DIY: Earth-Lite Cleaning Products

Yes, I know. An eco-glam fellow or lass can buy Mrs. Meyers or Shaklee almost anywhere, but let’s hypothetically say you are cheap or broke or would just rather make deliciously green cleaning products at home, how would you do it? We got your back, as always.

Most cleaning products leave more toxins behind than the germs and toxins they are supposed to clean up. Read here about what mainstream cleaning products do to your insides.

Some scary, but interesting, factoids* attributed to the chemicals in our mainstream cleaning products: (from HealthyCleaning.com)

• In the past 40 years, at least 70,000 new chemicals have been released into the environment through new consumer and industrial products and food.
• Male and female infertility are on the rise. Research is now pointing to pesticides as a viable cause.
• Women who work in the home have a 54% higher death rate than women who work out of the home.
• Each year more than 50 million Americans suffer from allergic diseases. Allergies are the sixth leading cause of chronic disease in the US, costing the health care system $18 billion annually. The prevalence of allergic rhinitis (inflamed nasal membranes) has increased substantially over the past 15 years.
• Asthma ranks among the most common chronic conditions in the United States, affecting an estimated 14.9 million persons.
• According to the US Poison Control Centers, “A child is accidentally poisoned every 30 seconds and more than 50% of all poisonings occur at home with children under 5 years of age.”
• Asthma is the #1 cause of absenteeism in schools.
• There has been a 25% increase in the last 25 years in cancer incidence among children under 15 years of age.
• ADD/ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed childhood behavior disorder today. More than two million (3-5%) children have ADD.
• Thirty years ago the 3 major childhood illnesses were chickenpox, measles and mumps. Now it is asthma, ADD and cancer.
• Brain cancer in children is up 40% in 20 years.

If this ain’t enough to get you cleaning with simple products, we don’t know what is! First of all, you can technically use Dr. Bronner’s soap to clean everything (and at GirlieGirl Army HQ, we do!). From washing our pets to our floors, this is an all-purpose dream product and is available at any health food store. Plus a large bottle lasts forever, so it’s economically a smart choice! Dr. Bronner’s smells wonderful, is totally natural, and does the job – even in the filthiest of abodes. But you should also know that some of the most basic household items create cleaning products far superior to the icky commercial jobbies. White vinegar is the holy grail of at home cleaning! You’ll get giddy for this site, which gives you 1001 uses for White Vinegar!

RECIPES:

All-purpose Cleaner: 2 tablespoon white vinegar, 1 teaspoon Borax (natural soap), 16 ounces of hot water, 1/4 cup Dr. Bronner’s. Mix vinegar and Borax in a clean spray bottle. Fill with water and shake until the Borax has dissolved. Add Dr. Bronner’s. Shake and use.

All-purpose Kitchen Cleaner: Baking soda, essential oil. Fill a shaker halfway with baking soda. Add 20 drops Essential oil of your choice. Stir. Add more baking soda, then shake. Sprinkle a bit on dirty surface, then sponge off with warm water. Rinse well.

For Filthy Pots: 1 cup fine-grade pumice, 1/2 cup clay powder, 2 tablespoon grapefruit essential oil, 1/4 cup baking soda, 1/4 cup sodium lauryl sulfacetate, 1/2 cup boiling water – enough for thick paste. Mix all ingredients together and stir. Store in a container that closes tightly. To use, apply gently with a damp sponge or cloth and scrub.

Editor’s Note: Sodium lauryl sulfacetate is the not the same as sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS).

Floor Cleaner: White vinegar, water and essential oil. Fill a squirt bottle with equal amounts of vinegar and water. Add 20 drops of essential oil. Mix and squirt on floor.

Bathroom Cleaner: 1 2/3 cups baking soda, 1/2 cup Dr. Bronner’s, 1/2 cup water, 2 tablespoon white vinegar. Mix baking soda and Dr. Bronner’s in a bowl. Dilute with water, and add the vinegar. Mix with a fork until lumps are gone and mixture has a smooth consistency; adding a little more water is fine. Pour into a squeeze container, then shake well. Keep lid on firmly to avoid drying out. Use. Alternates: 1 cup Dr. Bronner’s, 1/2 cup baking soda, 1 teaspoon Borax, 6 cups hot peppermint tea, 1 teaspoon eucalyptus essential oil. Add mint tea to liquid soap, stir to mix well. Add baking soda, borax and eucalyptus oil. Store in plastic jug or squirt bottle. Shake before using. This soap can be used for washing floors, tubs and cleaning almost anything (except your mouth after a round of dirty cursing).

