Dr. Andrew Weil argues convincingly¹ that we, as a nation, are suffering the ill effects resulting from a disconnection from nature.  Apparently, there are a wide range of behavioral problems in children, but also emotional and physical ailments in adults, who don’t spend enough time outdoors. The scientific evidence is showing that there are real benefits to living close to nature.  These range from getting enough vitamin D to eye health to regular sleep patterns.  In addition, there are emotional and spiritual benefits to spending time outdoors enjoying nature’s beauty.

The message that we take from this is two-fold.  Not only is it important for individuals and families to connect with nature, it is a priority to protect it.  Given the growing body of knowledge that recognizes the emotional and physical benefits of spending time outdoors, we must preserve and nurture our environment for ourselves and future generations.

So, not only should we get out and walk, hike, bike and enjoy the sun, fresh air and cool streams for own well-being, but we should also look to our own daily habits and routines to lessen our negative impacts on our natural environment.  Our kids, their health and the environment will all benefit.

¹“Don’t Let Chaos Get You Down”, Dr. Andrew Weil, Newsweek, November 7 & 14, 2011, Page 9.

As back to school shifts into full gear, a recent study examining the relationship between   commercially prepared foods and the rise in childhood obesity concerned us. The findings concluded that away-from-home meals contained more calories than meals made at home. It’s not hard to guess why commercially prepared foods contain more calories – they generally have more sugars and fats (not to mention sodium) than meals prepared at home. Portion sizes are often larger than homemade meals. This combination of more calories and more food is not only creating unhealthy nutritional habits for kids as they grow to adulthood, but it’s leading to an epidemic of obesity among children now.

Another alarming trend to consider is that these “convenient” foods are generating an enormous amount plastic and styrofoam waste. All of this food has to be stored and transported, and there are very few places that use biodegradable or recycled containers.

Although we are the first to admit that it takes a little more planning to pack lunches, dinners and snacks from home, given these findings, we are now even more firmly convinced that it is the healthiest, and most economical, way to meet our children’s nutritional needs.

Although the drive-through or prepared food bar may seem awfully tempting, the costs to our bodies, our wallets and our planet, are just too high.

Yesterday, we were asked to talk about leadership to a group of middle-schoolers.  Specifically, we were asked to address how we used leadership skills to develop and run and a business. 

We were surprised and flattered, because we don’t necessarily consider ourselves leaders.   But, as we were preparing the presentation, we came across a saying that seemed spot on: leaders don’t need to lead, they are content to point the way.

We are proud to have provided an alternative to the wasteful plastic baggie, but it is our LunchSkins customers who have saved about 120 million plastic sandwich baggies from entering the waste stream.  Each of them is leading a movement to redefine food transport and reduce plastic waste.

We believe that going green is not a passing trend, but a movement with real traction, and great strides have been made in just a few years to recycle more, reduce waste and create reusable alternative products.  Kids and teens realize better than we do that there is no such thing as “throwing away.”

During our presentation, the kids asked lots of questions about cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and shared ideas about how to do so.  Our hope is that the discussion will spark an idea or dream in one of those young people’s minds – and catapult them into action.  We’re hopeful that, as one philosopher put it, as leaders we are not creating followers, but we are creating more leaders.

Do you consider your kids the “green leaders” in your household?  Are they pointing you in the “green” direction?  Share your thoughts with us.

Recently, I was talking to the LunchSkins team about raising our kids green, and the challenges of doing so with teenagers at home.   As my oldest is about to enter adolescence, I recognize that there may be be societal pressure to “conspicuously consume.”   Laura, our wonderfully gracious Director of Customer Service, with two teenage girls had this to say:

“My two girls were thinking green since elementary school, and they have long been determined to help me see the light.  Rebecca tells me constantly that we are ‘sucking the life out of our planet.’  Pretty strong words for a 13 year old!!  Our kids really do get it.  I have been a bit slower to catch on.

16 year old Jessica wants to stop throwing out all of our leftover food. She wants to compost! I have been so hesitant of adopting little critters that I have put it off for years. Now that there are composters which are actually raised off of the ground, I will have to relent. It turns out we probably will not need trash pickup once a week, we most likely will only need it every two weeks. Great news as we used to take it twice a week! I am determined to keep track of this accomplishment! Goal – once a month!

Rebecca is my electronic girl. All iPod, cell phone and computer chargers are unplugged when not charging a device .It’s great that we are not wasting or paying for electricity we are not using. I am working on the noise pollution from her music that is too loud! I’ll keep you all posted on that one!

I now keep a paper bag in the kitchen for all recyclables. No one has to get cold going into the garage or outside. Since we co-mingle our recyclables, I throw in our clean cans with our broken down cereal boxes, anything that’s clean paper, plastic or glass. Everything is recycled. Every night I take the paper bag and pop it into our recycling bin. It feels great. It’s just like cooking with picky kids, if you have them help you out they take ownership.  It’s all good.”

I love how Laura is thinking – she has stayed open minded and wonderfully receptive to the changes her teenage daughters want to see, and this has encouraged them to really lead the family down a new path.  Dare I say it – bring on the teenagers!

