A Rachel’s Network report entitled “When Women Lead: A Decade of Women’s Environmental Voting Records in Congress,”  compares the environmental voting records of Congresswomen and Congressmen from the 107th through the 111th Congress.  The conclusion:  in both houses of Congress, whether red or blue, women are greener!

Here’s Annie’s personal account of a moving conversation:

How did a girl raised and hardened on the streets of New York City become a passionate environmentalist, geeky master gardener and full-fledged compost queen? I read Rachel Carson’s bestseller, Silent Spring.

Overnight, I became a Rachel Carson groupie and went searching for my teammates. I found them at Rachel’s Network, a nonprofit that builds productive alliances among women funders who care deeply about the environment and women’s leadership.  These impassioned leaders and agents of change have collected the latest statistics showing that women are uniquely positioned as environmental stewards and that women in policy-making positions will vote to protect the environment more than their male counterparts.

This is all swell, you may be thinking. We can stop worrying about clean water, safe food and the ubiquitous barrage of industrial and agricultural chemicals. But American women account for only 23 percent of state legislators and 17 percent of Congress, and the United States ranks 73rd in the world in gender parity in governance.

I contacted Laurie Syms, co-director of Rachel’s Network, to ask how both women and men could earn some badly needed extra-credit points from Mother Earth.

To read Laurie’s answers to Annie’s thoughtful questions, see their interview in the Huffington Post, or learn more about ways The 2012 Project is propelling women into the political pipeline here.

And as you celebrate Mother’s Day, consider the influence you could leverage by running for office yourself.  Whether you’re most moved by education issues, toxic chemicals, family-friendly workplaces, or health care for kids, there’s no more effective way to effect lasting change than by setting the policy agenda yourself.

Don’t get me wrong:  breakfast in bed is dandy.  But a seat at the decision-making table is invaluable!

Photo credit: Photo by Flickr user mali mish

This week, we’re celebrating Mother’s Day with easy homemade gift ideas for toddlers! Be sure to visit the MomsRising Pinterest page and our Mother’s Day and Early Learning boards, where we’re adding new kid-friendly craft tutorials every day. And while you may not get your Mother’s Day gifts until Sunday, we have one ready for you right now! Click here to check out our  hilarious customized Mother’s Day video.

Kid Friendly Crafts for Mom: With Mother’s Day right around the corner, your little ones are probably excited to celebrate their wonderful mom! Why not try an easy, preschool friendly Mother’s Day craft with them? These craft tutorials were developed specifically for toddlers.

Flower Bookmarks for Mom by Share & Remember

Mother’s Day Activities for Preschoolers by Teach Preschool

Mother’s Day Cards by Two Sasters

This Much Card and a Kid Canvas by Tiff Keetch

World’s Best Mom Newspaper by Martha Stewart Holidays

Tulip Handprint Project by Skip to My Lou

Handprint Craft: Sunflower Garden by Holiday Kid Crafts

Recipes for Toddler Chefs: Want to do the traditional Mother’s Day breakfast in bed, but not sure how to get the kids involved? Think outside the box and try an easy recipe that toddler chefs can make themselves (with a grownup sous chef, of course!). Make your own tradition with a Mother’s Day dessert or Mother’s Day Snack Time. Or add one of the recipes below to a festive breakfast in bed. (Do you have older kids who want to get in on the fun? Check out our Mother’s Day Craft Roundup for crafty ideas for Mother’s Day brunch)

Mixed Fruit Baked Oatmeal by Toddler Times

Salad People by Foodie Parent

Cooking with Toddlers by Tinker Lab

Frozen Yogurt Covered Strawberry Pops by Family Kitchen

10 Easy Things to Cook with Kids by Childhood 101

How to Make Healthy Granola with Kids by ParentEarth

Strawberry Parfaits for Mama’s Day by Weelicious

Here’s a hilarious Mother’s Day fantasy just for you!

Click here: http://www.momsdaycard.com/index2.php

Happy nearly Mother’s Day!!!

- Kristin, Joan, Monifa, Elisa, Ashley, Nanette, Sarah, Julie, Sarah, Anita, Ruth, Claire, Donna, Mary, and Gloria

We are powerfully, substantially, fully “Networked Moms.”

Increased Internet access, coupled with new communication technologies–like Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and even emails– allows women to reach dozens, hundreds, thousands, even millions of other women at one time with a quick press of a button.  It’s an unbelievably fast moving tool that significantly accelerates communication, education, organizing, and impact.

