so that the consumer can easily understand what they are buying and consuming.

Organic food means different things depending on the product. Organic produce (fruits and vegetables) are grown without the use of conventional pesticides, artificial fertilizers or sewage sludge, and without ionizing radiation, bioengineering or food additives. The same concept as planting an apple tree in your backyard, and doing nothing but watering it and then picking the apple off and eating it. Organic fruits and vegetables also lack genetically modified organisms or altered DNA.

For meat, dairy, eggs and poultry it means animals reared without the routine use of antibiotics and without the use of growth hormones. Thes products have no additives to make them richer or fattier, they are naturally farmed and raised. Like organic produce, organic meat, dairy and poultry lack the genetically modified organisms that non-organic foods contains.

Fresh or Processed
Organic food can come both fresh and processed. with most fresh foods being seasonal and higher priced than non-organic foods. Often they are easier found at a farmer’s market or specialty grocery stores. Consumers worried about effects on their pocket book can price shop to find the best prices in their area. Fresh organic fruits and vegetables are likely much easier to find than fresh meat and dairy products.

Processed organic food is more commonly found at the neighborhood supermarket Processed organics often come from large conglomerates that produce food in larger quantities. Processed organic foods usually contain organic ingredients without artificial food additives, and are processed through fewer artificial methods.

When shopping for organic foods, keep in mind you will find most of it near the produce. Organic fruits and vegetables largely out number the meat and dairy organic choices in neighborhood grocery stores. Trouble identifying organics? Try the one under the higher price tag!

Baby Food
One popular organic item hitting the shelves is organic baby food. Baby food sections now include almost as many organic selections as non-organics. It is becomming more common for new parents to be concerned about added preservatives and artificial flavors when they start feeding baby. These concerned new moms and dads are choosing organic baby food for their little one. For more on organic baby food see our article by clicking here.

Having a baby does not put an end to your ecotourism adventure! Some ecotourism holidays are now actively marketed as family or child friendly, and the ecotourist vacation can provide quite an experience for both parents and children. This is because everyone can learn something from the vacation, including the baby.

First and foremost, babies pick up on a change in mood far more quickly than adults do and, as such, he or she will recognize a relaxing environment. Ecotourism resorts are famed for their ability to set people at ease, to help them become one with nature and to relax them. This will pull the family together in one harmonious unit. As such, your baby will benefit from the tranquillity and will indeed be happier for the duration of the holiday. This makes it fun in itself, but there is more!

Various family friendly ecotourism destinations have a range of facilities for small children, all of which make it easier for you to include the children in fun activities and educate them at the same time. Local businesses and individuals benefit from the tourist trade so they are willing to give something back and can communicate with your child in a unique way. By the age of three, it is possible for your child to have a loose grasp on helping out in a wide variety of fun filled activities that involve interaction with the local environment and wildlife. This in itself marks the ecotourism vacation a unique and innovative experience.

Of course, the child friendly ecotourism vacation is not as intensive as an adults only one because children tire easily, but there are areas of the world that welcome children, including babies. Costa Rica is one example. Your baby or toddler can enjoy the colourful side of nature in the eight national parks. They can bird watch and look out for the colourful toucans or watch the monkeys playing in the rainforest. They will be delighted by the activity and learn things, even from an early age.

If you want to make your ecotourism vacation especially fun for your baby or small child then why not go to Lapland? A good number of the tours there are labelled as ecotourism and the children can meet huskies, reindeer and even Santa whilst learning to respect the environment. It is certainly something different yet extremely fun. And the beauty of it is you are giving back to the community as well as providing your family with a firm foundation for education!

That’s right – a household pet can help you to become more environmentally friendly. Many households do not think of a pet as an aid in the quest for a greener way of life, but they are. This applies to any pet, but there are some that are greener than others. The more environmentally animals are the rabbits and guinea pigs that generally tend to eat plant matter, but if you already have a dog or cat then you can tap into the benefits they can offer as well, some of which are:

• Use leftover food for their meals. For example, potato peel and vegetable leaves can be given to guinea pigs and rabbits to eat. Dogs will generally eat any leftovers, although some may not be beneficial to their health, pastry leftovers for example.
• Although you may recycle magazines and newspapers, it is not advisable to recycle shredded bills and so on with personal information on it. You could use that paper for bedding for rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs and mice, and it also makes an environmentally friendly cat litter as well.
• You can make an excellent dog cushion out of old materials that you no longer use. Simply use an old quilt cover for the outer casing and fill it with towels, sheets and clothing that are not good enough to donate to charity or recycle.

