In our dream life, we’re the kind of person who can be showered, dressed and ready in 15 minutes. Our lifelong enslavement to the blow dryer prevented that dream from coming true. Recently, however, we’ve (pardon the pun) cut the cord on that relationship and it made us wonder if there were other ways we could rethink our grooming habits to make them more eco-friendly…
- Cut out the blow dryer: Rethink your hair style so that air drying’s an option. We splurged on a pricey hair procedure called the Brazilian Blowout. What we paid out in cash we’ve more than made up for in time and energy saved (no more 45 minute blow outs to tax our patience and the power grid).
- Shorten your showers: Do you really need to take a half hour hot shower? Use a timer, take a Navy shower or install a pause button so you can turn off the water while you soap up or lather your hair. You might also consider showering less often, especially in the winter when the water will rinse off the natural oils that keep your skin and hair from drying out.
- Hair removal: Pamper yourself with a real shave; use a real razor and tub soap instead of foam and eliminate the need for disposable razors, have your legs waxed or wax them yourself. I use a old fashioned safety razor, blades have cost me about .75 a year!
- It’s that time: Yes, even the most intimate grooming rituals can been greened.
- Nails: Instead of polish, try having your nails buffed to a high sheen. It’s healthier for you and for the environment.
- Toothpaste: Try a natural toothpaste like Tom’s or go the simplest route and try baking soda.
- Change your grooming products: Instead of chemically laden products, try organic ones, including organic makeup; instead of pricey creams and masques, look into products you can make from the ingredients in your refrigerator or pantry. Look at the ingredients in your shampoo and conditioner.
Here’s a link to my articles on Going Green with cosmetics and beauty care products, and my recommendations.
Also, here is my recipe for skin cleanser; it’s all natural, no chemicals, doesn’t strip your skin of essential oils and leaves it moist (honey is a humectant, it draws moisture to your skin.) The baking soda is both a fruit acid and an exfolient.
Millie’s Skin Cleanser
3 cup water
2 cups baking soda
1/2 teaspoon almond oil
2 drops lavender essential oil
1 ½ cup honey
1 Tbsp. Dr. Bonners Almond liquid soap
1/2 teaspoon vegetable glycerin
1 teaspoon ascorbic acid powder
1 teaspoon Salicylic acid
3 Tablespoons Xantham gum
On low heat, combing all ingredients except honey. Remove from heat and let cool. Add honey. Apply to the skin like a soap and rinse off with tepid water.
[image: Helga's Lobster Stew's Flickr with a Creative Commons License]
I use soapnuts and love them, they come in a cloth bag (no plastic!) and work really well and are non-toxic.
There are a ton of amazing things about soap nuts.
They are 100%, totally natural. They are organically grown and are free of harsh chemicals, so they are incredibly gentle on clothes AND skin. They are especially great for those with sensitive skin — including babies and those that suffer from allergies, eczema, and psoriasis! They’re totally biodegradable, so they’re better for the environment than regular detergent, and they’re antimicrobial, so they’re even good for septic and greywater systems
From Fake Plastic Fish;
Have you ever done your laundry with soapnuts or been curious to find out how they work? Soapnuts grow on a tree called Sapindus mukorossi (Chinese Soapberry) and contain saponin, a natural surfactant which foams just like soap. I’ve wanted to try soapnuts since I first spotted them in a natural grocery store a couple of years ago but have always been deterred by the plastic in the packaging. Although they are imported, the idea of using a laundry soap that contains only one, minimally-processed natural ingredient (the soapnuts are harvested, de-seeded, and sun-dried) appealed to me.
Soapnuts only release their saponin in warm or hot water. I wash in cold to save energy. But never fear, there is an easy solution. Mix up a batch of Soapnuts Soak by bringing a pot of water to a boil, removing it from the heat, tossing in 6-8 soapnuts, and letting them sit covered over night. In the morning, strain into a couple of glass jars. The used soapnuts can go in the compost. Use 1/4 to 1/2 cup per laundry load.
http://www.lullwaterbrands.com/
By the way, I’ve noticed that another major distributor of soapnuts is now selling a liquid version in plastic bottles. Look how easy it is to make without the plastic. Easy as boiling water. Of course, if you’re like me and forget about pots on the stove, this procedure might not be as easy as it is for most. Still, I can deal. Because one batch of Soapnut Soak will do at least 8 loads of laundry. You can also use it for cleaning, windows, soaking jewelry and then polishing.
