The Switch - Shampoo Bars

A friend of mine started using shampoo bars this week.  This is a switch that I wish all people made.  There are a couple of reasons that shampoo bars are more environmentally friendly.  First, using bars rather than bottles entail way less waste and don’t rely on the oil industry.  In today’s world, I think that it’s important to distance ourselves in any way possible from these companies.  Secondly, shampoo bars are soap based, often natural and free of all the insanely harsh chemicals that we then flush down the drain.  People shampoo their hair WAY too often, and when they do, they use way too strong of chemicals to do it.  Like everything else on our bodies and on our planet, there is a fragile balance that we don’t want to throw off. 

I do however have a couple of cautions.  When your hair is used to the chemicals, and you’re used to the ease of just squeezing two products out of bottles, it takes some adjustment.

1.        Don’t shampoo as much.  Unlike using shampoo and conditioner that ensure that you have to use it every other day just to keep the oil away, shampoo bars keep your hair clean for almost a week.

2.       Use the shampoo bar on the top of your head and scalp rather than the tips – similar to bottle shampoo, it can dry out the ends.

3.       Use an Apple Cider Vinegar rinse.  This is incredibly important to rinse the soap residue away every time.  A tablespoon or two mixed with a cup of shower water to rinse your hair – instead of conditioner.  Very cheap, very simple.  If you’re worried about the smell from the vinegar, it smells pretty strong, but the smell doesn’t hang around on your hair.  Unless you have really short hair, if you skip this step you will likely not be able to use shampoo bars for long.

4.       Consider using baking soda every other time.  Baking soda is a very gentle cleanser and people are starting to use it on their hair more and more, especially if they want to grow their hair long.  It works great and is gentle on long hair.  Just like the Apple Cider Vinegar rinse, a tablespoon or two of baking soda mixed with a cup of shower water and work it into your scalp.  Don’t expect suds, and it might not feel “clean” until you’re out of the shower, but I promise it does work.  Finish with an Apple Cider Vinegar rinse and away you go.  Cheap and simple, and therefore something big business doesn’t want you to know.

Shampoo bars are really the way to go.  There are some talented soap makers that make amazing shampoo bars…Check out etsy.com for some fantastic shampoo bars or your local farmers market.  

A Seed of Truth

Early spring is a pretty boring time in this house.  We look forlornly at our gardens and frozen ground and know, that even on beautiful sunny days of positive temperatures, we can’t plant until that magical weekend in May in fear that everything will freeze and die.  We have one maple tree that will give us sweet syrup.  It isn’t a sugar maple.  I think it’s a black maple and its syrup is sweet and yummy although not exactly “mapley”.  The tree is getting bigger and bigger, and although spring these days is very inconsistent for getting sap, at least it keeps us busy.  We get about a mason jar full every year.

This year though, things are different. In August last year we built a greenhouse.  When we moved into this house, there was a decrepit shed on a cement pad.  We quickly tore down the shed, but had no idea what to do with the cement pad until a year or so ago.  Now, I know how lucky I am: my husband is a tall, handsome builder, and together with the help of two strapping young boys we were able to get it all done in a week while we were on “vacation”.  We got two massive windows from kijiji, bought a new skylight, sliding door, cedar shakes and a steel roof.  We also had piles and piles of stones from an old pond that we finally got to make use of.

I’ve heard it called a “She Shed” on occasion, but I take exception to that term.  My husband and I spend hours in that greenhouse, planting, repotting, sitting in the sun.  Firstly, the greenhouse is insulated, we used a product called rockwool, which is water resistant and therefore it’s warm and quiet in there.  We also were amazingly lucky with the windows we got from Kijiji….While they are almost as old as I am, they’re not drafty, they open for summer cross breeze and they are beautiful and wooden on the inside.  The inside is also cedar clad on the walls, cedar is good for keeping away bugs and it will never need to be painted or stained.  We also heat the thing…This year we’ll be installing solar panels to provide us with the power, but for now we just have a temporary cord running out there to power the heater and the ceiling fan.

Why the ceiling fan?  Two big reasons.  First is that it strengthens the plants. If there was no breeze in there, the plants would be weak and stringy and not at all prepared to live in outdoor conditions when the weather changes.  Second, the moving air dries out the soil and leaves, so the plants are required to draw in more nutrient rich moisture from the soil and grow a bigger root structure in the process.  Because of the direct sunlight for most of the day, and the constantly warm temperature, we’ve been able to fill the greenhouse with plants that don’t normally survive here and we’ve been able to try out seeds that we never would have attempted before.   We have palms and hibiscus, orchids and potatoes, avocado, peanuts, salad greens, peas and bok choi.  There’s not much we won’t attempt, we’ve even started lemon seeds so the plant will eventually grow in our greenhouse.  We compost everything that doesn’t work and we don’t feel bad about the power that we’re using or the new products we had to purchase for the greenhouse, because we’ve used it all winter long.