One example of these rapidly growing networks is the fast growth of MomsRising due to networked friends telling friends: We started with just a handful of members in 2006, and we’ve grown to over a million members today.  MomsRising’s highly trafficked blog and social media networks have also grown at a fast pace. We’re delighted to share that MomsRising now has over 700 bloggers, including Congresspeople, Cabinet Secretaries, moms with amazing personal stories, policy experts, and more. There’s an amazing variety of well-written perspectives, resources, and action links in ONE place: The MomsRising blog. 

Networked moms are powerful and we’re everywhere.  And we Networked Moms are creating our own new media online– and are bringing forward topics that have too long been ignored in traditional media outlets.

So in celebration of the growing power of Networked Moms to bring forward critically important topics, for Mother’s Day we’ve gathered together the most popular recent blogs posted on MomsRising right here (Scroll down this page to check it all out).

Click here!

How to Make a Superhero Cape by Lara from HowDoesShe

Food Revolution! A Blog Carnival On School Food and Fighting Childhood Obesity, Diabetes by Monifa Bandele

Mother Takes on Monsanto, Wins Global Prize by Kristin Schafer ***Shared over 1,000 times on Facebook!

The Real View of Free Formula Samples—Open Your Eyes by Melissa Bartick, MD ***Shared over 1,000 times on Facebook!

The Story Behind My Film “Entre Nos” by Paola Mendoza

Coke Turns 125: Why I’m Not Celebrating by Mike Jacobson

130 Death Row Inmates Have Been Found Innocent Since 1973: Troy Davis’ Execution is Set for Tomorrow  by Monifa Bandele ***Shared over 1,000 times on Facebook

Wal-Mart’s Sick Sick Day Policy by Katie Bethell

It’s Not a “Mommy War,” It’s a War on Moms by Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner

The Execution of Troy Davis–A Mother’s Story by Martina Davis-Correia

TIME: Ask the RIGHT Questions! by Genevieve Colvin

All of this made me jump at the opportunity to see the French presidential candidates (the runoff between President Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist candidate François Hollande will take place on Sunday) speak on women’s issues during an event co-sponsored by my school and ELLE magazine. I was curious about the topics that interest French women – would they diverge from American women’s concerns or are some things universal?

The short answer? A bit of both. French women face a wage gap of 20% [1], compared to 23% for American women [2], which surprised me in a country that dedicates so many resources to support mothers as they transition in and out of the workforce.

Another concern that the candidates sought to address: childcare. The main concern here, however, was not cost – as is often the case in the US – but space. The cost of education in France is largely shouldered by the state and daycare is no exception: for the American equivalent of a preschool or daycare center, parents pay between 3-6% of their income, depending on the number of children they have. [3] Recently, however, due to budget cuts, there has been a shortage of available spots in these public daycare centers and parents, forced to go with other, more expensive options, are struggling to make ends meet.

The difference that I found most striking, though, was in the debate surrounding contraception. The French long ago resolved the debate about whether contraception should be covered by health insurance; apparently, there was little debate on the issue at all and now the vast majority of the population considers access to insurance-covered contraception to be a matter of course. The latest debate was on whether minors should have access to contraception and if so, how best to make it available to them. But even this question didn’t raise as much debate as I would have expected: centrist candidate François Bayrou said, “Contraception is prevention” and nearly all of the candidates were in support of giving minors access to it.

It’s easy to complain about French bureaucracy (why do I always seem need three copies of stamped, signed, and sealed documents to get anything done?), but it just makes sense to support mothers and families through policies on childcare, healthcare, education, and more – the US could learn from this. I just hope that the next president (both in France and in the US) will make real some real progress on closing the wage gap.

[1] http://www.inegalites.fr/spip.php?article972&id_mot=146

[2] http://www.nwlc.org/our-blog/state-wage-gap-data-show-little-or-no-improvement-2008

[3] http://www.famili.fr/,combien-ca-coute,643,16774,3

www.healthychild.org

Potential Autism Causes Identified

What causes autism? Dr. Phil Landrigan, professor and chair of preventive medicine at Mount Sinai Medical School in New York and Honorary Board member of Healthy Child Healthy World, recently released a comprehensive list of environmental triggers, published in Environmental Health Perspectives and concisely presented in a slideshow on Rodale News. This powerful research looks at environmental factors—including lead, mercury and pesticides—and connects the dots on early exposures to problems in childhood, with the goal of informing the medical community and changing chemical regulation to better protect kids.

