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I had the honor of actually meeting Bill when I served as a moderator for a panel at the Tucson Festival of Books. He takes a complex, controversial, detailed subject as it applies to the American Southwest and makes it understandable. Author of 7 books and finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 1991 for his book River of Traps. I say without hesitation he will have you from hello. We will also have special call-in guest Simon Marxer, Spa Director, Miraval, telling us about Miraval’s new Life in Balance Spa. Please plan to join us. This show is sponsored by The Fairfax Companies.

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(On Endocrine Disruptors – Could I Make That Up?)

People seem to be asking me more and more lately about how I came to be Mrs. Green. It makes me think about this journey of mine and wonder how in the heck DID I become Mrs. Green. When I read an article about endocrine disruptors and then a blog about the article last week, I knew While We Were Sleeping – Part Two was a done deal. One small request? Don’t think of this as bad news. It’s not intended as such. It’s really important to know just what is happening to us while we are sleeping – metaphorically of course. Remember – I don’t want to tell anyone what to think, I just want us to.

So, reflections on the journey. Somehow, it started because I let facts, science, and research get in the way. I don’t think it was actually the phrase “endocrine disruptors” that grabbed me. It was more family and friends getting cancer of all kinds, more front page news about autism, more info coming at me about harmful cosmetics – you get the picture. Since I believe that to know better is to do better, I wanted to know more so I could spread the good green word and inspire people to action.

If you just take the time to read even the first paragraph below, you will understand why articles like this grab my attention. I wasn’t reading a science journal. It was an Op-Ed piece by Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times, after all… “In recent years, the incidence of hypospadias, a congenital malformation of the penis, has doubled. Leading health experts blame this surge on a family of toxic chemicals called endocrine disruptors, which attack the hormone system.” That got my attention!

After reading the entire article I checked to see what the Environmental Working Group had to say about it. If you are a long fact finder, you will want to follow this link, and I hope you do. But if you are short on time and counting on me to give you the Mrs. Green’s Digest version, here goes:

• Endocrine disruptors really are EVERYWHERE, and I mean everywhere – your ATM and gas receipts, canned foods, cosmetics, plastics, food packaging, popcorn bags, carpet cleaning solutions and so and so on, and yes – even in human breast milk and in the cord blood of newborn babies.
• According to Kristof, last year alone eight medical organizations representing genetics, gynecology, urology and other fields made a joint call in Science magazine for tighter regulation of endocrine disruptors.
• The EWG’s take? Hope you read their entire response but I have to quote one paragraph: “No matter which party is in power, the White House and Congress should come together on this very serious and pressing public health crisis. A glass of water should be free of carcinogens and endocrine disruptors. So should toys, toothbrushes, countertop cleaners, infant formula and store receipts. That’s something we can all agree on.” You think?

Call to action from Mrs. Green? Get as passionate about this as we did about asbestos in our insulation and about lead in children’s toys. Let’s remember that it’s for our children – the only future we have ever had. And I promise to write about good news in the next newsletter!

Updates on Good Green News

Good news item #1 – The new Life in Balance Spa at Miraval opened last week to rave reviews and is being called a game changer in the spa industry. So how can that turn into really good news in your life? Enter the eat well. be well. contest we co-created with Miraval and be entered to win a two night, three day stay at this heaven on earth resort. All you have to do is answer an easy question about Miraval every week for the next six weeks. Once a week, one person who answers correctly will be selected to win Miraval’s just released cookbook: Mindful Eating. Please let me repeat: anyone who submits the correct answer to the question each week will be eligible to win the grand prize. It’s that simple. Is it too cliché to ask: what are you waiting for?

Good news item #2 – are you ready for this one? Golden Eagle Distributors and Budweiser’s Grow One, Save a Million campaign in support of World Environment Day on June 5th is alive and growing. Pun intended. The purpose? Saving water. The fun? Men not shaving for one month – thus the grow one, save a million message. Lovers of beards and the earth – ready to stand behind this one? I hope so. Do you know what I would give for people to send some pictures to me? Seriously! Send your beyond-five-o’clock-shadow snaps to mrsgreen@mrsgreensworld.com.

