Once, when I was at Band Camp ...

That was my tag line freshman year of college, because I told so many "camp" stories.



Thanks to my camp friend Gail, for telling me about this August 28, 2008 NPR "This American Life" program "Notes on Camp."

Stream the program here.


photo: Frost Valley YMCA, summer 2001

I miss camp!

Dangerous Levels of Lead found in Children's Juice Boxes & Canned Fruit

The San Francisco based nonprofit the Environmental Law Foundation has discovered that many bottled juices, juice boxes and packaged fruits exceed the federal limits for lead, for young children.

Excerpts from this NPR story:

The test results - which came from an EPA-certified lab in Berkeley, CA - were particularly troubling because the levels were calculated on a single serving, not the multiple juices and packaged fruits that an average five-year-old might consume in a given day. And there's no questioning the potency of the substance involved. Lead has long been known to cause physical and mental developmental problems.

Megan Schwarzman, a family physician and associate director of the Center for Green Chemistry at the University of California Berkeley, says children are especially vulnerable.

The organization has sent notices of suspected violations of state law to California's attorney general, Jerry Brown. The org's president, Jim Wheaton, says that such tests can go a long way toward changing company behavior.

From the June 9, 2010 notice of violation - a list of the products found to be containing dangerously high amounts of lead:

1 365 Everyday Value Organic 100% Juice Concord Grapes
2 Beech Nut 100% Apple Juice
3 Best Yet Bartlett Pear Halves in Heavy Syrup
4 Best Yet Chunky Mixed Fruit in Pear Juice
5 Best Yet Yellow Cling Peach Halves in Heavy Syrup
6 Chef's Review Fruit Cocktail
7 Del Monte 100% Juice Fruit Cocktail
8 Del Monte Chunky Mixed Fruit in 100 % Juice (peach, pear, grape, etc.)
9 Del Monte Diced Pears in Light Syrup
10 Del Monte Freestone Peach Slices in 100 % Juice
11 Del Monte Fruit Cocktail in Heavy Syrup (peach, pear, grapes)
12 Del Monte Fruit Cocktail No Sugar Added
13 Del Monte Lite Fruit Cocktail in Extra Light Syrup
14 Del Monte Pear Halves in Heavy Syrup
15 Del Monte Pear Halves, Bartlett Pears in 100% real fruit juice from concentrate
16 Del Monte Sliced Yellow Cling Peaches in 100 % Juice
17 Del Monte Sliced Yellow Cling Peaches in heavy syrup
18 Dole Diced Peaches, Yellow Cling in light syrup
19 Dole Mixed Fruit in Light Syrup
20 Dole Pear Halves in Juice
21 Earth's Best Organics Apple Juice
22 Eating Right Fruit Cocktail packed in Sucralose
23 Eating Right No Sugar Fruit Cocktail
24 First Street 100% Apple Cider from concentrate
25 First Street Apple Juice from concentrate 100% juice
26 First Street Diced Pears
27 First Street Fruit Cocktail in heavy syrup
28 First Street Grape Juice from concentrate 100% juice
29 First Street Sliced Bartlett
30 First Street Yellow Cling Peaches in heavy syrup
31 Full Circle Organic Apple Juice
32 Full Circle Organic Bartlett Pear Slices
33 Gerber 100% Juice - White Grape Juice
34 Gerber 100% Juice Apple Juice
35 Gerber 3rd Foods Peaches
36 Gerber 3rd Foods Pears
37 Golden Star Mixed Fruit in Light Syrup (peach, pineapple, pears)
38 Golden Star Peach Halves in Heavy Syrup
39 Great Value 100% Grape Juice
40 Great Value 100% No Sugar Added Apple Juice
41 Great Value Bartlett Pear Halves in 100% Juice
42 Great Value Bartlett Sliced Pears in Heavy Syrup
43 Great Value No Sugar Added Fruit Cocktail
44 Great Value Yellow Cling Sliced Peaches
45 Hansen's Natural Apple Juice
46 Kedem Concord Grape Juice 100% pure grape juice
47 Kroger 100% Juice Apple Juice
48 Kroger Fruit Cocktail in Heavy Syrup
49 Kroger Grape Juice 100% Juice
50 Kroger Lite Fruit Cocktail in Pear Juice
51 Kroger Value Fruit Mix (Peaches, pears, grapes)
52 Langers Apple Juice 100% Juice
53 Langers Grape Juice (Concord)
54 Langers Red Grape Juice
55 Libby's Fruit Cocktail No Sugar Added (Sweetened with Splenda)
56 Libby's Yellow Cling Peach Slices No Sugar Added (Sweetened with Splenda)
57 Market Pantry Diced Peaches in light syrup
58 Market Pantry Diced Pears in light syrup
59 Market Pantry Mixed Fruit in light syrup
60 Maxx Value Fruit Mix in Light Syrup (peach, pear, grape)
61 Maxx Value Pear Pieces in Light Syrup
62 Minute Maid Juice Apple - 100% Apple Juice
63 Motts 100% Apple Juice
64 Mrs. Brown's Fruit Cocktail in Heavy Syrup (peaches, pears, grapes)
65 O Organics Organic Grape Juice from concentrate
66 O Organics Organic Unfiltered Apple Juice Not From Concentrate
67 Old Orchard 100% Apple Juice
68 Parade 100% Juice Apple
69 Polar Mixed Fruit
70 Polar Peach Slices
71 Polar Pear Halves in light syrup
72 R.W. Knudsen Just Concord Grape Juice
73 R.W. Knudsen Organic Just Concord
74 Raley's 100% Grape Juice
75 Raley's Fruit Cocktail in Heavy Syrup
76 Raley's Premium 100% Apple Juice not from Concentrate
77 Raley's Sliced Yellow Cling Peaches in Heavy Syrup
78 S&W Natural Style Fruit Cocktail in Lightly Sweetened Juice
79 S&W Natural Style Pear Slices in Juice
80 S&W Natural Style Yellow Cling Peach Slices in Lightly Sweetened Juice
81 S&W Premium Peach Halves Yellow Cling Peaches in light syrup
82 S&W Sun Pears Premium
83 Safeway 100% Juice Apple Cider
84 Safeway 100% Juice Apple Juice
85 Safeway 100% Juice Grape Juice
86 Safeway Diced Peaches in Light Syrup
87 Safeway Fruit Cocktail in Heavy Syrup
88 Safeway Light Sugar Fruit Cocktail
89 Safeway Lite Bartlett Pear Halves in Pear Juice
90 Safeway Lite Fruit Cocktail in Pear Juice
91 Safeway Organic Grape Juice
92 Safeway Pear Halves in Light Juice
93 Safeway Yellow Cling Peach Slices in Pear Juice
94 Santa Cruz Organic Concord Grape Juice
95 Simple Value Yellow Cling Peaches in light syrup
96 Stater Bros. 100% Juice Apple Juice
97 Stater Bros. 100% Juice Grape Juice
98 Stater Bros. 100% Juice White Grape Juice
99 Stater Bros. Fruit Cocktail in Heavy Syrup
100 Stater Bros. Yellow Cling Peach Halves
101 Stater Bros. Yellow Cling Sliced Peaches in heavy syrup
102 Sunny Select 100% Apple Juice
103 Sunny Select 100% Grape Juice
104 Sunny Select Fruit Cocktail in Juice
105 Sunny Select Pear Halves in Pear Juice
106 Sunny Select Yellow Cling Sliced Peaches in Pear Juice
107 Trader Joe's Certified Organic Apple Juice, pasteurized
108 Trader Joe's Concord Grape Juice made from fress pressed organic concord grapes
109 Trader Joe's Pear Halves in white grape juice
110 Trader Joe's Yellow Cling Peach Halves in while grape juice
111 Tree Top 100% Juice Apple Cider
112 Tree Top 100% Juice, Grape
113 Truitt Brothers Pacific NorthWest Bartlett Pear Halves, in pear juice from concentrate
114 Valu Time Grape Drink from Concentrate
115 Valu Time Irregular Bartlett Pear Slices
116 Valu Time Yellow Cling Peach Slices
117 Walgreens Apple Juice from concentrate 100% juice
118 Walgreens Grape Juice from concentrate 100% juice
119 Walnut Acres Organic Concord Grape
120 Walnut Grove Market 100% Apple Juice
121 Walnut Grove Market Grape Juice
122 Walnut Grove Market Natural Peaches Sliced Yellow Cling in Light Syrup
123 Walnut Grove Market Natural Pear Halves in Heavy Syrup
124 Welch's 100% Grape Juice (from Welch's Concord Grapes)
125 Welch's 100% Red Grape Juice from Concentrate

