Cotton sucks (water, that is)! It takes almost 1,000 gallons of water to create one cotton T-shirt, not to mention a heaping helping of pesticides, herbicides and other not-s0-cool stuff, so be kind to the tees you already own with a few simple tips:  

• Wash your clothes with non-toxic detergents and use the correct amount.  When too much detergent is used, the excess gets trapped in between fibers, making clothes look dull and dingy.
• Using cold water will help preserve the color in your garments and saves the energy that would otherwise be spent heating up the water. 
• Air drying  cotton  helps protect it from shrinkage and saves energy, but if you must use the machine, run the dryer on a low heat setting. 

Reduce is the most important of the three R’s, so reduce the amount of cotton you buy by taking good care of the cotton you own, yo.  Tees, jeans and chonies can all benefit from fewer washes and cooler temps, so do what you can to keep your stash in great shape.

Photograph by David Levine.
Thanks to Aliza Rothman for suggesting this tip!

Were you kind to your skin this summer?  The hot months are often brutal for the body’s biggest organ with sun, wind, sweat and sunscreen wreaking havoc on your epidermis.  Before you stock up on a shopping cart full of cleansers, scrubs, creams and serums, consider a chemical-free alternative by beautifying skin from the inside out.  According to Dr. David Bank, President of the New York State Society for Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery, there are certain foods that will help keep your skin looking healthy and radiant without touching a single chemical, which is good for you and the planet.  You probably need to eat more fruits and vegetables anyway, so why not choose a few that will help your skin too? 

Dr. Bank’s Top 10 Best Foods For Your Skin:

Avocados: The creamy and delicious fruit is abundant in essential oils and B-complex vitamins that nourish your skin. Avocados also contain a lot of Niacin (vitamin B3), which is important for healthy skin since it acts as an anti-inflammatory and soothes irritated or red/blotchy skin.

Cantaloupe: Super healthy for skin by increasing the antioxidants in your body, which results in the ability to absorb free radicals.

Almonds/Walnuts: Almonds contain 150% of daily vitamin E needs and is rich in oils that moisturize your skin while its antioxidants protect against skin damage and premature aging. In addition, walnuts contain the essential fatty acids that help improve skin.

Cottage Cheese: When selemium in cottage cheese meets vitamin E, the result is a powerful free radical-fighting antioxidant team. It also protects against skin cancer and dandruff.

Grapefruit: Grapefruit is a great source of daily vitamin C intake. As an antioxidant, vitamin C fights skin damage and wrinkles. Vitamin C also acts as a central role in production of collagen, which is structural protein in your skin.

Mangoes: Mangoes contain more than 80% of daily vitamin A requirements, which is essential for maintaining and repairing skin cells. A deficiency in vitamin A will result in dry, flaky complexion. Mangoes also work as an antioxidant fighting free-radical damage that can prematurely age the skin.

Baked Potatoes: Trade French Fries for a steaming baked potato. One baked potato (with the skin) provides 75% of daily copper need. Copper when combined with vitamin c and zinc produce elastin fibers that support skin structure. Copper deficiency in your diet can reduce skin’s ability to heal and cause it to become rigid and lifeless.

Mushrooms: Essential to your skin, riboflavin is found in mushrooms and is involved in tissue maintenance and repair. It also improves skin blemishes caused by rosacea.

Flaxseed Oil: Flaxseed oil is one of the best sources of essential fatty acid. One teaspoon of flaxseed oil provides 2.5 grams of omega 3s, which hydrates the skin. Essential fatty acids also dilute sebum and unclog pores that lead to acne.

Wheat Germ: Super nutritious, wheat germ is just the embryo within a grain of wheat. It is a good source of biotin, a vitamin C that’s crucial to skin health. A mild biotin deficiency can cause dermatitis, a condition characterized by itchy, scaly skin.

 
Photograph by Cyclone Bill.
Thanks to Tiffany Chong for suggesting this tip!

As Summer melts into Fall, you might be savoring some last-minute camp fires, or getting ready to warm up your home with the fireplace. Whether your hearth is at home or outside, be mindful of what you burn. Just because something can burn doesn’t mean it should burn. Stained, painted or treated wood, chipboard, plastic, styrofoam and magazines all release toxins into the air when burned. Limit your fires to clean, dry wood for the most eco-friendly fire, but be mindful of how often you light up. Regardless of how organic your burn matter may be, fires still release a lot of particulate matter into the air, which is not exactly sexy. Enjoy the greenest burn possible, but enjoy it (and the marshmallows) in moderation.

If being green was a class in school, the first lesson would probably be, “don’t litter”, right? We all know that it’s not good to litter, but have you ever thought about why? Trash improperly disposed of can hurt people and animals. Litter can be very dirty. Not only does it not look nice but, it may carry germs. There are some animals that are scavengers who are attracted to areas with lots of litter. They find their food among the trash and can pick up the germs and become carriers for diseases that may make people sick. When litter is on sidewalks or along curbs, it may get washed down in to storm drains during a heavy rain. Eventually this water leads to the nearest river or ocean. Animals may mistake the items of litter floating in the water as food and could choke on them. Even if the animals don’t try to eat the litter, they may get entangled in it. It is estimated that every year over 1 million seabirds and 100,000 turtles and sea mammals die as a result of eating litter or by getting tangled up in plastic fishing nets and lines. In addition to the harmful effects on people and animals, litter is gross! Trash looks ugly and when it decomposes in the elements it smells bad. While most places have laws against littering, busts are few and far between. Do your part by keeping garbage where it belongs: in the trash.

