Wise Ideas

The Green Recession

It took a worldwide economic tsunami, but the tide may have finally turned on bottled water.

"Tap water is making a comeback,' according to the NYTimes, which reported this week that PepsiCo's quarterly earnings are down 9.6 percent "in part because of declines in sales of soda and bottled water in the United States."  And while this news is good for the green movement, it's not so good for the jobs outlook.  As a result of its earnings fizzle, PepsiCo (bottlers of Aquafina water) plans to cut costs by closing a half dozen plants and eliminating 3,300 jobs.  Ouch.

Who knew going green was going to hurt so much.

The Times reports that PepsiCo's and other industry analysts have found "that 34 percent of consumers say they are reusing plastic bottles more often and 23 percent say they are cutting back on bottled beverages in favor of tap water or beverages in containers that create less waste."  Meantime, sales of water filters increased 16 percent in the first half of the year.

And although PepsiCo sees this trend as just a temporary blip, John Sicher, the publisher of Beverage Digest, tells the Times that "unless both Pepsi and Coke do something quickly, they could lose a generation of carbonated soft drink consumers," not to mention bottled water drinkers.

Oh no!  Imagine that - a generation of less obese Americans and a drop in the diabetes epidemic!  How will we survive?

Don't think for a minute that PepsiCo plans to go quietly into the night. Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi tells Brandweek that some of the estimated $1.2 billion PepsiCo plans to save over the next three years will be applied to its marketing budget.  PepsiCo, already in the middle of a major redesign of its globe logo as well as numerous package redesigns, is planning a number of new product launches including introduction of a new energy drink next year. 

However, putting tap water into landfill-bound plastic bottles and slapping fancy labels on them may be a business that's come to an end.  PepsiCo and others are likely in serious discussions about pouring their bottled water businesses down the drain, not just because of economics but also because of a flood of bad PR.

For instance, on the same day that PepsiCo announced its dismal earnings, a front page story in the SF Chronicle announced that "Bottled water not always at it appears."  The paper reports that recent tests of 10 brands of bottled water by the non-profit Environmental Working Group, found an average of 8 contaminants in each brand.  Five brands contained traces of bacteria, and one brand - Wal-Mart's Sam's Choice - "contained chemical levels that exceded legal limits in California."  

Meantime, the LATimes pointed out this week that tap water suppliers are subject to broader scrutiny than bottled water suppliers, because "they're required by law to publish and circulate an annual Consumer Confidence Report, which states their sources of water and any contaminants found."  So the bottom line is that the water you're getting out of the kitchen sink is not only cheaper, but probably cleaner that the stuff you pay $1.57 per bottle for at the store. 

Many Americans have been leaning green for some time now.  But it's more than a little ironic that it will be a lack of greenbacks that pushes them into total tree-hugger mode (and I mean that in the best possible way).    Save money and save the planet -- all at the same time.  

Now who's going to save us from the poorhouse?

The Unending BPA Debate

I think we can now say with 100 percent assurance that BPA causes confusion --- and is a health hazard to millions of moms solely due to the stress caused by worrying about whether or not their water bottles, baby bottles and Cuisinarts are adversely affecting their families health.

BPA, aka bisphenol-A, is a plastic-hardening chemical commonly found in clear, shatterproof baby bottles, food containers and many popular water sports bottles. Most of us were blissfully unaware of BPA until last April, when Canadian health officials announced their intention to ban BPA-made products because animal studies show that the compound may negatively impact behavior, the brain, and survival rates of unborn fetuses.

Then, just days later, a report from the U.S. National Toxicology Program added fuel to the fire by saying its scientists had found "some concern" about BPA's risk.

Countless Nalgene bottles were trashed....Wal-Mart, Toys R Us and Babies R Us announced a phase-out of BPA-tainted products....and lawmakers in California, New Jersey and at least 10 other states launched legislation that would restrict the use of BPA (see the BPA timeline on WebMD).

Now - twelve weeks and millions of newspaper articles, talk shows and blog comments later --- an FDA advisory panel has issued a report saying that despite the safety concerns of parents, consumer groups and politicians - the small amount of BPA that leaches from such bottles and containers is not dangerous.