Toilet Cleaner: Use white vinegar and a brush. Baking soda can also be used if you like the SoftScrub vibe.

Glass Cleaner: 1/4 cup white vinegar, 1/2 cup Dr. Bronner’s, 2 cups water, essential oil (only if you’re fancy.) Mix soap and water in a spray bottle. Add vinegar and essential oil. Shake it up and spray. We suggest using old newspaper to clean mirrors and windows. It’s exponentially more effective, and lighter on planet earth since you are re-using. To use, spray and wipe. If you don’t want to add the soap (which requires a stronger arm, but think of the bicepts you’ll have!), it’s fine to omit it and stick with 1 cup of vinegar per 2 cups of water. Alternates: Experiment with lemon juice, club soda and cornstarch, all of which (mixed together) clean windows well.

Key Lime Dish Detergent Powder: This recipe is a litte more elaborate, so only go there when you are feeling super badass. 1/2 cup clay powder, 2 tablespoon lime essential oil, 2 cups sodium lauryl sulfoacetate, 6 cups baking soda. Wear a dust mask to mix this formula. Mix clay powder and essential oil; then, in a 2 gallon pail, combine the baking soda and sodium lauryl sulfoacetate. Mix well. You can convert this recipe to a liquid detergent by mixing 2 tablespoon of powder to 2 cups boiling water, and stir until ingredients are dissolved. You should use a squeeze top bottle to store this. To use, add aboout a tablespoon of powder or liquid per sink-load while filling sink. For tough jobs, make a paste by adding water and rubbing directly on spot.

Laundry Detergent: Use Dr. Bronner’s, straight up. We like the lavender scent! Use two small cap fulls for a large load of dirty clothes.

Fabric Softener: Toss 1/4 cup of white vinegar to the last rinse cycle of your wash load. Don’t worry, it won’t smell like vinegar. The vinegar also brightens, like a natural bleach.

Dryer Sheets: Pour a few drops of essential oil (your choice of smell, there are so many!) on a hand towel or wash cloth. Toss in dryer with your clothes. Re-use forever (adding the drops of essential oil each time).

All you need is a little elbow power and creativity and you can make anything! We believe in you! Share your tips in the comments.

Get more green on with Chloé at girliegirlarmy.com

*Originally published June 8, 2009.

10 Tips to Be An Eco-Friendly Traveler

Until recently, most travel, both business and personal, has followed an unsustainable model. With more people traveling each year, it’s even more important now to consider how our choices affect the global community.

Here are 10 simple tips to be a more socially-aware and eco-conscious traveler. While some of these tips may seem like extra work when planning your next trip, we must remember that we only have this one planet. If we want to continue enjoying our summer vacations every year (and allow future generations to also experience the beautiful cultures, flora and fauna of our world), then we need to be mindful of how our exciting travel plans can have either a positive or negative ripple effect on the communities we’re visiting.

1. Bring your own stainless steel bottle, travel mug or reusable bag. Travel with the mantra of “waste less, use less.” Water is so very important for you and our planet, and many places offer clean drinking water so you don’t need to purchase a new plastic bottle of water every day. Just refill your stainless steel one!

2. Treat the area you’re visiting with respect. If you’re white water rafting, hiking in the jungle or deep sea diving, remember you are entering the “home” of the natural world. Just like you wouldn’t want someone to come into your house and destroy it, they also want to live in peace. Pick up trash when you see it – don’t think someone else is going to do it! And most definitely don’t leave anything behind!

One of the most common things to do during a beach vacation is collect seashells. While they are pretty, they are also a part of the natural environment and often someone’s home. Don’t remove items from the natural environment; they have a purpose and are there for a reason.

3. Explore and discover. Try out the local culture and flavors; experience and learn about the community in which you’re staying. Choose to support locally-owned businesses and restaurants, not chains. Ask questions and talk to the local people; learn who they are, how they live and what they want out of life. Respect both the similarities and differences.

4. Offset your travel with carbon credits. Whether traveling by plane, train, car or boat, it’s important to purchase carbon offsets from a reputable company to reduce the harm we create when traveling outside of our local area.