Here in Southern Canada, we’re having some pretty wild winters lately.  The polar vortex from climate change is creating WILD swings in temperature and sometimes weeks with little to no sun.  A normal winter will be about -10 C (14 F) with the occasional snowstorm, but the last few years, the temperature can plunge to -30 C (-22 F) wind-chill.  The heater in the greenhouse keeps the plants from freezing at night, but the large windows and the sun create a “vacation” like temperature even in the middle of the winter it can get to more than 25 C in there (80 F).  The overall effect of this space for us is really positive for our mental state, we’ve been basking in Vitamin D while the rest of the country is drudging through a long cold winter.  Again, I know how lucky I am.

There is something so wonderful about watching things grow, a wonder that has been lost to too many.  People think they don’t have a green thumb and they label themselves plant killers, so they give up and don’t try again.  If you don’t think you can handle growing from seed, I get it…We have started our garden with small plants from the plant nursery for the last ten years.  The main things is don’t give up, always try again, and don’t limit yourself to flowers and shrubs, because you’re really missing out on some super nutritious, straight from the garden fruits and vegetables that have a beauty all their own.

Growing your own Potatoes - Inside

What do you do with your old potatoes?  It seems like no matter how many we eat, there’s always a leftover or two out of the bag that end up being more sprout than potato.  For sure, some potatoes do go bad and start rotting, but the ones that sprout are just crying out to be planted!  We plant potatoes every year in our garden, we have a garden by our deck that only grows hastas that we plant seed potatoes in every year.  It doesn’t have great soil, but potatoes don’t need great soil, and after a summer of minimal effort, we get to go treasure hunting in the fall to find our potatoes.

This year I tried them indoors.  Here’s what I did:

1: Find the biggest planter you can find – make sure there’s drainage.

2: Fill the planter half full of soil –It doesn’t have to be super fertile soil, potatoes prefer sandy soil but in my experience potatoes will grow in almost anything.

3: Plant your sprouting potatoes – You can even cut them in half as long as there’s a sprout growing on each half.  If you have a really big planter, you can plant up to 5 or 6, but I wouldn’t really go more than that.

4: Water well, but don’t allow standing water, keep in warm sunny spot in your house – A south facing window is great for this.

5:  Keep checking for shoots – Before you know it, there will be a potato plant coming out of the soil.

6: Cover with more soil – This allows the plant to put more energy into creating potatoes below the surface – Repeat this until you have a full planter.

7: Don’t over water – To check to see if your potato plant needs water, put your fingers an inch or two below the surface of the soil to check for moisture.  Potatoes don’t need a lot of water or attention, and they will grow into a huge plant, quickly.  As long as the plant looks healthy, your potatoes should be growing well beneath the surface.

8: Check for potatoes – After several months you can start checking for potatoes beneath the surface.  If you find one that’s the size that you and your family like, you can dig them up and fill your larder, or you can keep them on the plant until you’re ready to use them…You don’t get much fresher than that!

Can Eco-Friendly be cool?

I recently purchased a Chevy Bolt, a completely electric vehicle.  Here in Canada, they are still a bit of a novelty.  I knew my next car would be an electric, but I was willing my old car, my Pontiac Vibe to last just a few more months.  It didn’t work out like that.

Oddly enough, I remember my childhood hero Bill Nye the Science Guy mention that he had a Chevy Bolt, so I thought I’d check it out.  Turns out the range is phenomenal.  My commute is about an hour a day and I could probably go three days without a charge, and everything else I heard about the car made me more and more sure that it was for me.

I had to find a local place that sold it though, not every place here in Canada even offers them.  I went in, they had one to choose from, a white one.  I had my three kids in tow and we took it out for a spin.  My youngest in her car seat and the boys on either side, there was plenty of room, even more room in the seats than the Vibe had.

Sitting in this car is like sitting in a space ship, it’s warm, comfortable, the music sounds great and what can only be described as a computer screen can hook up my phone to the car and play all the books on tape that I can download from my library app from the car’s speakers, the backup camera is clear and large and the heated seats and steering wheel promise to convince me to get my ass to work even in the depths of winter…Granted, part of this raving is that I hadn’t sat in a new car in 13 years.

