On thing I know is that kids love flashlights, or torches, as they say in England. They like to play with them, especially under the sheets, in the dark. The regular flashlights we’ve had throughout the years have been victims of my kids abuse, because when one of my kids get their hands on them, they either get misplaced or left turned on. Not good for when there’s a sudden power outage or when the plumber needs to look under the sink. Nor is it good for the environment when you think of how many used batteries there are that go in landfills and are not disposed of properly.

So when I found the Powerplus Penguin, I was thrilled to bits, and so were my kids. Firstly, its not always that you find an eco-friendly toy that REALLY appeals to older kids, second, this was very good value (most eco-toys are NOT cheap), and third, it also has a great practical function and won’t just sit there in the playroom after they’ve played with it a few times.

This cute little penguin has no need, I repeat, no need for batteries. It’s a clever invention from the U.K., which is charged by simply pumping the wings (a light squeeze from your child). When charged, the ultra bright LED has a lighting distance of twenty meters which is just right for kids purposes.

Although I bought it for my 7-year-old girl (the packaging said it was recommended for kids 6 and above), my 4-year-old eyed it enviously (he said it was Pablo from the Backyardigans, his favorite, which meant it was for HIM) and definitely wouldn’t have much trouble using it too. Oh, and the packaging was fantastic too – made from attractive recycled materials, it was really simple and easy to open, without all that extra awful plastic, sharp bits and twisty metal things you find with most toys.

You can purchase the penguin at Nigel’s Eco Store for £5.99, but you can find it a little cheaper at other shops if you search.

In changing your ways to greener living, the key thing to remember is:

“little things mean a lot”

Meaning, you don’t have to go out marching in Washington or move your family to a yurt in the wilderness to save the earth.

Take your weekly trips to the grocery store, for instance. Just by being aware of what you buy can make loads of difference. For me, the main thing I’ve done in my home is to switch the cleaning supplies I use from the nose-burning, toxic, chemical-laden stuff to non-toxic, bio degradable brands. It was the smell that actually bothered me the most (especially when I was pregnant), so switching to the lovely natural stuff I use now as a surface cleaner, which uses orange oil, is such a great thing.

A small local company in my area makes most of the stuff I buy now (more points for saving on transport fuel) , but even the bigger guys are starting natural, eco-friendly lines now, like Clorox Green Works, which launched early this year. Did you know they bought Burts Bees too?

Here’s a part of a good article I found which should help you in the grocery. Read and heed.

Buy local. When food doesn’t have to travel far, it requires less packaging materials, fewer preservatives and often fewer pesticides. Not only are these processes bad for the environment but they also take away from the taste of the food. Another benefit to buying locally grown food is the shorter distances the produce needs to travel, which results in less damaging greenhouse gases.

Buy environmentally friendly products. Many companies are trying to be more environmentally conscious so look for brands that offer natural products in recycled packages.

Take fewer trips. Car emissions continue to be a major contributor to greenhouse gasses in Canada making carpooling and fewer trips to the grocery store a must. Making a grocery list in advance can help cut down on trips to the store for one-off forgotten items. Organizing a grocery store carpool with friends or neighbours is also a fun way to spend time with people while reducing the number of cars on the road.

Cut down on plastic bags. Canadians use approximately 10 billion plastic bags each year. Reducing that number means bringing reusable grocery bags with you to the store. If you don’t already have some, most stores have their own brand of reusable bags you can purchase while you are there. Another alternative is to use cardboard boxes to carry your groceries or paper bags that can be recycled.

Effects Of Cell Phone Radiation With Green Planet Armour

For years, my spouse, an anti-technology dinosaur, has been preaching the danger of cellphones. He’s always owned one though (pre-paid), rather begrudgingly, never turning it on unless absolutely necessary, much to my annoyance. Well, the other day he told me it was time I did some research on the dangers of cellphones and do a post on it on YURTO as he reckoned most people use their cellphones at home even if it was invented for use outside of the home.

What I found was basically that cellphones emitted radiation, which when given in large doses, is indeed dangerous. In fact, I read this very disturbing article in the UK Telegraph, wherein a noted brain specialist says that “mobile phones are more dangerous than smoking” and was the reason for the rise in brain tumors.

Mobile phones could kill far more people than smoking or asbestos, a study by an award-winning cancer expert has concluded. He says people should avoid using them wherever possible and that governments and the mobile phone industry must take “immediate steps” to reduce exposure to their radiation.

