Ten marketing lessons from the Barack Obama Presidential campaign.

By David Meerman Scott

I wanted to make a few observations about why Obama was elected to be the 44th President of the United States.

This is a marketing blog, not a political blog. These are not political observations, but thoughts about marketing. It doesn't matter who I supported or voted for or who you supported or voted for us all to learn from Obama's victory.

1. Social media and the new rules of marketing are essential. The other campaigns seemed to be fighting using the playbooks of past campaigns. Hillary Clinton was relying on what worked to elect Bill Clinton. John McCain was relying on what worked to elect George W. Bush. Obama realized that to become president, he had to deliver information to people online as a primary tool, not an afterthought. In my opinion, Barack Obama is the most successful "new marketer" in history.

2. Embrace citizen journalists. My friend Steve Garfield is a well-known video blogger. He's got tens of thousands of followers. During the primaries, Garfield attended several rallies held by various candidates. When he asked to go to the media section at a Hillary Clinton rally in Boston he was tuned away (because he was "not a real journalist") and had to cover it from the back of the crowd. However, Obama's campaign immediately brought him up to the media section where he was placed with print reporters from the major dailies and TV crews from the networks. The Obama campaign understood that citizen journalists have immense power.

3. Clearly and simply articulate what you want people to believe. From the beginning, Obama was about "change." The word "change" was everywhere in his campaign, so much that the entire world knew what Obama stood for. I asked a group of 300 people in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia what was the one word they think of when I say Barack Obama and all in the room said "CHANGE". Amazing. Quick: What do the following candidates stand for? John McCain, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, or any others. Hard to say isn't it?

4. People don't care about products and services, instead they care about themselves and about solving their problems. Obama understood that his job was to solve the problems facing voters. He also knew that voters were buying into solutions, not just an individual. Did you notice in speeches how often Obama referred to his audience compared to how often he referred to himself? How about the other candidates in the primaries? How about John McCain? The other candidates talked about themselves a hell of a lot more than Obama did. Obama was the most tuned in candidate.

5. Don't obsess over the competition. Did you notice that Obama rarely talked about his competition? Once in a while he would, but mainly he talked about the problems facing voters. McCain talked a lot about Obama. Interestingly, Clinton and McCain both tried to associate themselves with the "change" word (the competition's word) but both failed because people already associated it with Obama.

6. Put your fans first. Obama had many ways to make an inclusive campaign and alert fans about developments first. I found out on Twitter that Joe Biden was to be Obama's running mate. Amazing. Obama told his fans first BEFORE mainstream media. (Of course, smart reporters were following his Twitter feed).

7. People don't like tele-marketing. Do you like getting phone calls at dinnertime? McCain supporters seem to think so as they unleashed a barrage of so called robo-calls, which seemed to have backfired.

8. Negativity doesn't sell. Obama’s theme of hope and the idea that life can be better with change was uplifting to many people. The other campaigns of fear didn’t work this time around.

9. When someone becomes a customer, they want to talk about it. Obama tapped over 3 million donors who provided $640 million to the campaign. The majority contributed small amounts online. Once someone donates money, they have a vested interest in the candidate. So lots of small donors are better than a few fat cats.

10. Take time for your family. (Okay maybe this isn’t really a marketing observation). Obama took time to be with his wife and daughters when he could have done another rally somewhere. He took several days at the end of the race to spend time with his ailing grandmother. While he was pulled away from "work" I think people respected his devotion to family.

Anyone have any other observations?

Marketers can learn a great deal from political campaigns. I encourage you to take a look at these ten lessons and apply them to your business.

The Momonomics of Healthcare

Health Care For All Kids

One of my best friends called me this week and told me that she just started clipping coupons for the first time in her life. All across the country, moms and dads are sitting down at their kitchen tables and figuring out how to make their money stretch farther. If we are thinking carefully about our money, it's only fair that our leaders do the same. How? By stretching our healthcare dollars farther by making sure that all kids have healthcare coverage.

