Utah Moms for Clean Air and the Utah Clean Air Conference

Today I had the pleasure of attending my very first Utah Clean Air Conference in Orem, Utah.  Along with Utah Moms for Clean Air, other sponsors of the event included Intermountain Health Care, the American Lung Association of Utah, Utah Valley University, College of Science and Health, Breathe Utah, and Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment.  With a star studded group of speakers in the field of medicine, science, economics and Moms, I was able to learn so much more about the physical dangers of our air quality.  As grim, devastating and shocking the information on air quality and health affects was today, I did learn of some possible solutions to improve these issues.  One very important solution is to educate others.  Another is by contacting our elected representatives and requesting further discussion on implementing steps to cure the toxic air.  After this winter's poor air quality and following today's discussions, I am forced by moral obligation to no longer sit back and ignore the issues we and our children are faced with.  It is our time as mothers to work as a joined group and demand justice for clean air!

Are you all with me?  I know I know, it seems like such a large task to take on.  But really, it isn't.  It is easy, and it begins right here...by educating the public.  Here are some interesting facts I learned today that might convince you otherwise:

• Did you know that little tiny embryos are exposed to air pollution in utero from the air the mother breathes during pregnancy?  Blood samples were taken from the umbilical cord of recently born babies immediately following birth and it showed a 50% increase of chromosomal damage.  Chromosomal damage is what leads to types of cancer, leukemia, brain damage (therefore lower IQ's), asthma...and the list goes on.  Basically, we can say (and as quoted by Brian Moench, MD and President of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment) that we are what our grandparents inhaled.  Furthermore, our great grand children will have damage to their systems due to the bad air we are breathing today.  Not fair right?  Right.

• Did you know that from the moment a baby is born, it is contaminated with over 200 chemicals in our air that are proven to cause health problems?  Crazy huh?  Our poor children...it's just so UNJUST!

As Cherise Udell, the Founder and President of Utah Moms for Clean Air said so well, it is our moral imperative to do something about our air quality.   We can no longer accept that the toxic air on average shaves off 2 years of our children's lives and increases their chance of a lifetime struggle with asthma.  It is no longer acceptable that our children have no choice in the harmful affects of our air on their brain development and lung and heart health.  It is no longer fair that we are forced to stay indoors because the air we breathe outside can make us sick, increase our chances of congestive heart failure, lung failure, and mortality.  There are many things we can do to improve the quality of air we breathe.  Please see the web sites below for more information on what you can do to ensure we breathe clean.  The steps are easy...as long as you are willing to sacrifice your time to educate yourself on the matter.

Some web sites for more information:

• UCAA- Utah Clean Air Alliance
• Utah Moms for Clean Air
• Breathe Utah

Thank you for listening.  If you have any interest in joining Utah Mom's for Clean air, go to their web site.  They are also on Facebook and Twitter for more information and support.

Mommy Bridget

"Gasland"

Have any of you heard much about the dangers of natural gas extraction leaking into our water supply?  A friend of mine posted this PBS (gotta love their research!) show on their facebook profile and I was stunned to watch it.  I had no idea...and I have been a strong supporter of natural gas versus oil for a few years now.

I want to share this with you all.  Click on the title to this post or here to view:

"Gasland" from www.pbs.org


Will the boom in natural gas drilling contaminate America's water supply? NOW talks with filmmaker Josh Fox about 'Gasland', his Sundance award-winning documentary on the surprising consequences of natural gas drilling.

Mommy Bridget

Our Earth Hour

I hope you joined in...what a nice excuse to hang out in peace with the ones you love!
Mommy Bridget

ksl.com - Landmarks go dark, millions unplug for Earth Hour

ksl.com - Landmarks go dark, millions unplug for Earth Hour

It worked!!!

Mommy Bridget

Tomorrow is Earth Hour

Tomorrow, Saturday, March 27th at 8:30 pm is Earth Hour. All over the world, people will be turning their lights off for one hour. This could truly be one of the most amazing "mass" world events we have ever seen. Can you imagine how much electricity would be saved if you all participated? Take pictures during this time...post them on my blog. How exciting!!