"The F.D.A.’s report concluded that those levels (of BPA found in common products) were thousands of times below what would actually be dangerous to adults or children," reports The NYTimes, which also adds the fascinating fact that "about 93 percent of Americans have traces of bisphenol in their urine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

The FDA is holding a public meeting in mid-September on the issue, and "public input is welcome" according to InjuryBoard.com, "a community of attorneys, media professionals, safety industry experts, and local activists, committed to making a difference by helping families stay safe and avoid injury."

FDA officials better plan on holding that hearing in a big room with lots of security. There is great and now growing frustration over the "is it or isn't it dangerous" question regarding BPA. Just browse through the comments from the Wall Street Journal's Health blog and you'll find two very vocal sides of the issue: those who deeply distrust the FDA's ability to make such a determination, versus those who say solid scientific evidence squashes the concerns of environmentalists and activists who don't recognize a safe product when they see one.

My reaction - will somebody please come up with a conclusive decision! One not driven by reactionary activists OR lobbyists for the chemical industry! 

Unfortunately, the FDA does not appear to be the agency to do this.....as it struggles with a number of problems best illustrated recently by its inability to trace - within a reasonable amount of time - this year's massive salmonella outbreak to tainted Mexican peppers.

Until then, millions of moms will likely ere on the side of caution and seek out BPA-free products.  Either that, or we'll all just go back to the product that has survived the test of time with no adverse health effects. 

And won't the glass industry be happy about that!

Ode to the Minivan

When the news broke last week that Chrysler, the creator of the minivan, planned to close one of its minivan assembly plants this falI, I was in my minivan ---- packed to the gills with bikes, golf clubs, coolers, fishing poles, suitcases, swim towels, sleeping bags, pillows, duffel bags, backpacks, DVDs, iPods, cell phone chargers, snack foods, map, guide books and --- oh yes -- my family.

"Minivans," The Chicago Tribune announced, "have joined pickups and sport-utility vehicles on consumers' least-wanted list."  High gas prices, no surprise, are being blamed for a double-digit decline in minivan sales, which started slumping more than a year ago.  In fact, the death of the minivan was predicted nearly three years ago at a car European car show by executives at Toyota --- as reported here in in old Washington Post article, and which I wrote about in my former blog, The Kitchen Think, 17 months ago. 

Least wanted vehicle? Quite possibly. Best vehicle for an active family of four-plus?  No doubt.

If I cared what I looked like driving my minivan....I wouldn't be driving it.  "It is a vehicle that is decidedly unglamorous, but sturdy and utilitarian, much like the soccer mom at the wheel," says the Washington Times.  And despite the fact that I've seen some pretty glamorous soccer moms in my time, the WaTimes is right on.  "The minivan says many things. Among them, I have kids, the kids have friends and we all have lots of stuff."

And after traveling five-plus days and 2237 miles in our family minivan - I can unequivocally say that it is the only vehicle on the road than could have handled the load we carried comfortably, or economically  Not even one of those gi-normous Suburbans or Denalis or whatever mountain range moniker-ed-vehicles could have done it....at 22 miles per gallon.  

"It's not about the dynamics," Tom Murphy - executive editor of Ward's AutoWorld tells the WaTimes.  "You can't beat the versatility. If you have to haul seven people around, there is no more efficient way to do that," says Ward - who is an admitted minivan owner.

So what if it costs $75 to fill up.  Its side doors open automatically, its mid-section seats separate to prevent sibling sister- or fratricide.  The kids can stand up in the back, stash all their junk in the thousand of pockets cleverly provided, and safely cradle their juices, water bottles and (bad mom alert) soda cans in convenient cupholders.  And I can easily stow the back seats and load bikes without breaking my back or my skull.  And I can't leave out the DVD player - which saved my sanity during our 14+ hour each way drive to Wyoming.