Approval Sought for GE Corn

According to the Just Label It! campaign, of which Healthy Child is a member, the USDA may approve corn that is genetically engineered to withstand 2,4-D, a potent herbicide that may be linked to major health problems including reproductive abnormalities, birth defects, and several forms of cancer. The FDA is currently considering approval of genetically engineered salmon, which is engineered to produce growth hormones year-round to make the fish grow at twice its natural rate, and would be the first genetically engineered animal on supermarket shelves in the United States. If these “foods” are approved, we won’t know they’re on our shelves because GE foods are not required to be labeled in the U.S.—as they are in 40 other countries. 90% of Americans are against unlabeled GE foods. Healthy Child is, too!

House Hearing on Cancer

Information from the House assessment of the “Report on Carcinogens” continues to trickle down. The report, which recently classified formaldehyde as a “known carcinogen” and styrene as a “reasonably anticipated” human carcinogen, was under attack, most notably by Dow Chemical, for being “bad for business,” according to Andy Igrejas of the Safer Chemicals Healthy Families coalition in the Huffington Post.

Honorary Board Kudos

Last week, we told you about the study published in Pedriatrics about Dr. Harvey Karp’s “Happiest Baby” methods to soothe infants experiencing pain.  This week, Scholastic named the doctor the second most important person in American family life —after moms and before Steve Jobs.

Also this week, fellow Healthy Child Healthy World Honorary Board member Olivia Newton-John’s new “Livwise” book shot to the top of the bestseller list.

Congratulations to these amazing visionaries; we are so grateful for their support and thankful as they continue to expand the healthy parenting movement!

May is Pregnancy Awareness Month!

Pregnancy Awareness Month (P.A.M.) is an organization dedicated to inspiring women during pregnancy with educational initiatives spotlighting nutrition, wellness, and all around nurturing.  If you’re in Los Angeles on Sunday May 6, be sure to join P.A.M.’s annual flagship free event at the Skirball Center that features features a variety of brands, specialists and experts in the field of pregnancy, motherhood and kids.  Click here for more information.

P.A.M. was established in 2008 by Healthy Child Healthy World Board Member, author & holistic lifestyle expert Anna Getty and producer & mompreneur Alisa Donner.

Sign the petition! Johnson & Johnson, Drop Your Unhealthy Support for ALEC

Now we’re turning our attention to Procter & Gamble’s main competitor: Johnson & Johnson. Already in trouble because of 25 recalls of over-the-counter drugs and medical devices in the past two years alone, Johnson & Johnson is ushering in a new CEO on Thursday, April 26, 2012, at a 10 am ET shareholder meeting in NJ.

#JNJ‘s annual meeting of shareholders will be webcast on April 26 > http://bit.ly/JefeXV. We’ll tweet too! #JNJASM12 $JNJ

Hopes are high that new CEO Alex Gorsky will turn the company around from CEO Bill Weldon, who grabbed headlines in 2009 for buying up an $8.64 million waterfront piece of property for himself and simultaneously firing 8100 Johnson and Johnson employees. Contact lenses that sting your eyes, poorly manufactured artificial hip replacements that causes grinding pain in seniors? Thank Johnson & Johnson.

Johnson & Johnson, Drop Your Unhealthy Support for ALEC

Sign our petition asking if Johnson & Johnson approves of ALEC lobbying the EPA to deem rat poison accidentally ingested by kids “an acceptable risk,” then join us on Twitter to “virtually attend” their shareholders’ meeting. Let shareholders know they should hold Johnson & Johnson accountable for their years of support, and $25,000 donation and underwriting of child care for a 2011 annual ALEC retreat. Johnson & Johnson’s support for ALEC is downright unhealthy.

Use these hashtags; here’s a sample tweet: #JNJ #JNJASM12 $JNJ @JnJComm when will you #dropALEC? http://chn.ge/JnJnoALEC 

See you at 10 am ET, 7 am PT, Thursday, April 26, 2012! Let’s take our democracy back from corporate interests.

Cross-posted from MOMocrats.com.

by Rachel Sarnoff, Executive Director & CEO
Healthy Child Healthy World
www.healthychild.org

Happiest Babies Are Soothed by 5 S’s

Can simple soothing take the place of sugar? That was the takeaway from a new study published this week in the journal Pediatrics. In a study involving more than 200 infants, researchers found the “5 S’s” baby-calming tactics worked better than the sugar-water supplements traditionally given to infants after experiencing pain, according to ABC News. The 5 S’s tactics were developed by Dr. Harvey Karp, a founding board member of Healthy Child Healthy World and author of “The Happiest Baby on the Block” book and video series. Yet another reason to “shh-shh-shh”!