5. Research the places where you’ll be staying and choose to support hotels that are making a difference and looking beyond the typical profit-only business model. Hotels that are truly sustainable will ensure their bottom line but also provide benefits to the local community and environment. Make sure they aren’t just green washing their claim of being eco. Find out if they hire from the local community, if they recycle and/or compost, if they use reusable soap and shampoo bottles (instead of the tiny plastic ones that just create more waste). There are lots of ways to green a hotel and it’s important to know if they have more than just a towel change policy and low-flow toilet.

6. Be mindful of your interactions with wild animals. Keep a safe distance from any wild animal and do not ever approach one. Never leave out food or feed animals in the wild. And please don’t use flash when taking photographs! How would you like it if someone was taking multiple close-up photos of you and having the flash go off each time? Also, do not purchase animals to take home with you or products made from animals. Whether it’s coral, wool, seashells or alligator skin, remember — it belongs to the animal who lives and breathes, just like you!

7. Choose to not participate in programs that hold animals in captivity. While it may seem fun to “swim with the dolphins,” it is not necessarily fun for the dolphin who is held in a tiny pen for his entire life. By not supporting these “animal” amusement parks and tours, we are decreasing the demand for them.

8. Be aware of the natural resources you’re using and try to reduce whenever possible. Turn off the lights and air conditioning/fans before leaving your room, take shorter showers and use the faucet only as needed. If traveling in an area where you’re unsure if the tap water will be safe, contact your hotel and ask them if they have a filtration system so you can fill up your reusable stainless steel bottle instead of having to purchase plastic bottles (which often do not get recycled and just end up in a landfill or, worse, a waterway that leads to the ocean).

9. Give back. Contact your hotel before arriving and ask if they have any volunteer programs you can participate in or if there are any materials you can bring for the local schools or community centers. On a recent trip to Costa Rica, I brought art supplies for the nonprofit organization, Earth Equilibrium. It was an opportunity to give back and support the local communities I was visiting.

10. Act as a positive role model for other tourists. Talk the talk and walk the walk!

Hopefully when you leave the place you’re visiting, it will be in the same, or better, shape than when you arrived. And just as a quick side note, you probably noticed that all of these things can also be done in your daily life. By living a little more intentionally every day, we can continue creating positive ripples in the world and protect our precious planet for generations to come.

Chrissy Gruninger is a conservation photographer and author, dedicated to helping others see the harmony in all that exists on our beautiful, yet fragile, planet. Her weekly blog, and most recent book focus on creating a healthier, happier and more harmonious life for all.

Photo credit: dddaantje

7 Eco-Friendly Tips for Raising Your Baby

When we decided to have a baby, we knew we wanted to keep the experience as eco-friendly as possible. What we found out is that raising an eco-friendly baby can be really fun and easy on both the earth and your wallet. Here are some tips to get youstarted.

1. Breastfeeding: More Than a Trifecta – Not only is breastfeeding the best way to start off your baby nutritionally, but it’s also better for the environment, your wallet and your waistline. How awesome is that? Imagine all of the cans of formula and bottles you won’t have to buy and how that helps the earth and your cash, while being confident that you’re giving your baby the absolute best. Plus, you’ll burn an extra 400 to 600 calories a day, making breastfeeding one of the best ways to get back to your pre-pregnancy weight. (As our daughter transitions to solid foods, our next step is feeding her organically grown food.)

2. Organic Cloth Diapers and Cloth Wipes Are So Stinkin’ Cute (no pun intended!) – These offer another way to help save our earth by keeping a bunch of disposable diapers and wipes out of the landfills. There’s a feeling of pride that comes over me every time I snap on one of Kamea’s cloth diapers or use an organic cotton cloth wipe. Cloth diapering takes a few times to get the hang of, but you’ll be glad you did, and you’ll save money on diapers in the long run.

3. Co-Sleeping: Keeping Mama and Earth Rested – When you co-sleep you don’t have to spend money or waste the earth’sresources with a crib, sheets, mattress … heck, we don’t even have a nursery! And can I just say? It’s been the best way for this mama to get in lots ofsleep.

4. Hand-Me-Downs Are Hot – Here is an area that has really had an impact on the earth and our wallet. Thankfully we were one of the last couples in our circle of friends who started having kids,because we reaped some great steals. What a blessing to not have to buy everything brand new. Hand-me-downs are the ultimate “reuse.”