Even if gas prices go to $5 a gallon (probably just months away), I plan to drive my minivan into the ground. And I'm sure I'm not the only minivan owner with similar plans.  The American mom's need (desire is too strong a word) for a minivan is evident over at HybridCars.com, which reports that "a group—strike that, a mob—of car shoppers wanting the utility of a minivan and the fuel efficiency of a hybrid are airing their demands for a hybrid minivan on the HybridCars.com discussion forum and elsewhere."  According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, more than 18,000 consumers signed a petition to Toyota asking that a hybrid minivan be brought to America.  Toyota currently sells a hybrid minivan in Japan called the "Estima."

But the only minivan hybrid on the horizon, according to HybridCenter.org, is the Toyota Sienna 7-seat Hybrid.  Estimated arrival on U.S. car lots?  "2009 (if at all)" says HybridCenter.  In other words - don't hold your breath.  Which means vacuum out the interior, scrub all the dead bugs off the exterior, clean the sticky stuff off the seats, sanitized the steering wheel, keep up with maintenance schedules and make sure your tires are inflated and aligned correctly.

Because that unsexy minivan of mine is going to stay in my driveway for a few more years to come. And that's just the way I want it.

Killer Curtains and Other Household Hazards

Summer brings with it lots of seasonal health hazards:  poison oak and ivy, water accidents, sunburn, dehydration, drinking from a BPA-based water bottle, salmonella outbreaks, shower curtain smells.....wait......WHAT THE...?

In a newly released report the Center for Health, Environment and Justice says there's a threat lurking in your shower much greater than that of a cross-dressing Anthony Perkins with a knife.  The report, titled "Volatile Vinyl," claims that vinyl shower curtains sold at major U.S. retailers emit toxic chemicals linked to serious health problems.  These killer curtains, sold at Bed Bath & Beyond, Kmart, Sears, Target and Wal-Mart among others, are made of polyvinyl chloride, or PVC....a known human carcinogen that can cause liver cancer.

The smell of a new vinyl shower curtain is the dead giveaway (pardon the bad pun).  The CHEJ commissioned this study two years ago to determine what, exactly, causes that oh-so recognizable odor.  "This smell can make you feel sick, give you a headache, make you feel nauseous or [cause] other health effects," Michael Schade, a coauthor of the report, is quoted as saying in the LATimes.

Lo and behold -- dozens of the chemicals used to make the curtains contain known health hazards.  "Seven of these chemicals have been identified by the Environmental Protection Agency as hazardous air pollutants" Stephen Lester, CHEJ's science director and study co-author tells the Kansas City Star.  "“Nobody really looked to see what these chemicals were or whether they were toxic, and what risk they posed,” he says.

However, it should also be noted that the companies making these curtains have been aware of the potential hazard, and have been working to phase out PVC-based curtain altogether according to the study's authors. 

Now...I prefer to steer clear of toxic chemicals as much as the next person....maybe even more since come-from-nowhere cancers run in my immediate family.  But I gotta be honest with you, I have to think that there's greater chance that I'll fall in the bathroom and crack my head on some porcelain, than I will of contracting liver cancer from a new shower curtain.

According to Home Channel News, 70 percent of all household accidents - or 200,000 per year - happen in the bathroom.  These statistics are taken very seriously by all the people who make the stuff that goes in your bathroom...particularly the hardware manufacturers of so called "grab bars," those things you reach out for as you're slipping to your death in the tub. 

So really, is it the smell of the shower curtain that's gonna kill you....or being electrocuted when your plugged-in hairdryer accidentally falls into the tub while you're in it?

Your life is at risk from the moment you step out of bed in the morning, until the moment you get back into it at night.  What do you think has a greater chance of killing you - your shower curtain, or that double-cheese burger with tomato that you ordered today?  Because if that tomato doesn't get you first....that heart-stoppping burger you get twice a week just might.  The shower curtain doesn't stand a chance.

Gas Tax Dreams....Fuel Saving Realities

You could probably fuel an entire city of cars with all the hot air being wasted by politicians and pundits debating a federal gas tax holiday.

I say this just as most gas stations in my city, San Francisco, have already passed the $4 a gallon price barrier (I paid $3.99 at Shell today, BTW).  We could actually be looking at $5 a gallon by summer's end.  Yes - we need relief.  And the sooner the better. 

But we need to stop looking to others to provide immediate solutions....especially in this country's current politically charged atmosphere. 

