InterviewJessica Alba wants to make sure that we regulate chemicals and protect our children.

You might have seen Jessica Alba kill a bad guy with a stiletto heel in the gory action flick Machete. You might also have spotted her on the cover of Maxim (twice). But fewer people probably caught her on C-SPAN lecturing Congress about the urgency of passing laws to regulate the chemicals in the products we buy. A staunch environmental advocate, the 31-year-old star recently launched the Honest Company, which makes nontoxic, ecofriendly baby gear. She took some time to answer our questions about her commitment to safe chemistry.

Q: Why did you go to D.C. to lobby for the Safe Chemicals Act last year?

A: Basically, it’s legislation that hasn’t been reformed in more than 30 years. It’s about regulating chemicals in everyday products. There are more than 80,000 chemicals in the U.S. marketplace right now — only five have been banned. In Europe, 1,100 are banned because they’re not safe for humans. When they’re creating and selling new chemicals, companies aren’t thinking about how they affect people’s health — it’s about their bottom line.

Q: You had asthma as a kid, right? Does that make you worry more about air pollution?

A: I grew up with asthma and allergies, among other health issues. That forced me from a very early age to look at my environment in a different way. I don’t take things at face value. I don’t automatically trust the conglomerates. I question processes, I question ingredients, I look for a better way. I always try to find a more natural and holistic approach before just slapping on a Band-Aid. Better to prevent something bad from happening in the first place.

Q: We assume that you’re the only woman who’s topped Maxim’s “Hot 100” list and also testified before Congress about environmental legislation. How do you walk that balance?

A: [Laughs] I don’t know. I don’t even really think about it in those terms. The marketing I’ve done to promote TV and film has been wonderful because it’s given me a platform to be able to speak about things that are important to me.Q: What’s the main message you try to deliver about the environment?

A: That there’s a cause and effect to every action you take. So all of your purchasing and consuming choices are going to affect the planet and the people around you in some way, be it positive or negative. Just being a thoughtful, conscientious consumer is the first step.

Q: Do you get overwhelmed thinking about how many chemicals kids are exposed to?

A: I felt overwhelmed as a parent at first. But now I know that there are steps we can take. You can really change the health of your environment by doing anything from buying fresh, organic food to choosing the paint and carpeting in your home. Just understanding the quality of those products and what the potential hazards are. I’ve taken steps to eliminate as much that’s hazardous as I could from my home. So I feel great about the environment now that I’ve been able to create for my family. I know it’s possible.

Q: What else do you do to go green in your personal life?

A: I spend time outdoors with my kids. I have a nontoxic turf lawn instead of grass so we don’t have to water it. We have all energy-efficient appliances in our house, and most of the materials that we used to build it — probably 70% of them — are upcycled. I bought them off Craigslist or at flea markets or vintage stores. With the rest, I made an effort to buy sustainable materials, bamboo flooring, recycled glass tiles, things like that.

Q: Are people surprised to see a Hollywood actress buying things from them off Craigslist? 

A: I don’t go and pick them up [laughs]. I don’t even think that’s safe for a girl by herself to go to a random address and go pick something up. No, I have a family member — a guy, obviously, my husband or someone — go and pick up a piece here and there.

Q: You’ve said that your favorite place in the outdoors is Franklin Canyon Park in Los Angeles. Why that spot?

A: I like any piece of nature in urban environments because it feels like you can get a break from the hustle and bustle of the city. You can just escape and quickly be surrounded by nature. One of my favorite places in New York is Central Park, for that same reason. In L.A., Topanga Canyon is another really great place, and so is Malibu Canyon.

Q: What made you want to start the Honest Company? 

A: Frankly, I needed a company like it. As a parent, I think there’s a lot of confusion in the marketplace around what’s eco, what isn’t, toxic chemicals and how they affect the health of your family. There’s just so much information out there that there needed to be one company that’s done all the research and finds the formulations that perform best.

Q: How does the Honest Company work?

