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November 19, 2007
Three more things you can do to help the planet
Somehow, nearly 20 years after the publication of 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth, the fact that our everyday decisions can have an impact on the future of the planet is still news.
It's true: Every time you turn off that extra light, hang your clothes to dry, and choose to recycle those glass bottles, you're taking a big step in the right direction. This weekend, in the special Living Green issue of the Sunday magazine, The Boston Globe featured 84 ways you can help the planet, but they left off a few things. Here are three more steps you can take to protect the planet.
- DITCH THE ANTI-BACTERIAL HAND SOAP. Triclosan, the ingredient in antibacterial soap that kills microbes, ends up in our water sources, where it accumulates in the fatty tissue of animals. It may be a hormone disruptor and a carcinogen as well. Antibacterial soap doesn't offer any better protection than plain old soap and water, so why not skip it?
- SCRUTINIZE YOUR PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS. Your shampoo, your deodorant, your toothpaste -- they all carry a hidden environmental impact. You can cut back on pollution in water and the pollution in you by reading the labels on your products and knowing which chemicals to avoid. Or, use Skin Deep to search for better products.
- WHENEVER POSSIBLE, CHOOSE ORGANIC. Okay, the Globe did mention this one briefly, under the heading "vote with your dollars." We think it's important enough to deserve its own directive. By supporting organic (and, when possible, local) agriculture, you're changing the cycle of demand. There are so many people buying rBGH free milk, for example, that Monsanto had to call in the big guns to try and stop it. Not only is organic healthier for the planet, but choosing organic produce and dairy products reduces your exposure to potentially harmful pesticides, antibiotics, and artificial hormones. Need to prioritize when it comes to organic fruits and veggies? Food News can help.
Okay, so they left some stuff out. They also included a lot of great information -- here are a few of our favorites:
REDUCE, THEN REUSE, THEN RECYCLE. Someday there will likely be a wide variety of packaging that can be composted or endlessly reused and recycled; until then, consuming less that's new, reusing anything you can, and recycling what's left are your best options.
CLEAN UP YOUR CLEANING PRODUCTS.Some conventional household cleaning products contain known and suspected carcinogens and hormone disrupters, and many can induce asthma and other respiratory illnesses.Want to know a little more about your options? Here are some suggestions from Women's Voices for the Earth.
PASS ON PARTICLEBOARD. Indoor air quality is affected by formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, found in carpeting, plywood, subflooring, paint, and furnishings. You don't have to remodel your entire house, but choose lower-VOC options going forward. Strong fumes are one indicator of harmful gases, but some products, including interior paints, indicate whether they are "low-VOC" on their packaging.
STOP HAND WASHING THE DISHES.The average energy-efficient dishwasher uses just 4 gallons per cycle, saving as much as 5,000 gallons of water per year compared with hand washing, as well as $40 in energy costs and 230 hours of washing time, according to the EPA.This one's a personal pet peeve of mine. I can't stand it when people insist on "just rinsing" the dishes before they put them in the dishwasher. More often than not, the dishes are practically clean before they're even loaded, and all that water savings goes down the drain. (Pardon the pun. Completely unintentional, I promise.)
Comments
Hi There,
Re washing dishes - I live alone and it would probably take me about 10 days of cooking & eating to fill even a small dishwasher. Is it a better enviro choice to not buy a dishwasher (all those resouces and emissions thus saved), and to rather wash my dishes in bunches so that I use only a couple gallons at a time? Or is there a better option?
Thanks
Posted by: Samantha | March 3, 2008 5:49 AM
Samantha, thanks for your comment and for raising an important point! In a situation like yours (and mine, too), hand-washing makes more sense, as long as you're doing it well -- filling up the sink or a washtub with soapy water and washing in that, instead of under running water, for example. Yuck -- can you imagine letting dishes sit around for a week before washing them? Plus, I don't know about you, but I'd run out of dishes.
For reference, this blog says that the most efficient dishwasher is better than the least efficient handwashing.
Posted by: Amanda | March 3, 2008 10:44 AM
Especially easy for single people(&others!);Ways to save WATER and ENERGY & get some exerisize too!!
- You dont need to to wash your dishes each time you use them. I keep my cereal bowl & dinner plate & salad bowl in the fridge for four days before I decide to wash them. It has never taken more than two gallons to wash dishes when I do them every four days or so.
I also save bath water, & laundry water in buckets(& haul it up from the basement)& use it to flush my toilet with...thus I rarely use the flush handle & save LOTS of water that way.
Posted by: sharonalouisa | March 17, 2008 8:08 PM
Wow, Sharonalouisa. You sound completely devoted with the water - high five! :> Thanks for the great tips. I also save water from steaming, etc. in the fridge until the next meal to use it in sauces, more steaming, cooking pasta, etc. For my toddler's meals, I invert one plate over another to avoid using plastic wrap, and then use the top plate for the next meal.
Posted by: Amber | April 5, 2008 3:01 PM
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Posted by: Cheryl Tymczak | April 17, 2008 1:02 PM