As a child, I was horribly allergic to a number of laundry detergents. Every laundry detergent my parents would switch to would end up causing the same reaction with my skin–I would break out in horrendous rashes that would itch like crazy so I’d of course scratch, being a child who didn’t know better, which would then result in more irritation and even bleeding and scarring. It was not a pretty picture in the least. Coming from a family who all have their own skin issues, it wasn’t really a surprise to find out that I had (and still have) very sensitive skin and cannot come into contact with most conventional laundry detergents.
Back in the day, you couldn’t find eco detergents; they just weren’t readily available, but luckily, enough people have hopped on the green wagon for companies to pay attention and to start offering more eco detergent options.
Every year in the US alone, more than 25,000 children have accidents involving chlorine bleach and the fragrances and ammonia in conventional detergents trigger allergies, asthma and severely irritate sensitive skin, just like mine! Eco detergents, of course, also help out our environments. Typical laundry detergents contain phosphates and they usually end up in our rives and lakes, causing harm to aquatic life which is really sad and unnecessary.
Try These Eco Detergents:
Method Baby Laundry Detergent: Coconut oil-based, biodegradable soap; triple concentrate means you need less. — $12.99/32 loads
Maggie’s Soap Nuts: Made from dried fruit nuts of the Chinese Soapberry tree; biodegradable, hypoallergenic; natural fabric softener. — $9.99/36 loads
Seventh Generation 2x Liquid Laundry Detergent: Concentrated and biodegradable liquid; Kosher certified; not tested on animals; available in Blue Eucalyptus & Lavender, White Flower & Bergamot Citrus and Free & Clear (unscented). — $30/pack of two 50oz bottles
Mrs. Meyers’ Clean Day Baby Blossom Dryer Sheets: Vegetable-based softener, biodegradable paper sheets — $12/80 sheets
Try This Eco Laundry Tip:
Instead of fabric softener, use half a cup of baking soda or white vinegar in the rinse cycle. You can also use a half a cup of baking soda (plus detergent) in the wash to brighten and whiten your clothes; works especially well for all those really old and ratty t-shirts and night shirts you refuse to throw away; this way you can give them some new life.
When we’re baking, sweetening our coffee or tea, or even sprinkling our morning cereal, it’s very easy to reach for the big bag of regular sugar we have sitting in the cupboard. Even when you’re shopping for sugar, it is much easier to find the big, five-pound bags of sugar rather than even realize there is an organic option available.
Organic sugar has many benefits:
- Organic sugar doesn’t have any harsh side effects on the planet. A potent herbicide commonly used on sugarcane crops is Paraquat. While it is still legal for restricted use in the United States, it has been banned by the European Union since 2007.
- Organic sugar contains no harsh chemicals; for instance, it is completely free of ingredients like sucralose, which is made with chlorine and has been linked to digestive issues.
- Organic sugar is less processed than conventional sugar and it retains more moisture and molasses for a nice caramel-like taste.
Great organic-conscious companies you can trust:
Pest control isn’t always a simple task that can be remedied by yourself with store-bought products; especially if you live in an area of the country where pests are much more threatening than your average ant or household insect. But while pest control options are varied and easily available regardless of the region you live, pest control services rarely use a green approach to the job. While so many families are realizing the importance of going green and are taking small, and in some cases, big steps to reduce their family’s carbon footprint, families expect the services that they pay for to be as cautious as they are.
So while most pest control services are still turning a blind eye to going green, there is one company that has the same go-green mindset as you and your family and use that mindset for their pest control. They are available in many locations where their services are needed most.
Alpha Ecological cares about the environment and they care about the products that they use in your home, workplace and other areas where their services are needed. For more than 20 years, they been ridding pests from areas where you don’t want to see them and they are using a more sophisticated and scientific approach than other, traditional exterminators; they take advantage of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). They use green pest control solutions to eliminate pests and also reduce your exposure to pest control products; they correct conducive conditions, mechanical or pesticide-free items such as traps and general pest-proofing materials such as screens, caulking and door sweeps.
Alpha Ecological most definitely stands on their own when it comes to effectively integrating IPM into the lives of their customers and provide their customers with the highest level of service quality and care. Their services are available in several locations, including:
- Portland, Oregon
- Medford, Oregon
- Eugene, Oregon
- Bend, Oregon
- Salem, Oregon
- Seattle, Washington
- Tacoma, Washington
- Vancouver, Washington
- Olympia, Washington
- Boise, Idaho
- Denver, Colorado
- Phoenix, Arizona
- Tucson, Arizona
- Dallas, Texas
So what’s bugging you? If you come across a pest that you don’t know of or can’t identify, Alpha Ecological’s website contains a full pest library to help you identify the exact pest that is bugging you and your family.
