Posts Tagged ‘eco friendly products’

Doing Your Part to Keep our Water Clean

Posted on timeApril 28th, 2010 by userGrace     flagComments Off


You return from your latest shopping trip and are putting your purchases away. As you unpack your reusable grocery bags of the latest cleaning wonder, you look at your cleaning cabinet. It may actually qualify as a miniature superfund site.

A closer look reveals that you are not that different than the rest of us – we all have different cleaners for wood, stainless steel, tile, windows, carpets, drains, and everything else under the sun. You admit to yourself that perhaps you like a clean house way too much and that you’ve got a soft spot for the high tech cleaning gadgets, but is any of it eco-friendly?

Consider your municipal water system – what do you think is the biggest challenge for them? It isn’t the organic waste that is difficult to deal with. Organic waste settles to the bottom where it is then taken care of by special enzymes. Chemicals are another story. Chemicals must be tediously removed from the water by a series of filtration systems. Other chemicals are often added to help neutralize some of the more hazardous chemicals. However, this water isn’t even completely purified; it is merely purified enough to be pumped down the river, or into a lake.

If you think businesses and manufacturing facilities are the biggest problems – think again. They are closely monitored for chemical pollution to waterways. Homeowners like us are the real problem. With thousands of people on a local water system, and millions on a big city system it is impossible to control what gets washed down the drain or flushed down the toilet. While some offenses are blatant, such as pouring antifreeze or other used car chemicals down the drain, most comes out of ignorance, as most people assume that the manufacturer of the product is selling you something that is safe and look no further. But enzymes and cleaning boosters can have effects from altering the algae growth to reducing oxygen in the water, all of which can harm marine life.

What can be done to stop this kind of madness? Actually, it’s providing people with the knowledge and education to make smart eco-friendly choices. For instance, home cleaning can be done with several safer cleansers like alcohol, ammonia, bleach, detergent, oil and soaps. Make sure not to mix these chemicals since doing so can be deadly.

One major source of chemicals in the water comes from laundry. However, it really only takes a simple detergent to keep clothes clean. Bleach is great for light clothes. Soaking extremely dirty clothes first, and then washing with a simple detergent is generally effective. Most stains will come clean with the use of alcohol. Vinegar can help with grease or oil stains. A tried and true cleaner for glass is made from ammonia and water mixed equally. The best cleaner for wood surfaces is simply a mild oil soap. There are even natural, eco-friendly cleaning techniques for virtually every mess or stain out there that involve the use of oils created from things like peppermint and lavender!

The rule of thumb is if there are more than seven to ten ingredients in a cleaner, there is probably a better and more eco friendly choice. Next time you are shopping for home cleanup products you may want to remember that it’s not just buying or bringing your organic cotton totes, its what you put in, or don’t put in it.

tagTags: , , , ,



Keeping a Clean Car for the Environment

Posted on timeMarch 13th, 2010 by userGrace     flagComments Off


It’s a warm sunny day, the kind where you like to wash and wax the car. So, you go to your local big box store’s auto section and pick up some products for the task at hand. As you check out, you get that ever-prevalent question about bagging your purchase; paper or plastic…or a reusable bags for a dollar and ninety-nine cents. You decide to help the planet and opt for the reusable bag and head home. At home as you begin to clean the car you wonder what else you might do with your car to promote green and eco friendly living.

One of the first things that people think about when it comes to green living and cars is the actual type of car that they drive Was its selling feature the mileage or how many horsepower are under the hood? Car technology has spoiled some attempts at green and eco friendly living by letting us have our cake and eat it too. A sixties muscle car with loads of horsepower got twelve to fifteen miles per gallons at best. Some really hot cars were lucky to make ten. Nowadays you can find cars that go zero to sixty in less than seven seconds yet are still very fuel efficient. Of course you have to put that in the context of a sixties economy car got twenty miles per gallon and today forty-five mpg is almost a minimum.

So while things like fuel efficiency and performance have changed, one thing that hasn’t changed is the importance of keeping your car in good condition. If your cars engine is tuned up and has clean filters it will run better, cleaner and be good for the environment. Check the tires, low tire pressure can cut your gas mileage as much as fifteen percent. Simple investments like clean air filters and tire pressure guages can go a long way in keeping your car operating at its ‘greenest’ levels.

On the subject of returning to the store, think about consolidating your trip. Maybe you shouldn’t have made a trip for the detergent and wax after all. Maybe you should have put it on your grocery list. Most big box stores have a section for auto basics that include detergent, wax and even that tire pressure gage. If they don’t have what you need in the big box store, at least stop at the auto parts store in the same trip.

