Better Health & Living: Article: It's Easy Being Green

Issue: March 2008

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It’s Easy Being Green

If this average family of five can get eco-friendly, so can you

by Marianne McGinnis

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Confession: I’ve got the eco-bug. No, I haven’t put up solar panels, and I don’t drive a Prius or feed our scraps to a compost pile (yet). But I have gone 100 percent organic and bought cloth shopping bags, and I serve my sons Cheerios look-alikes bought out of a bin.

It took me a while to jump on the green bandwagon because I thought that kind of environmental activism seemed like a hobby for celebrities and rich politicians, not a lifestyle for a busy family of five. But, as it turns out, going green is a lot easier than I thought.

I may not have the financial means to build an entire house from recycled tires and old newspaper, but I’ve found I can make a lot of simple changes in the way we live that can lessen our impact on the Earth. We all can. Here are a few good places to start.

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Green Cleaning

Supermarket aisles are crammed with cleaning products for every imaginable purpose—and they’re all chock-full of toxic ingredients. So consider a DIY solution. “Thankfully,” says Linda Mason Hunter, author of Green Clean, “all you really need are four basic items: baking soda, distilled white vinegar, castile soap, and hydrogen peroxide. Not only are these ingredients nontoxic and cheap, but they mix to make an endless variety of cleaning products.” Here are some of her staple recipes.

Disinfectant: To 1 gallon water, add 2 cups white vinegar and 1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide. Note: Hydrogen peroxide is simply water with an extra oxygen molecule (H2O2).The mixture may foam when it comes in contact with bacteria on a surface; this just means that the peroxide is working.

Hardwood floor cleaner: In a bucket, mix 1/4 cup white vinegar with 1 gallon warm water. Mop, then rinse with clear water. Use a towel to dry up any leftover moisture.

All-purpose cleaner: In a 16-ounce spray bottle, mix 1 tablespoon liquid castile soap, 1/8 cup white vinegar, and 2 cups hot water. Spritz as needed and wipe with a sponge or cotton rag. To mitigate the vinegar smell, add 5 to 10 drops of an essential oil such as lemon or lavender.

Floor cleaner: In a bucket, mix 1/8 cup castile soap, 1/8 cup white vinegar, and 1 gallon water. Use to mop any type of floor.

Oven cleaner: Sprinkle the oven with baking soda and spray with water, then let stand for at least 10 minutes or as long as overnight. Scrape up the crusty stains and rinse with water.

Toilet cleaner: Sprinkle the bowl with baking soda, drizzle in about 1/2 cup vinegar, and scour.

Nonscratching sink and tub scrub: Mix enough castile soap and baking soda to make a creamy paste. Apply to the sink or tub and scrub with a sponge; then rinse.

For tons more recipes, I highly recommend Hunter’s book, which is conveniently made of water- and stain-resistant material (I keep mine right in my cleaning bucket).

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Low-Impact Shopping

In her book It’s Easy Being Green: A Handbook for Earth-Friendly Living, author and green home consultant Crissy Trask offers more than 200 tips for “reducing your footprint” on the environment. Here are some basics to keep in mind.

Say no to plastic and paper bags Look in your closets, basement, or garage for those cloth bags you’ve collected from conferences or other events over the years. I splurged on a set of bags from www.ecobags.com; I got five sturdy bags, four produce bags, and four string bags for $56. The string bags are my favorites because they’re super small and lightweight, but they expand to hold tons of stuff. I keep a couple in my purse and store others in the trunk of my car. I also bought a little shopping cart (available for less than $25 on amazon.com) to use at our local farmers’ market.

Seek local and organic foods Go to www.localharvest.org to search for markets in your community (yes, they’re in cities, too) and for organic farms that sell directly to the public. Many offer weekly packages of produce.

Buy in bulk You’ll cut down on wasteful packaging by shopping at a market that offers bins full of grains, nuts, cereals, raisins, and other foods. Take it one step further by taking along your own reusable containers.

Choose greener alternatives Look for paper products made with 100 percent recycled paper and avoid plastic disposable dinnerware. Replace traditional lightbulbs with fluorescent ones: They use 75 percent less energy and last 10 times longer than regular bulbs. If you’re not cooking up your own cleaners, look for nontoxic brands of laundry detergent, dishwashing soap, and other cleaning products, such as Seventh Generation, Ecover, and Bi-O-Kleen. When I can’t find something in the store, I buy from www.shaklee.com. Their products are all Earth friendly, biodegradable, and super concentrated (they last forever).

Eco-Aware Living

Probably the biggest change I’ve made is simply becoming more aware of the environment and looking for ways to conserve, such as:

Eating veggies and minimizing meat I’m not the vegetarian of my hippie college days, but I don’t eat a lot of animal protein. When I do have fish, poultry, or the occasional steak, it’s from organic sources, so it’s pesticide and antibiotic free.

Watching water waste I save water from cooking pasta and rinsing fruits and veggies in two watering cans next to my kitchen sink; it’s enough to keep my houseplants happy. I take very short showers and run the dishwasher and washing machine only with full loads.

Being aware of conserving energy I try not to use large appliances during peak energy hours, so I run the dishwasher and washing machine after 9 p.m. or before 6 a.m. I also unplug chargers and laptops and turn off unnecessary lights. And I’m now a sucker for the scent of line-dried clothes.

I know what you’re thinking: How did my family respond to our change of color? My husband came on board pretty quickly, but my boys whined a lot at first (they like real Cheerios). Now, they love going to the farmers’ market with me every Friday. They push the cart and carry the cloth bags. And it doesn’t hurt that just about every vendor gives away yummy free nectarine slices, strawberries, and grapes. They don’t quite understand the idea of protecting the Earth, but they know there’s something good in it for them.

Frequent contributor Marianne McGinnis writes from her home in San Diego.