3 DIY Eco-Friendly Hand Soaps

I could not let my recent rant about what kids are being asked to bring to school whiz by without offering up a few alternatives. Don't you just hate people who complain about the state of things without giving any suggestions? In my book, that just makes them part of the problem. For someone who cares about our environment like I do, if I didn't provide a suitable option to make things better - it's just…well, ranting.

So, I’m going after the biggest defender of evil on that back-to-school list which included: zip-lock bags, toilet paper, garbage bags, cotton balls, anti-bacterial soap, detergent, paper plates, paper towels and tissues.

ANTI-BACTERIAL SOAP tops the list for eco-unfriendliness.

Why? Because it is unhealthy.

Check out my recent post about how nasty the main ingredient in anti-bacterial soap is. Studies show triclosan alters hormone regulation in laboratory animals, and can cause antibiotic resistance, along with an increase of allergies. The F.D.A. says soap with triclosan is not any more effective than ordinary soap. So, why the hell are we asking kids to bring it to school???

Consider these 3 DIY Eco-Friendly Hand Soap alternatives:

1. Here’s a tutorial for ditching the Dial Complete (bad, bad soap with triclosan) and making your own eco-friendly Liquid Hand Soap.

2. Each year I buy handmade felted soaps at the Wool and Sheep Festival. They are a true luxury. Here are directions to make Felted Soap. I’m going to try!

3. What could be better than shea butter soap? Not much. Here’s the how to’s for making your own Shea Butter Soap.

I believe we can change our future, teach our children well, and protect our precious planet if we continue to think and act creatively…and collectively. Let’s not muck it up.

Credit: Craft

Back-To-School: BYO Surprise

Surprise! It’s back-to-school time. Well, that’s no surprise. What totally surprises me are the lists of school supplies kids are being asked to stuff into their backpacks on the first day of school. According to a Today show segment, some schools are asking their students to bring zip-lock bags, toilet paper, garbage bags, cotton balls, antibacterial soap (!!!), detergent, paper plates, paper towels and tissues.

Along with the obligatory backpack, pencils and paper, parents are also asked to check their eco-consciousness on the school steps, and wave good-bye to their babes while their child wades through a landfill of required stuff.

I met lots of mommy bloggers when I represented the Moms Clean Air Force at BlogHer. I spoke to green moms who were sending their kids back to school with stainless steel water bottles and packing their lunches with DIY lunch bags and reusable napkins. But, most parents take their cues from these school lists that require them to consume rather than conserve.

Don’t get me going on plastic bags…why would a parent who is trying to cut down on using a substance made from a nonrenewable resource (petroleum), continue to perpetuate the problem?

Can you imagine sending your child to school with toilet paper? No joke.

This New York Times article sets the case, “Schools across the country are beginning the new school year with shrinking budgets and outsize demands for basic supplies. And while many parents are wincing at picking up the bill, retailers are rushing to cash in by expanding the back-to-school category like never before.”

Not only is it unfair to ask financially strapped parents to provide such items, it downright stomps all over our environment. Maybe even worse than laying the burden on parents is the message we are sending our kids. One minute we’re telling them disposable products are destructively evil for the environment, and in the next breath, we’re literally buying into school requirements.

As a former teacher, I can see how some of these items may be helpful, but are they really necessary? I think not. And if we are ever going to create a culture of conservation, we better get started with our littlest learners

A Lesson We Can Learn From The Lorax (Again)

The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss has been the go-to environmental book for kids since it's publication in 1971. With Earth Day just around the corner, The Lorax will be read in schools and homes throughout the U.S. this month.

Let's refresh the events of this cautionary tale: The Once-ler devised devious ways of cutting down Truffula trees for the "biggering and biggering" of his manufacturing operation. The smogulous smoke that spewed into the air from his Thneed factory made the Lorax "cough, whiff, sneeze, snuffle, snarggle, sniffle, and croak." The beautiful Swomee swans were no longer able to sing, so the Lorax sends the birds away to find cleaner air. The Once-ler "biggered" to the point where he poisoned the Lorax's eco-lovin’ life with polluted water, polluted air, and left him in a sunless panorama of Truffula stumps. Poor Lorax.

Where We Were Before the Clean Air Act, when air pollution plagued the world, the ramifications of acid rain and smog were a blip on the radar of most folks. When awareness kicked in, and the ecological science began to mount, it became a priority to legislate for clean air. At the time, environmentalism was mostly a non-partisan issue, paving the way for the Clean Air Act.

Where We Are The EPA statistics indicate that since the Clean Air Act, the US has decreased toxic fume emissions by 109 million tons, which has reduced pollution and improved the air quality 48 per cent. This week the Senate voted down several pro-pollution amendments that would have decimated the Clean Air Act and kept the EPA from protecting the quality of our air and water. This is great news!

UNLESS… Do you know there is a pro-polluter lobby? It is unfathomable to me that such a thing exists. Didn’t everyone grow up heeding the Lorax's message that we are all interconnected, and collectively we need to take responsibility for the health of our planet and its inhabitants?

The Moms Clean Air Force is not willing to hand over a world to our kids like the one the Lorax left behind. We can't forget the importance of reorienting environmental values away from pure economic and political points of view, and towards common sense science. We can not relent, because the Once-ler-type bully polluters are figuring out ways of "biggering" and continuing to blow their smogulous smoke at our kids.