Eco-Chick · The modern girl's guide to living green & fabulous.

…next to goddessness

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by Starre Vartan · 05/15/06

I’m not going to go into why using chemical- and toxin-laden products to clean your home is an oxymoron, but if you need some background you can find it here. These days even the EPA is pushing alternatives to conventional cleaning products.

Anything that has the number of poison control on the back doesn’t belong in my house. If it kills you in large doses, it’ll kill you slowly is smaller ones. Not to mention the damage it does to the environment after you’ve washed it down the drain.

Even among Eco Chicks, one of the biggest complaints about ecofriendly products is that they don’t work as well as conventional ones. Clean freaks have become addicted to all the goops, unguents, degreasers, sprays and other heavily advertised products and have grown up with them. For some of us, the smell of clean IS the smell of bleach. 

It’s time for a new smell. Here are a few that I’ve found work as well– or better than– conventional products. Your body, which has to clean out all the toxins you throw at it, and the ducks in the pond will thank you for making the change.

Nothing beats baking soda for scrubbing kitchen and bathroom sinks (in fact nothing gets my kitchen sink as shiny). It’s also good for enhancing laundry soap’s cleaning power, deodorizing cat litter boxes and fridges, and for throwing in the trash can when you don’t feel like cleaning the questionable stuff collecting in the bottom.

I use Seventh Generation’s automatic dishwasher liquid because I’ve tried a bunch of them and it works the best. It’s a little more expensive, but it’s worth it to me not to have to pre-rinse. With this detergent, I just throw the dirty dishes in and fire up the dishwasher.

I use Citra-Solv (I buy it super-concentrated) diluted with a bunch of water to clean my floors and cabinets, and throw a bunch in a spray bottle (also very diluted) to use for general cleaning of the stovetop, countertops, etc. It smells citrusy and clean.

ABC Carpet and Home’s spray cleaner smells like fresh grapefruit, and is a splurge at $12 for one bottle, but it’s like aromatherapy, and I will reuse the bottle (it has a very nifty spray device), so I bought it and use it sparingly.

I love Heather’s products, because they really, really work. And their packaging is ridiculously cute. Not pictured here (because I used it all) is a scrubbing powder that works BETTER than Comet– I use it in my bathroom tub. Their window cleaner is as good as (but smells better than) Windex.

Ecover makes the strongest dishwashing soap (not for dishwashers). It cuts grease, and works just like Palmolive does on pots and pans.

Happy (and healthy!) Spring Cleaning!

baking, bath, car, cleaning, cleaning products, ducks, ecofriendly, epa, fruit, health, Home, rape, reuse, soap, soda, spa, spring, Toxins, trash, water

Move Over McMansion

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by Jennifer Cross · 04/13/06

Here’s a home that is built with no non-recyclable residue or plastics, utilizes solar energy (not only to heat the water but to produce energy as well) and looks incredibly fabulous. Sound like a fantasy of the eco-chick’s distant future? Not so – it exists today thanks to Germany’s WeberHaus.

According to Ann M. Requa, the WeberHaus Representative of Catalonia, Spain, “Germans demand good wood” and good wood they got. All the wood used in the WeberHaus construction comes from the Black Forest, which is replanted and within 100 years will grow 2-3 times its original amount. The wood is then fabricated to include insulation of mineral wool, recycled glass, soda and sand. This creates a wall so strong a VW Beetle was hung from one of their showroom walls for months.They are even fire-resistant. More »

Eco-Chick, Energy, fabric, garden, Germany, Home, model, models, Nau, plastic, plastics, produce, recycle, recycled, reuse, soda, solutions, spa, style, water, wood

To Buy or Not to Buy?

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by Ann Benoit · 03/21/06

Two years ago I had the pleasure of attending the American Institute of Graphic Artists’ (AIGA) 2004 Gain Conference in New York. Although the bulk of the conference included motivational speech about a designer’s social and environmental responsiblity, one speaker—Christopher Hacker, the then creative & marketing director of Aveda jumped in and spoke about (among other things) how to make environmentally conscious decisions as a consumer (and as a designer).

In addition to his well delivered talk, Hacker gave everyone in the audience a small, well designed pop-up desk piece (printed on recycled paper) entitled, “The Thirteen Key Questions to Ask Before We Design Specify or Buy ANYTHING.” Although a self proclaimed minimalist, (and keeping in mind this conference was over 2 years ago) I kept that piece and still use it today when I am faced with the question, “Should I buy this”?

The Thirteen Key Questions to Ask Before We Design, Specify, or Buy Anything

01 Do we need it?

02 Can we do without it?

03 Can we borrow, rent or get it used?

04 Is the project/product designed to minimize waste?

05 Can it be smaller, lighter or made from fewer materials?

06 Is it designated to be durable or multi-functional?

07 Does it use renewable resources?

08 Is reuse practical and encouraged?

09 Are the product and/or packaging refillable, recyclable or repairable?

10 Is it made with post-consumer recycled (PCR) or reclaimed materials and how much?

11 Is it available in a less toxic form? Can it be made with less toxic materials?

12 Is it available from a socially and environmentally responsible company?

13 Is it made locally?

AIGA, design, designer, Eco-Chick, epa, liver, local, paper, recycle, recycled, resources, reuse, waste

As Green As Green Can Be?

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by Starre Vartan · 03/18/06

There has been debate here lately about whether we, as “Greenies” should buy anything at all. This is a long-standing issue in the environmental community: Should we shun all consumer products and grow our own food, make our own clothes and educate our own kids (the time that takes tends to limit your ability to do much else, I’ve found)?

Or should we engage in society as “regular” folks and try to change the system by supporting environmentally-friendly companies, products and services? I would guess that most Greenies do both, to varying degrees (since I live in the Northeast, I can only garden for part of the year anyway, for example). 

I’ve always had trouble with the ‘back to the land’ approach as I see many (certainly not all!) communities that are set up that way as having traditional gender roles. I have little interest in cooking and even less in having babies, sewing my own clothes or spending all day canning food.  I love the fact that I get paid for using my brain all day, writing, thinking, researching, asking questions, and interacting with all the other nerds that like that kind of work. At the same time, I realize my existence is predicated on people much poorer than myself doing all that hard (boring!) labor I don’t want to do. OR that some fossil-fueled machine has to do the work. So I try to buy Fair Trade and organic, and I clean my house myself, and I go to farmer’s markets and I grow my own summer veggies and I compost and I adopt rescued animals, and I try not to drive too much, and I recycle and reuse like crazy.  How are we supposed to come up with solutions if we are laboring all day? I need time to think, dammit! 

What about you? What do you do? What tradeoffs do you make, and why?

Animals, babies, clothes, community, Eco-Chick, Fair Trade, farm, Food, garden, kids, labor, Organic, recycle, reuse, skin, solutions, spa, style, summer