Books I am Reading Now

"The Impressionist Paris" by Ellen Williams A must read for anyone who loves art and is traveling to Paris.

"The Blessings of a Skinned Knee" by Wendy Mogel, PH.D Great book for any parent.

"Life's Too Short to Fold Wrinkled Sheets" by Lisa Quinn. For mothers trying find "balance" (ha ha) in their lives. Stay at home moms, working full time, part-time working moms and especially for women who own and run their own companies will welcome this funny book with tips and tricks to get your house and life in order without being so stressed out.

Slow: Life in a Tuscan Town

The long awaited “SLOW: Life in a Tuscan Town” will be released on September 22, 2009. This book has been long in the making, over 5 years. With photos and text by Douglas Gayeton, Preface by Carlo Petrini and Introduction by Alice Waters, you are immediately transformed into the sensual world of food as seen through the lives of the people of Tuscany. SLOW is an unprecedented photographic personal journey into the heart of hidden Tuscany that celebrates the principles that define the Slow Food movement and pays tribute to the region’s kaleidoscope of vibrant characters, whose shared culture revolves around the everyday pleasure of growing, preparing, and eating food. Click here for a peak inside the book. You can pre-order it through Amazon.com

EcoMom Alliance Green Goods Back to School Shopping

EcoMom Green Goods Back to School Shopping
One Day Sale and Fundraiser Hosted By Stretch the Imagination

Saturday, August 15^th
10:00 am to 2:00 pm

Stretch the Imagination
47 A Tamal Vista Blvd.
Corte Madera, CA 94925

All products and companies are environmentally friendly and promote sustainable manufacturing practices and goods. From backpacks to clothes, school supplies and even products for around the home, and some that are just for mom, shoppers will enjoy selections from upcoming collections and discounts on past season items. To learn more and preview stores, please visit the shop section at www.ecomomalliance.org or call 415 271-9603.

Always On: Going Green Conference 2009 - September 14th - 16th

I went last year to this even as a member of the press and it is a fabulous conference. If you or your business is at all related to the Green tech, Clean Tech industry,this the event for you!

GoingGreen is where cutting-edge greentech CEOs meet the movers and shakers from the biggest industries on earth. Green technology innovators are transforming trillion dollar industries - and the solutions they are delivering not only promise to clean up pollution and restore ecosystems, but also to bring abundance and prosperity to everyone on earth. In fundamental areas, water, energy and land, resource abundance is just around the corner, through the power of technology and free markets. This two-and-a-half-day executive event features CEO presentations and high-level debates on the most promising emerging green technologies and new entrepreneurial opportunities. At GoingGreen, our editors will also honor the GoingGreen 100 Top Private Companies. Fifty top CEOs will also pitch their market strategies to a panel of industry experts in our "CEO Showcase." For more information and tickets, click here.

Rainforest Project Video

In case you haven't seen this great new video to re-launch Prince Charles' Rainforest Project, click here.

An array of celebrities have appeared alongside Prince Charles and an animated frog in a film to highlight the dangers of deforestation.

The stars, including actor Harrison Ford and football legend Pele, appear in the video to pledge their support to the Prince's Rainforest Project (PRP).

Viewers of the online 90-second film are being encouraged to sign-up to the project's "rainforest SOS" campaign.

The prince said he hoped it would build an online community calling for action.

Other famous faces appearing in the film include James Bond actor Daniel Craig, comedian Robin Williams, as well as the Prince of Wales's sons, Princes William and Harry. To read the complete story on BBC news, click here.

Reporting from the Always On Going Green Conference in Sausalito, CA

Beginning tomorrow, I will reporting live from the 2nd Annual Always On Going Green event. For the next two days, you will get to be part of this incredible event where dozens of clean tech companies make presentations for the venture capital and private equity investment community while the press and blogging community listen in. Tonight's opening remarks were inspiring and enlightening, made by: Tony Perkins (Founder of Always On), Ed Ring (Editor of EcoWorld) and David Chen (VP & Head of Morgan Stanley's West Coast Clean Technology Investment Banking Division). Join me over the next two days in learning about how companies in California and all over the country are creating solutions that will help everyone to reduce the amount of energy and water we use, reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and use alternative building materials to build our homes and offices. Think about this fact: 70% of the energy consumed in the U.S. is for heating and cooling buildings and homes. This problem alone is what is currently spurring one of the fastest growing segments within the Clean Tech Industry: Energy Storage.
Tomorrow's topics will include: Solar Energy Breakthroughs, Abundant Clean Green Water, The Agricultural Revolution, Next Generation Biofuel, The Carbon Offset Windfall, Next Generation Fossil Fuel, The Smart Green Mega City and The New Automotive DNA. Take a break from your work day or just listen as you work, click here for a live stream and video.

