Don’t scrap your soap scraps!

Wondering what to do with those miniscule pieces of soap you are left with after finishing a bar?  Here’s an easy way to save money & the Earth my making a NEW soap bar out of those old pieces!

1- Keep a canister or soap travel dish in the bathroom to collect old pieces of soap.

2- Once you’ve collected a bunch, chop/grate them up into tiny pieces.

3- Get out either a crock pot (works best) or a saucepan, and turn heat on LOW.

4- Pour in 2 Tblsp milk or water.  Add soap scraps.  Heat until mostly melted, stirring frequently (be patient).  Add more milk/water as needed to keep mixture moist.

5- Once melted, you can add olive oil (just a bit), essential oils, fragrances or dried flowers to “spice it up.”

6- Use a muffin tin or metal or ceramic soap dish as a form, and pour mixture in.  (NOTE: You can use almost anything as a form, as long as it is heat-resistant.  Ie: Do NOT use anything plastic or it will melt.  Be creative!)

7- Allow to dry overnight and harden for several days.  Enjoy your new soap!

We’re gonna rock down to…

Good news for the environment – AND the economy!  There’s LOTS going on in the electric car world this week, and it’s only Tuesday!

1- The Detroit Auto Show (aka the North American International Auto Show) started this week, and one of it’s main features this year is “Electric Avenue”, 37,000-sq ft of the main floor dedicated entirely to electric cars.  The area showcases “electric vehicles and technology of both traditional automakers and innovative entrepreneurs,” and features ~20 “green” vehicles, as well as informational presentations, and an indoor “nature” track that you can test the cars on.

2- Ford has just announced that it will be investing $450 million in a new electric car plant in Michigan.  This will create 1,000 new jobs for Michiganites, and new electric car plans include electric versions of the Ford Focus, and the Transit Connect work/delivery van.  Both incorporate a new advanced lightweight advanced steel into their model.

3- At the show, Toyota also unveiled their newest hybrid concept car, the FT-CH. Toyota has plans to bring plug-in hybrids (PHVs) AND battery electrics (BEVs) to market by model year 2012, and hydrogen fuel cell hybrid vehicles (FCHVs) may hit the global markets by 2015!

Other exciting new electric/hybrid cars to keep an eye out for:

– GM’s Chevrolet Volt (due by the end of the year)

– Nissan’s Leaf (due by the end of the year)

– Volkswagen Up! (due out 2014)

– Chrysler EcoVoyager (no known plans for production)

http://www.chevrolet.com/pages/open/default/future/volt.do?evar2=HP_Mast_Volt

Re-use your Christmas/holiday cards

One part of the Three R’s is “Re-use.”  If you’re facing a little consumer’s guilt about throwing out your doorway worth of Christmas cards, try this neet-o speed-o trick for turning your Christmas cards – or any greeting card, for that matter – into an adorable gift box!  Love it!

Post a pic if you try it!

http://www.allfreecrafts.com/recycling-crafts/greeting-card-box.shtml

Ladies: What you don’t want to hear about your beauty regime

I admit it.  As much as I love the planet, and rant and rave about non-toxic this, organic that, I am a guilty victim of modern-day glamour trends.  Accordingly, I would like to thank my Mother for passing along this very enlightening, albeit disturbing, article (always looking out for us – thanks, Mom!).

As the article states, according to Dr. Sabrina McCormick, who works for the Environmental Protection Agency, certain chemicals that are present in many of the products that we use every day all over our bodies, are suspected of contributing to as much as 90% of breast cancer cases.   I’m not sure if you got that…that was NINETY PERCENT!!!!  Yes, contrary to popular belief, it is suspected that only 5% are due to genetics.  That was a surprise to me!

According to Dr. McCormack’s book, No Family History: The Environmental Links to Breast Cancer, this theory is based on the correlation between a dramatic increase in breast cancer rates over the last 60 years, along with a huge increase in the use of toxic chemicals over those years in many of our household products – chemicals that have been proven through scientific studies to be directly associated with an increased risk of breast cancer.

How are these chemicals specifically related to breast cancer, you ask?  Estrogen.  Hmm…but isn’t estrogen a normal hormone in our bodies?  Dr. McCormack  goes on to explain:

“The more estrogen a woman is exposed to over her lifetime, the higher her risk for breast cancer and other reproductive cancers (such as ovarian and uterine cancer). The “estrogen disruptor hypothesis,” which purports that xenoestrogens, chemicals that mimic or disrupt estrogen (found in an abundance of modern-day products), can cause breast cancer is widely accepted in the scientific community.”

**SIDENOTE: By the way, there is also concern that xenoestrogens lead to infertility – in men and women! – and a higher risk of endometriosis!

I decided to do a little test of my own, to see how many of these chemicals I am actually exposing myself to in the name of beauty.   I collected some of my “can’t-live-without” items, checked the labels, and compared what I found to the list of “more worrisome substance, as outlined in the article.  This is what I found:

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• Olay Regenerist UV Defense Regenerating Lotion w/ Touch of Sun : I almost got to the bottom of the list of ingredients, then I saw 3 Parabens:  Methyl-, Ethyl- & Propyl-.  Crap.  Moving on…
• Sebastian Laminates Hair Masque (conditioner):  Lots of parabens. Ugh.
• Redken Outshine Anti-Frizz Polishing Milk (hair serum):  Again, parabens.
• Jergens Natural Glow Daily Moisturizer:  Petrolatum; parabens
• Secret Flawless Invisible Solid (deoderant): Petrolatum
• Colgate Total Mint Stripe Gel (toothpaste) : None of these. Thank God.
• Redken Headplay Pliable Working Spray (hairspray) : (Poly)Urethane; parabens
• Bumble & Bumble Tonic Lotion Spray (hair tonic): Everything looks all-natural, and then…Lots of parabens!  Really?
• Cetaphil Daily Facial Cleanser : Only one, and it’s the last ingredient. Methylparaben.
• The Body Shop – Spa Wisdom Africa Rich Body Balm (lotion): Surprisingly, lots of parabens.