There are close to 9 million children in the US who do not have health insurance. When children have gaps in coverage and do not get timely preventive care, they often end up requiring more expensive health care, such as hospitalizations and emergency room visits.
In California, a study of 9 local Children's Health Initiatives (CHI) found that providing children health insurance reduced hospitalizations in the CHI counties by 25 percent and saved up to $7.35 million annually in preventable hospitalizations. If all low-income children had health insurance, the state could save $24.3 million per year in preventable hospitalizations. Not enough to convince you?

Not only does healthcare for all kids save money now, it can affect kids' long-term educational outcomes. Children covered by Healthy Families (low-cost health insurance for kids living just above the federal poverty level) showed a 63% improvement in "paying attention" and a 64% improvement in "keeping up with school activities" over their performance when uninsured. The result? Fewer children will need costly educational interventions.

Covering all kids is something that we can do now. Children are the least expensive population to insure. Children make up over half of the Medicaid population, but they account for only 23% of the total Medicaid spending. But when primary care is delayed because mom and dad can't afford to take their child to the doctor, a toothache can become a serious infection, pink eye can leave a child blind, and kids who should be home for a day miss weeks of school.

So what are we waiting for? Move over Ben Bernanke. Our leaders need a lesson in Momonomics 101 from moms and dads who know that we can't just blindly cut essential programs, we need to spend wisely. MomsRising.org is asking its members to tell our leaders that covering all kids makes economic sense.

Special Money Mom Series: Wealthy Healthy and Whole.

Written By Monica Rowland

One of my mantras is "I am Wealthy, Healthy , and Whole. It's actually a favorite and has gotten me through some tough, and lean times. As we move towards the end of 2008, I would like to share with you some tips and advice on how to achieve the balance that most of us are looking for. Starting today we will have Segments on Financial, Spiritual, and Physical Health and Wellness.

I am excited about this series , because I think that it is very important to incorporate all three of these areas of your life in order to achieve balance. Hopefully this series will help to enable some of you to get started and finish strong!

Five Reasons All Women Should Love Michelle

http://michelleobamawatch.com/five-reasons-all-women-should-love-michelle

Posted by SjP of Sojourner’s Place.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Heather Wood Rudúlph, co-founder and editor of SirensMag.com, for setting out the top 5 reasons why all women should love soon to be First Lady, Michelle Obama.

Reason #1: She’s a good mother.
Reason #2: She’s smarter than you.
Reason #3: She’s a realistic fashion icon
Reason #4: She’s a feminist.
Reason #5: She’s a [B]lack woman.

I encourage you to read the impassioned and compelling arguments put forth by Rudolph here. Perhaps you will find yourself “gushing” right along with Rudolph as she urges no one to “underestimate the power of Michelle’s image and presence in the White House:

…a descendent of slaves will be hosting White House dinners!—is an extremely powerful image for our country, and for the world.

Yes, thank you Heather for giving your permission and providing us with 5 reasons for women to “love” our new First Lady who has so aptly been named by the Secret Service Renaissance. I only hope that the next article you elect to write about Michelle Obama would be entitled Two Reasons to Respect Michelle Obama:

Reason #1: She is the First Lady of the United States.
Reason #2: She commands it.

What the Heck Is Web 2.0?

Written by Monica Rowland

In case you were wondering what this new term is that is being thrown around like a baseball on opening day at Yankee Stadium.... I thought I would post a few things to help you out. Now if you don't know what it means, don't feel badly... because most people don't. Even people participating in it, using it and in some cases LIVING it! (You know who you are! You fall asleep in front of your laptop each night on your bed. You are on facebook, MY Space or your favorite blog. Then you wake up with the light on at 4:00am, and a crick in your neck. Yeah..that's you!)

Web 2.0 is the new generation of the internet. It's the internet's offspring or baby so to speak. It is a term that encompasses the entire phenomenon of social networking, blogging, Instant Messaging, and so forth. It is used to describe the world of places on the web like this blog, or other applications like My Space, Facebook, LinkedIn, Classmates.com, Yahoo Instant Messenger, Wikipedia, Second Life, Google Adsense, Napster..... and believe me the list goes on and on!

By now you are probably scratching your head and thinking... "Hey! I am pretty web savvy! How did I miss this baby shower?" Well... you didn't. It sort of just happened. Tech companies came up with one thing after another over time, and now there are really too many of these programs and applications to count.

