Catherine currently lives in Helana, Montana and works as a freelance writer and owner of a small publishing company specializing in outdoor guides to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Her passions are environmental advocacy, women’s history of the West, and grandchildren. She has four children. You’ll find her commenting frequently at Exponent and Feminist Mormon Housewives.

The prevalence of toxic chemicals in our environment is a hot topic in the news these days. Hardly a day goes by when there isn’t an article about one chemical or another, and its dangers, in a major newspaper or magazine, both in print and online. This information is of particular importance to women for several reasons: many chemicals accumulate in fat, and women generally have a higher percentage of fat tissue than men; many chemicals stored in a woman’s body are passed onto her child during pregnancy and breast-feeding; women have a higher exposure to toxic chemicals in household and commercial cleaners (at home and in the housekeeping industry) and home pesticide products which contain endocrine disrupting chemicals; women have a higher exposure to toxic chemicals in personal care products (hair, skin, make-up, and nail); women still have the primary care of infants and children in our society, and infants and children, because of their small, and still developing, bodies are at the greatest risk of chemical poisoning when exposed to toxins in the environment.

So, what are the chemicals and why should we be concerned?

Some of the most frightening are those that mimic natural hormones and are called endocrine disruptors. Most of us have heard of BPA, a petrochemical-based xenoestrogen that is found in plastics and the lining of canned foods. Xenoestrogens have been linked to early puberty (especially in girls), increased risk of cancers, weight gain, depression, tumors, and autoimmune deficiency.[1] In several studies, including one done at the University of Utah, exposure to air pollution from automobile traffic and industries that emit toxic chemicals and heavy metals has been linked to the increasing incidence of autism spectrum disorders.[2] Phthalates, fragrance carriers in glass cleaners, deodorizers, laundry products, and virtually anything that is scented, have been linked to adverse effects on boys, reduced sperm count in adult men, and increased allergies and asthma in children.[3] The list could go on and on.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that virtually everyone has these chemicals in their bodies.[4] They are everywhere in our environment—in the air we breath (from auto exhaust, industrial pollutants, your neighbor’s dryer vent, and the perfume you sprayed on this morning), the water we drink (from industrial waste, pharmaceuticals that are flushed down the toilet, and the residue of pesticides and herbicides you spray on your lawns and gardens), in the foods we eat (from pesticides, artificial colors and flavors, and preservatives) and in the walls and floors of our own homes (carpets and other building materials).

If you live in the modern world, you can’t entirely escape them. The best we can do to reduce the chemical load on our fragile immune systems is to reduce our exposure as much as possible and urge others to do likewise. How this is done is going to vary with individual and family circumstances, but here are some ideas that might help.

1) Use safer cleaning and personal care products. Eliminate synthetic fragrances by using products labeled fragrance free. Buy only those products that list the ingredients (which is not required by law) and avoid those containing sodium laureth sulfate (soaps, shampoos, thoothpaste), hydroquinone (skin lighteners), triclosan (antibacterial products and frangrances), PEG (soaps and shampoos). Make your own products (see link to WVE below).

2) Opt for fresh or frozen foods instead of canned. Use glass containers for food storage and reheating.

3) Use nail polishes and hardeners labeled “three-free” or “formaldehyde-free” and avoid chemical hair straighteners.

4) Use unscented laundry products and replace dryer sheets with the nubby dryer balls. (To avoid static, don’t overdry clothing.)

5) Eat and garden organically grown foods as much as possible, particularly fresh fruits and vegetables.

What we do personally is only part of the battle. Here are a few ideas for promoting a cleaner, safer environment for everyone:

1) Put your money where your mouth is and buy only from companies that clearly label their products. Send letters and email messages to those which don’t asking them to be more transparent. (Check out the websites below to help you find these companies, the good and the bad.)

2) Support federal regulations that set industry standards for clean air, water and soil, as well as safe manufacturing processes.

3) Encourage you state congressional representatives to pass legislation requiring companies to disclose all ingredients in household cleaners on product labels and to replace toxic chemicals with safer alternatives.

4) Ask your representatives to support reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and give the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the means to enforce it.

5) Join groups that advocate for a healthy environment, like those listed below, or look for a local group in your area.

6) Help educate others, through your blog, Facebook, family reunions, and church activities.

