How Enviromentally Friendly Are You

When you clean do you use all the latest products on the market or are you environmentally conscientious? For instance, Swifer just announced a new product for dusting - a disposable duster! I looked at it the other night and decided not to buy it - just another item for the land fill. Wha't wrong with a good old fashioned cloth? It can be washed and reused over and over. It's just another gimmick. I also try to use non-chemical (natural) products for cleaning. After all, our mothers did not have half of the products available on the market today and they managed!

Lad, ITA. It drives me crazy when I see all the disposible products on the market. 'Convenience' products that make our lives easier, but create waste when they are produced and end up in a landfill after one use. Also, a little elbow grease burns calories. We really do have it easy these days.

Well, most of our mothers did not have to work such long hours. OK, my mother did, but then again I do remember her spending most of her off-work time cooking and cleaning.

Anyway, I am terrible with my habits. I love the convenience. My only environmentally friendly gesture is having a fuel efficient car.

Having said that, I would CERTAINLY support legislature to put a higher tax on products that contain chemicals harmful to the environment; same applies with items that have too many disposable parts. This would be passed down to the consumer, giving us an economic insentive to buy cleaner products.

I also support higher taxes on fuel. In out society today, economical choices are not those that are best for the environment. Example: I go down to NY every few weeks. I LOVE taking the train, but it is so much more expensive then driving! So, much as I hate it, I usually drive down there. OTOH, when I was in Italy, I was once driving from Venice to Milan just as my friend was taking the same route by train (long story). I payed the same amount in road tolls as she did for her ticket! Plus, I had to pay for the gas. If those were the economics for travel here, I would be MUCH more likely to take a train or a bus.

What? Clean house? If I could just build a rink at home, I would probably get more cleaning done..

Seriously though...you have given me something to think about. I have been painting the last couple of days, and I am messy. I have been using warm water to clean as I go when I spill. It beats chemically removing paint later on. I will keep my eyes open for more natural items. Thanks for the reminder

How Enviromentally Friendly Are You:

Thanks for the comments.

Ptichka:

My mother worked very long hours. In fact, I did most of the cleaning for her and made dinner after my dad passed away. My mom was too tired and "had enough on her plate." Still she did maintain the home and did not have all the conveniences we have today. In fact, today my mom gives me tips on how she did and still does things! It's amazing what we can do without and still get the same results!

I appreciate your comments. I agree about the commuting. I would love to get rid of my car and just use public transit or better still walk. However, around here it is just too darn impossible. Still I take the transit when I can and try to leave my car at home. People at work think I am nuts when I take the bus to work.

Here's to keeping the environment clean!

Environment..............

Two words......disposable diapers!

If you are currently using or have used disposable diapers, then you need to forget about all other handy disposable products as culprits to damaging the environment. You are the biggest threat to the landfill. Just think of the billions of plastic, crappy diapers buried in the ground.

Use cloth diapers and utilize your washing machine. It's no big deal. It's not like you are beating dirty diapers on a boulder in the nearest stream or river.

Dizzy

I'll admit to using disposable dusters. They just seem to hold dust better - especially when there's a lot of it.

I do attempt to recycle or re-use items. I generally don't even have a tall kitchen garbage bag to put out every week. My township recycles all paper, glass, most plastics and cardboard and I dutifully accumulate and separate.

Another area of conscientiousness is Packaging. The roll of certs in paper is much more enviromentally friendly than the plastic dispenser. I try to look for items with reduced packaging.

I also avoid 'bagging' whenever possible. If I'm buying a single item, I ask that they not put it in a bag if I'm going to my car. Or I'll put the item in one of my other shopping bags or purse if it'll fit. I really hate when they insist on putting my candy bar in a plastic bag when it's the only item I'm buying.

I guess I'm good and bad. I save my newspapers and take them to the recycling bin. It's more trouble with jugs. Sometimes I do but not often. If they didn't charge so much I would have the trash people take care of it.
I do remember when we were small and window cleaning day. We made a paste of bon ami and water and rubbed it on the windows and then rubbed it down after it dried. Worked well too. We never had liquid detergents either. Had to cut up Fels Naptha or other bars. Had to heat water on the cook stove even for laundry. We really did use those big copper boilers. Started out with a washing machine that cranked and then mother got one with a gas engine that was hard to start. When I was 16 we even got a gas refrigerator to replace the ice box. My grand-
father was the ice man. Had big equipment down on the river and kept the ice in a cave on the side of a hill in his yard. Guess that's probably more than you wanted to know.