To describe it better... I thought I should get a "real" definition for you. This is a very long but informative article....however; I only provided a short excerpt. You can read the rest on your own. :wink:

(excerpt from an article What is Web 2.0? by Tim O'Reilly)
http://www.oreilly.de/artikel/web20.html

The concept of "Web 2.0" began with a conference brainstorming session between O'Reilly and MediaLive International. Dale Dougherty, web pioneer and O'Reilly VP, noted that far from having "crashed", the web was more important than ever, with exciting new applications and sites popping up with surprising regularity. What's more, the companies that had survived the collapse seemed to have some things in common. Could it be that the dot-com collapse marked some kind of turning point for the web, such that a call to action such as "Web 2.0" might make sense? We agreed that it did, and so the Web 2.0 Conference was born.

In the year and a half since, the term "Web 2.0" has clearly taken hold, with more than 9.5 million citations in Google. But there's still a huge amount of disagreement about just what Web 2.0 means, with some people decrying it as a meaningless marketing buzzword, and others accepting it as the new conventional wisdom.

This article is an attempt to clarify just what we mean by Web 2.0.

In our initial brainstorming, we formulated our sense of Web 2.0 by example:

Web 1.0		Web 2.0
DoubleClick	-->	Google AdSense
Ofoto	-->	Flickr
Akamai	-->	BitTorrent
mp3.com	-->	Napster
Britannica Online	-->	Wikipedia
personal websites	-->	blogging
evite	-->	upcoming.org and EVDB
domain name speculation	-->	search engine optimization
page views	-->	cost per click
screen scraping	-->	web services
publishing	-->	participation
content management systems	-->	wikis
directories (taxonomy)	-->	tagging ("folksonomy")
stickiness	-->	syndication

The list went on and on. But what was it that made us identify one application or approach as "Web 1.0" and another as "Web 2.0"? (The question is particularly urgent because the Web 2.0 meme has become so widespread that companies are now pasting it on as a marketing buzzword, with no real understanding of just what it means. The question is particularly difficult because many of those buzzword-addicted startups are definitely not Web 2.0, while some of the applications we identified as Web 2.0, like Napster and BitTorrent, are not even properly web applications!) We began trying to tease out the principles that are demonstrated in one way or another by the success stories of web 1.0 and by the most interesting of the new applications.

Bad News! Sun to Cut Up to 18 Pct of Workforce!

http://news.digitaltrends.com/

By Geoff Duncan
November 14, 2008

Sun Microsystems has announced it is "aligning its business with the global economic climate"...and cutting up to 6,000 jobs, 18 pct of its staff.

Computer and software maker Sun Microsystems has announced it is shifting its business to align with the global economic climate…and that's going to mean cutting between 5,000 and 6,000 jobs, some 15 to 18 percent of its workforce. The company is also reorganizing its software division into three business groups and intends to focus on open source—like MySQL and its new Open Storage offering—to grow new market segments.

"Today, we have taken decisive actions to align Sun's business with global economic realities and accelerate our delivery of key open source platform innovations," said Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz, in a statement.

Sun's sudden shift can't be seen as anything but a serious move to keep the company afloat, as sales of its high-end enterprise-level servers have all but dried up and the company has watched it stock price plummet, driving Sun's market value of the company lower than the amount of cash the company actually has on hand…meaning, in the eyes of the financial and investment community, the company effectively has no value. Sun has been struggling with serious financial difficulties for most of the decade, and the trouble have recently been fueling rumors the company might be picked up for a song by a larger computer maker like Dell, Hewlett-Packard, or IBM. Sun posted a loss of $1.7 billion for its latest quarter, after writing down the value of its business by some $1.45 billion.

Ironically, about a dozen years ago, Sun was seriously considering buying Apple.

Sun believes the re-organization and workforce reduction will save the company between $700 and $800 million per year, although it will have to pay $500 to $600 million over the next year in severance and other restructuring costs.

Sun is also saying goodbye to its software chief Rich Green, who has decided to leave the company. Sun said Green "has been an instrumental force in evolving Sun's software strategy and successful business execution."