Carcinogens in the House

On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives will hold an investigative hearing on the Report on Carcinogens of the National Toxicology Program, a government program that identifies cancer-causing chemicals. The Subcommittee on Science, Space & Technology will meet to assess the impact of the Report on small business jobs. Healthy Child has signed on to a group letter urging the Committee to continue funding the Report; we’ll share more information as it emerges.

The Story’s Not Over on BPA

The FDA’s recent decision not to ban BPA has been criticized by scientists who are concerned that low-dose exposures may be linked to health problems, according to the Washington Post.

Earth Week is for Mothers

Earth Week started Sunday and there’s nothing more powerful than moms doing their part for the Earth. In addition to the awe-inspiring “Mom on a Mission” finalists and all the incredible hosts teeing up for Healthy Child Party Week, we wanted to take a moment to recognize…

Lori Popkewitz Alper of Groovy Green Livin’, who took on P & G with a petition that’s racked up nearly 75,000 signatures encouraging the company to strip carcinogenic 1,4 dioxane from its Free & Gentle detergent.

Jenna Elfman, Kelly Preston and Laila Ali, who kicked off the Healthy Child Party campaign with a bang and showed the world ALL moms fight for children’s health.

And green living leader Sara Snow, who recently launched a petition to get cancer-causing flame retardants out of Graco baby products—for her baby daughter’s health and the health of children everywhere.

Go team!

Now that the spotlight is on motherhood, rather than fanning the false flames of a “Mommy War” that doesn’t really exist, it’s time that we as a nation recognize that regardless of whether or not mothers’ work is paid or unpaid, the work of caregiving is important to us all and should be valued.

That’s right: Mothers’ work should be valued.

Photo by Flickr user Digital Sextant

But too often it’s not.

We see this devaluation happen over and over again. From Rush Limbaugh falsely attributing gender pay gaps to maternity leave, to sensationalized headlines about a mother of five being dismissed as having “never worked a day in her life,” to the all too common experience of wage and hiring discrimination against mothers, the devaluation of mothers is at a crisis point in our nation.

Take, for example, the wage cuts that women endure simply for becoming moms: Women without children make 90 cents to a man’s dollar, mothers make 73 cents to a man’s dollar, and single moms make only about 60 cents to a man’s dollar. Women of color experience increased wage cuts. Further, a recent study found that with equal resumes and job experiences, mothers were offered $11,000 lower starting salaries than non-mothers (Fathers, on the other hand, were offered $6,000 more in starting salaries than non-fathers).

Since over 80 percentof women in our nation have children by the time they’re 44 years-old, this means the majority of women in our nation are disadvantaged by discrimination at some point in their lives.

Every day, moms around the world are doing the hard work of raising children. This unpaid work involves making sure that children get the nutrition, care, education, and health care they need to grow up to be healthy, thriving adults who are part of our nation’s economic success. In fact, an enormous amount of untracked, unpaid labor done by women is fueling our economy. According to a U.N. Human Development Report, “If these unpaid activities were treated as market transactions at the prevailing wages, they would yield huge monetary valuations — a staggering $16 trillion… Of this $16 trillion, $11 trillion is the non-monetized, ‘invisible’ contribution of women.” The work of moms — both of moms who are in the labor force and those who are not — is significant.

It’s an understatement to say that this unpaid work is much easier to do when families are economically secure.

That’s why it’s so important that when the mom rhetoric starts flying, and everyone starts grandstanding about how much they value moms, we also talk about how important it is to advance public policies that allow all families to thrive.

Ann Romney had the financial resources she needed to be able to decide to stay home to raise her children while remaining fiscally solvent. This isn’t always possible. In fact, families with a stay-at-home parent are seven times more likely to live in poverty, and millions of moms don’t have the option to choose to stay at home because their wages are needed to put food on the table and a roof over the heads of their families. And with the cost of raising a child to age 18 (not including college) these days at over $200,000 per child, mothers’ wages are increasingly needed to make ends meet.

Not surprisingly, at a time when the cost of raising children is so high, three-quarters of moms are in the labor force. And many moms go in and out of the labor force at different times in their lives, sequencing their careers, thus making the distinction between moms who are in the labor force, and moms who are outside of the labor force nearly irrelevant. Many moms have been both. The “Mommy Wars” of old no longer describe the reality that most families are living today.

