In a previous post, I addressed taking a fresh look at the disposable products and excess packaging we purchase and use, in an effort to keep those things out of our landfills and waterways. In this article I’ll delve into the ingredients contained in the products we use and their repercussions on the environment and our bodies.

The next time you shop for personal care or household cleaning products, take a look at the ingredients labels. You will likely encounter a long list of chemicals, most of which which you even won’t be able to pronounce. For example, on many shampoo bottles and cosmetics you will find the ingredient Quaternium-15, which is a Formaldehyde releasing preservative. For the uniformed, Formaldehyde is the major component in embalming fluid. It is also known as methyl aldehyde, methylene oxide, oxymethylene and oxomethane as well as by a host of other different names. Since the skin is the largest organ of the human body and readily absorbs substances placed on it, it is quite a frightening thought that we are, without any hesitation, pouring formaldehyde on our scalps. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I personally don’t need to “pickle” my brain any more than it already is! We are additionally rubbing it into our skins in the form of moisturizers and cosmetics. That’s not even mentioning sleeping on it and wearing it in the form of “Easy-Care”, “No-Iron” “Permanent Press” sizing on our sheets and clothing. Other products in which formaldehyde is commonly found: over-the-counter medications, mouthwash, hair spray, cleaning products, perfumes, waxes, hair setting lotions, air fresheners, fungicides, fingernail polish, floor polishes, dry cleaning solvents, toothpaste, laundry spray starch, antiperspirants and many more.

Due to the indiscriminate usage of modern chemical brews, scientists have discovered that most of us have a toxic buildup of chemicals, including formaldehyde in our bodies. Modern day morticians have noted that twice as much formaldehyde was needed to embalm a person 20 years ago compared to today. They now can use less because we already have so much build-up of the chemical in our bodies.

While I have so far focused only on Formaldehyde the sad truth is it is not just formaldehyde that is the problem. We buy, use on our bodies and pour down our drains, myriad toxic combinations of chemicals that would make a chemist cringe. While the long-term effects of these toxins on the environment and ourselves are still being studied, it should be obvious to anyone that, as Martha might say “it’s NOT a good thing”.

There is an old adage that states “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. The shampoo our grandmothers used wasn’t broke. It consisted mainly of vegetable based soap as did their cleaning products and other household products. All of these old products were biodegradable and made from natural ingredients, causing little to no harm to ourselves or our environment. Since the chemicals we use on our bodies and in cleaning and repairing our homes all eventually end up in our waterways, water supply, soil and air and in our bloodstreams, if we truly wish to live a green and sustainable lifestyle, it’s going to take more than just using rain barrels and recycling plastic bags. We have to remember that everything that gets flushed down our toilets, drains and sewers never really goes away, it merely moves to another place in our cities, states, nation, earth. It comes back again to my first article: daily conscious decision making. If the shampoo we choose to purchase contains toxins that causes endangered frogs to become hermaphrodites but makes our hair bouncy and shiny, we have to make a decision as to what our priorities are. In short, we have to put our money where our mouths are and begin to purchase and request our retailers to carry products that are responsibly manufactured with the environment and our health in mind. A general rule to follow is, if you can’t pronounce it or would be afraid to ingest it, then it’s not a good candidate to apply to the skin, use in the home or have go down our drains. Years ago in the 70’s when I first started on my “green” journey, there were few options and products to choose from. Today there are numerous manufacturers and companies who create environmentally and personally healthy alternatives to the standard toxic brew. The following are just a very few to consider:

Burts Bee: Shampoo and body products 100% to 90% organic and biodegradable (available at natural food stores and Rite Aide and CVS)

My journey to organic living has been a long one which started in the early 1970’s when I began studying nutrition. As I read and learned about the benefits of the food I was eating, I also began running across articles and books about the adverse effects on our bodies and our ecosystem of the pesticides, herbicides and chemical petroleum based fertilizers being used on our food supply and on the plants from which we manufacture our clothes and household textiles. The very first book I read on the subject was “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson in which she argued that uncontrolled pesticide use was harming and killing not only animals and birds, but also humans. Its title suggested a future spring in which no bird songs would be heard, because they had all disappeared as a result of pesticide abuse. Since then, much more has come to light about the detrimental effects of non-organic farming methods. Insecticides work by attacking the central nervous system of the insect until it dies. Unfortunately, studies have shown that repeated exposure to pesticides by HUMANS has similar effects on OUR central nervous systems and on marine and wildlife who consume food and water that have been contaminated by runoff from the sprayed crops.

