pinkwashing: cosmetic companies cash in on causing breast cancer while pretending to fight it

Talking about cosmetics, David Suzuki is still fighting to get the government to change regulations for ingredients in cosmetics and to get companies to do their own steps to eliminate toxic substances in their products. Here's an article about a new film that should be very interesting:   Beware of pinkwashing: A new film reminds us it's what's inside that counts.  

Once you read the article there'll be a link to sign a petition to make cosmetics saver.   

Movie time - Chemerical

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.
         

Blue Vinyl and other plastics

In the documentary Blue Vinyl a young woman is worried about her parents' decision to pull the wooden boards off the house and put blue vinyl on instead. They live on Long Island, New York, and have as so many Americans sturdy, cheap vinyl around their house and garage. Vinyl, aka PVC, is a very common plastic that is hazardous in its production and recycling as toxic substances are needed and released, including dioxin. The woman meets lots of people, all kinds of experts, around the country, from the representatives of the Vinyl Institute, oil refinery and plastic producers to scientists and people living in homes made out of "alternative" materials. The people from the Vinyl Institute want to make her belief that the biggest ingredient in the material is similar to table salt and that's found in our bodies anyway because we can't live without it. (I am always amazed by the stubbornness that industry representatives show when they defend their product, no matter how bad the product is for health and environment.)
As in most other documentaries where an inquisitive, concerned citizen wants to get a closer look industry will keep its doors closed. The woman was not allowed to visit a petro-chemical factory.  She moves on to investigate other outside wall finishes but none satisfies her parents. The material does not blend in with the neighbourhood, the (natural) colour is not great, the price is not right. A young man that helps her convince her parents to get rid of the vinyl lives himself in a house made of straw, covered with a mixture of lime, sand and a bit of concrete which creates an "adobe finish" that the mother finds unacceptable. Meanwhile he refuses to stay at the house due to the vinyl and sleeps in a tent in the garden. In the end the woman has the house recovered in reclaimed wood - ignoring the by far biggest decision point in the issue: the price. It does cost her dearly but she's happy to have done the step towards a better world ... without vinyl. 
Her parents soon sell the house and "downsize" (from a bungalow) to a townhouse in a brandnew retirement park where every single building is covered in vinyl. 

At one point she went to see a Habitat for Humanity project where within a couple of days 25 houses for low-income families are erected. Each of these simple houses can be put together from single parts within a few hours. Sponsored by the Vinyl Institute, the houses are completely made of vinyl, from the flooring to the walls, the window frames, the ceilings, everything is made from vinyl. Of course the woman wanted to talk with the people involved about the health hazards, inform and warn them possibly, but when she sees the crying-out-of-happiness families that are about to move in she does not do it. 

This morning then my husband asked if I thought it would be possible to get rid of ALL the plastic in our household. I said no straight away. Plastic is everywhere. It often could be replaced: storage containers, bowls, pitchers, soap dish, toys, hangers, coat hooks, blinds, plant pots, shoe rack, toilet seat, shower curtain, ... but a tooth brush without plastic? And what about the parts on the stroller, the radio, kitchen appliances like fridge and kettle, ... and what about all the packaging? If I did not want any plastic I would have to take lots of glass or ceramic containers to a store that sells everything in bulk from soap & hair shampoo to dishwashing liquid to all kinds of dry foods, meats, fish and drinks. That would be tough, not only to find that store (although the Earth General Store would score high here, mind you, they still use the bulk plastic containers) but to carry the containers around, without breaking them. Toys, I have been looking for wood but there's also tin toys, are somwhat harder to find but it's not impossible. Last but not least, comparing prices for all the named items it becomes very obvious that wood, tin & co. cost way more than plastics. As oil gets more expensive this might slowly change though ... Turning my head I just looked at our book shelves ... well, book covers are also coated in something plastic-like so they'd have to go too. And the laptop I'm writing on of course. Not too sure if my husband still wanted to get rid of plastic once it comes to his laptop. 

