Eco-Mamas

The Story of Stuff---Must See!

To view the rest of this incredible video with Annie Leonard, visit www.StoryofStuff.com.

The Devil Wears Lip Balm

Who am I to scorn Treehugger for selling out to Discovery or look down my nose at Bear Naked and Kashi giving in to Kellogg? After all, I'm only a working mother of two whose hard-earned money helped fatten their sacrificial lamb.

Sure I was bummed that I could no longer purchase my favorite cereal or Toms of Maine feeling good about voting for a greener economy with my dollars, but Clorox purchasing Burts Bees for $913 million in November has officially tipped my needle from mild disappointment to despair.

And just to add insult to injury, this article in the  New York Times reports that Clorox plans to turn Burt's Bees into a mainstream American brand that's sold in big-box stores like Wal-Mart.

I don't know about you, but when I find a good brand, a brand that is what it says it is and does what it says it does...and is good for the planet, I stick to it like glue. But as Christine Arena talks about in this video from Re:VisionTV, we see that a lack of transparency in large corporations allows for toxic products to remain on the shelves.

That's what worries me about these mergers...Instead of the authetically green companies rising to the top on their own, they're being taken over by the very corporations who got the planet in the state it's in.

Guilt-Free Cup 'O Joe

Like most, I've gotta have that first cup (or two) of morning Joe. I buy organic and fair trade whenever I can, but I've recently learned that buying Certified Shade Grown coffee helps conserve vital rainforest habitat for the birds that we rely on for help pollinating our food supply (and not to mention the rainforest is our greatest defense against global warming).

According to experts with the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center's Coffee Corner, an exploding demand for coffee has led to the increased production of sun-grown coffee, which grows more quickly and produces higher yield. The problem is that sun-grown coffee is usually grown where shade (or forest) plantations used to exist. Now farmers must use high levels of fertilizers that lead to soil damage and the destruction of forest as a long-term resource for native peoples and wildlife.

There are 150 species of migratory bird species that rely on tropical forest canopy for survival, and studies show that the diversity of migratory birds plummets when coffee plantations are converted from shade to sun. When buying coffee, check the label or ask your grocer (Trader Joes and Whole Foods are the two places I've found it) for certified shade grown coffee and sit back and relax.