Cancer to me was mostly an obscure disease… something people get when they get old or perhaps when they are unlucky enough to have genes that carry a predisposition to cancer. It was something mysterious and I felt it was the luck of the draw if you faced it down or not… it was not, in my mind, something I could prevent if I wanted to and it was not something I could get from my environment or my poor choices, save perhaps cancer from tobacco products.

But then cancer hit home for me all within the span of a few years. My Aunt died in her early forties after years of working in a factory and the man who exterminated our house died suddenly. It made me think about our choices, our environment, and the exposure to deadly chemicals that was all around us. The link to cancer wasn't so mysterious. I was seeing direct links between environment and this deadly disease. These events and the fact that I had almost lost my youngest child to vaccines made be start looking at things with new eyes. Our environment and our choices were making us sick.

This point was of course driven home all the more when I got sick soon after. I thought my third pregnancy was just the gestation period from hell but I would soon be diagnosed with cancer myself. Genetics were ruled out officially by my doctors but I already knew why a 28 year old woman got a type of cancer common to people in their 60s… poor life choices.

Sure I knew that my diet could have adverse effects… like increasing chances for heart disease later, bad skin, diabetes, weight gain, etc. Cancer was never on my radar though. From about age of 19 to age 26 I lay all the groundwork for my own illness. My diet all through those years was deplorable. I worked at a movie theater while I was in college as a projectionist and manager so I had all the free junk food I could want. It was not uncommon for me to go weeks with my meals only consisting of hot dogs, popcorn, and soda. After college I worked 40-60 hours a week in an office and who had time to cook or prepare meals, so my son and I ate exclusively at fast food places.. breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Ironically I turned this around by the time I was diagnosed a couple years later but the damage had been done.

In many ways getting cancer was a blessing because it is a great teacher. I came to see fully just how closely linked our lifestyle and our product and food choices are to bad health and disease. It helped me to see what kind of risks I am taking with my kids when they eat the processed crap that permeates the grocery store. It helped me see everything with new eyes and I wouldn't say I live in fear… I just have a realistic view of the exposure around us. Our environment matters! Our choices matter!

By calling it a blessing I don't want to make cancer sound glam either. It wasn't easy to spend two weeks in the hospital after being cut from groin to belly button. It wasn't easy to have to stop breastfeeding my son at six months old or worry that my kids wouldn't have a mother. It wasn't fun to come home strung out after becoming addicted to the IV pain medicine. It wasn't fun to have a port-a-cath put in my chest or to have it taken back out. It wasn't fun to throw in up my purse. It wasn't fun to get Pancreatitis and need another hospitalization and surgery. And it wasn't easy to tell my doctor I quit Chemo and that I would rather take my chances with cancer than go through one more minute of torture in his office. You know what would have been easy though? Avoiding it in the first place.

There is risk involved in hiring that exterminator, lawn care expert, or pool guy… for us and for them. There is risk involved when selecting shampoo, mattresses, food, and food storage dishes. The risks may seem to be minimal when you look at the products individually but when you add up all the cumulative exposure the risks aren't so small anymore. When natural substances are outweighed by initials… BPA, PVC, PET, PFOA, PFOS… you are doubling down on risk.

We cannot rely on industry to make the necessary changes on their own because money is more important than product safety. We see this clearly with the plastic industry, the tobacco industry, and the pharmaceutical companies. The ultimate battle against cancer can be fought in large part by becoming aware of what constitutes risk and educating yourself about where the dangers are coming from. We can choose to vote with our dollars on products that are safe and for companies that take environmental responsibility seriously. By doing so we reduce our own risk and we send a message loud and clear.

We may not be scientists capable of finding a cure for cancer but we are savvy people capable of reducing our risk and protecting our families when industry will not. Follow along as some other green moms expose the environmental links to cancer via the Green Moms Carnival. Enjoy!

Environmental Links to Cancer

Lisa at Retro Housewife Goes Green examines the link between a local cement plant and cancer. 

Marie at Project Earth examines the link to cancer that can be found in our personal care products in Phthalates: It's not Just a Fragrance. It's a Birth Control!

Deanna at The Crunchy Chicken writes about her husband getting leukemia after working in biotechnology for many years.

Jennifer the Smart Mama highlights many common links to cancer found in the home and two books that motivated her to make changes.

