Shave off Some Bad Eco-Karma

Dry your razor blade after each use, this will extend the life of your razor and keep more of them out of landfills. Why you ask, well they will rust at a slower rate.

I found this fact online: americans toss roughly 2 billion disposable razors and cartridges each year.

You can also go greener with your razor choice by purchasing razors & razor blades made from recycled materials, Preserve makes a great one! Yes, the same company that makes preserve toothbrushes, tupperware and cutting boards.

Check out the site online for more information and where to buy:

http://www.recycline.com/

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Eco-Bella: Homemade Treatments

While it's great to treat yourself to a nice new organic and natural skin care product, it's equally exciting to make it yourself. This allows you to really know what ingrediants are going into your products. So, look forward over the next few days for some at home do it yourself skin therapy.

Lindsay's Dry Skin Treatment

1 Cup Organic Plain Yogurt

1/2 mashed avocado (or banana)

1/4 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 1/2 Tsp. Olive Oil

This mask is wonderful and performs double duty with the moisture rich avocado or banana and exfoliating yet soothing yogurt (lactic acid helps rid those dead skin cells). Store your mask in a jar in the fridge for about a week. Use again, don't waste those organic ingredients!

Voila, natural beauty made simple!

(Image: http://www.drhill.com.au/)

Daily Eco

Start collecting scrap paper and cut into squares to keep by your computer, phone and coffee table to jot down notes without wasting new paper.

Eco-Fashionista: 'Just Do It' Green

Okay, so you’ve finally switched your wardrobe to organic fabrics and vegetable shoes. You’re looking good and feeling great. But part of that is because you just got up and went to the gym before work this morning, and what did you wear? Rubber soled gym shoes. Unfortunately vegan shoe lines have yet to tackle athletic footwear, but there is hope. Nike, although once having the reputation for being an environmental and social enemy, seems to be making strides in more sustainable production practices.

Nike’s ACG line of sneakers is the best example in positive green evolution in active footwear. They use reground soles acquiring rubber from used shoes through its Reuse-A-Shoe program, and are PVC free. It is their longest active “Let me Play” campaign catering to environmental and community programs. You can drop off your old sneakers at:

NIKETOWN New York
6 E 57TH ST
NEW YORK, NY 10022
Phone:
212.891.6453

They will be reground and reused in new sneakers! And currently they are developing a material for the soles of sneakers that would safely and harmlessly biodegrade in soil. Don’t ask me how, but I’m quite excited about it.
So as the weather starts to turn to spring, and new shoes need to be bought, keep in mind some Vegan and PVC free options!

Daily Eco

Wash your clothing in cold water thus helping to reduce energy usage up to 90%!

Who Doesn't Love a Meyer!

Sunday is usually laundry day at my house. There's nothing quite like fresh washed sheets straight from the dryer smelling of lovely natural scents. Now you don't have to compromise your green nature at the laundry mat. Not only are there tons of great laundry room options for the eco-minded, but in my opinion they work better!

Kevin and have tried a bunch of different products and we switch up our routine too, it's fun! We've used Seventh Generation, Ecover, Mrs. Meyer's and Method for both detergent, fabric softener and dryer sheets.

I love Mrs. Meyer's lavender dryer sheets!! They are made from biodegradable paper and contain vegetable (not chemical) based fabric softener. I use each sheet at least 2 times to stretch the dollar. You can also use these as closet refreshers or anywhere you need to soften the scent.

Check out all products at: www.mrsmeyers.com

Mrs. Meyer's makes tons of great products and I love them all but today I am highlighting her dryer sheets! If you can't afford them, please use something equally free of chemicals. And don't think "unscented" or "free and clear" means anything other than it has no scent but still has all the chemicals. Just read the ingredients.

(Image: Amazon.com)

Nature Inspiration: Pure Innocence

New babies born near my parents house in Connecticut. So precious!

Daily Eco

Next time you're at the ATM, choose NOT to print receipt when asked. Do you really need it? I know I don't.