 

 

White Water, Black Gold

is a film by David Lavalee, who was born & raised in Alberta, is a hiking guide on the Columbia Icefields, teacher, film maker and more. I watched this film about great Canadian waterways and the dirty tar sands yesterday at an Edmonton theatre amidst a bunch of rather old residents of the province Alberta. Alberta has been in the spotlights more and more often recently because of the disastrous environmental consequences of the tar sands operations but not much has changed. I was surprised to see lots of white haired people in the theatre. They did not match the types of person I have seen at other tar-sands-related events. I'm glad different generations get concerned and want to be informed though. 


Although I have seen several oil sands films there was still something new in this one, and it was very much up-to-date, including some of the most recent tar sands issues. Of course, in the film there were lots of well-known faces such as Dr David Schindler, Dr Kevin Timoney, Dr. John O'Connor, George Poitras ... activists, scientists, authors, first nations ... there were also representatives from Suncor!, the Alberta government and the National Energy Board which was surprising because they tend to avoid these films for obvious reasons.            


David Lavalee basically followed the imaginary drop of water that originates from a glacier off Mt Snowdon and follows it across the Columbia Icefield into the Athabasca River all the way to Fort McMurray and beyond to the Beaufort Sea. A lot of controversy comes up on the way. It was all there again, the toxins in air & water, the dead or deformed fish, the large number of rare cancers in downstream communities, the leaking tailings ponds stuffed with arsenic, mercury and PAHs, the destruction of boreal forest ... the lies that come with the tar sands. Apparently, the corporations in the tar sands are only allowed to take out 3% of the water flow of the Athabasca River - that's with high water though. In January when the river is frozen and the water under the ice is especially vital for the fish to survive industry wants 30% of the flow. Suncor used to have glorifying signs up along the tailing ponds road to inform visitors of their heroic tar sands operations but these signs disappeared since hundreds of birds died on the tailing ponds and Suncor was fined $3.3 Mio (half a day earnings for them). Curious visitors are not wanted any more on this road.   


After the film Lavalee pointed out the reverse alchemy of using natural gas to produce tar sands oil - it's like turning gold into lead. He also added that conventional oil produced 100 barrels from the energy of 1 barrel. At the tar sand they need 1 barrel to produce only 2 barrels - where's the point? For him the tar sands are an indicator that peak oil has passed, the same as the production of shale gas is a sign that the peak of natural gas has passed - rear mirror view, he called it.                  

There were a lot of good quote in the film but I don't have the memory to bring them up here. One of the worst comments though came from the Suncor spokesperson at a first nation's community meeting. She apologised for not having showed up at the last meeting but the good thing about it was that instead of muffins she ordered KFC this time. Nobody smiled. 
         
to be continued ...
                       

Honey, do you prefer Ironing or formaldehyde?

Lindsay Coulter, aka the Queen of Green, featured on the website of David Suzuki also write blurbs for Metro newspaper. Today she tells us that wrinkle-free shirts have been treated with formaldehyde which a) decreases the lifetime of the shirt by making the fabric brittle and b) emits fumes that can be inhaled and cause cancer. Not buying any more of these shirts is a way to avoid formaldehyde but remember it is also found in air fresheners, nail polish, carpets, furniture, kitchen cabinets and bed sheets. Leaves me thinking how hard it is to find shirts that wrinkle to start with - you see, we don't buy dress shirts very often and would need even fewer if somebody in this household was not an aspiring accountant. Never mind, men in dress shirts look good! They should know how to iron though, too.                 

