by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

Our pets face huge challenges in a toxic world. While we try to drink filtered water and eat organic food, our pets are most often subjected to large amounts of toxins on a daily basis, stressing their immune systems, organs and overall health. Recently reported on Grist, blood and urine samples of cats and dogs showed higher contamination than humans, with evidence of at least 48 chemicals, including pesticides, mercury, fire retardant and those from plastics.

Many toys made with chemicals pose a surprising threat to your pets health, especially to dogs, who chew vigorously and extensively on plastics toys that release toxins into their systems. Although playing fetch with tennis balls and frisbee is fun exercise for your faithful companion, don’t allow prolonged chewing on these items. Better yet, skip the plastics all together and supply your pet with natural or naturally-made toys. Check out GreatGreenPet.com.

While your at it, stay clear of bedding made with petroleum-based or other toxic materials - splurge on the good stuff made from organic fabrics. You’ll be protecting fido and you while supporting a shift to a safer textile industry.

My herding dogs run a lot and end up drinking from creeks and puddles to rehydrate when we’re hiking. Bringing water along on hot days is helpful, but here’s a tip that really works. Before we go out, I offer a big bowl of “baited” water - with organic raw milk or broth in it. My dogs get pre-hydrated this way and are not as likely to indulge in street puddles or creeks.

Organic and higher quality foods are becoming more readily available and hopefully will become less expensive as demands increase.There’s a lot of information available online since the recent recall of contaminated pet foods that caused the death of many pets. Find the food that fits your needs as well as your dogs. I urge a diet of as much human-grade raw food as manageable - I also use high quality products from Halo, Innova and Solid Gold.

They are worth it.

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

Over several years, I’ve been taking big, bold, practical and fun steps out of the death-grip of a consumerist-dependent lifestyle. It feels good and I will not try to tell you why (today), I’ll ask you just to trust me that it does. It has something to do with giving away what you don’t need, wanting what you already have, breaking the ties of conformity that bind us, being creative, being smart and having fun. That’s where SWAPPING comes in.

Thrift-shopping, vintage shops, yard sales and Craig’s List sustain me in most of what I want and need, whether it’s fashion, furniture or recreational supplies. I save a lot of money and always seem to find what I need - always - and am satisfied I’m not dipping into our resource reserves. (And it IS fun - just last month, I reconnected with an old friend when I bought his used bicycle rack on Craig’s list!)

But then there are the books. I know I’m not alone - many people share my bookaholicism. So, I visit used book stores a lot, but get impatient waiting for newly released reads. In fact, I’m perfectly happy to let that oscar-winning film get to dvd, but a book just can’t seem to wait - and Amazon knows it - which my credit card will reveal.

SwapTree is my 12-step program - but in 4 steps or less. At SwapTree.com, you can trade books, cds, dvds and video games easily and for free. Your only cost is shipping your items but wait - keep reading - they make is super-easy because they calculate and send a postage label online - you simple print it out. Even better, when using the media mail service rates, you can usually ship for under $2.50.

How does all this work? You list by UPC code what you have and what you want and you receive a list of everything available that you can trade. This saves you time searching for available items. A book junkie like me also loves to read comments and join discussion groups about certain books and topics, so I get my fix and then some. SwapTree will also provide you with latest staff picks and most wanted lists so you can keep up without having to read the NY Times Book Review each week. Ok, maybe I’ll still do that…

Swapping makes sense - less resources making less stuff, less stuff in landfills and sitting unused on shelves. I’m signing up today and I’ll report back soon.

The Changers are spending the weekend at our local music festival and since Spring has sprung here it has triggered a discussion on sunscreen safety. In other words, should we subject our skin to sunscreen chemicals or risk sun exposure/burn? Fortunately, there’s a third choice - non-chemical sunscreen. This is an important information for all of us, whether you like to hit the beach or just scoot around town by bike or bus. In fact, please don’t even consider waiting for your current tube of sunscreen to run out before making the switch. Read on. It’s big.

