I forgot to say that there will be two hearings this week on the lead in toys story.

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2007

Protecting Children from Lead-Tainted Imports (Day 1)
Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection Hearing
10:00 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building
Connect to the Video Webcast (100 kbps)

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2007

Protecting Children from Lead-Tainted Imports (Day 2)
Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection Hearing
9:30 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building
Connect to the Video Webcast (100 kbps)

Renee. 

This lead in toys story will not go away. And it turns out its been going for like 10 years.

In 1996 Greenpeace published a report titled: Lead and Cadmium in Vinyl Children's Products. So we don't have the same PR cache for simple headlines as People magazine, but hey at least you know what it's about.  I'll summarize the summary for you.

 . . . or just write it out," A Greenpeace investigation revealed the presence of hazardours levels of lead and cadmium in a variety of vinyl consumer products, including items specifically designed and marketed for children. The study was spurred by the discovery of hazardous lead levels in vinyl blinds and associated lead poisoning of children in 1996. Since no government agency appeared to be investigating whether other vinyl consumer products might also pose a similar health risk, Greenpeace initiated a nationwide study of vinyl products." 

Here are some of the findings of our investigation:

• Lead- and cadmium-containing vinyl products are readily available from some of the nation's leading retailers, including Kmart, Wal-Mart, Target, and Toys R Us.
  
• Children are a marketing target. Products featured Barbie, Minnie and Mickey Mouse, 101 Dalmations, Michael Jordan, Bugs Bunny, and various other Looney Tunes characters.
  
• Lead -containing vinyl products are common. The investigation began by testing vinyl children's products purchased in Chicago. Twenty-one percent of the vinyl consumer prodcuts examined contained greater than 100 parts-per-million lead (28 out of 131). Since all of the items were purchased at national chain stores, this high percentage may reflect the US frequency for lead-containing vinyl products.
  
• Lead- and cadmium-containing vinyl products are widely available in California, despite its stringent regulation fo carcinogens and reproductive toxins. A representative sample of items grossly exceeded limits for exposure to lead and cadmium set by the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, also known as Proposition 65.
  
• Both lead and cadmium are readily available for ingestion by children. Lead and cadmium were released to the surfaces of products as they aged. Lead also became available under conditions that mimic swallowing.
  

And just in case you're thinking well of course it's not the same exact products, think again . . . a Barbie accessory tent pole was one of the products found to have high levels of lead. One product Matell is currently recalling  ---- Barbie accessories  . . alright I'll give this one to them the lead paint is on the dog and cat accessories, not tent poles. My mistake.

What the hell is going on? Why are families suffering today from a problem that was highlighted to this industry 10 years ago? What's wrong with these people? And why are these people completely satisfied with sacrificing children's lives for money? Sometimes I have a hard time wrapping my head around these things. Maybe they just do this stuff because they can.

 
Renee. 

Social Entrepreneurship is one of the most interesting part of the environmental movement for me. It allows people to be creative, powerful, and smart all while taking the health of their economy and society into their own hands. Environmentalists are often hammered with arguments that our stance on issues do not mesh with free enterprise, that we want regulation where if people left to their own devises will create fairer ways of doing business and therefore providing a more fair society. I think this is a complicated issue I'll admit I am not prepared to really tackle right now for several reasons. One because I just finished three days of training in Amsterdam with my international Greenpeace colleagues and don't have the energy. (I'm still in Amsterdam -- if you haven't been, take a look at any postcard of the city, that is exactly how it looks - I swear - it's incredible) Two because it is usually being spouted by executives who are trying to get away with poisoning neighborhoods that they don't have to live in and care nothing about and sometimes these people are just not worth replying to because everyone sees straight through them.

So briefly I'll say, I do think that people are creative enough to come up with businesses that are good for our communities, bodies, and land. I also think that organizations like Greenpeace are important to this system because we have the ability and knowledge to highlight when business is NOT doing this. When they are pumping obscene amounts of money into shady political campaigns and helping to write bad legislation. It is when business and society work together through a transparent relationship that the free market is able to truly benefit us all. In order for this to happen, we all need to keep up the pressure. Even though people are good, they often times need to be reminded how to do good.

On Monday Sept 10, Anita Roddick passed away. She is the founder of The Body Shop. A body health care shop that focused not only on looking, smelling and feeling good, but on making sure that our decisions do not harm the communities, bodies, and land around us. She participated in the WTO protests in Seattle, she spoke around the world on how business can and has the obligation to be environmentally responsible, and she wrote an amazing book that has inspired countless entrepreneurs to create businesses that make money and take responsibility for leaving this land in better condition than when we found it.

