Drink in the Box: Healthier, Safer and Better

I like having eco-friendly options that allow my family and I to make healthier, safer, and better choices. Drink in the Box allows us to make this choice! By using Drink in the Box, we can be environmentally conscious and enjoy fresh juice or milk. We can buy large containers of juice and fill this box or make delicious healthier juice at home, instead of buying individual packs of juice that fill landmines and adds extra expense.

Win a copy of the EPIC movie and Learn How To Be Green at Home

Epic will be on blu-ray and DVD on August 20th. There is lots to learn from this movie for both children and adults. These five simple steps inspired by the movie will help us toward becoming "epically green" in our homes.

Stay Fit Cycling

My husband believes the most fun way to stay fit for him is cycling. He just wishes there is more good weather to do this often. We introduced our children to cycle with a tricycle first and now they are in the process of learning to ride a bike. This has become one of our favourite summer activities.

Riding a bike not only benefits our body, but also the environment as it is emission free. We should be walking/riding the bike to help our environment, whenever we can. Lets celebrate the World Environment Day on June 5th by doing something that will help the environment.

Green products are better for us and the environment

Happy Earth Day to all of you. Today many of us are thinking global and green. With this thought, I think we need to make lifestyle changes and use greener products, which are better for the environment and us.

The Peaceable Forest: A Tale of Kindness to Animals

The Peaceable Forest is an ancient Indian Vedic tale about Kindness to Animals, written by Kosa Ely.  In this ancient parable from India was passed on to children through an oral tradition.  This story reminds children to be compassionate to all living creatures and respecting life.

In this story a forest-dwelling hunter learns that cruelty has consequences and that compassion has rewards.  When the hunter meets the wise man, Narada, "Do unto others as they would do unto you" takes on a very concrete meaning. The sage leads the hunter on an imagined journey in which the hunter becomes the hunted. When the hunter realizes his actions affect other living things, he has a change of heart and begins to live in peace with the animals he once pursued for fun and without reason.  My daughter said that her favourite part was in the end when the hunter becomes a good person and lived in a peaceful way.

Anna Johansson's richly detailed illustrations show the animal kingdom and enchanted forests with fine lines and luminous colors.  The Peaceable Forest is an inspiring picture book that illustrates flora and fauna native to India.  My children found this book to be colourful and fun to read.  The interesting pictures will attract young readers as they see the world in the perspective of the animals.  My son liked observing the pictures and asking questions regards to the characters' clothing and liked the picture of the hunter's stance when he was shooting the arrow.  

The beautiful and accessible message within The Peaceable Forest opens up conversations about kindness and nonviolence to all living things, which teaches children to respect life in all its forms.  After reading and looking through the book we can have meaningful conversations with our children about this philosophy.  

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Using colourful patterned Duck Tape to pack gifts

Using colourful duct tape in creative ways is the newest craft trend.  Since "ductivities" are becoming popular there are a lot of coloured and patterned duct tapes available in craft stores, home hardware stores and online.  

I have been using grey duct tape to make crafts such as this rattle and to fix things around the home.  When I saw the beautiful varieties of duct tape Duck Brand has I felt very excited as it helps us become more creative.  

Duct tape crafts are durable, no mess and wonderful to do on our own or as a group.  Although, there are so many things we can do with these creative Duck Tapes the project doesn't have to be complicated.  For starters we can use it to do small creative things such as using it to decorate holiday gift bags.  For this "eco-friendly activity" :) you will need...

Paper shopping bags

colourful Duck Tape

scissors

permanent marker

I reused paper shopping bags that I had.  

Use colourful Duck Tape and paste it over the area you want to cover.  Then personalize each bag by writing a message with a permanent marker over the tape. 

Using a roll of decorative duct tape is only limited by our imagination and these types of colourful duct tape help us get started and become creative.

All rights reserved on photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2012. Please Ask First

Cashmere EnviroCare dress and What is truly "green"

Cashmere EnviroCare has made the first ever children's dress crafted from 100% recycled bathroom tissue by designer Izzy Camilleri.
White Cashmere Collection was revealed in celebration of Fashion with Compassion to raise awareness for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.  
We can contribute to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation by casting a vote for our favourite dress. For every vote, Cashmere will donate $1, up to $10,000, in the winning designer's name.  
To vote, all you have to do is visit votecouture.ca or Facebook.com/Cashmere and select your favourite design.  All voters will be entered into a draw for a chance to win one of four $2,500 shopping sprees.

Recent research conducted by Kruger Products show that people want to buy green products, but they rarely actually buy.  Many people are confused about what elements differentiate truly 'green' products from the ones that claim to be 'green', therefore not knowing what to trust as credible.  Here is a link of the results from the research.

All rights reserved on photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2012. Please Ask First

Respect is a virtue

Respect is a virtue, lets start it from inside our homes so we can change the world.  

Schools are teaching about Respect and then there are countless incidents that happen everyday that contradicts this virtue.  We walk into the office or building and the first person we meet is the secretary or an administrative person.  How likely do we get a "Good Morning or How may I help you?"
And there are many more simple examples

• How many times do we see someone holding the door when we enter a building, or how many times do we hear someone saying thank you.
• No one bothers to picks up anything that falls on the ground, even if it is food that they drop at the grocery store.
• People think their family and children are precious, while other people's family and children aren't.
• Many people have lost their manners in public, saying whatever they want, swearing and not bothering about how this could be a form of bullying or hurt someone.  
• Putting up the feet in the theatres and not worrying about the person in the front.  
• Not respecting signs i.e. driving, no food allowed or no smoking.    
• People making assumptions that they know better or they speak the universal language English better when they see someone that doesn't look like them
• When how we look or dress matters!

Start thinking, how we can change ourself and our families/friends because how we respect someone changes their life.

Respect everyone and everything (including the environment) by greeting or at least smiling because this is good for our own heart and it can change someone's life.

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World Elephant day

The first-ever World Elephant Day is on August 12, 2012.  In conjunction with this day the film "Return to the Forest" by Patricia Sims informs the public about the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants.
There are only 50,000 Asian elephants left in the world and are now considered endangered.  About 4000 live in Thailand, with 2800 in captivity and 1200 in the wild.  The elephants are facing severe threat because of habitat loss.  Asian elephants are being killed for their ivory, meat, tourism etc.
In Africa there are less than 400,000 elephants.  In the past two years because of ivory the elephants have been killed in high levels.  About 100 elephants are daily killed for illegal trade.
This international awareness campaign is commissioned and supported by the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation.  Videos for your interest.


We can help 

• by learning about elephants and their role in the environment and extend this concern to other animals.  
• Support organizations that provide natural sanctuaries for elephants to live freely without the stress and trauma of captivity.  
• We can also support organizations that are working to stop illegal trade to protect wildlife

Most importantly 

• Do not buy ivory or other wildlife products.  
• Don't buy coffee that is not from fair trade or shade-grown, nor products with palm oil because these commercial crops grown in plantations reduces hectares of forest in Asia.  
• Buy only wood products that have been certified by the Forest Stewardship Council that promotes responsible management of the world's forests.

In support you can also like their Facebook, follow on twitter
screening the 30 minute documentary "Return to the Forest" produced by CanazWest Pictures at your event or
donating to the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation on the World Elephant Day site.
All rights reserved on opinion of the written content Createwithmom © 2012. Please Ask First