I came to this conclusion as I was sternly talking with my 10-year old son this past weekend, about how he needed to take personal responsibility for his choices, decision and actions.  In this instance, he had no one else to blame if he was unable to complete a homework assignment by Monday.  "It's your responsibility," I lectured. "I can remind you to do it, but no-one else is going to do it for you." 

That's when the (CFL) light bulb went off over my head.  Because although I can't stop oil prices from rising, I can do something about my own, personal demand for oil.  "It's our responsibility to start taking those measures ourselves,"  I told my husband.

Many Americans already have, as you can see by the recent hybrid car sales figures showing that sales of fuel efficient vehicles rose 38 percent last year....while SUV sales took a dive.  But with the economy in the mess it's in, now isn't the time for my family to buy a new car.  I've got to deal with the scratched up, lived-in family van I've got. 

So I'm going to start cutting back on my fuel consumption by changing my driving style and habits - because better fuel economy begins with my right foot.

There are plenty of places on the Internet you can go to see all the different ways YOU can save fuel when driving.  Among them the car review, ratings and information site Edmunds.com, HowToAdvice.com which provides 30 ways YOU can save gas and money while driving, as well as numerous news reports including this one from the venerable Philadelphia Inquirer. 

But I was intrigued by the tips provided by one of my own kind at ShowMomTheMoney.com, "frugal tips and ideas for thrifty moms."  And who isn't these days?  The tips at this site were much more geared to my lifestyle, especially since it begins with "Think Twice Before You Drive."  How many of us make several errand trips daily that take us hither and yon?  (Rhetorical)  Instead, the site recommends that errands should be condensed into one trip, and should cover as little ground as possible.  And although this is just common sense -- we all should start using that common sense if we want to save cents in fuel consumption.

ShowMomTheMoney and a similar site, OurFamilyBudget.com, list a number of such tips that you and I can put into effect immediately...ultimately saving ourselves MUCH MORE money than any federal gas tax holiday ever could.

The power of the mom market has been credited with everything from slowing our nation's obesity epidemic to the greening of American products to the astronomical success of Nintendo's Wii. 

As we taxi the nation's kids here, there and everywhere - we moms can begin taking just the tiny-est steps to reduce our own gas consumption.  And maybe, just maybe  -- this show of personal responsibility by the moms of America can show the rest of the country how we can begin to deal with our insatiable demand for oil.

It'll save you money in both the short and long run.  And it's a much more realistic idea than a pie-in-the-sky federal gas tax holiday that'll never happen.

The Greening of Fiji

Green is good.  Green is hot.  Green sells.

Pretending to be green....not so much. Because if you're going green, your going to have to prove it.

In fact, there's even a term for businesses and corporation which try to pull the locally-grown organic wool over consumers eyes by claiming to be eco-friendly, when in reality they are not.  It's called "greenwashing," and I almost feel sorry for any business which attempts to try this, because the self-appointed eco-police will pounce immediately and splash news of these eco-crimes all over the Internet at Greenwashing.net and dozens of other sites.  And when it hits the mainstream media - watch out. Just take a look at these ABC News and CNN stories, attacking the high-tech and travel industries for greenwashing. 

Greenwashing is the first thing that came to mind on Earth Day yesterday, when I heard several radio ads promoting Fiji Water's recently launched environmental initiative called Fiji Green. 

As you know, the entire $15 billion domestic bottled water industry is drowning in bad publicity due to the enormity of waste involved by putting what amounts to tap water in plastic bottles...and shipping it all over the world to consumers who then promptly add those plastic bottles to our overflowing landfills.

And the poster child for this enviro-crime has often been Fiji Water, which was once the choice for celebrities, but is considered the pariah of waters because just the shipping alone of of its product - thousands of miles from the Fiji Islands to American consumers - leaves a carbon footprint Godzilla could fit into.

But Fiji Water, which is actually a small player in the bottled water business, is not standing by watching its business go down the drain.  Last summer, as you can read here in The NYTimes, Fiji created a new senior vice president position in charge of sustainable growth.  And last fall, the company took the bold step of announcing a detailed plan of how it was going to make the company carbon negative.  Not neutral, which would have been the safer move, but negative.