Michelle Obama To Oprah: "Back Off!"

linked from:www.babble.com

New First Lady, Michelle Obama is apparently not happy with Oprah Winfrey. Why? Oprah was a supporter of President-elect Barack Obama, so why would Michelle be so upset?

Seriously, there's a Michelle Obama and Oprah feud? Well yes, according to the GLOBE. Are they like The Enquirer? I'm thinking yes.

Reportedly, Michelle told the queen of the talk shows, to "back off!" because Oprah was using her influence in "Barack Obama's White House." At least, so says "insiders." And we all know those "insiders," they have all the, uh, inside information.

No word on the details of the alleged feud between the two women, but friends are calling it "nasty."

Yes, I'm sure we'll see those two, very powerful, mature ladies, having a knock-down, drag-out fight. In the meantime, Oprah has a show to produce and host, and Michelle has a husband to support and children to raise.

CNN: The Next Net 25

A new Web revolution is picking up steam, and the next Google or Microsoft could emerge from the companies that are in the vanguard.

By Erick Schonfeld, Om Malik, and Michael V. Copeland

March 3, 2006: 3:30 PM EST

SAN FRANCISCO (Business 2.0 Magazine) - Things are really crackling in Silicon Valley these days. There's the frenzied startup action, the rising rivers of VC cash, even the occasional bubble-icious long-term stock prediction (Google $2,000, anyone?).

(See the list and gallery: The Next Net 25)

There's so much happening that the buzzword recently employed to try to encapsulate the era -- "Web 2.0" -- now seems hopelessly inadequate, defined and redefined into near meaninglessness by squadrons of aspiring entrepreneurs, marketers, and other fortune hunters.

So it seems a particularly useful moment to wave away the smoke and home in on what's really core. Don't be distracted by the Valley's hype-o-meter pushing toward the red: There's something very real -- and very powerful -- afoot.

Driven by ubiquitous broadband, cheap hardware, and open-source software, the Web is mutating into a radically different beast than it has been. And that is leading to the creation of entirely new kinds of companies, new business models, and oceans of new opportunity.

We are in the early stages of what might be better thought of as the Next Net. The Next Net will encompass all digital devices, from PC to cell phone to television. Its defining characteristics include the ability to interact instantaneously with any of the more than 1 billion Web users across the globe -- not by, say, instant messaging, but by evolving instant-voice-messaging and instant-video-messaging apps that will make today's e-mail and IM seem crude.

The Next Net is deeply collaborative: People from across the planet can work together on the same task, and products or tools can be rapidly tweaked and improved by the collective wisdom of the entire online world.

The new era is also creating a realm of endless mix and match: Anyone with a browser can access vast stores of information, mash it up, and serve it in new ways, to a few people or a few hundred million.

Most striking, the Next Net creates endless possibilities for entrepreneurs and established players alike to take advantage of the Web's new power. They are building on the success of early standard-bearers -- Flickr, MySpace, Wikipedia -- but also moving beyond those pioneers in creative and fascinating ways.

In the pages that follow, we identify 25 companies, in five Next Net categories, whose approaches help illuminate where the Web is headed and where the opportunities lie. Most are startups, a lot of them with less than 10 full-time employees. Few are currently making money, and it's a given that many will fail. But it's equally likely that somewhere within this group lurks the next Google or Microsoft or Yahoo -- or at least something that those giants will soon pay a pretty penny to have.

See the full list and photo gallery: The Next Net 25

Find this article at: http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/23/smbusiness/business2_nextnet_intro/index.htm

You can now find "Green Jobs" at Greenprofs.com

If you are interested in posting or finding a "Green Job", you can now go to www.greenprofs.com new GREEN JOBS board as a resource!



ABOUT Greenprofs.com

Greenprofs.com is designed to provide you with access to the very latest green business thinking and will give you insights into environmental issues, climate change , Corporate Social Responsibility , alternative energy, green consumer and green business practice.

Articles on greenprofs.com have been submitted by green professionals who want to share expertise and knowledge with their peers. Greenprofs will enable you to learn from others in our community and will provide you with a valuable resource of green professional information.