So, after adding the Soapnut Soak to my cold water load of light colors, and watching in amazement at the amount of foamy bubbles produced, I felt compelled to sniff every item as it came out of the washing machine. And you know what? They just smelled clean. Fresh. That’s the only way I can describe the scent. It was nothing like the smell of the soapnuts.
Some people prefer to add scent to their laundry, and to that end, you can add a few drops of essential oils. For me, the oils were completely unnecessary. I like my clean to smell like clean.
1. Bring a reusable bag wherever you go. Excess bags just add to the landfill and you don’t need them in the first place. There’s no reason not to do this.
2. Ditch the processed food. It takes unnecessary energy to produce it, as well as tons of packaging.
3. Make your own cleaning products. Cleaning products (even eco-friendly varieties) often come in plastic bottles and they are trucked in from who knows where wasting tons of fossil fuels. I use baking soda and vinegar to clean with, buy Soap Nuts to do laundry with (many health foods stores sell them) and use organic dish soap.
4. 
Calculate your water footprint. How can you know where you need to cut water usage if you don’t know how much you’re using and where you’re using it? Use very low flow shower heads. Hardware stores have a 1.5 GPM with a shut-off valve.
5. Don’t drink milk. Livestock consumes much of the land on the planet, whether for meat or dairy, and creates literally tons and tons of pollution, estimates are in the 1/5th of all greenhouse gases range.
6. Wear less makeup. Using less makeup will save us on resources and money, and you’ll look better too. Or buy all organic, with minimal packaging.
7. 
Drink NO bottled water. The U.S. sends two million tons of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottled water packaging to the landfill each year. Just drink the tap. I have never pchased bottled water, it’s easy to use a Kleen Kanteen or glass bottle.
8. Wash your clothes in cold water. About 90 percent of the energy used for washing clothes is for heating the water. Never use the dryer, there is no reason to waste the energy, indoor drying racks work great…and outdoor clotheslines.
9. Pass up eating lunch out, bring your own grub. Let me count the reasons why. There’s the immense shipping programs emitting harmful gases, the millions of tons of waste generated annually, and not to mention the total lack of nutritional value in fast food restaurant’s most popular menu items.
10) I use a non-disposable razor, an old-fashioned stainless steel, very high quality razor that uses double edged blades. It was 24.00 from ClassicShaving.com. The blades are 10 for 5.99, and they are double edged! They give the closest, smoothest shave you can imagine! No disposable blade can compare.
10. Skip Starbucks (for a LOT of reasons!) and brew your own coffee. Once we factor in the cost of the gourmet coffee and the cost of driving there, each time we brew a cup at home, we save about the equivalent of a gallon of gas.
11. Shut down your PC. If every American worker remembers to turn off their computer at night, the nation’s companies would prevent the release of 39,452 tons of carbon-dioxide emissions, save $4.7 million in utility costs, and reduce energy consumption by 54.3 million kilowatt-hours per day.
12. Skip the store bought cereal and eat organic eggs and turkey bacon for breakfast, it’s way healthier. Cereal usually comes in a plastic bag within a cardboard box that all gets thrown away at least once a week if not more. Better yet, skip all grains entirely, they aren’t healthy, are all empty carbs.
13. Grow some of your own food. This way you don’t have to buy it and it’s about as local as possible.
14. Add insulation to your attic. The Rocky Mountain Institute estimates it will save you 2,142 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions–through the heat your home retains in winter and doesn’t gain in the summer–and hundreds of dollars in lower energy bills.
Don’t Let Kellogg’s Buy Scientists: Froot Loops Aren’t a Healthy Breakfast
Send a letter today and tell all four doctors supporting the Smart Choices program to stop shilling for Kellogg’s. They, and the leaders of their respective institutions, need to hear that you think it is wrong for them to support any program that gives sugary cereals and other unhealthy foods a stamp of approval as healthy choices.
I bought one carton of this and fell in love with it. I haven’t had yogurt in 23 years.. I ate half the container and used the other part for a starter. I’m now on my third batch and it’s the best yet; sweet and tart perfectly balanced.
But if you don’t want to make it, Publix has it and so does Grassroots, in 5 Points.
- Dairy Free / Lactose Free
- Soy Free
- Gluten Free
- Rich in Medium Chain Fatty Acids
- Excellent Source of Vitamin B12 (vegetarian friendly)
- Formulated for Maximum Calcium Absorption
- Contains Pre- and Probiotics for Enhanced Intestinal Health
- Cholesterol Free
- No Trans Fats
- Certified Vegan
A landmark paper from the Vitamin D Council asserts that a form of vitamin A, retinoic acid, can block the activity of vitamin D by weakly activating the vitamin D response element on genes. Since vitamin D levels are crucial for human health, that means it is essential to have the proper ratio of vitamin D to vitamin A in your body.
