First Kayak of the Season!

Despite the long and unusually cold Seattle winter, summer has finally arrived. Today was a beautiful day for a kayak. In just a short loop, we saw three blue herons, more turtles than I can count, and tons of baby ducks. We also picked up a lot of litter in this beautiful lagoon (a huge plastic bag, three beer cans and a few cigarette butts). It prompted me to look up this article I remembered seeing a few years ago about the environmental impact that even a single cigarette butt can have on such a fragile ecosystem. 

This is some great information from a website in Australia:

Some of the environmental impacts of cigarette butts: 

When it rains, cigarette butts lying in our streets and gutters are carried via stormwater directly into our harbours, beaches and rivers.  The chemicals contained in these butts and the butts themselves impact on our water quality and can be deadly to marine life.

Flicked butts can cause fires. When thrown from a motor vehicle into dried grass, butts can start a grassfire or even a bushfire. 

Cigarette butts can take up to 12 months to break down in freshwater and up to 5 uears to break down in seawater.

Littered butts seriously reduce the aesthetic quality of any environment.

Butts have been found in the stomachs of young birds, sea turtles and other marine creatures.

So what can you do?

Pick up litter when you see it (it's easy).

If you smoke and aren't ready to quit, make sure you use and ashtray or a garbage for your cigarette butts. If you're thinking about quitting, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW for free help. 

Gillian's Green Cleaning Product Guide

Many of you have asked for this and for those of you who haven’t – I’m sending it to you anyway because I care about you. Happy Belated Earth Day!

As you all know – I am a meticulous and frequent cleaner. Some might call it one of my favorite hobbies. Accordingly, Aaron and I have spent the last year or so “green-ing” all of our cleaning supplies. Our greening mission began not only out of our love for our planet – but also out of concern for our own health and for the health of our two cats. 

We have tried several different products in the past year in order to locate those that work as well or better than our original “chemical-laden” cleaners. We found it helpful to buy sample sizes of cleaners we weren’t sure about. When we couldn’t do that, if a cleaner did not work for us, we donated it to the local homeless shelter. 

We used the following criteria to select good green product:
• Efficacy
• Similar in price to old products
• No testing on animals
• Biodegradable
• Minimal packaging
• Fragrance free or natural fragrance sources

Below is our list of favorites – from kitchen cleaners to bathroom and carpet cleaners. You will be pleased to learn that most of these cleaners are not more expensive than the brand name chemical cleaners and many can now be found in chain grocery stores or drug stores. If you cannot find them there, look at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s.

Kitchen: 
• Dish soap – Mrs. Meyers Day Liquid Dish Soap (They have three scents made using essential oils – all are wonderful!)
• Dishwasher detergent – Seventh Generation Automatic Dishwasher Detergent (powder)– Don’t buy the liquid soaps for your dishwasher – most aren’t strong enough and will leave residue. 
• Countertops, etc. – Trader Joe’s Multi-Purpose Cleaner (Cedarwood & Sage – in a green bottle). GREAT multi-purpose cleaner. Can’t say enough about it. SUPER cheap too. 
• Hard wood floors – Mrs. Meyers Day All Purpose Cleaner (SUPER concentrated – just mix a tiny bit with water – works better than Swiffer products).

Bathroom: 
• Mirrors, countertops, anything else not listed – Trader Joe’s Multi-Purpose Cleaner (looks like it isn’t going to dry on the mirrors, but then dries with no streaks). 
• Sink/Bathtub/Shower – Mrs. Meyers Day Surface Scrub (also good for kitchen sink), and/or Mrs. Meyers Day Shower Cleaner.
• Toilet – Seventh Generation Natural Toilet Bowl Cleaner (Emerald Cypress and Fir).
• Any glass surfaces – Trader Joe’s Multi-Purpose Cleaner. Mrs. Meyers Day Shower Cleaner works well for these too.

Bedroom/Living: 
• Dusting – Method: Wood for Good (amazingly like pledge but SO much safer and better for us and the planet).
• Windows – Trader Joe’s Multi-Purpose Cleaner.
• Carpet/Pet Stains – Seventh Generation Natural Citrus Carpet Spot and Stain Remover (I NEVER thought we could go green on carpet cleaner with our cats around, but this works better than all of the non-green products I swore by!)

