News Picks:

Five kids who are changing the world: Read about five inspiring kids who are making the world a better place. Whether it’s growing organic crops and donating them to soup kitchens, or knitting home-made hats to fight hunger, these kids make us feel better about the world we live in.

How to turn an old iPod into cash: Every time you turn around, Apple is releasing a new generation of the iPod — making them smaller, more fun colors, touch screen…. (Does anyone remember the iPod with the original scroll wheel and four individual buttons?) It’s enough to give you whiplash! This article uncovers a few ways you can get cash for even the most archaic of gadgets, so you can get rid of that iPod mini collecting dust in your desk drawer. As a bonus, you can get 10 PG points for recycling your electronics.

Can we green our Planes next? Have those monthly business trips or annual family vacations put an annoyingly significant dent in your carbon footprint? Hopefully, soon this will be less of an issue. Many airlines are testing plant-based biofuels in an effort to reduce greenhouse emissions.

Multi-Media Pick:

Farmers market frenzy: Happy national farmers market week! People everywhere are becoming more interested in farmers markets, PG is lucky enough to have one right outside of our office in Boston on Tuesdays and Fridays this summer. You can find one near you here. Get 5 points on Practically Green for buying local produce. Check out this video featuring organic farmer Rebecca Schwen, as she discusses the growing interest in farmers markets.

New and cool pick:

Scrub your veggies clean: Skrub’a is a cool line of gloves you can use to scrub those veggies you just picked up at the farmers market, without losing any of the nutrients. There are different colors for veggies, carrots, and potatoes, and they sure beat the heck out of peeling or using (gasp) a paper towel.

ThredUP is a kids’ clothing swap site that lets parents exchange boxes of outgrown clothing for ones that fit, all in the convenience of your own home. Public relations and Marketing director Karen Fein opened up to PG about how the ingenious “Netflix for kids’ clothing” idea got started — and, of course, about what steps she takes to live a greener life!

How did you guys come up with this brilliant idea?

Founders James Reinhart and Oliver Lubin realized there wasn’t an efficient way to exchange clothing online. All of the outlets available to exchange clothing, such as Ebay, consignment shopping, and craigslist were just really time-consuming and inefficient. When a child outgrows one shirt, they outgrow their entire wardrobe, and if you think about putting all of that on Ebay, a parent has to list all of the items, take pictures of them, set the biddings, monitor the auctions, etc. Parents just do not have the time to do this every six months. The goal was to create an easy way for parents to exchange outgrown clothing for clothes that fit.

How did ThredUp get started, and what did people think?

The site originally started as a men’s and women’s shirt-swapping site. There were a lot of people that really loved it, but it was more of a hobby than a necessity. We realized we could use this same concept for kids to help families cut down on waste and consumption and we were shocked at the response we got! We found that because nothing like this had existed before, people were really waiting for it. People were really excited to share ThredUP with their friends and family, because it’s such an easy way to save time, money and help the environment.

Speaking of the environment, on your website you discuss teaching kids the importance of green living by creating a “thredbank”, can you explain this a little?

If you have an interest in helping your children learn about the importance of sustainable living, ThredUP can help with that. By telling your kids to set aside clothes when they outgrow them, they soon realize that these clothes can be exchanged for “new gifts,” or clothes that fit them. It reinforces the fact that you don’t always need to buy new things, you don’t always need to throw out old things, and that used clothing has value. We encourage parents to get their kids involved in the process and have them create their own “thredbank” of outgrown clothes. It can feel like Christmas morning to kids to get a box of new clothing completely for them, and they can feel proud that they took part in that exchange.

Ok, we want to ask, how green are you?

Our company is incredibly green. Personally, I take all of those simple green steps that everyone should take, like using a thermos instead of a water bottle, turning your water off when brushing your teeth, recycling always, or making sure to turn the lights out. From a clothing aspect, I take part in swap parties and shop at consignment stores. I use the options that are out there for adults right now, to promote sharing what we already have in order to cut down on waste and consumption, rather than shopping for something new and throwing clothes away. (Which I would never do.)

Now that you’ve told us some of your preferred green actions, we’re always curious to know what your least favorite green action taken you’ve taken is, or something you’re working on?

I haven’t quite made the transition to washing my clothes in cold water.

What more do you want to know about being green?

I think that for most people the main reasons they don’t take certain green steps is because they’re not necessarily convenient. It’s always good to learn about ways to go green that are not only incredibly easy, but can also save time and money. If you have those extra benefits, why not take the green option, and why not cut down on waste?

