Eco18 debuts today—a collective of creative writing individuals with a common goal—to live a healthier more natural lifestyle. From diverse backgrounds, cultures and interests, their combined expertise, humor and opinions will explore green and sustainable in a practical, fun way. What began with one mom’s voice has evolved into many conversations, which will include a universe of voices all looking to connect, share and learn.

And why Eco18…well, we wanted something that’s easy to remember and has embodied our purpose. Eco—that’s pretty self explanatory and 18—apart from being the age of majority in many countries (the coming of age), the Hebrew word for “life” has a numerical value of 18. There’s a lot of interesting trivia about the number 18, but the fact that life itself is totally connected to and dependent on a thriving, green, clean ecosystem was enough for us.

There’s a lot we can do together…. Join us as often as you can…We love company!

http://eco18.com

15 Reasons that Peacekeeper Cause-Metics is a MUST on the SGM Approved list?

“ Organic, natural, cruelty-free makeup which donates proceeds to women’s rights charities”

DOES NOT INCLUDE:

1. animal testing

2. artificial colors

3. artificial fragrances

4. toluene

5. formaldehyde

6. acetone

7. phthalates

8. parabens

9. synthetic preservatives

10. mineral oil

11. lanolin

12. sodium lauryl

13. sodium sulfate

14. gluten

and 15. because I love their products, and I love the company mission!

Peacekeeper Cause-Metics is an all natural cosmetics line that gives all of its after-tax, distributable profits to women’s health advocacy and urgent human rights issues. Peacekeeper was founded by humanitarian and activist for women and children in need – Jody Weiss. A former sports agent, Jody felt a “the burn” of passion in her heart and left this position to begin her global mission through the creation of Peacekeeper.

Check out my review of Peacekeeper HERE

For more on Peacekeeper: http://www.iamapeacekeeper.com/

Earth Divas is SGM Approved!!!

Why do I love them? (my review)

• They are a company that provides beautiful, low-cost, fair trade products that are are handmade by women for women from around the world. Their goal has been to help women and their families in developing countries where options are very limited as to how they can make a safe and profitable living and provide for their family.
• promote fair trade and sustainable fashion
• They are members of the Fair Trade Federation and while they believe that membership is great, what really matters to them most, are the actions they take each and every day.
• artisans are paid 30% more than what they would make working for a non-fair trade company
• 100% of profits are given to the artisans at the end of the year in the form of a cash payout
• They are involved with several training programs that help train women to work on sewing machines. This not only helps their production capacity, but these skills help women earn a higher income throughout their life.
• Many of the bags, purses, and wallets that their artisans make are eco-friendly. They use a lot of hemp, which is a strong, sustainable fiber that’s easy to grow. Most of the silk used in their bags are from scraps which otherwise would be thrown away.
• Their overall goal is to keep expenses as low as possible, produce as many items as they can, and return all profits to the artisans that make their items.   The more items they produce, the more families they employ in Nepal and India.
• Huge selection of well-made and incredibly fashionable green goodies!

…and these are just a few of the things that make them a very cool shade of green!

To learn more about Earth Divas, check out their site at http://www.earthdivas.com/

find them on twitter http://twitter.com/EarthDivas01

and on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/EarthDivas/356633619571

Non-Toxic: Our complete line of reusable waste-free lunch packing products are made from the safest, non-leaching, non-toxic, BPA, PVC, phthalate, and lead-free materials! That is a mouthful, but true! Lead, BPA, PVC, and phthalates are substances that are known to be harmful to our bodies with repeated exposure.

Stainless Steel: We offer a wide range of 304 food grade stainless steel solutions as it is proven to be the safest material to house food in.

Product Line: Our products are what we call ‘eco-chic’, and graphically appealing to kids and adults alike. Kids Konserve Waste-free Lunch kits are designed to be fun, stylish, and easy for kids to use, while offering maximum convenience and flexibility for parents. Our reusable product line gives you convenience of coordinated lunch kit components that may be used together in our Waste-free Lunch Kit or in a lunch box of your choice. All with the underlying aim of creating a Zero Waste Lunch.

Waste-Free Challenge: We started Kids Konserve with the goal of educating schools, students and their families on the importance of REUSE! We donate a percentage of each sale back to any school that takes on our Waste-free Challenge. We are a company not just of eco- friendly lunch kits and reusable products, but a source of educational information that parents, schools and kids can use keep learning about their responsibilities to the environment.

**Congrats Kids Konserve!!!!

Congrats to the sassy, cheeky ooh-la-la Keeki!!!

Keeki Pure and Simple products meet several criteria for SGM Approval, and I personally find them to be so fun and a must-have for kids and parents alike! With their huge selection of hip-hoppin, bee-boppin, brightly colored non-toxic nail polish (and even a glow-in-the-dark), to their organic and gluten-free glistening lip balms…Keeki is a fav of the Smiling Green Fam! It’s a fab feeling to see your daughter’s eyes light up at the sight of shimmery lips balms and pretty nail polish just for her! Truly, she loves them and so do I – just knowing they are safe and made of healthy ingredients that will be good for her.

-USDA certified organic

-gluten-free

-non-toxic (Toluene, Formaldehyde and Phthalate FREE)

-vegan

-no parabens, phthalates

-100% cruelty free

organic and gluten-free products for kids and their families…Pure and Simple.

Silk Soymilk makes the SGM Approved product list!!

