Christopher Gavigan, Chief Executive Officer of Healthy Child Healthy World, has dedicated himself to improving the lives of children and families. Christopher believes Eco progress with from steady steps and not necessarily a big leap.

How do you eco?

When it comes to eco-consciousness, no one can do everything but everyone can do something. Going green isn’t about changing your whole lifestyle in the shortest time possible. Its a step by step learning process, you’ll drive yourself crazy if you try to become eco-fied overnight. Banish plastic water bottles for a stainless steel canteen, purchase organic meat over conventional, opening windows daily to circulate and freshen indoor air, using a resuable canvas tote at the grocery store instead of paper bags, and vote for representatives who champion environmental concerns.

Why did you go eco?

I’ve always considered myself an environmentalist, but my shade of green has grown significantly darker since my son was born. I was filled with the hope and excitement of a new parent, and the overwhelming desire to protect and nurture him. I was ready to make any and every change possible to ensure he was growing and maturing in a healthy environment, and that eco-conscious would be instilled from the beginning. So it would be a given for him, not a lightbulb moment as it is for many of us.

I soon realized that the often unsafe and chemical laden world he would grow up in doesn’t prioritize the protection of his health. It must be parents who protect their child from harmful environmental exposures. I embraced whole-heartedly the responsibility of creating a truly green and healthy, nontoxic environment for him, one where he could flourish, and then I could quit worrying!

What’s your favorite eco tips?

Take your shoes off at the door. 85% of the dirt in homes is brought in from the outside. The US EPA’s “Doormat Study” revealed virtually all lead dust inside homes is caused by lead-contaminated soil from outside. Wiping shoes on a straw mat and leaving them at the door reduces lead dust by 60%. You also protect your floors, especially carpeting, from invisible enemies on your shoe soles - dirt, chemicals, bacteria, feces, lead dust, pesticides, animal dander and other pollutants. And less cleaning, who doesn’t love that?

EcoLinks

• Healthy Child Healthy World
• Healthy Child Healthy World The Book
• Baby and Kids
• Environmental Advocacy

Nancy Massotto is executive director of the Holistic Moms Network, a non-profit support and resource organization connecting parents interested in holistic health and green living. Founded by a handful of moms yearning for the support and friendship of others outside the mainstream. Today the group has 120+ chapters across the U.S. and Canada.

How do you eco?

The Holistic Moms Network is a non-profit, grassroots community-building network for parents interested in holistic health and green living. We connect parents who are passionate about natural parenting options from breastfeeding and cloth diapering, to non-toxic/green cleaning and supporting local farmers. As an organization, we Eco by educating parents about ways that they can live sustainably and by helping them to locate local resources to support their choices.

Why did you go eco?

For many of us, becoming a parent opened up a new world of awareness about sustainability. In parenthood, we become conscious of the impact of our choices including how and what we eat and its relationship to our health and well-being, the products we purchase and how they will affect our families, and the options we have to create a healthy future for our children. Understanding how these choices are connected inspires us to make informed decisions.

What’s your favorite eco tip?

Living sustainably is a journey. Start with one small step – seek out organic, locally grown food, replace one cleaning product in your home with a natural solution, change a personal care item to one that is natural, or find a way to reduce your consumption. Each step creates a brighter future.

• Holistic Moms Network
• Chief Eco Officers
• HomeEco websites

Laura Allen lives in the San Franciso Bay Area and is an active gardener, elementary school teacher and aspiring inventor. She teaches urban gardening, creek restoration and sustainable technologies. Co-author of the notorious Guerrilla Greywater Girls Guide to Water, she has been scheming and constructing greywater systems for years. Favorite activities include smashing concrete, hanging out in wetlands, visiting people’s eco toilets, and drinking tea.

How do you eco?

We work towards creating a sustainable water future for all through presentations and workshops about greywater reuse and ecological sanitation. In our workshops participants learn the concepts of greywater use and practical hands-on skills. We also published Dam Nation: Dispatches from the Water Underground, that highlights water struggles and solutions from around the globe.

Why did you go eco?