This means that vitamin A supplementation is potentially dangerous. Vitamin A production is tightly controlled in your body, the source (substrate) being carotenoids from vegetables in your intestine. Your body uses these carotenoid substrates to make exactly the right amount of retinol. But when you take vitamin A as retinol directly, such as in cod liver oil, you intervene in this closed system and bypass the controls.
The goal is to provide all the vitamin A and vitamin D substrate your body would have obtained in a natural state, so your body can regulate both systems naturally. This is best done by eating grass fed meat, raw butter from grass fed animals, free range chickens, meat stocks, colorful vegetables and by exposing your skin to sun every day. And throw out the sunscreen- it’s toxic!
Filed under: Environmental Issues, Food and it's Impact on Our Health, Non-Toxic Choices
Why many of our country’s best farmers will no longer even use the word
by Michael Pollan
Published in the July/August 2003 issue of Orion magazine
As a consumer who generally tries to do the right thing, I’ve always thought the decision to buy organic was a no-brainer. But in recent years organic has grown to include paradoxes such as the organic factory farm and the organic TV dinner. And now, there is even organic high-fructose corn syrup. We are not far from organic Coca-Cola.
Now these aren’t absolutely good or absolutely bad developments. As offensive a concept as organic high-fructose corn syrup may be, a product like organic Coke will sponsor a lot more organic acreage in this country. But this is certainly not what the founders of the organic movement had in mind.
It’s worth remembering what they did have in mind. There were three legs to the original organic dream. One was growing food in harmony with nature—a nonindustrial way of farming that treated animals humanely and did not use chemical pesticides. The second leg was that our system of food distribution should be different; food co-ops, farmer’s markets, and community supported agriculture could replace the national agricultural system. And the third leg was the food itself. We shouldn’t be eating red delicious apples; we should be eating ten different kinds of apples because biodiversity in the apple tart means biodiversity in the orchard.
For all sorts of reasons—some good, some mistaken—the organic community decided more than a decade ago that it needed federal recognition and regulations. Big companies wanted to sell organic products nationally, but they needed standard rules. And farmers thought that a standard label would give credibility to organic, which it did. But once we had an official federal organic standard, small farmers lost control of the niche.
Today the organic dream is in peril. In fact, many of the best farmers in this country no longer even use the word organic. The USDA developed a set of rules—and they got pesticides, hormones, and many drugs out of the system. All wonderful. But if you look at the new rules, that’s all they address. There is nothing written about the kind of food that may be called organic, or its distribution. There is no rule against high-fructose corn syrup. A myriad of synthetics are allowed in processed organic food. And we find ourselves with an organic transcontinental strawberry: 5 calories of food energy that use 435 calories of fossil-fuel energy to get to a supermarket near you. This is organic food forced through the industrial system, shorn of its holism. What has been lost is that one key insight about organic: that everything is connected. The organic dream has been reduced to a farming method.
The way we spend our food dollars is one of the most important votes we cast, and the choice we consumers are increasingly going to be faced with is not organic or conventional, but local or organic. I come down on the side of local. When you buy local, you’re voting for a short, highly legible food chain—one that supports all three legs of the original vision. This shorter food chain brings the consumer and producer together, and the producer gets to tell her story. Organic label or not, it had better be a good story: clean food, grown without pesticides, the animals being treated humanely. Another reason to buy local is that farms produce more than food—they produce a kind of landscape too, which your food dollars help to conserve.
The lesson to be learned is that consumers of all kinds, but especially eaters, are producers in the most important sense. With every food purchasing decision, we are helping to create the world we want to live in, one bite at a time.
Filed under: Environmental Issues, Food and it's Impact on Our Health, Non-Toxic Choices
Green-living blogs, including mine, espouse the benefits of eating organic foods, but skeptics remain. While there are conflicting reports about whether organics offer more nutritional value than non-organic foods, there’s no doubt organic farming is better for human health, local wildlife and the planet in general.
There’s a picture that has been branded on my brain: A farm worker spraying fields with pesticides; he’s wearing a contamination suit and a gas mask. I remember being shocked when I first saw the image. I associated that sort of get-up with highly contagious viruses and industrial chemical leaks—not food.
- Waterways aren’t contaminated by chemical run-off from farms.
