Inhabitots

Consumer Product Safety Commission Recalls ALL Roman Shades, Blinds

As far as product recalls go, this one’s a whopper. The U.S Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Window Covering Safety Council have just announced a nationwide voluntary recall to repair all Roman shades and roll-up blinds to prevent the risk of strangulation to young children. Considering that around five million Roman shades and three million roll-up blinds are sold each year — complete with the dangling cords that are responsible for five deaths and 16 near-strangulations in the past three years — this easily puts the number of affected shades and blinds close to 100 million.

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WIN IT WEDNESDAY! Win a thinkbaby BPA Free Feeding Set!

We’re huge fans of thinkbaby — from their BPA free baby bottles and reusable thinksport water bottles to their stainless steel feeding gear! To share our affinity of thinkbaby’s responsibly crafted, eco-friendly wares, we’re giving away a complete thinkbaby feeding set valued at $40 to one lucky reader! Thinkbaby’s safe, non-toxic feeding set features a stainless steel interior with a polypropylene exterior. It is free of BPA, phthalates, lead, melamine and PVC. The convenient set makes feeding babies and toddlers a breeze and it includes the following: bento box with airtight lid, baby bowl with lid, soup bowl with lid, mug, and an easy to grip fork and spoon set. All that’s missing is the yummy meal!

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Camp Twin Lakes Treehouse is a Green Utopia for Special Needs Kids

Camp Twin Lakes in Rutledge, Georgia, a non-profit organization which opened in 1993, “provides places and paths for children with serious illnesses and life challenges to experience the joys of childhood and grow in their confidence and capabilities.” A new, eco-friendly, majestic treehouse, designed by Amy Leathers of Lord, Aeck & Sargent was just added to the ‘Wild Side’ — a secluded part of the camp’s site. Here, immersed in rustic nature, camp goers may revel in twisty slides, climbing nets, a zip line and trap doors throughout the wheelchair accessible treehouse — while also learning about green living via the sustainably designed features inherent in the treehouse and in its Utopian woodsy backdrop.

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Thanksgiving Goodness: 88 Bikes Foundation Gives Children in Developing Countries A Lift

The art of spreading joy translates to all cultures and peoples, and really has no limits when it comes to locale or economic conditions. 88Bikes Foundation is heroically going the distance to share this message with its global “buy a child a bike” initiative. With the goal of providing a sustainable and empowering form of transportation to young people in developing countries (typically “in situations where children have been challenged to be their own heroes due to war, conflict, poverty, disease, or other regional hardships”), 88Bikes is making a real difference in the lives of kids who otherwise have a very difficult time experiencing the freewheeling spontaneity of childhood and good time fun.

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Inhabitots’ Greenmarket Recipes for Kids: Sautéed Apples by Sarah Poten

“Try these with ice cream,” says Sarah Poten, Education and Special Projects Coordinator, Greenmarket (CENYC). Or you can try ‘em with diary-free sorbét. A great dessert to finish off our Thanksgiving collection of recipes, these sautéed apples are always in season and sure to please even the most discerning kiddy connoisseurs. Sarah has even included fun nutritional facts about apples — who knew that apples help strengthen bones?

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Inhabitots’ Greenmarket Recipes for Kids: Cranberry Sauce with Maple Syrup by Sarah Poten

Here’s a question Sarah has for our young cooks: “Did you know that cranberries are packed with Vitamin C and antioxidants that are good for your immune system? Homemade cranberry sauce is very easy and fun to make!” Get ready to eat your vitamins in a super yummy way with Sarah Poten, as she shares a kid-friendly Greenmarket recipe for a Thanksgiving staple: Cranberry Sauce with Maple Syrup!

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2.1 Million Stork Craft Drop-side Cribs Recalled Due to Infant Suffocations & Injuries

Stork Craft, a juvenile furniture manufacturing company based in British Columbia, and the CPSC have issued the largest voluntary recall of cribs in North American history. 2.1 million cribs made by Stork Craft, some also bearing the Fisher Price logo, have been recalled after 110 reported incidents of the drop-side breaking off — resulting in 15 entrapments (12 in the US, 3 in Canada, 4 of which caused the suffocation death of four infants). Also included in these incidents were injuries ranging from concussions to bumps and bruises which afflicted 20 infants who fell from the cribs.

