I think Kelly Rutherford, 40, is impossibly gorgeous and classy! I tune into Gossip Girl because of her! Her son, Hermes, is 2 and she is expecting her second child, a daughter, in June. She was recently featured in a fabulous new magazine called Positively Green in which she discussed how she keeps herself and her family healthy while also helping the environment. Below is an excerpt:

Any mother will tell you that the arrival of her first child changed her life. And one of the main changes new moms make is to go green. While Gossip Girl’s Kelly Rutherford was already somewhat green, the arrival of her son, Hermes, inspired her to kick things up a notch.

“I grew up in Newport Beach and New York and my mom always shopped at health food stores. We were allowed to have one box of cookies each week and we ate a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables,” says Kelly. This commitment to healthy eating is Kelly’s eco-foundation. “Lots of people will choose a more healthy diet in order to lose weight, but people should really be choosing to eat better for health reasons.”

Like so many women, Kelly’s preference for organic foods is twofold. First is her concern for the pesticides and insecticides that infiltrate and pollute our soil and water. Second is her wariness regarding the pesticides and preservatives that are in so much processed food. “As children, we’re born with healthy bodies and with so many diseases affecting people of all ages, we have to look at not just how to cure these diseases, but more importantly, we need to discover what is causing them.”

Kelly isn’t taking any chances with her 2 year old son, Hermes. “I was already eating well, recycling and doing my part to conserve, but when I became pregnant, my goal was to keep my body and my pregnancy as natural as possible. I stopped polishing my nails. I stopped wearing heels and I started just highlighting my hair. I also changed what I was eating to include more foods rich in iron, nutrients and minerals. We were already using products from Ecover and Seventh Generation so we weren’t introducing VOCs into our home when we cleaned.

When Hermes started eating solid food, Kelly and her husband Daniel would usually buy organic fruits and vegetables and puree everything for him. “When we couldn’t make his food, we also fed him Homemade Baby, Plum, and Tasty Baby,” says Kelly.

Around this time, Kelly and Daniel decided to remodel their Los Angeles home. They realized that this was the perfect opportunity to make their home more eco-friendly so they chose to use denim insulation, water filtration systems, no-VOC paints and high efficiency systems to reduce their home’s carbon footprint. In making decorating selections, Kelly has consistently chosen organic cotton mattresses, sheets and towels.

“We do what we can. We always take our own bags to stores and whenever we go to restaurants we either bring our own containers for leftovers, or we choose restaurants that have biodegradable to-go-boxes. We also have a Prius that we love.”

Kelly adds, “It’s all about awareness. If you don’t know why a product is bad and you don’t know what alternative is good, you can’t make the right choice. The more aware we become, the more we are able to make better choices. And even then, the reality is that it’s impossible to be perfect but without that first awareness, there’s no chance to progress.”

“Having moved so much lately, we’re taking a harder look at our “stuff” and asking, ‘Do we really need this?’ In addition to purchasing from responsible companies. we’ve worked on simply reducing our consumption,” says Kelly. But if companies aren’t making better products, consumers can’t buy them.

“I’d really love to see bio-degradable hair care products. We have a septic system so we’re cautious about the products that enter it and it’s hard to find some personal products. A lot of the time, I’ll just use organic baby products like California Baby Sunscreen and Dr. Hauschka’s bath and body lotions for babies for myself.” And when Kelly needs to be a style icon? “I love what eco-designers like Stella McCartney are doing. They’re proving that you can be green without sacrificing style.”

With every $14 subscription to Positively Green, $2 will be donated to the eco-charity of your choice!

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