|
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
____________________
DISPOSAL
&
RECYCLING:
____________________
CONSUMERS-
BUSINESS:
|
| |
WHAT YOU CAN DO?
(great video!
http://storyofstuff.com/)
In general...
-
Eliminate what you don't really need.
-
Minimize shopping and avoid toxins, mined
products, manufactured goods, imports, and shopping (buyer beware)!
-
Substitute with organic, biodegradable, home
grown, hand-made, clean energy, and local products.
It's important to start making your own stuff, grow your own
food, learn to knit, weave, spin, etc. Those are skills that no
society can afford its citizens to lose. Promote local self-reliance and global cooperation. Cooperation, not competition, will enhance our chance to survive and do well.
For high technology, which is important for communications & education
(computers, etc.), try your best to carefully manage use and re-use.
|
ELIMINATE AND SUBSTITUTE! Below is what I currently do. It's not a final list because I'm always
experimenting and so should you! I try to use common plants. NOTE:
I was using peppermint for all kinds of cleaning, but it made me feel arthritic - see
http://noarthritis.com/mint.htm
- ELIMINATE!
I don't use the following, including but not limited to: make-up,
perfume,
jewelry, tissue paper, hair dye, hair spray, nail polish, soap,
detergent, commercial cleaners, air fresheners, deodorant,
lawn chemicals, etc. (see list the
AVOID
below).
I also try to minimize my use of the mail:
junk mail
- WHEN YOU GO
OUT:
- Always carry a
cloth handkerchief, a cloth shopping bag (just in case), & a non-plastic
water bottle.
- AVOID
SHOPPING because
it wastes precious resources and often involves the following:
- FOOD & DISHWARE
-
- Check out eating "edible weeds"
and small critters (entomophagy) online.
- Try growing your own herbs,
greens,
and other foods! Greens
from planted root veggies are very nutritious and easy to grow, such as:
onions, garlic, beet greens, & carrot greens.
- Buy local foods. Avoid foods that are imported, highly processed, packaged, canned, bottled, baked, highly refined grains and sugars
(including maple syrup).
- Eat and cook with any and
all basic foods that are organic and can be grown in your local area (not
imported!) I live in Pennsylvania, so I particularly avoid
imported foods, such as: avoid coffee, chocolate, olive oil, and bananas (http://www.naturalnews.com/023339_banana_bananas_disease.html).
Want to save the Everglades? Use local raw honey, not sugar -
http://www.everglades.org/sugarletter.html
-
Dishware -- I
use ceramic, glass or
stainless steel (however, even these materials can be contaminated with
various substances. SEE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_scrap_metal Avoid plastic, aluminum, or stickless
pans. Also, avoid using the dish washer. It's a major source of indoor
air pollution.
- avoid microwave
ovens!
http://www.mercola.com/article/microwave/hazards.htm /
http://www.litalee.com/documents/Microwaves%20And%20Microwave%20Ovens.pdf
- avoid irradiated
foods (and there are lots of them are!):
http://www.organicconsumers.org/irradlink.cfm &
http://www.organicconsumers.org/irrad/irradfact.cfm
-
GENERAL
CLEANING KIT:
(Feb '10) I'm experimenting with amaranth seeds (they grow like
weeds, so you can harvest them or buy at market). I soak a teaspoon
of seeds in a cup of water, wait five minutes, then use the water (which
has a strange slightly jell-like consistency to it) to wash dishes.
So, far it seems to work better than the scallion/beet green juice (which
leaves a slightly slippery residue). I'm also using amaranth in the
bath, and again, it seems t. Stay tuned...
- DISHES - amaranth
seed water
- SINK AND TUB -
egg white really works, meat stock also, then less well is amaranth
water and scallion juice
- CALCIUM BUILD-UP -
vinegar (on faucets, pans, etc.: wrap faucet in cloth soaked in
vinegar for 30 minutes)
- DUSTING:
use gloves lightly wetted with diluted scallion juice or amaranth water.
- Wood products,
like salad bowls: use walnut oil or butter
- Use a little bit
of oil or fat for tough spots.
- PERSONAL CARE
PRODUCTS:
- HAIR AND SKIN (scallion juice, egg yolk, egg white, apple cider vinegar, oat flour,
and honey)
- Baths for skin and
hair - Scallion juice works best for me.
- Skin and hair
conditioner - Every 1-2 weeks, I use an egg yolk in my bath for both my
hair and skin. Just work the yolk into your hair, comb through, then
rinse off in the tub. It makes my hair very soft, but not as
manageable as when I use the scallion juice.
- Hair styling jell:
raw egg white
- apple cider vinegar
also seems to be
effective against many skin conditions, including: lice, scabies,
shingles, and
seborrheic
dermatitis.
I would start
with a teaspoon and go from there.
- I sometimes use
salt, but if the general population used salt often, we would alter the
salinity of our drinking water.
- Hand soap:
oat flour in small cheese shaker - use fat for hard-to-clean hands, then
wash with oat flour to remove grease.
- TEETH and MOUTHWASH:
diluted apple cider vinegar
- DEODORANT:
I haven't found the perfect solution, but have had good luck with pinning
all-cotton folded (small) wash clothes to the armpits of my tops.
That appears to keep bacteria from building up, thus minimizing odor.
