[pepper]

the canadian government is trying to make dandelion and blueberries illegal substances.
no joke, check it out.

[starshine]

and is there a good green detergent to use with a new, HE, front loading washer?[/color]

Seventh Generation makes one that I love.

[tankgirl]

wow freecycle is the best website ever for this, thank you so much for your suggestion! I hope I hope people take my stuffs!

[damona]

tankgirl, i have discovered freecycle. it's my new best friend. here's the site they have local groups for just about everywhere.

is there a greener substitute for good old bleach? cuz i feel guilty every time i use bleach, but i get tired of ucky stains on stuff. and is there a good green detergent to use with a new, HE, front loading washer?

[pepper]

sure, lots of places do pick ups. if you check out the thrift stores in the yellow pages i'm pretty sure you'll find someone who will come and pick up even if it's not a ton of stuff.

[tankgirl]

yah its pretty hard for me because I don't drive as far as getting things to good will or salv army. But I do have a clothing drop off for planet aid 2 blocks away which is how I'm donating all of my clothes. Maybe salv would do a pick up if I had enough valuable stuff, hmm...

[lilacwine13]

Tankgirl, is it possible to donate your unsold items to Goodwill or some other secondhand store? That's what I did with a bunch of stuff I can't take with me and I didn't want to store. I think I donated three big bags of used goods.

I still ending up throwing out a bunch of stuff (mainly things that were too worn out or broken) and yes, it does suck. I couldn't figure out how to reuse the stuff, nor do I have the tools to do so.

[tankgirl]

maybe this should be in the confessions thread but I just want to say that I am moving and trying to get rid of almost everything I own and I'm going to be really sad when I have to actually "throw out" the stuff I am practically trying to give away on craigslist that are totally usable. On the plus side, I donated a shit load of clothes to planet aid instead of throwing them out and hopefully next trash day people will take shit off the curb before the big bad trash men take everything away. Man I have never felt so ungreen in my life

I also use SG cleaner and use only that for everything, all purpose cleaner/bath/floors/pets everything. I can't live without the green scrubby things as well, they can scrub through anything and last a long time.

[dusty]

I always seem to have body wash sitting around that I hate the smell of. I use that with baking soda to clean the bathtub.

[pepper]

if your want the low-down contact the city and have them send you out a recycling guide. most places have them and tehy list every and all the things you can and can't put in yoru recycling box. many people just dump whatever they want in there without checking first and it creates more work for the recycling plant.

for tub cleaner i use plain old baking soda maybe a squirt of an all purpose cleaner (i like dr bronner's castile soap, the tea tree oil or peppermint are nice disinfectants). i use one of those green scrubbies and get the cleanest bathtub ever. works great.
that's pretty much what i use all over the house for everything, what's the point of a different cleaner for each job? too much trouble for me.

lunia, if you google threadbangers they have a pretty cool podcast of recon projects. i just saw one about resizing tshirts but i think it was anotehr site. that one has tons of great stuff though.

[lunia666]

Does anybody know about recycling plastic . I have been saving every thing from plastic pill bottles,milk jugs,everything plastic in general . Also am confused about paper like paper boxes frozen food comes in can they be recycled. This weekend I took my bf old t-shirts ( mostly band shirts) he was going to throw away and kid of DIY them so I can wear them . I couple of them turned out really cute a few I might sleep in wear around the house. I have been using either Method are SG products around the house. I found SG products at Target a lot cheaper then at my local grocery store. the only thing I dislike so far is the tub cleaner. On a diff subject I stared buying Organic milk I was shocked how long it lasted. Regular milk I have to throw away before are on the exp date because the taste changes so much. Last week I noticed is was over 2 days past the exp date but still tasted great.

[vegangel]

If you are really interested in green businesses from the businesses perspective (ie. why they do the things they do) with stoneyfield farms as a prime example, you should read "Stirring It Up: Making Money and Saving the World" by Gary Hirshberg, the Ce-Yo of Stoneyfield Farms. It's interesting because he goes "inside" the philosophy of several different companies such as Patagonia and Whole Foods. He also tells about how most of these companies startes with grassroots efforts and have turned down some amount of profit in the name of ecological and social sustainability. I know if you don't have time to make your own products you probably don't have time to read, but if you get a chance, pick it up at your public library--I did, and it's free (well, your tax dollars are already paying for it.

