Today

We woke up to ice and snow...not anything crazy, but this is Texas, so we freak out over the littlest bit of it! As soon as the sun came up, it all started to quickly melt but I was able to get some shots first.


Today is CPSIA Blogging Day and I couldn't NOT post on it because it's an issue I feel very strongly about. To catch up any of you who aren't aware, as of February 10th (National Bankruptcy Day as it has been dubbed) any product that is meant to be used, worn, read, etc. by anyone under the age of 12 is going to have to go through strict third party testing. Here, here, and here are my other posts about it for easy reference.

So you're not a crafter or don't care about buying handmade and you think you're not going to be affected by this? You're wrong! If you ever plan on buying anything for someone under the age of 12, then you ARE going to be affected. The CPSIA does not just affect clothing and toys, but books, school supplies, furniture for kids, sport equipment, and on and on. Here is a really great list that shows how this affects everyone from environmentalists to secondhand shoppers to entrepreneurs. We should all care about this and do what we can!

There has been a really great three part series on it at Forbes for further reading. Here is part one, two, and three. At the core of CPSIA is something good as we all want to protect our children and keep them from harmful things. But not in this way...and not what the CPSIA is going to do. The crap made in China is scary and shouldn't be bought in the first place for MANY reasons, but it is OUR economy that is going to suffer DEEPLY from this if it continues as is and SO many small businesses are going to cease to exist.


Although I don't care too greatly about how this is going to affect the big-box stores that are going to suffer because 1.) it won't be much, 2.) we don't shop there, and 3.) it's the crap they sell that initiated this whole thing. However, I do deeply care about the environmental aspect of all of this in regards to what they are going to have to do after February 10th. Here is a quote from National Bankruptcy Day in relation to an economic impact study that was recently done between December 31, 2008 and January 10, 2009:

The cut to the chase summary shows over 70 million dollars worth of inventory must be destroyed on February 10, 2009 (National Bankruptcy Day) and of those enterprises that expect to survive the fall-out (61% will not), over 40 million dollars in lost product sales are anticipated.

Isn't that crazy? How is it going to be "destroyed"? Are they just going to inundate our landfills even more with all of it? How are the harmful ingredients/materials that the products are made of going to be contained or is all that lead (and goodness knows what else) just going to end up in our waterways??? Are they going to recycle what can be recycled? Lots of questions and not many answers.

Supposedly there is alot of misinformation going around regarding all of this, and there are MANY aspects that are very unclear and confusing. What also is unclear is how exactly the law is going to be enforced as the CPSC only has about 100 investigators...so we'll see. Supposedly, Congress has denied a second hearing on it and have no intention of changing the law. BUT we should still continue to do what we can! Here is a great "kit" at Etsy that lists out all of the different things you can do with links, petitions, addresses, and sample verbiage. Some of the same stuff is available at Handmade Toy Alliance as well.


Again, at the heart of CPSIA is something really good as we of course want our children protected and there should absolutely be restrictions placed on lead and phthalates and so on! It was just so poorly conceived and hurriedly put together, and although it's not surprising, it's very disheartening. I still cannot imagine our life without being able to buy secondhand things for Lovebug at thrift stores or organic handmade things from my beloved Etsy.

Well, stay warm my friends...