BlogHers ACT Canada

Blog Action Day

** Edited to add round up of posts below.

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Today more than 15,000 blogs reaching more than 12 million readers are participating in Blog Action day. A day where the internet will be set ablaze with posts about the environment.

Like the Live Earth concert, one-day blasts of hype and awareness are a great way for people to stop and take notice. Now, I am not pretending to be a rock star (but I can play a mean air guitar). I am also not pretending that one day of blogging will reverse global warming.

But like so many other bloggers, I care about the environment. I care about the world my son will inherit. I care about the icebergs we are melting. I care about the species of animals that are disappearing. I care about the air we breathe in. I care about the food we eat. I care about it all. How can we not?

But caring about it and talking about it is only a first step. That is why I, and hundreds of other bloggers, are so glad to be a part of Blog Hers Act Canada. We're participating today because we care. But we aren't laying down our swords after this one grand battle. We've committed to 12 months of blogging for action. We've committed to 12 months of eco-challenges to make personal change in our lives. We've committed to 12 months of focusing our collective efforts on one enviro issue: baning toxic chemicals in food and retail products.

And we've started our year-long toxic battle to ban Bisphenol A. It's a proven harmful hormone disrupter, cancer causer, and all round terrifying chemical that is found in plastic baby bottles, cans that contain infant formula, and countless other packages that we come in contact with everyday. That we microwave and consume everyday. That we unknowingly serve to our children. Every day.

We could switch our entire kitchen to glass -- but then we'd also need to stock up on a few dozen more first aid kits. We could buy baby bottles that are Bisphenol A free. But the fact is all baby bottles should be Bisphenol free. All consumer products, especially food-related consumer products, should be Bisphenol free.

It would be great if we'd use this day to share with all the parents out there, the information we know about Bisphenol A. It would be amazing if we could do something about it too.

Something that only takes a second. Something like sign the petition to ban Bisphenol A.

Today is a day to take action. So is tomorrow. And the day after that. But we have to start somewhere. Are you in?

Let us know if you posted today and we'll do a round up of all that you had to say tomorrow. Together we CAN make a difference!

Cross posted at Blog Chocolate.

---------------- Check out some of these great Blog Action day posts:

The Soft Landing Blog: "Blog Action Day: Speaking Out Against Bisphenol-a for the Health of Our Babies"

Our Little Funny Bunny: Take Action

The Mouse's Nest: Banning Bisphenol A

Something Baby Blue: Taking Action

Mother Bumper: Next Topic Please

Life of 'Pie: A Poison Labeled "Drink Me"

Blithely Babbling: Action and inadequacy - Blog Action Day

One Plus Two: Respect Your Mother

Urban Mummy: Today is Blog Action Day

Bub and Pie: Listen to Your Mother

Don Mills Diva: Doing my best: Blog Action Day

Together we stand.

More on Bisphenol A Flavoured Baby Bottles

Want to help influence that spring 2008 decision?

Blog it. Sign it. Spread the word!

Bottle Fed Babies Need Us Too

posted by: Sandra

The phenomenal boob ninjas from the League of Maternal Justice rocked the blogosphere yesterday with the inspiring, empowering, incredible virtual breast fest. They sung out loud and proud about a woman's right to breast feed our babies in public and not be ashamed of it. They succeeded in gathering support and attention on blogs, You Tube and in the media. Congrats and applause to all those involved.

In BlogHers Act Canada's quest to ban Bisphenol A we are reminded that it isn't just nursing babies that need our help. For lots of reasons many babies aren't fed at the breast. Some mother's are unable to breastfeed. Some can but need to pump. Some babies are adopted. Others are bottle fed for a myriad of good reasons.

No one is telling those babies to stop eating in public, yet, they still need our voices and attention too.

They need our attention because of Bisphenol A. The harmful, hormone disruptor is commonly found in plastic baby bottles. Plastic baby bottles. We take great care to make sure the contents of those bottles are filled with the most nutritious option possible for our children. But then the vessels that contain them can leach harmful chemicals to add extra unwanted ingredients.

It is outrageous that Bisphenol A is not already banned in Canada and the US. Outrageous and infuriating.

So what can we do?

As a start, we can sign the petition to Ban Bisphenol A and tell everyone we know to do the same. We can also put up this fancy new button to the petition on our blogs and on our websites:

(email bloghersactcanada@mac.com to get the button code!)

AND ... we can blog it in unison on Blog Action Day (October 15th).

But in the meantime, how can we protect our bottle fed babies?

Until Bisphenol A is banned, we can switch to glass bottles. Or we can look for safer plastic bottle options. The "safest" plastic bottles are reportedly made from high-density polyethylene (look for a number 2 in the recycling triangle symbol on the bottom). Other good options are low-density polyethylene (#4 in the recycling symbol) or polypropylene (#5 in the recycling symbol). Bisphenol A is highest in plastics with a #7 in the recycling symbol.

And studies have shown risk of leaching is significantly increased when you heat the milk or formula in a plastic container so being aware of that is powerful information.

Until a few months ago, I was completely in the dark about any of this. I hadn't heard of Bisphenol A. Bisphenol what? Chances are some of your readers are in the same boat that I was. We hope you'll join us to change that on Blog Action Day to spread the word. And we hope you'll post the button to encourage as many people as possible to sign the petition!

Bottlefed babies need us. Let's act!

Gearing Up for Blog Action Day!

posted by: Sandra

Imagine a day when thousands of writers all around the world harness the power of the blogosphere to publish posts about a single critical issue. Imagine if that issue was the environment!

Monday, October 15th is Blog Action Day and MommyBlogsToronto will be participating. We really, really hope you will join us. You can register here and then it's a simple as writing a post on your blog on the 15th. And, as always, please let us know if you participated so we can do a round up of links here!

