Breaking the Bottled Water Habit

Today, I took the pledge to break the bottled water habit.  Here are a few reasons to stop using bottled water (aka, what Poland Spring and Dasani don't want you to know):

1.  Bottled water is full of oil! Ok, not literally.  But making bottles to meet Americans' demand for bottled water requires more than 17 MILLION BARRELS of oil annually.  

2.  At least 40% of bottled water is tap water anyway!  Yep, that's right!  You're paying good money for tap water.  You're being ripped off!  Not only that, but in taste tests NYC tap water beat out the leading brands of bottled.  By the way, tap water is more highly regulated than bottled water and therefore, possibly safer.

3.  Disposable plastic water bottles are not reusable.  Sure, for awhile I used the excuse that I refilled my water bottles, and was therefore being more eco-friendly.  NOT!  Worse than that, reuse of the bottles can lead to leaching of dangerous chemicals from the plastic.  

So join me and take the pledge!  

A great idea from my friend, Kate

So here is an email I just got from Kate which I thought you all might appreciate (er, all 2 of you reading this)...  I love that this is originally advice from Queen Latifah's grandmother!

I happened on this old idea for a very safe facial cleanser while reading an interview with Queen Latifah talking about her grandmother's beautiful skin (why was I even reading this? I must have been stuck nursing somewhere and this was within reach…)

Anyway, she suggests exfoliating with BAKING SODA, which is a very gentle, safe abrasive as well as having gentle cleansing qualities. Since I'm a sucker for new uses for safe household products, I decided to give it a try…and it is awesome!

Then I read up online and found that other people have discovered this too. It's a great alternative to traditional exfoliants (which are apparently made with teeny tiny little balls of plastic that end up in the ocean and fill fishies full of teeny plastic balls, yuck) and natural scrubs with e.g. walnut shells, which are too abrasive and damaging to skin. I love the feel of exfoliants but hated those options - what to do?

You can use a pinch of baking soda mixed in your palm with water, or just add a little to your squirt of whatever daily cleanser you use, but either way I have been using it for about 2 weeks now and I love the effect - soft, silky, cleeeeean skin. Not sure what it would do to someone with problematic skin, but I suspect it would only be helpful. You just have to be sure to moisture afterward.

Action Tuesday

OK, here's your action for the day!  We're sending a letter to the EPA asking them to ban endosulfan, a dangerous pesticide that is already banned in Europe.  Not only does it cause all sorts of toxicities with acute exposure, but there have been studies that link in utero exposure to autism.  (And for those of you who know me, know that this is one of my soap box issues!)  So please go to the EarthJustice website and send your message today! (Image stolen from aforementioned website)

Another Reason to like Ben & Jerry's

(cause you needed another reason?) They just introduced hydrocarbon freezers to keep their ice cream cold, instead of the old hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) ones. Hydrofluorocarbons are serious green house gases, and they can be released from refridgeration & freezer units as the units run and age. This is BAD. Which is why the new freezer technology is GOOD. Want to know more - go straight to the source! Ben & Jerry's website, of course!