I've also found that certain grains, such as wheat, increases my body
odor. And don't wear synthetics, bacteria loves anything plastic or
synthetic.
- For young women:
try reusable menstruation pads
- CLOTHES:
-
- laundry - I use
apple cider vinegar only, but you may want to use white vinegar. Also try hand
washing, then line dry. Sunlight is a natural bleach and disinfectant.
If you use a machine, try a front loader - it's more effective and needs
less detergent.
- I hand sew and
knit (often using local fibers and un-dyed yarn) in order to avoid toxic
materials and sweatshops. I try to avoid cotton or silk because they are
not locally produced. I dye the yarn in combinations of beets, turmeric,
and black turtle beans (use uncooked beans and only soak for two days,
otherwise beans start to spoil)! I haven't yet learned how to avoid
dyes fading...stay tuned.
-
AIR CLEANERS -- Certain
houseplants are beneficial to remove toxins from the air, such as
formaldehyde, benzene etc. The best plants for removing these and
other toxins are philodendrons, spider plants, aloe
vera, English ivy, golden pothos, and Boston fern. To learn more, there is a really good book available called:
"How
to Grow Fresh Air: 50 Houseplants That Purify Your Home or Office"by
B. C. Wolverton. http://www.ourlittleplace.com/nontoxic.html
- LIGHTING:
Use LED lights, not compact fluorescent (they contain mercury!). I paint
the cover with a little egg yolk to make the light look warmer.
- HOME & TRANSPORTATION
-- We live in downtown Philadelphia in a small 1300 square foot townhouse.
We generally walk, rather than drive. We have also joined
phillycarshare.org/, since
our son often uses our car.
- PLANT & LAWN CARE -- For
excellent potting soil, go out in the woods and dig some up! Do
not use store-bought chemicals, even if the container says it's safe.
There's no way to know.
Make your own compost and plant fertilizer using ingredients such as:
rotting leaves, egg shells, vegetable waste (no citrus or meat products). ALSO SEE:
ZWA'S LAWN CARE KIT
- WANT FROSTED
GLASS FOR PRIVACY? Apply egg yolk (a couple of times or as
needed) with brush or sponge.
|
AVOID!
NOTE: Despite the assurances
of the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental
Protection Agency,
many environmental health hazards are associated with the
manufacture, use, and disposal of consumer products. (See Health & Wastes & Toxics)
"EPA Registered" on pesticide and other products does NOT mean that the
chemicals were fully tested for safety by the EPA or are safe to use. Most
products and chemical have not been fully tested for safety
by the FDA or EPA. Both agencies continue to rely heavily upon research and
reporting by industry.
- Driving a car - try to live within walking
distance of where you work
- Any mined product, including products such
as: petroleum, coal, aluminum, gold, diamonds, baking soda, perlite, stickless cookware, jewelry (diamonds
are not a girl's best friend -
http://apscuhuru.org/campaigns/diamonds/index.xhtml)
- Plastics, synthetics, or petroleum-tainted
or treated products, containers, and packaging
- Wood fires to heat
your home
- Compact fluorescent
(they contain mercury!)
- Soaps and detergents, petroleum-tainted cosmetics, jells, &
personal care products
- Outside lawn & garden chemicals,
pesticides, & fertilizers
- Inside pesticides, pest strips, & flea
collars (see: Pesticides)
- Bleach &
non-biodegradable detergents, cleaning agents, and "Dry clean only" clothes
- Paper: tissues, napkins, towels, diapers
- Fluoridated water and fluoridated dental
products (see: Fluoride)
- Chlorinated water and chlorine cleaning
products (see: Chlorine)
- Food additives,
including anti-caking agents (found in salt and baking products):
http://www.oxymega.com/alzheimers_dementia_aluminum.html
- Talc (see: Wastes&Toxics) and Fiberglass (including air filters and insulation) see: Wastes&Toxics)
- Aerosol spays and Air fresheners / perfumes / scented
candles (These scents are particularly harmful for
the growing numbers of chemically sensitive, allergic,
and asthmatic sufferers.)
- Avoid synthetic
clothes (they get static and retain body odor). Avoid wrinkle free
clothes
http://www.healthdiaries.com/ &
http://www.safbaby.com/.
Avoid dry cleaners
- New homes: Most new buildings need a
period of years to "out-gas" due to the use of
toxic construction materials. In addition, old buildings
may harbor lead paint and/or lead plumbing.
- Dishwashers: The biggest source of indoor air pollution
may be the dishwasher and its plastic parts. US tap water is laced with traces of toxic
chemicals, including by-products of water-treatment with chlorine and
fluoride. Environmental Science & Technology reports that the hot
spray of a dishwasher liberates 96 to 100 percent of the toluene, ethylbenzene, and cyclohexane in the water within minutes and releases it
into the surrounding air. Washing machines, showerheads and faucet taps
also release toxins in lesser amounts. (The hotter the water, the more
toxins are freed.) Chlorine cleansers compound the problem University of
Texas researchers warn. Listed in Earth Island Journal Winter 1999-2000
Page 3, Earth Island Journal is published quarterly by the non-profit
Earth Island Institute
www.earthisland.org
-
Check-out your medications - many are
hazardous to your health and the environment, plus they are not filtered
from your drinking water.
|
|