A scant sampling of some sobering statistics:

Pesticides can be absorbed through the skin, swallowed, inhaled or ingested from sprayed foods. Washing sprayed foods has little effect on removing the pesticide because it is contained in the flesh of the food as well as the skins. During application, pesticides drift and settle on rivers, ponds, pools, cars and outdoor furniture. About 5% of sprayed pesticides run off into water or dissipate in the air with pesticide drift from farming ranging up to 14.5 miles.

While we can never totally avoid pesticides and other agricultural chemicals because they are in our air, rain, oceans, rivers, drinking water reservoirs and soil, we CAN avoid additional heavy exposure by not eating foods sprayed with these toxins. YES, organic food, clothing and textiles does indeed “cost” more, but if we examine the true cost of using and ingesting these toxins on our environment and on ourselves, sprayed foods and textile plants are no bargain.

Most of us have accumulated a mind boggling amount of STUFF. Rendered danger zones to enter at our own risk, our garages, basements, attics and closets are stuffed to the brim with camping equipment, grills, lawn mowers, old, broken and extra furniture, bikes, children’s and adult’s toys and games, gardening supplies, lumber, tools, broken items waiting to be repaired and boxes still unpacked from our last move (because we can’t find space to put the stuff). Items that at one point in time were considered luxuries such as televisions, cell phones, computers and air conditioning are now viewed as necessities or deserved rewards for all our hard work and all the stress we endure. The quantity of natural resources used in the production of our purchases and the resulting quantity of trash we throw away is staggering.

Some of us shop and purchase as a hobby, as a social event, out of boredom, to relieve depression, to escape bad situations at home, to keep up with our neighbors, friends and family’s lifestyles and a host of other excuses. To finance these purchases, we are incurring debt, mostly through credit cards, and working longer hours to pay for our chosen consumer lifestyles, resulting in spending less time with our families and friends and at other worthwhile activities. Worldwatch has reported that worldwide annual expenditures for cosmetics total $18 billion while the estimate for annual expenditures required to eliminate hunger and malnutrition is $19 billion. Hmmm, let’s see…makeup or eradicating world hunger, decisions, decisions.

We have been trained to think by Madison Avenue advertisers that we want and need that bigger, better, faster, newer product and those of us who don’t own them are somehow out of touch. A case in point involves my own profession, graphic design. The MAC computer is the standard in the industry tool of the trade and no graphic artist worth their salt would own one that wasn’t “maxed out” with the largest hard drive, memory and processing speed. As a result, a large number of us graphics professionals rush out to buy the newest MAC as soon as its release is announced by Apple, along with the corresponding updated software, to the tune of a minimum of $1,900 up to $3,500. It doesn’t matter that we bought we our “old” computers less than 2 years earlier or that it is still in prime working order. It’s just the thing to do, it’s a new toy and we need (WANT) it. This mentality spills over into all our lives. When TV stations recently went digital, many of us used that as an excuse to run out and buy that big flat screen we’ve been wanting, paying no mind to the fact our current TVs were still working perfectly and only needed a government supplemented converter box to function. Shortly after digital was implemented, a walk around the neighborhoods showed these discarded TVs sitting by the curbs destined for the landfill.

Ways in which we can reduce our consumption is to wait a year (or two or three) to upgrade our computers, wait until the TV breaks down before buying another one, repair items we already own instead of buying new, shop at and donate to thrift and consignment shops to give goods another chance before they end up in the landfill, buy vintage and antique clothing and furniture made of better quality fabrics and solid materials which have already stood the test of time, instead of buying that new particleboard or plastic treasure we’ve been eyeing, an item almost guaranteed never to remain intact long enough to be purchased by future generations at any antique or thrift store.

We need to change our way of thinking to view non-consumerism not so much as a sacrifice to be endured, but rather as a way to provide a more environmentally moral higher quality of life using the least amount of raw materials, natural resources, energy and waste possible, while at the same time dramatically altering the way we produce, consume and dispose of those goods we do use.