Laundry: 
• Detergent – Tons of options – We like Trader Joe’s or Meyer’s Day. Trader Joe's is very inexpensive. While Meyer's Day looks expense, it is highly concentrated. Hint – when you buy detergent, look at how many loads you get out of the bottle. Some times a small bottle will give you many more loads than a large carton (e.g., Meyer’s Day is $15, but gives you 64 loads…).
• Dryer Sheets – Again, Meyer’s Day. Can’t beat the smell and you can reuse them for several loads. 
• Bleach – If you have to have it, there are only a handful of brands that actually work. Aaron and I have found a lot of natural alternatives to bleach (e.g., when we found that apple cider vinegar with water will get rid of mold and mildew, etc.). You can also mix hydrogen peroxide with water (the chlorine is the really bad part). If you have you use bleach, Ecover Liquid Bleach is a pretty good one. Meyer’s Day has an ok alternative too (Oxygen Bleach Stain Remover). 

Personal Care (Dental/Make-Up/Hair): 
This category took me the longest by far to “green”. If you want to know how your current products stack up on the toxic list, check out this great website:http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/.
• Facial Care – 
o Wash: Dr. Bronners Tea Tree Soap (make sure you get the tea tree if you are using it on your face. I have sensitive skin and this has worked well for me. Not oily or greasy like some other “green” face washes and doesn’t feel like soap.) Burt’s Bees also makes some good facial soaps. FYI – for all of you who know I used to swear by Nutrogena – besides being filled with chemicals, they test on animals! ☹
o Acne: Just buy Tea Tree essential oil and put it right on the spot.
o Lotion: Burt’s Bees Radiance Day Cream (you just need a small amount – light and not too heavy, good for refining fine lines too.)
• Make Up – 
o Foundation/Powder: Mineral Fusion (brand available at whole foods) – I use their pressed powder, but they also make foundation and loose powder. All go on naturally, look natural are fragrance free and are much better for the earth than most drug store or department store brands. Almost any mineral brand of makeup will be “green” since they are made from natural minerals found in the earth. They are also less likely to make you break out.
o Eye Shadow, Blush and Mascara: Same – Mineral Fusion makes nice shades of eye shadow, Blush and actually makes a green mascara!
o Lips: I just use Burt’s Bees lip balm, but a number of green lipstick brands now exist (Zia, Mineral Fusion, and a few others – check online or look at PCC, Whole Foods or your local co-op).
o Perfume: Get rid of your perfumes now – chemicals in perfume can cause nerve and respiratory damage and have been linked to cancer. Many of these chemicals are the same as the chemicals in cigarettes. It is best to use products that are fragrance free or that have fragrance from essential oils or other natural sources. I use essential oils for perfumes – my favorites are: lavender, lemongrass and verbena. 
• Hair Care – 
o Shampoo/Conditioner – Trader Joe’s makes a great shampoo and conditioner. We also like Nature’s Gate and some of the lighter fragrance/organic brands by Alba. 
o Hair Spray: This is REALLY hard to find in “green” form – one of the better, but expensive brands is by Phyto (called Phytolaque). If you live in Seattle the salon 7 also makes a good organic hairspray. 
o Other Styling: I like the sculpting clay that the salon 7 makes. It’s natural and organic as well. 
o Color: If you live in Seattle – go to Mode Salon, the use all organic, bleach and chlorine free color. If you don’t live in Seattle, see if your city has an organic salon!
• Dental – Aaron and I like Tom’s of Maine – both their toothpaste (only the peppermint and spearmint flavors) and their dental floss. 
• Deodorant – Another tough category – I like the naturally scented Tom’s of Maine sensitive skin deodorant. Burt’s Bees makes a men’s deodorant (black packaging) that works well if you sweat a lot.
• Shaving Cream - Aaron has tried a number - Burt's Bees makes one, so does Tom's of Maine. Both seem fine

Hope these tips inspire you to start "greening" your cleaning. Whether you start one product at a time or go for a full make-over, anything you do will help our earth and make your home a healthier place for you, your kids and/or your pets to live!

If you find any good new products - email them my way.

Cheers to our health!