September 09
Back to School... ecoeastend style.
Keep it simple and get back to basics.
Good Nutrition, lots of rest, exercise and fresh water.
As we prepare to take our little darlings off the beach and back to the classroom lets take a fresh look at "Back to School." Stores and marketers have turned it into another holiday, another reason to produce and sell more STUFF. Our children expect a little more than good food, rest, exercise and water. Sadly they have grown to take these gifts completely for granted. Lets use this opportunity to rethink how, what and where we spend our money and focus our attention this season. There are many incredible, innovative new businesses creating smarter, healthier and better products. Bring your children along on this new back to school journey. They will love the time you spend explaining things to them and appreciate that you care. In reality children need little more than love and attention, good nutrition, lots of rest and fresh water to have a successful school year.
Plastic is www.ecoeastend.com's biggest pet peeve and our children's lunch boxes are filled with it. Plastic water bottles and one, two, sometimes more, plastic snack bags. All of which get thrown out every day. There are great new reusable sandwich/snack wraps. Check out www.3greenmoms.com for hip cool designs. Also look at www.reusablebags.com. We love the Bazura bag from this website made from recycled juice packs by a woman's co-op in the Philippines. These make great lunch bags!
When trying to satisfy your child when they say "How come all I ever get is fruit and vegetables for my snack at lunch"? We recommend Sunchips, for their relative nutrition but also to support what is a wonderful business model. www.sunchips.com is a great and informative website. The company plans to unveil 100% biodegradable packaging next year.
www.ecoeastend.com is asking parents to switch from plastic water bottles to a reusable option. We are also suggesting that your home tap water with proper filtration is most likely the best choice for healthy fresh water. Bottled water companies often have less regulations and testing done than public water. To have your tap water tested go to www.epa.gov/ogwdw/faq/faq.html
For solar backpacks check out www.earthtechproducts.com. The solar backpack is a great new technology that gives our kids the opportunity to always have power for all their favorite devices, anywhere, anytime! There is no doubt that this falls under the INDULGE category. Alternatively, www.landsend.com has a new eco-friendly backpack in a variety of colors.
For other options, www.terracycle.net is a fantastic school supply resource and is one of www.ecoeastend.com's favorite all around businesses. Check them out for backpacks and other school supplies made from Cliff Bar, Oreo, and juice pouch packaging waste. On a recent trip to Target in Riverhead we found Terracycle pencil cases and folders made out of Lays Potato chip bags and Rold Gold pretzel wrappers. The Lays folder was 99 cents compared to the Spider Man folder which was $2.49. Who says being green has to cost more?
It will be a bit harder to convince your children to wear a dress or pants made out of reused target bags or to wear "old" clothing, however we do love our local thrift shops. They are full of great quality reused clothing and many of them support very important local charities. Let us know if you can convince your children of this. The three in our community are Collette, The Southampton Hospital Thrift Shop and The Retreat Thrift Shop.
When thinking about new back to school sneakers we ask that you check out www.nikereuseashoe.com for the pair you were going to throw out. There’s a drop-off location in at the Nike Factory store in Tanger Mall in Riverhead.
The internet is a great place to do research but before you place your order remember your local businesses. If the same product can be purchased locally you will be supporting your local economy and preventing that product from being re-shipped to the same area.
When your child's school is looking for fundraising ideas to replace those dreaded wrapping paper or candle drives please recommend www.3greenmoms.com and www.greenraising.com. They have fantastic fundraising programs all set up. Or better yet www.eastendcandle.com a local Candle Company that has a fundraiser program. Their candles are all made out of soy, a 100% natural product, free of petroleum and are biodegradable.
At the end of each school year our children have the option of buying a pre-ordered school supply kit for the following year. How about recommending a green option for next year. A good one can be found at http://ecochildsplay.com/2009/07/30/back-to-school-sustainable-school-supplies which is a great parenting website for non-toxic, healthy homes. They feature a sustainable school supply kit from www.sustainablegroup.net
We hope that you use this back to school time as an opportunity to become mindful of the choices that you are making and that you spend time talking to your children about these choices. They will have to be reminded not to throw everything in their lunchbox away. This is a big shift in behavior and will need to be reiterated.
