Archive for the ‘Green Living’ Category

a clean change

August 12, 2008

Its not using Irish Spring one time that will hurt you, but the use of it daily, combined with the daily exposure to all the other things you subject yourself to. Now, Im not picking on Irish Spring but I am using it as an example of body soaps made in the commercial process that Irish spring is.

Many of the health issues in the world today are not things that you “catch.” They are things you develop over a period of time from constant or repeated exposure to things that are bad for you. You might bath with Irish spring, in over chlorinated water, put on make up that is made form toxic ingredients, spray God knows what on your hair to make it stay in one place all day, brush your teeth with fluoride (something found in rat poison), and by the way, its in the tap water too, then put on cloths that were either washed in chemicals and still have the residue of those chemicals on them, or you might put on clothes that have been dry cleaned with stuff you cant even pronounce. And your going to expose your body to that all day long? Just smell the thing when you take it out of the cleaning bag! Now, go eat some breakfast. Lets have an egg from a chicken that was pumped up full of steroids and antibiotics, a glass of juice from some oranges that were sprayed with all sorts of stuff and if your real lucky was genetically altered to boot. Lets don’t forget a piece of bacon; just one piece, were wanting to keep healthy you know. And we won’t even talk about what all that pig was feed and pumped with to make that bacon. Oh, I forgot to mention that new carpet that we just had put in. We have been breathing that formaldehyde used in making the carpet all this time too. Now lets get in that car so we can make that 30 minute commute to the city so we can ingest all sorts of other pollutants all day. I think you get the picture. Its all these things put together that are hurting you. Put that all together and what do you have? It’s a recipe for sickness and poor health.

It’s time to make some changes. Sure, we can’t control all the variables, but we do have some that we can control or change. One change we have made is the soap we are now using. Castile soap. Defined in Wikipedia, Castile soap is a name used in English-speaking countries for soap made exclusively from vegetable oil (as opposed to animal fat), although many soap making authorities hold that to be “Castile” soap, it must be made exclusively or predominantly from olive oil. Examples of other oils that dissenting authorities hold can be used in castile soaps include coconut, almond, hemp, and jojoba. Castile soap is also sometimes called Seafarer’s soap because of its broad range of uses. Another advantage of Castile soap is that the glycerin is not removed like it is in soaps mentioned earlier. Castile soap also has many other uses as mentioned. See our blog on Castile Soap.

Dr. Bronner’s castile soap, the stuff we use, is an all-vegetable soap made from fair trade oils such as coconut and olive. There is absolutely nothing synthetic in these soaps. Not only are the soaps biodegradable, their funky packaging (covered in Dr. Bronner’s eccentric philosophies) is 100% post-consumer waste recycled. You can also find all sorts of uses for it other than bathing.

Another major contributor that is so often overlooked is the spirit. If your not feeding your spirit the food it needs to grow, you spirit will be unhealthy too. This will effect every other area of your life no matter how “green” you are. That’s right; your spirit has to eat too. You need to feed your spirit the word of God every day. That is where healthy and whole life really begins. Take time to spend reading the word of God everyday, even if its just 1 chapter, it will make a huge difference.

If you don’t know God and have never made Jesus your Lord, you don’t have to wait. We don’t have to change anything to make Jesus our Lord. We just have to invite him in. Its called, being born again. God said in his word that unless you are born again that you will never see heaven. You are a spirit, you have a soul, and you live in a body. If you have never made Jesus the Lord of your life then your spirit is dead. Only by inviting God in can it be made alive. Don’t misunderstand me here. A dead spirit still lives, the question is, where does it live. If it is dead it lives in death. If it is alive, it lives in life. Jesus said, he is the way, the truth, and the life!

So here it is. Romans chapter 10, verse 9 & 10 says that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. That’s how you do it.

Make some changes today. They add up and will make a difference in your life.

Go Green – Go Solar

August 8, 2008

We got our electric bill last month, $569.00, and it really made me start tinking about how we use our energy. Its not that we cant afford it, its that we dont want to, nor do we want to needlessly waste our resources. Hay, im the guy that you see walking into 7-11 and stops to pick up a penny in the parking lot. I just hate to see things go to waste. Im not a junk collector though but I have dived a few dumpsters I must admit.

Any how, we began to look at how were using our energy and started to make some changes. First thing we did was adjust our air conditioner settings. We went from a cool 69-70 most of the time to a comfortable 82 during the day and 74 at night. We got a couple of fans to help. The sad thing about that was that when we were keeping it at 69-70 during the day, we either weren’t home or were outside most of the time. What a waste!