A: It delivers nontoxic products straight to your door, everything from laundry detergent to bubble bath to diapers and wipes. We also have what we call an “essentials kit”: Out of 16 items, you get to choose five, and that’s what you get delivered every month. Ninety-nine percent of our products are made here in the U.S. Our diapers are really the best on the market — they’re made from plant-based materials, are completely nontoxic, and have the cutest designs. We really wanted to innovate the diapering space. It was important for me as a parent to make sure that everyone could get these products delivered straight to their door.

Q: Do you have Hollywood mom friends who’ve signed up to use the service?

A: Yeah, quite a few!

—interview by Orli Cotel / photo courtesy of the Honest Company

This post originally appeared in Sierra magazine.

Sierra is the magazine of the Sierra Club. Our motto: Explore, Enjoy, and Protect the Planet. Follow Sierra magazine on Twitter.

The post Interview: Jessica Alba is Saving the World One Chemical at a Time appeared first on EcoSalon.

Big Macs aren’t good for you. You’d think the world would know this by now, but more often than not we witness McDonalds drive-thru traffic jams that our own friends and family are in. It’s one thing to hear, to know better, to understand; and it’s another thing to internalize, accept, and react accordingly. So let me say this again: Big Macs aren’t good for you and here are some reasons why.

An Icon is Born

In 1967, McDonald’s franchisee Jim Delligatti began to serve double-decker cheeseburgers on a double-cut bun in an effort to find a way to structure the messiness caused by the company’s token “special sauce.” Expanding from its humble beginnings in Uniontown, PA to locations across the nation as soon as the next year, the new burger was labeled the “Big Attraction” with its two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions and sesame-seed bun. Today, the Big Mac has come to be a symbol of everything stereotypically American – capitalism, commercialism, and gluttony.

The original sales price of the iconic Big Mac was 45 cents, compared to the current $3.00, and today McDonald’s sells as many as 550 million Big Macs per year in the U.S., with a scope of some 120 countries.

The Fat Facts

Let’s talk about the one of the Big Mac’s biggest offenses: fat. A Big Mac is by no means a stranger to it. Each serving packs 550 calories, 260 calories of which come from fat. That’s nearly half of the entire burger’s calories and 45 percent of your daily balance! And of this whopping 29 grams of fat, 10 grams are saturated and 1.5 grams are trans. A Big Mac also contains 75 mg cholesterol, which is 25 percent of your daily allowance. And similarly alarming is the Big Mac’s sodium content. Each serving contains 1,070 milligrams.

Now, if you’ve done some of your own research, don’t be fooled by the Big Mac’s apparent virtuous side. According to the nutritional profile made available by McDonalds itself, each serving contains 3 grams of dietary fiber, 25 grams of protein and offers 6, 2, and 25 percent of our daily vitamin A, C and calcium requirements. Sounds positive, right?

It is important to keep in mind that not all nutrients are the same across the board, and this supposed uplifting aspect to the Big Mac is shadowed by its downsides as well as the quality of its ingredients. For example, the protein you get from animal products differs substantially from the protein you receive from plants, in terms of quality, assimilation, and overall health benefits. The fiber, protein and vitamins in a Big Mac are frankly not that compelling.

If You Can’t Pronounce It, Don’t Eat It

Given the stats, it doesn’t take a wild guess to know the Big Mac is compromising big time in the ingredients department.

Among the many ingredients that make up the Big Mac bun, for example, are high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, calcium sulfate, calcium carbonate, calcium silicate, wheat gluten, emulsifier (mono- and diglycerides, diacetyl tartaric acid esters of fatty acids, ethanol, sorbitol, polysorbate 20, potassium propionate), sodium stearoyl lactylate, dough conditioner (corn starch, ammonium chloride, ammonium sulfate, calcium peroxide, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, enzymes), and calcium propionate (preservative).

That’s a mouthful.

Aside from the fact that most of those are nearly impossible to pronounce at first go, many of these ingredients are dangerous. Azodicarbonamide is even banned in some countries around the world because it is a respiratory sensitizer and may harm people with asthma or those prone to allergies – to say nothing of the obvious culprits in the list, such as high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils.

