Don't Be A Tosser

I know as well as any other parent that paper towels and other disposable cleaning wipes are darned handy when it comes to cleaning up fast. But it’s actually just as fast to reach for a reusable cloth to do the job. Target has a great line of organic cotton cloths and towels as do Ecover and Seventh Generation. For sponges, look for natural sponges that are biodegradable and can even be composted when they have outlived their dishwashing usefulness. (Just be sure they come from a sponge farm and not a natural ecosystem.)

No Idling!

A recent Yale University study found that children who ride a school bus are exposed to up to 15 times more particulate pollution than average. That’s bad news for the 24 million American children who ride a school bus each day. Researchers estimate that this increased exposure is due to the idling and queuing of school buses. In other words, as school buses line up and wait in front of our kids’ schools, they are filling up harmful particulate pollution that will stay with our children throughout their ride.

What can you do abou it? Talk to your school administrators about the health and environmental implications of bus idling and propose a measure to ban it. Seventh grader Adam Martin from Jericho, VT , appeared earlier this year before Vermont’s House Natural Resources Committee to urge lawmakers to ban bus idling. If he can do it, so can you!

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sponsors the "Clean School Bus" program in an effort to inform parents and school board officials about the need to ban bus idling. Check out http://www.epa.gov/cleanschoolbus/ for more info.

Got Mushrooms?

Eben Bayer grew up around mushrooms, helping his father harvest fungi on their farm in Vermont. But he probably never realized he might be inspired by mushrooms to patent an invention that would take the green building movement by storm. Bayer, and his classmate Gavin McIntyre, graduates of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., recently launched "Greensulate" a organic product they developed together that uses mushrooms as insulation. The fire-retardant board is made of water, flour, oyster mushroom spores and perlite, a mineral blend found in potting soil. While studying at Rensselear, the two grew the mushrooms under their beds. But now they are hoping to take their product wide-scale. The two inventors are hoping the invention will soon be part of the growing market for eco-friendly products.

Celebs Give Green Some Glam

Can green and glam go together? Celebrities and hot-shot clothing designers recently got together to prove that they could. Twelve fashion icons, namely, Diane von Furstenberg, Missoni, Kate Moss, Jade Jagger, Gwyneth Paltrow, Helena Christensen, Christy Turlington, and Sophie Albou (of Paul & Joe) recently got together to launch a fashionable environmental initiative to raise awareness about the environment. Under the brand name, L.E.N.Y (Limited Edition New York), each celebrity designed an eco-themed T-shirt interpreting an environmental theme based on their personal style. The proceeds from the sales of the shirts will benefit Al Gore's The Climate Project.