Catherine Zandonella of West Windsor presents a family-friendly book-signing at Barnes & Noble on Thursday, April 22, at 7 p.m. in honor of Earth Day. Her new book, aimed at helping families live a greener lifestyle, “Green Guide Families: The Complete Reference for Eco-friendly Parents,” is published by National Geographic Books.
“Addressing the key environmental issues faced by parents of young children today, this book takes a straightforward approach to such urgent concerns as toxic metals in toys, safe and non-toxic sun protection, safer and eco-friendly ways care for our homes and yards, and how to host eco-friendly birthday parties and holidays,” Zandonella says.
“I always wanted to be a writer but my family encouraged the study of science,” she says. “I have been able to combine these two loves by writing about science for magazines, and now, the book “Green Guide Families.”
As a science journalist who covers topics from environmental health and toxicology to biomedical research and technology, she is science editor of National Geographic Green Guide since 2002. Born in Santa Monica, California, she was raised in Fullerton, in northern Orange County. Her father was an electronics technician who maintained flight training simulators for a major airline and her mother was a nurse. “My parents encouraged me and my siblings to study science or engineering,” she says. “My interest in science was spurred by an excellent high school biology teacher, who taught me to think about biology in terms of living systems rather than just facts to be memorized.”
“I wanted to study environmental science in college but at that time, environmental science did not seem to afford many career opportunities,” she says. “Instead I studied pharmacology, but I took the environmental courses that were offered.”
She received a bachelor’s degree in pharmacology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a master’s degree in public health with an emphasis on environmental toxicology from the University of California, Berkeley. She also studied science writing at the University of California, Santa Cruz’s science writing program. Her experience as a research associate in a biotechnology company gave her insight into the process of scientific discovery, allowing her to bring a deeper understanding to her coverage of science research. Zandonella also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Lesotho, in southern Africa, where she taught high school math and science for two years. “The experience of living in a rural village that lacked electricity and paved roads shaped my desire to better the livelihoods of people and improve the planet through my writing,” she says.
She met her husband, Richard Fanta, in San Francisco when she was a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, and he was working at a software company during the “dot-com” heyday. He was transferred to New York City in 2002 and they moved first to Brooklyn where they lived for three years and where their twins were born. The twins, Benjamin and Marie Fanta, 8 (next week), are in second grade at Maurice Hawk School.
When they decided to move to New Jersey they researched various communities. “We were drawn to West Windsor by the quiet, family-oriented nature of the community,” she says. “We especially enjoy the ability to buy fresh produce from family-owned farms.”
Her husband, who works in information technology at an investment bank, bikes to the train station nearly every day of the year, including in the rain and snow. “He introduced our family to the practice of composting, which helps us reduce the amount of garbage sent to landfills while creating some excellent soil for our garden,” she says.
You can bet that the Zandonella-Fanta household has been well-vetted for environmental hazards. As Zandonella writes in “Green Guide Families:” “Kids need our protection, and protect we do. Yet some of the biggest threats to our children get little attention at all and are featured on few television commercials. In fact, many parents have heard little about them. These are threats such as chemicals in our household products, furnishings, and air, both indoors and out. We all know that pesticides are deadly, and we would never leave rat poison on the counter where a child could reach it. But we continue to spray weed-killer on our lawns where our kids play.
“Wouldn’t it be better if we went through our homes and eliminated these chemicals before they could harm our children? The steps we take to make our homes healthful and safe for our children are the same steps that clean up and preserve our larger home, Earth.
“When making decisions about our children’s health — and we parents make hundreds of these decisions each month — we need to ask ourselves two questions: Is this product safe and healthy for my child? And, Is this safe and healthy for the planet? The two questions go hand in hand.”
Author Event, Barnes & Noble, MarketFair, West Windsor. Thursday, April 22, 7 p.m. Catherine Zandonella, a West Windsor resident and author of “Green Guide Families,” presents fun ways to get children to think green and live a green lifestyle. 609-716-1570. www.bn.com.
