According to the Breast Cancer Fund’s Pure Prevention Campaign, only 1 and 10 women with breast cancer have a genetic history of the disease, and science increasingly points to radiation and harmful chemicals in our everyday environment as factors for the high rates of breast cancer. Yet some people are still not aware of the environmental links to this terrible disease. During the month of October, The Breast Cancer Fund is focusing its breast cancer awareness efforts on the importance of prevention by asking a simple question: What do chemicals (like those in some of our food, make-up and cleaning products) have to do with breast cancer? Visit the Pure Prevention Campaign to find the research behind this link and why prevention is so important. Then check out their 5 Tips for Prevention and help spread the word by sending an e-card to share simple, everyday prevention steps with your loved ones.

Take Action! Send a Breast Cancer Prevention E-Card

By Cristina, October 14, 2008  
Filed under: Action Alerts, Bodycare, Do Good

Then action you shall have — earth-loving, socially responsible, conservation-minded action! The Sierra Club, one of America’s foremost environmental organizations has an Action Center that will satisfy your activist urges and it’s fabulous organizational style will allow you to peruse and act on an amazing number of important issues. Bookmark this one, let your fingers do the walking and talking and then give yourself a pat on the back for being so awesome!

Find It Here: Sierra Club Action Center

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By Izzy, August 22, 2008  
Filed under: Do Good, Resources

If you have school-aged kids, then you’ve probably already experienced the joy of THE FUNDRAISER. Wrapping paper, books, candy, cookie dough and holiday cards are just a few of the typical items sold via school fundraisers and while the money is generally for a good cause (what school doesn’t need more money???) wouldn’t it be awesome if the products sold were organic, fair trade and sustainably-produced so as to help the school and do good in the world? Of course it would and that’s why we’re so psyched about Equal Exchange’s school fundraising program. Their eco-friendly program offers coffee, tea, powdered cocoa, hot chocolate, chocolate bars, nuts, dried fruit and more and all fundraising materials are printed on 100% post-consumer waste paper. Equal Exchange is a win-win for schools, farmers and the planet. Who could say no to that?!

Find It Here: Equal Exchange

By Izzy, August 3, 2008  
Filed under: Do Good, Fair Trade, Kids, Organic, Sustainable

The Breast Cancer Fund needs your help to urge House members to include a ban on phthalates in toys in the Consumer Product Safety Commission Reform Act. Phthalates make plastic toys soft and flexible, but when kids put them in their mouths, phthalates can leach from toy to child. And since phthalates have been linked to birth defects, early puberty (a risk factor for breast cancer) and testicular cancer, they have no place in our kids’ toys, as far as these green moms are concerned! If you don’t like the idea of phthalates in your kids’ toys either, then please write to the four members of the committee who are currently undecided or blocking the inclusion of the ban on phthalates in the CPSC Reform Act, and urge them to protect the health of America’s kids by voting yes on this amendment.

Take Action: Support the Ban on Phthalates in Kids’ Toys

By Cristina, July 26, 2008  
Filed under: Do Good

Looking for the perfect Father’s Day gift? If your father (or husband) is a book-lover, then check out the Eco-Libris Green Books Guide for Father’s Day. If you haven’t heard about them yet, Eco-Libris is an awesome company that helps people (like you and I!) balance out the paper waste of the books that we buy by planting trees. For just $5, they will plant 5 trees for you and send you an Eco-Libris sticker that says “one tree was planted for this book” for the sleeve of each book. Given their commitment to sustainable reading, it is no wonder that Eco-Libris has come up with a great list of book recommendations for people looking to give a book this Father’s Day. Whether your dad (or huz) is a green novice or a green guru, whether he’s into green home renovations, green parenting, or even green business strategies, they’ve got a book recommendation for almost any dad.

Find It Here: Eco-Libris Green Books Guide for Father’s Day

Take Action: Get a Sticker/Plant a Tree!

Congratulations to Terrie B., winner of 20 Eco-Libris stickers - the equivalent of planting 20 trees! 

By Cristina, June 11, 2008  
Filed under: Dads, Do Good, Read, Win

At Green Mom Finds, we believe that buying less, in tandem with making eco-conscious shopping decisions, is one way to move towards a greener planet. However, we also believe that advocating for changes in government and corporate policy is critical to gaining the large-scale changes we want to see in product safety and sustainability.

So in a break from our regularly scheduled programming, we bring you a few key actions around issues that we think are particularly important to parents and families. With only a few clicks of the mouse, you can make your opinion heard. Remember, parents are a huge constituency — our voice matters!

• Support Research on Hormone Disruptors! The Environmental Hormone Disruption Research Act would establish a comprehensive research program to better understand the impact of hormone-disrupting pollutants in the environment on the health of women and children. Ask your representative to co-sponsor this critical bill!

• Ban Phthalates from Toys! Phthalates have been linked to a number of serious health problems including birth defects, early puberty (a risk factor for breast cancer) and testicular cancer. So why are they still in our kids toys?? Send a message to Congress to join the European Union and 14 countries around the world to ban phthalates from toys.