We couldn’t agree more! One last question, is there any way that you track the things you do everyday to be eco-friendly?

Not me personally, but ThredUP is about to start tracking how much waste we are saving in terms of kid’s clothing. We’re making an assumption that for every box of kid’s clothes, half of that box would normally have been thrown out and ended up in a landfill. 20 billion pounds of clothing and textiles end up in U.S. landfills every year, and every 3-6 months kids outgrow their clothing, making it a large part of that statistic.

Get PG “stuff” points for using ThredUP! Get five points for getting used clothing with this action, and get another five points for giving away/selling used clothing with this action.

You can find out more information and start swapping on ThredUP here.
Follow ThredUP on Twitter @ thredUP_Kids .

Diane MacEachern is one of the more highly respected and legendary green bloggers around. She is the author of the popularly acclaimed Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener World. She launched her blog Big Green Purse in 2007, with a background in politics and policy, and a passion for helping “women use their marketplace clout to protect the environment.”

“I was very frustrated about the lack of progress legislatively on environmental issues,” she says. “At the same time I was feeling an immense opportunity to involve women on these issues. When I researched what was going on in the marketplace, I saw that women have the potential to make enormous change happen. There’s no one solution, of course. You’ve got to keep fighting to pass legislation. But if more people took some meaningful actions in their lives, if we had more of the information we need, then most people would be doing the right thing and together we’d make a positive, measureable difference. I talk every day with women who have to get to work, get home, feed the kids, and try and get a little break for themselves. Through Big Green Purse, I want to give them fresh, simple messages on how to do that in a way that’s safe, healthy, and good for the planet, too.”

Earlier this year, Diane took the new Chevy Volt for a ride and she has graciously given us permission to reprint her review here:

Test Drive the New Chevy Volt With Me

The Chevy Volt is electrifying the car market – especially in the wake of the oil disasters in the Gulf of Mexico and now, Lake Michigan. Every one of us needs to stop using oil so the Volt, which can drive 40 miles on a battery powered by electricity rather than an engine fueled by oil, has a lot of appeal. General Motors, which is taking orders on the car for delivery this fall, claims the vehicle is “designed to move 75% of America’s daily commuters without a single drop of gas. That means for someone who drives less than 40 miles per day (which is most Americans), Chevy Volt will use zero gasoline and produce zero emissions.” After 40 miles, a smaller, 4-cylinder internal combusion engine uses premium-grade gasoline to produce more electricity, extending the car’s range an additional 300 miles.

Diane Behind the Wheel of the Volt

I’d already been on Fox News talking about the Volt; now I jumped at the chance to do a test drive. I regularly get 45 mpg on my 2002 Prius, which I love. And last summer I test drove the Ford Fusion Hybrid for a week and loved it (even though its mileage, while better than a regular sedan, is still lower than the Prius.) But a car I can drive that gets 0 mpg – and still covers 40 miles? That sounded pretty good.

I drove over to nearby University of Maryland, where test drives were being conducted. I waited around for a few minutes until it was my turn to get behind the wheel. I slid into the driver’s seat, and turned the car on. Like the Prius, the car is very quiet – if you don’t know it’s coming, you won’t hear it, that’s for sure.

Volt Dashboard (photo credit: General Motors)

The car has a state-of-the-art dashboard so you can back-up without looking over your shoulder; constantly monitor how much fuel you’re using; stay connected to your Bluetooth technology if you use it; and enjoy the high-quality BOSE sound system.

It comfortably seats four people of average height. The seat sits low because the vehicle is so stream-lined, but consequently, it can be a little hard to see out the back or over your shoulder when you’re changing lanes.

Driving the car is simple as pie. I could only take it for a short spin around the campus, so I don’t know if it is as tricky as the Prius when it comes to achieving promised benefits: the Prius is supposed to get as much as 50 mpg, but it takes a very light foot on the pedal, and a lot of coasting downhill, to achieve those gains driving in the city. Most people speed rather than drive the limit; a lot of us race between stop signs and street signals, too, all of which reduce average fuel efficiency. I couldn’t drive the Volt long enough to know if personal driving style will prevent a driver from actually covering 40 miles on the single electrical charge as promised. That’s something worth paying attention to.

One added benefit of the Volt is that you can recharge it at home, with a standard 120-volt cable. And if you plug it in at night, the electricity you buy from your power company to pump into your car will be a bit cheaper.

Is the Volt an improvement over gasoline-powered vehicles? Absolutely.

