Going Green

In honor of Earth Day, I thought I'd start a green corner of our blog to share some of the things we're doing to reduce our waste and impact on the environment. Many of these have been gradual changes and they felt strange at first but it's amazing how quickly they've become habits for us! And although recycling is awesome, from what I've heard there are way too many plastic items floating around to ever get it all recycled so the more you can reduce or reuse plastic, the better.

Reusable Produce Bags - I've been using reusable grocery bags for awhile but I recently picked up some of these to use instead of the plastic produce bags at the stores. I've been getting lots of complements on them at the checkout counter! I also carry one or two Ecobags in my purse to use when I'm at the mall or general shopping. Alex uses his for carrying his lunch to work. I also have some cloth tea towel bags that are fantastic for storing washed lettuce! The little bit of condensation keeps the lettuce crisp in the fridge!

Reusable water bottles - We installed a good water filter so that we no longer buy plastic bottles and we have a few reusable water bottles that we use for water and smoothies.

Food Packaging - We are still working on this, but we're trying to only buy food that comes in no or minimal packaging. Trader Joe's carries lots of items in glass jars, which is easier to recycle than plastic. Shopping at farmers markets and using the food bins at health food stores also helps.

Cloth Napkins/towels - This has actually been fun. It felt weird at first but now I love using cloth napkins every day. Tip: Buy some with lots of patterns for every day use so you don't have to worry about stains, and set aside a set of nice ones for special occasions.

Cleaning Rags - The gerbers cheap cloth diapers from target make excellent cleaning rags and we use old towels for cleaning up "messes" on the floor from certain critters around here. We also use natural cleaning products such as vinegar and baking soda.

Soap/Shampoo Bars - Using bar soap instead of liquid soap is easy but shampoo has been more of a challenge. Most of the shampoo bars leave a strange residue and the ones that work contain Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, which is a carcinogenic and dries out your skin. Luckily, lush.com now produces some of their shampoo bars with Sodium Coco Sulfate, which from what I have researched is a much healthier alternative. I'm still waiting for mine to arrive in the mail, but I'm excited to hopefully have found a working shampoo bar!

Eating Vegetarian - Just cutting down meat consumption in general is not only good for you, but great for the environment. Cattle are one of the biggest producers of environmental waste and use up lots of natural resources. We still enjoy our cheese and eggs but we try our best to buy organic and local. We also try to frequent farmer's markets to buy local produce as well.

Clothing - Although it's not at all feasible or affordable to buy organic clothing, we do try to stick to natural fibers. Although I have found some great organic tshirts at Target. I've also heard they are introducing an organic line of clothing any day now!

Toilet Paper - We've found it's just really not necessary. Ha, just kidding! But we do buy the Seventh Generation recycled toilet paper and now Trader Joe's I believe carries some as well.

Trash bags/Doggie Bags - We buy biodegradable trash and doggie bags.
Home Improvement - Home Depot now sells No VOC paint (hurray!) and greenbuildingsupply.com sells everything from caulk to sealants.

Cloth Diapering - I'll do a separate post on the benefits of this, but obviously the less diapers that go into the landfill, the better!

Baby Products - Although not everything we use is organic, we try to make sure Ryan's clothing and bedding is made of natural fibers, and we use glass bottles and pure rubber pacifiers, both of which are surprisingly sturdy.

Natural Toys - This area of products is just exploding and there are tons of places to get great toys made out of natural and sustainable materials. What I love about wood toys is that they are beautiful so I don't mind them lying around the house and they tend to be more durable than their plastic counterparts. Plus they break down easily in the environment. You can also find lots of beautiful toys made in the US, so that you don't have to worry about toxic paint and cheaply made products. Here are a couple of my favorite websites:

http://www.stubbypencilstudio.com/
http://atoygarden.com/
http://www.novanatural.com
http://www.oompa.com/

Wrapping Paper - This past Christmas we used fabric to wrap our presents to family members. Everyone plans on keeping the fabrics to reuse every year, and we'll hopefully add new ones as needed. I also plan on making some fabric bday present bags and reusable party supplies such as banners and napkins made out of fun fabrics.

Furniture - Craigslist has been are go-to source over the past year for our furniture needs. We also only buy solid wood well-made pieces and try to stay away from particle board.

Lighting - Contrary to popular believe, florescent lightbulbs are not very earth friendly. Although they are heavily promoted right now, what they fail to mention is that they contain mercury, so when the lightbulbs do meet their end, they have to be disposed of as hazardous waste. Plus, if one happens to break in your house, the kids and pets have to be evacuated during cleanup and if it breaks on carpeting, well you have to replace the carpeting. Eco friendly?? I THINK NOT! I'm holding out for the price on LED lightbulbs to come down. Not only do they last longer, you don't need a gas mask to clean them up. :)

I plan on adding to this list as we think of more ways to be "green" so if any of you have any ideas to share, please pass them along!