Some useful websites with further information and opportunities for activism:

Safer Chemicals Healthy Families: www.saferchemicals.org

Environmental Working Group: www.ewg.org

Toxie Awards: www.toxies.com

Women’s Voices for the Earth: www.womensvoices.org

Utah Clean Air Alliance: http://utahcleanairalliance.org

Utah Moms for Clean Air: www.utahmomsforcleanair.org

References:

[1] “Toxic Overload: 15 Percent of Girls Now Reach Puberty by Age 7,” http://preventdisease.com/news/11/060211_toxic_overload_puberty.shtml .

[2] Heather May, “Utah researcher says autism-pollution link needs serious study,” Salt Lake Tribune, June 11, 2011.

[3] “What’s Under Your Sink: Potential Hazards of Home Cleaning Products,” Women’s Voices for the Earth Fact Sheet, www.womensvoices.org.

[4] “Toxic Chemicals: The Cost to Our Health,” Safer Chemicals Healthy Families, www.saferchemicals.org/resources/health.html .

Next Saturday, some pioneers in Mormon feminism (including Joanna Brooks, Carol Lynn Pearson and John Dehlin) will be holding a conference in Salt Lake City where they will discuss how to navigate some of the challenges that face feminists in the church. Those challenges are not unique to feminism but also characteristic of the approach that many others take to viewing the culture and religion of Mormonism. The conference promises to offer some insights into feminism in the church and how one can remain faithful and hopeful.

In conjunction with the Mormon Stories Conference will be two service projects.

The welcoming session of the conference starts at noon. Prior to that at 9 am, conference attendees are invited to meet at the Utah Food Bank at 3150 South 900 West Salt Lake City, UT to volunteer for a couple of years until the conference kicks off. For more information see the agenda for the day’s events.

Also that morning is the 2nd Annual Salt Lake Run for Congo Women 5K Run/Walk organized by Utah for Congo. The run/walk will take place at Wheeler Farm in Murray, Utah at  6351 S. 900 E. Sign-in and registration starts at 8 am and the race begins at 9 am. Following the race will be followed by an awards ceremony, speakers, and entertainment. Then off to the Mormon Stories conference.

To pre-register for the Run for Congo Women, please visit:
www.saltlakerfcw.eventbrite.com

Registration is free, and you will receive an e-mail with advice on fundraising and donations.

For those in the Utah area, this promises to be an exciting and beneficial event. Please come back and tell us here what your experience was!

It’s a cop-out to answer this question with the answer: all of them. To lay it out simply: if you are a Mormon woman living in your country, then your countries public policies affect you because you are a woman.  It is also true that being Mormon shapes who we are as women. Though we may make some of the same decisions as our sisters from other faiths, often our reasons are different and the rates of those decisions are different due to our religious beliefs.

With so much talk about the War on Women being waged in the United States, this is a good opportunity to discuss how are Mormon women specifically are affected by public policies that affect women. This speaks directly to the idea that Mormon women may not identify with the need for some policies and therefore not have a vested interest in them.  It  seems like basic human nature to not care as much about challenges not personally faced by oneself though this is the antithesis of Christ’s doctrine of charity and “comforting those who stand in need of comfort.”

The Women’s Service Mission aims to understand the needs of women both within and outside the church and support efforts that meet these needs both in the public and personal sphere.

Public policies play a role in much of how women are able to care for and nurture themselves and their families so it stands to reason that public policies matter to Mormon women. The question then is: which ones?

Below are my thoughts, please discuss and add policies that I have left out here. Do you feel strongly about any of these policies? Can you make the case for why others support be in support or against them as you are?

Equal Pay

Even in 2011, women still make $.70 to the $1 for each hour of paid work in comparison to men in comparable positions. The Lilly Ledbetter Act enacted in 2009 provides recourse for women who suspect that they did not receive fair pay in comparison to their male counterparts. Did Mormon women care about this victory for equality? Because most Mormon women find themselves out of the work force, it could be said that Mormon women do not feel strongly whether their working peers receive a fair wage or not. Yet if we look at our support of public policies as a service to those who need those policies enacted, Mormon women provide meaningful service to women not of their faith as well as many who share it by supporting equal pay assist through not making them work harder than they need to in order to care for themselves and their dependents.

