Thanks to Seattle’s The Green Parent for alerting us to the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public Schools Facilities Act (aka H.R. 3021).  It’s a school construction program with a green building requirement.  Makes good sense to require green building if you’re gonna fund building, but what I want to know is this: if Congress can drum up huge sums of money for this, why so few teachers?  Old text books?  Don’t states fund schools? Read the rest of this entry »

So maybe you’re not a federal employee like I was until last week. Shoot, maybe you don’t even know a federal employee (we’re nice, really). So why e-mail or call your U.S. Representative and ask that she vote for paid parental leave for federal employees? Aside from the whole helping others thing, which is pretty compelling on its own, this is important because it’s a critical first step toward paid family leave for all employees in this country.

Speak Up, Moms! The U.S. House of Representatives votes this week - Thursday, 6.19.08 - on a bill to allow four weeks of full paid parental leave for federal employees. Wow. It’s about time our government set an example in this area. There couldn’t be a better time to e-mail your U.S. Representative with one easy click (all possible with a sleeping babe on the lap!).

Better yet, pick up the phone, mamas, it’s worth the extra effort. To find your Representative’s phone number, just enter your zip code here. If you’re a little nervous to call, do it after hours and leave a message. It still counts! You could simply say: “Hi, I am your constituent and strongly urge you to vote YES on HR 5781, the Federal Employees Paid Leave Act of 2008. Thank you for supporting working families.” Read the rest of this entry »

I personally believe that Mom activists have a much better chance of having their voices heard because of their motherhood status. Given that we would like decision makers to take us seriously when we ask for or speak out against something, chances are we could make them take notice if we speak as mothers rather as activists.

A few days ago, a group of young people presented murals painted by mothers and children to members of Congress, calling for stronger climate leadership. The murals serve as a sharp reminder to Congress that the American public is ahead of their elected representatives on the issue of climate, and are demanding that Congress step up with strong, science-based policy.

One Sky

“We’ve only got one sky, and we’ve got to make sure it stays clean for our children,” said Gillian Caldwell, mother of two and campaign director for 1Sky, a new collaborative national campaign of more than 60 diverse organizations.

But what led moms and children to make these murals? Read the rest of this entry »

Recently, the Coca-Cola company decided to stop selling food products (read breakfast cereals, snacks and drinks) in the UK that contained artificial dyes. Bravo Coca-Cola and to all the other companies that decided to do this! Bravo for listening to the hoards of consumers in the UK who decided to fight back and won! Here is the glitch though, despite knowing that consumers do not want these dyes in their food and the harm they can do these companies, like Kraft and McDonald’s, still continue to produce these items for us folks here in the US.

Mad now?

I am.

Why should you fight back?

Read the rest of this entry »

Mummy I’m Bored

Sound familiar? Many mothers I know pack their kids’ days with activities from the time that they wake up to the time that they fall asleep. And while there is certainly some logic to keeping kids busy, like adults, they too need a break. Downtime is critical not only to help kids recharge their batteries, but also to teach them survival skills. As a child I remember telling my mother that I was bored only to receive the standard reply “Only boring people can be bored.” At some point it occurred to me that I should probably figure out ways to keep myself busy rather than bugging my mother to do it for me. How can parents nurture creativity in a child who’s imagination is not given the opportunity to create his or her own pastime? How will that translate to creativity skills in adulthood? Read the rest of this entry »

 Over at Treehugger, there was a short listing of hollywoods sexiest vegetarians.  It was not the vegetarian aspect that made my day, or the the sexy part, but the link to Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey’s latest press release regarding the Green Our Vaccine march this coming Wednesday on June 4th in Washingtong D.C.  What is their goal? 

Read the rest of this entry »

Just today I was thinking about phthalates. Why? Because I attended a brown bag discussion called Toxic Tuesdays at our local library where staff from the Oregon Center for Environmental Health and a co-founder of Rachel’s Friends (think breast cancer prevention advocacy) discussed personal care products - mainly their (scary) ingredients and effects on human health.

Yikes is my general reaction. Turns out phthalates aren’t just limited to toys. Of course, they’re hard to avoid because they’re not labeled as phthalates. Why not? Because that would be far too clear, mamas, and in this country, the idea of a clearly written product label is about as likely as reasonably priced gas. But beyond the doom and gloom, I am glad to report that there’s actually some good news in all this! Read the rest of this entry »

I love that there’s an organization called A Better Balance that works solely to improve the whole work-family balance conundrum. They describe themselves this way:

A Better Balance is a legal advocacy organization dedicated to empowering individuals to meet the conflicting demands of work and family without sacrificing their economic security. We are engaging government and the private sector to bring about systemic change. Since 2005, we have been working to help people across the economic spectrum care for their families without losing their jobs or suffering other discrimination because of their family responsibilities. Workers should not have to face impossible choices between earning a paycheck and caring for their loved ones.

Like, I couldn’t have said it better myself, mamas. So when they come calling, I wanna help. And they are calling. They are asking people who work a reduced schedule to complete a questionnaire about their experiences, which they describe like this: Read the rest of this entry »

I come bearing good news - for once!  There’s a new paid family leave bill in town (DC, that is), and I’m happy to say it’s good stuff.  The states have been hard at work on this one, but in my mind paid family leave should be available to all parents, regardless of what state they live in.  Moms Rising says we real-live mamas are a make-it-or-break-it force on this one, and I believe it.  They also acknowledge that ‘it’s going to take some heavy lifting to get the co-sponsors and momentum this bill needs to pass.’ 

So step right up and e-mail your U.S. Senators and Representatives NOW and ask them to co-sponsor this bill.   Ask them to represent us, their mamastituents, on this one.  Voting for it when (if!) the time comes is one thing, but seeing co-sponsors from my state would make me feel truly represented in our nation’s capital. Wonder if your Representative has already co-sponsored it?  If you live in AZ, CA (of course!), FL, GA, MA or NY, you’re good to go.  Out here in Oregon, not so much.

What would the bill do?  Some impressive stuff, mamas:

Read the rest of this entry »

Now more than ever it seems like a good time to initiate Meatless Mondays.  I only call it that because it is catchy and an easy way to remember this handy little economy/environment helping tip:  For one day, eat no meat.  For one meal, eat no meat. See it’s zipadeedoo easy.  And yet?  It helps in so many ways. 

It is not just that the production of meat is terribly energy inefficient, sucking up vast amounts of resources, with it typically taking up to five to seven pounds of grain to produce just one pound of pork. It is about double that for one pound of beef.  Grain production is in decline due to the rise in ethenol production now too.  This in turn is making our world’s food supply diminish.  John Robbins, author of The Food Revolution,  estimates that  “you’d save more water by not eating a pound of California beef than you would by not showering for an entire year.”  

Think of this as well.  Eat less meat for just one day or one meal (no need to go vegan or vegetarian if that is not your thing) and you…

1.  You could lose a few pounds and lower your cholesterol when you eliminate some meat from your diet. Particularly red meat.

2.  Save money in your precious and ever escalating weekly food budget.

3.  You help save valuable energy and water.

4.  Produce less waste and lessen your carbon footprint.

5.  Reduce your risk for cancer.  By taking away some of the carcinogens that meat adds to your diet you reduce the cancer factor in your life. 

For ideas, recipes and more general eat less meat/help the earth knowledge visit here. If anything, your colon will thank you.