green summer

Win a week at a PDX eco-minded summer camp

It’s my opinion that kids should be engaged in fun outdoor, active, eco-minded activities all summer long. Summer camp is a great way to make sure this happens. Luckily, if you live in PDX, I just found out that you can enter to win a week’s worth of camp for your favorite kiddo. All you [...]

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Is it more important to limit sunscreen or increase outdoor time?

My sunscreen rational this year is that the safest sunscreens cost too much, as in wildly unrealistically too much for most families, so there’s a need to compromise. Thus, I posted some sunscreen choices that aren’t top of the line safe but that families can afford. Not everyone thought this was a good plan: On Facebook someone [...]

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EWG Releases List of 2012 Affordable Sunscreen Options!

Okay, I know I’ve practically discussed sunscreen to death over the last couple of weeks here at Growing a Green Family, but I do have some big and useful news from EWG. First a quick recap of my mindset this year… I’ve been complaining about how “safe” sunscreen is too expensive. By “too expensive” I [...]

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2012 Sunscreen Winners and Losers + Best Safe Sunscreens of 2012

I’ve been looking into sunscreens for the last couple of weeks and it’s clear that they’re all over the map when it comes to safety and price. Sunscreen can be hyper confusing – too bad, since all green families deserve safe affordable sunscreen. That said, I’ve narrowed down the best safe sunscreen options for all families, in [...]

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2012 Green Family Sunscreen Choices Organized by Price

*This post is part of the 2012 safe sunscreen series. If you’re interested in sunscreen by price, this is the list for you. All sunscreens are broken down into groups per price per oz and to save you some calculations, I figured out both your annual and monthly costs for each sunscreen choice as well. [...]

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Decent lower-priced sunscreens for 2012

If money is no object you can probably afford the safest, most chemical-free sunscreen. For the rest of us, some compromises are in order. First figure out how to panic less when it comes to more “toxic” sunscreens (this post also discusses chemicals in sunscreen). After you decide where you stand on chemicals, you can check out the list [...]

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When money is no object you can buy the safest sunscreen

I think green living compromises are a-okay. I think it’s smarter to lower your chemical burden in other areas, but if you want to spend less on organic food, and more on safe sunscreen, it’s fine with me. The prices below, per year, are calculated for kids and adults who spend a decent amount of time outside and [...]

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How to make homemade non-toxic sunblock

Many people say that homemade sunscreen is a safer, less expensive way to go than store-bought chemical sunscreens. Not having made homemade sunscreen before, I really have no clue if this is true or not, so I decided to check this option out. About titanium dioxide and zinc oxide The basic theory behind homemade sunblock [...]

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2012 Sunscreen & Sun Safety Guide

If you’d like to follow along with this year’s sunscreen advice, bookmark this page for updated links as I post them. Below is what I’m covering this year, along with some goodies I’ve covered in the past… START HERE The absolute best and worst sunscreen companies of 2012 + my #1 sunscreen pick of 2012 [...]

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2012 Guide to Sunscreen Choices for Green Families

Last year, I posted a list of safe sunscreens that cost $2.00 per ounce or less. After thinking it over, I’ve decided that $2.00 per ounce is still really expensive. My son and I easily go through hundreds of sunscreen applications per summer. At $2.00 an ounce, sunscreen can run you a minimum of $234 a month [...]