Valentine's waste

It's just one of these days again that have been completely commercialized, selling whatever they can as Valentine-item. Most of it looks like rubbish to me already on the store shelves. And tomorrow everything unsold goes to the dump, big sigh. I have only known Valentine's Day for a few years and I don't think too much of it. My husband cooked dinner last night and he got heart-shaped buns for his sandwiches today. We'll have a little treat from the Dutch bakery across the street after dinner tonight. End of it. At work, we had a Valentine's lunch today where every staff member brought a lunch and we swapped them between us. Since it was lunch and lunch to me is a meal I didn't think the packaging mattered so I took my lunch in reusable containers and arranged it at school on a plate, with a napkin that I cut into a heart-shape. From most of the ladies though the lunch came in lots of packaging, boxes, paper and plastic bags in red and/or with hearts on them, from the dollar store. I can't even tell you what the content was. Oh well, at least the boxes can be reused. 

The Story of Stuff has a nice blog post (http://www.storyofstuff.com/blog/?p=674) about the most common  Valentine's day items: flowers, chocolate, gold and diamonds. Most of them are produced under hazardous conditions and with child labour. The blog post therefore states solutions and campaigns aiming to change this.   

Again, we don't have to live in abstinence of everything but we should be careful of how much and what we acquire. Especially in a relationship there's much more to it then just big gifts. Michelle Obama says laughter is what keeps a relationships alive and going, not taking yourself to serious when you are with your better half. I think my hubby and I are pretty good with that, too. We can't buy happiness but we can create it ourselves. That reminds me of a recent story that caused us lots of laughter: My hubby left his wallet at a friend's place, without intention of course, and did not pick it up until a week later. His friend said to him, "you really live a frugal life!" 

Pharmaceuticals, doctors and water

I mentioned before that pharmaceuticals can be found in treated waste water and cause havoc in nature. In fact, a recent article in the Epoch Times lists which type of pharmaceuticals (anti-depressants, antibiotics etc.) are dominant in certain US cities. Near animal feed lots concentration of growth hormones are way higher than in other water sources. The article also mentions the affected creatures such as fish, frogs, shrimp and how the pharmaceutical traces in the water change their behaviour or sexual organs. If it happens to them who says it will not happen to us? My husband told me today that the radio station he listens to asked why in recent years more girls are born than boys, even though boys have been the majority for a long time. How about BPA (bisphenol A, a toxin similar to oestrogen) and leftovers of the anti-baby-pill? They are in the water, no doubt. 
Obviously, there is enough reason not to tell the public about all that because you don't want to scare them about such simple things as drinking tap water. One major reason must be the pharma-industry that is keen on selling their products, which brings me to a different article on the same page. It states that aggressive marketing should make one very suspicious about a drug. But let's face it, doctors are only human beings too and just as susceptible to marketing as everyone else and it can be hard to say no. So doctors might happily prescribe a drug that is not very effective, is not approved because there has not been enough testing, not on the right test group anyway, is not as safe as the producer claims, but is marketed very well. In addition, the pharma-industry comes up with medication for conditions that do not even exist and did not used to be considered an illness, such as pre-diabetes or pre-hypertension. Voila, more and more pharmaceuticals make their way into our bodies, some of them needless and useless, get flushed out and cause further damage in fish, animals and us again as the water does its cycle and eventually comes through our tap again. 
I know we can't tell everybody to get off their medications but those who take them should question their purpose and usefulness and look into alternatives.                                  

More of garbage, cosmetics and toxins

A crazy German built a hotel in Madrid out of garbage. Unfortunately it's there for an exhibit only and will not actually host guests but I like the idea. One day when we run out of resources we might be happy to collect our trash back out of the oceans (if we can still recognize them as such) and build a roof over our heads with it, just in case it gets a bit wet, windy or cold. Take a look for yourself: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/20/madrids-beach-garbage-hot_n_811442.html#s226725


The Canadian government did a good deed but it's not enough. They banned phthalates only in soft plastic toys, but not in cosmetics. Well, maybe the approach is similar to our diets. They first allow industry to sell crab to the consumers that causes us harm and then they find another provider to treat you for it. Money makes the world go round, on the expense of the consumer. Weird though because the people that work for the industry are also consumers so they should care. The cosmetics industry insists their products are safe, of course. Anyway, it's up to the government to act on the issue but they have 3 months to do so, yawn. http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Clean+shampoos+critics+urge/4136614/story.html


