As we were prowling for practical green gifts to feature in our coming 2009 Green Gifts Lists, this simple T-shirt caught our eye. It’s green, unisex and made with organic cotton. And you’ve got that iconic Panda there on the side. What more could a greenie want?

Organic cotton T from World Wildlife Fund

It’s your gift — to re-gift at Christmas or Hanukkah — with a donation of $50 to World Wildlife Fund.

A gift to the WWF is a no-brainer for conservationists concerned about polar bears, tigers, pandas, penguins, moose and countless other creatures threatened by global warming and loss of habitat.

For the person on your list who’s wild about saving a certain favorite animal, check out WWF’s pewter earrings that depict wolves, rhinos, whales, turtles, tigers, frogs, dolphins and more. These are also a gift option when you make a $50 donation.

Handmade pewter earrings from WWF

To read more about WWF’s work, check out their list of 19 priority areas where the organization is working to restore or preserve lands that hold some of the world’s most exotic and threatened animals. (Many of these areas, the Amazon, Yangzee Region, the Congo Basin and the North American Great Plains also serve as areas where carbon is naturally sequestered, helping in the fight against global warming.)

World Wildlife Fund offers other thank you gifts, for young and old, including tote and aluminum water bottles. And, as always, you can “adopt” an animal — in fact, you can choose from 100 animals to adopt. Each adoption entitles the giver to a certificate of adoption and depending on the donation, a stuffed animal and other goodies. Great stocking stuffers.

Snow Leopard (Photo: World Wildlife Fund)

Chimpanzee (Photo: World Wildlife Fund)

Illinois’ PIRG, a non-profit public interest group, released results of recent testing for toxic chemicals on toys this week, finding that three items intended for children exceeded current safety standards, and two products contact phthalates in violation of federal law.

The tested toys and products can be seen at HealthyToys.org, where they will be incorporated into a much larger list. Researchers at HealthyToys.org are readying a long list of items that will be available on Dec. 2, in time for the winter holidays.

“After the wave of record recalls of dangerous toys just two years ago, we’re glad to see that most of the toys we tested are in compliance with the law,” said Brian Imus, director of Illinois PIRG and an author of the report. “But not all toys are safe and we must do more to prevent toxic toys from ending up on store shelves.”

For more specifics, the PIRG referred people to the list at HealthyStuff.org.

HealthyStuff.org research director Jeff Gearhart said that it was “disappointing” that the early testing still found “significant problems in jewelry.”

Based on that, he said the group would maintain its standing cautionary position on kids costume jewelry, which has been found to contain lead in previous studies, as did two pieces vetted in this latest round of tests. HealthyStuff advises parents to forego the glitzy, inexpensive jewelry, for now.

But, he added, “the initial snapshot (of toys tested in Illinois) shows we’re seeing some overall improvement in toys this year, and we’ll know more once we get a larger sample.”

For the past three years, the group has tested thousands of toys, typically more than 700 before the holidays.

On the preview list of 87 toys released by the PIRG, at least three toys exceed the safe and allowable level of lead, which is set at 300 parts per million, down from the previously allowed 600 parts per million. (Pictures of the toys were not available.)

Two of the offending items are sold at Claire’s, a costume jewelry store that targets tweens and teens

The first is a Halloween item described as a LOVE Pink Block cell phone accessory. The other is a pair of clip-on dangling “diamond” earrings that registered a high reading of lead of 26,692 parts per million.

Another  item that tested above safe limits for lead is a toy car by Marvel Hot Rodz with a Spiderman head that tests showed contained more than six times the allowable levels.

Lead exposure has long been known to cause health problems in developing children, even causing cognitive issues. HealthyStuff.org, however, warns that just because a chemical is detected in a toy, doesn’t mean there’s been direct exposure to it. For more info on why HealthyStuff tests for certain chemicals and how they can affect childrens’ bodies when there is direct contact, see the Chemicals of Concern introduction on their website.

In a news release, PIRG also called out the problem of products that contain phthalates, which turn up in plastics and cosmetics are known to cause “a wide array of harm to the human body; from reproductive defects in men and women, premature birth, early onset puberty for young girls, and lower sperm counts in men.”

However, because HealthyStuff.org does not list phthalates among the toxic components it tests for, people cannot currently reference these products.

The Illinois PIRG (Public Interest Research Group), part of a federation of PIRGs nationally, called for better regulation to catch violators before they make it to market.

The good news? Most of the toys tested are being rated as having a “low” level of hazardous chemical content.

Lead in toys is scary enough, but that’s only the start. Now, you might need to take a second look at your handbag, your car, your pet’s bed and even your clothes. The non-profit group Healthy Stuff reports that their recent tests of 900 everyday consumer products turned up some toxic results.