Greenprofs has over 20,000 newsletter subscribers and growing by more than 3,000 new subscribers a month. A number of articles posted to the site are included each month newsletter generating exposure for and helping build the reputation of the author or their business.

Barack Obama Voted Most Influential Male By AskMen.Com

Linked from http://backseatcuddler.com

Barack Obama has been named the most influential male by AskMen.com. They asked 200,000 people who they thought influenced the way men behave, buy and think. Barack came in number one and John McCain came in number 10. Here is the top ten list in order.

Barack Obama, Democratic nominee
Steve Jobs, Apple CEO
Michael Phelps, Olympic swimmer
Robert Downey Jr., actor
Stephen Colbert, TV show host
Gordon Ramsay, celebrity chef and star of Kitchen Nightmares
Christian Bale, aka Batman
Rob Kay, Rock Band lead designer
Cristiano Ronaldo, soccer phenomenon
John McCain, Republican nominee

Most of these men are known for politics. It’s interesting to see that politics has come to gossip blogs and things like that. It’s about time things like this make people want to do something about their future.

[Image by WENN]

Music World Mourns 'Mama Africa'

Linked From www.NPR.org

Listen Now [2 min 25 sec] add to playlist

Tell Me More, November 10, 2008 · Legendary South African singer and activist Miriam Makeba died this weekend after collapsing on stage at a concert in Italy. Makeba was 76. She was the first African woman to win a Grammy and was affectionately known around the world as "Mama Africa." Host Michel Martin offers a reflection.

Mocha Moms ~Explaining Race-Tinged Presidential Bid To Kids

Linked from npr.org

Listen Now [17 min 50 sec] add to playlist

Enlarge

Emmanuel Dunand

A child holds an American flag and a fake bank bill bearing a portrait of U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Ill. Sen. Barack Obama during an Obama rally at the Crown Center Coliseum in Fayetteville, North Carolina, October 19, 2008. AFP/Getty Images

Tell Me More, October 21, 2008 · This year's historic presidential campaign has given parents repeated opportunities to talk to kids about race. American families are talking about the candidates, and the role that race is playing in the campaign. But what are they telling the kids, especially over the past few weeks as the campaign has gotten more intense? And is it a new and tricky topic for most parents?

Some parents may choose to shield their children from these things. But others may find that impossible or prefer to use this as an opportunity to engage their children and challenge them to think about how they deal with these attitudes in their own lives.

Mocha Moms Jolene Ivey, Leslie Morgan Steiner, Renee Amoore and Joan Countryman talk about when to have those discussions, and why it is important to do so.

Remember, with Tell Me More the conversation never ends. We'd like to know: Have you found yourself talking with your children about race, ethnicity or gender or religion in connection with the presidential campaign? What are you saying? And what are they saying?

To tell us more and to compare notes with other listeners, go to www.npr.org/tellmemore. You can leave comments there or on our blog (found in the same location), or you can call our comment line at 202-842-3522.

Related NPR Stories

• Oct. 14, 2008
  Mothers' Panel Tells Parents Take Care of Self
• Oct. 7, 2008
  Moms Teach Kids How To Manage Money
• Sep. 16, 2008
  Should Parents Pay Kids For Good Grades?

Moms Teach Kids How To Manage Money

Mocha Moms

Listen Now [17 min 49 sec] add to playlist

Tell Me More, October 7, 2008 · The ongoing financial crisis is posing some opportunities for parents to teach kids about smart money management.

Mocha Moms Jolene Ivey, Cheli English-Figaro and Asra Nomani welcome money coach Alvin Hall, author of Show Me the Money, to discuss teaching youngsters how to become financially sound.

Linked from NPR.org

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95465839

Help get the toxins out of kids toys!

Written By Monica Rowland
http://budurl.com/ElementalWellness

Every time I read something new about toxic chemicals and how they affect children..I am outraged all over again! It just amazes me....(and I realize that this is Corporate America we are talking about...) that there is NO conscience shown when it comes to consumer products. In this case we are talking about children!

This is press coverage from the launch of HealthyToys.org

CNN American Morning Covers Healthy Toys




Fox News America's Pulse with E.D. Hill




CNN Lou Dobbs

WHAT CAN YOU DO......