Of course, there are many more things you can do via your pet to make your household more environmentally friendly, but your pet has a far more valuable function.

If you have young children then you can use the pet to educate them of the values of being environmentally friendly as well. Using your pet as an example will make the importance of looking out for the environment more potent. Children tend to think about things they can relate to and they very often cherish a pet more than everyone else in the house put together! As such, a pet can help you get the green balance just right!

Baby proofing involves eliminating rough edges, removing hazards and sealing drawers and cupboards shut, amongst other things of course, but that has traditionally involved a lot of plastics and metals. Neither material is considered environmentally friendly. The following tips will help you to look out for your baby’s welfare and remain true to the environment!

• Sustainable wood is readily available from DIY stores so use it to make your own cupboard latches to prevent your child from getting into them. This is an easy task that would only take a few minutes to complete. The latches would be hard wearing and would not need replacing for the duration of your baby’s childhood.
• You can now purchase wooden baby gates to prevent your child from getting up and down the stairs. There are many that are made of sustainable wood and are acknowledged as environmentally friendly. They are also recyclable when they are no longer needed.
• Why not use old clothing and material that you already have at home to make cushions to protect against some of the sharp edges? For example, you can make cushions to protect your little one from the edges of chairs or use old materials as an effective doorjamb to help protect their little fingers!

As you can see, the tips above are creative and environmentally friendly at the same time. Your home remains cosy and green but also becomes safer for the new arrival. You might even save some money too.

Just remember, there is no need to compromise your baby’s safety while remaining environmentally friendly!

There is nothing much to environmentally friendly parenting and most of the things you can do to stay green are common sense more than anything. None of the below tips are elements of daily life that easily spring to mind when you have a thousand other things whirling around your head! But they will help to give you an idea of what is involved in environmentally friendly parenting and hopefully inspire you!

• You will not have to think about car-pooling until your child is of school age, but it is worth getting into the habit as soon as possible. Share a car when you have errands to run and your partner or spouse has to go to. You will save money and do your bit to help the environment! Car-pool whenever you can.
• Get into cooking! Using organic ingredients and cooking all of your meals from scratch will help to reduce the amount of rubbish that you are throwing away. Because there will be no convenience foods in your diet, there will be a reduced amount of packaging to throw away. This will also benefit your child, who will be eating good, wholesome foods!
• Unplug every item of electrical equipment when it is not in use. Not only will you be making your home more efficient in terms of the energy usage, but you are also baby-proofing your home by reducing the risk of electrocution that can result from little ones playing with cords.
• Recycle everything! This includes the usual bottles, jars and cans, but also items like baby clothing and toys. There are usually community associations that organise swaps and charitable events, or you could easily take old items to the local charity shops instead to help others as well as the environment.
• Practice green household chores. Instead of using a tumble dryer to dry baby clothes, use an outdoor washing line instead. Not only are you being more energy efficient but also you are improving the quality of your baby’s clothes. They will be softer to the touch and will last much longer.

So now you know some of the best environmentally friendly tactics for, you just have to get your thinking cap on and examine any other ways that you could change your lifestyle and home practices for the good of the environment and your family!

Recycling also has the added bonus of being able to save money, and this will be a key plus for those families that are expecting a new addition any time soon, or indeed have recently had a new baby.

As a result of both of the above factors, recycling is a fabulous idea that can really improve household efficiency both in terms of the environment and your finances. The ten ideas below will help you to get started and may even inspire you to come up with ideas of your own!

1. Use old clothing that cannot be donated to charity when you have a clean out. Towels can be cut into face cloths and shirts can be cut up into new dusters or cleaning cloths!
2. When you are eliminating things you no longer need, divide everything that you intend to throw away in to piles for recycling. Reuse anything you possibly can. You may be able to donate to charity or even sell your old items on eBay for a little extra cash. Any old bottles and tubes can be emptied and recycled.
3. Have a compost bin for any gardening waste or vegetables that are not eaten. You can give this back to the Earth by using it for fertilising the soil in your garden later.
4. Look to make toys out of old household items. Your children can get involved in this. For example, roll on deodorant bottles can be used for painting tools, old cardboard boxes can be transformed into a dolls house and so on!
5. Recycle old cans by finding an aluminium can depot that will pay for them. This will encourage your children to collect them because it is a little extra pocket money!
6. Use any prepaid envelopes that come through the post to send your own mail! You can cross the original address out or cover it with recycled paper and address it to where it needs to go!
7. Pass magazines on to friends or drop them off at your local community centre or medical practice so that they can be read again and again!
8. Reuse old pasta sauce jars, pickled onions or homemade jam. You can keep reusing them again and again, plus they will keep your homemade food fresh.
9. Baby food jars can be used for potting seedlings in the spring. You and your children can nurture them before planting them outside.
10. Soak old tumble dryer sheets in boiling water after use to get all of the remaining softener out of them and then reuse them as baby wipes with a little baby lotion.