Let’s start with man’s best friend or your purring pal.

More than 400 pet products, such as beds, chew toys, stuffed toys, collars, leashes and even tennis balls were tested. The results are unsettling. Healthy Stuff says that 45 percent of all the pet products they examined had at least one and frequently more toxins. A good one-quarter of the items had detectable levels of lead and of those, 7 percent exceeded the current limit the government has said are acceptable in children’s toys.

About half of the pet collars tested had detectable lead, and more than 25 percent of those exceeded the 330 ppm (parts per million) level that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has said is dangerous for children.

And if throwing the ball is fun for Fido, you might want to reconsider. Almost half of the tennis balls made for pets contained lead (interestingly, no lead turned up in tennis balls for the court).

That’s just the tip of the chemical iceberg.

If you’re driving a 2004 or older car, there is a greater chance of heavy metals (such as lead) in it. Also, the groups said, the level of chemicals in cars can be five to 10 times higher than your home or office.

The group tested 700 new and used vehicles, from some ‘80s models to 2010s. The two with the least chemicals – the 2009 Pontiac G5 and the Chevy Cobalt. The worst offenders — at the bottom of the chemical-heavy car list — were Mitsubishis, Audis and VWs.

Just what is HealthyStuff.org, anyway? They say their ratings are based on information from environmental health groups and researchers. The website was created by the Ecology Center, a non-profit environmental group in Michigan born after the first Earth Day in 1970. Its goal, according to its website, is to advocate for safe environments in all walks of life.

Healthy Stuff calls out the government and EPA for what they say are lax, outdated and incomplete research of potentially harmful toxins.  In 2005, the nation’s Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report criticizing the government agencies for  failing to expand regulation and testing of potentially harmful chemicals in consumer products.

With this latest round of tests, the Healthy Stuff group says it has conducted more than 15,000 tests on more than 5,000 everyday items.

Their most recent research also scrutinized the chemicals found in children’s car seats. Almost 60 percent of car seats had potentially harmful additives, they say, such as PVC, chemical flame retardants and heavy metals.

A substantial list of various kid car seats lets you find the variety you’re using, and a click on the “model” link reveals an overall score, the testing method, manufacturer code and which parts of the seat contain chemicals.

The group repeatedly reminds visitors that their results are not meant to imply that a specific chemical found in a product necessarily means it is dangerous. Their testing is meant to inform the public of the presence of certain chemicals in an item, not to tell consumers what they should and shouldn’t buy.

They test using a portable X-ray fluorescence analyzer, or XRF, to search for lead, cadmium, mercury, bromine, chlorine (PVC) and arsenic.

XRFs are used by manufacturers and government regulators to screen products for potentially harmful chemicals, Healthy Stuff says on their Web site. They also state that their testing has limitations: product choices were based in part on consumer interest. They did not randomly sample the items they tested, and want people to know that the items they test are not representative of all products in the market.

Now that the kids are safely back to school, you might want to peruse Healthy Stuff’s screening of more than 60 school supplies. A look at backpacks, pencil cases, binders and even lunchboxes had plenty of PVC and more than 20 percent had lead.

Of all the kids’ school products, almost 90 percent had one of more of the chemicals on Healthy Stuff’s concern list.

Before you rush out to buy replacements, you’d best check out their new research on women’s purses. Healthy Stuff tested more than 100 handbags, and found detectable lead in more than 75 percent of them. Of those, they said, 64 percent had more lead than the level the government has deemed safe.

The current law that governs chemical content is decades old. The Healthy Stuff site says that impending legislation demanding closer scrutiny of consumer goods chemical makeup is in the works.

Look over these lists for more detailed information:  toys, cars and trucks, clothing and accessories, products for children or pet products.

More questions? Check their list of frequently asked ones.

Copyright © 2008 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

From electronics powered by the sun to plates made from corn, towels woven from bamboo and suits spun from recycled plastic bottles, green products are crowding into stores. Never before has the green consumer enjoyed such a dazzling, dizzying…and completely confusing array of treats.

How does one choose? Should you get the locally grown zucchini or the organically farmed summer quash? The bamboo towel from Asia or the organic cotton bath sheet from Texas? Organic face cream or natural? Disposable or reusable? Plastic or stainless? Is it green, sustainable, FSC and Fair Trade?

For an increasing number of consumers, these are important questions. But the answers are spread across a universe of websites, books and human resources. That’s where GoodGuide and TheFind come in. GoodGuide is an online index that rates green food, toys, personal care and household products. TheFind is a shopping search engine that allows you to search and segregate green consumer goods. Both websites want to help you find the stuff that’s legitimately green, with the attributes that you value, and also ferret out products making false claims of sustainability.