For those of you who are not gardeners, the country is broken down into gardening “hardiness zones”. What that means is that you should choose and grow plants and trees that can survive in your “zone”. For example, I live in Philadelphia which has been traditionally categorized as zone 6. When I decide I want to plant a tree, shrub or perennial plant, I need to do a little research into which plants will survive in my “zone”, which basically means which plants can survive the typical temperature conditions during winter in my area. Some plants will die and never come back if they have to endure a temperature of 30 degrees, other plants can withstand colder temperatures below zero before dying.

Apparently from 1990 to 2006 it appears that the winter temperatures across the US has increased to the point that nationwide our gardening zones designations have had to be reevaluated and revised across the board. The new map shows that the entire northern half of Nebraska has been changed to a warmer hardiness zone. On the new hardiness map for Philadelphia, it is now considered a definite zone 7 which means the winter temperatures has increased enough in my city to allow me to grow things that previously only gardeners further south could grow. While this is an exciting development from a gardening point of view as we now have more plant options to choose from, it is a catastrophe from an environmental point of view. It is undeniable evidence in our own back yards that proves global warming is real and is here.

A case in point is my eucalyptus “tree” which is a native of  Southeast Australia where the average winter temperature is quite different than that of Philadelphia. I bought a tiny 6 inch eucalyptus plant as a decorative ornamental accent plant for the summer months for a planter outside my front door. In my area it is expected that such a plant will not survive the winter and is considered an annual plant which you need to buy each year. Well about 2 years ago just before Halloween when I was disassembling my planter for the winter, I removed the small eucalyptus plant and instead of putting it in the compost pile,  “just for the heck of it”, dug a hole in a small patch of dirt in my mostly concrete back yard and planted the eucalyptus. To make a long story short, that 6 inch plant is now over 25 feet tall and a bona fide TREE. If you look online there is conflicting data about what zones eucalyptus can survive in and there are reports of success growing them in Oregon and other places here in the US, but whether my tree is a valid indicator or not, there are numerous other reports from across of the country from gardeners proving that the overall winter temperatures in our country have changed and it is affecting gardening and farming practices. Unfortunately, if this trend continues at it’s current rate, I will someday soon be able to grow a tropical climate lemon tree in my backyard here in Philly.

Joking aside, ACTION must be taken NOW, the time for talking is long past for we are now in an emergency situation at the tipping point, if we have not already reached the point of no return, which I am not at all sure of, to be brutally honest. I believe that if you hit them where it hurts, in their wallets, their hearts and minds will follow. Sure there will be some that will just pay the tax and not comply but I think the overall program will accomplish numerous things, among them:

• Mass public awareness and concern, whether the concern is for their wallets or the environment or both, it won’t matter. What does matter is that all of France will be talking about CO2 output and doing something about it.
• The actions of the larger number of people that DO comply whether for monetary or environmental, the reasons really don’t matter, will lessen the CO2 load
• France will be able to be held up as an example for the rest of the world to follow in taking the necessary executive action

There is a quotation (yes, in case you haven’t noticed yet, I am a quote geek), I posted by Samuel Johnson that states

“Nothing will ever get accomplished if all possible objections must be first overcome”.

Yes, there are certainly valid objections to the taxation such as being a burden to those who cannot afford it but these concerns should not stand in the way of implementation. Instead, there should be provisions made in the tax law with a sliding scale tax based on income or even better yet, the proceeds of the collected taxes could go toward FREE energy efficient products and appliances for those citizens that cannot afford to make the switch on their own.

So all in all, I think the benefits outweigh the negatives and the negatives can be addressed and overcome, not somewhere down the line in the future after more debate, but now.

Loved the Carbon Footprint Calculator link attached to the article. Discovered my husband and I total 24, not too bad for 2 people but then noticed the worldwide average for 2 people is 11. I think we failed on the Energy Star appliances but rather than running out and buying them while my old appliances are still in good working order, I am going to have to wait until they need replacing.

So follow the link below to my original collection of favorite environmentally friendly natural homemade cleaning formulas, concoctions and witches brews. The majority are safe and nontoxic, with a few exceptions which are clearly noted. Use the ingredients listed when making your own alternative cleaners, most are inexpensive and you probably already have many of them in your kitchen cupboards. All can be found at your local supermarket, natural food store or drugstore. Used individually or combined, these cleaners are safe for both our environment and for our bodies in addition to being effective and cost-efficient.

Clean and Green: Natural Homemade Household Cleaners