Hi folks,
Since the inception of this blog, I have been trying to convince friends and family members to stop buying commercial cleaning products. Instead, I would like for everyone buy a gallon or two of white vinegar, a 13.5 lb bag of baking soda and all of your cleaning problems will be solved without harming good ole’ Mother Earth.
Recently, I blogged about the multitude of uses White Vinegar has in this post. I also blogged about an earth-friendly laundry detergent called: Charlie’s Soap. And yet…[sigh]… no matter how much I preach (and at times I do feel a bit, well, preachy) my friends insist on buying fancy so-called eco-friendly cleaning products such as Method and Mrs. Meyers believing these products are equal to, if not greater than, vinegar and baking soda.
This morning, via Word Press Freshly Pressed page , I read the following Freshly Pressed Post about how plastic is harming the albatross (among other animals). This isn’t the first time I have read about the dangers of plastic to our wildlife. It also isn’t the first time I have read about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch If you read through the comments to the post, you will see the writer links you to the following site: http://www.plasticalbatross.org/ Well what do you know! Right there on the front page (so-to-speak) is an article about how Mrs. Meyer’s so-called “eco-friendly” cleaning products are in fact, not so “eco-friendly” after all. Hmmmmmmmmm. Why am I not surprised. Slap on a few fancy labels and marketers ease the guilt of consumers. I liken this to our food labeling: Grass-Fed Beef; Organic Milk with pictures of Happy Cows on the container, or “free-range chickens”. It’s all just labeling — just because something says it’s eco-friendly doesn’t necessarily mean that it is. Have you noticed bottles of vinegar do not say, “Eco-friendly”? That’s because they don’t have to! Duh! If you have to tell someone what it is, chances are it is not. Muhammad Ali used to say, “I’m the greatest!” Well, actually sweetie, not if you have to say it. Sorry.
Folks, don’t be fooled by labels. Stop trying to find the most convenient. Do me a favor. Take a drive to Costco and fill up your cart with a couple of gallons of white vinegar and 13.5 lb bag of baking soda. I guarantee, you will only need make this trip once maybe two times a year. Use up your so-called eco-products. Rinse out the bottle, and fill them with 2 parts vinegar, 1 part water. Keep the bottles along with your bag of baking soda under the sink in your kitchen, so as to have them handy for when you’re ready to clean the house.
In closing, I believe climate change exists. I believe man and the factory animal farming industry are having an adverse affect on our planet. I believe every time we turn our backs on reducing our carbon footprint, we are spitting in the eye of Mother Nature. As the late great Kurt Vonnegut said in 2005 on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, “I think we are terrible animals. And I think our planet’s immune system is trying to get rid of us and it should.”
I do not want to see what has happened to the good people of NYC/NJ happen again or happen to anyone else. Just like I had hoped what happened to the good people of Louisiana would never happen again. And yet horrible things keep happening. Why? I was pondering this very question on my train ride into work this morning when I decided to check my company Blackberry and there, waiting in my work email was a post from No Impact Man. If you have never heard of No Impact Man, then I encourage you to check out his site. But more importantly, I encourage you, at the very least, to read yesterday’s post.
I agree with No Impact Man, we need to band together and reduce our impact our planet, we need to act now, before it is too late.
I hope you will at the very least consider it. Thanks.
-GE
Girl for Animal Liberation 