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Inhabitots’ Greenmarket Recipes for Kids: Rainbow Salad by Sarah Poten

Sarah Poten, Education and Special Projects Coordinator of Greenmarket (CENYC), has a challenge for our kid helpers: “Find at least one fruit or vegetable of each color at the Greenmarket! Make your plate as colorful as possible for a rainbow of healthy nutrients for your body!” See the color-specified nutrient list after the recipe for Rainbow Salad!

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Inhabitots’ Greenmarket Recipes for Kids: Roasted Romanesco Cauliflower

Here’s another question for our child chefs from Sarah Poten, Education and Special Projects Coordinator, Greenmarket (CENYC): “Did you know that Romanesco is a tender variety of cauliflower with a delicious nutty flavor? It’s light green with spiraling fractal-shaped florets that captivate kids and grown-ups alike. Cooking cauliflower in a hot oven concentrates its natural sweetness — think vegetable candy!”

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Inhabitots’ Thanksgiving Recipes from Sarah Poten of Greenmarkets

At a time when green advocates are pointing to meat consumption as the single most environmentally devastating practice humans have adopted, certain Thanksgiving dishes such as the turducken (that’s a chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed inside a turkey) must represent all that is wrong with humanity. But don’t strike off this holiday as an ecological no-no just yet. This week Sarah Poten, Education and Special Projects Coordinator of Greenmarket (Council on the Environment of New York City), saves Thanksgiving by serving up fresh recipes on standard fare locavore and vegetarian families can dig into. This week on Inhabitots, we’ll feature six recipes from Sarah Poten that are “simple, child-friendly, and guaranteed crowd pleasers for eaters of all ages!”

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‘Mons Lavabo’ Eco-Friendly Sink Helps Kids Save Water While Washing Hands

It’s tough being a little person in a grown-up world. To make life less of an obstacle course for the vertically challenged, Teng Chuan Tey and Romualdo Faura Bernabe from Spain have designed a wash basin that not only takes a child’s diminutive stature into account, but it also makes observing basic hygiene less of a chore. Their Mons Lavabo, a short-listed entry in Designboom’s Green Life contest, is shaped like a friendly monster that easily accommodates younger children with its sized-down proportions. Read on to see how Mons Lavabo helps kids conserve water while washing their hands!

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ANDREA Air Filter Uses House Plants to Purify Indoor Air

The design concept for the ANDREA air filter, previously dubbed the Bel-Air, was featured on Inhabitat two years ago in its prototype phase. We’re revisiting this savvy innovation since it recently came to fruition and became available for purchase this week. Invented by French designer Mathieu Lehanneur with Harvard professor David Edward, ANDREA transforms household plants into air cleaners which effectively rid indoor air of toxins and pollutants to purify baby’s nursery or any room in the house.

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6 Healthier Halloween Eco-Treats for Kids (No Tricks, We Promise!)

It’s the most frightful night of the year. Ghouls and goblins, pirates and princesses, mischief makers galore will be haunting your doorstep in pursuit of sweet, delectable offerings. But if high-fructose corn syrup, artificial preservatives, and other spooky chemical additives make your skin crawl, here’s a grab bag of organic and all-natural treats that will appease the most ravenous fiend, no tricks necessary.

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Breast Cancer Awareness Month: 5 Ways to Shop Green for the Cure

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and we’ve found five great eco-friendly products that will help you ‘Think Pink’ and shop green to raise awareness and funds for finding a cure for breast cancer. Moms and daughters will delight in these pretty, pink finds!

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Nestle Incites Social Media Storm in a Blogger Event

When Nestle rounded up a bunch of mommybloggers to fly out to California this week to attend a sponsored event, a social-media firestorm was probably the last thing it expected. PhD in Parenting launched the first volley with a post decrying the company’s unethical business practices, especially when it came to promoting formula over breastmilk in the developing world.

