According to the New York Times, big American chains are dumping their unsold garments in the trash, cut up to a point where they are beyond use and adding to the amount of unnecessary waste going to landfills.

This is what we are sending to our landfills, when we could be helping people!

You can read the full New York Times article here. If you do you will read about the absolutely unnecessary waste that is occurring, caused by some of America’s biggest companies. You will learn how they claim to be environmentally friendly, yet are content to ruin their unsold clothes without even considering donating them to charity.

This article, as you can probably tell, made me really angry. I mean what is the point?! When charities and clothing bins are a dime a dozen, when the clothes are useable, probably even sell-able, just to destroy them and send them to landfills. Its just so incredibly unnecessary and wasteful!

As consumerism increases we are faced with constantly having to be on trend, have the latest clothes and the latest accessories, but what impact is this consumerism having on our planet?

At every step of the clothing production line there is the potential for damage. The article “Waste Couture” points out that:

 “Each step of the clothing production process carries the potential for an environmental impact. For example, conventionally grown cotton, one of the most popular clothing fibers, is also one of the most water- and pesticide-dependent crops. At the factory stage, effluent may contain a number of toxics.”

 

Is all this really worth it?

And then these clothes, that are produced in such damaging ways, are simply destroyed and cast off so that consumerism and commercialism can have the newest trends while people are living in poverty, its just such a waste

So what can we do to stop clothing waste? Heaps!

Hold a clothing drive in your local neighbourhood, or amongst friends, gather all your old clothes and donate them to your local church group or charity.

Have a clothing swap party, drink wine, eat nibbles and swap old outfits with friends instead of going out to buy something new. It might be for keeps or it might be just to borrow, it doesn’t matter, as long as you don’t go buy a brand new wardrobe for every single occasion and single.

Or clean out your wardrobe and take your old clothes to your local clothing bin, at least if your buying a new outfit someone should benefit from your cast-offs.

The very least you can do!

You are much better off wearing second  hand, or if you prefer, vintage clothes, than you are buying new outfits everytime!

Images from: kidsoffthekerb.org, fashionhandbagsy.com, bcchauxiliary.ca

oh Moogoo how I love thee!

The other good thing about these products?  They have cleared away the dried skin on my scalp.  I don’t like the term ‘dandruff’, even though that’s what it might have been, so prefer to call it dried skin.  It was in a particular patch and was there for ages.  I had previously been using the O&M products that my hairdresser had recommended but felt like it was time for a (cheaper!) change.

I’ve talked about MooGoo before on this blog.  MooGoo is an amazing Australian company that produce top quality skin care.  I’ve had so much success with both Elliott and my skin.  I’m adding their shampoo and conditioner to my list of MooGoo essentials.  It’s natural, it works and it feels good.  What more could you want?  Oh yeah – the price!  You can buy through their website – $17.50 for  each.  Obviously not your cheap supermarket garden varietal, but not top of the range either.  I have been assured that it lasts for ages (and I must say you really don’t need much in your palm to get a great wash).

For someone who bleaches, dries and straightens her hair, you’d think I need one of those shampoo and conditioner combo’s targeted toward dry, damaged hair.  I fell for that marketing for a long time and am having WAY BETTER RESULTS with my MooGoo.

I totally recommend it.  I feel almost like a hippy now that I am washing my hair so little!

Now I know that bussing to work cuts down the carbon emissions, negates maintenance costs on my car and all the rest, but the one thing I’m not convinced about is that bussing is cheaper.

The choice seems obvious... but what about the cost?

A bus from my home into town costs $2.30 on a concession card ($3.20 without the card)… that’s $4.60 a round trip. If I go to work 5 times a week that comes to $23. And here’s the catch… I only live about 10kms from town… even with rising fuel prices I’m not entirely convinced that bussing saves me any money what so ever and it is certainly not more convenient what with waiting for busses to arrive and not going directly to your work place.

As a student, saving money is one of my top priorities, and as such bussing not only has to be good for the environment, it also has to be good for my wallet.

This choice would be a lot easier if money trees were real!

Now I know I am being a little unfair on the bus companies: they are businesses which require revenue. They too need to pay for fuel and maintenance, and they have the added cost of staffing. But some of the best sustainable practice schemes succeeded because they have incentives to convince people to participate, either through reward or punishment.

Needless to say, this scheme of providing free public transport intrigued me. Every good scheme needs a bit of give and take, but what about not even going as far as offering free transport, what about just offering cheap transport. If I could spend $10-$15 on public transport a week, then I would be sold. I could see the savings that I would make every week, and that’s enough incentive for me.

The clear winner, if it was just a tiny bit cheaper

For now, I am still torn. Bus prices are still rising. But so are fuel prices and as such the cost of running my car also rises. I can help with reduce environmental impact of individual drivers taking to the roads every morning, reduce congestion and all the rest. But how much will it cost me, and can I justify bussing if it will cost more than driving?