5. Eco-Friendly Toys Rock – First, reduce the overall number of toys you buy. (I know, it’s hard, because they’re so damn cute!) Instead, rotate in safe common household objects. Baby won’t care either way, and you’ll be amazed at how much fun a baby can have with something as simple as measuring cups or the cardboard tube from a roll of toilet paper.

For toys you buy (and encourage as gifts from others), keep your baby and the earth happy with eco-friendly toys that are made from sustainable, BPA-free and organic materials. Old-fashioned wooden toys are especially darling, and babies like them just as much as plastic. With eco-friendly toys, you can rest easy knowing that your baby isn’t exploring toxic substances with his or her little hands and mouth.

And we all know that reading to our babies is of uber importance! Books are aterrific way of keepin’ it green, both for the planet and inside your wallet. Two words: public library!

6. Organic Clothes Rule – Organic clothes are a great and gentle option for your eco-friendly baby. There was a time when they were all expensive and hard to come by, but not anymore. You can now find cute, reasonably priced, organic baby items at places like Wal-Mart and Target, as well as scoring deals from websites like GreenBabyBargains.com and EcoBabyBuys.com.

7. Air Dry Laundry Whenever Possible – This is easier to do in dry climates, but you’ll score a double whammy in the summer. Not only will you reduce your electricity bill by not running the dryer as much, but you’ll also avoid having the dryer heat up your house during warmer months. When you do run the dryer, run it at night when rates are lower and the outside temperature is cooler. Air dry your cloth diapers for the ultimate in green.

These seven ways to raise an eco-friendly baby are easy to do. Whether you do one or all of them, you’re setting a great example!

Photo credit: stetted

4 Simple Reasons Why You Should Grow Your Own Food

We are very fortunate to live in a time when at any time of the day or night we can easily walk or drive to the store and have a selection of various produce available at our fingertips. With this luxury why would you want to spend your time growing your own food? I have a pretty simple answer to that: We are human. As humans, this is what we do. We grow food. It’s what we have been doing for thousands of years. It hasn’t been until the past hundred or so years that we have put the responsibility of producing food into the hands of others.

Who are these people that are responsible for growing and handling our food? And what are they doing to our food? How is treated? What are they spraying on it? Is that good for you? Is that good for the land? Who really knows? They could be professionals who have business interests more in mind than our health. What we do know is that if we go to the supermarket food will be there year-round. I am no scientist nor have I extensively studied this, but common sense tells me that this could not be good for us or for the land because it doesn’t seem natural or sustainable.

Some questions to get you thinking the next time you are in the grocery store buying food:

• Who grew that?
• How was it treated?
• How was the worker who picked it treated?
• Do these people have my best interest in mind, or are they just trying to make a higher profit?

In May 2009, I took control. I started growing my own food without any experience or land. During that time I was living on the fourth floor of a New York City apartment. All I had was my 2-foot by 3-foot fire escape that I turned into an organic vegetable garden. Despite the limited space, I was able to grow lettuces, kales, swiss chard, peppers, cherry tomatoes and a variety of herbs.

In April 2010, I moved to Los Angeles, where I started a balcony garden that I’m continuing to grow more food on. In comparison to my fire escape, the 13-foot by 4-foot balcony seems like a huge farm. Space is not an issue. If I could grow on a fire escape, you can grow given whatever space restrictions you have.

Here are four reasons to start growing your own food:

You’ll Appreciate Your Food More
By no means do I expect everyone to go out and start their own garden because I know that ain’t gonna happen. But what I do expect is for everyone to grow at least one herb or vegetable.
Why? Because it will open your eyes and change your relationship with food. It will help to re-establish that connection that we as a human race have lost. You will also appreciate the food that much more because you grew it and took care of it. Not only will you appreciate the food that you grew on your own, you will start to appreciate the food that you buy as well.

It’s Natural and Sustainable
Food supplies us with the sustenance and nutrition we need to survive. The taks of supplying us with food is not in the hands of other people. Look back at history. Civilizations were built around food. They were set up around areas that had access to fertile land to grow food. Think about everything that goes into food and what was built around it: growing, tending, harvesting, preparing, eating and sharing food. These days we just fast forward to the eating part, which we often do on the run. There is much more to food that just eating it (though that is fun).