Have your kids changed the way you think about being green?  Share your thoughts with us at.

My first child was born almost 13 years ago.  I breastfed for a year, but I also used plastic baby bottles.  I didn’t shop organic, and was so proud of myself for having plastic zippered baggies for all of her little needs – snacks, wipes and pacifiers.  I traded up from my sedan to an SUV (because every time we went anywhere with her, we packed like she was a Russian princess).  I hardly thought about the impact of these actions on the environment.

Yet, the recognition that many of my happiest moments are spent outdoors began to galvanize me into taking better care of the places that I love.  Oceans, rivers, lakes, meadows, forests and mountains restore and sustain me.  This love of the outdoors is one of the things I want to share with my kids, so I set out to waste less, recycle more, become more conscious in my choices and my lifestyle.  The nice thing is, there are so many great alternatives for moms nowadays.

Plastic baby bottles have given way to glass ones.  Biodegradable diapers have been developed.  Organic baby food is widely available.  Reusable bags are nudging out plastic ones for daily use.

So now, almost 13 years later and as a result of innovation by lots of mothers (including me and my friends!), I believe that moms are getting better and I am a better mom.

If you are a mother, how do you think that you’ve improved over time?  Are you “greener” now than you were before becoming a parent?

Next time you reach for a plastic baggie, or use a plastic bag at the store, think about this.

When we first started our research a few years ago into the effects of plastic pollution, we heard about a massive patch of floating plastic held together by swirling currents in the Pacific Ocean.  Incredibly, we could not find any concrete scientific confirmation of its existence, so we didn’t publish anything about it on our first website.

Now, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a scientific reality, if not a widely-known one.

Twice the size of France, about 80 percent of debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch comes from land, much of which is plastic bags, bottles and various other plastic consumer products.  Plastic does not biodegrade, every little piece of it manufactured in the past 50 years that made it into the ocean is still out there somewhere.

Worldwide, there are now about 46,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometer in the world’s oceans, which, according to the UN Environment Program, kills a million seabirds a year and 100,00 marine mammals and turtles. It kills by entanglement, by choking throats and gullets and clogging up digestive tracts.

The thought is that plastic is making its way through the marine food chains into the fish we eat.  Plastic particles, on their own, are not thought to be toxic, but they can accumulate chemical poisons, such as PCBs and DDT.  Scientists don’t know the effects yet.

The sailor who discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, Charles Moore, says there is no such thing as a pristine sandy beach any more.  The ones that “look pristine are usually groomed and if you look closely, you can always find plastic particles.”

Unfortunately, according to Moore, there is no way to clean up the plastic in the oceans.  He says “It’s the biggest misunderstanding people have on this issue..most of this plastic is in tiny pieces and its everywhere.  All we can do is stop putting more of it in.”

So think about this when you reach for that plastic bag, baggie or water bottle.  Will it end up in the ocean?  Will it kill or choke a turtle or sea bird?  Will it somehow make it back to my child’s plate?

Had you heard about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch before reading this?  Let us know your reaction.

Three moms.  Nine busy kids.  One startup company.

Why did we set out on a mission to reduce plastic waste three years ago?  Well, it didn’t start that way.  We used to laugh about being born in the ‘60s, but not being hippies.

It came from one scary statistic that we heard while sitting around a kitchen table – 20 million sandwich baggies are thrown out across America each day.  This was followed by another staggering fact – the average school age child generates about 67 pounds of lunchtime trash each year.

Using disposable bags may seem harmless on a small scale, but when looked at collectively, the damage to our land and waterways is significant. Not only do single-use bags pollute pristine areas, but they require substantial resources (oil, water, energy) to produce in the volumes that we demand.  Take a look at these statistics:

• Each household in America uses about 1,000 plastic bags a year.  It takes 12 million barrels of oil to produce the plastic bags used in the U.S., most of which end up in landfills – or stream and oceans where you, your kids and wildlife swim.
• Only 1-3 percent of plastic bags in the USA end up being recycled.  Plastic bags don’t safely biodegrade for hundreds, even a thousand, years.
• Each high quality reusable bag you use has the potential to eliminate 1,000 plastic bags over its lifetime.  A reusable bag will pay for itself over time.
• Ninety percent of the trash in the world’s oceans is plastic.  Ocean animals mistake plastic bags and tiny plastic particles for food, becoming sick, dying or bring toxic substances into the food chain.

Our goal three years ago was to help the average mom reduce waste on a daily basis by cutting down on disposable items and adding reusable products to their list.  We came up with a food-safe, dishwasher-worthy and cute reusable sandwich bag.  We think that we have redefined the market for food transport by adding a convenient alternative to the zippered plastic baggie as an option for busy families.  Because of you, we estimate that our reusable baggie has saved 120 million plastic baggies from entering the waste stream.  By reducing school lunch waste, we think that we are also helping to grow a bunch of “little greeners” too.

Are you “growing a little greener”?  How have you changed in your daily habits over the past three years?  Do you incorporate products or take actions to reduce plastic waste?  We would be interested in hearing from you.