All of the above tips may seem like common sense when you read them but there are plenty of creative ways that you can reuse household items to save you money and become more efficient.

If you’re looking for freshness and great taste, of course you can’t beat the vegetables from local farms. But have you ever stopped to think about the gas used in shipping those veggies from Chili, Florida, or wherever? Or the gas that is being burned by loud, obnoxious, emissions-belching trains, and roaring dangerous tractor-trailer rigs on the highway?

Living green is about making a lot of little choices to eliminate our impact on our environment. If more and more people make those little responsible choices, maybe we can eliminate a truck on the highway, or even a lot of trucks on the highway. We can make an impact in the area of noise pollution as well as air pollution and depletion of natural resources by banding together. Buying local is a prime example.

Another thing about buying local produce is that you can get to know your local producers. Many of these agrarian folks are similarly interested in making the greener, simpler choices in life. Many of them raise their food organically. Often, they can become sources for responsibly raised meat and dairy products, or can advise you about where you can find these products.

These producers often are also a source for home baked wholegrain breads and goodies as they try to supplement their family income. The children often participate by selling cookies or produce from their own little gardens, thus learning valuable business and people skills.

Not all of green living is about chemicals and scientific statistics. When we get to know and support our local farmers, our world becomes friendlier and more charitable. Local farmers often have a strong sense of faith and family. When we buy from them, we are helping to support a way of life that is traditional and wholesome, a way of life that is quickly becoming extinct as our cities grow and our pace of life quickens.

When you think about it, there is much more to buying local produce than getting a great tasting tomato. Environmentalists have been saying for years, “Think globally, act locally.” Supporting your local producers, whether through an organized Farmers’ Market, or stopping by that house with the homemade sign proclaiming “Eggs – $1 a dozen,” you are making a statement that you are in favor of a gentler, greener world for all.

If you have curbside recycling pick-up services, count yourself fortunate. Many communities still do not offer this service, so people who wish to recycle not only have to know where to take their items, they have to make a special trip on a regular basis. If you’re in such a community, maybe you could write letters to the editor or contact your local authorities to alert them to the need for curb-side recycling pick-up.

Whether or not you have curbside pick-up, organization ideas that work in other parts of the home will also help with getting your recycling challenges under control. For instance, you will want to have your sorting bins in the most convenient area, which means it will need to be close to where you are working when you are cooking or whatever. If you have a handy trash can for the non-recyclables, but the recycle bins are downstairs in the basement or out in the garage, it will require more motivation on your part to take those items where they need to go instead of just tossing them in the trash.

“Do it now” is another good slogan for all aspects of an organized life. If you procrastinate about taking your cans and bottles to the recycling bin, you will wind up with your counters cluttered. Then when you get around to going through it all, you’ll have a big job on your hands. Rinse that item and take it to its bin just as soon as you are through with it.

If you are remodeling the kitchen or utility room, consider having a built in area for keeping recycling bins. Just make sure they are easy to access so that you can remove them and clean around them easily when you need to.

Finally, don’t forget the importance of reducing the recyclables before you even bring them into the house. Get yourself off junk mailing lists. Buy bulk beans and grains and see if your health food store will let your bring in your own containers for them. They can weigh the container before you fill it and then again after you fill it, eliminating even the plastic bags you usually go home with. Think before buying plastic junk. Do you already have something you can use instead? Look for foods and toiletries that come in simple packaging that doesn’t include numerous needless boxes and wrappers.

With a little organization and care, you can keep up with recycling even when the kids are small. And just think what a good example you will be for them!

The effects of pesticides on the health of a young child are not fully known at this time, but the brain of the developing child is probably at risk. It certainly seems prudent to reduce the amount our children are exposed to. One way is by using organic fruits and veggies.

Organic produce is getting easier to find in regular supermarkets as the demand and production increases. Still, it’s often two or three times as expensive, and the choices are likely to be limited. One way to bring organic into the reach of your budget is to take up organic gardening. Even just a few cherry tomato plants can make a big difference in the overall amount of toxins you ingest.

It might be impossible to buy all organic fruits and vegetables. If you can’t, try to go organic for at least those fruits and veggies that tend to be loaded with pesticides. The top offenders among fruits are peaches, apples, strawberries, nectarines, cherries, pears, and imported grapes.