So . . cheers to one great environmentalist, woman, and business leader!

Take care, Renee.

I moved to Washington DC the semester I graduated college. I thought I would work in some big hot shot international development organization and make full use of my new International Relations degree. Well, things don't always turn out as planned. Instead I waited a whole bunch of tables, met and then eventually dated a number of bartenders, and five years later am still friends with the dude that walks around holding a newspaper (some people call him Everywhere Man, but his name is Mark). He always asked me how the people of Lafayette Louisiana are doing.

He remembers the time I told him I was born in Lafayette. I was born on a bayou. Yes, I do have several versions of that song on my ipod.  It's a good song! Mark always seems to pop out at odd moments when I had just forgotten that I was indeed born on a bayou.

I didn't realize when I applied to work at Greenpeace, that the organization had a deep history in Louisiana. I didn't realize that the people who work here felt connected to this place. It's one of the things I love most about the Greenpeace, it's interesting history and people.

Last week, NPR played a series of stories of DC natives visiting New Orleans, some deciding to move there and some raising awareness of what is still happening in the area by coming back to the district and telling anyone who will listen. I'm starting feel like Katrina is my generation's Kennedy assassination. We all remember where we were when the levees broke, when we saw the images of the Super Dome, when we heard the rumors of violence, when we saw Anderson Cooper wade in the water.

I'm not sure if everyone at this point feels oversatutrated by these images, the mainstream media (if you've noticed) seems to prey on our heartstrings with horrific images without providing any suggestions on action we can take.

So I guess . . .  what I want to do with this entry is introduce you to a few things in New Orleans that you might not know. Things don't always go as planned and if you find yourself wanting to take action to help New Orleans maybe these resources will help guide your kind efforts.

WWOZ - The best radio station on this planet (Not sure about the other ones). I know I recently rented a car that had satelite radio. This is better. And you get to hear Cajun accents all day! I mean really what more could you want during the work day?! I often spend the day reading about how CFO's of large corporations say going green is too expensive and try to make others believe that consumers think destroying ancient forests is just fine for their soft toilet paper, while listening to this amazing station online.

New Orleans Habitat for Humanity-  After moving from Lafayette to South Florida, I realized I am destined to live wherever hurricanes hit. Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida not long after my family moved. South Miami was devasted and similarly to what happened during Katrina most of the houses that withstood both hurricanes were made by volunteers at Habitat for Humanity. Look it up. It's true. Last Thanksgiving I visited Shylia Lewis and her family, GP staff helped build her a toxic free house in 2004 and we wanted to see how she was doing. During the day that I spent with Shylia and her children, we talked about why her house had survived Katrina when others had not. She said that Habitat houses survived because they were made out love. I think my heart stopped that very moment. It may just be that volunteers get nervous about not putting enough nails so there are about double the amount, but that doesn't mean she isn't right. Those houses are made out of love.

I guess this is a long paragraph to say, if you are planning a long weekend why not use it to volunteer at Habitat in New Orleans.

Louisiana Bucket Brigade-  Ever heard of grassroots organizing? This is it. The people who founded this organization were sick (literally) and tired of government agencies like the EPA standing behind big corporations instead of the communities they are suppose to protect and gave power back to the people to defend their homes and their families. This very small organization (3 full time staff people) teach community members how to test the air quality of their neighborhood. This is extremely important in Southern Louisiana (as in other places around the United States) because of the large concentration of PVC facilities.

Young Aspirations/Young Artists- "I was born a stick figure and with each person I meet and each action I take, I become a full drawing." I'm not sure who wrote that, but it is a reminder of how intertwined humanity is with art. This is an organization that brings art to the youth of New Orleans. Now N.O. has a strong rich history of art and artists, the city has once again entered a time when art and artists are helping to keep it alive.  

 
Alright, I'm going to stop here. I could continue the rest of my day writing about organizations we should all know and care about in New Orleans. Hopefully this has peaked your curiousity and you will do a little more research on the topics you are most interested. I feel there may be a running theme to my blogs, figure it out yourself. No . . its not that harsh. I guess I mean I want to be source of information where anyone who reads my writing will feel empowered to discover what their role is in this big ol' mess of ours. Am I doing that? Are you bored? Would you rather read about Nicole Richie or my LA Sophis-Hipster style I was recently told I have?

Well, at any rate, you are stuck with what I give you. Oh the power I have!

Holla.
Renee.