The other day I read in the paper about a scienties experimenting with animals to cure hangover. He gave the rats (or maybe mice) pure ethanol to make them drunk. It was pointed out that this obviously excluded the usual "toxins and additives" found in store-shelved alcohol.  I could not believe it was writen so bluntly as if that's an absolutely normal, not to worry about way of producing something that will be consumed by us, the readers. Makes me wonder if it was not better to legalize certain plants for drug consumption with "all natural ingredients" instead of creating toxic drinks that cause addiction. 


A friend told a story from the TV. They had a bunch of people swallow the content of a whole package of homeopathic medicine. They stood right outside a hospital in case stomachs had to be pumped out because the porbands weren't suicidal after all. Nothing happened, they all survived without reaction. The conclusion in the show was not though what we thought of. They concluded that homeopathic medicine is like a placebo, it does not do anything. Dave & my conclusion was more like, the active ingredients are not as highly concentrated per pill and it does not contain harming chemicals that at a high dosage can actually kill you. Should be could for suicidal patients. We don't know the details but I think even a placebo is better than harmful medicine.

A visit of a different kind

In autumn we visited the Waste Management Centre in Edmonton  which claims to be the most sophisticated in North America. At the facility they recover 6 out of 10 garbage bags through recycling and composting, the rest still goes to landfill. Additional facilities to recycle more materials are under construction with the goal to recover 9 out of 10 garbage bags. I never really thought about the ratio of garbage that gets recovered but I was honestly a bit shocked by the small ratio of recovery that apparently is a big one. I mean, other cities seem to stuff even more garbage right away into landfills and don't further think or care about it. Urgh. 

Edmonton’s Centre has been a huge investment that lots of communities are not willing to take, but that’s desirable. Coastal cities that dump waste into the ocean, incinerators that produce the most toxic man-made substance on Earth (Dioxin), and exporting waste to places like India because countries like the USA create so much waste they can’t cope with it are not good for our future. Getting industry to design products that last would be a huge progress but we also need to remind ourselves that everything that gets dumped stays on the planet, no matter what. In order to keep this fact in people's minds it should be part of every school's curriculum to take the kids to a waste management facility ... and make the facility an operating exhibit. Just like in Edmonton, only that here they do it with proud which cities with incinerators will not do.   

http://www.edmonton.ca/for_residents/garbage_recycling/edmonton-waste-management-centre.aspx

A few recent occurences

Dave was given by his dentist a tooth paste for sensitive teeth with "instant relief" guarantee. Reading the small print it turns out this stuff is highly dangerous, recommending users to call Poison Control if they happen to swallow more than the amount needed for brushing their teeth! How did this stuff get on store shelves?

Our new apartment also needed some serious cleaning and I was recommended to get CLR, a cleaner that removes stubborn stains from calcium, lime and rust. Reading the packaging I was shocked about the aggressiveness of this product and considered not to get this near my household, not only because we have a baby but also because this stuff should stay where it is - safely in its bottle, unopened.


Have you wondered how our bath versus shower water consumption turned out? My husband uses more water for his bath than I use for a simple shower, that is without washing my hair. So maybe his bath comes to about the same as my shower with washing my hair. He still uses less for his bath than his shower.  The last days I have taken a few bathes in a puddle because our new shower head is terrible and needs to be changed, the sooner the better.

The run off we cause ... - part 2

This is still referring to the things I learned from the documentary Crapshoot: 

 

We are looking now at sludge. Sludge is the solid waste after water is removed; it’s also called bio-solids even though that’s not quite right if you remember the list of substances going into sewage. As mentioned before, sewers were never meant to be clean and chemical-free. The use of sewers was not meant to result in safe and beneficial products that could be reintegrated into the nutrients cycle. In Canada half the sludge is still spread on farmland. Sludge is often free of charge to the farmer and even labelled as soil enhancer!