Public Radio International's radio program, The World, succinctly explains Fiji's plan: "For every bottle of Fiji water consumed, the company is planting trees in Fiji's rainforests. And eventually those trees - in about thirty years or so - might offset the carbon footprint of all those bottles plus 20%. And voila - carbon negative water."

Needless to say Fiji's plan was met with skepticism, a reaction which was undoubtedly anticipated by Fiji and explains the company's announcement just last week that it will become the first bottled water company to participate in the Carbon Disclosure Project by publicly publishing details about its carbon footprint.

As BrandWeek reported last week, Fiji is planning to spend "upwards to $10 million on marketing this year, with half the budget dedicated to touting an eco-friendly message."  Fiji's new taglines which you'll be hearing plenty this spring, include "Every drop is green," "The Earth protects Fiji and visa versa," and "a convenient truth."

It's a risky move and a risky campaign.  The eco-police are undoubtedly poised to pounce on any un-truth...and any sign of a greenwash on the part of Fiji could do serious damage to the company, thus the decision by Fiji to be totally transparent.

Is it even possible that bottled water, arguably an unnecessary product that comes at great environmental costs, can be green?  Fiji is treading in new waters here.  So before eco-forces trash its efforts, it's worth watching to see if the company's efforts work -- both with its carbon footprint and with consumers.  Who knows what other environmentally questionable businesses might follow.

But as I've said before, it's not easy being green.

POSTSCRIPT:  If you want to learn more about carbon offsets, how they work and if they work, go to ClimateBiz.com and read this indepth article which explains it all.  And yes, the writer is my cousin-in-law.

Toxic Bottles, Toxic Headlines

What's a mom to do? 

You stop buying cases of bottled water in an effort to reduce waste and lower your grocery bill --- only to open the paper one day and read the word "Toxic" over a picture of the reuseable water bottles you've been packing in your kids' backpacks everyday!

Will I open my newspaper tomorrow to find my picture under the headline "Mom Saves Planet - But Poisons Kids Instead"?

In case you missed this latest environmental and health bombshell, Canada's Globe and Mail broke the story this week that "Health Canada is calling Bisphenol-A a dangerous substance, making it the first regulatory body in the world to reach such a determination and taking the initial step toward measures to control exposures to it."

Bisphenol-A, or B.P.A., is the widely used ingredient in polycarbonate plastics.  And polycarbonate plastic is that transparent and nearly unbreakable material that many baby bottles, food containers and the wildly popular Nalgene water bottles are made of. 

But as The Globe and Mail, and now every major news outlet in the world reports, tests show B.P.A. has been shown to disrupt the hormonal systems of animals.  And according to The NYTimes, American health officials are just as concerned about B.P.A.   A draft report by the National Toxicology Program, a panel that's part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is expressing "some concerns" about the use of B.P.A., including a potential link between human consumption of the chemical and increased incidences of breast cancer as well as early onset of puberty in girls.

Now, I wouldn't think that drinking out of a Nalgene bottle constitutes "consuming" B.P.A., but I'm not a scientist...and the whole thing is still making me pretty nervous.  It's obviously making many Canadians nervous too.  And even though Canada's national health agency has not yet officially labeled B.P.A. as toxic, Canadian stores are racing "to purge Bisphenol-A products" from their shelves.

Should I be tossing out our Nalgene bottles, too?  Nalgene doesn't say so - and is doing some minimal damage control on its website by offering a special web page featuring extensive links with detailed "information on B.P.A."

However, Nalgene didn't answer my immediate questions - like are the bottles I have potentially toxic to my family, and should I throw them out.

I had to google around a bit to find the answers to those questions.  But I found them quick enough on this Today Show debriefing with Dr. Nancy Snyderman who answers specific viewer questions about the issue....and from a food columnist at the Nashua, New Hampshire Telegraph. 

And in each calm and detailed discussion of B.P.A., both Dr. Snyderman and the New Hampshire columnist strongly and specifically recommend throwing out certain Nalgene or other hard plastic bottles which have the numbers 3, 6 and 7 imprinted on the bottom of the bottle --- because they say that is the code that marks bottles made with B.P.A. or other chemical compounds.