You can help by working with organizations like Ecology Center Inc., which is a Michigan based nonprofit committed to the cause of eco-consciousness. The Ecology Center's mission is to promote a just and healthy environment through grassroots organizing, education, advocacy and demonstration projects. They can be found at www.ecocenter.org

Please click on the link below and help out by either recruiting people to join the cause.... or by donating money to the cause. ( You can also send this link in your emails or Instant Messages...)

https://www.causes.com/fb/donations/new?cause_id=44990&fundraiser_id=21375068&m=6ab58156

What have your experiences been with toxins in toys? Have you checked out any of your loved ones toys for contamination. Let me know your thoughts and experiences on this subject.

Musing from a black woman: Barack Obama = African American

by Bianca Reagan

Yesterday I was greeted with this questionable, newsy article on the Yahoo! front page: Obama victory opens door to new black identity, by Jesse Washington, AP via Yahoo! News.

Before Tuesday, black identity and community were largely rooted in the shared experience of the struggle — real or perceived — [Apparently my struggle is now perceived] against a hostile white majority. Even as late as Election Day, many blacks still harbored deep doubts about whether whites would vote for Obama.

Obama's overwhelming triumph cast America in a different light. There was no sign of the "Bradley Effect," when whites mislead pollsters about their intent to vote for black candidates. Nationwide, Obama collected 44 percent of the white vote, more than John Kerry, Al Gore or even Bill Clinton, exit polls show . . .

. . . Certainly racism did not disappear after Obama's white votes were counted. No one is claiming that black culture and pride and community are no longer valuable. Many also dismiss the idea of a "post-racial" America as long as blacks and other minorities are still disproportionately afflicted by disparities in income, education, health, incarceration and single parenthood.

But white groups that once faced discrimination, such as the Italians, Jews and Irish, have moved from the margins to the mainstream. America debated whether John F. Kennedy could become the first Catholic president; now that's a historical footnote.

If I ever again have to hear someone mention groups of white people who had been discriminated against in the past, and then equate them with black people who continue to be discriminated against in the present, it will be too soon. There are historical differences amongst various oppressed ethnic groups, and it is unwise to ignore those differences. For instance, the ancestors of Italian Americans, Jewish Americans, Irish Americans and Catholic Americans (some of whom are all the same people) came to the United States relatively voluntarily. Whereas the ancestors of many (though not all) black Americans did not come to the United States voluntarily; they just happened to survive the Middle Passage.

This seemingly endless election and the final results have reminded me of something Wanda Sykes said in her Comedy Central Presents special. She repeated in her book, Yeah, I Said It:

I'm not politically correct. I still say black. I say it because with African American, there's no bonus. It doesn't make your life any easier. You don't see black people standing around, saying, "Oh yeah, African American. Man, I'll tell ya, this beats the hell outta being black. We should've made the switch years ago. Oh, this is nice."

You don't see any of us going into Bank of America, "Excuse me, I'm here to pick up my loan."

"Uh, Ms. Sykes, you were rejected for that loan last week."

"Oh, that was last week. I was black then. See, I'm African American now. I'll just go in the vault and take what I need. I'll sign on my way out."

African American ain't helping nobody. You think Rodney King's black ass is sitting somewhere, saying, "Damn, if I just would have waited two years before I acted a fool, they wouldn't have been beating my black ass. I would have been African American." . . .

Submitted by Bianca Reagan (view blog) on Sun, 11/09/2008 - 23:16

You're at the hardware store: should you pick up a gas mask to go with that can of paint?

Linked from: www.idealbite.com

BANG FOR THE BITE

If 10,000 Biters go natural next time they paint their bedroom, we'll keep about 32,500 gallons of nasty chems out of circulation.

The Bite


There's just nothing quite like watching paint dry. But unless you're the type who likes to inhale fumes, for your next paint job, go for naturally vibrant paints that won't leave you woozy.