Studies show that popular chemical sunscreens may actually increase cancers by virtue of their free-radical generating properties. Commonly used sunscreen chemicals also have strong estrogenic actions that may cause serious hormone disruption in men and women, and may further increase cancer risks. Benzophenone is one of the most powerful free-radical generators known and when it interacts with UV light, it becomes even more powerful. Other common chemicals in sunscreens are estrogen mimickers and can cause feminization of tissues. Frighteningly, studies show that melanoma (and cancers like breast, uterine and prostate) has increased in areas where physicians have heavily promoted the use of sunscreen, such as parts of Australia.

Chemical-free sunscreens hit the market last year, the active ingredient going back to lifeguard basics - titanium dioxide, a naturally-occuring mineral that is an “opacifier” (white pigment) that reflects light and creates a barrier on the skin. Yes, the mineral does leave the skin with a white “glow”, to varying degrees, depending on the spf. I’ve found Dr. Hauschka’s and Aubrey’s brands to be effective without looking mask-like. Burt’s Bees and California Baby have also introduced similar products, the latter said to contain a “micronized” titanium dioxide which is non-whitening.

At least 35% of sunscreens (or anything?) applied to skin is absorbed into the bloodstream. The rest is rinsed off directly into lakes, oceans and our shower drains. Grist reports that up to 6,000 tons of sunscreen wash off in the oceans every year, threatening coral reefs and aquatic plant life and could encourage dormant algae viruses to proliferate.

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

There is hope for the future of commerce. The workforce is beginning to take matters into their own hands - working on terms that fulfill not just a livelihood, but a “right livelihood” that nourishes the soul, the planet and communities. At yesterday’s event (see below) for sustainable entrepreneurs and businesses, it became obvious that we are willing to take risks, to revisit expectations, to shift the idea of “work” to a place that is more healthy and satisfying and hopeful.

There is Green Planet Catering green catering company, Green , who serves only local and organic food, provides biodegradable utensils, composts all job waste and even delivers in a vehicle powered by vegetable diesel - that he makes with his own waste oil. He says his long days don’t feel like work.

Scott Blackwell started the Immaculate Baking Company in his garage with big dreams and a few simple goals: To create top-quality baked goods with fun and unique combinations, to celebrate the creativity of folk art, and to somehow give back. So, he created “Cookies With a Cause”.

Filling an important niche is Southern Energy Management, a husband and wife team, who help businesses and home owners plan energy systems that will minimize energy costs and footprint. They become “team” leaders who provide solutions to commercial and residential energy use.

Trinity Design/Build specializes in historic preservation, renovation and green retrofitting of existing buildings. They work with homeowners, contractors, and architects and their services include everything from conceptual sketches to turn-key design/build.

There’s more of course, and I’ll be highlighting and sharing what I’m learning from these inspired and committed people. For now, remember, we’re shifting, tipping, pushing the iceberg - don’t give up. Change is a’foot.

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

Today we Changers will be participating in an event with UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. Jerry will be moderating a discussion panel of motivated businesses, including the director of U.S. marketing from Burt’s Bees. We will conclude with a workshop on branding for good, where Jerry will explain, “Branding is not rocket science. It’s a cocktail party.”

BASE and The Change present:
Branding for Good
A Panel Discussion on Successful Branding Strategies for Sustainable Entrepreneurs

The Center for Sustainable Enterprise (CSE) at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School was established to help executives and future business leaders understand how social and environmental considerations are changing the competitive landscape of business.

The CSE provides education, research, and outreach to business students, executives, and organizations to help them benefit from the opportunities inherent in sustainable enterprise. Kenan-Flagler Business School is ranked one of the top business schools in the world for education in this arena.

We are looking forward to meeting many inspiring people!

by Tao Oliveto

Green - safe and biodegradable - cleaning products have been around for awhile and continue to flood the market. This is good news for our health and the health of our environment but it also feeds the perception that to live the good, “clean” life, we need to buy lots of stuff in bottles and boxes. In actuality, nature provides most of what we need for clean living - inside and out and top on the list is Apple Cider Vinegar.

Apple Cider Vinegar, made from organic apples and ages in wooden barrels, demonstrates the miracles of fermentation. Inside your body, only a few teaspoons daily (mix with juice or water), it cleanses, detoxifies, balances ph, fights arterial plaque, provides vital minerals like potassium as well as living enzymes. It also aides digestion, regularity and assimilation. Pets and other animals benefit in many of the same ways from small amounts of apple cider vinegar added to food or water. It has also been proven to improve their resistance to fleas and biting flies.