Another aspect of green transportation is ride sharing. Most states sponsor rideshare programs to work, but they are not particularly effective for a multitude of reasons. People have trouble synching their work schedules, and are not particularly comfortable posting their schedules online for strangers to see. Sharing shopping trips with a neighbor is a great alternative. You know who they are, chances are you meet over backyard barbeques, so why not give it a try? It’s a great way to spend some adult time and live green and eco friendly.

Things like organic cotton bags give us something to think about when we bag our purchases. You can take those same eco-friendly thoughts further to every aspect of your life so don’t just stop being green when you leave the grocery bagging section of the store.

tagTags: , , , ,



Green Eco Friendly Products

Posted on timeMarch 12th, 2010 by userGrace     flagComments Off


Versatile and incredibly varied, eco-friendly products gradually become part of our lives. People can now shop for eco friendly products according to almost any category related to human activity; there are green clothes, organic food, gift ideas, green services, green appliances, sustainable building, and environmentally friendly solutions to almost anything you can think of. Reuse, reduce, recycle, this is what defines a green lifestyle. Yet, not everybody knows about the wide offer of eco friendly products, which is usually a matter of personal awareness and consciousness about the environment and the personal impact on it.

The sad truth is that more than half the globe’s population has not heard of eco friendly products as alternatives to the items they use daily. A housewife could show resistance when it comes to changing an efficient chemical bleacher for a bio-based solvent. Poor efficiency is what we fear most in eco friendly products, and hence the reluctance to use them.This is one of thousands of other examples that can be found in daily life. Even with the most convinced environmentalist you may still come across some ‘impossible to make’ changes. Unless we change mentality, it will be long before people start using eco friendly products regularly.

A cleaner Earth is not therefore possible without a change of paradigm. A person who is interested in using as many eco friendly products as possible, will also adapt the rest of the lifestyle habits to the green trend. When you become committed to the Earth’s cause, you’ll feel guilty wasting water, electricity or consuming lots of fuel resources.The green phenomenon is therefore a lot more complex than we suspect, and it touches on more issues of which eco friendly products make only one. It goes hand in hand with replacing incandescent bulbs with energy-saving alternatives or it corresponds to the trend of buying hybrid or electric cars instead of fuel-powered vehicle.

Anyone can start using eco friendly products, and make the environmental exercise a daily practice. When families take up the green way, children will be exposed to a higher form of respect towards the environment, the planet and their personal health condition.Hence, green education starts at school by direct example. A child who grows with eco friendly cleaning products will make environmentally safe choices in his or her adult life afterwards.

tagTags: , , , ,



Protecting our Waterways with Eco-Friendly Cleaners

Posted on timeFebruary 27th, 2010 by userGrace     flagComments Off


Let’s say you’ve just returned home from your weekly grocery shopping and are putting your purchases away. As you unpack your reusable shopping bags of the latest cleaning wonder, you look at your cleaning cabinet. It may actually qualify as a miniature superfund site.

A closer look reveals that you are not that different than the rest of us – we all have different cleaners for wood, stainless steel, tile, windows, carpets, drains, and everything else under the sun. You admit to yourself that perhaps you like a clean house way too much and that you’ve got a soft spot for the high tech cleaning gadgets, but is any of it eco-friendly?

Consider your municipal water system – what do you think is the biggest challenge for them? It isn’t the organic waste that is difficult to deal with. Organic waste settles to the bottom where it is then taken care of by special enzymes. Chemicals are another story. Cities and municipalities have to use a series of filtration systems to remove chemicals from the water. Other chemicals are often added to help neutralize some of the more hazardous chemicals. However, this water isn’t even completely purified; it is merely purified enough to be pumped down the river, or into a lake.

If you think businesses and manufacturing facilities are the biggest problems – think again. They are closely monitored for chemical pollution to waterways. Homeowners like us are the real problem. With thousands of people on a local water system, and millions on a big city system it is impossible to control what gets washed down the drain or flushed down the toilet. While some offenses are blatant, such as pouring antifreeze or other used car chemicals down the drain, most comes out of ignorance, as most people assume that the manufacturer of the product is selling you something that is safe and look no further. But enzymes and cleaning boosters can have effects from altering the algae growth to reducing oxygen in the water, all of which can harm marine life.

What can be done to stop this kind of madness? Actually, it’s providing people with the knowledge and education to make smart eco-friendly choices. For instance, home cleaning can be done with several safer cleansers like alcohol, ammonia, bleach, detergent, oil and soaps. Make sure not to mix these chemicals since doing so can be deadly.

