OK, so somehow I did like four hours of research on this and can’t find the doc I saved it in. Typical. Luckily, this link pretty much sums it up and doesn’t get into all the studies and rabbit holes I went down. https://thegoodlifedesigns.com/safest-dishes-to-use/
Primarily, I wanted something safe. Something that wasn’t going to leach chemicals and that I could put in the microwave or oven. (I always tell myself that I wouldn’t microwave plastic and then find myself doing it late at night when I’m too tired to care.) I also have a clumsy streak and needed stuff that wasn’t going to break easily. If you have kids, this is doubly true for you. Corelle ticks all those boxes.
I didn’t look into the sustainability of this option. Mostly because I have a set of corelle dishes I bought 15 years ago and they’re still going strong. So I figure this purchase of bowls will last me a long, long time.
Why you should care: Y’all, I read the studies, and there are SO many ways that bleach gets into our household environment and causes problems. It’s mind-blogging!
Y’all, I have been using bleach in my white loads for AGES. I guess I knew it was bad but didn’t really think about it practically.
Bleach does lots of stuff. It means you can save energy because you don’t have to wash your clothes with hot water to kill microbes. It gets rid of stains and makes your clothes look whiter/brighter.
Fun fact, bleach makes stuff look white because it stays on your fabric and gives off light. So when you look at the fabric, it gives you the impression that it’s whiter or brighter. OMG! https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/20/9084 However, a key part of this is that it STAYS on your fabric and can get trapped there for more than a year. That’s not a good thing to have rubbing against your skin.
So do we really need bleach? Not really. Only for killing certain bacteria.
Using bleach is like hiring a giant bar bouncer. It’s great if you actually need muscle. But most bacteria aren’t in the big leagues. And you don’t need a bouncer to break up a scuffle on the kindergarten playground.
Most bacteria gets killed by your washing machine’s regular detergent and a spin in the dryer. However, there are some cases like rotavirus (diarrhea and vomiting), which needs hot water over 60 °C, detergent AND you can use bleach sanitizer.
NOTE: Wash your hands immediately after doing laundry and don’t touch your face. Store dirty clothes in a dry place, which will discourage bacterial growth. Remember that bleach only lasts for three months.
Bleach tends to cause a lot more problems for the average homeowner than it solves. It gets into rivers and hurts aquatic life. It messes with our public water system. It reacts with a whole bunch of different chemicals we have in our air and furniture to create nasty stuff that gets into our body through skin or breathing or eating.
*One of those very specific bacteria is norovirus. That’s a time where you actually do need to go to the store and get some bleach. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAkH4jakLYA
“Single-use Q tips contribute to the global plastic waste crisis. An estimated 1.5 billion cotton swabs are produced every day in the world and the average person throws away approximately 415 of them each year, according to a report by market intelligence company Acute Market Reports. These products are frequently found in landfills and oceans, polluting the environment and posing a threat to marine life. By opting for reusable Q tips, individuals can play a part in minimizing their ecological footprint.” https://ecofriendlyhacks.com/reusable-q-tips/index.html
It sucks that my pick is a Walmart buy. But I honestly couldn’t find what I wanted elsewhere except Amazon, and I tried!
This is another option: https://lastobject.com/products/lastswab?Color=Turquoise I don’t like that it’s made of “durable materials,” which tells me absolutely nothing about what it’s actually made of. I also think the plastic carrying case is completely unnecessary.
Some Q-tips say they’re compostable/biodegradable. I’m extremely skeptical of this. I’ve tried composting those Q-tips and three years later they haven’t decomposed one bit!
TLDR: Regular laundry detergent has components that are harmful to the environment and to your skin. Plus, there’s a ton of waste and you’re mostly paying for water, which is a waste of money.
Why you should care: These are getting harder to write. I feel like you should just care because your body and the environment are important! But check out the reasons below…
“Non-concentrated liquid laundry detergents contain 60 to 90 percent water, and a concentrated one could have 15 to 50 percent water, according to He.”
