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naturally dyed Easter eggs
Rather than plastic grass, cheap baskets and gummy candy, you can enjoy an eco-friendly Easter that fits right in with the arrival of Spring. Here's how:

Make your own basket. Rather than buy one wrapped in cellophane and stuffed with stuff your kids will eventually throw away, create a basket that will last. Use baskets you have saved during the year and decorate them with ribbons or scarves. If you need to buy new, consider the beautiful hand made and fair- trade options at Pristine Planet.

"Green" your own grass. Skip that yucky shredded plastic stuff. Make your own "grass" by shredding paper (or the Sunday comics) or buy paper grass. Next year, get started three weeks in advance and grow actual grass you can fit in your basket.

Dye eggs the natural way. Warning: this method takes more time than just dropping a commercial dye tablet in a cup full of vinegar and water. But if you like a challenge, give it a try. Use cranberry juice, pomegranate seeds, beets, raspberries, or red onion skins for pink and red. Saffron or tumeric will create yellow. Blueberries tint blue (naturally!). Yellow onion skins will create orange.

Break out the crayons. Don't bother dying at all. Have the kids decorate their eggs using crayons and non-toxic markers.

Reuse refillable plastic eggs. If you buy plastic eggs, make sure to collect them so you can reuse them next Easter. For the do-it-yourselfer, use plastic eggs as a model to knit wool egg coverings that become family heirlooms.

Reconsider Easter treats. My kids' aunt always created wonderful Easter baskets for them by filling their reusable eggs with delightful items they loved. Smaller eggs might contain colorful erasers, sparkly paper clips, hair ribbons, magnets, quarters and the occasional dollar bill. Larger eggs brimmed with small games and puzzles. Once, their eggs even contained balled-up kites! If you want to add some taste treats, fill the basket with organic chocolates and lollipops. Include a small potted plant the kids can either replant outside or tend to on a sunny windowsill inside. Be creative!

Have an outdoor Easter egg hunt. Weather permitting, get the kids outside on Easter morning by hiding their eggs around the yard. Enjoy the day!
glass of water, drinking water
The news on drinking water this week was a bit worrying. According to reporting by the Associated Press, a vast array of pharmaceuticals - including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones - have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans." Water in 24 metropolitan areas, including Detroit, Louisville, southern California and Northern New Jersey is particularly at risk.

The report says the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are "tiny." But it also points out that "the presence of so many prescription drugs - and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen - in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health." Those consequences could include reproductive irregularities, the early onset of puberty, and increasing resistance to antibiotics.

The drugs get into our water in several ways. We naturally excrete some of the drugs we take when we urinate. Many Americans flush unused prescriptions and over-the-counter drugs down the toilet. Wastewater treatment plants do a poor job of capturing these chemicals before the water is either sent back out to its original source or cycled back into a region's water supply.

The solution is not bottled water. Much bottled water is actually filled with tap water and is therefore likely to be just as drug-addled.

What can you do instead?

Install water filters. Those that use activa ted carbon and reverse osmosis are used in Europe to remove drugs from drinking water.

Dispose of leftover drugs properly. Return unused pharmaceuticals to the pharmacy. Barring this, the federal government recommends mixing them with old coffee grounds, cat litter or other trash that makes them difficult to consume before putting them in a nondescript, sealed container and throwing them in the trash.

Do not flush unused drugs down the toilet or the drain.

Participate in community-wide "pharmaceutical pick-up programs." Do they work? Last Earth Day (April 21, 2007), the Superior Watershed Partnership in northern Michigan collected over one ton of unwanted pharmaceuticals in just three hours.

Don't forget: Copies of Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener World are now on sale. The book is featured this month in Glamour magazine's extensive eco-issue. We also shared some of our favorite tips for an eco-friendly honeymoon in InStyle's Spring Weddings. Read the book, and share your favorite tips with us!

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Talk to you again soon,

 Diane's Photo
Diane MacEachern
Big Green Purse

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