Now why can't Nalgene tell me that?  They make many other, apparently safer bottles made of other materials which don't harm lab rats.  Why not rush those out to market, and offer to replace and "recycle" all the number 3, 6 and 7 bottles out there - like the four that are currently sitting on my counter.

But before I rushed to trash my bottles, I checked the Camelbak website...the other primary company that makes popular sports drink bottles. And right there on the front page is a big red banner that says "'CAMELBAK BOTTLES: YOUR CHOICE FOR BPA-FREE HYDRATION ON-THE-GO."  And then, in another special box on the front page, Camelbak tells me "The Truth about #7," which they say was misrepresented on The Today Show, and is nothing more than a recycling code and does not necessarily mean the bottle contains B.P.A.  You can also download an entire FAQs document at Camelbak with more detailed information. 

Camelbak then links me to several different styles of bottles which are "BPA-free," and says special BPA-free labels can now be found on all Camelbak bottles that do NOT contain the compound.  Camelbak also announces that a new style of BPA-free bottles will be available in May.  The Chicago Trib's Julie's Health Club blog says Camelbak's transition out of using B.P.A. will be complete by the end of the month.  Now that's getting out in front of a problem!

In the past 20 years - consumers like me have grown accustomed to seeing calamity hit corporations as a result of recalls or under even more damaging or deadly circumstances.  And we've grown savvy to spin and damage control efforts.  Companies that underestimate our concerns by under addressing them usually pay for it in the long run.

Two companies - two wildly different approaches to a damaging problem.

So I ask again, what's a mom to do?  I think I know.  But does Nalgene?

Food (and Drink) for Thought

The school auction, which I am reluctantly co-chairing (less "co" and more "chairing"), is now only four days away.  I won't bore you with the details, but I will admit there's a fair amount of anxiety-eating going on in my house this week.

I guess that's why I a number of food-oriented tidbits and trends caught my eye today, which I'd like to share with you.  I mean, who wants to gorge alone?

HEALTHY IS HOT!
What do you think the hottest new product on supermarket shelves was last year?  Advertising Age reports the new product launch that went interstellar in the grocery industry was Campbell's "Low Sodium" soups, which reached $101 million dollars in sales thanks to all us moms who are practicing what we preach by trying to feed our families healthier foods.  But don't take my word for it.  Take a look at the Top 10 Most Successful Brand Launches of 2007 from Information Resources, Inc., and you'll see the list is completely comprised of products people perceive as healthy.  Now that's mom power.  However.....

McFREE FOOD IS HARD TO BEAT
McDonald's stunned Wall Street yesterday by announcing that it saw a nearly 12 percent rise in sales last month, clobbering Burger King, Wendy's, and any other fast-food joint (or "casual dining" as the industry prefers to be called) you can think of.  Edward Jones analyst Jack Russo tells AdAge that McDonald's can partially thank the economic downturn for it's good fortune.  "People want to eat out. They want convenience, but they're also being pressured by the higher costs," he said, which is good news for less expensive places such as McDonalds.  It helped, too, that McD's literally gave away its new breakfast burrito, the McSkillet, in a special two-day Leap Day promotion.  Apparently, who cares if it's healthy, as long as its free.

NEW LIFE FOR BOTTLED WATER?
I had predicted awhile ago that the bottled water industry was going to disappear soon as a result of the green movement (who really needs to drink tap water put in plastic bottles that litter our planet?).  But new life is being breathed into the bottled water business by Starbucks, Pepsi, and a new partnership that also involves a mission to bring clean water to Africa.  As you can read on Starbucks website, "Ethos Water, the brand dedicated to helping children get clean water, is driving support for its mission by collaborating with H20 Africa, a foundation focused on clean water initiatives."  Ethos, which until now has only been available in Starbucks, will soon start appearing in 40,000 grocery, convenience and drug stores nationwide....a roll out that will coincide with an ad campaign featuring H20 Africa's co-founder, actor Matt Damon.  Now, if they could only put it in biodegradable bottles.

