The following is a guest post by Erin.  If you would like to guest post for TheGreenists.com, e-mail courtney at thegreenists dot com.

When volunteering at my daughter’s school, I’ve become increasingly disturbed by the contents of her classmates’ lunchboxes.   Recently, my kid was the ONLY child in her class to bring a veggie in her lunch, and one of only two children to bring water to drink.  Everyone else had an assortment of pre-packaged processed foods plus a “juice” box of some sort.  What gives?!?

I get it: we parents are a busy lot.  Family, work, school, extracurriculars, chores, etc. require more and more of a time commitment.  Healthy eating and sensible meal planning have taken a backseat, and the convenience of pre-packaged grocery store offerings is too much for many folks to resist.

The trouble with all of this convenience food is that while it may be fun and easy to serve, it is unhealthy for both our children and our planet. Read more…

Image credit: Herbert Proepper/AP

The Obama administration has given the green light for an offshore wind farm to be built off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Once built, 130 wind turbines will stand in the water and harness the power generated by the stiff winds coming into the coast, tapping a clean, reliable, renewable energy source.

But is this a good idea or a bad idea, environmentally speaking? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons. Read more…

Did you know that most brands of makeup and skin care products contain toxic ingredients that can cause cancer, reproductive problems, disruption of the endocrine system, allergies, and a whole mess of other nasty problems? It’s true. All it takes is a little experimenting with the Cosmetic Safety Database to see how many parabens, phthalates, formaldehyde, and other icky ingredients are found in the beauty products you see in corner drugstores. Cosmetics are not as heavily regulated in the United States as they are in Europe, which means if you care about your health, you should be careful and read those labels before rubbing anything on your skin.

Fortunately, there are some responsible and eco-friendly beauty experts out there who are producing makeup and skin care lines that are safe and make us beautiful. One such beauty expert is Ava Anderson, who has launched a non-toxic skin care line that scores a big fat zero in the Cosmetic Safety Database’s toxicity scale. That means nearly every one of her products is completely safe for everyday use, so your skin can be healthy and glowing without the use of nasty chemicals.

Oh, and did I mention that Ava is only 15 years old? That’s right — this high-schooler recognized the need for non-toxic beauty products and did something about it. I can say with absolute certainty that I was nowhere near that cool when I was 15. (Heck, I’m still not that cool.) Read more…

Please welcome today’s guest poster, Mudnessa, who blogs at mudpuddle.

I recently took an older pair of wide-legged jeans and made them into skinny jeans.  Let me first state that I am a novice sewer, so if you have a sewing machine and have ever successfully used it, you should be able to accomplish this yourself. I did this for numerous reasons, mostly because I hate shopping for jeans. I also hate spending a ton of money on a pair and having to go home and basically deconstruct them to make them fit to my liking. Read more…

What do you think?

I have to admit: I’m not a huge fan of Earth Day. It’s not that I’m against it, exactly, because I’m really all for any excuse to get people talking about ways to be better citizens of the only planet we’ve ever so much as sniffed. I can’t pinpoint precisely what it is that bothers me about Earth Day, but I do know this: I’m loathe to acknowledge it. As in, if I were reading this paragraph out loud, I would pause before every utterance of Earth Day, make a face like the godawful fermented mutton smell of our neighbor’s cooking has just wafted through an open window, and sound out the words Earth and Day like I’m learning a phrase for the first time in Esperanto, or possibly Klingon. I get tripped up the same way with words like hiking (fancy, unnecessary word for walking), jogging (fancy, unnecessary word for running) and Lady Gaga (I just don’t think a grown man should say things like that. Also, Goo Goo Dolls.) Read more…

Please welcome today’s guest poster, Tara, who blogs at Go Green Street. If you would like to write a guest post for The Greenists, e-mail courtney at thegreenists dot com.

Fruits and vegetables aren’t only good for you, they are good for farmers and local workers as well. There’s a new study, done by Iowa State University’s Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, and it found that increased fruit/vegetable farming in the northern part of the Midwestern U.S. can increase jobs and productivity when compared with an equivalent acreage of soybeans or corn. Read more…

The following is a guest post from Steven Matthews.  If you’d like to guest post at The Greenists, e-mail Courtney at TheGreenists dot com for more information.

Nowadays, everyone wants to go a little “green,” especially in their homes.  Not only does greening your home help the environment, but it also saves you money in the process.  “Green” homes are in demand now more than ever, so when it’s time to sell your home a more energy efficient choice is always better for buyers.

Whenever a client of mine is getting ready to sell their home, I tell them to take some simple steps to make their home more eco-friendly.  It will make the home more attractive for perspective buyers.  Alternately, when a client of mine buys a home, I give them simple tips to make their home more eco-friendly, which can save them a lot of money over the years in utility bills.

Below are a few tips that you can take to be a little more green at home: Read more…

One of my favorite aspects of spring is when it’s easy to start picking up local produce making it that much easier to eat locally! In warmer climates it’s easier to eat completely locally year round. For those of us who live in cooler climates it is a bit more difficult, especially when it comes to fruits and vegetables. The season varies depending on where you live, but right now you can start finding greens, broccoli, cabbage, peas, various herbs and in some places you can start finding two of my favorite earlier in the season gems, asparagus and strawberries!

Read more…