Business Grants for Conscious Women Owned Businesses

Meet Eileen Fisher For Advice on Simplistic Wardrobe Collaborations

No Country for Climate Change Coverage

Major newspaper coverage of climate change plummeted last year – Utne Altwire

Ecology Project Scholarship

Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Apprentice Ecologist Initiative

One More Reason to Green Your Cosmetics

Mayors vs. Microbeads | OnEarth Magazine
Microbeads from facial scrubs polluting our Great Lakes. Who knew?

Five Herbs To Make Natural Beauty Products

Making your own beauty products is fun. Growing your own herbs to use in these beauty products is cost-effective, as well as fun. There are other perks too - growing your own herbs means that you know what's going in your hair, what you're scrubbing with, etc. For centuries, herbs have been an important part of beauty products. If you want your own beauty garden, below are five essential herbs that are easy to grow and super-useful for making beauty products!

Lavender

 

Lavender is one of the most commonly used herbs for beauty and well-being. Lavender is grown for use in beauty products for many reasons, and in many ways. The flowers of lavender are fragrant and give your beauty products a great scent. Lavender is often used to promote relaxation and calmness. The stems and leaves of the flower are often used in body lotions, facial cleansers and toners, foot soaks and salves. 
Chamomile

 

Chamomile is grown directly from the seed, then transplanted into a garden in warm weather. Due to the size of the flowers, it’s smart to grow chamomile plants all at once, so you can gather a lot of flowers to use in your beauty products. Chamomile is best grown in a drained garden bed, or it flourishes well on the porch in a container. The flowering part of the plant is used in skin, hair lotions and shampoos. The flowers are put in for their scent. A nice chamomile soak is a great way to remedy a sunburn or chapped skin from wind burn.

Parsley

 

Parsley is a great addition to your beauty garden. Because it's so popular, it's easy to find in seeds and plants, but it requires a bit of patience if you choose to grow it from the seed. Years ago, the Romans and Greeks used parsley to cover odors, but now the leaves are used in beauty products to help fight acne. Parsley is also used in shampoo and conditioner to enrich and strengthen locks.

Lemon Balm

 

Lemon balm can be grown right on your windowsill. Because lemon balm can take over a garden bed in no time at all, it's wise to confine it to a pot or a bordered bed. It's a perennial plant, so you only need one. You can gather the green leaves for a nice citrus scent to add to all your homemade beauty products. Lemon balm is the most commonly used hair rinse to get other hair products out. It is also used as a face wash to get rid of and relieve acne due to its antiviral products. It's used often in salves and lotions to treat dry skin.

Aloe Vera

 

Every beauty garden needs some aloe vera. Aloe vera is well-known for its healing properties. It is grown for use in balms, lip balms and lotions to treat dry, burnt or chapped skin or to work into dry summer hair. Most people don’t realize that aloe vera is still used today to treat radiation burns.

You can grow these herbs in your very own home and begin making your own beauty products today. 

 

This article was written by Sally Rodriquez of Guest Post U. Sally writes all about natural health and wants you to know that she is planning on pursuing an online nursing degree. Guest Post U www.guestpostu.com, provides free writing services in exchange for advertising. I've found the articles to be well written and researched.

Eco-Friendly Toys

Keeping a child entertained is never easy, as parents and guardians have to avoid exposing a baby to dangerous pieces or chemical substances that are on practically everything. Besides this, they have to make sure the toys have a positive influence on growth and development. However, you can avoid most pitfalls by going for eco-friendly toys for toddlers. Here is what you need to know.

Best Plastic Toys
Most toys found in our homes are made of plastics, because parents find them cheap, easy to clean or maintain, durable and to some extent, we can say that it’s because they're easily found in kids' playstores. However, there are harmful substances like PVC, VOC and lead found in most plastic toys, not excluding the highly regarded brands. Although it takes an expert to identify the safe to use brands, there are many websites and publications that can help you make the right decisions when it comes to plastic play toys.

Going Green
Since babies like putting things into their mouths, parents should consider toys made from recycled or natural wood. Talk about killing two birds with one stone; entertaining your kids in a safe way and promoting environmental concerns. Sustainable wood products especially those made from organic rubber are not only safe but also durable.
Organic Cloth or Plush
In terms of the safest play pieces, organic toys or plush ones are among the top brands. However, parents shouldn't overlook the fact that some brands made from organic, hemp, cotton or wool contain chemicals and dyes that can harm a child. Guardians should look out for certified organic cloth and plush eco-friendly toys for babies.

Battery-Free toys
Although battery-powered toys excite most babies, they should be discouraged, because they hinder creative minds. Baby toys should encourage them to do things on their own, given that when children pushes, pulls or moves objects around, it helps improve their eye-hand coordination. Batteries have toxic metal compounds dangerous to the health of little ones, and they also degrade our environment, as they're among the hardest to dispose of waste materials.

Toy-Buying Tips
There are many ways to make sure that children have minimal exposure to harmful toys. Going natural is a way of maintaining safe standards. However, you should go the extra mile to read labels carefully and avoid those with toxic finishes. You can also convert things like empty boxes, and other safe to use objects in your home, or simply buy fewer practical, durable and safe to use toys that can be passed down from generation to generation as a measure of minimizing exposure to harmful toys. The idea is to look for the best alternatives when you want to keep babies entertained. On the other hand, you're better off playing with your kids as well, as this not only helps develop stronger bonds, but also allows the child to play under your supervision, which is the best way to keep them safe while playing.

The end result of any play time should be a healthier baby and this task is always simpler when the choice is safe, healthy and eco-friendly.