Still, I can’t help but think that we’d all be better off not owning cars at all. We could walk and bicycle more in our neighborhoods, telecommute one or two days a week to work, carpool, shop online, use ZipCar or other car membership sites, or rent the new electric Nissan Leaf from Enterprise.

I don’t think I’ll be shelling out $40,000 for a Volt any time soon. It makes more sense, at least for right now, to drive less and follow these money-saving suggestions for saving gas when I do drive.

Visit Practically Green for lots of recommended actions on cars and transportation, from Carpool to School Once to Upgrade my vehicle’s fuel-economy by >20 MPG (100 points).

You can subscribe to Diane’s blog here. Find out about the Big Green Purse One in a Million Campaign to “shift money you already spend to eco-friendly goods and services.” Follow Big Green Purse on Twitter @ biggreenpurse. And don’t miss the 4-minute clip of Diane’s appearance on Fox Business discussing automotive fuel-efficiencies!

This is not a strictly green story, but I think you’ll want to hear it. Today we heard from our friend Lisa, whose beloved family dog Brutus succumbed to a horrible truck accident last week in Quebec, Canada. We offer our condolences to Lisa and her five-year-old daughter Lydia, who is experiencing “her first glimpse of death and real sadness.”

Here’s the best (and green) part of Lisa’s story. Check out the incredible lovely grace with which she delivered this tragic news: she offered three great recipes for healthy, eco-friendly dog treats. And she signed them,

I hope your dogs enjoy them as much as mine did.

Without further ado:

It’s been hard to get motivated this week but we’re slowly getting back on track. This post is dedicated to our puppy, Brutus.

Brutus loved treats (what dog doesn’t?) and Lydia and I had lots of fun together making them for him.

Making your own dog treats has several benefits, they’re healthier for your dog, you know exactly what’s going into them (and into him, or her) you can customize the recipes (making sure to avoid ingredients that are unhealthy for dogs, such as chocolate, grapes, raisins and walnuts), they make a fun project to take on with young children and your dog will love them.

These are a couple of the recipes that we enjoyed making:

1. Basic Cookies (these are the ones we made when we didn’t have a  lot of ingredients to work with, Brutus never seemed to mind though)

Ingredients:

- 1/3 cup softened butter (or margarine)

- 3 cups whole wheat flour

- 1/2 cup powdered skim milk

- 1/4 tsp garlic powder

- 3/4 cup water, room temperature, we usually added 1/2 tsp of dried beef bouillon for extra flavour.

- 1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Cream butter and flour together and set aside.

In a small bowl, dissolve powdered skim milk and garlic powder in the water and whisk in beaten egg.

Gradually stir egg mixture into flour mixture, blend well.

Knead dough on a floured surface until it stays together and is easy to work with.

Roll dough to between 1/4″ and 1/2″ thickness. Cut with cookie cutters.

Place on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 50 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack until hard and store at room temperature in a container with a loose-fitting lid.

All-natural dog-biscuit dough

2. Plaque Busters (these we made when we thought his teeth looked like they needed a good cleaning)

Ingredients:

- 3/4 cup powdered skim milk

- 1/2 cup cornmeal, stone ground

- 1/4 cup bulghur (bulgar) wheat

- 2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

- 1 chicken bouillon cube

- 1 1/2 cups boiling water

- 1 cup quick cooking rolled oats

-  1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine powdered skim milk, cornmeal, bulghur and flour in a mixing bowl, set aside.

Dissolve bouillon cube in boiling water. Add rolled oats and let stand five minutes. Stir in beaten egg.

Gradually add dry ingredients, half a cup at a time, until well blended. The last cups can be blended with your hands.

Divide dough into two balls to make it easier to work with. Knead each ball on a floured surface, about 5 minutes.

Roll dough to between 1/4″ and 1/2″ thick and cut out with cookie cutters.

Place on lightly greased baking sheet and bake 50 minutes.

Turn off and let biscuits cool several hours or overnight, in the oven.

Store at room temperature in a container with a loose-fitting lid.

3. Liver Treats (we hadn’t tried these yet but we’re sure Brutus would have loved them)

These treats are simple – they are just dehydrated liver. They are good for training because they have no fillers and are absolutely irresistible to dogs.

Cut a pound of calves’ or beef liver into strips. Lay them on a parchment paper-covered baking sheet, making sure the strips aren’t touching. Bake at 200 degrees for 2 hours (using a dehydrator would probably be more energy efficient), rotating the tray halfway through. Cool strips on the parchment paper on a wire rack. Freeze up to four months or refrigerate up to two weeks.