The main thing is the drive.  This car teaches you to drive differently.  It’s quiet.  It’s hard to tell at first whether it’s on.  In the winter, when you remotely “start” this car from your phone, it goes into a pre-conditioning mode that just warms up the cabin.  It’s pretty cool.  You hit the “gas” and it’s pretty punchy, still quiet, but sounds more like the transporter from the original Star Trek than a gas powered engine. 

They have this thing called regenerative driving that takes some getting used to.  You use the accelerator like normal, but the second you let off the gas it slows down much quicker than a normal car.  If you’re considering getting one of these, a good idea is to just drive it around town for a few days to get used to this, or you’ll really annoy the people behind you.  (I wouldn't recommend getting used to this thing in a snow storm like I did!) It slows down quicker because the car is capturing kinetic energy back into the battery.  There is also a paddle on the steering wheel that slows you down even quicker so to capture even more energy when you have to stop at a red light or stop sign…  How quick you slow down depends on how fast you’re going, so until you get used to it, you might be slowing down more or less quickly than you had in mind.  The break pedal is still there of course, but I hardly ever use it.  I don't imagine the breaks in this car will have to be changed all that often!

The dealership was pretty great about shipping in the colour that I wanted.  I wanted a bold beautiful blue.  I think this is a car that demands some attention and dirt doesn't show as much on a bright blue car.  Funny thing about buying the car was the warranties that they offer are not yet designed to encompasses electric cars, flipping through their pamphlet for their power-train warrantee was kind of funny.  But the battery was covered for 8 years and roadside assistance was covered for five.

Then there`s the charging.  The charging cord that comes with the car is a level 1 charger.  It plugs into a regular socket, it takes over two full days for a complete charge, but if you`re not driving it far or often, this might just do you fine.  There are two options that you can set the car to.  The default in the car is 8 amps and you have to manually put it up to 12 amps every time.  It`s worth checking the breaker to see if it`s shared with any other appliances.  But even at 12 amps, a level 1 charger is not enough if you commute, unless you`re lucky enough to have a charging station near your work.

I have a level 2 charger installed now.  It runs off a 240 volt plug similar to a dryer plug.  It draws a lot more power and will fully charge a completely drained battery overnight….But after my commute, I still have about two thirds battery charge so it only takes maybe three hours to charge, that it can be set to do at night when the energy rates are off-peak.

Charging stations may not be everywhere yet, but more and more are being built and they are SUPER easy to use.  They are either free to use, or the paid ones just involve finding the location on an app, parking, tapping your credit card or your phone, and plugging in. They are often located in places that you can stop for a coffee etc.  For instance, here in Canada, I would really appreciate if Tim Hortons got on board and put a charger at more and more of their locations...These coffee shops are almost everywhere, and if people knew just to look for their nearest Tim's when their charge was running low, isn't that good for business too??  

I've had it for just over a month.  I was happy with the cost, I'm amazed at the drive and the technology in it and, you know...I don't miss stopping at gas stations?!  All in all, it's a pretty bad ass car, and it`s the kind of sexy we need to bring into the world of Environmentalism if we want more recruits! 

How to not be jerks about it...

People are complicated.

 

Your Point of View:  You’ve come to a realization.  You’ve made an eco-friendly switch in your home and you love your new product and wish everyone could try it!  You’ve given up eating meat and you feel great and you wish that everyone would join you in your love of the environment and animals.  You found an amazing item at the thrift store and you feel proud that you’re helping the earth and saving money, you wonder why anyone shops new anymore when there is already so much stuff in the world.  You’ve planted a giant garden this year and you got twelve huge butternut squash with little to no effort.  You’ve gotten yourself an electric car and you love the drive and wish everyone were driving them.

Everyone else:  Well, I recycle…. What a jerk.

How do we get along with such differing viewpoints?  I can tell you that I’ve felt like an outsider in most conversations my whole adult life.  There are not many decisions that I make in life without taking the environment into consideration, I am just that person.  I don’t mind being different, but it’s hard to feel like somewhere along the way you woke up and look around to realize that everyone else is still sleeping.  You used to be sleeping too.  The other thing is that you get super excited as an environmentalist when you find something that helps you sleep at night – As in, something that aligns with your goals of minimizing human’s harm to the planet.  Cloth diapers are SO adorable.   Electric vehicles are amazing to drive.  Cloth pads are simple, comfortable and work well.  Tapping your maple trees to make your own syrup is a fun family activity.  Etc. etc. etc.  We do get excited, but how do we talk about going above and beyond the norm while not making others feel bad about their own efforts?