Ultimately, whether mothers’ work is paid or unpaid, all moms are concerned about their families’ well-being and economic security. That’s why we need strong policies that reflect the real composition of our nation’s modern labor force, and that reduce discrimination against mothers and women. With women comprising 50 percent of the modern labor force for the first time in history, with a majority of moms now in the labor force, and with many families requiring the wages of moms to stay solvent, it’s critical that family economic security policies that most other nations take as a given now move forward quickly:

• We need equal pay laws to ensure that moms who work outside the home are paid the same as their male counterparts for the same work, so they can support their families.
• We need earned sick days laws, so that parents who do work outside the home don’t have to choose between a paycheck, or possibly losing a job, and staying home when they or a child are sick.
• We need to have paid family leave after a new child comes into a home, so that parents can take time out of work to recover and to care for a new child.
• And we need affordable, enriching childcare opportunities so that parents can get to work and children can have a safe, educational place to be while parents are working.

Without family economic security policies like these in place, and with the pervasive discrimination against moms, families are struggling. This has rippling repercussions on our children, with nearly 1 in 4 children in our nation experiencing food scarcity due to family economic limitations. This lack of policies and ongoing discrimination also has repercussions on moms and entire families. For example, right now, having a new baby is a leading cause of poverty spells in this country, and nearly a quarter of young families live in poverty.

It’s not a “Mommy War” between paid and unpaid moms; it’s a War on Moms.

It shouldn’t be this way.

Mothers and families should be able to work hard and get what they need — a good job, food on the table, good health care, and a safe place to call home.

To be frank, children are not only our hearts, they are the economic engine of our nation’s future. And when we devalue the paid and unpaid work of moms, we devalue our future.

Let’s take this moment when the eyes of our nation are focused on moms to recognize the value of all moms’ paid and unpaid work, and to urge our elected leaders to support policies that allow both our families and our economy to thrive.

Let’s end the War on Moms and stop adding fuel to fire the fake and divisive “Mommy Wars” between moms who are in the labor force and moms who are not; and instead come together to stop the discrimination against all moms, both paid and unpaid.

After all, the success of our families and our economy are intertwined.

It’s past time for the war on moms to stop, for the war on families to stop, and for the war on women to stop. It’s time to move forward together. For the good of our children, our economy and our future.

It’s time that we as a nation recognize that whether mothers’ work is paid or unpaid, the work of caregiving is important to us all. Every day, moms around the world are doing this hard work.  Work that involves making sure that children get the nutrition, care, education, and health care they need to grow up to be healthy, thriving adults who are part of our nation’s economic success.  It’s much easier to do this when families are economically secure. That’s why it’s so important that when we talk about how much we value moms, we also talk about how important it is to advance public policies that allow families to thrive.

Ann Romney had the financial resources she needed to be able to decide to stay home to raise her children while remaining fiscally solvent. This isn’t always possible. Families with a stay-at-home parent are seven times more likely to live in poverty, and millions of moms don’t have the option to choose to stay at home because their wages are needed to put food on the table and a roof over the heads of their families. With the cost of raising a child to age 18 (not including college) these days over $200,000 per child, the wages of mothers are increasingly needed to make ends meet.

Ultimately, whether mothers’ work is paid or unpaid, all moms are concerned about their families’ well-being and economic security.  That’s why we need strong equal pay laws to ensure that moms who work outside the home are paid the same as their male counterparts for the same work, so they can support their families. That’s why we need earned sick days laws, so that parents who do work outside the home don’t have to choose between a paycheck and staying home to care for sick child.  That’s why we need to have paid family leave after a new child comes into a home, so that parents can take time out of work to care for a new child.  And that’s why we need affordable, enriching childcare opportunities so that parents can get to work and children can have a safe, educational place to be while parents are working.

Without family economic security policies like these in place, families are struggling.  Right now, having a new baby is a leading cause of poverty spells in this country, and nearly a quarter of young families are living in poverty. It shouldn’t be that way.  Families should be able to work hard and get what they need — a good job, food on the table, good health care, and a safe place to call home.

To be frank, children are not only our hearts, they are the economic engine of our nation’s future.  Let’s take this moment to more fully recognize the value of all moms’ paid and unpaid hard work–and to urge our elected leaders to support family economic security policies which allow both our families and our economy to thrive.  After all, the success of our families and our economy are completely intertwined.

Editor’s note: This statement by MomsRising CEO and Executive Director Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner may also be found in our In the News section. Reporters with questions should contact Gretchen Wright or Molly Tomlinson
  202/371-1999. Thank you.