#55 Fatal Conveniences™: Crayons: Safe or Toxic?
SuperLife with Darin Olien
Darin Olien
4.8 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 14 January 2021
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Everyone has fond childhood memories revolving around crayons. These colorful waxy sticks represent hours of creative fun. I was an avid coloring book fan, and I can't even tell you how many boxes of crayons I went through as a kid. No one wants to have these cherished memories tainted, but are crayons safe or toxic? And what are they doing to our planet?
Welcome to Fatal Conveniences™
This is a bite-sized segment that parallels The Darin Olien Show. In these segments, we get into society's Fatal Conveniences™. I define these as the things we may be doing because the world we live in makes us believe we have to. These things save us time and trick us into thinking they're actually good for us. But it's those same things that are breaking down our health, and the health of the environment around us.
I've spent most of my adult life obsessively researching these "conveniences." On every show, I pick one topic, and we dive into it. My goal is to make you more aware of these traps so that you can push back on them. Remember, it starts with you and the choices you make.
So, if you're willing to look at your world from a different perspective and make little tweaks that amount to big changes, then this segment is for you.
Between 45,000 and 75,000 lbs of broken crayons are discarded in US landfills every year.
This one is tough for me, because I really don't want to bash crayons. I love crayons! We all did. And I'm sure if you have kids, you have multiple boxes of these colorful things all over the house. So I'll just cut to the chase. Crayons consist of paraffin, which is a petroleum, crude oil by-product. And lab tests show some crayon brands are full of toxins like lead and even asbestos.
In this segment, I break down the uncomfortable truths about this kid-favorite drawing tool. It's not just our kids we need to worry about. Unfortunately, these things are ending up in our landfills and waterways. But it's not all bad news. Some brands are safer than others. Like most things, the cheaper it is, the more toxic it probably is. Thankfully, there are plenty of environmentally friendly, safe alternatives. And I'll be sure to give you plenty of resources to find those as well. So don't worry guys, you don't have to hide those coloring books. Let's just make a conscious effort to be aware of what's in our kids' favorite crafting supplies.
Other info in this segment:
- The history of Crayons
- The history of Crayola
- Why are these toxins allowed in kid products?
- Crayons and the planet
- Safe alternatives
Links & Resources:
Major Brands of Crayons Contain Asbestos
Warning After Asbestos Found in Crayons
Toys R' Us and Other Retailers Remove Crayons
The Efforts Crayola is Making to Improve
Crazy Crayons - The National Crayon Recycling Program
The Best Non-Toxic Crayons for Your Kids
Netflix' Down To Earth' Official Trailer
Download my amazing new lifestyle app and get 3 days free at 121Tribe.com
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's that time of the week for another fatal convenience. |
| 0:06.0 | This is a bite-sized segment that addresses some of society's fatal |
| 0:10.5 | conveniences and the steps you can take to avoid becoming a victim of them. |
| 0:16.1 | I define fatal conveniences as the things we may be doing because the world we live in |
| 0:26.2 | makes us believe we have to. Tap water, shampoo, sunglasses, food. |
| 0:29.0 | I dive into the hidden truths behind some of our everyday choices that could not only be |
| 0:35.3 | harming us but even killing us. So let's dive in. |
| 0:39.7 | Hey everybody welcome to the show how's going how are you navigating this world right now it is a crazy |
| 0:49.3 | weird time you know I'm just grateful at this point that I have a free place to speak and |
| 0:58.9 | share with you. Even though I'm not getting into the big topics because you have enough of that |
| 1:05.1 | information hitting you I'm getting into those things that continue to move you forward |
| 1:09.1 | to empower you to enlighten you to relieve you of stress and strain that may be invisible to you as you move |
| 1:19.0 | through this world and that's something you can do on a day-to-day basis to empower you. |
| 1:24.4 | That is my focus and my reason for fatal conveniences. |
| 1:28.8 | Now this one is centered around parents and children and it is one of our most famous and well-used |
| 1:40.7 | ways of expressing ourselves as children, then this next fatal convenience is crayons. |
| 1:48.3 | Yes, crayons. |
| 1:50.1 | And you're thinking yourself, oh shit, what is is Darren gonna say about crayons? |
| 1:55.3 | Well there's some great history here with crayons but I'm just gonna cut right down to it. |
| 2:01.9 | There's some toxins and the crans primarily are made from |
| 2:07.4 | paraffin which is a byproduct of petroleum. Okay? |
| 2:13.0 | So I cut right down to it. |
... |
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