Take laundry, a common household activity, for example. While there are tons of fancy cleaners on the market, it really only takes a simple detergent to keep clothes clean. Bleach is great for light clothes. Soaking extremely dirty clothes first, and then washing with a simple detergent is generally effective. Most stains will come clean with the use of alcohol. Vinegar can help with grease or oil stains. What about glass and windows? A simple solution of ammonia and water mixed equally is all you really need. The best cleaner for wood surfaces is simply a mild oil soap. There are even natural, eco-friendly cleaning techniques for virtually every mess or stain out there that involve the use of oils created from things like peppermint and lavender!

The rule of thumb is if there are more than seven to ten ingredients in a cleaner, there is probably a better and more eco friendly choice. Next time you are shopping for home cleanup products you may want to remember that it’s not just buying or bringing your organic cotton bags, its what you put in, or don’t put in it.

tagTags: , , , ,



Eco Friendly Products

Posted on timeJanuary 11th, 2010 by userGrace     flagComments Off


The categories of eco friendly products have become a lot more numerous and versatile with the increased insistence on green lifestyles. People can now shop for eco friendly products according to almost any category related to human activity; there are green clothes, organic food, gift ideas, green services, green appliances, sustainable building, and environmentally friendly solutions to almost anything you can think of. Reduce, reuse and recycle, this is what defines a green lifestyle. Yet, not everybody knows about the wide offer of eco friendly products, which is usually a matter of personal awareness and consciousness about the environment and the personal impact on it.

The sad truth is that more than half the globe’s population has not heard of eco friendly products as alternatives to the items they use daily. A housewife may not be thrilled about using a bio-based solvent instead of her efficient chemical bleacher. She will fear poor efficiency and will be reluctant to switch to eco friendly products.This is one of thousands of other examples that can be found in daily life. In fact, some ‘impossible to make’ changes may be encountered with the most convinced of environmentalists. Unless we change mentality, it will be long before people start using eco friendly products regularly.

A massive change of paradigm is necessary before making Earth a cleaner planet and a safer place to live. When one starts to rely on eco friendly products, that person will make green transformations and choices more easily. Such a responsible human being would feel guilty for wasting electricity, water and fuel.Eco friendly products are just one part of a larger phenomenon that touches on all aspects of our lives. It goes hand in hand with replacing incandescent bulbs with energy-saving alternatives or it corresponds to the trend of buying hybrid or electric cars instead of fuel-powered vehicle.

Turn the environmental exercise into a daily practice. When families behave ecologically responsible, children receive the green education necessary for supporting the environmental efforts required from the next generations.This is how the green education is achieved: first at home and then at school. A child who grows with eco friendly product will become an environmentally responsible adult.

tagTags: , , , ,



Eco Friendly Product

Posted on timeNovember 8th, 2009 by userGrace     flagComments Off


The categories of eco friendly products have become a lot more numerous and versatile with the increased insistence on green lifestyles. If very few green products were available ten years ago, now we can shop for gift ideas, green services, organic foods, green gifts, green clothes and even green appliances. Reduce, reuse and recycle, this is what defines a green lifestyle. Yet, not everybody knows about the wide offer of eco friendly products, which is usually a matter of personal awareness and consciousness about the environment and the personal impact on it.

The sad truth is that more than half the globe’s population has not heard of eco friendly products as alternatives to the items they use daily. A housewife may not be thrilled about using a bio-based solvent instead of her efficient chemical bleacher. Poor efficiency is what we fear most in eco friendly products, and hence the reluctance to use them.This is one of thousands of other examples that can be found in daily life. Even with the most convinced environmentalist you may still come across some ‘impossible to make’ changes. Unless we change mentality, it will be long before people start using eco friendly products regularly.

A cleaner Earth is not therefore possible without a change of paradigm. When one starts to rely on eco friendly products, that person will make green transformations and choices more easily. Such a responsible human being would feel guilty for wasting electricity, water and fuel.Eco friendly products are just one part of a larger phenomenon that touches on all aspects of our lives. It goes hand in hand with replacing incandescent bulbs with energy-saving alternatives or it corresponds to the trend of buying hybrid or electric cars instead of fuel-powered vehicle.

Anyone can start using eco friendly products, and make the environmental exercise a daily practice. When families behave ecologically responsible, children will be exposed to a higher form of respect towards the environment, the planet and their personal health condition.This is how the green education is achieved: first at home and then at school. A child who grows with eco friendly cleaning products will make environmentally safe choices in his or her adult life afterwards.

tagTags: , , , ,



RSS feeds:

Search: