LOVE the book...you did an amazing job!! I am so very impressed. Classy, informative, warm...you really nailed it!
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Video Interviews: ABC News
Audio Interview: Sierra Club Radio
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Notable Press: TIME, Good Housekeeping, People Magazine, InStyle, Grist, Cookie,
Vogue, and NY Daily News.
I drink a lot of bottled water, like, ten a day, and just recently we were like, okay, we've got to figure this out and get refillable glass or aluminum bottles.
Our kids grew up recycling. For them, it's ingrained, as normal as putting milk back in the refrigerator.
The food we eat, the products we put on our skin and use to clean our homes, the toys children play with and put in their mouths-- all of these and more can impact the short-term and long-term health of a child. A green pediatrician thinks about these issues.
I'm thrilled that my children began with organic food and therefore won't have to make that switch to it, as I did.
I drive a Prius, often with two kids in back. I laugh, thinking that everyone feels like they need a tank out here in LA to cart around two small people.
I can do something — quite a lot, actually — about the products in my home. That requires my being as conscious about things as possible - what you put in and on your body.
Over the years it's become very instinctive to eat more organic, to be more energy-conscious and know which beauty products and which plastics contain unwanted ingredients so that we don't use them.
What I do find alarming is the volume of information that's been withheld from us, and how much we don't know because not enough study is being done on the controversial subjects. That's what people should be alarmed about, and what has to change.
What's nice is that there's so much information out there now on how to make better choices, it's much easier to do all this stuff.
When you open the door to your home, there's a vacuum effect: these airborne chemicals and hydrocarbons come rushing in -- especially when air ducts from air-conditioning and heating units aren't sealed tightly.
What can we do to improve parenting? Most important, we must protect children and childhood, which means changing our priorities. As a society, that means such things as fewer shopping malls and more parks; less television and more family time; fewer roads and more trails. It means no child left behind...in every way.
I'm an advocate for common sense. If an exterminator uses a chemical that makes a spider drop dead right in front of you, what's its effect on a child?
But unlike you and me, chemicals should never be considered innocent until proven guilty; in fact, we must consider them guilty until proven innocent! We must demand that industry prove a substance safe before it is allowed to be sold to millions.
With natural products, I feel more comfortable about my kids doing their chores, letting them clean the sink or wipe down the counter.
Less than four cents of every health-care dollar is spent on prevention and public health. Our health-care system has become a disease-care system, and the time for change is well overdue.
Our design assignment at this moment in our history could, perhaps, be summed up thus: Make a world where we love all the children of all species for all time. If that were the plan, then wed have no choice but to create a world that is delightfully diverse, economically equitable, ecologically sound, elegant and enjoyable.
The choice is clear: Our own breast milk is, hands down, the best food for your baby--far better than infant formula. This is the conclusion I reached after more than two years of studying data on the chemical contamination of breast milk.
Things are different today from when I grew up, and it's a lot harder to get kids who are entrenched in their habits to go outside their comfort zones. But I really believe it's just a matter of exposing them early to where food comes from: a field, not a box; a tree, not a jar; a fish, not a stick
If kids' first experiences with food are so amazing, they're going to love to eat fresh produce, then there's no more powerful way to do it than by growing it in or around your house.
Kids are so acutely aware and smart, they will be the ones to motivate us, their parents, to change.
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But what we do control is our home environment, which is an incredible gift. We can create a wonderful safe haven for our babies, even literally within just a few square inches.
If a disease is made by human beings, we can prevent it.
When I would read about what pesticides do to insects and small animals, I thought, Why would I expose my child to that? It didn't make sense.
Why is the truth like organic food? Because it's a little harder to find, and a little more expensive than the alternative, but as demand for it grows, the price you have to pay for it comes down...