(2 billion feet of paper could be saved if everyone in America picked the no receipt option)

Green Your Diet Series V. 7: Don't Water It Down

The never ending bottled water topic, switching to a reusable water container is one of the easiest switches you can make in your life to make it a bit greener. This is one of those switches that is not only earth friendly but is easier on our wallet as well.

I was reading Eat Well magazine (love it!) and thought I'd share these facts I read:

*40% of bottled water is actually just filtered tap.

*In the US alone, nearly 10 BILLION barrels of oil are used to bottle water annually. (that's just production)

*It takes an average plastic water bottle 1,000 years to decompose.

*In the US we toss over 22 BILLION water bottles each year.

Yet another reason to say "screw you" to bottled water and stick with your reusable one. Kevin and I use a Pure water filter and love it. We used to tote home Smart Water in huge bottles wasting money and a lot of plastic. We are happy to have made the change.

Oh, and please stop buying those tiny baby bottles of water, that's just insane, do we really need to bottle our "sip size" water needs? I mean come on really. SIGG makes small, medium and large bottles, no excuses people!
(Image:drvino.com/.../uploads/2007/05/bottleh2o.jpg)

Daily Eco

When it rains put your plants outside to catch the lovely rain!  Or keep a rain catcher to catch the rainwater to use on houseplants. Voila!

Eco-Fashionista: Juice Beauty

Most women have rigid cleansing routines in the am and pm. At least I do, and I’m pretty sure it verges upon being OCD. Putting the daily shower/shave aside, there’s the face wash (two in the shower I rotate, one exfoliator twice a week, the other a clay wash), and then the under eye de-puffer/anti-wrinkle cream (you are never to young to start preventative wrinkle measures!!!). Then there’s the serum I put on to fight free-radicals, which is followed by my SPF 15 face moisturizer that claims to be a multi-protection fluid that help prevent first signs of aging as well as energies. At night it’s a different face wash, eye make up remover, different under eye cream to help put moisture in my skin to fight unsightly crows feet, on the spot acne treatment on those nasty little buggars that show up every once in a while, and a light moisturizer to finish.
AM I CRAZY? Probably….but it seems to be doing the trick. But with all that I use, there’s a difference in what I put on my face. There are those products that I use and that I love, and those that I simply love and can’t live without and refuse to use any other product.

This is the mantra behind Juice Beauty. They guarantee an all-natural, organic product that you will not be able to live without! Juice Beauty uses over 40 organic, raw ingredients including juice, aloe vera, honey, botanicals, plant oils, sugar, and essential fatty acids directly from USDA approved certified organic farms, and holds certificates of organic authenticity for all of their ingredients.

Started by Karen Behnke and Melissa Jochim, these two Californian women believed that living an organic lifestyle extended far beyond what you put in your body, but also to what you put on your body. What makes this organic brand so unique is the fact that they use JUICE, instead of water. Almost like going to Abdul my juice man on 7th ave, they send a menu of frozen five-gallon pails of apple, lemon, pomegranate and white grape juices (to name a few) to the lab. These juices have an expiration date of a few months, so you can imagine how “fresh” your products are!! Even their packaging is make of soy-based ink and recycled packaging!

If you’re thirsting for a new product, or simply wanting to go green in your choices, I highly recommend Juice Beauty. I have to tell you, I’m stuck on some of my products, but others I’ve been debating a change. I went to Sephora (http://www.sephora.com/) to check out the products in person. They really were yummy! They had subtle undertones of fragrance, nothing heavy. All the products were light and smooth. They blended well onto the skin and left it amazingly soft, not oily at all! And they have a product for everyone.

They have four core collections: Green Apple Body Brilliance Collection, an Anti-Aging Regimen, Oily/Combination/Blemish Regimen, and Sensitive Skin Regimen.
If you go to their website: http://www.juicebeauty.com/ you can even find out through an online test what products are right for you depending on the type of skin you have!