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Woopsies Bamboo & Buckwheat Kids Soothing Packs

It’s tough being a kid with the sniffles, an achy head, or bumps and lumps. Luckily, Bucky offers a fun way to soothe all of life’s little pains when you’re small. Bucky’s Woopsies Kids Soothing Packs come in six unique and friendly personalities who all offer kiddie discomfort relief. These soothing packs are made with …

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TOP FIVE 100% BPA FREE Reusable Water Bottles for Kids

We were just as dismayed as you were to hear the news that SIGG bottles manufactured prior to August 2008 contained BPA. If you previously owned a SIGG bottle and need a new hydration sidekick, or you’re new to this market and are shopping for a BPA free reusable bottle for yourself or your kids, we have taken away the guesswork by compiling a list of our top five picks for safe, stylish non-toxic water bottles for kids. *Most come in adult sizes too!

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PREGNANCY SWIMMING: An interview with Olympian mom Dara Torres

With all the emphasis on exercise and physical fitness these days, it seems amazing that just twenty years ago doctors advised pregnant women to ‘rest up’ and cut back on exercise while pregnant. The jury is in, and doctors now advise that exercise is good for expectant mothers and their babies – both pre-delivery and postpartum. One of the best exercises for expectant mothers is swimming, because it is easy on pregnancy-vulnerable joints, the cool water prevents you from overheating, and the buoyancy of water alleviates some of the stresses of gravity on the extra weight you are carrying. I swam while pregnant, and I found swimming to be a lifesaver for me when I could no longer jog, do karate or do pilates. I actually managed to swim right up until the day before I gave birth, and feel like swimming helped me to stay in shape and have a complication-free birth.

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Soothing Ewe Warming/Cooling Pack for Kids

For those occasions when no amount of kisses will make a boo boo better, there’s Nova Natural’s Soothing Ewe, a hot or cold pack disguised as a friendly, comforting sheep. Made in Germany from 100% organic cotton and filled with cherry stones, this woolly compress may be warmed in a microwave or chilled in the …

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Sunblock Tutorial & Natural Sunblocks for Summer Babies

“Here comes the sun (tu-du-doo-doo), here comes the sun, and I say it’s all right…” as long as your kids are wearing proper sunblock protection. The ‘Fab Four’ had it right. The dawn of the summer season and all those rays of sunshine are cause for celebration. But before we get ‘sun drunk’ and run around without the right skin protection, let’s review a few chemical free, natural sunblock options for babies and children.

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5 Ways to Green Your Baby’s Nursery

Every child deserves a green start when entering the world, and since newborns spend most of their time in the nursery, making this sacred space as non-toxic and pure as possible is a key goal for parents. Whether you are decorating your baby’s nursery from scratch, and want to make it as eco and baby friendly as possible, or you are looking for helpful, easy ways to give your child’s nursery a green makeover, these 5 ways to green baby’s nursery will help secure the health of your baby while boosting the quality of her environment.

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Elements Naturals 100% Natural and Renewable Baby Wipes

Elements Naturals baby wipes are the newest, eco-friendly disposable baby wipes on the market. Most mainstream baby wipes are a blend of polyester, polypropylene, cotton, wood pulp, and rayon fibers. In green contrast, Elements Naturals are made from 100% Ingeo fibers, a plant based man-made fiber from annually renewable resources. Ingeo fibers are chemical free and they do not leach any harmful toxins into soil. Ingeo fibers production requires 68% less fossil fuel resources than traditional oil-based materials.

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COCO-MAT Mattresses Let Kids “Sleep on Nature”

Citizens living in lesser-developed, rural environs have long been hip to the concept of using natural fibers to make their sleeping arrangements more comfortable. Some stuff their mattresses with the dried husks of coconuts, while others turn to livestock such as horses or sheep, and seasonally ‘borrow’ fibers. These ideas were born organically out of necessity hundreds of years ago, and a small Greek company called COCO-MAT has modernized the various processes, providing today’s green seekers the option of “sleeping on nature.”