Black and Into Green Readers, if you liked this post, you have Joseph Rodriguez of Guest Post U to thank. Joseph writes about parenting tips and child development. His recent work is on his plans to earn an online mba in healthcare management. It is good to know that there are environmentally friendly healthcare administrators in the college pipeline! If you occasionally need support with your writing and blogging, you too can use the services of Guest Post U, The University of Great Content at www.guestpostu.com. The business model is that you get great free writing, in exchange for linking to the service and an ad, in addition to helping a college student. A fair exchange in my opinion.

Fruit Foraging Tips

 

It's harvest time and some harvests may be available to you even if you weren't involved in the planting. Occasionally, I'm surprised to find a delectable yield of luscious fruits in the most unusual places. Parking lots, growing wildly along the fence of an abandoned house or in the case of the first photo below, as part of an intentional or unintentional commercial landscape. Before you start your harvesting of these urban delights, you must read this informative foraging article by You Grow Girl blogger, Gayla Trail. If you do forage, please share your finds with Black And Into Green.

 

 

A clump of cherry tomato plants and a pear tree near an alley dumpster.


 

Green Internship

Legislative Assistant Internship - Climate, Union of Concerned Scientists

Floral Explosion

Enjoy! Greeted on my walk to church this morning by this orangetasist explosion of flowers. Look like zinnias, but not quite sure. They were saying "Welcome back, Glow Baby!"

May your day be blessed with beauty.

Solar Energy Comes To Low Income Areas

Solar Energy Non-Profit Delivers Alternative Energy To Low-Income Neighborhoods

Nice to see some equity in access to affordable clean energy!

So You Thought You Were Green?

Quest for a life without plastic

Football Season! Go for Greener, Safer Sports Goals.

Green Sports | US EPA Great tips to help your schools create a greener, healthier playing environment for your loved ones or perhaps yourself! Go Browns!

NY Launches A Green Bank!

NY Launches A Green Bank!

A Baby Cucumber

I'm the proud mama of a baby cucumber. Isn't it cute?

Is Your City On The List? Now What?

14 U.S. Cities That Could Disappear Over The Next Century, Thanks To Global Warming

Some of these cities are pretty progressive in their attempts to limit human induced climate change. We need to work harder and be louder in addressing our concerns about the impact of greenhouse gases on our childrens future health, quality of life and security. We need to also plan accordingly for impacts that are unavoidable. This means addressing  urban and suburban weather-smart planning, addressing gentrification caused by middle and upper income individuals increasingly desirous of  the amenities of walkable cities, supporting companies that are smart about reducing waste (of limited resources - do we even know if any resource is truly unlimited), supporting research that contributes to innovative and safe products and processes, eating sustainably produced food and demanding accessible green jobs from our elected officials. Think about how you will respond if asked 40 years from now about your role in creating the earth that our children will have inherited?

Inner City Landscapes

I pass this strip of landscaped parking that belongs to an African American church on my way to work. The designer of this garden did a great job of selecting natives and drought tolerant plants for this garden. These pics are about a month old. I love when businesses go the extra mile to beautify the neighborhood.

Green Job NYC

Urban Park Ranger, NYC Department of Parks & Recreation

Happy Earth Overshoot Day!

Happy Earth Overshoot Day! Oooookaay???

GE, Other Firms Commit $9 Billion to ‘Power Africa’

GE, Other Firms Commit $9 Billion to ‘Power Africa’ 

I'm getting quite a charge out of this powerful, capacity building initiative to light up and power up some African countries!

FACT SHEET: Power Africa | The White House

FACT SHEET: Power Africa | The White House

Maya's Ideas Shop: Two new articles on The Kind Life and the TOMS Sho...

Maya's Ideas Shop: Two new articles on The Kind Life and the TOMS Sho...: Check out my two new articles on actress Alicia Silverstone's blog The Kind Life, and the TOMS Shoes blog! :) I'm so honored to be f...

Check out Maya's newest articles!

Almond Pulp Leftover Recipes

edible perspective - Home - almond milk revisited {plus} almond pulp crackers + breakfast bread

Cleantech Incubator in NY

NYC Opens Cleantech Incubator

Mexico Unveils National Climate Change Strategy

Mexico Unveils National Climate Change Strategy Viva Mexico!

Great Green Success Story

From gang life to green shoots 

This young man is an inspiration!

Black and Into Green Summer Reading List 2013

Ahh, summer. Does it evoke youthful memories and feelings? It reminds us of good times whether they be vacations or stay-cations, Koolaid or iced tea, summer camp or summer street games, camping or cookouts, shorts or sundresses and summer school or summer reading lists. Yes, I said summer reading lists. As an avid reader most of my life, I genuinely enjoyed summer reading lists, though may not have enjoyed all of the books on the list. So like many others, I've maintained the tradition of summer reading by creating my own summer reading list. Some summers reading lists are more aspirational depending on what's going on that summer and others leave me with a feeling of accomplishment at the end of summer. Summer reading lists can include whatever suits your reading fancy, but should include some books that you normally would feel guilty about reading because you should be reading something related to professional, human or self development. Categories to include could be fiction, science fiction, humor, travel, interesting biographies, coffee table books, hobbies and the like. A great resource for finding books from authors of all hues is the bookstore site, Hueman Books. All books are discounted by 20%! Keep that dollar re-circulating people. And don't forget the People's University..the library! Introducing my summer reading list of 2013:

• Ghana Must Go, Taiye Selasi
• Cooked, Michael Pollan
• Flight Behavior, A Novel (P.S.), Barbara Kingsolver
• Little Green, An Easy Rawlins Mystery, Walter Mosley
• Kindred, Octavia Butler
• The Edible Balcony, Alex Mitchell
• Eco-yards, Laureen Rama
• The Urban Birder, David Lindo and Stephen Moss

What's on your summer reading list?