Livin' la Vida Verde

So I have been changing some things in my life lately to be less impactful on the earth. I do think that small changes we make as individuals will do the most for preserving Earth's resources and such in the long run, small changes made en masse drive larger social change over time. If we all do what we can, within our means to be more eco-friendly, we do right to ourselves and our good earth.

I have been trying out some new things and have adopted some others to the point of habit. Things like composting and gardening for example. Recycling, reusing. etc.

But there are other things too. And since lately I have been reading and discussing these things in the Greencraft forum on Ravelry, it's on my mind.

For instance, I have stopped washing my hair with shampoo. Before you go EWW, I still wash it. Just not with soap, exactly. Sodium Bicarbonate IS a detergent of sorts and it's a base, both of which soap is too. But baking soda is not sodium laureth sulfate and dyes and perfumes. And you use only a little. Like a tablespoon twice a a week, it breaks up dirt and scrubs dead skin of your scalp, rinses off product if you use it, but preserves your own natural oils.
Your body takes care of itself. The oils your scalp produces are stripped away and replaces with "conditioner". This is bad for hair and unnecessary.
Then i rinse with a cider vinegar solution. This is an acid, but a very mild one, we eat it, for example. It detangles and makes hair shiny and nice. You don;t use the soda and vinegar at the same time btw. ;) And you don;t use them every time you shower. My hair looks very healthy now, and it is soft and shiny and I don't think I will be going back to shampoo. My scalp is no longer itchy from the perfumes and synthetic stuff in shampoo and conditioner and I will be saving a lot of money since a bottle of vinegar and a box of soda will last for months and months. I use a little essential oil, like jasmine or orange after washing to make my hair smell nice, 'cause i do like that aspect of shampoo and conditioner. There is a lot more here about this sort of hair washing process.

I also got a diva cup, my sister got something like this years ago and I was all, ugh, whatever, but I am now saving a great deal of waste from landfills and sewage treatment and it's really, I think, healthier for you. More or less. I also ordered some Lunapads. Apparently lots of women are using both these products, as evidenced by the ravelry group I am in. I've been thinking about switching for a long time and so now, I'm in.

I have been air drying my clothes. I already wash them in cold water, but now that it's summer, using the dryer seems especially wasteful. In the winter, it's like drying your clothes and heating the house at the same time, which seems economical to me if you are using a heater anyways, two for one ya know? run the heater a bit less. Now I only dry things that take a lot of time to air dry such as jeans and towels. Everything else gets dried. It means a bit more ironing, but the energy and heat produced by ironing a handful of things seems minor compared to running a dryer that needs two runs to dry one load of laundry.

I have been very very good about riding my bike this summer and I hope, with the finding of good rain gear, to keep it up after the winter comes. I have found some good routes to avoid traffic and unsafe streets and the exercise is proving a good benefit, i have already been losing some weight and definitely have toned up some muscles. Not to mention, I am saving a lot on gas, not that i spent much to begin with, but now I am spending even less.

I feel better too, much more relaxed and energetic. It's really nice.