TAG | Disposables
Running out of date ideas? Are you tired of the usual dinner and movie night outs? Why not impress your special someone by having an eco-friendly date? Aside from having a fabulous time together, a green inspired activity is a great way to minimize damage to the environment.
Here are some clean and green date activities to help you pull off a fun and earth-friendly date:
Forget the car – A little sacrifice goes a long way. While driving is convenient, it creates air pollution. Try walking tours instead and save on fuel consumption while partaking the beauty of your local architecture. Plus, you can lose some calories, too. If walking is such a pain, then opt for public transportation, such as buses and trains. Or better yet, take the bike, which is the most eco-friendly way to get around.
Dine at a local restaurant – Green your dining options, too! Browse your local events guide and check for restaurants in your area that practices green hospitality and cook meals using lesser energy consumption. You can also look for a dining establishment that supports local agriculture or serves organic cuisine.
Visit the farmers market – As going to the farm is rather inconvenient, instead, meet your date on a Saturday morning at a local farmers market and shop for some homegrown produce. Try an organic wine, bread or cheese if you please. A lot of farmers markets are popping up in communities, and visiting one is a wonderful way to support the local agriculture. You will be even surprised to know that these farmers markets not only offer a wide selection of the freshest and luscious fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood, but they also have delectable recipes to share!
Have an earth-friendly picnic at the park – With all those locally grown products you bought, you should consider planning a green picnic at the park. Stay away from plastic utensils and other disposables. Bring your favorite china, silverware, wine glasses, and cloth napkins instead. Whip up some fresh salads, sandwiches, a bottle of wine; pack them neatly in stainless steel food containers, and you’re all set for a hearty meal. Spread the tablecloth or blanket; get cozy and enjoy the fresh air.
Give back to the community – Pledge your date time to a local non-profit organization. You and your significant other can either support a cause by donating or volunteering. For instance, you can serve meals at a soup kitchen or help out a retirement facility. Most big cities also have green projects that you can be part of. Just find something you both enjoy, and beneficial for the community.
Check out the outdoors – What is green dating without heading outdoors? The best earth-friendly date is involving Mother Nature! And your options are simply infinite-hiking, swimming, rafting, skiing, kayaking, sailing, surfing are all fantastic green date ideas that allow you to enjoy nature’s beauty, and each other!
If you are into green living, arrange a perfect date that minimizes carbon footprint and contributes to earth preservation. Just refer to the green dating ideas above, and surely, your date will appreciate you even more. And he or she might be inspired, too, to start a green lifestyle!
Go Green! Go Happy Tiffin! Practical, Earth-Friendly, & Stylishly Hip! Stainless steel food containers and eco-centric goods Contact: 805-876-GOOD (4663), contact@happytiffin.com
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Eco-Friendly Disposable Nappies – ‘pre Cycle’ Your Disposable Nappies By Buying In Bulk
No comments · Posted by admin in Go Green
How can you still consider the environment even when using full-time disposables?
Whether you are a hybrid nappy user, making the switch to more eco-friendly nappy choices or a family committed to using modern cloth as much as possible, there may be times when using disposable nappies is the only way to go.
When you bulk buy disposable nappies you are making a more eco-friendly choice.
Bulk buying is practicing Pre-cycling! Precycling prevents waste from coming into your home. You will save money buying in bulk – nappies in bigger boxes, or cartons. You are save resources by reducing the packaging needed, the transport costs, the amount of waste.
There are many reasons you may decide to use disposable nappies:
you are doing certain types of travelling without access to a washing machine
you are visiting relatives who have ‘issues’ with cloth nappies
you have a newborn baby that is a pooping fanatic
someone in your family is sick
your washing machine is on the fritz
water restrictions are particularly tight (if you use mainly rain water for instance)
or you are simply tired and in need of a washing break.
At these times, instead of reusing cloth nappies, you can ‘pre-cycle’ your disposable nappies! Precycling is the practice of reducing waste by attempting to avoid bringing into the home ‘things’ which will generate waste. Precycling includes any attempts to reduce the production of waste.