Among veggies, watch out for bell peppers, celery, spinach, lettuce, and potatoes. The twelve foods just mentioned are called by some the “Dirty Dozen.” Buying these foods as organics can eliminate the bulk of pesticides from your diet. The next most contaminated vegetables after the top dozen are carrots. Since we tend to use carrots frequently, you might want to opt for organic ones, especially if you use them in juicing.

Safest selections among non-organic produce include onions, frozen corn and peas, broccoli, cabbage, kiwis, bananas and pineapple. (Data was determined by the Environmental Working Group, a non-profit agency.)

What about washing produce to remove pesticides? Washing helps to remove substances like bacteria, but don’t trust washing and peeling to get rid of the pesticides. Studies have shown that the residues work their way into the very cells of the fruit or vegetable.

Don’t forget about your non-diet exposure to pesticides. Use simple natural insect repellents in your home. If you have a serious insect infestation, there are bait-type insecticides that are much safer to use than sprays that go everywhere. And just forget about those bombs. They leave residue on everything in your house

In addition to the control of ingredients you have with breast milk, you also eliminate a lot of landfill trash. Commercial formula comes in cans or other containers which will be discarded after use. Bottles these days are most likely the disposable plastic bags that fit inside a plastic tube. Even if you use glass bottles, you still have nipples that wear out and must be thrown away.

Natural nursing may be less common than bottle feeding these days, but there doesn’t have to be a mystery surrounding it. For most mothers, the occasional problems, such as discomfort or seeming to not have enough milk, can be easily remedied. For instance, adding nutritional yeast or dairy products to the diet can increase milk production dramatically. Be sure to take a complete vitamin supplement, too.

When it’s time to nurse your baby, you will feel a tingly sensation in the nipple which is followed by a release of milk. This “let-down reflex,” which is the body’s natural response to a crying baby, is not something you can easily control. For this reason, many moms, but by no means all, need to have nursing pads on hand. For green baby care, invest in some good soft cotton nursing pads that can be washed and reused. Look for organic cotton, since standard cotton is a crop that is nearly always heavily doused with insecticides. But be aware that you may not need nursing pads at all.

If you should have discomfort when nursing, there are a number of natural salves on the market designed to soothe sore nipples. If these don’t do the trick, an innovative product called “Booby Tubes” might help. These are organic cotton tubes filled with natural flax seed which can be cooled in the fridge or warmed briefly in the microwave, and then placed in the bra like nursing pads. Cooling or warming the nipples can offer just the relief you need. Booby Tubes have been heartily recommended by many natural mamas.

Nursing your baby can be an important part of raising your family in an environmentally responsible way. It’s also cheaper and extremely convenient. Sometimes it can be intimidating, but with education and determination, you most likely can succeed at breastfeeding your baby.

When you shop for toys made of earth-friendly materials, you will probably run across items that are designated for “Waldorf education.” This is a method of teaching children, more of a philosophy, which celebrates non-violence, simplicity, and a free rein on the imagination.

Natural toy makers have designed a number of pleasant playthings that will look attractive in your home as well as nurturing your child’s creativity. Soft toys, for instance, don’t have to be made of garish fake acrylic fur in unnatural colors with weird big plastic eyes. Check out the choices of simple animals, dolls, and gnomes made of organic cottons stuffed with cuddly combed lamb’s wool.

Some creative artisans have even developed soft toys made from recycled wool garments. If you have some sewing ability and enjoy crafting, you might want to get a pattern and make a soft doll. It’s a good way to save money on a toy while creating an heirloom. Always remember to avoid details like buttons that could fall off and become a choking hazard. Eyes and noses are easily created with a few stitches of colored wool yarn.

Wooden toys are also a popular choice for the green home. Look for rolling vehicles small enough to fit toddler hands, with durable wheels that won’t fall off. Many children enjoy rattles and other noisy toys. Look for ones that make a gentle sound that won’t jar everyone’s nerves.

Your baby will turn things into toys that are not typically toys. For instance, one mom found that her little guy would lay still for diapering if he was allowed to hold and examine the tube of diaper rash ointment. This same little boy could turn just about anything into a drumstick and just about any surface into a drum!

Ultimately, the best toy for your child will be impossible to know ahead of time, because children are so unique in the way they respond to playthings. Your child might prefer to play with the pots and pans instead of enjoying that expensive handcrafted hardwood rattle! Hey, toys are personal! Let that little one lead the way in choosing favorites.