Unclog Your Drain - The Natural Non-Toxic Way

Once again, you find your tub drain is clogged from your _____ 's (fill in the blank) hair, which seems to shed like no tomorrow.  You've contemplated using liquid plumber, but you're afraid of the impact it can have on the environment and your drinking water.  Well fear not, here's a great, natural and non-toxic way to unclog your tub or bathroom sink from hair and soap gunk. ( Note:  This solution is for slow moving water down the drain. If your drain is completely clogged and brimming with water, this will not work)

What you will need:

• 1 Cup of Baking Soda
• 2 Cups of Regular White Vinegar
• Rubber Drain Stopper
  
• Pot of Boiling Water
  
• Rubber Gloves
• Glasses/Goggles (to protect the eyes)

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Hidden Dangers of Potted Plants

There are many benefits of having house plants. For those without a backyard, it's pleasant to have a part of nature inside your home. Not only do they add aesthetic value, house plants are known to improve air quality. However, recent studies at University of Georgia's Department of Horticulture shows otherwise.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), such as methane, and fomaldehyde, have adverse short and long term health effects on animals and humans. While many house plants have the ability to remove VOCs, studies showed that some indoor plants actually release VOCs into the environment.

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Corn a La Plastic - The Mistruth Of Biodegradable PLA

So you think you’re doing your part, purchasing your salad in a clear clamshell made with corn based plastic (PLA or Polylactic Acid).  Proponents of PLA say that they are a good alternative to petroleum based plastics because they (a) biodegrade and thus won’t last forever like normal plastic, and (b) are made from corn which is a renewable resource.


What the masses are not told is that corn based plastic requires an Industrial Composting Facility to heat the bioplastic to a high enough temperature in order for it to break down. Corn-based plastic will take just as long as regular plastic to break down in the landfills (very few things break down in landfills actually....) or on the curb of your sidewalk. Furthermore, since they look just like conventional plastic, they are often times thrown in with other recyclables, thus contaminating the recycling process and reducing its market value.

This recycling contamination issue has actually led to the banning of biodegradable plastic bags by the City of Toronto, which has plans to ban all biodegradable plastics in the future. 

So what should we do in the mean time?  Use a reusable container or bag, reduce wherever possible, and avoid any type of plastic would be my best bet.

Guilt-Free Back to School Shopping Spree

One of the biggest expenses this time of the year for parents are back to school clothes for their little ones. As always, it seems like the kids are growing faster than your wallet could afford.

With the effects of recession all around us, here are some tips on how you can cut back on costs and send your kids off with confidence and style!

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Sunscreen Review (Part 2): Putting 4 EWG Recommended Sunscreens To The Test!

Congratulations!  You did your homework, looked at the Environmental Working Group’s 2009 Sunscreen Guide, and found a great list of sunscreens that protect you from the sun’s harmful rays (UVA & UVB), and is non-toxic for your body. (See what you should avoid in our PART 1 discussion).

Now here comes the tricky part.  Out of the long list, which one should you get?  To help you out with your decision, I’ve decided to do my own “review” of 4 recommended sunscreens.

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Do you DIG your SIGG?

Two years ago, I purchased my first SIGG bottle, and absolutely adored it. Since then, I took it almost everywhere I went, and gifted it for friends on various occasions.

A growing number of concerned consumers, especially new parents began to turn away from plastic bottles and products that contain BPA, and replace them with stainless steel bottles that were BPA Free. BPA is a chemical with the ability to mimic hormones and several studies have linked BPA to weight gain, abnormalities that can lead to breast and prostate cancer, brain damage, abnormal organ development, and hyperactivity.

SIGG was a popular and recognized brand of safe BPA-free bottles. Or so it seemed, until a letter from SIGG's own Steve Wasik stated that their bottles contained BPA lining. This news came as a shock for all SIGG fans, including myself. Apparently, SIGG was never marketed as a "BPA-free" product but rather a product free from leaching. Wasik apologized in a letter for the lack of clarity about the original SIGG liner.

SIGG Company had known about ways their bottles were being perceived and marketed. They knew the increased in the demand of their products came from a false belief that they were BPA-free. However, they watched as the sales rocketed and did nothing to correct the misconception. SIGG had fooled us all.

SIGG is countering their greenwashing image by offering a voluntary exchange program. Your old SIGG bottles can be exchanged for their newly improved bottles with new EcoCare liner. To exchange, SIGG bottle owners must print out shipping label and return form available online, and bear the cost of shipping to a Brampton address.

This is a huge disappointment for consumers. it's difficult to say when the consumer confidence will recover but the exchange program is a good start. Even better if they had covered the shipping costs.

While I'm getting ready to exchange all 3 SIGG bottles at home, I can't see myself purchasing a SIGG product anytime soon. The damage is done....

Defeat The Skeete

Having a 'Skeeter Syndrome', also known as a mosquito allergy, has resulted in me avoiding the wilderness and loving it from afar. Unlike your typical itchy red bumps, my mosquito bites would swell, blister then bruise. The swelling would cover most of my arms and legs, making it difficult to move my joints and muscles.

So it was a brave decision I made six months ago, when my friends decided to book a camping ground at Sandbanks National Park for a summer weekend. I said YES to go camping for the first time in the last 13 years. In order to survive the weekend, I knew I needed a good insect repellent.

PART 1: THE SEARCH

What is DEET?
The majority of bug repellents contain DEET(also known as diethyl-meta toluamide), a dangerous toluene chemical, which is also used in rubber and plastic cements and paint removers. When a repellent is sprayed, DEET is absorbed through our skin and passes into the blood, which can not only lead to headaches and skin irritations but also to brain swelling in children, anaphylactic shock and low blood pressure.