Pre-Cycling includes such practices as:
buying consumables in bulk to reduce packaging
buying consumables in recyclable packaging over non-recyclable packages
avoiding junk mail
using electronic media for reading materials (especially throwaway items such as magazines or newspapers.)
Buying bulk nappies is the environmentally friendly way to buy disposables.
You can bulk buy nappies online as well as at local bulk buy nappy warehouses.
Here is an Eco-Goal for you to consider:
What if you looked into getting your next lot of disposables in bulk, to practice pre-cycling as you also save money you can use towards buying some re-usable cloth nappies?
Charndra has created the simple and unique environmental initiative called
'pre · Attempts · Bulk · buying · Buying In Bulk · Cartons · Cloth Nappies · Consumables · Cycle' · Disposable · Disposable Nappies · Disposables · ecofriendly · Electronic Media · Fritz · Full Time · Junk Mail · Nappies · Newborn Baby · Precycling · Rain Water · Reading Materials · Recyclable Packaging · Relatives · Warehouses · Washing Machine · Water Restrictions
One of the biggest problems the growing green movement faces can be found hidden in every baby’s diaper. Eco friendly diapers are in short supply unlike that which they were intended to collect. There currently aren’t enough landfills to deal with all the diapers out there.
Babies go through about 5,000 diapers during potty training and the EPA says that diapers account for 3.4 million tons of waste (roughly 2% for the US total) in landfills (1998 figures). To qualify as eco friendly diapers it will be necessary to bypass the landfills as well as the harmful chemicals.
It may at first seem an easy, green choice to go with cloth diapers rather than disposable, but the diaper solution is not so cut and dried. To make cloth your eco friendly diaper of choice you will need a few basic items.
First and foremost you will need a washer and dryer at your beck and call and the time to constantly wash the tainted offerings that your baby produces at a near prolific rate. You will need to chose an eco friendly laundry soap and the style of cloth diaper that best suits your child.
This is by far the most preferable way to deal with the diaper issue, but not the solution for everyone. City dwellers may look to a diaper service, but eco friendly diapers do not come from most pay services. Due to excessive hot water use and necessity of chlorine bleach (to kill Staff and other infections common to babies), these services produce less than eco friendly results.
This takes us back to disposable diapers. Conventional disposables (Pampers, Huggies) are also not eco friendly diapers. Their manufacture involves chlorine (a volital organic compound VOC) and all use chemical gel cores that “lock in” a baby’s pee. These chemical gels contain sodium polyacrylate known for respiratory and skin irritation problems (mind you in much higher doses than found in diapers).
These manufacturers would argue that the chemicals used are all within safe limits, but do you really want to swaddle your child in such potential problems? Disposable, eco friendly diapers do exist, sort of and are are making strides towards even higher standards of green on a daily basis.
A well know manufacturer of many green products, Seventh Generation, makes a disposable eco friendly diaper or so they say. The truth is a truly biodegradable diaper doesn’t really exist due to the quantity versus the available landfills.
But Seventh Generation is a very transparent company as far as their ingredients go and produces some of the best eco friendly products available. They also claim that their eco friendly diapers use a “chemically inert” gel and claim independent scientific research has shown it is “nontoxic, not carcinogenic, and nonirritating to the skin.”
Another company, Gdiapers, makes a similar product with the added advantage of making their diapers flushable. The flushable feature does eliminate the landfill problem (some statistics put a diapers landfill life around 500 years), but both of these so called eco friendly diapers use similar gel cores on which there is still not enough definitive research.
The winner, in this reviewers eyes, in the disposable eco friendly diaper contest is made by Tushies. Assembled in the US, these are made of a cotton blend, chlorine free wood pulp and best of all, no chemical gels. Not as widely available as the Seventh Generation product, this brand can be found in some health food stores and also online.
The final word on diapers is that “eco friendly diapers” is an still an oxymoron at this point. Diaper services show facts that gel absorbents in disposables are harmful and disposables claim the chlorine used in diaper services is harmful. There is no definitive proof of either side being right. The eco friendly diapers of the future will combine all the best features, flushability, no gel absorbents above all comfort and safety for your baby.
Still looking for at least semi environmentally friendly diapers?