Abortion

Latter-day Saints in general oppose abortion so this is one public policy that most feel like they are not arguing for themselves but would rather be putting themselves in someone else’s shoes and arguing on their behalf. Though there may be some situations where a faithful Latter-day Saint may feel compelled to abort a pregnancy , in general, Mormons support adoption over abortion . If you have ever been to General Conference in Salt Lake City, you will know that fundamental Christian groups oppose the church’s stance on abortion because it states there are three circumstances (rape, incest, when the mother’s health may be in danger by the continuation of the pregnancy or when the baby experiences defects that make living beyond birth unlikely) where abortion may be indicated.

When asked, most Mormon women will state that they are pro-life but a significant portion also recognize a need for abortion services in those allowable cases Additionally, some Mormon women recognize a woman’s need to make decisions prayerfully in light of their personal situations as well as finding it troubling that a woman’s agency is being taken from her. So then, how important to Mormon women are the decisions made by policy makers on this topic?  Do Mormon women have a responsibility to try to protect these services for themselves and other women? Where do you stand and can you make a case for why other Mormon women should care?

Family Medical Leave

The Proclamation on the Family provides what some Mormon feminists consider an escape clause, “In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation.” It can be up to the family to decide how the breadwinning will be done though the norm is that mothers stay out of the work force to care for their children while fathers work to provide for the family. Yet many LDS women find that they need to work outside the home when their children are young for a variety of reasons. For those LDS and non-LDS women who feel compelled to return to work after pregnancy, is this one public policy that does matter to Mormon women? By supporting the expansion of this public policy, can Mormon women provide meaningful and compassionate service to mothers, babies and families?

Breastfeeding Accommodations

Another workplace issue is requiring businesses and employers to allow breastfeeding women to take additional breaks in order to pump breastmilk that is taken home and given to their breastfeeding young children. Since most Mormon women are not working when they are breastfeeding, why should they care that many mothers find that their employment keeps them from breastfeeding their children as long as recommended by not allowing them the time to express milk? Is this one policy that Mormon women can support despite their belief that women should be at home caring for their babies?

Subsidies for Stay at Home Mothers

Mormons recognize the importance of mothers as nurturers and value stay at home mothers as the ideal caregivers for their children. Many lower income families are unable to support a stay at home mother due to financial constraints yet would prefer the parents remaining the main providers of childcare. Also taking into account the government funded subsidies to pay childcare providers, it seems justice would be served in providing an equal amount in subsidies(http://www.calgaryandareacfsa.gov.ab.ca/home/591.cfm)  to families who would like the parents to be the main childcare provider. Also see here: http://www.nationalpartnership.org/site/DocServer/AHICchartOct05.pdf?docID=1048 Would this policy be one that many lower income Mormons would support and appreciate?

Flex-time and telecommuting options

Some corporations and agencies are ahead of the game because they allow their employees to work from home some days or to work longer hours some days in order to have more days off. There are proposals that exist to encourage and provide incentives to more businesses and agencies to provide this benefit to their employees. For Mormon families wouldn’t this be an exceptional boon? Fathers having more time with children, mothers being able to work and share childcare responsibilities as “equal partners”?

For a little historical perspective, some public policies have decidedly benefitted Mormon women including achieving the right to vote as well as transferring Social Security benefits to a homemaking spouse.

So then, I’ve listed some of my favorite public policies that I believe would be beneficial to LDS families as well as others that don’t seem to have much effect on Latter-day Saints as  a rule.

Can you think of others? Can you make a case for or against these policies and others you can come up with?

Cross posted from Feminist Mormon Housewives, Guest Post by Missy:

Missy takes care of two kids, writes, and is an activist. Utah for Congo is a group that organizes fundraisers and seeks to raise awareness about ongoing conflict and sexual violence in Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Over the past decade, nearly 7 million people have been killed in Democratic Republic of the Congo because of war and conflict. That makes it the most deadly conflict of our generation, the deadliest since World War II. Half of these deaths are children under the age of five.

One of the most horrific elements of the conflict is the habitual use of sexual violence and rape to terrorize people and destroy communities. The sexual violence is characterized by its unspeakable brutality and by the pain and destruction left in its wake. Figures are hard to come by, but a soon-to-be-released study suggests that the number of people raped over the past decade is over 3 million.

What haunts us is the fact that each of us is complicit in the continuation of this conflict. Violent groups are fighting for control of natural resources like gold, tungsten, tin and tantalum: Resources that tech companies use to manufacture the electronics equipment (like computers and cell phones) that Americans use. So every time we use our mobile phones, which are filled with these conflict minerals, we are (if unwittingly) complicit.