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My Favorite Stainless Steel Lunch Container

For the eco-minded individual, changing the way you bring your lunch (ie from zip-lock bags to a re-useable container) can make a big impact on the amount of garbage you produce.  With BPA as a major health concern, you probably want to avoid using plastic tupperware.  Glass is a good option, but they tend to be large, heavy, and prone to breaking. 

Last month, I was on a hunt; to find a light, compact, and durable container to replace my glass tupperware for my lunches and snacks on the go.  The solution?  Stainless Steel!

My search brought me to little India, The Big Carrot, and Grassroots in Toronto.  I found some great options on the market, including the Canadian branded Greentainer, as well as other stackable stainless steel containers.  However, the container that caught my (and my girlfriend’s) eye was the Stainless Steel Lunch Box by Zebra Thailand that I found at Grassroots.  The stainless steel container, called the "Camping Pot" on the Zebra Thailand Website, comes with a stainless steel insert that provides 2 levels of food compartments, a lid, and a closing latch that transforms into a pot handle! 

I ended up bringing the Zebra container for a camping trip, and I was the recipient of many envious looks!  The container served as a bowl for my cereal, and kept hot noodles and soup warm for a long time (the “pot” handle allowed me to hold the container without burning my hands, which was a bonus). I also used the insert and lid as plates for my various side dishes.

At a price of $15.99 at Grassroots, this stainless steel container was a great buy, and does exactly what I need it to do.  Definitely no regrets here!

Sunscreen Review (Part 1): What You Should Avoid And Why

You often hear this warning on the news: “Protect yourself from the harmful rays of the sun, be sure to apply sunscreen 30 minutes before exposure”.  On the surface, that may sound like good advice, but have you ever thought about the health impacts the INGREDIENTS may have on your body?

Unfortunately for us consumers, there is a lack of proper regulation on what can be added to the complex concoction we call a ‘sunscreen’.  Depending on the product that you buy, ingredients used in the lotion can be linked to cancer, neurotoxicity, endocrine disruption, and allergic reactions.  Another misleading component to sunscreens is that, contrary to their claim, many do not sufficiently block ALL the rays of the sun.  Low SPF ratings (25 and under) simply don’t protect your skin enough, and not all products protect against the longer and more harmful UVA rays (which do not burn you but harm none-the-less). 

So what are 3 major ingredients you should avoid when buying your sunscreen?

Oxybenzone (BENZOPHENONE-3)	Used to absorb UVB and short-wave UVA rays, this organic compound has been linked to increased chances of skin cancer (malignant melanoma) and endocrine disruption (interference with the hormonal system)
Fragrances	Fragrances often contain compounds such as Phthalates, Volatile and semivolatile organic compounds (VOCs and SVOCs), or Nitro- and polycylic- musks. These compounds have been linked to endocrine disruption, structural abnormalities in the reproductive systems, and cancer.
Methylparaben	A “food-grade” preservative used in many cosmetics, Methylparaben is known to bioaccumulate in the body, and is linked to increased chances of cancer and hormone disruption

So how do you choose a sunscreen that is both effective against the sun’s rays as well as safe and non-toxic for your body?  In comes the 2009 EWG Sunscreen Guide on the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep: Cosmetic Safety Database.  This guide lists 1691 different sunscreens, and scores each one of them according to their effectiveness vs. possible toxicity.  Each product is scored from 1 to 10, where 0-2 is recommended, 3-6 is caution, and 7-10 is avoid.

To see how your sunscreen rates, visit the cosmetic database and enter the product name in the “find safe sunscreen” widget.  Some well known sunscreens in the “avoid” catagory include:

(7) Coppertone Sport Sunblock Lotion, SPF 30
(7) Banana Boat Sport Performance UltraMist Continuous Clear Spray Sunscreen, SPF 15
(7) Jason Natural Cosmetics Sunbrellas: Complete Block Spray, SPF 26
(7) Huggies Little Swimmers Sunscreen, Moisturizing Blue Melon Splash

That concludes our review of what NOT to get.  Be sure to come back to see Part 2 of our Sunscreen Review:  4 EWG Recommended Sunscreens In Action

Is P&G Really Future Friendly?

You might have seen this ad on TV lately: A girl, posing as a reporter with a camcorder, goes about her house and identifies “future friendly” products made by Proctor & Gamble, namely their Downy, Cascade, Bounty, and Tide brands. These products are proclaimed to be “future friendly” due to their decreased waste, energy use, and packaging. But are they really future friendly?

 

Individually, these initiatives to reduce waste, energy, and packaging are great, but the products themselves are far from being green (as a term “future friendly” would imply).

• Laundry detergents like Tide contain many toxic chemicals that are hazardous to the environment and to our health. 


• Fabric softeners like Downy are notorious for containing not-so-snuggly ingredients (like benzyl alcohol, limonene, ethyl acetate, pentane, chloroform, and more) that negatively impact the body through short and long-term use. 

  
  
• The quilted picker-upper Bounty paper towels may perhaps absorb better than others, but they’re still made from virgin fiber with no recycled content, and use a bleaching process to whiten the sheets. (For a good alternative, Grist.org has a great comparison between bounty and more “future friendly” brands)

  
  
• Dishwasher detergents like Cascade contain phosphates and chlorine. Phosphates can cause severe skin irritations, as well as harm to aquatic life. Chlorine bleach is harmful your health if handled or ingested, and can combine with carbon molecules to create organochlorines such as dioxin which is carcinogenic. (To see a list of detergents that contain phosphates and chlorine and some alternatives, see this article by naturemoms.com).

I would say that this is quite the greenwashing campaign put on by P&G; I just wish they put more effort into making their products truly future friendly.