(One thing to note is that all of these simply listed “fragrance,” rather than listing out the chemicals that they used for scent.  I find this interesting, considering one of the main culprits on the list is described as a fragrance!)

Moral of the story:  Check your stuff.  Toss out the ones that list more than 1 or 2 chemicals from the list as ingredients, especially if those chemicals are higher-up on the product’s list of ingredients (this means a higher chemical:product %), or at the very least, only use them sparingly.  Lastly, try to buy all-natural & organic products whenever possible!  (Check out our website for highly-rated organic/all-natural products when we have our Ecossentials online store up-and-running!)

For a complete list of the chemicals to avoid and the products they are found in, follow this link to the Breast Cancer Fund’s website.  They also classify the chemicals according to “Carcinogen (aka cancer-causing)” and “Hormone Disrupting (aka xenoestrogens).”

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Cosmetics and Personal-Care Products

• Parabens, which are chemical preservatives used in cosmetics, deodorants, lotions, ointments and shampoos, are known endocrine disruptors, said Dr. McCormick. While the European Union regulates the use of many parabens in their products, the US does not. (ED)

• Dibutyl phthalate (DBP), which among other purposes is used to make plastics softer, is an ingredient in children’s teething toys, nail polish, perfumes, moisturizers and cleaning solvents. (ED)

• Ethelyne Oxide, a compound that adds fragrance to shampoos. (AMGC, HCRC)

• Dioxane, a compound found in shampoos, body washes and sudsing products. (AMGC, HCRC)

• Petrolatum (PAH), which is what petroleum jelly is made of… also used in lipsticks, lotions and oils. (AMGC, HCRC, ED)

• Formaldehyde, benzene and toluene, all found in nail polish and nail polish removers.

• Urethane, found in hair-care products, such as mousses, gels and sprays, and in sunscreens, mascara and foundation. (AMGC, HCRC)

Best House Plants for Filtering Your Home’s Air!

To heck with those expensive, ozone-generating electronic air purifiers, which can actually do more harm than good. According to a study done by NASA, there are many common household plants that not only improve indoor air quality by replacing CO2 with oxygen, but do actually help CLEAN some harmful chemicals out of the air!  Here is a list of the best air-filtering plants, and the chemicals that they filter from your breathing space (as documented by the NASA study, as well as some additional ones included in a later book by the author of that NASA project, B.C. Wolverton):

THREE BEST:

• Peace Lily – benzene, formaldehyde & TCE
• Gerbera Daisy – benzene, formaldehyde & TCE
• Pot Mum or Florist’s Chrysanthemum – benzene, formaldehyde & TCE

ALSO PRETTY GREAT:

• English Ivy – benzene & formaldehyde
• Spider Plant – formaldehyde
• Golden pothos or Devil’s Ivy – formaldehyde
• Bamboo Palm or Reed Palm – formaldehyde
• Snake Plant or Mother-in-Law’s Tongue – formaldehyde
• Heartleaf Philodendron – formaldehyde
• Selloum Philodendron – formaldehyde
• Elephant Ear Philodendron – formaldehyde
• Red-Edged Dracaena – benzene & formaldehyde
• Cornstalk Dracaena – formaldehyde
• Janet Craig Dracaena – benzene & formaldehyde
• Warneck Dracaena – benzene & TCE
• Weeping Fig – formaldehyde
  
• Rubber Plant – formaldehyde
• Boston Fern – formaldehyde
• Kimberly Queen Fern – formaldehyde
• Dwarf Date Palm – formaldehyde

Oh, and also FYI, here is a little description of the chemicals listed above, and why you definitely do not want them in your house:

Benzene– Commonly used solvent present in much of the stuff you fill your house with, including (but not limited to):  Paints, plastics, rubber, gasoline, inks, oils, detergents and dyes.  Benzene has been known to cause irritation to the skin and eyes, and has been shown to be a contributing factor to cancer and birth defects in humans.  Acute inhalation and chronic exposure to benzene can cause dizziness, weakness, loss of vision, respiratory diseases, and on and on and on.  Gross.

Trichloroethylene or TCE– Also a common commercial product, found in dry cleaning agents, printing inks, paints, varnishes, and adhesives.  The National Cancer Institute considers TCE to be a potent liver carcinogen.

Formaldehyde– It’s not just for dead people, folks!  Formaldehyde is “a ubiquitous chemical found in virtually all indoor environments.” (According to the NASA paper.)  Major sources include insulation, particle board, and pressed-wood products, but it is also used in the treatment of many paper products: think tissue, paper towels, etc., and cleaning agents: clothing starches, fire retardants, and carpet adhesive.  It is also present in cigarette smoke, and natural gas & kerosene.  It irritates the eyes, nose and throat and can cause asthma and throat cancer.

So…if you’ll excuse me, I need to go get started turning my home into a veritable greenhouse!!