This Saturday in Utah we are holding Yoga for Congo Women events to raise awareness of the Congo crisis and raise funds for survivors of the violence. 100% of donations received will go to Women for Women International, an organization that provides women with supportive communities, vocational training, psychosocial support, rights training, and financial support. Yoga for Congo Women will be in Salt Lake in the morning, and in Logan in the evening. We’d love to see some of you there!

In the Barn at Wheeler Farm
6351 South 900 East (Salt Lake)
Registration begins at 9:30 a.m.
Yoga begins at 10:00 a.m.

At the Whitter Community Center
290 North 400 East (Logan)
Registration begins at 6:30 p.m.
Yoga begins at 7:00 p.m.

For more information on this event (and other upcoming events, including our second-annual 5K which will be held on June 11), please visit our blog at utahforcongo.blogspot.com

Groupon is known for doing half-off deals on any number of local services, shops, restaurants and cultural events but did you know that they do half off deals on humanitarian donations?

A couple of months ago, they were offering $25 donations for a $15 purchase price for Kiva. Now they are offering a $30 donation for the organization Build On for the purchase price of $15.

From their site:

Readers are probably aware of the civil unrest in Egypt and the people’s efforts to achieve democracy in their country. Egypt is not the other country making the new for revolution. Tunisia and Ivory Coast are others and there is speculation that demands for democracy will spread across the Middle East and Africa.

The WAVE Women’s Service Mission is organizing a prayer vigil this where WAVE readers join together in prayer for peace and democracy in the Middle East.

Please join us Tuesday evening, February 2nd at  8:00 p.m. in prayer, as families and individuals, for the Lord’s blessing and assistance of these countries in achieving what its citizens hold so dear.

We cannot help but think of the American legacy of revolution that achieved democracy for the United States. Our hearts go out the people of these countries who are in the midst of that struggle and in our prayers we include petitions for their safety and for their needs to be met as well as wisdom to act responsibly.

To learn more and to follow one Mormon who has lived in Egypt formerly, read at By Common Consent.

So again, please join together as fellow WAVErs in support of voice and equality for the people of Egypt, Africa and the Middle East on Tuesday February 2, at 8:00 pm.

It is our hope that our wave of prayers can help God’s will to go forward in these regions of the world.

I love hearing about Mormons who have felt inspired to create non-profit organizations, humanitarian  or advocacy efforts and I’ve been collecting stories where a member of the church sees a problem in the world, decides she or he can do something to fix it and goes about doing it. I find a great deal of inspiration in that. My guess is that these members of the church take seriously the baptismal covenant to “comfort those who stand in need of comfort” as well as the injunction to be “anxiously engaged in a good cause.”

In this post, I’ll be listing a few of the Mormons I know of who are making a difference in the world. I hope you will share me with other stories you are aware of.

Just this week, two bloggernacle blogs posted about such church members:

Mmiles at By Common Consent highlighted Liahona Children’s Foundation founded by Brad Walker.

At Times and Seasons, Adam Greenwood encouraged Mormons to support efforts to block pornography.

Here on WAVE, you have heard about Judith Dushku and THARCE-Gulu, a community center in Uganda to assist women in healing from the ravages of war and enslavement.

At Mormon Women Project, Vicky Dalia was interviewed about her family operated orphanage in Guatemala.

At Tiny Peaces, a group of Mormon women and men traveled to Central Asia to assist women and girls in obtaining education and becoming self- sufficient.

Women Doing More provides “opportunities for busy women to help the world in small and simple ways.”

In my ward, I have been impressed and inspired by one sister who coordinated a clothing drive after a natural disaster in the Philippines. Another ward member just moved to Kyrgyzstan as her husband studies Central Asian law.  And a neighbor is the founder of a non-profit organization providing maternal child health services in Kenya.

On the LDS WAVE board, we have Jessica who is on the board of her local hemophilia chapter, myself a co-founder of the international non-profit Solace for Mothers, Tresa and Elisabeth working with THARCE-Gulu.

Will WAVE readers be able to add themselves to this list? I hope so. Courtney is working on her idea to create a crafter’s guild of LDS women that will raise money to send to humanitarian efforts across the globe.

Tell me more. Do you know of other Mormons who are anxiously engaged in advocacy, humanitarian or volunteer work that is working to make the world a better place foe God’s children?