Math Doesn't Suck

So this post has nothing to do with being "green", but everything to do with life. I always loved the challenge of math and algebra, but it was a "challenge" for me in school (funny how I work in finance full-time!). Anyway, I recently heard Danica McKellar interviewed on KFOG and was really drawn in by her approach for this book as well as the way the material is presented. Parents may not like the title. But guess what, it's not written for them, it was written for the students. So if your child wants to improve their math skills, then get the book and jump right in. However, if your child is indifferent to doing better, then get the book and put it on the family room coffee table next to your magazines. When you're not looking they will pick it up and start reading it.

Winnie from the Wonder Years has certainly grown up. As a summa cum laude graduate of UCLA with a degree in Mathematics, Danica has been honored in Britain's esteemed Journal of Physics and by the New York Times for her work in mathematics. In MATH DOESN'T SUCK, she is your child's personal tutor and coach. Even the most frustrated student will finally "get" fractions, decimals, rates, ratios, proportions, "solving for x," and more — the very concepts that, if not fully understood in middle school, have been proven to cause continued problems throughout high school and beyond. Each chapter also features:

• Easy to follow, step-by-step instruction
• Time-saving tips and tricks for homework and tests
• Illuminating practice problems with detailed solutions
• Real-world examples—from how understanding percents can make you a savvier shopper to how understanding proportions can make you a better chef!

For more info on the book and where to buy it, click here. If your child did ok with math, but is now struggling with Algebra, click here for info on "Kiss My Math", also by Danica.

New "Green" Books

For Adults:

• "Big Green Purse" by Diane MacEachern
• "The Eco Chick Guide to Life: How to Be Fabulously Green" by Starre Vartan

For Children:

• "My Bag and Me" by Karen Farmer
• "Think Green" by Jeanine Behr Getz
• "William is Going Green" by James Martin II

What I'm Reading Now

People always ask me where do I get all my material. Well, I read. A lot. Online websites, articles and newsletters as well as old fashioned books and magazines. Here's a list of the reading material sitting on my bedside table now:

• Gorgeously Green by Sophie Uliano - The must have manual to going green.
  
• The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell - An interesting look into what makes a product or company all-of-a-sudden extremely popular or successful.
  
• Killing Sacred Cows by Garrett B. Gunderson - For investors fed up with their returns and who want to take back control of their retirement finances.
  
• The Three-Martini Playdate by Christie Mellor - Hilarious, fun book for any parent with a child 5 and under.
  
• August 2008 issue of Portfolio magazine
• August 2008 issue of Inc. magazine
• August 2008 issue of Natural Health magazine
  

Plastic Guide

Not all plastics are the same and many
carry that nasty Bisphenol A (BPA), a
known endocrine disrupter. To find out
more on which plastic items are safe to
use for food and drink consumption, the
Organic Consumers Association has
prepared this great guide.

New Issue of Organic Style Magazine

Looking great....living well and doing good. Check out the newest articles, tips and product reviews in the month's issue.

Review: The Ovum Factor by Marvin L. Zimmerman

My mother, an avid reader of at least 120 books a year, got her hands on this book before I could. After reading her review (below), I can't wait to start reading it myself!

I just finished devouring THE OVUM FACTOR by MARVIN L. ZIMMERMAN and it was absolutely fantastic!!! It could be subtitled: Indiana Jones discovers the Celestine Prophecy but that would be giving away too much of the book. I LOVED THIS BOOK!!! It's been a long time since I read a book where I lost track of time and THE OVUM FACTOR did it!!! I appreciated his straight way of telling his story without all the usual embellishments of adjectives and similes that most new writers like to employ to show that they know how to write. Marvin Zimmerman writes in such a way as to get those pages turning fast....while challenging you to want to know more, more, more.....and he tells you....he educates you without being preachy. He's such a smooth writer.....classy, elegant, very visual with his words

His eco-thriller became a love story that became a spiritual journey into the Amazon with phenomenal cliff-hanging chapter endings! The high level of suspense is also something that he managed to sustain throughout the book without lagging at all at any point. He created some amazingly memorable characters (David, Steinmetz, Galileo, the Jesuit, Emily, etc.) but none so delightful as the ever so talented Horace.....I'm truly hoping for a sequel for this book to find out more about Horace! I loved the scene in the Musee D'Orsay when Horace saw tapestry for the first time.

