Yesterday the Take-Action-film Chemerical was shown at the Waterloo Public Library. Not quite sure what chemerical stands for I went and watched it. It featured the Goode family that threw out all their conventional cleaning products and later on body care prducts to get rid of the toxic stuff (ingredients like phthalates, parabens, sulfates) and replace it with cheap, natural, toxic-free ingredients such as baking soda, vinegar, olive oil, castile soap etc. It was an experiment and they were sceptical and they learned to love it and they won't go back to the highly commercialised toxic crap. Way to go!
Chemerical in that movie is a fictitious company that promotes healthier cleaning products and behaviours. There is for example OTW for bad smells, gases, you know. Open The Window! The other one is Elbow Grease. Instead of using harsh chemicals that you only need to wipe off, you should use more gently substances and scrub, scrub, scrub. Saves you the trip to the gym too which in return saves you money. Just saying.
It was interesting to see how much trouble the family of 5 had to convert. We already have no more toxic cleaning products in our household, ever since the baby came. It's baking soda, vinegar and water for us. We use Eco-balls for laundry and dishwashing detergent from the organic/ healthy living store. I never took it as far as mixing my own laundry detergent etc. although there is obviously nothing wrong with it and it is a lot cheaper than anything you buy in the store. Store-bought solutions, especially from the organic store, tend to be quite expensive too. Sometimes it's only the first impression though. Our dishwashing detergent has gone a long way, I need very little. The same with the (liquid) castile soap I use for washing my hands. A single drop will do the trick. Made me realise how most dispensers of conventional soap/ detergents are designed to spill out large amounts so you use the bottle up quickly and run back to store for more. It's so wasteful!
Replacing cleaning products is one thing, body care products are another story. Especially the teenagers in the household had their problems with that but they eventually agreed to the edible body care products that they could create themselves. Yes, they are often edible, not necessarily tasty but swallowing them won't harm you. Haven't you heard that you should not put anything on your body that can't be eaten? Our skin is an enourmous organ that is capable of absorbing lots of good and bad substances with all its consequences. It's better to be careful! Anyhow, our bathroom is not entirely toxic-free but it's improving. I mix my own hair conditioner from water and apple cider vinegar. I also started to rub olive oil into my hair, cover it in plastic for 20-30 min and then wash as usual. This gets rid of the frizz in my hair, my hair feels better although I'm still getting used to the new look. My hair is darker, looks wet but is not, it's curlier too. My husband already loves it. I'm about to finish my liquid body wash and it will be soap bars from the organic store from then on. Our chapsticks are from a local lady who started her own cosmetic line with natural ingredients in her kitchen and sells them at local markets. My deodorant is a crystal rock.
I have had trouble with store-bought shampoo so far and toothpaste. Using a paste of baking soda was terrible, tasted disgusting, left my hair too soapy. Unfortunately I hate researching recipes for do-it-yourself because there is too many options and I was not going to turn my kitchen into a lab and mix away for a day. Going to the movie helped me out here. The organiser brought recipes and ingredients and we got to mix some toothpaste and shampoo to take home. Yeah! I love the toothpaste. Taste good, cleans well. I think the shampoo is good too but after I washed my hair this morning I went outside for a bike ride followed by a three-hour-hike with a hat on so my hair did not get a chance to look good. The recipes are fairly simple, the ingredients aren't hard to come by (if you have a good store nearby and I'm talking about the supermarket) and it's much better than baking soda alone. Watching the movie I once more was not unhappy for not using make-up although I have been recently considering to start using a little of it. Without the knowledge on how to apply it I am not going to buy anything though and if I ever get so far I better buy the "yummy" options.
Back to the movie. There were a couple of things that bothered me. The Goodes live in a 2.5 million-people city which remaind unnamed. The city has 6 locations where residents can drop off hazardous items and materials such as batteries, paints, cleaning substances and body care products. Only 3% of the population there make use of these centres. They interviewed someone who runs such as centre and he said he resells some of the stuff and his wife is happy to get her cleaning supplies for cheap. Obviously he does not care about exposing himself and the environment to toxic chemicals that often have been known to cause cancers and other deadly diseases for many decades. The family mother was put off by his attitude, who could blame her. In a different location an "explosion-proof" room was shown were the handed-in materials are kept. It was not said what happens with them once the room is full. Also, afte the cleaners and cosmetics are emptied into barrels you are left with the plastic bottle. These bottles are contaminated too and therefore do not go into recycling but instead into the garbage and then into the landfill. Hang on here! Many households use these cleaners etc. and then put the bottles into their recycling. A lot of effort has been made to teach people to do that and what for? I can't imagine somebody picks the bottles out to add them to the landfill, so they probably get recycled with the toxins attached to them? Or what kind of aggressive cleaning process is applied to clean the bottles and transfer the toxins to somewhere (where?) else?
So the Goodes (and they are just an example) felt guilty to pour half a bottle of cleaner down the drain since it's bad for the environment and will end up in the lake/ river. But almost nobody worries about using smaller amounts of the substance for cleaning and then pouring it down the drain. It still ends up in the lake, it simply needs longer to get there but it will accumulate. As it was said in the film too, any chemical substance ever produced does not just disappear. Reminded me of the story with the leaded gasoline. We stopped using leaded gasoline but the lead that was once pumped into our air through many exhaust pipes did not just go away. It's still around us. Cough!
The film shortly reported on Chemical Valley (photos) which turns out to be around Canada's most polluted city Sarnia, ON and on Love Canal, NY. Both locations are extremely contaminated with toxic waste "thanks" to the chemical industry and yes, people who lived there did get cancers etc. and kids died from playing outside. Now tell me, we ought to be grateful for the contributions that the chemical industry makes to the economy because the state of the economy is all that matters in our modern world?!?!?!?! Be smart, stop using conventional cleaners and body care products and let those stupid companies go bankrupt. No money in the world can buy a healthy environment but we can influence our environment by chosing the right products when we shop. Also remember to buy organic ingredients for cosmetics where possible. Not much point in buying natural ingredients when those ingredients have been sprayed with pesticides and herbicides.
Here the recipe for toothpaste:
Mix 1.5 tablespoons coconut oil, 0.5 teaspoon baking soda, pinch of salt, few drops of an edible essential oil (such as lime or spearmint), and honey to taste. That's it. Remember that a pea-sized amount is enough to brush your teeth. And even though the initial investment for the ingredients may seem high it will last for a long time.
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