The “special sauce” is indeed special – for its creepy add-ins, that is. The sauce includes high fructose corn syrup, sugar, the preservatives propylene glycol alginate, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate, and hydrolyzed (corn gluten and wheat) proteins.

And if you knew what any of that actually meant, you’d realize “hydrolyzed proteins” is just a fancy way of spelling out monosodium glutamate, or the infamous MSG. The flavor enhancer, MSG, has been picking up a lot of heat these days, because it is reported to cause headaches, flushing, sweating, numbness, a rapid heart beat, chest pain, nausea, and weakness, among other things. The sauce also contains the fertility-damaging polysorbate 80 and its preservatives are known to inhibit nutrient absorption – if, of course, there were any particularly beneficial nutrients to speak of in the Big Mac to begin with.

Best of the Worst

On a positive note, the only time you should eat a Big Mac is by association. A Whopper contains 760 calories and 47 grams of fat, a Wendy’s quarter-pound single with cheese has 500 calories and 26 grams of fat, a Hardee’s Thickburger comprises 910 calories and 64 grams of fat, a Sonic Cheeseburger with mayo packs 700 calories and 42 grams of fat, and a 10-sack of White Castle sliders has 1,700 calories and 90 grams of fat. But that’s the only health list a Big Mac will top.

So, instead of rolling through the drive-thru, consider making a homemade, “real” version of a burger.

Vegan Chickpea Burger

Serves 5

Ingredients:

• 1 can chickpeas, mashed
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large white onion
• 2 hot peppers (or 1 jalapeno)
• 2 scallions
• 2 garlic gloves
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1.5 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp coriander
• 3 tbsp ground oats
• Buns, avocado, tomato, red onion, and lettuce for garnish

Aylin Erman currently resides in Istanbul and is creator of plant-based recipe website GlowKitchen.

Image: Leo Almighty

The post The Breakdown: Looking at the Nutrional Value of a Big Mac appeared first on EcoSalon.

I had asthma as a kid. This meant that I was pretty much dependent on chemicals to get oxygen into my lungs and that I wouldn’t step out of the house without an abuterol in hand. Soccer game? I had an inhaler stashed by the bench. Prom night? My understanding boyfriend carried it in his pocket. It wasn’t the worst way to grow up, but it definitely had its memorable moments – usually caused by an unfortunately empty inhaler canister and a habit of breathing.

So to this day, when I see someone light up a cigarette, I watch with a secret kind of awe. It’s like watching someone walk on the moon without an oxygen tank. How is this possible that they aren’t collapsing to the ground like a goldfish out of water? Since my lungs would be vomited out on the sidewalk if I took a drag, this is perversely fascinating. I want to walk up to them and knock on their chest to see if they actually have lungs of steel. (And yet, I don’t.)

The one upside to asthma? If you are really really lucky to outgrow it, you really really appreciate your new-found ability to breath without chemicals. But unfortunately, if someone steps into my air space with a cigarette, I have an immediate problem. Sure, it’s not my business if Private Citizen wants to smoke. But it is my problem because Private Citizen’s second-hand smoke is “a toxic cocktail consisting of poison and carcinogens. There are over 4000 chemical compounds in secondhand smoke; 200 of which are known to be poisonous, and upwards of 60 have been identified as carcinogens.” And this is one problem that no one needs.

The American Heart Association estimates that around 23 percent of men and 18 percent of women smoke. Sure, that’s better than “Mad Men” times when doctors were lighting cigarettes for pregnant mothers. But it still means we’re going to run across a smoke cloud or two in our daily adventures.

I handle these errant smoke clouds by treating the world as a giant track and field event. When I encounter smokers, I get out of their space as quickly as possible and keep my anti-smoking opinions to myself. (However, an awesomely sweet guy did once offer to put his cigarette out on my tongue when I asked him to snuff it.)

