10 Days 10 Ways to Reduce your Carbon Footprint
Swap your plastic tubed toothpaste for a more sustainable brand.
WHY? well for one it takes over 500 years for one plastic tube of toothpaste to decompose!
On average we are throwing away 400 MILLION empty tubes a year! (1.5 BILLION world wide). It’s just not earth friendly and furthermore most popular brands are actually quite TOXIC! See below for a list of nasty ingredients lurking in our oral hygiene products.
TRICLOSAN has strong antibacterial properties but is a known endocrine disruptor
SODIUM LAURYL SULFATE (SLS) is the chemical that produces that great foam we all love to see when we brush, but that foam comes at a price. Increased risk of certain cancers, skin irritation even stomach ulcers!!
ASPARTAME That’s right, the sweetener that ahs made its way into so many processed food items is in our toothpaste. Why? You guessed it, so it taste sweeter. But do we need it. This artificial sweetener should be avoided or at least used in considerable moderation.
CARAGEENAN this thickening agent is derived from red seaweed. Sounds harmless right? Well it’s used in our yogurts, ice creams, and creamers as a thickener but is also a potent pro inflammatory agent. So check your labels, and avoid!
Other harmful toxins lurking in our paste are saccharin, glycerin, and propylene glycol. Don’t forget all the food dyes as well!
2. Make your own daily household cleaner.
3. Reduce your meat intake, even by 1 day!
You may think 1 day is not significant, but the cumulative effects can be dramatic! The production of beef, dairy and eggs results in:
-15-20% of greenhouse gas emissions
-An insane amount of water required for production
-Deforestation and destruction of natural habitats
-Soil degradation- affecting the soil microbiome
4. Tackle your single use paper product addiction
The production of our convenient paper towels, napkins and toilet paper not only results in pollution during the manufacturing stage, but signifcantl deforestation. The EPA states that paper towel and cardboard make up the largest amount of wasted materails annually!
So be mindful of the daily habits we do out of convenience and question what long term effects they may have on our enviornment. Choose paper LESS products when able. Bamboo products area great resource and also are biodegradable. Reusable cloths are also a win!
Check out some of my favorite products:
1. Marley’s Monster cloth wipes
2. Grove Collaborative paper free toilet paper
3. Grove Co paper free paper towels
4. grove Co tree free reusable paper towels
5. Shop sustainable companies!
6. Break your plastic water bottle habit
The single use plastic water bottle is responsible for global warming due to the immnese fossil fuel used in prodcuton, an enormous amount of pollution to land and water ways, and honestly is no cleaner than water you may be getting from the tap - certainyl from a filter.
It takes 450 years to break down to a micro plastic- which is devastating to the oceans and a 1000 years to decompose in a landfill.
So while the habit may be unavoidable all the time, we can certainly scale back and think twice before reaching for a single use plastic bottle.
Purchase reusable container, and the earth will thank you!!
7. Turn off the lights
About 10% of lightbulb electricity is utilized when the light is on. 10%!!! The remainign 90% is wasted. The power plants are burnign fossil fuel to produce that energy therefore conserving really does make a difference.
8. Ditch the one time plastic produce bags and BYOB
9. Donate your used clothes
10. Start composting!!
What is compost exactly? Well it’s a mixture of organic matter which provides nutrient rich additives for the soil. Composting has a variety of benefits for the earth.
1. Decreases food waste- about 30-40% of the food we purchase is tossed in the trash! 30-40%!!!
2. Improves the composition of soil- which provides a vast amount of nutrients and minerals to the fruits and vegetables that grow in it.
3. Enhances water retention. Just 1 percent increase in soil organic matter helps the soil hold up to 20,000 gallons more water per acre!!