I hope your dogs enjoy them as much as ours did.

Rest in Peace, Brutus.  You were surely one of the best loved – and best fed – pooches around.

For more eco-friendly pet tips,  try Planet Green’s feature on the subject. And if you’re thinking about switching to eco-friendly pet toys, you might like this action on Practically Green (worth 10 points!).

Read Lisa’s blog, Mom’s Green Shopping List. Follow her on Twitter: @MomsGreenList; and find her on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/momsgreenshoppinglist

Annie Leonard

Can I tell you, I love my Pantene Pro V. Of the dozen or so personal care products I use everyday, it’s the one I can’t live without. Says it gives my dull hair “the ultimate cool shine.”  How does it do that?

I was wondering that, while I was lathering it into my hair one day, so I read the ingredients right here: Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Tetrasodium EDTA, Methyl–iso–thiazo–linone… What is this stuff?

I took this list to some scientists who know how to read it. Turns out my Pantene contains a chemical linked to cancer.  And lots of other products in my bathroom from sunscreen to lipstick and even baby shampoo also contain chemicals linked to cancer or other problems like learning disabilities, asthma and even damaged sperm. Like most parents, I try to keep my family safe but now I find out my bathroom is a minefield of toxins. What are we supposed to do?

So begins Annie Leonard’s newest film, The Story of Cosmetics. Like its viral-hit predecessor, The Story of Stuff, it promises to illuminate a few minds – this time on the subject of the need for regulation of the $50 billion beauty industry.

Last week we caught up with Annie Leonard’s collaborator and Berkeley neighbor, Stacy Malkan. She’s the communications leader for the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and the author of Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry. Stacy told us more about the film, the passion behind it, the potential for improving the nation’s regulations on the stuff we put on our bodies, hair, and faces – and how she became interested in make-up in the first place.

I grew up in Lynn, Massachusetts, half a mile from the biggest incinerator in the state. I was crazy about make-up. We never thought about chemicals in cosmetics or pollution in the environment. Yet many of the kids in my high school class were developing health issues. Some of them had cancer. Later, others had infertility problems. But we didn’t talk about it in those days.

When I graduated from college I worked for a newspaper and covered a controversy about pesticides that were being sprayed on fields and bike paths that were heavily used by kids and pets. I began to realize the negative health effects of chemicals, and the fact that often we use chemicals without thinking of the consequences. The government officials I interviewed for the story had no idea about the health effects of the chemicals they were spraying in public spaces.

Later, I worked for the non-profit Health Care Without Harm, where I learned about harmful chemical exposures in the hospital setting. We worked a lot on phthalates. Weird word, I know. Scientists have known about the toxicity of phthalates for decades – hundreds of animal studies have shown defects to the male reproductive system, especially when animals are exposed to phthalates in the womb. Turns out most hospitals were using phthalates in the plastic of IV bags and tubing. It leeches right out of the bag and into the patient. Many hospitals have made progress since then switching to non-vinyl plastics that don’t leach phthalates.

In 2000 the CDC conducted a large bio-monitoring study of blood and urine and found phthalates in every single person they tested. Women of childbearing age had the highest levels. Why? Because they were in cosmetics. We tested a bunch of body-care products at a lab and found phthalates in more than 70% of them, but the chemicals weren’t listed on labels. After that, we formed the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and began testing cosmetics for other dangerous ingredients. At this time, Jane Houlihan initiated Skin Deep at the Environmental Working Group. This is the best source for cosmetic safety reviews in the world, with 60,000 products and data about chemical hazards gathered from the leading government and academic databases in the world.

With the launch of The Story of Cosmetics on July 21, Congress announced the Safe Cosmetics Act legislation [on July 20]. This is a real chance to overhaul completely outdated regulations that affect so many people. Johnson & Johnson recently celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their famous baby shampoo and they said, ‘We’re using the same chemical formulation we used fifty years ago!’ I saw that and I said, ‘That is not a plus! How many huge scientific discoveries have been made on chemicals in the past half century? Why are we still putting carcinogens into baby shampoo?’

Interested in knowing more? Click here to watch The Story of Cosmetics (free, 7 mins.). Afterwards, you might feel like making a change or two in the personal-care products you and your family use. Practically Green can help you figure it out! You’ll find clear suggestions on what to do and why it’s important, from switching to a safe and effective sunscreen to using all-natural floss – and just about everything in between. We have thirty-three personal-care actions for you to consider – and yes, switching to all-natural baby shampoo is one of them.