The study, by Dr Vini Khurana, is the most devastating indictment yet published of the health risks.

It draws on growing evidence – exclusively reported in the IoS in October – that using handsets for 10 years or more can double the risk of brain cancer. Cancers take at least a decade to develop, invalidating official safety assurances based on earlier studies which included few, if any, people who had used the phones for that long.

Obviously, the mobile phone people has dismissed the professor’s claims as baloney, and a large study in the UK has shown little evidence, BUT it also said:

Professor Challis, emeritus professor of physics at the University of Nottingham, said: “It all sounds pretty reassuring and that is good. But we cannot rule out the possibility that cancer could appear in a few years. The epidemiological evidence is not good enough and most cancers take longer than 10 years to develop.

So I am inclined to agree with hubby, but am not quite prepared to give up my phone (what if there was an emergency with the kids while I was out?). Luckily, there is a company addressing this, and their product is something we should all get, short of giving up your portable.

Green Planet Armour is a nifty little product you can easily connect to your electronic device which uses nano technology to combat the ill effects of radiation. Check out their website today.

Enter “Eco Balls”, amazing little balls which, when thrown into your wash, do all the work your regular soap does (and claim to kill bacteria too) without any chemicals, detergents and the like. When you work out what you save on soap, the savings are enormous, with something like 6 cents a load with the balls, to approx. 80 cents with detergent, more depending on what brand you buy. You can buy kits which come with refills, stain remover (it doesn’t do that great with heavy stains) as well as dryer balls for “fabric softer” role.

So does it really work? While I wait for my order to arrive, I found a good review worth checking out. The verdict? Some liked it, others were disappointed with its cleaning power. There was also one complaint about how the ball came apart and broke her washing machine. Either way, its a product I think worth trying out for yourself -because I think eliminating detergents would be a great thing.

But did you know that forests are being affected negatively because of the tissue paper industry? (Of course you cannot discount other paper products.) I just read a report by the National Resources Defense Council and this is what it contained.

If every household in the United States replaced just one box of virgin fiber facial tissues (175 sheets) with 100% recycled ones, we could save 163,000 trees.

That’s a LOT of trees. It’s hard to imagine using “bad” facial tissues not made of virgin fiber, though. How about toilet paper?

If every household in the United States replaced just one roll of virgin fiber toilet paper (500 sheets) with 100% recycled ones, we could save 423,900 trees.

Okay, that’s a much higher figure! I guess I can deal with non-virgin fiber toilet paper much easier. And how about kitchen paper towels?

If every household in the United States replaced just one roll of virgin fiber paper towels (70 sheets) with 100% recycled ones, we could save 544,000 trees.

Here is my suggestion: more than using kitchen towels made of recycled paper, maybe we can start using cloth rags every now and then?

The fact is that online shopping involves so much less energy than normal shopping. For example, if you look at the operations that are involved in merchandising, traditional retail stores use up a lot of resources; more storage space, more overhead expenses, more manpower. As compared to this, e-commerce businesses use up about 1/16th of the energy and resources. Add up the number of e-commerce businesses in existence and you will realize just how much better for the earth this is!

Now how about the fuel that you use going to the mall? You might be thinking that the shipping involved in online shopping would use up a lot of fuel as well. The thing is that you actually use up more fuel driving to the mall than ground shipping or overnight air shipping. This drive to the mall does not even include driving around looking for a parking space or moving from one mall to the next. Now I bet you didn’t really know that, did you?

In any case, there are also more online shops that offer various options that will help you lessen your carbon footprint. That’s the good news. Go ahead, shop online all you want.

One of the mantras in my household is “Wash your hands please”. When the kids get home from school, before mealtimes, before cooking, after playing, after touching the pets and so on. But when you’re out of the house, using water and soap obviously isn’t the most convenient thing. And the solution a lot of people have been using come in the form of antibacterial gels, which are cheap, plentiful and found just about anywhere. The problem with it though, is that terrible ingredient, triclosan, an antibacterial agent found in a lot of products nowadays, from soap to socks! But the fact remains: Triclosan is no better than plain soap.

Several months ago, I read a very disturbing article by a Mom, aptly called: “Cancer or Germs? I’ll Take the Germs!”. She took the time out to do research on the stuff (the things a Mom will do!- bravo) and it made me ban triclosan from my household forever – why? because among other nasties, it causes cancer and is bad for the environment. Enough said. If you want to know more about it, or what products contain it, please go here.