Example: In rural Ontario, where food is grown and cattle grazes, sludge is taken onto fields without notifying residents. The sludge gets dumped 1 to 5 times per day.  Afterwards plastics and waste products can be found on the fields. A resident started asking questions and got no proper answers from government authorities or the treatment plant. Instead she was threatened that she would have to shut up about the issue in order to not cause worries amongst other residents. Water tests come back with E-Coli contamination. Looking forward to your farm fresh produce now?

In Sweden and other European countries (Belgium, Netherlands) sludge spreading on farm land has been banned, not by government but by agricultural entities. One reason was that flame retardants in sewage were spread on fields and later found in food and breast milk – the concentration of flame retardants had doubled every 6 years in Sweden. These flame retardants are linked to causing cancers. In Sweden sludge has since been used as a land filling material in motorways and non-critical places.

The state-of-the-art waste management facility in Edmonton includes a huge composting hall. The resulting compost was initially sold as Nutri-Plus but not everything that goes into the composting hall is just organic waste. In the meantime it’s sold as compost enhanced top soil to residents and agriculture.

The run off we cause and its problems - part 1

The National Film Board of Canada made a film about sewage – S  E W A G E. I did not think there’s a film about this subject and I came across it accidentally but damn was that film interesting, an eye-opener you may say. It’s called Crapshoot: The gamble with our wastes. The films answers questions like: Where does the sewage go, what happens with it then, what does it do to us?

First it comes up with a list of what sewage involves: food leftovers, cleaning chemicals, detergents, toiletries, hair dye, paint thinners, pharmaceuticals, excrements, industrial solvents, paper mill residue, oil, cleansers, radioactive material, dental & hospital wastes, petroleum products, heavy metals … keep going, what else can you come up with? There’s almost nothing that’s not in sewage. Sewers have become super highways of toxic waste and hazardous components. Now think about what goes down your drain every day and what should not and why.   

    

The film points out that water is being used to transport a lot of waste somewhere else where we don’t see it any more and simply forget about it. But whatever gets mixed together in sewage can not be simply taken apart again! Sewers were never designed to treat the water to a stage where it becomes as clean as before. They were only designed to get rid of grey water. The most modern waste water treatment plants can not separate all the stuff that’s in our grey water so the water goes still contaminated back into water bodies, our rivers and lakes and oceans. Considering our dependence on water for drinking and food purposes alone it’s ridiculous how we waste water for purposes like sewage, as a medium to quicker transport waste “away” from us. Remember, our planet Earth is still roundish – it will all come back to us.    

home sweet home - good to know

Here a few more things from the same book, Restore, Recycle, Repurpose – Create a beautiful home, by  Randy Florke with Nancy J. Becker. Some of these issues I will write more about eventually:  

-         According to American Water Works Association 26.7 % of the water used daily in a single-family home is flushed down the toilet. --- How terrible is that! In Germany dual-flush toilets or toilets where one can stop the flow of water any time as desired are standard, meaning almost everywhere. In Edmonton and you guess how much further geographically they are still RARE and the old water tanks are huge. We do it the old fashioned way, not with a brick in the tank but a 2-litre jar to save some water. And as long as you are well-hydrated and alone at home you don't have to flush every time.     

-         According to Howtocompost.org, home composting can “divert 700 lbs of material per household annually from the waste stream”.  --- Impressive number isn't it. Half of Edmonton's residential waste is organic matter despite the fact that if composting is done properly it will not smell or attract rodents. And with worm composting it can be done quickly and easily in any apartment. No, we have not got the worm box yet but I am thinking about it. Still trying to figure out how to keep it out of baby's reach and within my reach.     