Karen at Best of Mother Earth discusses the term carcinogenic and where we can start in making changes.

Kellie at The Green Phone Booth has some good advice to help us avoid becoming overwhelmed about the C-word.

Amber at Strocel.com examines Environmental Toxins, Breast Milk and Cancer.

Sommer at Green and Clean Mom shares her thoughts on empowering ourselves to beat cancer.

Diane at Big Green Purse talks about how we can take precautions with We Don't Wait for Our Child to Get Hit By a Car Before We Tell Her to Look Both Ways When Crossing the Street. 

Linda at Citizen Green writes about cancer and sunscreens which is timely since warmer weather is around  the corner.

Anna at Green Talk discusses toxic chemicals in furniture and building products.

Jennae at Green and Gorgeous, has a child battling cancer, and she asks the question When it Comes to Cancer, I Say Why Take the Chance?

Micaela at Mindful Mama speaks out about her own cancer wake up call.

Lynn at Organic Mania talks about the Hypocrisy of Cancer.

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Woot! Finally my turn to host The Carnival of the Green. As I was reading submissions this week I was thinking about how much “green” blogging goes on that I am not even aware of. I guess I concern myself mainly with green as it relates to family but boy I am not even scratching the surface. I LOVE blog surfing to see what the latest and greatest green news and opinion is. If you missed last week’s carnival it was at Agroblogger.

So without further ado…let’s dive in.

First up EcoJoe shares with us how he used old items, perhaps bound for the trash…old wood, old and sometimes bent nails, and an old and rather ugly counter-top to make a lovely kitchen island for his townhome. He documents the whole project with complete instructions and pictures. Pretty inventive and green!

Beth Bader from Eat Drink Better shares an interview with Bryant Terry who co-wrote on of my all time favorite books called Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen. In addition to being an author he is a food activist he has made appearances on the Sundance Channel’s original series “Big Ideas for a Small Planet.” Bryant is also a host on “The Endless Feast,” a 13-episode PBS series. I have admired him for a long while so I enjoyed the interview. 

Alison at Green Me writes about What it Really Means to Eat Local. This is in response to recent media articles that claim that local eating is no better for the environment than eating globally transported foods. Alison isn’t buying it. I am not either.

Agroblogger writes a follow up post to one that appeared last week called My Life Without Water. Wow…what a challenge.

Adam from LifeGoggles reviews a book I have been wanting to read, Organic Places to Stay (in the UK) by Linda Moss. It outlines four different types of places to spend a night or week around the United Kingdom – bed and breakfast, hotels, self-catering and camping….all eco friendly. I want to take my kids on a tour of the UK next year so I am researching now.

The Tao of Change gives a shout to the Eco Moms Alliance which promotes mom making strides to protect their offspring AND the planet.

Fake Plastic Fish writes about a subject close to my own heart… environmental children’s books.

Vanessa is one of my readers and she recently shared with me a post she wrote outlining 7 Ways To Help Your Kids Be More Green. She has some good tips.

Shannon via SavingAdvice writes her local grocery stores attempt to convert patrons to reusable bags and why she thinks they should be giving the bags away for free. While I understand wanting to save money I think green takes precedence and stores can’t give away reusable bags willy nilly like they do plastic bags…that is impractical and not cost efficient. In the post she threatens to bring her own collection of mismatched canvas bags in various sizes. My advice: Do that! Reusable is reusable. You don’t have to use their $1.00 bags…use your own. I do.

Lisa at writes Sparks Fly Between White and EPA Over Recent Smog Standard Reduction. It relate show GWB interfered with smog reduction standards. Well, this isn’t surprising… Bush has never cared about that little place we live called Earth.

Well, that concludes this week’s carnival. Next week the host will be Lighter Footstep.

Enjoy!

Step right up! Enjoy the carnival! This is the fourth edition of the Carnival of Natural Family Living and just as I suspected this is turning out to be a large carnival. We have some great submissions to highlight so without further ado…..

Naturally Healthy

Carole Fogarty of The Healthy Living Lounge gives us an idea for letting go of stresses and worries in Calm your mind and “unplug” your stresses, worries and concerns in two and half minutes.