I’ve also used laundry detergent sheets from different brands, which come in compostable bags. I think that’s great, but I tried composting the bags for two years and they didn’t break down even a little. Most packaging that says it’s biodegradable is actually only biodegradable in professional facilities. But this is the packaging that Etee uses, and I’m impressed because it looks like a solid choice: https://tekpaksolutions.com/
TLDR: It’s better to invest in sustainable bath towels for your own health and the health of the planet.
Why you should care: “Towels marketed as ‘ultra absorbent’ often shed microfiber plastics when washed and dried.” https://www.leafscore.com/eco-friendly-bath-products/best-eco-friendly-towels/ Microfiber plastics pollute our soil and water. Plus, we rub these towels all over our bodies so they should be made of stuff that’s safe for our skin.
These towels are effing expensive! I got them on sale at Christmas.
The following link is actually a great primer on towel materials and it’s consistent with all my reading but in a much more concise form. The only info that’s not exactly accurate is the part about some fabrics being antimicrobial. Studies don’t support that so ignore that paragraph! https://fiveadrift.com/blogs/news/7-reasons-why-you-should-be-using-eco-friendly-towels
I liked these towels because they last a long time. They have the GOTS and Oeko-Tex certifications, which means they were made with safe and environmentally friendly practices.
Plus, you can throw cotton towels in the washer, whereas other materials don’t fare as well in a machine.
One of the big downsides of this product is that it’s made from Turkish cotton, which means a larger carbon footprint for shipping. But since I’m only buying it once and then keeping it for many years, I’m less concerned about this issue.
TLDR: It’s really hard to make stuff out of 24K gold because it’s such a soft metal. If you are very sensitive, even items that are 18k gold can cause an allergic reaction.
Why you should care: It sucks to have an allergic reaction.
Did everyone know about the percentages rules of gold? I was totally in the dark. “18K gold is 18 parts pure gold and 6 parts other metals. And therefore, it is 75% gold and 25% other metals.” https://luxe.digital/lifestyle/jewelry/gold-karats-guide/ If the jeweler doesn’t tell you what those other metals are, it could contain something you’re allergic to, like nickel. About 18% of people in North America are allergic to nickel. https://www.aad.org/public/diseases/eczema/insider/nickel-allergy This would explain why my ears got swollen, even though I was wearing 18K gold earrings. Some people are just sensitive!
I haven’t done sustainability research on this one. Mostly because I rarely buy nice jewelry. Someone please get at me with your collected info!
TLDR: There’s no such thing as sustainable, healthy/safe-for-you honey. Buy vegan honey. It tastes the same.
Why you should care: Honestly, collecting honey on a commercial scale isn’t good for bees. Small honey purveyors don’t pasteurize their honey, which means you’re at a higher risk for illness and there’s nobody regulating their practices. BUT, not everyone cares about bees or pasteurization. So then the best reason NOT to eat honey is because most honey is polluted with nasty chemicals.
I eat a lot of honey—and I mean a LOT. It’s one of my guilty pleasures. I love it in my tea every day and drizzled on top of my cereal. Of course, it’s a staple of my PB&H sandwiches. So when I started doing research on honey, I figured I’d get something more sustainable. You know, switch to glass jars or whatever, and then call it a day. NOPE.
It turns out that this is WAY more complicated than I thought. There are four different types of honey (that I know of!). https://www.leaf.tv/articles/what-are-the-differences-between-raw-pure-natural-honey/ If a label says “natural honey” it means there are no artificial additives, but some companies still add non-artificial stuff like sugar, etc. “Pure honey” on a label means there are no additives at all, even natural ones. “Raw honey” means the honey hasn’t been pasteurized and has no additives. And “organic honey” means the honey has supposedly followed organic regulations. But here’s the kicker: the organic regulations are based on the specific country the honey comes from. And only about a quarter of all US honey comes from the US. That means the word “organic” is essentially meaningless (unless you happen to know about organic certifications all around the world).