See entire May 9, 2012 newsletter including upcoming show guests

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I don’t want to bog you down with details but it helps to know a little bit. It’s called PAG – Pima Association of Governments. In short, PAG is a metropolitan planning organization with oversight for the following: transportation (including RTA – regional transportation authority), energy (Clean Cities and Solar) and sustainable environment (Air, Water, Travel Demand Management/Sun Rideshare) planning divisions.

The RTA, which is managed by PAG, is entering year 7 of RTA plan implementation. Here’s the scoop:

–Around 70 projects completed in the greenways, bikeways, pathways and sidewalks category (providing more transportation options to help get people out of their cars, reducing congestion and reducing emissions.) They have added over 150 miles of bike lanes in our community and 80 miles of sidewalks since the passage of the RTA plan. (Mrs. Green asks – are you not loving this?)

– 1 major wildlife crossing completed, 5 more in design, including a wildlife overpass on State Route 77, north of Oro Valley (sustaining our wildlife and protecting drivers at the same time) (The RTA also has conducted a number of studies that look at wildlife behavior around various culvert types to help determine design that is more likely to be used by certain animals.)

–Nearly 80 transit service improvements, including more services weekends, evenings, weekdays, plus neighborhood transit service (Sun Shuttle) connecting people in outlying jurisdictions to Sun Tran service – getting people out of cars and onto the bus, reducing congestion and air pollution. (Is there a downside?)

–Streetcar – when completed will help get people out of cars in the downtown and university area to further reduce downtown traffic congestion and air pollution. (There is PROOF already that the Streetcar is bringing PRIVATE investors with big projects downtown!!!)

–Intersection and bus pullout improvements. They help keep traffic moving to cut down on emissions to help keep our air clean. (And I don’t have to stop behind a bus)

This is good, green, sustainable proof of our tax dollars at work. Seeing is believing & I have seen. And it’s a great reminder to all of us to think before we criticize by doing our homework and getting the facts. Great topic for green talk radio, ya think?

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“Dear Mrs. Green,

It breaks my heart when people support the misinformed viewpoint that organic is “more expensive” than conventional.  And, I find it inconsistent with your take no prisoners stance on so many issues.

First, there’s the true cost of food.  Does your food keep you healthy, save doctors and medication costs?  Does your food support local businesses, like the Food Conspiracy,which keep more money in Tucson and Pima County?  Does your food budget roll into the coffers of Monsanto or Tyson?  80 % of seeds grown in the US for Soy, Corn, Cotton, Sugar beets, Canola are Monsanto patented seeds.  HFCS and other corn products are pervasive in conventional grocery store foods.

Next there’s connecting the dots.  Industrial Food is connected to so many wrongs.  ok, not fracking or agent orange.  wait, your agent orange article did mention Big Ag, didn’t it?  And synthetic fertilizers wash into the Mississippi River watershed, that’s 42% of the continental US, and down into the Gulf of Mexico where they kill seafood.  Also, Nitrates poison well water in agricultural areas.  Kind of like you said about the fracking.  Colony Collapse Disorder has been linked to pesticides of 2 different types.  If you purchase from the coop or farmer’s markets, it is so fresh and tasty, you won’t mind going online to find a recipe for dino kale, or whatever the strange seasonal delicacy on a good deal, that you never ate before.  The truth is, eating fresh organic seasonal food, the way our grandparents did, is an exercise in recognizing the seasonality of our world.  I wait all fall and winter for asparagus to come down in price.  Soon after that the peas are crunchy and sweet.  Then you wait for the tomatoes to get cheaper and juicier.  Then strawberries, peaches, oh yay!

Organic food production and purchase has passed the high water mark long ago where it is not some overpriced, trendy boutiquey item.  By eating seasonal, local, organic food, you get the best prices for the most healthful and yummy food.

I love reading your newsletter.  My favorite thing is that you are talking to the more mainstream people, who want help learning about being green.    Like many people I can get a little bit isolated in my own group of friends.  Most of them share my values and are conscious consumers of food, cleaning products, housewares, lightbulbs, vehicles, construction materials–you name it!  I think it is really great that you are bringing this information to people who never thought these things or just started to think about it and every time they hear or read you, they really learn stuff that never occurred to them before.

So, I hope you didn’t perceive this as a scolding.  I did start a little heavy but I am so frustrated by that long-lived myth.  Maybe I should do a price comparison and publish it.

Sincerely,

Deborah Campion.

ps.  don’t know where you stand on Wal-Mart, but in my opinion their local or organics are neither.”