Earth Paint

For the past couple of years, I have been homeschooling my three children.  It's not something that I ever thought I could do or would do, but here I am doing it. (and, it's pretty darn awesome!)  At the end of last school year, I told myself that this year was going to be the year of art.  Wherever I can work art in for my kids... that's what we're doing.   So, when Earth Paint contacted me about reviewing an organic, eco-friendly paint kit made from natural earth pigments (and made in the USA)... I couldn't say no... because really... I never even knew that eco-friendly paints existed.

When the Earth Paint Children's Paint Kit arrived at our house, my kids excitement couldn't be contained.  We waited for a nice day to sit out at the picnic table and paint... free from having to worry about anything... Paint on the table? No problem. Paint on feet? No worries. Since the paints are made from natural earth pigments and no petroleum or toxins, there really were no worries about anything.  One of the most noticeable differences is that with Earth Paint there's no funky smell (you know the normal intoxicating paint smell, right?)!  We painted outside, but we could have easily painted in a small indoor room and not have been bothered by any strong odor.  Woot!

And as my kids painted leaves, pressed them on paper, and then let them go in the wind... I couldn't help but feel good knowing that I wasn't putting anything unnatural into the environment.... or on their skin.  Yeah, my kids painted their hands, feet and at one point I found them in full tribal mode!

We had a blast painting with Earth Paints.  The colors were super vibrant... really unbelievable how beautiful the colors are.  (Though, really it shouldn't have been a surprise... the natural colors of our Earth are amazingly beautiful.)  One of my favorite things about the paints is that they come in powdered form and all I had to do was add water to the consistency that we wanted to use-- from thick tempura like paint to watercolors this paint covered anything we would want to do.  PLUS, it washed off my kids very nicely ;)

Since I focus a good amount of my time on refusing/reducing plastics, I think it's worth noting that when I opened the kit to find some little plastic cups and the powdered paints packaged in small baggies, I was a little bummed.  Not wanting to jump to conclusions, I emailed them to see if they thought about switching to plastic-free packaging.  And I'm glad I did because I learned that the baggies and the cups are both biodegradable and compostable.  (yes, I prefer reusable... but biodegradable/compostable is a million times better than anything I could ever find at a craft store).   Another thing is all of the paper packaging is 100% post-consumer recycled and printed with vegetable based inks!!  

It's nice knowing that the focus of Earth Paint is to be as eco-friendly as possible because it's better for the environment and our health.  It makes me happy because that's really what every business should be doing.  ... and for me, businesses that put environment before profit are businesses that I get excited about supporting.  I vote with my $$ and from now on this small family owned business has my support!!!

To learn more about Earth Paint, visit their website.

**Thanks to Earth Paint for sending me a Children's Kit to review.  All opinions expressed are my own and I was in no way obligated to give a positive review. :)

Plastic-Free: Kick the Plastic Habit

It all started about 5 years ago, when a friend of mine told me about this thing called the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch."  Great Pacific what?  Plastic ocean?!?  Curiosity took over and I began googling and read my first article about plastics-- "Our Oceans Are Turning to Plastic, Are We?"  Reading that article along with seeing the countless images of animals negatively impacted by our plastic waste set me off on the beginning of a long journey to reducing my plastic waste-- day by day or sometimes more like month by month... I worked on reducing the amount of plastic that I used.  But it wasn't something I could do alone... ok, well... maybe I could... but as I started moving past simple things like not buying bottled water, I often became stumped and had to start researching.  That's when I came across Beth Terry's blog now known as My Plastic-Free Life.  Turns out Beth had read that exact same article and just like that she "woke up to plastic."

Now years later, I'm still not done reducing my plastic-waste and I'm still not done learning "why" we should all take steps to reduce the amount of plastic we buy, use, recycle and throw away.  But, as much as I've learned over the years, to be honest... I still need reminders.  You see, I'm the type of person that when I learn something, it sticks with me... BUT... while I don't forget... I do often let the details slip my mind.  Sometimes-- especially with plastics-- when I let the details slip, I find that I'm not as strong with my commitments.  Which leads me to Beth's new book: PLASTIC FREE: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too.  

Before 2007, Beth was addicted to plastic (well, not knowingly anyway)... then that one day when she read "Our Oceans Are Turning to Plastic, Are We?" and saw a picture of decomposed Laysan albatross chick.... the reality of her plastic filled lifestyle and the consequences it had began to set in...

Photo Credit: Chris Jordan

First she was heartbroken and sad.  Then she got mad and wondered why no one was doing anything about this??  Knowing full and well that she couldn't personally go out into the middle of the oceans and clean up the plastic mess... she made the connection and realized there was one thing that she could do.  She could start with herself.  She remembered that her actions make a difference and personal changes really do matter.  In Plastic-Free, Beth discusses 9 reasons why our personal changes matter and here's one of my favorite reasons why:

 By letting others see our personal changes, we set an example of a different way to be.

It's true.  By going out into the world and doing what we do-- whether it's picking up litter, taking our own bags to the store, carrying a reusable water bottle, saying "no thank you" to single-use items like straws or having the courage to use our voices for change-- we share with others what's possible.  

But back to the details.  Sure we know there are problems with plastic...and when we start reusing, reducing and refusing it... others want to know why.  No, I'm not allergic to plastic.  But the reasons I choose to refuse and reduce the amount of plastic our family uses is summed up quite nicely in Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You can Too.  Of course, Beth goes into really great detail in her book Plastic-Free, but here's the gist of why we should start and/or continue efforts to reduce the amount of plastic we all use:

1. Plastic is Made from Fossil Sources
2. Plastic Contains Toxic Chemicals (cough BPA, Lead & Cadmium, Toxic Flame Retardants)
3. Plastic Manufacturing Plants Harm Workers and Pollute Communities
4. Plastic is NOT Biodegradable
5. Plastic Pollutes the Ocean, Harming Both Wildlife and Humans
6. Plastic Pollution Doesn't Just Come from "Litter Bugs"  (nope, sure doesn't)
7. Plastic Recycling Doesn't Close the Loop  (it's actually downcycling)

So what are we waiting for? Let's start a plastic-free revolution.  Let's imagine a world free of plastic pollution and create that world.  We can do it.

...and Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too by Beth Terry is the perfect tool to start your journey to a life with less plastic.  To learn more about Beth's book, the praise it has received and how to buy her book, please go here.

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or if we wait for some other time.  We are the change that we seek." 

~Barack Obama