Flushing itty bitty pieces of dental floss down the toilet seems like no big deal but it can actually wreak havoc on city wastewater pumping stations and treatment plants. Many newer flosses are made with Teflon and Gortex (which is pretty wild too when you stop to think about it) and are shred-resistant which may work wonders on your molars but quickly destroy sewage pump parts. When the floss builds up it can form a very strong rope that will wrap itself around equipment that moves the waste in the water. The only way to move the super wonder rope of floss is to cut it down and pull it off by hand. But the buck doesn’t stop at floss. Tampon holders and sanitary napkins, diapers, condoms, cigarette butts and food share a lot of responsibility too. Bottom line, there’s a limited number of things that should be flushed and I think we all have a good idea as to what those things are. Mr. Goldfish might have to have his funeral in the backyard from now on.

By now you know that reduce is the sexiest of the 3 R’s, so flex your sexy muscle by reducing your impact in the shower. You’ve probably not read the directions on the back of your shampoo or bodywash lately (cause why would you?), but if you have, you’ll know that the recommended amount to use is typically a “pea sized” portion. Take a look in your palm during your next shower and you’re probably using double or triple that, right? Reduce your use! Shampoo and body wash (as well as dishwashing soap and other bubbly products) will get extra lethery when you add water, so it’s unnecessary to use so much. By reducing the amount of product you rinse down the drain, you’ll be reducing the amount of chemicals going into the system. If you’re using non-tox cleansers — good for you, but keeping your usage to a minimum will help you reduce the amount of product you buy, which means fewer bottles produced, shipped and discarded by you. Stay clean and green by doing more with less.

It’s car wash season! While you might think a carwash outside in your driveway can be a fun activity (especially since you can pretend you’re in a music video), we’re here to tell you (sadly enough) that washing your car in your driveway is actually one of the most environmentally unfriendly chores you can do. You will use 80 – 140 gallons of water and after it hits your grease-oil-infused driveway, it will probably run straight into the storm drains without being treated in a sewage center. Where does it go then? To rivers, creeks, wetlands, and other natural habitats where it will kick nature to the curb. The alternative? Go to a commercial car wash. Not only do most commercial car washes use less than 45 gallons per car, but many also recycle and reuse the rinse water. The water will be sewage treated, not dumped.

The active ingredient in most drain-cleaners is sodium hydroxide, otherwise known as caustic soda or lye. It is a man-made chemical used for its corrosive properties, and corrosive it is! Not only is drain-cleaner deadly to ingest and irritating to your nose, throat and lungs if inhaled, it can also corrode your pipes! While non-toxic alternatives are available, try avoiding clogs in the first place. Pour a kettle full of boiling water down your shower drain once a week. The boiling water breaks down any soap or hair conditioner coating the pipes, helping everything flow a lot easier. If a clog should occur, despite your best attempts at prevention, try a non-toxic solution before turning to products made with sodium hydroxide.

Hose responsibly.

1. In the summer, lawn watering and other outdoor uses can account for up to 50 percent of home water use. Studies show that as much as half of this outdoor use is wasteful. As a general rule, 2 to 3 cm of water per week is adequate.

2. Don’t overwater your landscape. It can cause yellowing leaves or poor plant health. Give plants only the amount of water that they need.

3. Use low-angle or pulsating sprinklers that produce large fat droplets of water. Sprinklers that spray the water high into the air or produce a mist or fine spray lose much of the water through evaporation.

4. Set sprinklers to water the lawn, not sidewalks and driveways.

5. Check your sprinkler or irrigation systems regularly for any leaks, and fix them.

6. Be sure your hose has an automatic shutoff nozzle to ensure water is not wasted when the hose is left unattended.

Detergents are soaps made from synthetic materials, and have a long history of being loaded with Phosphates. Phosphates help boost the cleaning efficiency of detergent, but have harmful effects on rivers, lakes, streams, and other fresh waters. Phosphorous is an important plant nutrient, but when so much of it pours into natural bodies of water (ultimately from our dishwashers and washing machines) levels of phosphates in these fresh water bodies can be much higher than usual. The result? Algae in the water grow faster than they should, turning clear lakes and rivers green and cloudy. This extra algal growth is not only unappealing to look at, but can also make the water smell bad and make it unsuitable for swimming. In the long run, the excess algal growth can have devastating impacts on the health and age of a fresh water lake or river, causing eutrophication to speed up, where lakes and other water bodies fill in with dead algae and other organic matter and eventually turn into dry land. Reduce your impact by purchasing only detergents made without phosphates. Seventh Generation, Ecover Natural and Trader Joe’s brand are all good to try.