On the outside, it conditions hair, helps heal skin irritations and cold sores, controls dandruff and athletes foot, soothes sore muscles and is a great deodorant. You can also use it as a mouth wash.

For household use, Apple Cider vinegar disinfects all surfaces, kills mold, bacteria and germs while being completely safe to use without gloves or ventilation. Mix a small amount with water and use it to clean windows without streaking. It can be combined safely with any other ingredient - adding salt enhances it’s disinfectant power. Use it regularly in drains with baking soda in to prevent build-up and clogs.

Shelves and cupboards full of cleaning products is so 1950’s. Go back to basics and back to nature with clean and green Apple Cider Vinegar. Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar is organic, unpasteurized, unfiltered and raw - tells all here.

by Tao Oliveto

Solar panels already in place on Town Hall, council members in Woodstock, NY, passed a resolution to become the first American community to become carbon nuetral within a decade (as reported by correspondent, William Kemble on DailyFreeman.com). The resolution, approved unanimously by the Town Board in 2007, will allow a task force to pursue this goals by increasing recycling, implementing green building standards, establishing land-use policies to reduce sprawl, tree-planting for shade, promoting renewable energy sources, such as methane and wind and promoting fuel efficiency with an anti-idling message.

Locals of this forwarding-thinking town will be encouraged - through tax and other incentives - to change light bulbs, drive less, recycle more and improve energy efficiency on homes. Community by community, individuals and groups, it’s a familiar movement that is available to us at this kind of grassroots level.

If it all sounds familiar, take a look back to the revolution of the Sixties. After all, the hippies may have temporarily lost the battle to runaway consumerism, but they got plenty of things right. As Mark Morford points out in his San Francisco Chronicle column,

“All this hot enthusiasm for healing the planet and eating whole foods and avoiding chemicals and working with nature and developing the self? Came from the hippies. Alternative health? Hippies. Green cotton? Hippies. Reclaimed wood? Recycling? Humane treatment of animals? Medical pot? Alternative energy? Natural childbirth? Non-GMO seeds? It came from the granola types (who, of course, absorbed much of it from ancient cultures), from the alternative worldviews, from the underground and the sidelines and from far off the grid…”

Peace and Love (repeat when necessary).

by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

Not surprisingly, in public opinion surveys, ‘women express higher levels of environmental concern than men, Riley Dunlap, a professor of sociology at Oklahoma State University’, as reported in NY Times last month. Motherhood can and does stir up feelings about protecting and nurturing offspring, and that includes protecting the environment around them, the food they eat, the air they breathe, their future on the planet.

Granted, things seemed to backslide when mothers decided to trust television commercials before their instincts. Like many kids, I grew up with Tide, Windex, Velveeta and Jello. (More recently and more shocking, I witnessed doting new parents holding a can of Coca-cola to the lips of an infant.)

But moms are waking up and when they talk, the world - and the market - listens. EcoMoms Alliance is a growing organization with 11,000 members from all over the world, dedicated to greening motherly ways and more. Sign on with EcoMoms and you are immediately asked to take 10 First Steps for A Sustainable Future - a challenge which includes changing lightbulbs, changing your driving habits and composting. But don’t expect to stop there. These Earth Mothers talk the walk - from local living, smaller cars, smaller houses, clothing swaps, natural cleaning products and water reuse. The mission is to share, support, teach and learn - not just with each other, but within schools, neighborhoods, communities and beyond.

The organization, founded and led by Kimberly Danek Pinkson, includes an extensive and impressive team, including experts in areas of environmental medicine, waste management, eco-gardening and more. Not just for the SUV-driving soccer moms, the Alliance reaches far and wide with educational outreach programs, campaigns and training for a new generation of women leaders. With celebrity members like Robin Wright Penn and corporate sponsors, Native Energy, Method and Sustainable Websites (to name just a few), EcoMoms Alliance is poised and ready to join the mainstream and be a force for good.