We'd love to see all the BlogHers Act Canada supporters focus their environmental post that day on our collective quest to ban toxics. Specifically, it is a great chance to blog to ban Bisphenol A. You can help raise awareness about the issue and, importantly, direct your readers to Toxic Nation's petition. Since we first posted about the issue the petition signatures have increased by almost 100 and, at the time of writing this, they are at 1851. We'd love to push them over the 5,000 mark ... and what better way to do it then all together on Blog Action Day!

What do you say? Are you in?

For inspiration, here are some fantastic posts and news around the blogopshere lately about BPA...

~ Our friend's at Toxic Nation write about a recent study from Taipei about Bisphenol A (BPA) in baby bottles.

~ Eco Child's Play writes an excellent piece all about Bisphenol A and especially about it's presence in canned food.

~ "The Soft Landing Blog" explores both sides of the BPA debate and has some awesome suggestions for making preventative changes.

~ The good folks at the awesome blog, Mom's Speak Up, wrote about the Toxic Nation Petition and other info around BPA.

~ And earlier this summer, the Inspired Protagonist wrote a post called "Bisphenol-Freakin' A". It contains my favourite statement about this issue:

Because, you know… It doesn’t have to be this way. We don’t have to kill ourselves to live well. We’re way more clever than that. It’s just easier for companies to maintain the status quo even when it kills their customers. So we have to make it harder for them not to change. And that effort starts with knowledge. Go get yours. Go get healthy. And then go get the people responsible for the ugly mess that’s being made

Here. Here.

So let's take our first step on Blog Action Day and shout as loudly as the blogosphere will let us (which is pretty damn loud). Let's blog the heck out of Bisphenol A, what it is, why we care, and what we can do about it.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. ~Margaret Mead

October is Recycling Month!

October is Recycling month at BlogHers Act Canada. As the fall leaves turn and the pumpkins emerge, we hope bloggers and blog-readers will embrace the personal eco-challenge to recycle more. We're asking everyone to blog about it in their own way and spread the word between now and October 30th. We'll do a Halloween round up of posts and even draw a winner for some sweet Halloween treats. There is no incentive quite like sugar.

To kick off recycling month we have a verrrrrry special guest blogger! The City Gal (if you aren't already reading her amazing blog, then you are missin out) is here today with an incredible post. And the links! Oh the links! It's like a feast of eco-friendly, recyclable info ...

Recycling (Our Hazardous Waste)
by: The City Gal

When the topic of recycling comes up, many of us think of pop cans, juice bottles and paper. But amongst the environmental professionals there are more consumer products, recycling of which is even more critical. Specifically, I would like to name:

- Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL)
- Mercury-containing Thermostats
- Electronic Waste (TVs, Computers, DVD Players, Cell Phones, Cameras)
- Other Hazardous Waste (Mercury Thermometers and Batteries)

In the past few years the Canadian Federal Government and with Provincial Governments (CCME) along with many Non-Governmental Organizations have developed new plans for the collection and recycling of hazardous waste and have run many pilot projects.

Let’s take the Compact Fluorescent Lamps that are supposed to replace incandescent lamps in less than 5 years. Ontario will ban the sale of inefficient incandescent light bulbs by 2012 and therefore have more than 90 million CFLs in use by then. However, CFLs contain mercury and are extremely hazardous if broken. Last year Recycling Council of Ontario and the Ministry of the Environment ran a pilot project to collect and recycle all fluorescent light bulbs from Toronto schools. The pilot was very successful and this program will soon be expanded to cover the Industrial, Commercial and Institutional sector in Ontario. However, homeowners for now, can only drop off their lamps at their nearest Waste Collection Depot in their own municipality, or IKEA. Most municipalities in Ontario accept CFLs.

Did you know that the old thermostats in homes contain mercury? Not only they are hazardous, but also very ineffective when it comes to temperature-control and energy saving. The Clean Air Foundation has started a program (in partnership with the industry organizations and the government) that will replace these thermostats with digital ones to save energy in homes and also collect and recycle the mercury. You can contact a local contractor or take advantage of the Cool Savings Program to switch your thermostat and keep mercury out of our landfills. In near future, some retailers such as Home Depot and Canadian Tire will be able to take back mercury-containing lamps or thermostats.

Electronic waste, if not treated properly, is a major source of toxins and carcinogens (metals and heavy metals). Electronic waste represents 2 percent of America's trash in landfills, but it equals 70 percent of overall toxic waste. Many jurisdictions are currently running pilot programs to collect and recycle such items. These programs usually involve an environmental fee to be paid by the customer at the time of purchase. According to a Waste Diversion Ontario study, of the over 1.5 million computers and other computer equipment discarded in 2004, only about two per cent were diverted. According to the same study, less than one per cent of televisions and other audio-visual equipment and two percent of telecom equipment were diverted in 2004. The good news is that soon, a new program will collect and recycle electronics in Ontario . However, until then, please contact the local waste depot in your municipality and drop off your waste at their location.

There are other hazardous items in our homes that we might mistakenly put into the trash can. Please remember that our municipal garbage is land-filled at this point and soon partially incinerated. It is our responsibility to make sure our municipal garbage is “safe”, meaning that it doesn’t contain any hazardous waste. Items such as batteries, thermometers, paints, pesticides and motor-oil should not go into municipal garbage or down the drain. Please contact your municipality to see what can be collected at their waste depots. If your municipality doesn’t run a hazardous waste program, please pressure your local councilor or your member of the parliament to make the change.

Just a reminder, October 15-21 is Waste Reduction Week in Canada.