SPEAKING OF WATER....
If you thought Africa was the only continent with a water crises, think again.  Not only is much of America in drought.....but apparently there are trace amounts of pharmaceutical drugs in our drinking water!  An investigation by the Associated Press, and probably printed in every newspaper in America, found that "a vast array of pharmaceuticals -- including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones -- have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans."  As you can imagine, the story is scaring the U.S. Senate to hold hearings. (yeah right  - that'll really solve the problem....).  Discover Magazine added this interesting perspective to the story:  "So how bad is it, exactly? Are we all going to die? Are we all high? Will our sons grow breasts? Well, it’s unclear.  The most important issue to understand is that we’re not exactly drinking bong water."

WHEN IN DOUBT, DRINK BEER...WHILE YOU STILL CAN
So if you don't want to drink the drug water -- crack open a beer, before it's too late for that, too.  Because, as you can hear on The World from Public Radio International, global demand for barley and hops could result in not only higher prices for beer -- but possibly less of it. 

And I thought the upcoming school auction was stressful.  A beer shortage just might put me over the edge permanently.  Oh, the humanity.

Pass me another box of Girl Scout cookies - quick!

It's Not Easy Being Green

While I was living my life as an environmentally-concerned-but-not-obsessed mother of two, it seems that two increasingly powerful and influential subcultures collided online, and have merged to become an official "movement" to be reckoned with.

My education started with a front page NYTimes article over the weekend about so-called EcoMoms.  The piece was titled "For EcoMoms, Saving Earth Begins at Home," and it centered on a 21st Century-style Tupperware party in Marin County, California --- where talk focused not on saving left-overs, but rather on saving the planet. 

"Perhaps not since the days of 'dishpan hands' has the household been so all-consuming," the Times piece states.  "Instead of gleaming floors and sparkling dishes, the obsession is on installing compact fluorescent light bulbs, buying in bulk and using 'smart' power strips that shut off electricity to the espresso machine, microwave, X-Box, VCR, coffee grinder, television and laptop when not in use."

Addressing the group gathered in that living room was another Marin mom, Kimberly Danek Pinkson, founder of the 9,000 member EcoMom Alliance, whose energy and promotional skills could, if tapped, probably power all of Northern California.  Pinkson's environmental effort is built on the undeniable and growing power of "the mom" to create change from the grassroots level, and relies heavily on the mom network, particularly the one on the Internet, to spread the word.

In the wake of the article, two of the most active subcultures in the blogosphere, the Greens and the Moms, have been buzzing about the article.  Eco blogger LaMarguerite writes "These women are on a mission and nobody can resist them, not even their husbands or children. They fill Whole Foods' parking lot with their Priuses, and are not shy about voicing their newly found green convictions all over the blogosphere."

Green mom bloggers are indeed, all over the net.  There's  "Crunchy Chicken Mom" from Seattle, "GreenStyleMom" in Colorado, the blog at NatureMoms, and who could forget "Green and Clean Mom" who tells us "how being green can be sassy, sexy and fun."  The list of green mom blogs seems endless.  There are hundreds, likely thousands of moms blogging about how they're managing to raise a family and still adhere to the three R's:  reduce, recycle and reuse.   

To read these blogs makes my efforts to carry around re-usable cloth bags and stop buying bottled water seem downright lame.  Yet another reason to feel guilty.

At least until I talked to a green mom entrepreneur friend of mine, to get her reaction to the NYTimes story. "It can be daunting and overwhelming to try to make even the simple choices that face us day to day, so it really helps to be taking this journey with friends," explains Anne Vollen, co-founder of the Green Zebra coupon book, the Bay Area's green alternative to those Entertainment coupon books used nationwide as a fund raiser for schools and other non-profits groups. 

Anne, who is fully aware of the marketing and purchasing power of the mom demographic, told me that "from a practical standpoint, great progress is made and time saved when we share ideas and learn from each other's experiences, (even for things as simple as which eco-friendly products to use)."  She also rightly points out that when you feel you are part of a group - you feel like you are making a bigger difference.

