Earth Friendly Products That Squash Their Generic Counterparts
Today, more than ever, we need to practice conscious consumerism. If you think your choices don't make a difference ... you're dead wrong. Many items we purchase today are destroying our planet and ending up in our landfills.
We have been given such a magical, mystical place to call home, yet as humans we often make unconscious choices and follow along with the latest trends or what we are programmed to buy through advertisements and commercials. And it's not only material products, but foods and medicines we choose to put into our bodies that also hurt us and the planet.
When we get sick we instantly run to the store to buy over the counter pharmaceuticals. It's been proven that these toxic chemicals are leaching into our water supply, which in turn goes into our crops – our very sustenance! Many of us are, on some level, "drugged up" and don't even know it!
However, if we used preventative medicine every day through exercise, eating organic and non-gmo foods, using natural remedies and alternative medicine like Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture, we would be healthier and become more in tune with nature (the key to wellness).
When is it time to learn from our ancestors? And at the very least, why not buy natural products that are eco-friendly, support local businesses to help the economy and buy from local organic farms to promote sustainability and reduce carbon emissions? Learning to move away from cheap Dollar Store products made over seas, plastics and any other items that hurt our planet, our Gaia, our Mama Earth, helps ... a lot.
Each one teach one.
I know I was incredibly inspired by Lauren Singer a.k.a the "zero waste goddess" and her enlightening blog Trash is for Tossers:
It makes a difference. Every. Single. Purchase.
To get started, these are some eco-friendly items that I use everyday and highly recommend:
Toothbrushes.
A few years ago I gave up brushing my teeth with plastic toothbrushes. There are so many to choose from and they destroy the planet. A wonderful company I get my toothbrushes from Brush with Bamboo. It is the most eco-friendly toothbrush I know of. I usually buy the family pack of 4 and sometimes gift one to a friend to try. They also offer child size bamboo toothbrushes! Added bonus – if you are in the United States they offer free shipping.
“Plastic never biodegrades because it is not part of nature’s food chain. To use and dispose of plastic toothbrushes is a habit that cannot sustainably continue. Over 4.7 Billion plastic toothbrushes are produced every year worldwide”
Toothpaste.
Now if I use special earth toothbrushes you know I choose wisely what goes onto the toothbrush. I was in Natural Grocers browsing health and beauty products and ran across something called earthpaste that is made out of ... wait for it ... mud! After reading these things on the box, I could not resist:
- No Glycerin
- No Flouride
- From The Earth
- No Artificial Coloring
- No Foaming Agents
Earthpaste states that, “All the ingredients are from the earth. Earthpaste won’t be what you are used to because it is completely natural with very few ingredients. We don’t add titanium dioxide to make it white, nor do we add foaming agents. Earthpaste is natural in color – it’s how toothpaste should be.”
It is truly an amazing natural toothpaste that I love to use daily. It has 5 simple ingredients in it: water, Redmond Clay, Real Salt, xylitol, and essential oils.
Redmond is the company that makes earthpaste. They have other amazing products like organic garlic salt, real salt, organic onion salt. They also make Redmond Clay that supports digestive health and ancient mineral bath salts, which I hope to review in a future article.
Eco – Friendly Kitchen Items.
When you think of your kitchen, you may think of eco–friendly products like dishwasher detergent and dish soap. However, there are also other eco-friendly products I like to use in my kitchen. The shop called “The Lotus Shop” found on Etsy offers a variety of organic dishcloths that are eco-friendly and handmade into crocheted dishcloths with organically grown cotton.
These are made very solid and the size is just perfect. The other product (my favorite) they offer are handmade scrubbies. Instead of using brillo pads, The Lotus Shop’s scrubbies get the job done and when they get dirty you can put them in the dishwasher with your dishes to clean them.
Tinctures & Elixirs.
I have a morning routine that involves meditation, setting my intention and taking tinctures and elixirs. One of my absolute favorites is called “Joy” and I feel it gives me a little boost to start my day.
The list of ingredients for this tincture is: Borage flowers, St. John’s Wort, Infused Honey, Mimosa Albizua, Mimosa bloom, Lavender honey, and Organic wildcrafted herbs. I purchase some of my favorite tinctures and other natural products from Buck Naked Plant Medicine.
The store offers so many amazing products like hand sanitizers, inflammatory elixirs, teething elixirs for babies, sore muscle rubs, cold and flu elixirs, and more. I always reach for these items instead of products you can buy in the mainstream chain stores.
Menstrual Pads.
Lately there has been a lot of talk about the pads we use for our periods or “moon cycle." Aside from the products going into landfills, the chemicals used in making these feminine products are shown to do terrible things to our health. This immediately had me researching other ways I could get out of wearing an uncomfortable product between my legs.
There are a few different alternatives, but ones I fell in love with are handmade cotton pads by Hippie Adventure. They come in sets of 3. Yes you have to wash out the pad after use, but it beats hurting our planet and using something that may be filled with chemicals.
Patti (shop owner) hand crafts these amazing items with love. They fold up nicely and even have a button to close them up to fit in your bag/or purse. The button also serves to button around your underwear and form wings to keep things tidy. I enjoy using the longer pads so I asked Patti if she could custom make an order for me and she had my order to me surprisingly fast.
Do you know of any innovative new eco-friendly products? Tag us on Twitter, Facebook or Insta.
Leigh Hurst holds an Associate’s Degree in Psychology and a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work with a minor in Gerontology. She is a Thought Leader, Transformational & Intuitive Life Coach. She is a natural healer (with a certification in Reiki and other modalities) and loves working with holistic healing and energy.
Her coaching sessions help guide people on a new path. Leigh’s company Awake & Aging was created to share a new paradigm for humans to live in a world that is guided by the Divine with peace, love and light. You can connect with Leigh here on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest & Instagram.