Conventional juice boxes are often deceiving; a great deal of them do not even contain actual juice! Start giving your kids the real stuff–Real juice, no secret chemicals, and you still get to keep your convenient, no-spill, perfect-serving boxes!
Organic juice boxes do a children’s body good, just a six ounce organic juice box equals one daily serving of fruit for kids from one to six years old. Organic juice boxes are definitely much better than conventional fakes that are often marketed to you and your kids, so it’s definitely worth looking into them! Juice boxes are also 100% recyclable, so don’t forget to recycle!
There are a lot of organic juice boxes to choose from, but two brands to get you started are R.W. Knudsen and Apple & Eve.
There was a lot of talk about going green and saving the planet for Earth Day, but it isn’t just important to make an effort or worse, talk about making an effort for Earth Day; to truly make an impact on the world we live in, we need to continue to talk about the importance of going green far after Earth Day has come and gone.
There are ten easy steps we can take to make our planet a little healthier.
Education
We all know that knowledge is power and when you have all of the facts about what poor shape Mother Nature is in and the threat global warming has over all of us, you have a deeper understanding of what you need to do in order to do your part to help.
Create Awareness
Now that you have spent some time (or a lot of time) researching the facts of global warming, energy consumption, pollution, and everything else that has had an impact on the planet, it is time to spread the knowledge you’ve acquired. Tell friends, family members, and even complete strangers about what you know to be the truth about this global epidemic and they will follow suit with their concern and spread the word.
Recycle
Recycling is one of the best (and easiest) ways to do your part in helping the planet. Recycling reduces the amount of garbage that winds up in landfills, reduces carbon emissions by reducing manufacturing and transportation emissions and allows our planet’s natural resources to be more evenly distributed among everyone in the world.
Politics are Key
We need our government to get behind going green. By getting involved in politics, you can see first hand who the people working for you are and if they share your sentiments about going green. It is very important to vote; vote for politicians who share the same values as you do and don’t be fooled–Voting is important and every vote counts. Voting is what we have to make our voices heard and by voting, you are screaming from the rooftops that you care about the green movement and it is a requirement for our elected officials to feel the same way.
Get Your Bicycle Out
Carbon emissions from vehicles are one of the leading causes of global warming. By driving less, you are not only helping the environment, but it also saves you money and improves your health because if you are not driving a vehicle, you can try walking, bicycling, using public transportation, and carpooling.
Turn Off & Unplug Your Appliances
When your appliances, such as your lights, computers, televisions, toasters, microwaves, coffee pots, etc. are not in use, turn them off and unplug them. When your appliances are left on and plugged in, they are still emitting electricity which also makes your electric bill skyrocket.
Electrolux and eco-mom Kelly Ripa have teamed up to introduce an eco-friendly front-load washer and dryer in a new, limited edition shade just in time for Earth day, inspired by the great outdoors and Kelly Ripa herself–”Kelly Green.”
In celebration of Earth day, Electrolux is not only rolling out this new shade, but they have also kicked off their virtual flower garden campaign to drive awareness and raise funds for Global Green USA. Go to electroluxappliances.com and plant a virtual flower for a friend; for every flower that is planed, Electrolux will donate $1 to Global Green USA to support their green school initiatives across the country. Not only will you be helping Electrolux help Global Green USA, but for every person who plans a virtual flower will also be automatically entered for a chance to win a new eco-friendly Kelly Green front-load washer and dryer!
Mom Central is also running a giveaway, giving members of their community the chance to win a Kelly Green washer and dryer. To win the Electrolux washer and dryer from Mom Central, visit their website, tell them what flower you planed on Electrolux’s website, and share one of your own laundry tips for saving time and energy. Mom Central will pick one lucky winner in a random drawing from all entries received.
There are different ways for people to help the environment as well as people in need that many people don’t know about. We wrote an article on how to donate and recycle your old mattresses and the response from that post was great because there were many people that didn’t know what to do with their old mattresses.
Another great way to cut back on the amount of waste that ends up in our landfills and not only that, but also help a great amount of people in need is to donate your old glasses. Your old, out of date, mildly misshapen frames can be donated to people who can’t afford or who would otherwise not be able to see their best—Because of you and your donations, you will be giving people the gift of sight.
You can donate your old glasses at most local eye facilities–Drop off old prescription or nonprescription glasses at your local Lions Club, LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Sears, Target, or BJ’s Optical store. You can also mail in your old glasses.
What did you do with your last mattress after you bought a new one? Haul it out to the trash and let the garbage truck take it away to a landfill? If you’re like most people, then you did and when most people are throwing away their mattresses, landfills are filling up with everyone’s dirty mattresses. About 20 million mattresses are thrown away every year just in the United States and for every 10,000 people that either donate or recycle their mattresses, it would save eight feed of landfill space–An entire American football field.
