Moms Who Made a Difference

This Sunday, families across the country will celebrate Mother’s Day by gathering for brunch, sending flowers or simply calling their moms. Earth911 wants to join in the festivities by recognizing five exceptional mothers who not only care for their children, but also the planet.

SEE: Earth911 Mother’s Day Gift Guide

3GreenMoms Take On Disposable Sandwich Bags

Kirsten Quigley (R) and Cris Bourelly (L) invented LunchSkins, reusable sandwich and snack bags, as a convenient, eco-friendly alternative to disposable plastic sandwich bags.

Kirsten Quigley and her friend Cris Bourelly were sitting around a kitchen table in 2008 when they heard a staggering statistic on the news: More than 20 million plastic sandwich bags from school lunches go into U.S. landfills every day.

Determined to provide other busy moms with a convenient eco-friendly alternative to disposable sandwich bags, the Potomac, M.d. moms teamed up with another mother, graphic designer Jennie Stoller, to form the company 3GreenMoms and came up with LunchSkins, reusable sandwich and snack bags with colorful designs.

Available in three sizes, LunchSkins are free of lead, BPA and phthalates. 3GreenMoms estimate that LunchSkins users have saved 120 million plastics bags from entering the waste stream in the last two years.

Quigley, a mom of four children whose ages range from seven to 14, thinks moms make excellent eco-entrepreneurs.

“I think moms are natural multi-taskers and innovators and are very aware of patterns of consumption and possible ways to reduce our footprint. As a group, we are constantly improving things to suit our needs – or our kids’ needs – and streamlining products and processes to save money and time,” she says.

Green Fashion and Beauty Advice from Rachel Sarnoff

Formerly a fashion journalist and marketing consultant, Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff founded the green fashion and beauty website EcoStiletto and is currently the interim executive director of environmental health nonprofit Healthy Child Health World.

Although she grew up as self-described hippie kid, Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff said becoming a mother made her truly passionate about the connection between the environment and human health.

“It wasn’t until I was pregnant with my third child that I really saw the whole picture: how the products that we use – to clean our homes or spray for pests, the lotions and potions we put on ourselves and our children – can really affect our health and the health of the planet,” she says.

In 2007, Sarnoff, formerly a fashion journalist and marketing consultant, founded EcoStiletto, a popular website that offers green fashion, beauty and lifestyle advice. She currently serves as the interim executive director of the nonprofit Healthy Child Healthy World that aims to protect children from harmful chemicals.

Based in Los Angeles, the mother of three children, ages four to 12, also writes a personal blog MommyGreenest to share her eco-friendly parenting tips.

Miyoko Sakashita Defends Sea Otters, Coral Reefs

As a senior attorney and oceans program director for the Center for Biological Diversity, Miyoko Sakashita works to protect oceans and marine life from overfishing, climate change and habitat destruction.

“I have a lot of cool clients: sea otters, coral reefs and whales,” Miyoko Sakashita says.

The Oakland mother of two is a senior attorney and oceans program director for the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit that seeks to conserve threatened wildlife and habitats. In the year since the BP oil spill, Sakashita has been advocating for offshore drilling regulatory reform to ensure oil companies are complying with environmental and safety laws. Because of scientists’ warnings that coral reefs may disappear in a few decades, she will be starting a campaign to petition the government to protect reefs under the Endangered Species Act.

Sakashita enjoys taking her two sons, both under three years, to the beach to show them the animals she is helping to protect.

“Having kids instilled in me an interest in having them grow up to be responsible towards the environment,” she says. “I want them to learn that the choices they make will impact the environment.”

Paige Wolf wrote a guidebook to help other parents navigate through all the conflicting information about eco-parenting.

Paige Wolf Gets Over Her Green Guilt

Paige Wolf, who owns a public relations firm in Philadelphia, didn’t think about sustainability until she saw the films “An Inconvenient Truth” and “11th Hour.”

Inspired, she made changes in her personal life and gradually transitioned her business to serve only eco- or civic-minded clients, such as nonprofits and green beauty companies.

When she became pregnant with Sam, her now 20-month-old son, she says became hyper-aware of –and then overwhelmed by – the environmental issues affecting her and her unborn son’s health.

“You hear things on the news and the Internet and when you’re talking to other moms: flame retardants in pajamas, BPA in baby bottles, phthalates in what he is (her son) chewing on…you’re completely responsible for this tiny life, and even though you can’t be perfect, you want to do the best you can,” Wolf says.

Wolf decided to help other parents on the verge of a “green nervous breakdown” by writing the book, “Spit That Out! The Overly Informed Parent’s Guide to Raising Children in the Age of Environmental Guilt.”

Published last year, the book compiles expert advice on issues from lead in toys to the debate on cloth vs. disposable diapers. She blogs about going green without going crazy on Spit That Out! The Blog.

Waste-Free Parties with Suzanne Bertani

A “pin the leaf on the tree” game, reusable cloth goodie bags and compostable tableware – these are just a few of the elements that Suzanne Bertani believes can make a child’s birthday party both eco-friendly and fun.

Suzanne Bertani runs the online store Green Planet Parties that offers reusable, compostable, non-toxic and locally-made party supplies for children's birthdays, weddings and other large events.

Becoming a parent piqued Bertani’s interest in environmental issues, and she started a blog, MommyFootprint, to explore the effect of chemicals on children’s health.

After receiving an overwhelmingly positive response from parents and guests on green birthday parties she planned for her kids, she and another mother launched Green Planet Parties, an online store for eco-friendly party supplies in 2008.

Based in Port Moody, Canada, outside of Vancouver, Green Planet Parties strives to be a one-stop shop for children’s parties and large events and is expanding its selection of green products for weddings and showers.

Now running the business solo, the mother of four children, ages five to nine, says that her store is unique because all of its products are reusable or biodegradable, non-toxic and made in North America.

“Our ‘happy birthday’ banners are very popular,” she says. “They are handmade locally by stay-at-home moms and are heirloom quality, so they can be used again and again. They’re very different than the plastic banner you can buy at the local dollar store that you’ll use once and can’t recycle.”