(Image:www.hippyshopper.com)

Nature Inspiration

Daily Eco

When you're out at a restaurant, be aware of when they are filling up your water glass, are you heading out the door momentarily? Do you really need them to top it off? If not, say so, and thank them for trying. :)

Green Your Diet Series V.6: Stearic Acid

I know that it doesn't always seem apparent why food ingrediants are on this environmental blog, I have been thinking about this a lot lately, and how I would explain myself. Well here it is:
I believe the following, what you consume, love, create, throw away and keep is what makes us who you are. Take that one step backwards and realize that everything you consume had a whole life before you came along to eat it.

I disagree with how animals in factory farms are raised and killed as well as what happens to them afterwards. I am not a vegetarian and don't plan on becoming one necessarily. What I consider myself is a 'ethitarian' (am I coining this term?), I care about what I eat and what it ate and how it was treated and so on.... It's easy to avoid a steak dinner, trust me, I've never had one. It isn't as easy to avoid the hundreds of products, both edible and non-edible that are in someway made from animal parts. Products you never imagined (I am sure many of you were shocked to learn that gelatin was made from animals!) are made from animal renderings.
So that brings me to the decision that this knowledge is vital to the health of our planet that we wake up and question the everyday norms, question where our ingredients are coming from and how they are made. We are putting some of these products in our bodies for god's sake!

To Summarize:

1.Factory farming not only treats animals with extreme cruelty but is environmentally damaging due to the use of chemicals, fertilizers, fuel, herbicides, antibiotics, poor waste systems in place etc.
2.The animals are turned into a products for humans consumption, beauty products, apparel etc. 3.Humans using products ignorantly thinking nothing is wrong.
4. Humans become generally unhealthy and watch as the environment deteriorates around them. (and all the while find someone or something else to blame other than what they eat)

All that said I believe strongly that each ingredient in our food and drink matters, and it is the responsible thing to do to learn what they are and if you want to put them into your body. A lot of times we make a bold statements while unknowingly still supporting the industry we are trying to stand up against.

So little by little I am trying to inform you all of what you are eating and small changes you can make that will make a huge difference. I believe strongly that eating mindfully will not only make you happier but healthier! The Green Your Diet Series is meant to help educate and give you the interest to question your ingredients and care about what you are eating. I hope it is working. Here is today's ingredient definition, I pulled this from a great site http://www.organicformulations.ca/know_no.htm check it out, it's a must! I will be posting from it again I am sure!

"Stearic Acid: Fat from cows and sheep and from dogs and cats euthanized in animal shelters, etc. Most often refers to a fatty substance taken from the stomachs of pigs. Can be harsh, irritating. Used in cosmetics, soaps, lubricants, candles, hairspray, conditioners, deodorants, creams, chewing gum, food flavoring. Derivatives: Stearamide, Stearamine, Stearates, Stearic Hydrazide, Stearone, Stearoxytrimethylsilane, Stearoyl Lactylic Acid, Stearyl Betaine, Stearyl Imidazoline. Alternatives: Stearic acid can be found in many vegetable fats, coconut."

Green Your Diet Series v.5: What is Gelatin?

So, as part of the Green Your Diet series, I will be sharing ingredient definitions with you to let you in one the things you eat and where they come from.

I thought I would start today with an ingredient we all may already know about.

Gelatin: This is a protein derived from the boiling of skin, ligaments, tendons and/or bones in water. Derived from cows or pigs. Gelatin can be found in candies, marshmallows, cake, ice cream and yogurts to name some. Gelatin is used as a thickener and as a coating for nutritional supplements. There are alternatives, you can find plant sources such as pectin from fruit, cotton gum and dextrins.

Check your ingredients, I don't know about you, but no thanks on the gelatin for me, thanks.

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Fact Shocker

Daily Fact, direct from my Earth911.com weekly email:

"We throw away an inkjet cartridge every eight seconds. Each one takes a gallon of oil to produce. Refilling or recycling your inkjet cartridges using Earth911.com is one easy way to reduce our oil dependency."