How is your Green Your Routine Challenge coming along?
We have had the goal of Litterless lunches up until now and I hope that you have found fun and creative ways to achieve your goals. I also hope that creating a litterless lunch has now become a good habit that you can carry forward into the next step of the Green Your Routine Challenge.
We are now carrying Step #1, Litterless Lunches forward with us as we being Step #2, Watch How You Wash. What do you use to wash your windows, dishes, laundry, house? Do you already use green options or are there green options you were hoping to start trying out?
While you are making an investment in a healthy and more sustainable lunch, it’s also important to inves0gate what you are using to wash and keep your lunch containers clean. Many dish and laundry soaps contain petrochemicals (derived directly from oil). So wherever possible look to wash your lunch bags and containers with plant‐derived, non‐toxic dish soap. Luckily there are several companies like that have created plant‐based, family‐safe alterna0ves to ensure we avoid hazardous toxins in our home products.
Free and Clear Natural Dish Liquid: This plant‐derived dish soap is the best defense against stubborn grease, grime, and dirt left in your child’s stainless steel and glass containers and thermoses. It’s also hypoallergenic so it’s son on kids skin when they’re pitching‐in with the dishes.
Free and Clear All Purpose Cleaner: When trying to rid countertops of sticky fingerprints, this non‐toxic, VOC‐free formula works great on all surfaces of the home from marble to granite to stainless steel!
4X Laundry Detergent: At the end of the week, when it comes time to wash lunch containers, cloth napkins and kids clothes, use Seventh Generation’s 4X formula. Its plant‐based, multiple‐enzyme formula fights the toughest stains and is sensitive on kids’ skin, and contains 66 loads per bottle.
The Scary Truth
We are actually using a lot of dirty chemicals to get our containers, homes, and clothing bright and clean. After the Second World War, as a result of enormous government subsidies for the petroleum and chemical industries, petrochemicals and plastics (which are both petroleum‐derived) became the building blocks of our economy.Unfortunately, since we figured out how to use chemistry to remove dirt, grease and odors, and to boost shine, they have wound up in many conven0onal cleaning products. As a result, we have been on the receiving end of some alarming health problems. If you track the increase in the use of petrochemicals with the rise in cancer rates, allergies, asthma, and birth defects since the end of the war, you will notice a chilling parallel. So why spend money on new health‐conscious stainless steel and glass containers when our food and bodies are coming into direct contact with whatever chemical ingredients were used to clean them?