We love, rely-on, enjoy and are thankful for (it is right after Thanksgiving and all), Silk in our home. Some of you may know that our little boy has dairy allergies and let me tell you – cereal without milk is one dry-mouth, non-yummy breakfast. Our E MUST have his cereal and because of Silk, he can wake up every morning and enjoy breakfast just like everyone else.

And it’s not just about cereal – it’s so much more! The delicious taste of “his milk” has given me the ability to cook and bake just like normal! I use this in so many ways and in so many recipes in place of cow’s milk and it is always perfectly yum for not just my little guy either…

I. Must. Have. My. Silk.

Just as our E loves it in the morning – there is no other way that I can drink my hot cup of morning coffee!! I love the Vanilla – mmmmm. Oh and guess what? Silk has created delicious holiday flavors too that we are super excited to try – including, rich Nog, Pumpkin Spice and OHMYGOSH

MINT CHOCOLATE!!!!

What more can I say? We love our heart-healthy, calcium, Omega 3′s and antioxidant-rich Silk!

oh but of course, my thoughts would not be complete without mentioning how amazing their efforts are in supporting green causes such as wind energy and Farm Aid!

SILK GREEN CAPS FOR A GREENER WORLD HELPS CONSUMERS RAISE FUNDS FOR A GREEN CAUSE

FAQs that Make Me

• Silk was among the first U.S. brands to champion renewable energy. Since 2003, we’ve offset the electricity used to make our products with clean wind power and have earned repeated recognition from the Environmental Protection Agency for our leadership in this area.
• All Silk products are dairy-free, lactose-free and casein-free, and can be suitable for those with dairy allergies. We have extensive testing protocols in place at our production facilities to detect and prevent contamination by dairy or dairy components including casein and lactose.
• Silk products are Vegan! There are no animal derivatives in our products. The lactic acid and live cultures used in Silk Live! soy yogurt come from a vegetable source. All vitamins used to fortify Silk soymilk are also vegetable-derived. The DHA in our DHA Omega-3-fortified product comes from algae; a sustainable, vegetarian source of DHA. The calcium used to fortify Silk soymilk comes from limestone.
• Silk soymilk does not contain nut ingredients, including almond and coconut. However, our soymilk may be manufactured on equipment that also handles foods containing these ingredients.
• Silk products contain only USDA certified organic soybeans grown without genetic engineering, right here in North America. We employ robust quality-testing protocols to detect GMOs, pesticide residue and other potential contaminants. This ensures that our beans meet the highest standards of quality, consistency and safety
• Silk soymilk cartons can be recycled after removing the plastic screw cap.

The newest memebr of the SGM Approved™ family is none other than….(drum roll)

PeopleTowels - because change really is at hand!

“PeopleTowels is the newest concept in sustainability and the latest in eco-chic fashion. A Green alternative to paper towels in public facilties, these quick-drying, reusable personal hand towels are made of lightweight, 100% Organic, Fair Trade Cotton. PeopleTowels come in a variety of inspired designs, printed with eco-friendly dyes, to appeal to different tastes and styles” (People Towels).

They are zero-waste, personal hand towels that are designed to replace the concept of a paper towel! We do not used paper towels at all anymore and my hope is that someday they will become non-existent. The impact of these traditional tree-killing paper towels is alarming and makes no sense at all. They are super wasteful – plain and simple. I love PeopleTowels for a number of reasons  - one being the amazing passion they have (trust me, you can just feel the green vibes!) for creating global awareness and change and inspiring our world community to re-think the paper towel habit. They are great – and very personable with an open communication for anyone who wants to connect with them!

Congratulations SGM Approved™ PeopleTowels!!

http://www.peopletowels.com/

Guess who’s gorgeous recycled handbags just made the SGM Approved list???

Yep! Urthbags, eco-chic purses and handbags that are made using recycled and biodegradable materials!!  Urthbags are hand-crafted from recycled and salvaged materials by Fair Trade women’s organizations and artisans (and October *is* Fair Trade month)!! They are fun, sassy and very unique. Urthbags offers so many gorgeous styles and materials to choose from including colorful recycled juice box bags, magazine, sea shell, newspaper and telephone books!!

Designed with the purpose “to inspire more people to become environmentally conscious & to help reduce the amount of waste generated every day,” founder, Monica Ralli is making a difference! I am the proud owner of an Angelina and Coco and I can’t tell you how many people have noticed and complimented them! So it feels great to carry something planet-friendly…and it looks great too!!

http://urthbags.com

With the hope of inspiring families everywhere to pack a waste-free, muck-free lunch…Citizenpip offers a wide variety of cute and fun reusable lunch gear! I can not tell you the number of friends of ours who have commented on our E’s lunch kit and asked “where on Earth did you get those cool containers.” They are nifty, with snap lids that are easy to open and close (as well as being dishwasher and freezer safe, water-tight, leak-proof and super durable) these containers are just one reason I love Citizenpip!

They offer a full-line of eco-friendly lunch gear including lunch bags, waterbottles, containers, kid-sized fork and spoon sets, thermos, napkins….the list is long and great!

FAQs

• Citizenpip is “lead-free, BPA-free, PVC-free, and phthalate-free”. Muck-free materials are food-safe and do not contain hazardous or toxic materials that can leach into food and drink.
• The stainless steel products are made from food grade 304 stainless steel.
• Plastic materials are made from polypropylene (#5 plastic) which is BPA-free and has no known hazards.
• The lunch bag is lead-free, PVC-free, and phthalate free.
• All products have been lab tested by a CPSIA accredited testing laboratory to meet FDA requirements and CPSIA standards.

To learn more about this SGM Approved company, visit www.citizenpip.com