In some places, throwing out your mattress is illegal requiring people to donate their mattresses where recyclers can separate the fiber, foam, steel, and wood for remanufacturing and can make new mattresses.
There are a few options for you if you’re looking to get rid of a mattress. You can either donate it to either a crisis center, halfway house, Craig’s List or Freecycle. Make sure you clean your mattress before donating it! For instructions on how to properly clean a mattress, check out Instructables.
To recycle your old mattress, go to Earth 911, type in “mattress” in the start recycling “what do you have?” field and your zip code in the “where are you?” field for a recycling drop off sight near you.
Ideally, everyone would be eating the freshest and safest foods possible–Everyone would be eating 100% organically, however, budgets are tight and a great deal of people simply cannot afford to purchase a great deal of organic foods. That’s completely understandable, I can’t afford to eat all organically, but it is important to make sure you’re purchasing some organic foods, mainly produce.
Produce, as many may know, contains a great deal of pesticides if not grown organically and more than 80% of the most common pesticides are potentially carcinogenic, meaning that they contain an agent directly involved in the promotion of cancer or in the increase of its propagation. Scary, right? I know! Luckily, the Environmental Working Group has put together a downloadable wallet guide containing the worst and best produce, in terms of pesticide levels.
For your immediate attention, here is a list of the top 10 produce you should most definitely be buying organic, every time.
1. Peaches – pesticide load: 100
2. Apples – pesticide load: 96
3. Bell Peppers – pesticide load: 86
4. Celery – pesticide load: 85
5. Nectarines – pesticide load: 84
6. Strawberries – pesticide load: 83
7. Cherries – pesticide load: 75
8. Lettuce – pesticide load: 69
9. Grapes (imported) – pesticide load: 68
10. Pears – pesticide load: 65
But can’t you just wash or peel your produce to get rid of pesticides?
While you may think that washing or peeling your produce can effectively remove pesticides from your food, the truth is that while these tactics may reduce levels of some pesticides, it does not eliminate them. The best option is to eat a varied diet, wash all produce, and choose organic when possible to reduce exposure to potentially harmful chemicals.
Every month or so the Crunchy Domestic Goddess issues a challenge to all of us who want to make a better effort at going green. For the months of September and October, she is asking us all to ditch the disposables.
This challenge focuses on every day items that we use and then mindlessly throw in the garbage. Every week when we take out or garbage, it is picked up by the garbage truck and hauled off to a landfill or whatever method your community uses to get rid of its population’s trash. As we all are aware of, the Earth needs our help as global warming is upon us and our Earth is suffocating, shriveling up and dying at rapid speeds. It will continue to do this is we, the people of this planet, do not make conscious efforts each and every day to reduce the amount of waste we put out there.
Think of the every day items you use that you could easily do away with and start using the reusable alternatives. You could ditch your paper napkins and towels to cloth napkins and towels, tissues to handkerchiefs, disposable water bottles (think of how much bottled water a household or person can go through) for reusable bottles or cups with lids; on that same note, you can reuse the same water bottle, thus eliminating the amount of your waste long-term. You could also ditch your plastic sandwich bags and paper bags for reusable containers and bags. If you’re using disposable diapers you could switch to cloth diapers; a lot of different companies have started making excellent cloth diapers.
Another great reusable alternative women should seek out are reusable menstrual products. I have personally done away with disposable pads and tampons and started using reusable products. The reason for this is because I have had minor kidney infections that have caused frequent urinary tract and yeast infections. All the women out there know that this is not fun! After doing some research on minor things I should be doing to keep my reproductive organs the healthiest they can be I found some very troubling information about disposable menstrual products. Standard pads and tampons (made by men, I should point out) contain synthetic fibers and bleach, both of which can cause infections. I then did some research on reusable alternatives and found quite a few great alternatives. For women who use pads, I could not recommend Lunapads enough. I have been using their pads for about a year now and couldn’t be happier. They are made with fleece and cotton, they use cute fabrics so even while you have your period you can feel cute and match your outfit with your pad and they are oh so comfortable. Just a simple machine wash (or hand wash, I hand wash mine and have found it to be a great way to bond with my body during my menstrual cycle and further understand the functions of my body) and an air dry and they’re ready to go again! Lunapads also makes the Diva Cup, a reusable tampon alternative. Other pad and tampon alternatives you could check out are The Keeper and The Moon Cup, Glad Rags, Pretty Pads and New Moon Pads.
So what disposables do you think you could live without for the next two months? Have you already eliminated disposables from your household? Tell us about them!
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