Because the topics of recycling, environment-friendly products and sustainability were everywhere I turned for 30 days straight, I couldn't help but get bit by the "green bug."
There are a few things that I was already doing that might fall into these categories, such as buying organic produce and recycling paper and magazines, but I decided there were more changes I could make.
Some others I've added this year: Cutting down my commute to work by 18 miles, carrying my own shopping bag to some stores, buying music online (means one less plastic CD case to eventually throw out); replacing all the bulbs in my apartment with LED and/or compact fluorescent bulbs; using a drying rack more often than the dryer; and replacing as many of my toiletries as possible with chemical-free ones.
My shopping bag is from Envirosax, but if I had to do it over again, I kind of like the snarky sayings on the bags at BYOB (Bring Your Own Bag) ...
My soaps and my lip balm now come from Lush. (I am completely addicted, in fact, to the Honey Trap lip balm and the Cocktail, Ice Blue, Honey I Washed the Kids and Icon soaps, among many, many other products ... Yes, I admit that I have a problem ... Do they have a rehab for soap?)
And I'm trying to phase out my chemical-filled cosmetics by purchasing purer, "cleaner" ones as the need arises. By now there are dozens of chemical free makeup lines on the market, but two inexpensive ones I really like are Alima and Physician's Formula.
Alima is particularly awesome because they have like, a gazillion gorgeous colors to choose from, and you can get little sample jars for only $1.50! (I can never seem to choose the right foundation color on the first try, so I thought this was great! Thankfully, they also have a page on their site that walks shoppers through the process of finding the right shade.)
And also, good ol' Target now carries a surprisingly high number of chemical-free cleaning products, cosmetics, soaps and bath and body products, such as the Green by Nature line.
If you, too, feel like you're putting too much "gunk" on your face these days and want to make a change but don't know where to start, I can recommend a few sites.
Ecostiletto.com offers tips, advice and information on products in the areas of green beauty and fashion, among others.
Click here to download a PDF from the Teens for Safe Cosmetics site, which lists companies offering greener alternatives. (Regardless of whether or not you're in your teen years, this site has some good info!)
There's also Ecofabulous.com for sexy, sustainable style.
And Vital Juice Daily is pretty much the motherload.
I know that I'm not going to save the world by buying "green" cosmetics, but the number of cleaner, safer products will never go up unless we start increasing the demand for them, and we have to start somewhere, right?
Where are you going to start? Do you already know what your carbon footprint is? Do you want to find out? Click here.
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