-         According to the Aluminum Association, Americans throw away enough aluminium every three months to rebuild the commercial air fleet. Randy suggest the logical, to stop using aluminium foil or buy 100% recycled foil. Rinse off after use and put it in with your recycling. --- I have tin foil at home but we only use it for the BBQ which we should properly clean instead and put the food right on it.   

-         Wood-burning fireplaces and stoves are not always energy-efficient, the burning of wood is considered carbon neutral, since no more CO2 is released than if the wood were to degrade naturally. Learn more at www.woodheat.org

-         Mattresses: may contain petrochemical-laced vinyl coverings, softeners such as Phthalates (carcinogen), polyurethane foam that emits VOCs, and potentially toxic chemical fire retardants like Polybromenated diphenyl etners (PBDEs), according to Healthy child, Healthy world. Look for mattresses without PBDEs, without foam interior that contain petroleum products, coverings made of organic cotton or wool instead of vinyl. Flame-resistant barriers made of fibre are better than sprayed-on-fire-resistant chemicals. Consider an organic encasement to put a layer between you and potential toxins in the mattress.  ---- very interesting indeed. Maybe an air mattress and sleeping bag are the healthier alternative. But I better find out first what the air mattress is made of.   

-        High-efficiency tank-less water heaters, though considerably more expensive, eventually pay for themselves in energy costs, which are up to 20% lower than those of traditional storage tank models. It might take up to 22 years to break even though.    --- We had one in Edinburgh for the shower and loved it. We did not bother switching the storage tank on at all, heated the water for washing the dishes in a kettle. The toughest part was for Dave to shave with cold water.

-         According to multiple sources, laptops use 25-45 watts of electricity when running, while the average desktop computer uses 60-250.

Almost done, only a few more no-brainers, just in case: 

-         Refill printer cartridges, unplug what you don’t need, use multi-purpose appliances (printer, scanner etc. in one appliance), print only if absolutely necessary, print on both sides and on recycled paper

-         Do not use pesticides or chemical fertilizers in your garden, there are organic options 

-         Use push lawn mowers and hedge clippers – does not cause as much noise either

-         Donate stuff you don't need any longer, try not to add on to the landfill, buy used

-         Buy a Christmas tree with the root ball on and plant afterwards, mulch or compost a live cut tree otherwise

It's all killing us

Have you ever noticed that almost everything we produce nowadays and the way we live actually harm us, are making us sick! – There are toxins in cosmetics, toxins in electronics, pesticides & herbicides in foods, greenhouse gases in the air from the use of fossil fuels, antibiotics and heavy metals in water, ... we produce tons and tons of waste and it's wrong how it's dealt with … the list is endless. Most of these things are somehow connected to human greediness and corporate profit-seeking, to people losing contact with nature and to the loss of community spirit.  Marketing, glossy magazines and TV shows suggest we better go shopping frequently, indicate what we must have, who we are when we own or not own this or that item, wear this or that brand, and so on. They reinforce thinking in status symbols, too. For our own sanity and the functioning of this planet we have to get away from that!

I’m afraid my child will be an outsider at school because I don’t take her to junk food restaurants, I don’t let her watch TV and play for hours in the internet, I buy her clothes at Value Village, I don't drive her everywhere … Do I want to do this to my child or will I have to give up on my values and give in to all the consumer frenzy that causes more damage than benefits? 

The green rule of consumption, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, is not going to work until we get back to basics and remember what we really need to be happy in live. Uhm, we might have to become one big bunch of hippies - without the drugs, please.  Love's a nice thing, if not the greatest thing ever.

Unfortunately the environment as an argument does not seem to cause much change in the behaviour of our society so I think that we have to argue with “your health is at stake” in order to make people rethink their actions. It's not even a lie! I am afraid though that some people have a bigger problem to believe this argument than to believe what marketing tells them and what politicians tell them. One solution would be to introduce a school subject called "Ecology" or "Environmental thinking" and brainwash kids right from the start. They would grow up to be the healthiest generation ever.