Next, when Im not in a room, I turn off the light. Makes sense to me. And you know, the really cool thing about that is every time I turn off a light I get that same energized feeling I get when I stop to pick up a penny in the parking lot. Im making money here. How cool is that!

Now my wheels are really turning. With all that sun out here in southern Mississippi, why not take advantage of it. Lets go Solar I say. I do some research and start where Im at. Do what I can do. I got an old water heater that was just going to waste and striped it down. Gave it some prep and paint. Built a box for it. Insulated it and put reflective material in the box to intensify the sun. Put a glass top on it and hooked her up to the house. No, I didn’t name her, not yet anyway. Pictures are more fun sometimes than a bunch of words so here you go. Oh, one more thing; did you know that the average family spends almost $700 dollars on hot water a year. Thats 70,000 pennies!! Our energy rate here right now is 11 cents per KWH. Ok lets take a look.

Keep comin back. Were not done with this project just yet. We are going to run another colector up on the roof of our house. It’s going to be made out of copper tubbing and will have a solar powered pump that circulates the water in the tank to get it even hotter. Right now the water that comes out is about 140°F. We need the circulator because we are going to add a couple more tanks and use the hot water to heat our grow room with radient heat this winter. Yeah!

One more thing – the total cost of this project was only $113.00

Go Green – Stay Green!

Castile soap

August 6, 2008

Soap – the deal with castile

If you’ve been dabbling into going green, you’re likely to have seen castile soap mentioned in books and various web sites.

What is castile soap?

Castile soap isn’t a brand but a type of soap made exclusively from vegetable oil rather than animal fat or synthetic substances. The purists feel it should be made from olive oil but there’s a wide variety of castile variants that use oil from plants such as coconut and jojoba. The simple nature of the soap means a lesser enviromental impact due to reduced waste stream during manufacture and also faster biodegradability.

While castile soaps can have additional synthetic ingredients, usually you’ll find if it’s marketed under that name, it’s a fairly natural sort of product.

Castile soap – so versatile

Castile soap has many uses aside from washing your skin – it’s also known as seafarer’s soap due to its versatility.

I use an olive oil based one in place of shampoo – works great for me and I don’t need to use a conditioner. I also don’t have to wade through the dozens of shampoo brands at the local supermarket trying to translate what all the darned chemicals they use are any more – I tried that once and gave up in total confusion. As the soap I use comes in a simple paper based box, that also saves on packaging. Another benefit is that castile soap is far cheaper than other fancy label soaps and shampoos!

If you’ve ever tried using normal soap to wash your hair, you would have likely found your hair very dry afterwards, but for some reason I haven’t experienced that with castile soap – it’s likely because the glycerin content is retained, whereaas in normal soaps much of the glycerin is removed and sold separately in moisturizers.

Liquid castile soap uses

While bar castile soap is pretty amazing stuff, in a liquid form it’s even more versatile.

- Liquid castille soap can be used for a shaving lather

- It can be used as a pet shampoo

- Great for washing clothes and diapers

- General cleaning, diluted and used in a spray bottle

- Heavy duty degreasing

- I’ve heard that pure liquid castile soap can even be used for brushing your teeth! But of course, don’t swallow the stuff. I don’t think it would kill you in small doses but I’m sure it would taste pretty yuk.

- It can also be used in place of dishwashing detergent and even in your automatic dishwasher! “Green” automatic dishwasher detergents are hard to come by, but a Green Living Tips reader, Kathy Stevens, contributed this recipe (Thanks Kathy!):

Ingredients:

2 cups liquid castille saop
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
3 drops tea tree oil
1/2 cup white vinega

Method:

stir all ingredients together until blended. Store in a squirt top bottle. Use 2 tablespoons per load of dishes, shake well before use.

The other great thing about castile soap is you can make it at home and there’s a ton of recipes available online. Just a word of warning; in soap-making, lye is used which is a corrosive alkaline substance – sodium hydroxide; so handle with care.

If you’re a castile soap convert and have found some great uses around the home for it, please add your tips below!

Michael Bloch
Green Living Tips.com
Green Living Tips is an online resource powered by renewable energy offering a wide variety of earth friendly tips, green guides, advice and environment related news to help consumers and business reduce costs, consumption and environmental impact .