• No More BPA in Baby Bottles! Let’s get the BPA out of baby bottles and children’s products once and for all! Moms Rising is trying to get 20,000 petition signatures to call on the CEOs of the leading manufacturers of baby bottles to stop the use of the toxic chemical bisphenol A (BPA). Sign the petition and send the message that we won’t stand for toxic chemicals in our children’s products!

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Keep up with the latest action alerts in our “Take Action” sidebar, updated regularly.

By Cristina, June 10, 2008  
Filed under: Do Good

Sometimes it is possible to do a little good without spending a penny! An e-card is a good way to spread joy and with a “Protect Habitat — FREE!” e-card you can also help save endangered species and the forest land they inhabit. Choose from one of the many well-designed e-cards and in no time you will make someone’s day and help the environment. With each e-card 10 square feet of land will be funded for protection in collaboration with The Rainforest Site and so far, over 40,000 acres have been saved and the number keeps growing. Weren’t you looking for the perfect excuse to contact everyone in your address book?

Find It Here: The Rainforest Site

By Sarah, June 4, 2008  
Filed under: Do Good, Resources

While buying less is always preferable, we’re not completely immune to the joys of shopping. But remember, when you shop, your dollar speaks for you — whether you want it to or not. Enter Co-op America, a program that has tackled the noble task of teaching consumers how to shop responsibly with their Responsible Shopper program. By alerting consumers to a company’s practices you will become better informed and learn which companies are truly environmentally friendly and socially responsible. Take a stroll through the alphabetized list of companies on their site and get the scoop on the good and bad and the ugly of corporate America. If you’re struck with the urge to do something positive, check out the Actions page where you can join different campaigns like the Adopt-A-Supermarket Campaign, the Green Supermarket Pledge or Six Degrees of Exploitation, to name just a few — because as long as your dollars are speaking for you, they ought to be saying something worthwhile, yes?

Find It Here: Responsible Shopper

By Sarah, May 22, 2008  
Filed under: Do Good, Fair Trade, Resources

Happy Earth Day! We’re so glad you decided to stop by because we’ve got lots of earthy Earth Day things for your consideration — like you don’t already have enough to do, right? But seriously, here at Green Mom Finds, we really do try to make every day a good day for the earth so rather than doing something really over the top, we decided the greenest thing we could do is give you even more ways to help our planet and even take some action if you’re feeling extra feisty!

One of the coolest things we’ve recently come across is Ecocho, a search engine portal that allows you to use Yahoo to conduct your internet searches and in return for using their portal, they plant trees! More specifically, for every 1000 searches users make on Ecocho they’ll “offset” up to a ton of greenhouse gases by sponsoring two trees via the advertising on the site. They even have a cool search toolbar that you can install right in your Firefox or IE browser so using Ecocho is extra easy peasy. You can read more details about this fabulous and free service here.

(Google was participating in this undertaking but after a week, they decided to disallow Ecocho to use their search technology. *making my grumpy face at Google* Whatevs… You can still use Yahoo, also a very fine search engine, and do mucho goodo at the same time.)

Find It Here: Ecocho

Want to really make a statement? Pick up your phone and make an Earth Day Call for Climate. It will take just few minutes but if everyone does it, the impact will be staggering. And then? Take a moment to sign this Earth Day Network Sky Petition and let Congress know that we cannot wait any longer for stronger and bolder action against climate change; that they must act NOW. Your great grandchildren will thank you :)

Find It Here: Earth Day Network

If have decided to forgo putting pesticides on your lawn (much safer for kids, pets, water supply and wildlife!) let the world know by planting this cool Pesticide-Free Zone sign in your yard. With the sign you will receive a Pesticide-Free Zone Owners Manual that gives you tips on what it means to be pesticide-free and how to talk to your neighbors and others about pesticides. Imagine the thrill of being a trailblazer! An influencer! A trendsetter! Or even better — that warm fuzzy feeling you’ll get from doing something good.

Find It Here: National Coalition for Pesticide Free Lawns

And finally, a fun Earth Day photo contest put on by our friends over at BlogHers ACT Canada. Take a photo of your child gardening or doing something gardenish, submit it and you’ll be entered to win one of two copies of Whole World. Printed on forest-friendly paper, this beautifully illustrated, full-color hard cover children’s book includes a sing-along CD featuring the music of Fred Penner and eco-tips for preserving the planet. And if it matters, Whole World was recently featured on Oprah’s O List (eco fabulous prizes provided by Green Mom Finds!)

Find It Here: BlogHers ACT Canada

By Izzy, April 21, 2008  
Filed under: Do Good

Check your watch! Today, March 29, 2008 at 8 p.m. (your local time), turn off your lights for one hour and join millions of people around the world for Earth Hour! Created by the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour is a global movement that allows us to show symbolically that we care about our environment and that we are conscious of how the amount of energy we use has an impact. Earth Hour also presents a great opportunity to talk to kids about why it is important to respect the Earth and about little ways we can each make a difference. Showing the world you care has never been easier!

Find It Here: Earth Hour

By Cristina, March 29, 2008  
Filed under: Do Good