It's interesting how science and medicine of today is looking back into the tried and tested remedies of the Amazon for 'cures'. Most amazing was to read that the Amazon river at its peak during June and July had a flow greater than that of the next six largest rivers in the world combined and that the water coming from the Amazon into the Atlantic in only one minute would by itself be enough to supply ALL the fresh water needs of New York city for OVER 60 YEARS!!!! Now that's something to ponder!!! I think my favorite chapter was 62 - Legend of the Turu-Aku. What a story!!! And I was just about in tears when Galileo fulfilled his destiny.....that was so exquisitely written. I thought I was well read with reference to the rain forests but to realize the importance of the 'lungs of the planet' being the Amazon was phenomenal.....the ability of the Amazon to absorb huge quatities of carbon dioxide and transform this into 1/5 of all the earth's oxygen.....and here man is destroying this eco-system and unleashing all sorts of new diseases on mankind.

Many thanks for writing such a fantastic book.... its ending made me hope that there will be a sequel possibly as soon as next year? I just wish that there would be some incredible marketing put forth as this book really needs to be read. I, for one, will do all that I can to get this into the hands of as many readers as possible.

Know Your Cosmetics Ingredients: 1,4-Dioxane

Photo credit: Getty Images

Reported by the L.A. Times on 3.14.08

If you hadn't heard of 1,4-dioxane before, you probably have now. Much fuss has been made over the cancer-causing toxicant in the wake of revelations that some major "organic" or "natural" brands of soaps, shampoos, and other personal-care products contain small amounts of the petrochemical byproduct—one that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classifies as a probable human carcinogen.

More than half of the 100 products tested came up positive for 1,4-dioxane, including well-known brands such as Alba, Kiss My Face, Seventh Generation, Jason Pure Natural & Organic, and Nature's Gate, according to a report released last week by the Organic Consumers Association, a consumer-advocacy group that hired a third-party lab to conduct the tests. Unlike some of the toxins we've covered before, however, 1,4-dioxane isn't intentionally added to the products, but appears as a byproduct of a process used to soften harsh detergents and is formed when foaming agents are processed with petrochemicals such as ethylene oxide.

Many "natural" companies have tried to eliminate the chemical by using coconut or other plant oils as surfactants, with varying success. We don't know what amount of the compound may be unsafe, but studies of lab animals that had been fed 1,4-dioxane for many weeks developed nasal, liver, and gall-bladder cancers. Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has set no standards for 1,4-dioxane, it has occasionally tested products for the toxin since the late 1970s, noting that the current levels "do not present a hazard to consumers." Still, the agency has advised the personal-care industry to reduce amounts in cosmetics as much as possible.
The kicker? You won't find 1,4-dioxane listed on any labels, although you may be able to surmise its presence by looking for polyethylene, polyethylene glycol, polyoxyethylene, or compounds with the syllables PEG, -eth, or -oxnol, according to the FDA.

One sliver of hope: Products that are certified as organic under the U.S. Department of Agriculture's food standards, including TerrEssentials, Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps, and Sensibility Soaps, emerged unscathed and untainted. ::Los Angeles Times

Living Like Ed - A Guide to the Eco-Friendly Life

If you are to only buy one book on being green, this is it. Not only does it have all the great information that many other green or eco-friendly living books have, but it is written by Ed Begley, Jr. the actor and man who has LIVED the green lifestyle for over 30 years. With sporadic comments from his wife Rachelle, you will be entertained while being educated and inspired. There is something for everyone, beginners you can start small with actions that cost nothing or for those who have been greening their life for awhile there are many large green projects presented. Either way, it is a great book that will inspire you to change for the greater good!