Just like the ladies at the Marin County EcoAlliance get-together featured in the Times, who the writer notes, have been known to drive their gas guzzling SUVs to such meetings.  And if you look close enough at the picture that goes with that article, you'll see that there's a bottle of not-so-green Pellegrino sparkling  water from Italy sitting on the coffee table.  I guess tap water just won't do for guests, even if you are trying to save the planet.

Nobody's perfect.  And Kermit was right.  It's not that easy being green.

Man (& Woman & Children) vs Wild

Just six short hours from now - our family will be heading up to the snowy Sierra Nevada to take part in an activity that my husband and I used to do religiously before we had kids...but haven't done since.  And no, sex is the wrong answer.

We're going skiing. 

I'm fairly certain that once we get up there on top of the mountain - after we've wrestled ourselves and the kids into all our winter gear, paid an arm-and-a-leg for lift tickets, dropped the kids off at ski school and tromped with great effort over and onto the lift -  we'll wonder what in the world took us so long to get back up there.  The breath-taking beauty, the snow-hushed silence, the feeling of peacefulness and well-being --- plus great fun and a lot of leg-burning exercise.  Nothing compares.

I tried to describe what being on a ski mountain is like to the kids, and I ended up saying "I just can't even describe it...but you'll love it."

It was like trying to describe hiking, camping, fishing, kayaking or any other nature activity to an inner city child who can't even imagine such a scenario.  Which, sadly enough, is exactly the direction this country is heading.

A new report, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, finds that there's been a steady decrease in the past 20 years in the number of people who visit state and national parks.  As a result, as the scientists who conducted the research put it, there is "an ongoing and fundamental shift away from nature-based recreation," and toward a more "virtual" appreciation of the outdoors through TV and electronic games.

The team who conducted the study call it "videophilia."  "The replacement of vigorous outdoor activities by sedentary, indoor videophilia has far-reaching consequences for physical and mental health, especially in children," Oliver R.W. Pergams says in a statement to the Associated Press.  "Videophilia has been shown to be a cause of obesity, lack of socialization, attention disorders and poor academic performance."

This trend is really nothing new.  It's been the subject of a number of books, including the best seller by Richard Louv titled Last Child Left in the Woods, the topic of news stories on NPR , USA Today, and NBC Nightly News among others, and it's the focus of an entire movement cleverly called "No Child Left Inside" by The Economist.  It's also an issue near and dear to me, which I've been following, and blogging about, for a few years now.

Although my husband and I have been remiss in not getting the kids out skiing sooner...we are a family that enjoys, revels and yes, sings the praises of the outdoors.  It is our church,and we worship in it as often as we can. 

However, as an urban family -- we all too often see the impact "videophilia" has on our friends and neighbors...the play dates who would rather play video games than go to the park, the classmates who dread the school's annual Outdoor Ed trip to the mountains or the coast, the friends who declare overwhelming boredom in the first five minutes of a hike or swim. 

Living in a place like the Bay Area, we are blessed with the weather and the landscape that encourages constant outdoor activity.  City parks, state parks and national parks surround us.  And you can't argue with the price of a hike. 

The study released today, which was funded by The Nature Conservancy, argues that although Americans are a lot greener than they used to be - that less time spent outdoors means less contact with nature and, eventually, less interest in conservation and parks.  That's an in-congruency that needs to be remedied.

My husband and I having been using the kids as our excuse for not getting back out into the pseudo-wilderness of a ski resort .... which is a shame really because it's an outdoor experience that's unparalleled (pun intended, you skiers).   And while many would argue that ski resorts aren't very environmentally friendly --- at least they get you outdoors in winter and to a place that wouldn't normally be accessible.

There is a case to be made that videophilia and outdoor recreation can live in harmony --- and it comes via two San Francisco skiers who accidentally went off the trail in a blizzard, and got lost in the Sierra back country.  As you can read here in the Reno Gazette Journal , the young men spent two days in the wilderness -- and survived by finding a river and following it,  digging a snow cave, rationing a few Cliff Bars, and staying hydrated by drinking water made from snow melted in a plastic bag.

And how did they learn to do all that stuff?  By watching Discovery Channel's Man vs Wild. 

Good thing that's my son's favorite show.  See you Monday.