- Pesticide-related health risks to farm workers (and anyone living in the area) are eliminated.
- You will dramatically reduce the amount of pesticide residue you ingest on a daily basis. Pesticides ingested by pregnant women may be linked to birth defects and health issues.
- Biodiversity is increased with the use of buffer crops, and by avoiding killing or harming insects and other wildlife that is not a threat to crops.
- Pesticides are responsible for a staggering amount of greenhouse gas emissions.
- You can avoid eating any genetically modified foods.
- Reduced reliance on chemical and agri-engineering corporations is good for farmers.
- Organic farming is healthier for the soil.
- Organic dairy cows are not injected with milk-boosting hormones such as recombinant bovine somatotrophin (rBST)—which may increase insulin levels in humans.
- Organics taste better. It’s just my humble opinion, but I’ve noticed a difference in the taste of strawberries, peaches, grapes and leafy greens, so if you’re still skeptical, I dare you to put your faith in conventionally grown foods to the test.
Cara Smusiak writes on behalf of Naturally Savvy.com about how to live a more natural, organic and green lifestyle.
From Green Options
By Jennifer Lance • October 17, 2007
When baby is born, it is so pure and natural, yet will soon be exposed to all of the harsh chemicals of the modern world. It is true that babies are exposed to some toxins in utero and through breastmilk, but this exposure is limited and mostly out of the control of parents. What is in the control of new parents are the kind of products they use on their baby, and of course, green products are better for baby.
As a new parent, I was very concerned about swaddling my newborn in synthetic, petroleum-based polyester blankets. Conventionally grown cotton baby blankets are not much better, as they are grown and produced with pesticides and chemicals. The solution: organically grown baby blankets. Unfortunately, six years ago the only organic fiber blanket I could find was a dull green color and unattractive. Today, babies can be swaddled in stylish, luxurious organic baby blankets by Robbie Adrian Luxury Organics, the perfect gift for baby.
After the recent barrage of recalls, many parents are looking for items made in the USA. Robbie Adrian Luxury Organics baby blankets are not only made in the USA, but the cotton used to make the fleece is also organically grown in the USA. The demand for non-food organic products is growing (27.5% in 2006), as people realize that it is not only the food we eat that comes into contact with our bodies. Robbie Adrian Luxury Organics are optimistic about this trend. Cofounder Susan Doris explains, "Part of our goal … is to help educate people about the impact on the environment from purchasing different fibers, and how they can really make a difference with what they buy."
Robbie Adrian Luxury Organics baby blankets are very beautiful and soft to the touch. The organically grown fleece is lined with silk, and worry-free for green parents. As cofounder Robbie Mahlman states, "Our blankets make green gorgeous." I can’t wait to give one to my new niece Tessa! All this green luxury comes at a price though, but as I have said before, sustainability is expensive in comparison to superstore shopping. The demand for cheap goods is one reason our environment is in its current condition.
What do you get for buying a sustainable company’s beautiful baby blanket? The company is honest in describing the green strengths and weakness of their product. They call this "baby steps" as they "try to run our business as sustainably as we can." The blankets are made of 100% certified organic cotton, grown in Texas, milled in South Carolina, and trimmed with natural silk. They are colored with low-impact, azo-free, non-heavy metal dyes. The company’s receipts are printed on seeded lotka paper, and all other paper products, such as hang-tags and stationary, are 100% post consumer fiber. The decorative tissue is handmade from kozo fiber. Robbie Adrian Luxury Organics uses plastic bags in packaging only when the destination expects wet weather. That is an awful lot of "baby steps," in my opinion!
There are a few areas the company identifies as needing sustainability improvement. Their labels are made from polyester fibers, because there are no US sources for woven cotton labels. The shipping boxes contain 55% recycled fiber content, rather than 100%. Furthermore, Robbie Adrian Luxury Organics would like to move from natural silk to "peace" silk. I have to admit, I had never heard of peace silk, even though I have taken many fiber arts classes. During conventional silk production, the silkworm is killed as it is boiled and the fiber unwound. Alternately, peace silk lets the moths emerge from their cocoons and complete their full life cycle before the silk fiber is removed. This product is rarely available for commercial uses.
You may not care about the life cycle of a silkworm, but Robbie Adrian Luxury Organics does, as they take "baby steps" towards combining sustainability, elegance, and beauty in their baby blankets. The company also cares about 15 pesticides used on cotton crops and their ecological impact. They care about providing green babies luxury, comfort, and health, something CEO Robbie Mahlman calls, "earth friendly elegance for discerning parents and their babies."