Even more than this though. Environmentalists have become some of the most jerky people on the internet, and it’s not helping anything and it’s giving us a bad name.  Have you heard the joke:  How can you tell there’s a vegan at your party?  Don’t worry, they’ll tell you!

A fast food company wants to advertise that they’ve made the switch over to beef without the use of hormones and are reducing the waste they produce.  Companies are NOT people, but they have made these decisions because it’s a way they can differentiate themselves from their competitors and they believe there is a market of people that are irked when they get a plastic straw in their drink that they didn’t ask for.  All too often though people break out their soapbox and chastise these attempts as not enough…They shouldn’t sell beef at all, they’re still cutting down trees for their napkins…*Eye Roll*

It’s okay to get excited about your latest green item, but let’s try to not let hippie turn to jerk.  Baby steps are good steps, any company that is trying is better than the other 99%, banning straws won’t do much, and a beach cleanup won’t stay clean for long, electric car batteries do still take resources from the earth, and shipping glass over distances might take more fuel than plastic, but in this world if you take one step toward caring for the earth in any way that you can manage, you’re alright in my books.

Corporations are NOT People

Corporations are Not People.  They are made up of people, but they do not operate like people do.  Relating this idea to Environmentalism, we should NOT expect companies to only produce things that don’t damage the world.  They don’t have ethics, and they don’t care about the future of the earth.  We shouldn’t expect them to.  They deal only in percentages and profits.  Positives and negatives for companies are not good and bad, only more or less…

Marketing does amazing things for companies, and big business marketing actually creates and maintains a good portion of our culture.  Close your eyes and imagine getting your family some chickens to raise for eggs.  What springs to mind?  Dirty, noisy and smelly might be part of your thought process, as might be a lot of backbreaking effort.  You have no direct experience with raising chickens, where did these thoughts come from?

Because companies are not people, we shouldn't have any inherent trust of them.  We shouldn't buy things just because they're on the shelves and we should always rethink why our culture is telling us that gardening or fixing the things we have is too hard, or that raising chickens or shopping in thrift stores is dirty or not worth it.  

Consumers' willful ignorance is the thing that corporations rely on.  

When you live in a world where Corporations don’t have ethics yet hold the power to change our whole culture and thought processes with their marketing campaigns, while consumers aren’t thinking beyond their own convenience, is there any way to control the environmental drain on the planet?

Plastic Tax - The other half of the solution

As an adult, I make decisions with the environment in mind all the time.  I am that person, in thrift store clothes, driving an electric car to the bulk barn with my own jars to refill.  But I can’t do a full, plastic free shop at the grocery store.  The truth of the matter is that people, making the decision at the checkout counter is only part of the solution, one that has only been marginally successful and won’t bring about a fast enough change to respond to the biggest threat to our future that humans have ever seen.

I want to see a heavy tax placed on new, plastic pellets.  Like cigarettes, the use of new plastic should take into account the drain that their use will eventually have on our economy when eventually we are forced to take greater and greater measures to restore our polluted land, lakes and rivers.  Plastic is too cheap an option.  Let’s not make plastic the most economical solution to every problem.  There are alternatives, we are finding more every day, hemp for example and plant based packaging, but these alternatives are waiting for an economy shift in order to make them viable in the world today.

Take for example, Coca-Cola.  As one of the world's biggest contributors to plastic pollution, they are being looked to in order to take more responsibility for the waste they produce in their plastic bottles.  To respond to these claims, Coca-Cola will likely sponsor a beach clean-up and put some money into researching new packaging options, conclude that it’s not viable and we’ll be stuck at square one.  However, let’s say that Coca-Cola now had to pay twice as much for their raw materials in order to produce their line of plastic bottles…That changes things.

The best thing we could have done when plastic was starting to be used by companies in the fifties would have been to heavily restrict its production and use.   That was a mistake my grandparent’s generation made and a problem that my parent’s generation ignored.  A plastic tax, however, if implemented right now, will have ripple effect; change always comes from necessity.  Coffee pods won’t seem so convenient, polyester won’t be the only clothing you see when you walk into a store, wrapping some items in plastic just to increase its already long shelf life or to keep items together during transportation won’t make financial sense for companies to do.  We will find new ways.  We can also assume that after making this change, the next new "big thing" won’t with it produce hundreds of tonnes of waste that won’t breakdown for a thousand years.

We need to shift the paradigm.  Let’s not be another generation that looks the other way.