The Green Moms Carnival On Coal

This months Green Moms Carnival is about coal. This is an issue I have written about before, it's one that is very important to me. There is coal mining about 130 miles from me in the McAlester area. Hearing the stories from the people who live around the mining is just heart breaking. And the mining here in Oklahoma is nothing like the mining in the Appalachian mountains. We so often forget the people that are being harmed by our use of coal.

Here is a video of one of the people living in the town of Bokoshe, Oklahoma where coal ash is dumped.




The coal ash she is talking about can contain arsenic, barium, beryllium, boron, cadmium, chromium, thallium, selenium, molybdenum, mercury, and many other toxins. That is what she is cleaning off her windows and breathing in everyday.

Coal ash can also spill and create a major disaster like the Tennessee spill back in December of 2008. About 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash spilled over Tennessee. It's not an easy spill to clean up either. Treehugger.com reported this past December that the clean up is far from over.

Mountaintop coal removal is another problem with coal. The EPA defines mountaintop coal removal mining as- “Mountaintop removal/valley fill is a mining practice where the tops of mountains are removed, exposing the seams of coal. Mountaintop removal can involve removing 500 feet or more of the summit to get at buried seams of coal. The earth from the mountaintop is then dumped in the neighboring valleys.”

The coal companies want you to believe they can make clean coal but no matter if they truly can capture the C02 at the plants or not, coal will always be dirty. The mining of the coal no matter what plant it goes go is harmful for us and the environment. People are hurting and even dying for our power. Coal can not continue to supply more than half of our power!    

To help save our mountains and end mountaintop removal coal mining visit ILoveMountains.org and to learn more about the coal ash in Bokoshe, Oklahoma visit Coalfighter on YouTube. 

And here is what the other Green Moms have to say about coal:

Lynn at Organic Mania talks about not really knowing much about coal before this carnival. I think this is where most Americans find themselves, it was long ago I was the same.

Karen at Best of Mother Earth says "A bit like my wish for fast food restaurants to be shut down.  Ain’t happening. I wish I could feel optimistic about this one. I don’t." I sadly agree. She also shares some of coals history and why clean coal isn't really clean.

Diane at The Big Green Purse talks about Obama's State of the Union address and why clean coal and nukes shouldn't be on the table for helping our energy problems.

Green Bean over at The Green Phone Booth talks about reading Lost Mountain and about mountaintop removal coal mining and what it's doing to Appalachia.


Deanna at Crunchy Chicken talks about one of the many ways the coal industry is working to make sure everyone thinks coal is wonderful, this time their target is kids.

Hope you have learned a bit about coal from the Green Moms. Making people aware of the problem is the first and biggest step.

A Wake-Up Story

I'm not a parent but for many people becoming a parents is the start of their journey to being greener. It's become a scary world out there, it's hard to know what to buy and what not to buy so many just seem to give up. Companies also spend tons of money trying to make you believe their products are safe but how do you know if they are??

This video is a wake-up call to all of us. Many may think us tree huggers just live our lives this way to save the planet but the planet will be fine, it's us that will not be. I live my life less toxic for my health and the health of those around me. So take a moment and watch this video from Healthy Child Healthy World and then pass it on to your friends and family. Let's make the world a safe place for kids once again!

Product Review: Lunapads

First off let my warn my male readers you may want to skip this post, feel free to send it on to the women in your life. :)

Periods are a pain even without thinking of all the waste but it's something you must think about if trying to be more sustainable. Did you know that the average woman will use 15,000 pads or tampons in a lifetime? That's a lot of waste.

And what's in those tampons and pads anyway? They are often bleached using chlorine bleach which releases dioxin, which is a pollutant and possible carcinogen. The cotton has pesticides and there are a number of other issues both of your health and the environments which come from disposable menstrual products.

There are other options though. For awhile now I have been using Natracare Organic All Cotton Tampons, they are made with organic cotton and free of all the nasty stuff you find in normal tampons. I also make sure to get the ones without applicators to cut down on waste. I also use Natracare Organic panty liners. None of this helps much for the waste, just the toxic factor.