But, for the sake of argument, let’s pretend all these companies are abiding by the “rules” I listed above. What’s the deal with raw honey? Why don’t we pasteurize it?
It seems to me that if you have any health issues or a history of stomach/intestinal issues, then you should steer clear of raw honey. I tend to be super cautious about what I put in my body so I like my honey pasteurized and bacteria-free.
OK, so you need to choose a type of honey AND THEN you can just buy it, right? NOPE. That’s because most honey is contaminated with a weed killer chemical called glyphosate. And government agencies don’t regularly check for it. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fda-finds-monsantos-weed_b_12008680
In this case, it’s actually not the beekeeper’s fault. They can offer their bees an organic field of flowers but if the bees fly over to a neighboring field that uses weed killer OR if some of that weed killer gets in the breeze and onto the beekeeper’s field… basically it’s a nightmare to track.
Then there’s bee safety. Beekeepers are only supposed to harvest excess honey, since bees rely on the stuff they make. Some beekeepers are good about it, others probably aren’t. There’s really no way to tell.
The majority of bees that make sellable honey are not native and they compete with native bees for pollen. This can starve out native bees, which pollinate a lot of our local crops, flowers and gardens and can lead to big ecological issues. https://nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/oik.08915
In conclusion, it’s a huge mess, and you really shouldn’t be eating honey of any type. Instead, go for vegan honey, which is made of plants. https://www.bonappetit.com/story/vegan-honey
TLDR: A lot of essential oils are adulterated because stores can’t test every batch. This means that if you’re buying essential oils at big box stores, you’re probably putting unidentified stuff on your body. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-16546-8_9
Why you should care: It’s kinda scary to let stuff soak into your body and you don’t know what’s in it.
NOTE: Make sure you read up on how to properly use essential oils. Because they’re so concentrated, you generally shouldn’t put them directly on your skin without diluting them first. And because they don’t have preservatives, they often need to be stored in the fridge.
TLDR: We know that plastic “normal” floss isn’t good for your health. More sustainable floss might not be good for the environment.
Why you should care: “Dental floss is often made with PFAS. PTFE, commonly known as Teflon, is one of many PFAS chemicals and is widely used in floss. PFAS are associated with numerous health effects, such as impairing the immune system, cancer, fertility concerns, reproductive and developmental impacts, and kidney disease. Some PFAS are toxic at low levels and are known to build up in the body. PFAS in dental floss could be particularly concerning, considering you put it directly in your mouth and flossing can cause bleeding gums, providing direct access to the bloodstream.” https://www.consumerreports.org/toxic-chemicals-substances/dental-floss-without-pfas-and-other-harmful-chemicals-a9722832754/
Again, I’m recommending Etee. They’re based in Canada so they’re not too far away. They donate to good causes. They don’t do plastic. They don’t test on animals, and use safe materials. They care about their workers and supply chain. Their floss works. They address a lot of my questions about sustainability here: https://www.shopetee.com/blogs/sustainability/silk-or-no-silk-lets-talk-about-it
Floss is a fascinating topic. It’s one of those dental hygiene issues where the big health/safety, sustainability and adoption come into play quite separately.
We know that plastic floss isn’t good for your health. It would be great if there was silicone floss that lasted for years so we could just reuse. One company called “simplyfloss” has this option, but the silicone floss doesn’t last years. https://simplyfloss.com/ So is it more eco-friendly?
We already have an electric toothbrush, which is not environmentally friendly. So I wouldn’t recommend getting one if you don’t already have it. Since I got it as a gift ages ago, for now, we’re getting sustainable toothbrush heads. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41415-020-2124-3
Ultimately, what you choose is going to depend on what type of electric toothbrush you have. Luckily, most sustainable toothbrush heads have taken this into account and don’t make you buy a whole new electric toothbrush just to use their better product.
I liked Brush Mable because it’s FSC. That means the bamboo was harvested sustainably and no one clear cut forests to make it. I bought in bulk, which means a lower carbon footprint.