But still, sprinting is problematic. First, it’s not always practical to race around someone in high heels/pushing a baby carriage/walking with someone who doesn’t recognize you are holding your breath and are about to collapse into a heap of pathetic. Second, a good friend of mine is a smoker who hates it when people run past him as he’s carrying a biological weapon. Can’t we just all get along?

So what to do? If you are traveling, there are steps you can take. Ask for a non-smoking room or, better yet, book a smoke free hotel. FreshStay offers a great resource on finding smoke-free hotels. If you are hosting a party, offer up alternatives to smoking – gum, water, snacks. Or ask them to step aside – though your average smoker is a reasonable human being who knows his or her smoke is going to bother people, so he or she is doing this anyway.

And in the end, if someone really doesn’t get the hint? You can pull out a Breath of Life Emergency Escape Mask and start sucking down air. If you’re going to make a point, go big.

Image: yourdon

The post Protecting Yourself From the 20 Percent of People Who Still Smoke appeared first on EcoSalon.

If you’ve noticed it’s easier to breathe on some days than others, you’re not alone. In fact, this year marks the 10th annual American Lung Association State of the Air report, which has been tracking air quality across the United States for a decade. Just enter your zip code to learn how your area fares and what you can do to help make the air a little cleaner.

After sifting through the Executive Summary, we’ve chosen a few key points to share:

– Six out of ten people (61.7%) in the United States population live in counties that have unhealthy levels of either ozone or particle pollution.

– Approximately 4 million children and 10.9 million adults with asthma live in parts of the United States with very high levels of ozone, and over 5.7 million adults and 2.1 million children with asthma live in areas with high levels of short-term particle pollution.

The nations needs to:

Clean up dirty power plants

Coal-fired power plants are among the largest contributors to particulate pollution, ozone, mercury and global warming. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should immediately take action to reduce emissions and expand clean-up requirements for power plants nationwide. The American Lung Association has taken legal action repeatedly to fight to require power plants to clean up.

Clean up the existing fleet of dirty diesel

The good news is that affordable technology exists to virtually eliminate this problem and the economic recovery legislation is investing $300 million at the EPA for the voluntary diesel retrofit program.

Clean up ocean-going vessels

Ocean-going vessels, like cruise ships, container ships and tankers, deliver staggering amounts of smog-forming oxides of nitrogen, particle pollution, sulfur dioxide and heat-trapping carbon dioxide. By 2030, these vessels will produce approximately 45 per cent of the national inventory of mobile source particle pollution emissions, harming health, worsening global warming and creating acid rain. New evidence shows that pollution from these vessels reaches parts of the country far inland from the 40 port cities that have recognized air pollution problems.

What can you do?

Drive less

Combine trips, walk, bike, carpool or vanpool, and use buses, subways or other alternatives to driving. Vehicle emissions are a major source of air pollution. Support community plans that provide ways to get around that don’t require a car, such as more sidewalks, bike trails and transit systems.

Don’t burn wood or trash

Check school busses

Make sure your local school system requires clean school buses, which includes replacing or retrofitting old school buses with filters and other equipment to reduce emissions.

Use less electricity

Turn out the lights and use energy-efficient appliances. Generating electricity is one of the biggest sources of pollution, particularly in the eastern United States.

Send a message to decision makers

Send an email or fax to urge Congress to oppose measures that weaken the Clean Air Act.

Take pride if you’ve been listed as one of the cleanest cities:

Fargo-Wahpeton, ND-MN emerged as the cleanest city in the U.S., the only city to appear on all three lists of cleanest cities. 17 cities appeared on two of the three lists of cleanest cities: Billings, MT; Bismarck, ND; Cheyenne, WY; Colorado Springs, CO; Farmington, NM; Ft. Collins, CO; Honolulu, HI; Lincoln, NE; Midland-Odessa, TX; Port St. Lucie, FL; Pueblo, CO; Redding, CA; Salinas, CA; San Luis Obispo, CA; Santa Fe-Espanola, NM; Sioux Falls, ND; and Tucson, AZ.

Image: Angelrays

The post 10th Annual Air Quality Report: How Does Your City Rate? appeared first on EcoSalon.