On My Bookshelf

I try to to shut off the computer or TV at least 30 minutes before going to bed so I can get cozy with a good book. I sleep so much better when I do this as my mind doesn't wander and think of all the stuff I didn't get done that day or the myriad of things I need to do tomorrow. I keep a stack of books on my bedside table and rotate them depending on what mood I'm in that night. Here's what I have stacked up now:
"Integrative Nutrition" by Joshua Rosenthal. In addition to providing really good, practical nutrition information, it describes several of the most popular diet approaches (Zone, blood type, low-fat, etc.) and allows the reader to make decisions about what might be right for them given their physical composition, sex, lifestyle, ethnic background, etc. For instance, I found out the reason I am able to digest milk well as an adult (most adults aren't able to do this) has to do with who my ancestors were (Russian). Nordic people tend to be able to process milk and milk products better and explains why I can enjoy a big, tall glass of low-fat milk and not get an upset stomach.

Another book I love and use as a reference quite a bit is Andrew Weil's "Natural Health, Natural Medicine". It's a great quick reference as you can look up symptoms or illnesses and get good, concise information. There is also a lot of good information on just basic healthy eating and living too.

With pending presidential elections, I was compelled to buy and start reading "Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong" by James W. Loewen . I wanted to remember where, as Americans, we came from, why where we are today from a political standpoint and how might we get past this as a nation. It's a fabulous book for anyone interested in history, but especially for those who were history or political science majors in college.

Although technically fiction, "The Shell Game" by Steve Alten, is a tour-de-force thriller which covers the subjects of oil, politics, and the state of the world. Timely in its release in January 2008, the book is quite controversial and shocking, yet is meticulously researched (your skin will literally crawl when you read some of the referenced quotes which are on the opposite page at the beginning of each chapter and are taken from actual statements made by politicians and influential people over the years). It provides one of the best cautionary tales for anyone interested in the labyrinthine world of politics, international gamemanship, and the control of oil in society. I'm only about 125 pages into it, but it's a truly fascinating book and a must read before you cast your final ballot this November.

I've also been reading "The Green Book: The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet One Simple Step at a Time" by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen. I get many ideas and references for my blog and for everyday life. It's a short book, only 224 pages that you can open anywhere and just start reading.

My bookcase in the bedroom is also full of some of my favorite books:

• "Ladies Who Launch: Embracing Entrepreneurship & Creativity as a Lifestyle" by Victoria Colligan and Beth Schoenfeldt
• "Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom: Creating Physical and Emotional Health and Healing" by Christiane Northrup
• "The E Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What You Can Do About It" by Michael E Gerber
• "This Is How We Do It: A Practical Guide for Working Mothers" by Carol Evans
  
• "How To Be Lovely: The Audrey Hepburn Way of Life" by Melissa Hellstern
• "What Jackie Taught Us : Lessons from the Remarkable Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis" by Tina Santi Flaherty and Susan Lucci.

So grab a good book, settle into your favorite chair or get under the covers...I guaranty you will have a more peaceful sleep.

Book Events for "Exposed" author Mark Schapiro

Exposed: The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Products and What's At Stake for American Power by Mark Schapiro

This is the book that literally changed how I approach chemicals I come across in my everyday life. Although I have been very careful about only buying organic and locally grown food, not using cleaning products, paint and other household products that contain synthetic chemicals, it wasn't until I read this book that I realized how far behind the U.S. is when it comes to monitoring chemicals in all consumer products. After I finished the book, I immediately removed all the personal care products from my bathroom that contained parabens, dyes and other synthetic ingredients and immediately replaced them with ones that are organic or made with non-toxic ingredients. Our bodies absorb up to 70% of what we put on our skin. The remaining 30% is washed down to drain and goes into our waters. Several synthetic chemicals have been linked to damage to the endocrine and reproductive systems, as well as to the liver and kidneys. After reading this book, I knew I had to take matters into my own hands since the FDA certainly isn't the watchdog we all think they are or should be. To learn more about this, there are two upcoming author events in the SF Bay Area (I'll be at the one in San Rafael):

Saturday, February 9, 2008, 3:00 pm
Talk and book signing
Elephant Pharmacy 909 Grand Ave. at 3rd Street San Rafael, CA 94901
Store phone 415.462.6000

February 23, 2008, 4:00 pm
Talk and book signing
Elephant Pharmacy 1607 Shattuck Ave. at Cedar Berkeley, CA 94709
Store phone 510.549.9200
Visit http://www.elephantpharm.com/ to learn more on the events.

Go to: http://www.chelseagreen.com/2007/items/exposed
for more information on the book