Making the right choices for our children’s well being can be complicated, sometimes overwhelmingly so. Two years ago I started phasing out plastic food and drink receptacles around our house after learning of concerns about the potential for chemicals in them to disrupt the human endocrine system. Though the grandparents viewed this as a bit daffy, I am certainly not the only one worried enough to make the change as I observed recently at my son’s preschool many of the kids had non-plastic water bottles, or plastic versions advertised as not having BPA, one of the worrisome chemicals.

Given this, it was more than a little annoying to learn that SIGG, maker of popular metal bottles, disclosed recently that the liner in it’s bottles contained traces amounts of BPA. It changed the liner in 2008 to address the problem but as this AP article notes, some bottle buyers feel betrayed that the company didn’t let people know sooner. Personally, it just makes me feel somewhat powerless to really protect my children from all the things in their environment that could be harmful. But what can you do? Just keep doing the best we can, I suppose. Begrudgingly, I’m going to go ahead and give SIGG another chance and send my bottles in to have them replaced (only charge is shipping). Click here for instructions on how to do so. (Note: the old liners are copper color, the new liners are kind of a yellow-cream color, as in the photo).

UPDATE: Apparantly local sellers of the bottles are exchanging them. I called Nature’s Oasis and Gardenswartz and they both confirmed that they are. Just bring in your old bottles and they’ll give you new ones. Thanks, Leslie, for the heads up!

ADDENDUM: I should add that for beverage containers there are, of course, less costly but still environmentally friendly alternatives, like the one I have sitting on my desk right now: a recycled pickle jar. Not as fashionable as SIGG but no chemicals and 100 percent recyclable.

In keeping with my recent fetish with making stuff at home, I recently purchased a yogurt maker. I bought the EuroCuisine Yogurt Maker online from Williams Sonoma (price $49.95) because it came with a good recommendation but since found a slightly stripped down model from the same company that goes for $29.95 on Amazon (and there are dozens of other models on the market).

We go through A LOT of yogurt in my household, and I think this gadget has been well worth the investment. There’s a little work involved but not much: boil 4 cups of milk, cool, add yogurt starter or a cup of plain yogurt, pour into the jars and turn on the machine. About 8 hours later, you have yogurt. You can add flavoring either before or after “cooking” it. I’m still experimenting with different starters, which definitely affect the finished product. The starter that came with the machine produced very tangy yogurt, which I liked but the rest of the fam less so. The second batch I used a cup of plain Greek yogurt and the result was creamy, less tangy and a hit in the household. Aside from being healthy and tasting good, it’s fun to make. For older kids, I’m sure there’s a science lesson to be had in the process. And Wikipedia has a lengthy entry on the history of yogurt, which apparently stretches back 4,500 years. The culture of culturing, it seems, goes way back.

The New York Times this week carried an article on a trend toward less consumerism when it comes to shopping for baby in these tough economic times.

It notes that the $343-million “play and discover” market — toys and goods marketed to parents of children under a year old — has fallen by more than a third over the last year and a half.

I like this observation: “Some analysts are surprised at how quickly new parents have begun to wise up,” it reads.

I’m sure many Durango-area parents have been snapping up second-hand baby gear since long before the recession because of the savings but also to reduce their environmental footprint. But it’s nice to know that chichi New Yorkers are doing the same. I’ve often wondered at the sense in buying a $880 Bugaboo stroller when the $50 one we’ve used through two kids works just fine. And second-hand baby gear is easy to find because, as we all know, they don’t stay babies for long. Durango’s many thrift stores are a great place to look as is Durango’s Freecycle group.

The question is, will the shift to second-hand stick? “This new frugality is celebrated by anti-consumerism groups, dreaded by retailers, and mused over by social scientists who say we might be on the cusp of raising a new generation of depression-era babies,” the article states.

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I recently blogged about my consternation over what to do with my family’s leftover yogurt cups and cottage cheese/sour cream tubs (categorized for recycling purposes as #5 plastics) because the city does not accept them for recycling. Naturally, the best thing to do is to reuse them at home in some fashion. But for those of you who, like me, still finds them piling up, here’s a company, Preserve, that accepts them for reincarnation as household items such as toothbrushes and mixing bowls through its “Gimme 5″ program.

There is no local drop-off location but the company accepts the containers by mail (see Web site for address). Obviously, there’s environmental cost associated with shipping but the company says, on balance, based in its research, there is still an eco-gain. Seems logical that waiting until you have a large shipment would help. Or maybe (just thinking out loud here) one of our natural food stores could be persuaded to coordinate collection and shipment …