Both websites also aim big: GoodGuide has already investigated tens of thousands of green products and wants to become the largest, most reliable online tool that consumers employ to vet the green credentials of a product, be it baby food or dog food, hairspray or bug spray, an action figure or a soil activator.

The free service tells prospective buyers about the product’s contents, its environmental pedigree and whether its manufacturer is working to lower greenhouse gas emissions, embracing low-impact methods, cultivating non-toxic alternatives, treating workers fairly and offering transparency into company workings.

The GoodGuide, which launched last September, already boasts a library of 70,000 products and is getting daily queries from the public for more, says Jodie Van Horn, director of partnerships for GoodGuide. (Now that consumers can assess their food, they’re asking for the guide to step up its inventory of pet foods.)

Now about TheFind. Its goal is simple: to show shoppers “everything” that’s available for sale, online and locally.

“With Google you can see (and) you can find any article from any website anywhere, we’re just trying to do that with shopping,” says TheFind’s CEO Siva Kumar. “It can be done.”

A distinguishing feature of TheFind, which can link shoppers to 500,000 stores, is that it gives searchers an option to sift out the “green” products and/or find local stores. The local shopping option, in some instances, may offer the lowest carbon-footprint purchase. All told, TheFind can locate some 320 million products, and more than a million of them are part of its green data collection.

Are you sensing that the GoodGuide and TheFind might be compatible? So did the proprietors, which is how TheFind and GoodGuide came to partner by interlinking to each other’s data. This just-announced partnership should put green consumers on the fast track to finding the best-of-class, verifiably green products – in the price and location they want.

Earth Day 2009 is April 22, and Amazon is launching Earth Day Savings at www.amazon.com/earthday, where customers can save on organic groceries, home products, CFLs and more. Additionally, learn how to go Extreme Green, Ease Into Green, or be Eco-Chic.

Amazon and ENERGY STAR will also host the Earth Day Sweepstakes. Five first-place winners will receive two ENERGY STAR-qualified powerhouses: a Toshiba laptop and a Brother multifunction printer. Fifteen second-place winners will receive the Brother printer. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Enter here by April 22, 2009. See Official Rules for details.

You can also celebrate with recycled and repurposed wood and plastic toys. Shop our large selection of eco-friendly toys from Spring Toys, Green Toys, Plan Toys, and more.

Gifts for kids come from everywhere along the Earth-friendly spectrum, from things that will be landfill fodder in months (be they easily broken or tie-ins to passing fads) to those that are actually toxic.

Among the sturdy, built-to-last variety, though, some consider the environment more than others. Board games, for instance, will often be kept around and enjoyed for years — if they’re fun — and my guess is some readers will share my childhood memories of playing the decades-old games my parents enjoyed in their school days.

The company Mindware, maker of such award-winning diversions as Chaos and Qwirkle, isn’t content just to make games that won’t be thrown away; they’re also selling some, branded “Green Board Games,” that are actually made from and packaged with recycled materials. One of these, Square Up!, is the kind of abstract puzzle that parents won’t mind playing themselves, while others, like a line of BrainBox Q&A games, will help kids sharpen knowledge of subjects that aren’t trivial.

The other category of hand-me-down toys that I enjoyed a generation after my parents was the construction set. We had Erector gear, Lincoln Logs, and assorted building blocks whose fun factor was undiminished by the patina of age. A fascinating new brand of construction toy, Überstix, seems designed with both yesterday’s construction sets and tomorrow’s ecological concerns in mind.

The sticks and sprockets of Überstix, you see, aren’t only usable on their own. They’re cleverly designed to fit together with many of the kits a household may already own: The aforementioned Erector products, Legos, the mathematician-beloved Zome toys and many others can all be combined with these multipurpose connectors, encouraging kids to dig old favorites from the back of the closet to be enjoyed once more.

Even better, the recycled-plastic Überstix are designed to work with garbage. Popsicle sticks, soda straws, coffee cups and the like fit into these things with a little ingenuity, and some of the kits — like a sailboat that requires used water bottles for floatation devices — aren’t even complete until kids do some scrounging for raw materials.

Now if only the company would provide users with instructions for how to incorporate that mountain of Christmas wrapping paper and ribbon into an Überstix creation…

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Want to stay safe, avoid toxic toy recalls and make your toy selections a little greener this season? There are no guarantees but here are few ideas:

• Maybe your toddler (19 months and up) would enjoy Plan Toy’s delightful preservative-free rubberwood Pull-Along Snail or the equally cheeky Dancing Alligator (both about $19). Plan Toys are green and made in America.

