Eco-friendly cleaning? How to do it without the “greenwashing”

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Eco-friendly cleaning? How to do it without the “greenwashing”

This is the second post in a 3-part series on green cleaning

A quick survey of store shelves these days will tell you that there are more options for purchasing “green” cleaning products than ever before. In North America, Europe, and Australia, the options for buying eco-friendly products reflect regional and class disparities: the coastal areas of the US tend to reflect current trends in eco-conscious lifestyles with greater ubiquity than the southeastern belt and Midwestern heartland, while generally, wealthier neighborhood stores offer more options for “eco-conscious” shopping than stores in poorer neighborhoods. With few exceptions, the cheaper the product, the more likely it is that the company that manufactured it will have engaged in “greenwashing.”

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Picnic Tables That Help Solve a Plastic Problem

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Picnic Tables That Help Solve a Plastic Problem

guest post by Mike Copsey

When consumers buy groceries, clothing, fast food or practically anything else, it almost always involves plastic. I don't mean the kind of plastic that has value like a credit card, but plastic that is worthless once used. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polypropylene (PP) or even polystyrene (PS) are some of the most common types of plastic that you will buy, or have handed to you because of your purchase. We have become dependent on plastic. Plastic straws, plastic plates, plastic cups, plastic milk jugs, bottled water in plastic bottles, plastic laundry soap containers, plastic siding, plastic insulation (polyurethane), plastic equipment cases, plastic coated cardboard containers for liquids like milk, plastic coated furniture and wood to make it last longer and even plastic trees. Try to think of purchases that didn't involve plastic! Manufacturers are designing products made of plastics that must be thrown away, which is a huge design flaw. Plastic is a great material when it is used in the right kinds of products -- like recycled plastic picnic tables.

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Easy, natural spring cleaning tips

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Easy, natural spring cleaning tips

Well Earth Day came and went and if you were in the US and blinked, you’d have missed the mainstream media coverage that marked the moment. No problem: as I wrote in a blog post to commemorate last year’s Earth Day, we don’t really need it anymore. Considering the near-steady diet of alarming environmental news we are treated to --natural disasters both looking and realized; contaminants in the water; stubborn spates of denial about the death-spiral of the fossil fuel industry era (tar sands pipelines, anyone?) –, we passed the need for Earth Day about 30 or so years ago...

Wanting to live more ethically is the first step in a long process of making it happen, and you may always fall short in the end. Reducing consumption is an important part of being green(er), and it may be the hardest one for many people to actually put into action.

Small steps are better than no steps at all.

This post offers one small – yet important – way you can reduce waste in your own home...

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Spring planting: how to have an abundant harvest from late spring into late fall

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Spring planting: how to have an abundant harvest from late spring into late fall

Growing some of your own food has numerous, scientifically proven physical, emotional, and mental health benefits. To anyone who has committed to a healthy lifestyle, it’s no surprise that eating a mostly plant-based diet is better for your health and can help you avoid some common pitfalls of aging, such as developing chronic inflammation and its associated illnesses. In the United States, food gardening is at its highest levels in the past decade, with the largest growth in participation among young households.

In my book, Go Green without Going Broke, I have written in detail about some of the benefits of growing your own food, and offered advice about how to do so, even if you’ve never grown anything before. Depending on the growing zone you live in, or the equipment at your disposal, you may have already started preparing your vegetable and herb garden by sowing seeds or transplanting seedlings. Today’s post focuses on a few key strategies that I have found to be very effective for reaping an abundant harvest that starts in spring and continues throughout the fall season, producing fresh food for you to enjoy for many months to come.

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Natural Bathroom Cleaning Tips→

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Natural Bathroom Cleaning Tips

guest post from Erica Garlands, with slideshow by Modern Bathroom

(this is the first post in a 3-part series on Green Cleaning)

Did you know that there are 150 chemicals found in the home that are connected to allergies, birth defects, cancer and physiological disorders? And most of these chemicals are found in bathroom-cleaning products! Bathrooms are high traffic rooms, and obviously need to be kept clean due to the high level of germs that can collect in bathrooms. There are many cleaning options available to us, many containing harmful products, but there are ways to effectively clean by only using natural ingredients. Some of these natural ingredients include grapefruit, lemons, salt, and baking soda.

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5 Foods to Avoid Before Bedtime

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5 Foods to Avoid Before Bedtime

Guest Post by Sarah Cummings

Is your sensitive stomach causing you sleep deprivation problems? Inflammation of the stomach lining can put your body in a state of shock, where lack of sleep will be the least of your worries. Over time it affects the function of other internal organs as well. Furthermore, this process can cause miscommunication issues in the endocrine system, eventually leading to many psychological complications.

To avoid all of these self-induced problems, all you need to do is pay attention to your diet so that every other piece of the puzzle falls into place and creates a healthy YOU. 

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Some unexpected ways that gardening helps fight chronic inflammation

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Some unexpected ways that gardening helps fight chronic inflammation

Last week I wrote that switching your home cleaning and personal care supplies to non-toxic varieties is a good way to decrease your chances of developing chronic inflammation. This week’s post discusses another strategy – gardening -- that also helps with prevention, and brings relief from chronic inflammation in ways you might not have realized.

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The disturbing connections between chemical pollution and chronic inflammation

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The disturbing connections between chemical pollution and chronic inflammation

Chemical pollution affects us all in ways you may not realize. It is responsible for a significant amount of chronic illnesses in the U.S. While the poor are disproportionately affected, even the wealthy can’t escape some of the effects that chemical pollution is having on our collective health.

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How to Help Green Technology Go Mainstream

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How to Help Green Technology Go Mainstream

guest post by Mersad

Green technology is the foundation of a sustainable economy. And yet, individuals and companies alike face problems going from research based prototypes to mainstream implementation. Getting green technology to push past market barriers, move beyond a research based idea and into mainstream markets is now the biggest problem facing the industry. Without it, benefits associated with green technology won’t reach the businesses and individuals who need it most. However, with the right framework and investment, efforts put into creating a green economy can be fruitful.

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10 Ways to eat organic on a tight budget

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10 Ways to eat organic on a tight budget

The controversy over whether it’s better to eat organic or conventional food is still alive and well. Many of the debates have focused on whether or not there are any measurable nutritional benefits to eating organic food, while others point out that organic growers still do use pesticides, including a small number of synthetic ones. However, as a recent post in the Sacramento Bee points out, this is the wrong debate to be having.

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What Everyone Needs to Know about Arsenic in Rice

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What Everyone Needs to Know about Arsenic in Rice

Exposure to arsenic is a growing global health problem, but there’s a lot that scientists and health workers still don’t know about the extent to which it is affecting the health of vulnerable populations.

What exactly is arsenic, and how does it affect your health? Is there anything you can do to reduce your exposure to arsenic in rice and other food you eat? These are a few of the questions that this week’s blog post aims to answer.

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Easy, Natural Ways To Boost Your Energy Without Caffeine

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Easy, Natural Ways To Boost Your Energy Without Caffeine

guest post by Amy Trotter

If you find yourself lacking energy and going through your day a little more sluggish and slowly, you may need an all-natural energy boost. As strange as it may sound, you can skip the coffee and still feel alert and energetic all day. The key is in how you treat your body, especially with what you put into it.

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Chronic Inflammation: what is it, and how to treat it without drugs

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Chronic Inflammation: what is it, and how to treat it without drugs

07/31/2021

Did you know that many of the foods we eat, foods that have been labeled “healthy,” are actually sources of chronic inflammation? If you consume these foods on a regular basis, they are probably causing you to experience inflammation in ways that you may not have even thought of.

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