Reasons...

DAY 176

Hello! Happy Tuesday...

I used some Thieves Spray to clean porch chairs today - it was a great! I love that my day can be made by a sparkly seating fixture! Is that bad?

The most challenging thing about this month of "Natural Cleaning Products" is that, except for dish soap at the sinks, there is not an intense every-day-all-day feeling of habits like I had with the "Local Food" month. Therefore, it seems harder to remember to NOT use the "other" products like Goo Gone for removing label goo and the ever-so-handy bleach stick in the plastic, non-recyclable container for stains - argh. They are so quick, easy and effective that it is hard to let them go...I need to find some good substitutes.

I did get some liquid laundry soap to complement the Borax which did not seem to really clean my clothes. Thanks to a great cheat sheet from Amy Jane Stewart (http://www.organicajane.com/), I settled on Seventh Generation - $8,49 for 50oz (33 loads, pricey, I know) but concentrated so hopefully it will be economical. You know, once you make the initial transition in buying the new products it does seem to get easier...I am still using up some old products which you can do too, so as not to waste what you already have. You could do it gradually - replacing old with new as you run out instead of getting everything at once like I did.

Although my learning curve is still on the rise, I am convinced that what I am doing is better for everyone, everything, everywhere. As for me and my house, I am doing the best I can which is all I really can do - if I can influence a few others with what I am doing and learning... well, then good!

If you are looking for some reasons to convert to natural cleaning products, or trying convince that special roommate, partner or spouse - read below:

This is from the Environmental Protection Agency
(you can copy and paste this site address for more info)

http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/d0cf6618525a9efb85257359003fb69d/c4a5f4098d1a719485257793005b4554!OpenDocument

9/3/2010 WASHINGTON--A report issued today by key environmental and scientific federal agencies assesses the increasing prevalence of low-oxygen “dead zones” in U.S. coastal waters and outlines a series of research and policy steps that could help reverse the decades-long trend.

The inter-agency report notes that incidents of hypoxia—a condition in which oxygen levels drop so low that fish and other animals are stressed or killed--–have increased nearly 30-fold since 1960. Incidents of hypoxia were documented in nearly 50 percent of the 647 waterways assessed for the new report, including the Gulf of Mexico, home to one of the largest such zones in the world. [this research was done before the BP incident]

Unnatural levels of hypoxia, which occur mostly in the summer, are primarily the result of human activities that deliver nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous into waterways. Fertilizer runoff from agricultural, urban and suburban landscapes, sewage discharges, and air pollution are major contributors. The supply of added nutrients entering bodies of water supports blooms of algae, which in turn are decomposed by oxygen-depleting bacteria. The resulting hypoxia can suffocate animals that cannot move away, such as shellfish, and—depending on how quickly the hypoxia develops—either kill or force into less suitable habitat free-swimming animals such as fish, shrimp, and crabs.

Those are enough reasons for me - I like to swim in oceans, sail on lakes, and eat fish...I want my nephews to inherit the clean, happy version of these! I can decide to contribute to the problem or the solution...I choose solution...I am in, sign me up!

Have a Nothing New Day! Kristin