Natural Book Reviews

Our greenie from the UK, Mel at Bean Sprouts, reviewed the book Fruits of the Hedgerow. This is a book that discusses some common British fruits and seeds and inlcudes alot of yummy recipes. She also wrote a very interesting post about the ginger beer plant.

Natural Mom & Baby

Melanie at Motherverse writes about Breastfeeding in Public and Blurring of the Breast.  This great article disccusses attitudes about breastfeeding in times past and shares some great pictures of breastfeeding mothers during the depression and post war era. She also shares an amusing post about her son called Boob Man.

George at Man and His Baby (a very funny blog BTW) shares his list of places you should not breastfeed.

Awesome Mom has been knitting up a storm at Our Family Village.

Julie at Baby Development share the Benefits of Breastfeeding.

Safbaby has a poist on the unbelievable nurturing effects of baby massage.

Green Love Letters

Todd at We the Change gives us some ideas on green power in A Simple Way to Make Your Home Green.

Andy at Money Walks shared the results of his Car Gas Experiment.

Keyboard Culture Global Warming has a great article about finding the opportunity to build a brand new green home after a Florida hurricane.

Jon at The DC Traveler reminds me that I had to change my plans recently and will no longer be able to attend the DC Green Festival in a few days. Thanks Jon!

The Natural Homestead

Stephanie at Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood tells why she is glad she isn’t in Little House on the Prairie. It was great getting a glimpse of a more self sufficient home.

The new edition of the Carnival of Natural Family Living has posted to Bean Sprouts! Make sure to stop by and read the contributions and leave a comment.

My favorites were Playtime at Conscious Mom and Reusable Feminine Products at Stop the Ride.

Be sure to join the next carnival on September 17th with our lovely host Clara at Face-Natural!

Okay here it is! The first Carnival of Natural Family Living is now open. I think we did pretty good for the first carnival if I do say so myself. In no particular order�I will now go ahead and share the best submissions for the first edition of this carnival. Thanks to everyone who decided to participate!

First up is Frugal Panda with 101 Ways to Entertain Yourself and Your Family. These are some great tips! I especially like #2 which addresses summer lecture series offered by public libraries.

I love to talk about how being frugal often times coincides with green family values. That is why I like Sagar’s�100 Creative Ways to Cut Wedding Costs. It has many tips that make for a green wedding with suggestions to buy a used wedding dress, borrow jewelery, grow your own flowers, and skip the wedding favors. It is a great read for anyone about to walk down the aisle.

In keeping with the same frugal theme I also enjoyed reading How to Make Money Management a Family Affair by the Millionaire Mommy Next Door. Teaching your kids about money and consumerism is a valuable life lesson.

Carrie of Natural Moms Talk Radio shares with us her take on living frugal and living naturally in Eating Organic: Tips to Save You Money. This article has alot of great advice and links. My favorite tips were to buy in bulk and to skip porcessed foods.

Mel at Bean Sprouts offered a post about her recent attempt with alternative crafts. She and her sister made a Cake Stand�with�vintage China plates and sherry glasses.�This is a great way to repurpose household items to fit new needs and it is quite stylish too I might add. Green enthusiasts can have their cake and eat it too.

Dana at Principled Discovery tackles a tough subject. She discusses how kids as young as two years old might be emotionally attached to brand symbols�such as the golden articles at McDonalds because of their wide spread advertisements on TV. These ads are in effect preparing them to be consumers even at that young age.�So how does this affect children in TV free or virtually TV free households? Dana offers her perspective in Brand Loyalty in the Absence of Television.

Kevin of 21st Century Citizen offers us A Simple Step You Can Take: Eat More Locally Grown Food. In this article he explores many of the local food resources on the Internet and how you can use them to stay true to a 100 mile diet.

For my part AND to close this edition of the Carnival of Natural Family Living I submit and article I wrote for GNMParents called The Hottest Color in Beauty. It discusses different beauty products and cosmetics that are�composed of�sustainable materials, come in sustainable packaging, or come from companies that support sustainable or ethical initiatives.

So now go make the rounds and visit all our particpants and thank them for their valuable information. The host for the next edition of this carnival is….Mel of Bean Sprouts! So get your submissions in here and join the fun. Until next time….

[tags]carnival, natural living, green living, family, frugal, money, wedding, organic, local foods[/tags]