NPR covers Social Marketing & Saving Energy

This morning, NPR aired a story "Going Green: A Hard Sell for Consumers?"

The story talked about how social marketing can be used to get consumers to conserve energy.

You can listen to the story and read the transcript by going to: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97803595

Some excerpts:
People who promote energy efficiency are starting to realize that it may take more than high prices to get consumers to change their habits. The recent drop in gas prices drove home that realization.

Instead, they say they need something more fundamental to motivate people. So efficiency boosters are turning to social marketers to find out how to change energy consumption habits. Social marketing is the use of public media to get people to make the right choices for society.

One social marketing tactic, which works for anti-smoking campaigns, is fear of death. But that doesn't work with saving energy. People need stats. "People buy on emotion, and they justify with the facts," says Maria Vargas, a director of the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program.

Energy Star is an example. They use information from social marketers to craft their messages, in order to appeal to consumers' hearts. So Energy Star quantifies how much you can save in dollars and cents with an efficient refrigerator, and also tells consumers that each individual can, in fact, help protect the environment by using less energy.

Rozanne Weissman of the Alliance to Save Energy, an efficiency advocacy group, says people also want to feel that they're making an intelligent choice in addition to saving money. The Alliance's Drive $marter Challenge campaign offers such tips as inflating your tires properly and avoiding jack-rabbit starts to get people to save gas.

"People want to be smart about their choices," Weissman says. "They want to know more, and they want dollar signs attached to [driving] tips so they can make a determination to their own bottom line."

Social marketers say there are some things to avoid when you're trying to make people change their energy appetites. A big one is the idea of sacrifice. President Jimmy Carter tried that when he put on a sweater and told Americans to turn down the thermostat. It didn't work.

Here's an example from the Alliance to Save Energy - the commercial, produced by ad agency, DDB, uses humor to "break through the media clutter" in a "Shocking" creative way.

Judges and producers of "World's Greatest Commercials," (CBS-TV May 11, 2008, 9 PM), judged the Alliance ad as one of the top 10 commercials in the world. The Alliance was the only nonprofit organization in the top 10. "What happened is unusual for a TV PSA-especially one that doesn't have big bucks and big support behind it or a hotter topic," notes Alliance Communications and Marketing Director Rozanne Weissman. Voting to rank the top ten was then conducted on the USA Today and CBS web sites http://www.cbs.com/specials/wgc and announced on the program Saturday. This commercial placed #2!



source: ASE press release