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I’ve discovered a lot of great green and eco-friendly products since I started writing my blog, MissMalaprop.com, in August 2006. I’ve had the chance to personally test quite a few of them, and now there are green products that I absolutely swear by. Below is a round-up of some of my favorite green and eco-friendly products.
Everyday Green
Change can come in both big and small ways — one of my early posts was all about taking baby steps to changing the world. One of my favorite green blogs, Tiny Choices, also believes that small steps can add up to a big difference, as do the people behind Ideal Bite, which is a great free resource for learning easy ways to go green. Their daily email newsletter is packed with information and tips — I’ve learned about lots of environmental issues and solutions from their emails!
Choose to reuse! Envirosax reusable shopping bags are my personal favorite for grocery shopping and every day use. I keep at least a couple of these folded up in my purse at all times, and they fold up really small, so it’s easy! I’m also a big fan of the stainless steel water bottles by Earthlust. I keep mine with me at work and find myself drinking more water these days! Even choosing reusable chopsticks over disposables can add up to make a big difference. Reducing is another big part of helping the environment. I’ve written about lots of ways you can reduce and get rid of junk mail.
Carbon emissions are a big issue when it comes to the environment. One easy thing you can do is make sure to stop idling your car — whether it’s warming up in winter (most modern cars don’t need to do this anymore anyway) or keeping the A/C on when parked in summer, it’s bad for emissions and you’re wasting gas and money! I’m also a big proponent of shopping local as much as possible, for reducing food-miles and supporting the local economy.
Health and Beauty
Ever since I read the book Living Green, I’ve become way more aware of all of the nasty chemicals commonly found in things we use every day, and I find myself reading labels much more closely. (Check The Green Guide for a list of the top chemicals to avoid.) There are a couple of products I’ve tried out to see if they would be better than the mainstream alternatives, and now I swear by them.
Manor Hall Soap Company’s face wash is my absolute favorite. Not only is it all natural and made from organic ingredients, it’s also handmade! I was skeptical when I first tried Crystal deodorant, but now that I’ve made it through a summer using this stuff instead of antiperspirant with chemicals linked to cancer, I’m definitely a fan!
Anti-Body is a great fair trade company that makes fantastic body care products, including amazing peppermint lip balm that I use every night. If you’re an open-minded lady, check out my post on eco-friendly and handmade menstrual alternatives — there are a lot of scary chemicals in those traditional pads and tampons, not to mention the trash they produce!
Looking for a better toothbrush alternative? Check out Recycline’s eco-friendly toothbrushes and razors made from recycled plastics.
Home and Decor
Those scary chemicals? They’re not only in stuff we put on our bodies, but also all around our homes. Traditional vinyl shower curtain liners give off chemicals that you breathe in while you shower. I found an awesome recycled shower curtain called EnviroCurtain that works as both a liner or the only shower curtain you’ll ever need!
For greener cleaning alternatives, check out these awesome handmade eco-friendly dish sponges or try the range of Seventh Generation cleaning products, which is what we use at home. You can also make your own inexpensive cleaners at home using products that should already be in your kitchen. Soap nuts are another great all-natural alternative for not only laundry, but all sorts of cleaning needs.
If you’re in the market for a new mattress, and you want to go as green as possible, search Craigslist for an unwanted used mattress (these are often still in great condition!) or try one of the eco-friendly mattresses and pillows from Keetsa.
In search of a way to get rid of bugs and pests without a lot of nasty chemicals? EcoSMART organic bug sprays are safe around children and pets. And if you’re looking to green up your home office, check out The Green Office for lots of recycled office alternatives.
Fashion and Accessories
It’s becoming much easier to find more sustainable alternatives when you’re shopping for fashion these days, whether it’s clothes, shoes, or accessories, and whether you want mainstream brands or goods handmade by indie artists.
For shoes, try the vegan shoes and boots from TOMS shoes. They’re a really great company who gives a pair of shoes to a child in need for every single pair of shoes purchased, and all of their shoes are manufactured under fair trade practices. If you can’t get enough of flip-flops, give the eco-friendly fair trade flip-flops by Feelgoodz a try. (My friend Bridget did and she said they’re the most comfortable flip-flops she’s ever worn — and she’s an avid flip-flop wearer!) And if it’s running shoes you’re searching for, check out the eco-friendlier running shoes from Brooks.
