Organic or Not?
We’ve tried to get as much as possible made from organic cotton, but the mattress was a challenge. Although there are several mattresses using organic cotton on the market, none of them are pure organic. There are two layers that it seems just cannot be organic/chemical free:

• The fire barrier (legally required for the US);
• The waterproofing layer.

So, while they’re not really fully organic, the goal was to get as close as possible within a reasonable budget.

We ended up with the L A Baby Organic Cotton 2 in One Orthopedic Crib Mattress as our favourite, and wanted to do some more research into its organic claims.

Online, we found a post at the WindsorSpeak forums where somebody had kindly pasted in the statement from L A Baby about the organic content of the mattress, and also the chemical they use for the fire barrier (boric acid). Here’s the statement about the organic content (apologies for the caps, it was how it was in the source):

ON THE 5260 ORGANIC MATTRESS SPECIFICALLY THE CORRECT PERCENT OF ORGANIC COTTON MATERIAL THAT IS IN THE MATTRESS IS 59% THIS INFORMATION IS ON EVERY LAW TAG THAT IS ON EACH MATTRESS. WE HAVE TWO LAYERS OF ORGANIC COTTON.
THE THIRD LAYER IS 85% COTTON AND 15% POLY FIBER – THIS IS THE FIRE BARRIER THAT WE HAVE TO USE TO MEET THE STATE AND FEDERAL FLAME TESTING REGULATIONS.

Lower down in the text they also give lots of additional information about boron and boric acid that was interesting reading.

We’ll post a follow up on here to let you know more about the mattress once it arrives.

US Standards
In the USA, the standards body for labeling food is the USDA, and they have three grades of organic product:

• 100% Organic
• Organic
• Made with organic ingredients

The first two can print the USDA seal (the image above) on their packaging; products that are marked ‘made with organic ingredients’ may not use the USDA seal.

A product that is 100% organic must contain only organically produced ingredients and processing aids. Salt and water are excluded, but that’s all. Products that are labeled organic must contain at least 95% organically produced ingredients, and the remaining 5% must be things not available in organic form (and must be on the National List maintained by the USDA). Products claiming to be made with organic ingredients must contain at least 70% organic ingredients.

In all three cases, the product must not be produced using excluded methods, sewage sludge, or ionizing radiation. They may not use genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and in the case of meat and poultry products, only organic feed may be used. Livestock may not be given antibiotics either.

European Standards
The EU standards for organic products are very similar to the USDA standards (see comparison). The same three basic grades exist, at the same percentage levels with with the same limitations on the use of the relevant seal (the English version of the EU seal is shown to the right). The main differences are that products with less than 70% organic ingredients may not use the word organic at all under EU regulations (in the US, they are allowed to indicate which specific ingredients are organic still), and there are some differences in the allowed non-organic products and the farming processes (particularly the transition time from non-organic to organic).

As with the US, there are many different organisations that certify products. Each of those is identified by a code, and may also have a logo. They may also use standards that are stricter than the regulations require. The Green & Black’s organic chocolate I’m enjoying while I write this is certified by the Soil Association in the UK (code UK5), an example of a certifying body with stricter requirements than the government regulations.

Other Countries
Countries all around the world are creating regulations to control the use of the organic term, and make sure that consumers are not being mislead when they buy products labeled as organic. Wikipedia has an excellent list of the certification bodies for other countries.

Mowers

First up, the most expensive of your lawn care products will almost certainly be the lawn mower. There are three green options for cutting your grass, and which you choose will probably depend on the size of lawn, and the amount of effort you’re willing to put into it:

• Human powered classic reel mowers like the Scotts 20-Inch Classic Push Reel Lawn Mower;
• Electric mowers that plug in to the standard household electricity supply, like the Black & Decker Lawn Hog Electric Mower (the mower I chose to maintain our front lawn here in Alameda);
• Cordless electric mowers like the Neuton models or the Black & Decker 19-Inch Cordless Mower.

Any of those options will help make your lawn mowing simpler (no need to worry about buying fuel; no back-breaking cord pulling to get the mower started). They also help reduce air pollution and noise pollution. The folks over at Neuton Power provide these statistics comparing electric mowers to conventional gasoline powered ones:

• Mowing for 1 hour with a gasoline mower produces the same pollution as driving a typical car 50 miles.
• Over 17 million gallons of gas are spilled each year refueling lawn and garden equipment – more petroleum than was spilled by the Exxon Valdez.
• According to the EPA, gas mowers are responsible for nearly 5% of our nation’s total air pollution.
• Over 800 million gallons of gasoline are used mowing lawns in the US every year.
• If you operate a gas mower for more than 15 minutes, experts advise you to wear hearing protection.

Still not convinced? Just remember next time you’re walking behind that conventional mower that your basically breathing its exhaust!

Edging

Much like the lawn mowers, there are several green options for lawn edging too:

• The manual options ranging from half-moon edgers like the WOLF-Garten Half-Moon Edger to more sophisticated rotary edgers like the Flexrake Lawn Edger;
• Electric edge trimmers like the Black & Decker Edge Hog;
• Cordless edge trimmers like the Black & Decker Cordless Grass Hog String Trimmer/Edger.

The Neuton cordless mowers also have an optional edge trimmer, so if you went with the Neuton for mowing the lawn, why not use its edge trimmer as well.

Fertilizing & Weed Killing

Aside from cutting and trimming, feeding and weed management are also things you’ll probably need to think about. Rather than using chemical fertilizers that can burn your lawn, causing more harm than good, why not try some organic lawn care options.

• Garden Way “Nature’s Touch” Organic Lawn Fertilizer
• Espoma Organic Lawn Food
• Ringer All Natural Lawn Restore

For the ultimate in green lawn care, check out the TerraCycle Lawn Fertilizer which is made from liquified worm poop, and then bottled in old 1 litre soda bottles collected by one of TerraCycle’s Bottle Brigades.