Thanks to Lunapads I have reduced my impact some. If you haven't heard of Lunapads they make reusable menstrual products. This is something that a lot of people aren't quite sure about. To be honest I was a bit unsure at first but I love them now!! They are totally sanitary, easy to clean and easy to use.

Here is a video sharing the story of Lunapads.





I got the chance to try out the Sample Pack and some of their new organic panties. After trying these out I can honestly say I would love to get more. It's so nice to not have the uncomfortable feel of plastic all day. I have had no issues with them at all.

The cost may seem high for these products but they should last you 3-5 years at least! Wouldn't it be nice to only have to buy menstrual products every 5 years?

If the pads and panties aren't your style Lunapads also sells Diva Cups. I have not tried these but many women swear by them. Start out with the Sample Pack and see what you think, I bet you will be surprised how much you like them.


Here ya go FTC: I was not paid for this review. I was given sample products or the review but these are my honest views.

Go Green Without Going Broke

A common reason people give for not "going green" is the cost. But does it really cost that much? It shouldn't and Erin over at The Conscious Shopper has started a challenge to help you go green this year without going broke! She makes it easy and affordable for us all.

The challenges are posted on her blog each Monday and she gives three levels so no matter where you are in your green journey you can do the challenges. You can also join in on her Facebook group for the challenge.

And if that isn't enough to get you to go check it out she is doing a giveaway to help out right now. The giveaway is for Ecobags' produce bags.

So go check out the challenges and the giveaway. You can join the older challenges as well as the current one. 

Book Review: Smart Mama's Green Guide

Smart Mama's Green Guide: Simple Steps to Reduce Your Child's Toxic Chemical Exposure by Jennifer Taggart is a valuable resource for parents and those just wanting to reduce the toxins in your life. While the topics are often scary, like learning there maybe lead in your kids toys, Jennifer does a good job not getting you too worried and giving you options to fix the problems. Jennifer knows we can't do it all so she helps to let you know what is most important and cheaper ways to fix problems.



You can see the rest of the review over at The Blogging Bookworm.

Ice Storm 2010

This has been a rather long week. I haven't done the best job staying off my computer as my asthma has been really bad so I have spent a lot of time on the sofa and in bed. Plus breathing treatments are boring and take around 30 minutes so I have been watching movies and tv shows to make the time pass.

We also had an ice storm come in on Thursday. We were very lucky to not use power (at least yet). Many others have. The trees look terrible and many will likely have to be cut down due to the damage. We haven't lost full trees but we will lose a lot of branches and maybe some rose bushes.

Last night my asthma go so bad I had to go to the ER to get two steroid shots. I'm feeling better now and have some oral steroid to take and still doing my breathing treatments. The steroids have me very sore but I will take that over not breathing lol.

All of this is why you haven't seen me much. I wish it was because I was doing such an awesome job unplugging haha. Hope everyone else is safe and warm!

I Need To Unplug

I just watch No Impact Man (review will come later) and the thing that hit me the most is the crazy amount of time I spend on my laptop. I don't think I even want to know how many hours I'm on this thing. My husband joked tonight that we should have gotten me a portable dvd player because I spend a lot of time using my laptop as a tv and dvd player.

I say I don't have time to read, crochet, do paper crafts, etc.. but how much more time could I have if I just turned off my laptop. (yes I get that I'm using my laptop now and was when I had this light bulb moment) Tomorrow I'm going to start trying to get myself to use this less. I'm sure I will still end up checking e-mail on my iPhone which will likely end in checking facebook BUT I stay on way less if I check those things on there and not on my laptop.

The big thing is I need to limit my watching of tv shows and movies on here. I'm thinking an hour of tv or one movie is a good start. Seeing as watching something is how I make things like the doing dishes go by faster this could prove hard but I'm thinking of getting a book on tape to listen to instead. And when I eat lunch is another time I end up watching something on my laptop but I could read while I eat or listen to music or go outside.

I'm going to try and cut down my use tomorrow. I'm not going to set a limit outside of the tv limit because I'm not sure how much time I need for blogging and other business. I however am going to try and greatly limit things like Facebook. While Facebook is important for networking, there is no way I can say I really need THIS much time on it.

So I will check back with you tomorrow night or maybe Wednesday morning on how I do. Wish me luck, I'm going to need it. The computer is my drug!