Okay. So we know antibacterial gels with triclosan are bad, but that doesn’t really solve our problem about killing germs while we are on the go. Mind you, soaps have it too, so be wary and always read labels. Well, the best solution is to buy the natural stuff (like Clean Well), or better yet, make it yourself.

Here are some ideas:

Grapefruit seed extract: diluted with distilled water, makes a great all-around germ-killing spray for hands, air, surfaces and even wounds!

Vodka and essential oil: Mixing vodka, essential oil (like lavender) and distilled water, is another easy and cheap alternative. Put it in a spray bottle and keep it handy.

Essential oils and water: Simple yet effective, take your favourite essential oil and mix it with water to create a very natural antibacterial. The most potent are: cinnamon, cloves, verbena, lavender, angelice, juniper, sandal, cedar, thyme and lemon.

The Romantic Dinner
Staying home and cooking a romantic candlelight dinner for your sweetheart is the obvious Earth-friendly choice, not only because you can choose organic ingredients and get creative like this delicious looking vegetarian ravioli dish pictured above, but energy is also saved by not needing the car and of course, turning the lights down. But if you have young kids like us, a quiet romantic dinner at home is a near impossibility, so we have no choice but to brave the Valentines crowds and go out. Yes, you can make some good choices here to by not travelling too far, and choosing an eco-friendly restaurant (try and google it – you’ll be surprised how many there are!). Failing that, try and find a restaurant which serves organic produce, recycles, uses energy efficient lighting and so on. Oh, and and make sure you toast with organic bubbly too.

Sweets (and other gifts) For Your Sweet
Organic, fair trade chocolates are the way to go here, and the choices are huge. For more serious presents of the “girls best friend” variety, the green minded can go for vintage jewelry, which really just means recycled! Perhaps Grandma has some pieces you could revamp? Conflict-free diamonds is another good option, and the Canadians are doing it pretty well (no sign of Leonardo di Caprio here). Brilliant Earth, for example, is one company with a conscience who manufactures and sells diamonds with the mission of improving the lives of struggling communities in the diamond trade.

Yes, that romantic and (sometimes dreaded) holiday is upon us again, when restaurants, candy and flower shops get ready for a very profitable day! Not that there’s anything wrong with that, who wouldn’t want to dress up and go to a fancy restaurant for dinner rather than slave away at home? Who wouldn’t like to receive a big bouquet of fresh flowers or a box of sweets? Well, for the romantic-at-heart, you don’t have to give up your traditional Valentines treats to keep green.

Simply follow some of these tips below:

The Card
Instead of buying a store-bought Valentines card, the most obvious choice is an E-card, which is free (or very cheap), immediate and doesn’t use any paper or delivery energy. If you must go for the paper variety, opt for one that uses recycled paper. Tiny Prints has some adorable ones, which are easily ordered online. So while I’m sending my husband an e-card this year, I’ll get the kids to use some of our leftover computer paper, draw, paint and embellish, and voila!, Dad and Grandma have lovely keepsake cards.

The Flowers
Not that I’ll be sending flowers to anyone (this is actually a hint to my husband), but nowadays one can get green flowers. Florists who specialize in this will have their products come with special certified stamps, like Sierra Eco, which lets you give twice through fair trade or Veriflora. If you don’t have a green florist in your area, here are some key questions to ask your florist or vendor:

Where do these flowers come from?
Were pesticides used?
Do you know who were the workers involved? Were there child labourers involved?

Next: The Romantic Dinner and Sweets for your Sweet

If you still haven’t gotten your little ones the “big” Christmas present from the man in the big red suit, or from you and Dad, here a wonderful one I wish I did get this year (unfortunately I’m an early shopper when it comes to Christmas – but this will definitely be on my list next year). Not like your ordinary doll’s house, this Eco House is probably one of the best ways you can teach your kids, through play – about having a sustainable home.

Dolls and kids can add the rewards of saving energy to pretend-play fun when they set up housekeeping in this ecologically friendly home that includes a windmill, rain barrel, solar panels, recycling bins, shower, and motor bike.

A great way to introduce an awareness of “green” living, the house includes handsome energy- and resource-saving furnishings, too. Made of renewable rubber wood and recycled wood, natch.

Measuring approx. 22″ x 16-1/2″ x 19-3/4″, you’ll have to purchase the family and pets separately, which are on sale now at HearthSong, one of my favourite online toy shops which sell not only quality, but safe toys.