• If you have a pint-size chef in your midst, he or she might like a pastel-colored cook set made from recycled (American) milk jugs – no BPA or phthalates. Green Toys’ Cookware Set, for ages 3 and up, includes a stock pot with lid, skillet, four place settings including eating utensils, plates, bowls and cups. About $40.00 . Green Toys also makes a bang-up sandbox set from recycled milk jugs. For around $20, it includes a bucket, sand-castle mold, shovel and rake.

• Your little adventurer/explorer, age five and up, will enjoy donning a Terra Kids headlamp and exploring granny’s basement or nearby woods. Great for sleep overs! It’s an actual headlamp – a small LED light attached to a adjustable elastic band. $35 from Waldorf Toys/Willow Tree Toys. Made in China “under close supervision of Haba of Germany.”

• How about giving your kids a heavenly body for Christmas? Uncle Milton’s “Moon in My Room,” sold by Melissa & Doug and available from Fat Brain Toys, is an illuminated miniature orb that your child can hang on the wall and use to track twelve different phases of the moon – to match the real moon outside or to go with Jr’s mood. The set includes an educational audio CD teaching moon trivia, an auto shut-off to preserve battery life, and infrared remote control. Ages 6+ Approximately $30.

• Aspiring young greenies ages 8 and up might appreciate a make-it-yourself clean energy Wind Power Toy – from Fat Brain Toys. It comes with several suggested experiments and dozens of small parts, so beware that younger siblings stay clear. Made in Taiwan. $49.95

• Know a busy little tyke aching to use his muscles and new found hand-eye coordination? Check out the Miracle Pounding Wood Toy, also available at Fat Brain and made in Thailand by Plan Toys. This toy costs more, $29.95, but might just be indestructible and qualify as a family hand-me-down.

• And every newly mobile toddler needs a walking toy. Find one in wood with a non-toxic finish at North Star Toys, an American toymaker with green credentials dating back three decades. The Let’s Go Walking Puppy couldn’t be cuter and it’s made in New Mexico and finished with vegetable oils. Sold for $26.

Some green options may have a few more travel miles than we’d sustainably like. But sometimes these matters aren’t so clear cut. Organics from a company committed to sustainability in another country can trump resource-wasteful toys (think heavy on the plastics) in our own. Which makes these worthy of consideration:

• Nuno Organics is great one-stop safe-toy shopping for the truly earthy looking for younger kids. Among the offerings are a cool, brightly painted wooden block geometrical jigsaw puzzle for ages 4 and up, $54. It’s designed to challenge little noggins — encourage their three-dimensional thinking and perception of patterns.  For tykes, how about all-natural wood sports cars or “vintage” trucks, such as a handmade miniature “Bugatti” sports car from Finland ($19), or a Finnish “Ford-T Truck” ($39) lacquered with non-toxic Beckers paint, also carried by Nuno Organics.

• Terra Experience is a world market that imports toys and clothes made by artisans in developing nations such as these “Ethnic Doll Clothes for American Girl Dolls” made in Guatamala and elsewhere and selling for $25-$30. The women who make the traditional outfits from Central America, for instance, earn a living that they use to support educational and village improvements.
• Terra is committed to Fair Trade principles, and their products fall more into the “socially responsible” category than the strictly green. But if the holidays and the latest economic twists have taught us anything, it’s that we’re all on spaceship Earth together. So if you’ve got an American Girl doll to clothe, it just might help feed a Central American child.

Copyright © 2008 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

It’s the giving season once again, and already we’re decking halls, basting turkeys, stringing lights and scratching our heads over what Santa might send down the chimney. It’s a tough call this year, considering our less-than-merry economy. Even old St. Nick is tightening his belt.

But child-safety advocates have a message: Resist the temptation to cheap out. With purse-strings tighter than ever, don’t be seduced by dubious toys – products that may have chemical coatings, phthalates or lead paint, are poorly designed or just aren’t age appropriate. That’s not to say “cheap” always equals “inferior,” says Chicago-based consumer advocate Nancy Cowles. Locally or simply made toys can be quite durable and affordable. But while you’re looking to avoid problems, save money and save the planet, ’tis the season for research and reason.

“With the economy like it is, we’re concerned that people will be looking more to dollar stores and things like Craig’s List, E-bay and second-hand stores,” says Cowles, executive director of Kids in Danger a toy-safety consumer group. “Our concern is that recalled products often turn up in these places. …We certainly don’t discourage people from shopping second hand, but it’s a little less safe, especially the dollar stores.”

Also, deep discount stores aren’t exactly known for their eco-sound products. Cheap items are usually cheap for any number of reasons: They’re outdated, poorly constructed or have been recalled, or they may come from countries where labor is cheap and consumer/environment protections are nil.

Perhaps the real money-saving formula this holiday season, then, is quality over quantity. Maybe it’s best to spend a bit more on one or two high-quality toys.