The Benefits

• Beautiful shades. Every color under the sun - some even from pigments of charcoal or food-grade ingredients like milk.
• Healthier coats. VOCs (volatile organic compounds) are released even after the paint's dry, and harsh ingredients in regular paints such as benzene and formaldehyde can trigger asthma and allergies, so go for low-VOC.
• Better for the earth. A gallon of conventional paint, when thrown away, can seep into the earth and pollute 250,000 gallons of drinking water.

Personally Speaking

Heather's nephew's nursery was painted with Anna Sova paints about 8 months ago and the walls still smell like milkshakes. Jen is about to embark on a home renovation project and is going to use clay instead of paint on her walls. Stay tuned.

Wanna Try?

First, some label insight... Good = Green Seal, which means that it's certified to be safe. Bad = EPA, OSHA or DOT seals, which mean that the paint contains hazardous chems that have to be monitored by the government.

• Anna Sova - get good coat from a paint that's made from 99% food-grade ingredients and renewables (available Jan '07).
• American Clay - actually a plaster, it's going to be all over the walls at Chez Jen very soon ($14/50 lbs).
• Real Milk Paint - for that "adobe"-style look ($46/gallon).
• Yolo Colorhouse - limited range of colors, but exquisite in all other ways ($37/gallon).
• Bioshield - both matte and gloss finishes. Also check out their all-natural primer and thinner ($30-50/gallon).
• Benjamin Moore Eco Spec - used by some of the top eco-builders out there ($25/gallon).
• American Pride Paints - great for people with chemical sensitivities ($22/gallon).
• Ecos Organic Paints - for our UK Biters (£15/1 L).
• Earth911 - find out where to recycle or donate leftover paint, and check out their paint calculators so you can buy just the amount you need.

Free Obama Victory Sticker!

Hey! I just got a free Obama Victory sticker from MoveOn, joining millions of Americans in commemorating Barack Obama's historic achievement. 10:00pm

MoveOn is giving away 2 million Obama Victory stickers, designed by Shepard Fairey. Free. You can get one too.

Are You Unknowingly Making Your Child Sick? The Invisible Toxins In Everyday Products.

Linked from : www.blogher.com

Are You Unknowingly Making Your Child Sick? Moms need to know what invisible toxins are in the everyday products they provide to their children.

A disturbing story came to light this week, from CNN's Planet In Peril series. Our children are being exposed to such high levels of industrial chemicals, that studies are showing many of them to have up to seven times greater levels in their blood than their parents. Think about that for a minute. If their levels are this high now...How high do you think they will be by the time they are adults?

With so many cancers and chronic illnesses being blamed on environmental causes...How sick do you think these children might be by the time they are parents? How many might be unable to be parents? We are talking about chemicals that are known carcinogens, and known to be in products we and our children are using every day. It's a much larger problem than I had ever realized...especially for our children.

Of course, we can not be sure how these exposures will affect our children's future health, only time will tell. But, if these studies are any indication, the future is very troubling.

This is from a CNN article on these recent studies...

"We are in an epidemic of environmentally mediated disease among American children today," he said. "Rates of asthma, childhood cancers, birth defects and developmental disorders have exponentially increased, and it can't be explained by changes in the human genome. So what has changed? All the chemicals we're being exposed to."

See a three minute video from CNN here.

When I think about all of the soft teething toys that I gave to my children to play with (and chew on) over the years, not even thinking to question what chemicals they might be absorbing...I wonder what harm these toys may have caused them, or will cause them in the future? To think that we (parents), are actually unknowingly poisoning our own children, because manufacturers are being aloud to use toxic chemicals in toys, bottles, soaps, and more...it just seems wrong. How can this be aloud to happen? How long will it be allowed to happen? How many children will be harmed before something will be done?

This post "Sipping Bisphenol-A", is from The Cleaner Plate Club...

A while ago I wrote about toxic baby bottles — specifically, baby bottles that leach bisphenol A, a hormone disruptor that is associated with cancers, impaired immune function, early onset of puberty, obesity, diabetes, and hyperactivity, among other problems. Although the bisphenol A scare is relevant to anyone consuming food and drink from plastic, it was the bottles that most troubled me. Before that post, I’d been regularly using baby bottles that leach the stuff, according to the Guide to Safer Plastics. But after that post? I went ahead and ordered glass baby bottles from here. (In case they’re sold out, as they’re selling out everywhere, you can also order them here. And here. And here.