Though Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is best known for his work with civil rights and his “I Have a Dream” speech, he was passionate about two other issues: ending war through nonviolence practice and alleviating the plight of the poor through labor relations. In fact, he was speaking on labor relations the night before his assassination.

This morning, NPR’s Weekday ran a segment that highlighted his work and included many wonderful and inspiring quotations from his speeches on poverty. The last 15-20 minutes are recommended. I’ve quote some of it below.

One of his speeches, in particular, cuts across race lines and even gender lines to highlight a problem that Americans today are all too familiar with. Generally known as the plight of the working poor, Martin Luther King stated in a 1968 speech:

“There is the problem of under-employment and there are thousands and thousand, I would say millions of people in the Negro community who are poverty stricken — not because they are not working but because they receive wages so low that they cannot begin to function in the main stream of the economic life of our nation.”

Most of the poverty stricken people of America are persons who are working every day and they end up getting part-time wages for full-time work.”

This is still the case 45 years later. We are actually much more aware of this now since our economy has been impacted across the board. Just as Dr. King said, we have an awareness and sense of urgency about economic downturn when it affects the white folks too.

All too often when there is mass unemployment in the black community, it’s referred to as a social problem and when there is mass unemployment in the white community, it’s referred to as a depression. But there is no basic difference.

Millions of Americans, across the racial spectrum–White, Asian, Latino, Black–are underemployed or work very hard for wages that cannot sustain them or their families. With women receiving on average 77 cents to the $1.00, women, particularly minority women, are especially affected.

The wage disparity is just one way that women struggle in today’s economy. The book The War on Moms: On Life in a Family Un-friendly Nation describes the many public policies that undermine families and mothers as they work to provide for their children.

It describes how stay at home mothers are not exempt from being affected by these policies as many mothers are finding themselves needing to find work to supplement their husband’s incomes, or in the case of divorce and death, find themselves single mothers which is the single most determinant of children and women transitioning into poverty.

War on Moms is just the book that can give realistic preparation for young women preparing for motherhood in regards to economic and financial impacts of being a woman in the workforce, whether by choice or by necessity. And sadly, we see that many young women do have an awareness of these issues and they may find themselves discouraged from being mothers because of them.

Martin Luther King Jr. may not have called his unfinished work a fight in the War on Families but he could have. When the working poor are unable to make a fair wage, they are unable to provide for their families, regardless of race or gender though still racial disparities compound the problems. When parents cannot provide for their children, children are raised in poverty and the cycle is perpetuated. Dr. King realized in 1968 that fair wages or “full-time pay for full-time work” were needed to break the cycle. Today, it is still needed.

As Mormons, we believe that self-reliance is necessary for spiritual and temporal success. And yet, in the United States, we live in the most family-unfriendly nation in the developed world. There are policies that stand in the way of families working toward self-sufficiency. We can no longer say that people need to work harder and then they’ll be able to pull themselves out of poverty. Some are successful but yet many are causalities and given our covenant to “mourn with those who mourn” it seems inconsistent to expect the many to become the exceptions. Through advocating for family friendly policies, like fair pay laws, we can address, at its root, some of the causes of poverty in our nation.

War on Moms describes some of the ways that these disparities can be addressed. MomsRising.org provides a grassroots platform for women across the spectrum to advocate for policies that would alleviate the strain on the working poor. Their book The Motherhood Manifesto also highlights how policies in business and government can be reformed to address and prevent poverty and grant the dignity of which Dr. Martin Luther King spoke.

It cannot be minimized or ignored that racial disparities continue to exist in the United States. When working for family friendly policies, it cannot be just for the white, middle class families with a working father and a stay at home mother but  the needs of all races residing in our country must be address. The work of Dr. King continues and must continue until each person can “assert [his/her] dignity and worth. We must stand up amidst a system that still oppresses us and develop an unassailable and majestic sense of values.”

WAVE readers, what organizations or efforts are you familiar with that offers innovative and effective strategies for bringing people out of poverty in the United States? Particularly, are you familiar with efforts that address racial disparities separate or in addition to women’s issues?

It is the goal of the Women’s Service Mission to learn together on to effectively serve and assist others in their hardships. If you have knowledge of these areas, please share your experiences here. As always, if you are familiar with or care particularly about an issue that affects women around the world, please write and submit a guest post to: service@ldswave.org.