Although this Friday is Black Friday, we’d like to offer an alternative: GREEN FRIDAY—a day to order some wonderful frog gifts online—no pushing and shoving at the big box stores requiredl!  Enjoy!

FROG BOOK

Frog by Thomas Marent

Frog by nature photographer Thomas Marent features over 400 truly stunning images of frogs and other amphibians. A beautifully designed and produced book (published by DK), Frog is guaranteed to turn anyone into a frog enthusiast.

FROG PUZZLE

For kids ages 9-12 (and for puzzle-loving adults) here’s a good project for a winter’s day—a 300-piece Ravensburger puzzle of colorful poison dart frogs.

FROG CALENDAR

A gorgeous mini-calendar for frog lovers.

ADOPT A FROG

Adopting a frog or other animal from the World Wildlife Fund is a great gift for a child or an adult who cares about animals.

For a $50 adoption, you will receive:

• plush frog
• adoption certificate
• full-color photo of a red-eyed tree frog
• spotlight card full of fascinating information about your frog

Ipad/Ipod Apps

If you’re planning to buy your loved one a new ipod or ipad, why not fill it with a few frog or amphibian apps! Refer to our recent post on apps.

screenshot from the FROGS! app

SAVE THE FROGS totebag:

Forget plastic bags. Do your shopping with this cool eco-friendly Save the Frogs totebag and help support a great amphibian conservation organization.

PLUSH FROG

Here’s a cute frog to cuddle with: Ty Pluffies Pond Frog

CLOTHES FOR KIDS and ADULTS

Frogs Are Green Tees

Send a positive eco-message with our It Is Easy to be Green T-shirt with art by internationally renowned illustrator Paul Zwolak. Available in kids and adult sizes. (Proceeds go to amphibian conservation organizations.)

FROG SLIPPERS

We’re not sure we can resist buying these cozy frog slippers for the women in our lives.

FROG GIFTS FOR BABY

Happy Blankies

When you buy a blanket from Happy Blankie, one is also donated to a child in need. The blankies, available in different sizes, are made with luxuriously plush “minky” dot fabric, trimmed and back with silky, charmeuse satin.

ANGEL DEAR PILLOWS, BLANKETS, AND ACCESSORIES FOR BABY

Angel dear features cashmere-soft baby blankets, rattles, clothes etc. I have the frog pillow below, which has been adopted by our new “baby” (an 8-month-old kitten) as her preferred place to nap. It is unbelievably soft and cuddly!

Frogs Are Green Onesie

Let the youngest member of your family spread the word about our amphibian friends with a Frogs Are Green Onesie. (Proceeds go to amphibian conservation organizations.)

POSTERS

This year at Frogs Are Green a couple of amazing artists have donate their work to help our cause.

Children’s book illustrator Sherry Neidigh donated her art for this lovely poster—A Frog’s Dream: Save Our Home. (Proceeds go to amphibian conservation organizations.)

Paul Zwolak donated his art for this poster —It Is Easy Being Green. (Proceeds go to amphibian conservation organizations.)

STOCKING STUFFERS

Frog key chain

My husband gave me this frog key chain, which has a button activated bright LED light and makes “Ribbet” sounds. Occasionally I bump my purse and my keychain starts ribbeting, and I enjoy seeing people’s reactions!

In CHASING MOLECULES: Poisonous Products, Human Health, and the Promise of Green Chemistry (Island Press, 2009), Elizabeth Grossman, an acclaimed investigative journalist, chronicles the effects of petroleum-based synthetic chemicals in ordinary consumer products on human health and to the environment. These chemicals may even change, at a molecular level, the way our our bodies work. The consequences range from diabetes to cancer, reproductive and neurological disorders.

These synthetic chemicals are ubiquitous in the products we use every day:

• flame-resistant plastics
• waterproof coatings for textiles and food packaging (like popcorn bags)
• children’s plastic toys
• flexible plastic tubing
• nail polish
• nonstick pans
• plastic food and beverage containers
• sunscreen
• carpets and furniture

Chemicals from these products make their way—through the air, water, and soil—in our environment, our food, and our bodies. In addition, toxic chemicals that were once frozen in Arctic ice are now being released into the air and water as the ice melts because of global warming.

The chemicals can even alter one’s genes in a process scientists call epigenetics. The introduction of a chemical foreign to the body may change the way the gene interacts with other molecules in the cell’s nucleus. Exposure early in life—particularly before or just after birth—seems to be the prime time for these kinds of changes to occur. But epigenetic screening is not part of routine chemical testing of a chemical.

One example that surprised me was the effect of the chemical tributyltin, which is used as a wood preservative, glass coating, and many other uses. In animal studies, it was found that exposure to tributyltin increased the number of fat cells, thus possibly setting into motion a genetic propensity at birth for obesity.

Despite this gloomy scenario, Grossman offers hope in the burgeoning field of green chemistry. She argues that we don’t have to do without these products. Rather, industries need to create products that are “benign by design.” These new compounds will mimic rather than disrupt natural systems. Through interviews with leading researchers, Grossman gives us a first look at this radical transformation.

Don’t be put off by the word “molecules” in the title. I’m not a chemist, yet I found Chasing Molecules to be an extremely absorbing, but not a highly technical, read. It’s a 21st-century Silent Spring, very readable but sometimes shocking. Her message is an urgent wake-up call for industries to invest in green chemistry and to create products that won’t harm people and the environment.

NOTE: Along with the review copy, we received a hand-out written by Grossman with information about the safety of various consumer products. Grossman is careful and measured, never hysterical. We thought it might be useful to share her suggestions (buying children’s toy, plastic containers, etc) with FROGS ARE GREEN readers in the next couple of weeks.