Even more sad is...These chemicals (see some of them here) are in so many products, that they are almost impossible to avoid. And, there is no requirement for any chemicals to be proven safe before they are used in the products we use every day.

From Cynthia's Interests...

Phthalates are chemical substances that make PVC plastic soft and flexible. They are widely used in products such as food wrappings, vinyl shower curtains, and cosmetics. They are also used in soft plastic toys and other baby products, such as teething rings and rattles. Phthalates can leach out of plastic over time.

Earlier this month I did a post on "The Environmental Risks of Breast Cancer", which was the outcome of a telephone conference I participated in through Pure Prevention. Although the focus was on breast cancer, this post also provides a lot of information and links on these industrial chemicals...

An estimated 100,000 synthetic chemicals have been registered for use in the United States in the last 40 years, but fewer than 10 percent of them have been fully tested for their effects on our health. Because many of these chemicals accumulate in body fat and remain in breast tissue for decades, every woman, man and child now carries synthetic chemicals in their bodies—including some that have been found to cause mammary tumors.

My earlier post also touches on the toxic affects of chemicals in household cleaners, and how to make your own non-toxic cleaners at home. At Crazy Aunt Purl, there is a post on her experiences with cleaning non-toxic(ish)...

Mostly I wanted to know if I could get the same level of cleaning out of natural or "green" cleaners as I do with my heavy duty chemical cleansers. Then I started to think back to my great-grandma and her little farmhouse out in Blanco, Texas. She used white vinegar on windows and plain soapy water on everything else. Her house smelled like lemon and fresh air, it was spic 'n span with never a trace of dust anywhere. I don't remember a single cleaning product in her house, aside from soap flakes and vinegar and no one ever got sick from not having enough antibacterial cleaning chemicals.

So...How worried are you about the affects of these industrial chemicals on our children? Have you already noticed medical problems in your child, that may be caused by some of these chemicals? Do you wish the government would get involved and ban some of these toxic chemicals from products? I'm very interested in what other moms think about this hidden danger to our children.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
also at CatherineBlogs.com and The Political Voices of Women

Let's Talk about Balance...Have You Considered Working from Home?

Written By Monica Rowland
http://budurl.com/wealthinwellness


How many of you have considered working from home? Working from home is probably the single most effective change that I made when learning to balance my life financially, physically, and spiritually. It gave me more freedom and flexibility. It also allowed me to pursue some of the tings I love to do most. Like writing (hence this blog!), reading, exercise, and spending quality time with my friends and family.

Since working form home I have accomplished a lot! For Example:

• Started and managed my own consulting business in Recruiting, Sales and HR Management
• Started my own non profit to help at risk pre-teen and teenage girls.
• Started a foundation to help fund various causes I am interested in.
• Wrote three children's books, and started my own publishing company.
• Launched a completely green home cleaning company.
• Launched a home based business marketing and promoting wellness products.

This was all in two years.... Now I am sure you are thinking..."Wow I am not sure if I want to even do all of that stuff!" And that's understandable... I happen to be a driven person, who loves a lot of projects at once. But I also believe in MULTIPLE STREAMS OF REVENUE. something I subscribed to sometime ago...but while working for others... especially away from the home, I could never quite garner up the energy to get it going!

If any of this sounds appealing to you. Start thinking.... Think about what you are good at. What are your transferable skills? How can you use them to make money? I guarantee you there are things you can do. Start off small... make a plan and keep it fluid. You may find that changes need to be made periodically to accommodate your family, or financial situation.

One thing I can promise you though...you cannot lose. Take advantage of the feeling of change that is in the air with the election of our new president, and begin investing in your financial security!

Thanks for the Memories President Elect Obama!

Written By Monica Rowland
www.themoneymom.net

Thank goodness....we have a smart..tech savvy President! And what's even more remarkable is his willingness to share himself and his family with the American people. If you are interested in photos chronicling Obama's campaign and some behind the scenes shots of Election Night.... check out the link below.


http://flickr.com/photos/barackobamadotcom/collections/