New Revised & Updated Edition of Bestselling 1971 Book Speaks Volumes – 50 Years Later
BY AMY ZIFF
It has been 50 years since Frances Moore Lappé’s Diet for a Small Planet first hit the shelves, yet the legacy of her message continues. In fact, it is a message still so needed in this day and age that a 50th Anniversary Edition with a new forward, updated data, and even new recipes has recently released.
For anyone with a beloved furry friend, we all know just how much our pets feel like members of our family. Many of us are vigilant about various aspects of our pet’s health such as their food, exercise and supplements, but perhaps we haven’t considered the ways our pets may be exposed to toxicants in our own homes.
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The EPA recently released their final rule on chlorpyrifos in which they are revoking all “tolerances” for the permitted amount for use on food, effectively banning the continued use and presence of the chemical in food. According to the report, the final rule will take effect 60 days from the announcement and the official allowance for usage on American crops will end in six months. Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate pesticide that has been in use since 1965 and it is commonly applied to crops such as citrus, grapes, and sugar beets. Exposure to chlorpyrifos has been linked to many harmful effects including attention difficulties, autism, intelligence declines, problems with the working memory, and increased odds of tumor growth.
Though this is exciting news, it may be wise to continue to avoid chlorpyrifos until it is fully removed from the food system. An easy way to do this is by shopping for organic foods, or at least prioritizing organic foods for heavily sprayed crops.
Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are substances in the environment, usually manmade, that mimic, block or interfere with hormones in the body’s endocrine system. They’re found in a wide variety of consumer goods including carpets, cookware, household dust, fragranced products, furniture, paints, personal care products, plastics, pesticides, certain pharmaceuticals, and unfiltered drinking water (due to contamination).
Muses Founder, Susan Rockefeller, and MADE SAFE Executive Director and Founder, Amy Ziff, have been engaged in a conversation over ingredients, the search for pure products and the need for integrity in manufacturing for years. As an advisor to MADE SAFE, Sue understands more than most the impact that brands can have by acting as changemakers and catalysts for a better future. She also knows firsthand how products can be part of protecting and preserving our entire ecosystem rather than the cause of harm.
Textiles are a huge part of our everyday lives—we use them to dry ourselves off from the shower, we clothe our bodies with them, and we sleep inside them when we go to bed at night. For many of us, we may have never given a second thought to the blanket on our bed or our favorite tee—but have you ever stopped to wonder… what’s this product made from? And, does that even matter? (more…)
Plastic pollution is an enormous problem in our world today. For many of us, the idea of plastic pollution conjures up images of plastic baggies and bottles floating in the ocean—and these things truly are a huge problem. But what if we told you that an often-overlooked contributor to the plastic pollution problem is the apparel industry?
BY AMY ZIFF
I recently gave a TEDx talk in the Berkshires speaking about environmentally-induced illness and disease. Did you know that one quarter of all deaths worldwide could be prevented if we mitigated environmental exposures?
If you want to learn more about how exposures to endocrine-disrupting and other toxic chemicals in our everyday lives rob us of our health and wellbeing, then watch my full talk (scroll to bottom of page). In the meantime, here are five things I would urge you to start doing now to reduce your exposure to harmful substances:
If you’ve ever looked at the ingredient label on a conventional pad or tampon box, you might find it lacking details about what’s inside. Maybe you’ve wondered what’s actually in there. But hey, it’s just cotton, right?
Wrong. It turns out that most conventional pads and tampons are made with synthetic materials and toxic substances. (more…)
