Earth Day is tomorrow April 22. If you’ve been haphazard in your conservation efforts you may be interested to know that you can do something to ease your conscience help the environment just by opening your wallet. Carbon Offsets are an unregulated market whose providers take your donations and pledge to fund and support various types of projects including reforestation, renewable energy initiatives (solar, wind and hydro power). How do you find a reputable Carbon Offset provider? How much carbon are you emitting each year? Keep reading!

Continue Reading

As parents we like to think that we know our kids, that we know they would never do or say certain things. But the fact is that we can never be too sure; all we can do is educate them, hope that they are being careful, and trust that they are being smart.

If I were to be completely honest with myself, I’d recall doing and saying plenty of things when I was Sarah’s age that might have seemed harmless at the time, but would either be considered risky or embarrassing today. Thankfully we didn’t have digital cameras, chat rooms, blogs, or for that matter - the internet when I was 16.

Think about it, a teen in 1983 that had a frustrating day might call a best friend to let off steam, but a teen today can just as easily go into an online chat room or their MySpace account and vent to the first available friend that will listen. Sometimes these “friends” are not what they seem.

Sarah has grown up hearing how the 14 year old girl she thinks she is chatting with might really be a 41 year old man, and I would like to think that without sounding like a broken record, my message has sunk in. Sarah is past the age where I feel compelled to limit her time on the internet, and for the most part I completely trust that she is careful when she is online - and yet I still felt a touch of apprehension when I was approached about trying a new internet service called BeNetSafe. My inner nagging mom was nervous that I might find out something I didn’t want to know…

Maybe it’s because I can remember what a rotten kid I was.

Continue Reading