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Ancient Design Principles for Modern Parents

Two Eastern philosophies may help parents reclaim the disaster zone that is their child’s room. First, is the Chinese practice of Feng Shui (fung-shooy in Mandarin, fung-schway in American English), shipped to American shores and made wildly popular. Second, are the lesser-known vedic principles dictated by Vaastu Shastra (vaastu meaning ‘man-made constructions’ and shastra meaning ‘sacred text’). When put into practice, the somewhat rigid rules that govern both principles can turn a clutter-filled kid’s room into a space where positive energy flows, leading to more focused, constructive play, and sounder sleep.

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Bottle Rocket: Baby Formula Contains Rocket Fuel!

Toward the end of my hard plastics post I wrote that melamine was only the tip of the toxins-in-food-products iceberg. Well, a CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) government study has found that: “Traces of a chemical used in rocket fuel were found in samples of powdered baby formula, and could exceed what’s considered a safe dose for adults if mixed with water also contaminated with the ingredient.”

According to AP, “No …

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3 Insightful Books for Healthy Eating During Pregnancy

Regardless of the infamous, “I’m eating for two” line, you only need an extra 200 to 300 calories per day to maintain a healthy pregnancy. Hormone levels fluctuate during the 9 months of pregnancy, generating all sorts of interesting cravings, but crazy junk food binges are not the answer. If you’d like to learn more about eating healthily and optimally during your pregnancy and beyond, here are three books to read that will guide your eating habits and choices during this joyful, miraculous stage of creating a new life!

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Greensprouts Eco-friendly Hand Teething Rattle

When your baby is starting to sprout teeth, it can be a trying time. Anything and everything will go immediately into your little one’s mouth, and as a concerned parent, you want to help comfort your baby’s achy gums, while trying to ensure that the things going into his mouth are as safe and healthy as possible. There are a ton of eco-friendly teethers out there, but not all of them are going to appeal to your baby. I bought a slew of teething toys at the first sign of teething in my little tot, but none of them have gotten as much action as this cornstarch-based eco-friendly ‘hand’ teething rattle from Greensprouts.

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Healthy Child, Healthy World Launches Health eHome Website

Ever wish you had access to an expert who could tour your home and explain how to make it a healthier environment for your children and your family? With the launch of Healthy Child, Healthy World’s new Health eHome interactive website, you may take a virtual gander through every room of a house and get expert tips on how to improve your …

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5 Natural Ways to Increase Fertility

Talk of fertility clinics has been making headline news on a near daily basis in recent weeks. Sensational news stories such as the debates surrounding the “Octo-mom,” and the apparent build & customize your own baby ploy are stealing the spotlight and distracting people from the important, day to day issues surrounding infertility. Many women and couples struggle to have a baby, but why is infertility assumed to be the automatic culprit behind any delay in becoming pregnant? This is not to say that infertility is not a very real, and very heartbreaking issue that many people struggle with. However, in our increasingly technology-aided culture, where immediate gratification has become the norm, it seems that more and more women are turning to fertility clinics to solve their fertility problems before trying less invasive strategies. There are many natural solutions available for women to try to increase their fertility of their own accord, before visiting a fertility clinic.

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PLAY PUMP: The Merry-Go-Round Water Pump!

It’s no secret that access to clean water is one of the most fundamental requirements for healthy individuals and thriving communities. The PlayPump system is bringing clean water into the hardest hit regions of Sub-Saharan Africa. There’s only one catch–users have to take a spin on the merry-go-round! The PlayPump has been installed in rural villages and primary schools where kids can easily access the fun, all the while pumping clean, potable water from underground up into a 660 gallon water tower above. A few hundred yards away, a spigot supplies fresh water for the whole community. The water is then used for drinking, cooking, sanitation and even growing vegetables.

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Bamboo Belly Bandit

Have you ever wondered how some women’s bodies bounce back so quickly after childbirth? For a few lucky ladies, the quick return to a pre-pregnancy belly is due to incredibly good genes. For the rest of us, there’s the Belly Bandit, which is now available in eco-friendly bamboo material.

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