I do this work because water is crucial to all life. Clean water is a basic human right, and clean rivers and healthy aquatic ecosystems are vital for the earth and all living creatures. Our society has created an unsustainable water infrastructure; damming rivers, transporting water far from its source, supporting wasteful habits and allowing people to “flush and forget” their sewage. It damages rivers, fish and cultures who depend on healthy rivers, as well as all the people who have their water piped to them and don’t know what’s behind the tap. Society views the water we’ve used once as “waste”, and the nutrients we excrete from our bodies each day also as “waste”, but it doesn’t have to be that way. When I realized this I started taking small steps to reconnect to my water cycle. Now I live in a house where we have a urine-diverting composting toilet using no water and returning nutrients we excrete to the land. We recycle all the greywater from our showers, sinks, and the washing machine to the yard to irrigate fruit trees and other beautiful plants.

What’s your favorite eco tips?

1. Catch greywater with a 5 gallon bucket! It’s cheap and easy and you can do it most anywhere. Put a bucket under the shower while you wait for it to heat up. This water is actually “clear water” not dirty at all. You can use it to water plants or flush the toilet (pour it into the bowl of the toilet quickly and the toilet will flush).

2. Catch greywater with a bucket under the bathroom sink. Detach the drain from the sink (leave the curved “P-trap” in place), put a bucket under the drain. Details

3. Look into a washing machine greywater system to have your greywater automatically and irrigate outside plants, my favorite is the drumless laundry.

EcoLinks

• Greywater Guerrillas
• Environmental Advocacy
• Greywater Systems

Jill Buck is founder & executive director of the Go Green Initiative, a comprehensive environmental education program operating in 50 states, Africa, Asia, Canada, Europe and Mexico. Jill, a former Naval Officer and proud mother of three, argues that even after 200 years, Ben Franklin is still the man when we think about what an eco-friendly existence means.

How do you eco?

I like to think of ‘green’ as who I am, not what I do. I’d like to think that I’m the kind of person who wouldn’t knowingly waste anything, and so I try to act accordingly. And I wouldn’t knowingly introduce toxins into my children’s world, and so I try to make sure I don’t. I “eco” by trying to think through the ramifications of my action (or inaction), and when I reach the point when I don’t know the effect of my actions, I try to find out.

Sometimes when my kids make a mistake, they will say, “I didn’t mean to.” And I say, “I believe you, but did you mean not to?” And that question always gets them thinking a little bit harder about what they can do to avoid making the same mistake again.

I think that’s how I “eco”, as well. It’s not good enough to say we didn’t mean to pollute the Earth. What we need to ask is…did we mean not to? And if we “mean not to” then we can be purposeful, thoughtful and determined in each decision we make

Why did you go eco?

My kids. Plain and simple. I love them so much!

Clean air, clean water and clean soil to grow their food in…ample clean energy…these are the foundations of the high standard of living we hope to pass on to our children. We do so much to ensure they have healthy, prosperous future like save for their college education, take them to the doctor for well-child check ups, and make sure they eat healthy food. If we do all these things, but do not also leave them clean water or reliable access to energy…what good have we done?

What’s your favorite eco tip?

I think Benjamin Franklin had it right…waste not, want not.

If we do not waste natural resources today, our children will not want for them in the future.

My favorite eco tip…don’t waste anything.

EcoLinks

• Go Green Initiative
• StopWaste.Org
• Environmental Advocacy
• Children’s Education
• Chief Eco Officers

Prior to him hitting the stage to deliver Greenfair Silicon Valley’s keynote address, we talked transit and the beauty of a good walk with eco-activist, actor, author and entrepreneur Ed Begley, Jr., star of the tv show “Living with Ed” and author of Living Like Ed

How do you eco?

I try to do it every day of my life with my transportation and everything else. For me walking is #1, biking is #2, public transport is #3, my electric car is #4 and sometimes it’s even my wife’s Prius.

Why did you go eco?

I grew up in smoggy LA. In the 1970s I decided that I was going to do everything I could to make things better. Today we have four times the cars in LA than we did 20 years ago and half the smog, so we’re making some progress. I say to people “Who wouldn’t want to make LA or Houston or anywhere else cleaner; lessen our dependence on foreign oil and put some money in your pocket.”

What’s your favorite eco tip?

Try it. Just get out of your car.

EcoLinks

• Begley’s Best
• Living with Ed