As posted by Earth Hour,

March 18, 2010
Capture the moment - Earth Hour has arrived!  
It's now a week away from Earth Hour and we want to help you prepare for the big day with a quick how-to guide to sharing your photos, videos, blog posts and tweets with us and the rest of the globe on the night.
At 8.30pm on 27 March, lights will go out for one hour all over the world and we’d love you to help capture the moment in your area. We’re going to be adding your photos and videos to the homepage of earthhour.org on the night as it happens around the world, so upload your images and videos as soon as you can.
 
Upload your photos: http://flickr.com/groups/eh2010

Upload your videos: http://www.youtube.com/group/earthhourglobal

Tweets and blog posts: use the tag '#earthhour' to help us find your post

How?

Photos
1. Upload your photos to your own Flickr account
2. Join our group: http://flickr.com/groups/eh2010
3. Add your photos to the group
4. To help us identify where they come from, please name and tag the photos with:
'Earth Hour, Earth Hour 2010, your city, your country'

Videos
1. Upload your videos to your own YouTube account
2. Add your videos to http://www.youtube.com/group/earthhourglobal
3. To help us identify where they come from, please name and tag the videos with:
'Earth Hour, Earth Hour 2010, your city, your country'

Tweets and Blog Posts

Let us know what is happening in your area and what you are doing on the night on Twitter and, if you have one, on your own blog. Use #earthhour for your tweets and tag your blog posts ‘earth hour’ so that we can easily find your posts. Follow @earthhour on Twitter to receive updates from around the globe across the duration of Earth Hour.

By following these steps, you can easily share your Earth Hour experience with the rest of the world and truly be a part of the greatest mass participation event in history.


Please consider this wonderful opportunity,
Mommy Bridget
(thanks for the heads up JB:)

Cloth Diapers vs. Disposable Diapers

After seeing some super cute cloth/reusable diapers at my friend's house yesterday, I wanted to learn more about the benefits of using cloth versus disposables on our wee ones. 

Of course there is the obvious, cloth diapers are reusable and don't end up in our landfills.  If we estimated that we change 8 diapers per day for 2 years of a child's life, that is 5,840 diapers for ONE child that will end up in our landfills.  That is A LOT.  And if we estimated how many children are in the US consuming diapers, we can safely assume that 27. 4 billion diapers are ending up in our landfills each year.  This is huge...and embarrassing that I've taken a part in such.

Of course, people will argue the hassle of cleaning cloth diapers.  It would be a bit more time consuming and a bit messier short term.  But does this outweigh the long term affects of disposables to humans and the earth?  No.  Then one can argue the cost in water used in washing the diapers as well as the electricity used to wash them in the washing machine.  But is this enough of an argument either?  With it being so minimal, I don't think so. 

Another factor of disposable diaper's long term affects to our earth is the human waste factor.  When one uses a cloth diaper, the instructions state to discard the waste directly into the toilet so, along with other human waste, it goes into the sewage system which is then treated and etc etc.  However, it's estimated that less than .5% of disposable diaper waste goes into the sewage system with the rest going into our landfills.

One more factor is cost.  The cost of cloth diapering is about 1/10th the cost of disposable diapering.  WOW! 

There is also the concerns of how safe disposable diapers are to babies' sensitive skin and health.  Disposable diapers often times contain harmful dyes, dioxin, and other bleaching agents that we would not want near our babies bums.  And yet we do and wonder why they get diaper rash!  Of course, with cloth diapers you need to attend to a dirty diaper immediately otherwise a diaper rash can occur too. 

Is it convincing to you yet?

If you aren't already using cloth diapers for your diapered babies, here are some great brands that I found to get you started:

http://www.babysorganicnursery.com/home/dp1/smartlist_59/cloth_diaper_products.html
http://www.bumgenius.com/
http://fuzzibunz.com/
http://www.clothdiaper.com
http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com
http://www.heavenlyorganic.com
www.tinytush.com
(there are SO many!)

All I can tell you is I'm sold...and not sure why it has taken me this long.  I think I will order some cloth diapers today!  Can anyone recommend their favorite cloth diapers so I know which ones to purchase? Your recommendations mean the world to me:) Thank you.

Mommy Bridget

Repower America

If you have time and care about cleaner energy, please check out http://www.repoweramerica.org.

Use your voice!

Mommy Bridget

Added benefit to "greening" your home

Did you know that there is government financing available for those of you who want to make energy saving home improvements?  How cool is that!

http://www.eere.energy.gov/

Mommy Bridget