Sustainability - February

Another month and the second step on my sustainability journey.

With February comes Valentine’s Day. Since my focus of the year is, quite obviously, sustainability, I decided to start by looking more into the environmental impact of this man-made holiday of love. I learned that the majority of roses sold on Valentine’s are grown in South America. Transporting them to the US results in over 360,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide ending up in the atmosphere.

The flowers are grown in countries like Colombia and Ecuador, rather than the US, because the weather is warmer and labor costs are lower. This helps to keep the flowers relatively cheap. The harm to the atmosphere and the potential to take advantage of the cheap labor gives me pause. However, the trade agreement that exists between these countries and the US, provides a viable opportunity for the people there to grow something other than coca, the plant used to make cocaine. So the industry created by Valentine’s flowers helps end up helping these countries in a positive way. With this, as with many things related to sustainability, there is no easy answer or clear choice.

So in all the ups and downs, I decided to steer away from Valentine’s flowers this year. This article by Vox shares the complex reality as well as offering some more sustainable options.

Another change that I made in February was the decision to stop getting eyelash extensions. I’ve had them for 9 months and really enjoyed them. They were something from my 19 for 2019 list that ended up sticking around.

However, I always hated the thought that I was kind of killing my own eyelashes and I had to ignore the chemicals and glue that were part of the process. I knew though that they weren’t good for my body in the long run - and probably not good for the environment either. But it wasn’t until I was listening to an episode of the Perfectionism Project podcast by Sam Laura Brown that I made the decision to stop getting them filled in.

In the podcast episode, she talked about how having to do certain things every month (or several times a month) can add a certain kind of low-level stress to your life. I noticed that with my eyelashes. It wasn’t constant or even conscious most of the time, but between being worried about brushing them, when I needed to get them redone, having them look natural, or fall out in a natural way, it was taking a low-level toll on my brain - when it was something I could simply remove from my life.

I may return to eyelash extensions at some point in the future, and I probably will, but right now, I’m just going to stress out instead about getting my real eyelashes to grow back in and find a good sustainable mascara.

In January I decided to have a different focus for my sustainability goals each month in order to direct my thoughts and research. The overall theme I decided to tackle this month was cleaning. And so, I read a correlated book and allowed some sustainable, non-toxic cleaning products to enter my life.

The book I read related to the topic of cleaning was Make Your Place: Affordable & Sustainable Nesting Skills. It not only discusses gardening and how to make some natural health remedies, but also how to make your own cleaning products - ensuring that only solely natural things enter your home. However, It’s not my priority at this point in my life to make my own toilet cleaner and countertop spray. I don’t want to have to buy and store big bottles of ingredients in my home and grow or forage for the rest.

Since I’m not ready to get up to my elbows in Castille soap, I found the book interesting, but not super actionable. And since I have yet to find someone local to purchase some of these products from, I turned to the best cleaning products that I could find online!

There aren’t a ton of options for cleaning products that are non-toxic, sustainable, and not merely greenwashing in an attempt to appear eco-friendly. But there are a few good options out there. The ones I decided to go with are from a company that was founded by a woman - which is an additional plus.

I ordered and got the basic cleaning set from Blueland. The set includes multi-surface, bathroom, and glass & mirror cleaner. The bottles are glass and meant to last a lifetime! Refills don’t come in boxes or bags, and I don’t have to send the bottles back to be filled. Instead, I simply order refill tablets, fill the bottles with water, put the tablets in, and voila - non-toxic, sustainable soap refills. Plus it is really fun to put the tablets in and watch them dissolve - like bath bombs for your home.

I knew that when I embarked on this journey that often choosing the better option for my body and the planet would not be cheap. However, the refills for this product are only $2 each. Which is a win, win. And it means that I can focus my money on other items that will be more pricey down the road.

I wasn’t totally sure at first that I loved the look of these products, especially knowing that they will (probably) be the bottles I use for the rest of my life. But over time, they grew on me and I decided that I do like the look of them after all. And I especially like the lessened impact they will have on the environment and my home over my lifetime.

I have been impressed with the performance of the products as well. Although I haven’t done a whole-home clean with them yet, they have done a good job when I have used them.

And of course, this is all #notanad. I bought these products with my own money, and will for years to come.

February was a bit more intense month on the sustainability front. Some big changes, from returning to natural eyelashes, to rejecting roses for Valentine’s, to some new non-toxic supplies underneath my sink. Here’s to a cleaner, sustainable 2020.

Until next time,

Carly

Photos by Mason Joel Photography