Lunch Bunch

as we pack up the beach chairs and umbrellas to gear up for the year ahead, school supplies, school clothes and new lunch boxes are on the list. here's a few "green" lunch boxes made with safe materials, trash free and keep your kid's food cozy and delish (providing you make something they will eat).

gogreenlunchbox.com

oots at amazon.com

herobags.com

kidskonserve.com

planetbox.com

goodbyn.com

the lesson: this is a very active way in which your kids can feel like they are participating in helping the earth. they can carry their lunch boxes with pride when they know it is made in a healthy way and keeps trash and plastic out of the landfills and oceans.

***added bonus: maybe they will attempt to eat what's in it on order to show it off.

You Are What You Eat

as if we don't already have enough on our plate (wink), i thought it would be nice to try revamping our family meals.

ORGANIC FOOD and why it's important:

children are 4 times more susceptible to pesticides and other toxins than adults. many approved chemicals were registered long before research linked them to cancer and other diseases.

when these chemicals are used in farming, they are not only ON the food, but they are in the air and the run off pollutes our water supply (which we will eventually intake as well).

in non organic farming, more energy is used to produce synthetic fertilizers than is used to till and harvest ALL of the farms in the U.S.

organic produce is far superior in nutrients and vitamins.

there are lots of political reasons like the fact that our taxes are paying for hazardous waste to clean up environmental damage caused by non organic farms BUT

one of the best reasons is because it TASTES SO MUCH BETTER!!!

i found this information and a ton more like it at mmmunch.

this amazing "wholesome nutritional" website (from 2 healthy moms) offers recipes, tips for picky eaters, pantry make-overs and cooking classes for parents. sign up on their website for "tasty tidbits". yummy.

Marco Polo

hopefully your summer has had some beach time, or at the very least, pool time. as you and your family enjoy the buoyant joys of swimming and splashing, remember the dolphins.

makers of THE COVE, a new film by ric o'barry (trainer of FLIPPER), ask us to help save the dolphins. each year in a small village in japan, over 20,000 dolphins are slaughtered and their meat is sold as "whale meat". most japanese people don't know of this injustice.

this movie isn't for the kids but the subject of helping to save these amazing mammals is.

easy things we can do to help is:

1.) choose safe seafood.

2.) write to our leaders to help get the word out in japan.

3.) teach our kids to be kind to all living creatures.

here's a link to write to japanese ambassador fujisaki

*** amazing fact, "of all the wild animals on earth, only dolphins have been known to come to a human's rescue. the primary enemy of a dolphin is humankind".