[damona]

it's been so cold and wet and miserable here this winter that i haven't been able to do much walking, but it's getting nice now, so it's gonna be back to pounding the pavement for dr appts and small grocery trips. i give each of my kids a back pack when we go to the store,as well as me and the mr, and we cram as much as we can in each one! so, you figure, six backpacks full of groceries is just about enough for a week, depending on what you get. the only time i use the car for summertime shopping is when i know i'm getting a lot of canned goods or cases of stuff. other than that,

i do my best to recycle, but we really only do paper products here (apartment). and my kids collect pop cans for the cash.

for a long time we used seventh generation diapers and wipes because of my kids extra sensitive skin, but no place round here carries them and i can't afford to order them anymore. besides, they don't have any kind of pull-ups type diapers. i called to ask about that and i got a rather snotty response about how there "wasn't enough interest so i should try lined cloth undies" which is a lovely idea, but wasn't practical at the time. but i do like their laundry stuff.

something that bugs me though, is how much stuff is aimed at rich people. or, at least, people with considerably more disposable income than what i have! and i know that there's stuff i can make at home, but i don't always have time for it. not yo mention, organic stuff is ridiculously priced, but i spend the money on it in hopes that growers will realize that ther is more demand for it than "traditional" stuff.

anyway. kind of a random rant, sorry.

[saralicious]

I commend you all for the choices you’ve made to become a little or a lot more green! I have a bit of a different perspective, here’s my 2 cents:

Last year I moved from Vancouver to a resource-based town in northern British Columbia, and wow, what a culture shock. In Vancouver I’d get pissy when people would want their groceries double-bagged at the store I worked at. But here, people leave their trucks running all day/night (sometimes it gets so cold they won’t start), and there literally aren’t sidewalks on many streets. I actually just had a roommate who didn’t know which things were recyclable or not, because she’s from a town without a recycling program. Everything went in the garbage: paper, water bottles, glass, you name it. There just isn’t the infrastructure and programs in place to do the things that may be second nature to people living in larger cities.

I’m fortunate enough to live within walking distance to a lot of stores, but I wouldn’t be able to get around here without a vehicle. Unfortunately, a lot of “eco-friendly” choices just aren’t realistic in small towns. I’ve had to get back to the basics; recycling, using reusable grocery bags, plus I love the Seventh Generation products, by the way. But it’s really easy to get discouraged when it feels like only a handful of people in the whole town give a crap (I've never seen so much litter in my entire life!). Plus I work in forestry, so that opens a whole other set of eco-dilemmas!

[vegangel]

Going green in the home
Who has the better brand I have been using mostly Method products but is there something better ?

I think Seventh Generation is the bee's knees! Their CEO really has his head and heart in the same place and the company not only makes green products, but gives back bigtime--for example, for the last two summers (and the one to come) they sent/will send approx. 200 college students on full scholarship for a one-week training in environmental leadership with Greenpeace. The program is called "ChangeIt!"

Ms. Meyer's Clean Day has great products and some awesome scents but is a bit pricey (you pay for the cute labels, I'm sure).

Method isn't bad either! They just look more mainstream b/c they believe green products should still be 'stylish.' The two guys that run Method just released a book called "Squeaky Green" that you might want to check out.

Lastly, but most importantly, making your own non-toxic green cleaners is easy, requires virtually no packaging or transportation, is easy on your wallet, and you can customize the scents with essential oils. Let me know if you need recipes/ideas.

[erinjane]

I think I'll try those shampoo bars for now. I want to keep going with the baking soda and vinegar but because I'm going on a 2 month back packing trip in a few weeks I don't think now is the time for it. I'll definitely be trying it full force when I get home in July though. I ended up washing my hair with shampoo today because the AVC made it tooooo greasy. This week I'm going to try and alternate between the two and see how that goes.

[lunia666]

Going green in the home
Who has the better brand I have been using mostly Method products but is there something better ?

[tesao]

those shampoo soap bars look great! let us know how you like them.

muito thank you to pepper and vegangel for the explanations. there IS too much packaging in almost everything. *sigh*

i only buy products that haven't been tested on animals. it's doubly hard to do that and still be green.

[faerietails2]

yeah, i just heard read about that baking soda/apple cider mix in the latest issue of bust. sounds pretty cool, actually. i'll have to give it a try sometime.

i'm giving up shampoo bottles and switching to all-natural shampoo bars. i just got my stuff in the mail today, actually (i got the cafe moreno shampoo and some other body soaps). can't wait to try them out. my hair always feels so fried and dried out after i shower. hopefully this will help.

[erinjane]

Has anyone tried going 'no-poo'? As in no shampoo or conditioner? My hair is so fine, thin, and straight that I can't do anything with it. It doesn't hold a hairstyle and I can't put any kind of product in because it makes it look greasy and really weighs it down. So a few days ago I heard about the no shampoo thing and I thought 'what have I got to lose' AND i get to cut down on chemical-laden hair products. I'm on day 2. Has anyone else tried cutting them out? I'm trying baking soda as a wash and apple cider vinnegar as a rinse. I expected my hair to be a lot greasier but so far it doesn't look too bad. They say there's an adjustment period. I think tomorrow I'm going to try rinsing with chamomile tea instead because I heard it's less oily than ACV.