Why Every Parent Should Read “Little Changes” by Kristi Marsh

Running changed my life profoundly for the better, and helped me understand how profoundly our lives can change when we take a time-out to evaluate the way we’re living.  I like to regularly re-evaluate how life is going… are we stuck in our ways, leading unimaginative lives, not taking the time to look around us with fresh eyes at areas where we could improve our health, our environmental impact, our quality of life?

It took hitting rock bottom after my second son was born for me to start exercising regularly, and seeing the positive changes running has made in my energy, mood, and overall well-being makes me want to seek out other ways I can change our lives for the better.

The more I become interested in doing things that are healthy for my family AND the planet, the more I realize I need to start tackling some of the toxins in our home. My interest peaked when I recently discovered a book called Little Changes, by Kristi Marsh of choosewiser.com.

For Kristi, breast cancer rather than running was the start of a journey for change in her home. Surviving cancer sparked an interest in wellness that had her looking through her cosmetics cabinet, refrigerator, and under the sink with greater scrutiny. Not only did she want to remain cancer free, she wanted to reduce the risk of her children ever experiencing the pain, suffering, and potential loss of life she’d been through. When she started learning about everything from pesticides, GMO’s, and endocrine disruptors to known carcinogens in her mascara and nail polishes, Kristi quickly realized that she needed to start changing her purchasing habits and choose wiser, for the sake of her family’s health and the health of the planet.

Her book is such a REAL journey, of a REAL mom, out there learning piece by piece about the chemicals we eat and breathe and absorb through our skins… and how little we know about their safety. Europe has banned over a thousand more chemicals from cosmetics and personal care products than we have in the United States – chemicals that scientists and political advisors in Europe believe are dangerous enough not to risk the health of their citizens when there are safer alternatives available. It’s not about going without, it’s about choosing differently – and that doesn’t even have to mean more expensive. (I saved $10 a bottle when I switched from my chemical-laden toner to a bottle of aloe and lavender witch hazel.)

I admire Kristi greatly, because rather than becoming disheartened by the highly unregulated chemical world around us, she started to carefully make one change at a time in her home. She replaced makeup products with safer versions and started using less. She mixed her own household cleaners, saving bucket-loads of money and discovering how effective the white vinegar (the smell dissipates, she promises) and baking soda are at making safe household cleaners. She switched to organic produce, joined a CSA, saved money to put towards organics by buying less meat. Whether you want to make a few of the same choices or many, this is a book that helps parents see the importance of making better choices, and how to do it. I expected to feel disheartened at the end, but Kristi included so much information, and so many resources, and so many tips on where and how to start to make little changes that I felt inspired and ready to be proactive.

Reading her book, and following her footsteps on her journey to make better, more educated choices about all the products she buys, was such an inspiration – because I CAN DO THAT.

I can buy better toothpaste when mine runs out. I can take ten minutes and look up cosmetics on www.ewg.org/skindeep/ to find a safe option before I buy my next mascara and lipstick. I can even use the products I have rather than wasting them, and just make sure no more carcinogens or dangerous toxins enter my home when I buy replacements.

Not only CAN I do it, I WILL do it… and now that I know how dangerous some of the things in my house are, I’m grateful that there are resources like choosewiser.com and The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics out there forging the way for me so I don’t have to get a degree in chemistry to keep my family safe.

I used to think the cosmetics industry and government would make sure that products my family used were safe… no one would put chemicals known to be harmful in their products and sell them to children, right?  Unfortunately, corporations have a lot of pressure to make profits and please their stock-holders.  If a chemical is beginning to be recognized as unsafe by the scientific community, that’s not enough for a profit-seeking company to start phasing it out – especially when their competition is still using it.  BPA was known by the scientific community to be harmful long before companies started phasing it out… and it’s still used in can linings and plastics, even though we know how dangerous it is.  It’s up to us as consumers to ask companies for change, to stop buying products we know to be unsafe, and to encourage our government to increase legislation that keeps unsafe ingredients out of our products.

I know that there are people who use these products for years and don’t get cancer. I know that some of them are “correlated” to higher cancer rates which might not mean they “cause” cancer. I also know that I am not going to be the guinea pig who finds out in twenty years that correlation WAS causation, not when there are safer, healthier alternatives at similar price points available. Not when it’s not just what I’m putting on my skin, but what I’m putting on my children’s skin, and that’s then being washed out into the waterways and our world for the oceans to deal with.

No. No. No.

It’s not necessary. It’s not better. It’s not good for my skin, it’s not even more effective, it’s not even less expensive. Give me the product with the slightly shorter shelf life that doesn’t smell as strong, and let’s save the oceans and reduce our risk of cancer, and maybe even feel healthier and better in the short term, too.

Thanks Kristi – your book has fueled a spark with me, and I’m honored to join you on your journey.