It’s my annual winter visit home in L.A. and we’re braving the dreaded dead heads, again. Yes,  several of my family’s favorite restaurants are decorated – and disgraced – with massive, wild animal trophies on their walls. Trophies, indeed.

Now don’t get me wrong. My people aren’t hunters, just valley folks who like meat. My father’s side came from the meat packing industry in Nebraska. My sister-in-law’s kin founded Hoffy, the packagers of those hot dogs sold at the iconic Pink’s and plugged by singer Pat Boone. My …

Tags: animal protection , animal testing , Animal trophies , celebrities , children , dining out , Disneyland , earth , forest , freeways , furr , green , Hidden Hills , los angeles , Northwoods Inn , preservation , restaurants , Saddle Peak Lodge , taxidermy

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Researchers at U.C. Davis are trying to connect the dots leading to 10 autism clusters in California. One theory is that those parents are using certain hazardous household products, exposing their kids to dangers linked to the neuro-developmental disorder that usually surfaces by the time a child turns three.

According to the Contra Costa Times and other news sources reporting the findings, the study authors don’t attribute the cases to a toxic waste plant or other widespread polluter, but rather to household items like cleaners or landscaping products.

The …

Tags: autism , babies , birth defects , California , children , Easy Bay , education , environment , families , flame retardants , hazardous chemicals , health , household products , San Diego , Santa Clara , Sunnyvale , U.C. Davis , Western San Francisco

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EcoSalon has praised the benefits of buying less this holiday season. At the same time, why not clean out your closets and give up what you don’t use so that someone who needs clothing and toys can benefit?

Modern Mom did a post on what they called Project Giveaway – which is an ideal way to describe what is going on in my own home as I rummage through closets, bagging what doesn’t fit and what we don’t wear. I must do it while my kids are …

Tags: charity , children , closets , clothing , donations , holidays , needy , non-profits , organization , recycle , reuse , winter , yard sales

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I’m always tempted by those clever hooks for purses to keep better track of our keys. They’re usually hidden in my bag under a bushel of important papers, hair ties, various wallets and glasses. Digging for keys is adding years to my life. It’s that stressful because disorder complicates my life.

There are people out there called professional organizers who charge hourly rates to box and label the accumulation in our homes. And everywhere you look, there …

Tags: affluenza , capitalism , children , closets , consumerism , eco , Edward Bernays , green , greenwashing , home office , keys , lost and found , online billing , organizing , paper , propaganda , public relations , recycling , sorting , storage , United States

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What’s even scarier than the scariest of Halloween costumes? How about the labor abuses suffered by women and children in third world countries?

This year, little Hannah Montanas and Harry Potters can have a treat up their sleeves as they get out the word about beneficial Fair Trade sales to the homes they visit on October 31st.

It’s called Reverse Trick-or-Treating and allows participants in the U.S. and Canada not just to receive candy from neighbors but also distribute Fair Trade certified chocolate donated by companies. The participants are …

Tags: children , Chocolage , fair trade , Halloween , labor , Third World , women

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No one growing up during the upbeat, Mattel-directed Sixties figures they’ll be worse off in middle age, forced to scrounge harder for work, buy less, live smaller.

Those Barbie songs my sister and I sang along to in our pink and green room constituted teenage visions of a supercalifragelistic future that we owned, co-starring Dick Van Dyke, four kids, a shiny Lincoln and full-service yacht.

“Here’s a cake, that you and I can make, I’ll share the recipe, if you say yes to me.”

But due to the recession and soaring costs …

Tags: affirmations , aging , birthday , blessings , book clubs , children , conservation , debt , Disney , family , green , jewelry , Life in the Green Lane , luxury , Mary Poppins , menopause , nature , pets , recession , San Francisco

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My mother, the nice Jewish lady seen here at her box at the Hollywood Bowl,  is among the biggest paper and water consumers in the country. It hasn’t been easy getting her to turn over a new leaf. (Or rather, fewer of them.)

She has a varied and colorful history of helping herself to fistfuls of disposable napkins at restaurants, collecting hundreds of brown paper grocery bags from Gelson’s Market and requiring daily soaks or showers. She’s pretty darn clean, my mother.

“I never, ever get …

Tags: children , composting , conserving , Italy , Jewish mothers , Life in the Green Lane , parenting , recycling , renewable energy , seniors , towels

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We go because we love movies. We go for the delightful or frightful experience of being swept into another reality for a couple of hours. We go crazy when bombarded with highly stylized Mercedes and Coke ads before previews and a show.

The big screen in a darkened room has always had a dramatic impact on the captive viewer, more than a television screen and much more than a computer monitor or iPhone. And they know it. They bet on it. They exploit it. They profit from it.

They are corporate advertisers for soft …

Tags: banning commercials , buying , children , commercials , conserving , corporate advertising , HBO , marketing , movies , Showtime , television

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These have to be the cutest kids ever. Not just because they’re, well, adorable children, but look at what they’re wearing! Soft, comfy, organic cotton striped clothes! If these aren’t the happiest little munchkins you’ve ever seen…well…don’t tell that to their moms.

And just what are these tykes wearing? Clothes made by Happy Green Bee, a manufacturer of Fair Trade Certified, organic cotton children’s clothing. I found them at a trade show and got sucked into their happy little hive. Not only was it the …

Tags: child , children , clothing , eco-friendly clothing , fair trade , fairtrade , kids , organic cotton , sustainable kids clothes

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