Bloggy Giveaway

Bloggy Giveaway is here! So for the festive occassion, we are giving away a $25 gift certificate to Mama Goes Green! Open to US residents only. This will include free shipping on a $25 order! To enter, go visit Mama Goes Green, and tell me what you love on the site, or even what you'd love to see us carry. Come back here and leave a comment. Tweet about it and get a second entry! It's that easy! And go visit Bloggy Giveaways to enter for more chances to win other great prizes!

Also, for this week there is a 10% off special on all Earthlust Reusable Bottles, no comment required, just go shopping!

Clean Coal is not the answer!

When I hear Obama ads in this state touting his support of the coal industry, and I hear every other politician repeating the rhetoric, I want to scream! As I lay in bed last night, trying to zone out and fall asleep, up pops one of big coal's propaganda commercials....you've probably seen them. Well, this video put out by the Sierra Club, is an answer to the propaganda. I'm happy to see some response...but I do find it lacks the passionate outcry I feel, and think others need to feel in order for anything to change. At least it's a start!

Better Life Green Cleaners

Want to clean your home without trashing the planet or your health? Most of us know that traditional cleaners are a toxic cocktail of chemicals known to be endocrine disrupters and cancer causers. But many of us don't want to sacrifice a clean home to make the switch. At Mama Goes Green, we have tried a host of non-toxic cleaners in our home, and some of them have fallen short, while many of them have performed just as good as their traditional counterparts. We've happily made the switch, and feel healthier for doing so. However, we are always looking for breakthrough green products that do the job faster, better, and cleaner for the planet. That's when I discovered Better Life cleaners. And I can honestly say I'm in love. Not only with the packaging and hipness of the bottles, but with the superior cleaning power and strength. Seriously!

Better Life Green Cleaners were developed by two dads who were lifelong friends, and concerned about the safety of their small children. Fortunately, Kevin Tibbs just happened to be a formulation chemist, whose specialty was safe and non-toxic skin care! Together, Kevin and co-founder Tim Barklage, embarked on a quest to come up with safe, non-toxic and green cleaners that performed better than their traditional counterparts. They launched late this year, and have already been a hit with all those who use them, including Whole Foods! And you can trust the safety of their products, as they hold themselves to a different standard than the rest of the industry. Many of the "green" products on the market today are held to low standards, and are frankly a case of greenwashing. Barklage and Tibbs set out to make products that were the absolute best for our health and the environment. Specifically, they contain no petrochemicals, no VOCs, no ethoxylates, no sulfates, no monoethanolamines and no diethanolamines. They don't even have alcohol in them-a breakthrough characteristic in the industry!

This week Better Life sets are 10% off in our store, http://www.mamagoesgreen.com/. We are proud to support this new company, and to offer these products to our customers. Each set includes:

* I Can See Clearly, WOW!™ glass cleaner

* Even The Kitchen Sink™ gentle scrubber

* what-EVER!™ All-Purpose Cleaner
and optional add on:
*2am Miracle Nursery cleaner...a truly amazing product!

Sale ends 10/25...have fun shopping!

$25 gift certificate giveaway!

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:8

Timestamp: 2008-10-20 14:28:13 UTC

The winner of the $25 gift certificate is:

Kendra at My First Kitchen

Contact me for info on how to redeem! Congratulations, and remember, sign up for our newsletter on mamagoesgreen.com for special offers available only to our readers!

$25 Gift Certificate Giveaway-Extended!

We had a problem with the launch of our website, but have it all worked out now! However, if you entered to win a gift certificate by subscribing to our newsletter, your information was lost:(

So... we are extending the newsletter sign up through this weekend. Just sign up for our newsletter on www.mamagoesgreen.com and you'll have a chance to win a $25 gift certificate! We'll announce the winner on Monday!

A Deeper Shade of Green: Changes that make a Big Impact

Okay, so we've all probably changed at least some of our light bulbs to CFLs, and bought some reusable bags, but may wonder how to be more eco-conscious. Here are some tips that will make the most impact in your effort to reduce your carbon footprint. They are more intense changes than switching to organic shampoo, but are efforts that will make the biggest change in our environmental crisis.

Photo by pictoscribe

• Recycle & Compost-Studies show that only 33% of Americans recycle, despite all of the Earth Day messages we've heard since the 90s! And of those who do recycle, many don't compost. The average American produces 4.4 pounds of garbage, and half of it could be composted. Take the organic materials made of food scraps, paper and yard waste, and compost them in an inexpensive plastic bin, compost heap, or fancy tumbler. This will save you money in the long run, by providing your garden with free carbon-rich fertilizer, and cutting down on the garbage cans at the curb. Between recycling and composting, we can feasibly cut our landfill production by 75%...talk about BIG impact!

• WALK-this is simple, but often overlooked. 15% of all our trips in the U.S. are less than a mile long! If we all subsituted one short car trip a day with a walking rip, 8.4 billion gallons of gas would be saved every year! This equates to 8.2 billion TONS of carbon emissions! Take an inventory of the trips you make, and decide which ones could feasibly be walked or biked. Make a schedule: this makes it easier to stick to!

• Eat Vegetarian-I am NOT a vegetarian, but the statistics have encouraged me to make at least 2-3 vegetarian meals/wk. This is definately a help on the grocery budget as an added bonus! The UN has listed raising animals for food as "one of the top 2-3 most significant contributions to the most serious environmental problems at every scale, from local to global." This is a resource-intensive practice, using half of the fresh water, and 70% of grains grown in the U.S. Also, 80% of agricultural land is used to rais animals, and a third of all fossil fuels produced in the U.S. is used for livestock. Not to mention the excrement that pollutes the ground and surface water! When you do eat meat, buy locally, from farmer's who do free range grazing and treat the animals humanely.

• Eat Local-you can cut down on the petroleum used to ship food when you eat in season, and locally. Better yet, plant a garden and enjoy the freshest goods in town!

• Consume Less-Reuse when possible, shop second hand when available, and when you need to buy new, get fair trade, organic, and sustainable. Need convincing? Check out this video at storyofstuff.com

Welcome SITS visitors!

I have a lot of new visitors from SITS coming over today, welcome! Grab your cup of fair-trade coffee, and have a look around!

Picture by Gilfer

We have just launched http://www.mamagoesgreen.com/, and are offereing a great prize over at SITS, go visit and enter to win for lots of great prizes!

And to celebrate our Grand Opening, we'd love to offer another prize! Sign up for our newsletter on http://www.mamagoesgreen.com/ and get a chance to win a $25 gift certificate! I will announce the winner on Friday morning. Have fun!

New Project

We are so excited to announce our newest project, http://www.mamagoesgreen.com/ ! The site is still being constructed, so bear with us! Grand opening will be on Friday, October 10th. Keep your eye out for giveaways and special offers, available only to my readers! Any products you'd love for me to carry? Let me know, and I'll do my best! We can't wait to offer sustainable products for practical families, and continue blogging about ways to green your life, and the personal experiences of my family. Thanks for your support!