Why if you live in the northeast part of the United States, can you get pineapple, mangoes and other tropical fruits year-round or at all for that matter? I can help to answer that question. It’s because the food is being transported from distances far away to get to you. Did you know that on average food travels about 1,500 miles to get to our plates? Now think about the oil and resources that go into getting that food to your plate.

You’ll Be Helping the Environment
We live in a great time where so much information is readily available to us at the click of a mouse. The downfall of that is that so much information is readily available to us at the click of a mouse. We are presented with all kinds of messages about how we impact our personal health and that of the environment. In reading some of the information out there, it feels disempowering to see something like the BP oil spill or the ice caps melting.

I wanted to do something instead of sitting back and letting someone else worry about the situation. It didn’t matter how small it was, I just wanted to do something. Food has always been a love of mine. I mean, who doesn’t love food? So I decided that I would grow my own. It would be beneficial to me and to the environment.

It’s Easy and Inexpensive
You don’t need to buy expensive tools and materials to start growing your own food. You can make a self-watering container for less than $5 out of recycled materials. You could turn a 2-liter soda bottle into a self-watering container or a hanging planter. These are some ideas to get you started. There are plenty of ways to make gardening cheap so you don’t have to invest lots of money. Check out my previous post on Crazy Sexy Life about Urban Gardening for the Everyday Person for more details.

Now you can get back to being human and growing your food. One plant will surely make a difference. Start growing some of your food today.

Photo credit: miss mass

What if We’re Wrong about Climate Change?

Every so often I get e-mails from people asking what I would say and feel if I was wrong about climate change. What would I say if, after dedicating years of my life to bringing attention to the problem, I found out there was no problem?

Well, first, of course, I would praise God in thanks that we do not have this catastrophe to contend with. Then, since many of the measures needed to deal with climate change have a lot of positive benefits, I would think:

1. I am glad we created 5 million or more new jobs here in the United States in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable generation.

2. I am glad we created a culture that relies less on foreign oil, so that our children can live secure lives, knowing that the energy rug can’t be pulled out from under them.

3. I am glad we have found a way to save people and industry billions upon billions of dollars by making the use of energy more efficient.

4. I am glad the millions of children who suffer from asthma can now breathe easier thanks to the fact that we aren’t pumping the air full of toxins from our exhaust pipes and smokestacks.

5. I am glad that, by no longer burning oil and coal, which releases gases into our air, we’ve put an end to acid rain and the devastation of our aquatic life.

6. I am glad that we created good, reliable, fun-to-use public transportation systems so that families no longer have to raid their budgets to pay for cars and gas.

7. I am glad we’ve stopped building suburbs, which are designed for cars, not people, and instead build villages where people can have strong community bonds that help make life fulfilling.

8. I am glad we now have fuel-efficient automobiles.

9. I am glad that we’ve learned as a culture to get off the work-more-to-spend-more treadmill that gobbles up resources and leaves us unfulfilled and instead turned to a way of life full of meaning and purpose.

10. I am glad we developed local, fresh food systems that care not just about filling bellies but what we put in those bellies.

11. I am glad that we have rejected the philosophies of survival of the fittest and competition for resources as driving philosophies and have instead embraced a philosophy of compassion and justice.

12. I am glad that we have come to understand that a sustainable society cannot work without supporting all of its people and that we looked for and found ways to improve the lives of everyone.

13. I am glad that we’ve come to see people rather than things as our most valuable resource and that, in embracing the respectful and loving principles of not wasting, we have learned not to waste youth in prisons but instead to get them help for their drug and alcohol addictions.

14. I am glad that, in realizing our resources are limited, we have come to use them to do what is important and to help each other rather than compete with each other.

15. I am glad that we have come to see education as the ultimate in sustainable industries.

16. I am glad that we have developed distributable, renewable energy technologies that allow kids in all parts of the world to have electric light; a resource which helps facilitate literacy.

17. The list goes on and on, but in short—I am glad that we have embraced the opportunities presented by the crisis of climate change in order to improve our society in ways we should have done anyway.

And now, to turn the question back on those who say that either there is no climate change or that it is not a serious problem:

What would they feel if we did nothing about climate change and they turned out to be wrong?

What would they feel if we buried our heads in the sand, ignored the problem, and then irreversibly damaged the planetary habitat that we depend upon for our health, happiness, and security?

Photo Credit: petter palander