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Wet Bag: A waterproof bag used for storing soiled cloth diapers when you are out and about. Add a few drops of your favorite essential oil to keep smells to a minimum until you get home to your washer.
Where do you get one? Here are some online shops that I found:
Happy Tushies
The Stork Warehouse
Wet Happened?
Bisphenol-A (BPA) is a synthetic estrogen used to harden polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resin. BPA has been used for nearly 50 years and has been suspected of being hazardous since the 1930s. According to numerous studies from the Environmental Working Group “trace BPA exposure been shown to disrupt the endocrine system and trigger a wide variety of disorders, including chromosomal and reproductive system abnormalities, impaired brain and neurological functions, cancer, cardiovascular system damage, adult-onset diabetes, early puberty, obesity and resistance to chemotherapy.” Put a little more simply, risks include prostate and breast cancer, higher rates of miscarriage, immune system dysfunction, testicular abnormalities in boys and puberty in girls younger than eight years old. Plastics labeled with the number 7 and a “PC” are made of polycarbonate and contain BPA.
Products bearing the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) logo, which guarantees that the wood from a certified well-managed forest, are available across the world from a variety of mills, manufacturers, and distributors.
The Forest Stewardship Council is a non-profit organization devoted to encouraging the responsible management of the world’s forests. FSC sets high standards that ensure forestry is practiced in an environmentally responsible, socially beneficial, and economically viable way.
Source: Forest Stewardship Council
Upcycle: The process of converting a material into something of similar or greater value, in its second life. Aluminum and glass, for example, can usually be upcycled into the same quality of aluminum and glass as the original products.
Downcycle: Most recycled materials lose viability or value in the process of recycling. This means they can only be used in a degraded form for components other than their original use. White writing paper, for example, is often downcycled into materials such as cardboard and cannot be used to create more premium writing paper.
Source: Sustainability Dictionary
Fair trade is an organized social movement and market-based approach to empowering developing country producers and promoting sustainability. The movement advocates the payment of a fair price as well as social and environmental standards in areas related to the production of a wide variety of goods. It focuses in particular on exports from developing countries to developed countries, most notably handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, sugar, tea, bananas, honey, cotton, wine, fresh fruit, chocolate and flowers.
Is it just me or are there a lot of green terms out there that when you see or hear them you say "huh?" I found myself doing that today when doing some research and I thought there must be others out there like me. So I thought it would be helpful to start a "Green Glossary" series to help out. Here are my first two entries!
