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April
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lime
green
is a good start as stories for this month?s issue began rolling in in honor of earth day (april 22), i was amazed to find there is more to being environmentally perceptive than sipping green tea in a ceramic cup (got it?no styrofoam). green has taken on a whole new meaning, no longer just used as a descriptive adjective, but also as a verb--an action word--when used to support the environment. i admit, i am a newbie at all this but where it makes sense, i do adopt newer and more co-friendly practices at home and in the office. at my house we have left trees in place to create oxygen; we run energy-efficient air conditioner units; i have recycle bins as big as trash cans; we don?t buy products in aerosol cans; the cat litter is biodegradable; and of course, i put the used cat litter in plastic bags to keep from polluting the sewer system. but i do probably own three water-wasting toilets and have started replacing incandescent light bulbs with halogen ones. i look around at our workplace, where printing takes on a non-green hue. so, i called the printer to determine the maga - zine?s eco-rating. i was reassured that we use only recyclable paper, soy-based inks, and we don?t use foils, laminates or ad - hesives or glue that inhibit recycling. i?m feeling greener already. our workplace has recycle bins for paper, and we offer pa - per-less invoicing but going totally paperless is just not gonna? fly around here. i still like books for how-to?s, and proofreading on a printed page. going paperless is just not practical; it?s like a kitchen without paper towels. as parents, we don?t have to look further than our children?s floors to see an opportunity to be the next future green ma - chine. we see playthings--dolls, rubber duckies, tea sets, you name it, ? plastics are so com
plex that it is no wonder that consumers have trouble telling one from another. even words on the label like ?natural? and ?organic,? are hard to under - stand because they too, may not be environmentally friendly as they claim to be. healthy stuff recently tested products from the big three ?dollar? stores and found that 49 percent of their products tested contained two or more hazardous chemicals, and that two-thirds of the mardi gras beads tested contained lead that according to the u.s. consumer product safety commission exceeded the federal safety limit for lead in children?s products. i know that one person can?t make all the changes needed in order to change the environment; however, we do what we can. you may be minty-green or like most of us just barely a swampy-green hue. i consider myself a lime green. but i think kermit the frog, my favorite amphibian, got it right when he said, ?it?s not easy being green,? but being lime green is a good start for me. p.s. if you?re not sure if a toy contains vinyl/pvc, try looking it up on healthytoys.org a mother?s voice / p u b l i s h e r ? s n o t e stay connected enter to win free goodies and be the first to know what's going on around town at brparents
.com the weekender receive the latest news and trends right in your inbox. subscribe at brparents.com facebook facebook.com/ batonrougeparents talk to me amy@brparents.com brpm app download our free app at google play or in the apple app store amy foreman-plaisance publisher/editor in chief 12 brparents.com | april 2016
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