For awesome indie eco-friendly fashion, there are so many great brands that I love! Gaia Conceptions eco-friendly clothing is one of my faves for great basics in solid colors and organic fabrics, and each piece is made by hand in the USA. I also really like the recycled garments handmade by Hayley Lau of heidi and seek ethical clothing. For eco-friendly fashion in a full range of sizes (XS through 4X), check out Mewv Sustainables.
Toggery by Kate D’Arcy is another up-and-coming eco-friendly fashion line. Everything is made in the USA, and each piece is classic — I have a top from here that I know I’ll love for a long time. The pieces from The League of Lovers & Thieves make me think of couture meets eco-friendly fashion, only at fairly reasonable prices. Their gorgeous clothing is to die for!
If you like cozy soft organic t-shirts, you’ll love Artevist, which is sort of like a Threadless for the eco-conscious set. If you want to get the most life possible out of your old jeans, check out Denim Therapy, which offers a specialized service to repair and reweave your favorite torn and ripped jeans.
Think eco-friendly fashion can’t be sexy? Lingerie lines like Sandmaiden sleepwear and lingerie and Enamore’s sustainable lingerie are out to prove you wrong with their stunning looks made from the best organic and sustainable fabrics.
There are all sorts of cool handbags and purses out there made from a variety of recycled and sustainable materials. I couldn’t possibly mention them all, but for starters, check out Ecoist bags, which are made from recycled candy wrappers and movie billboards, or take a recycled necktie clutch purse out on the town. For those who want something a bit simpler, Reware’s recycled bags are made in the USA and they offer not only purses but also solar powered backpacks that are great for guys and girls.
Books on Going Green
Want to find out even more about how to go green and make a difference? There are a TON of books on the market right now about just that. I’d never have time to read all of them, and I don’t expect that you do either, but here are a few that I have read and really enjoyed.
Living Green, which I mentioned above, was one of the first books I read about making the switch to a more sustainable lifestyle, and it really opened up my eyes to all of the toxins and chemicals surrounding us in everyday life. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who wants a better understanding of how environmentalism is not just about the greater good, it’s also about your own personal health, and the health of your family.
Green Chic: Saving the Earth in Style is a fun read for ladies who want to go green but don’t want to have to sacrifice style to do so. It’s actually really informative while being a quick and easy read at the same time.
There are lots of books about going green that cater to specific events. The Green Bride Guide is a must-read for anyone planning a wedding. (Also check out my post about more eco-friendly wedding options.) The holidays can be another time of year that is traditionally pretty wasteful and consumer-driven. Green Christmas: How to Have a Joyous, Eco-Friendly Holiday Season is packed with tips on how to celebrate the holidays your way and keep the impact on the earth to a minimum.
If you’re trying to get your kids involved in going green, I highly recommend the Gaia Girls books. Even as an adult, I absolutely loved reading these, especially the second book, Way of Water. The whole series isn’t out yet, and I can’t wait to read the rest! (These are sort of like a eco-conscious Harry Potter.)
Books are filled with paper and that means trees have to be cut down to produce them. Try looking for publishers that use recycled paper and eco-friendly inks in their printing. (Most of the books mentioned above do.) You can also seek out ways to recycle books, whether by utilizing your local library or sites like PaperBackSwap that let you trade and recycle old books you’ve already read for ones you haven’t.
I hope this list offers a good starting place and some ideas on easy things you can do to change your habits for the greener! I’m always on the lookout for more eco-friendly alternatives. If you’re seeking a specific type of product and think that I might be able to help you find what you’re looking for, don’t hestitate to contact me, and I’ll try my best to help!
Mallory, a New Orleans resident and Gulf Coast native, launched her website, MissMalaprop.com, in August 2006 as a place to showcase unique and independently made products and small businesses, document her personal mission to live a more environmentally sustainable and socially responsible lifestyle, and talk about what’s really going on in New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast and showcase NOLA and Gulf South based artists and businesses.
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