What do you all do, and what choice do you think I should make?

Images from:

http://www.omnibus.org.nz/buslocation/man/redbus202.html

http://cyclingauckland.co.nz/general/2011/05/getting-more-money-f

http://beachjustice.tumblr.com/post/92739172/saw-a-similar-comparison-done-by-paul-bedford-the

Don't these all look good!The foods that contain the most residual pesticides include some of my favourite types of fruit and vegetables!

Well a lot of the time, its near impossible to know exactly what has been sprayed on our fruit and vegetables when we are shopping at the supermarket. But there are ways to cut down on exposure to these chemicals. First look for crops that are advertised as being spray-free. Normally these can be more easily found by buying from local growers, road side stalls and farmer markets.

The benefit is that fresh fruit and vegetables from these type of places also tend to taste better because they are not mass produced, meaning that they are feed more and tend to be given more time to ripen on the vines/trees/plants etc, meaning that they are full of more of those nutrients that I was talking about earlier.

The other thing that we can do to cut down on pesticide-filled food is to grow your own fruit and vegetables and then you know exactly what has been put onto your fruit and vegetables! If while you are growing your own you get aphids or need to spray, there are many “friendly” concoctions that you can make up that will fix most problems. Here is a list of some organic pesticides  and there are alternatives to cut pesticides and herbicides out altogether.

Fresh, spray free food, at your door step

My personal favourite way to replace chemicals with other means is predator insects and animals, ranging from ladybirds to ducks!

So turns out that you can have your superfoods and make sure that they do all the good that they are meant to do without doing harm, all you have to do is go buy a duck! Or I guess just shop a little wiser, after all eating cancer curing food that is laced with carcinogens seems just a little contradictory!

Images from: http://www.friendburst.com/blog/22893/superfoods-101/&

http://keepitgreenblog.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/human-pestic

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/

http://www.gardenguides.com/70083-st

I have always taken for granted that we live in a country with access to awesome tap water (except for Adelaide…poor old Adelaide) and cannot understand those people who leave the supermarket with litres and litres of the bottled stuff. I mean, why!?

My mum has always had the old water filtration thing going on with a portable filter in the fridge. And I just reach for the tap. Every time. And I drink a lot of it.

Here are the things that are starting to concern me -
- fluoride
- lead
- chlorine

Now I know these things are not found in particularly high quantities in our water supply, but they’re there. And considering the amount that I’ll drink over my lifetime, there’s no doubt that’s a fair whack of chemicals.

The issue of fluoride is really on my mind. On an ethical level it raises questions about medication of the masses without consent. Due to the fact that in Australia the fluoride added to our water supply is actually the bi-product of phosphate fertilizer manufacturing I’ve become even more suspect.  Yikes! And we have no say about it.

I know all the reasons why fluoridated water was introduced in the first place (to reduce the amount of tooth decay in the population), but lots of research now reveals that it may be a failed experiment. Head here and see why so many European nations chose never to fluoridate their water

On this, I use a fluoride free toothpaste for Elliott (and us, but it’s different again) – Weleda Children’s tooth gel. Anyone else got other recommendations?

Lead isn’t necessarily in the water, but by the time it’s gone through your dirty old pipes to reach you, there are potentially trace elements that make their way into your cup. We rent in an area with lovely old houses in Sydney (think they used to be workers cottages actually) and the water in the bathroom tap tastes way different to that in the kitchen, so I’m thinking that definitely has to be a pipe issue. Note to self – don’t drink from the bathroom tap….

And as for chlorine. I just find it hard to fathom that the Cancer Council of Western Australia can say this:

There is no evidence for the myth that drinking chlorinated water or swimming in chlorinated pools can cause cancer. However, chlorine and chlorine gas can aggravate respiratory conditions and high concentrations of chlorine can lead to many health complications.

OK, so in and of itself, chlorine is dangerous. But at low enough levels, it’s not? It just doesn’t make sense to me. Our bodies are hit with dozens and dozens of chemicals each day and this increasing toxic load is leading to countless health issues. Why give our bodies one more foreign substance?

The thing about chlorine is that it kills a lot of badies lurking in water and this has ultimately made it possible to distribute ‘safe’ drinking water to huge populations. Many people around the world don’t have access to safe drinking water and I do not want to seem flippant about the need for chlorine, I am just deciding that I don’t really want to be drinking it.

Fair enough?

So the hunt is on for an effective and affordable water purifier for our home. Do you purify your water? Got any suggestions to help me on my mission?

Image credit: Photo by Emrank via Flickr Creative Commons

So what does it do? And is it any good at it? Well basically you scan the barcode of a packaged food item and it then offers you alternative brands that are ‘healthier’. So I’ll preface this by saying that we should steer clear from packaged foods as much as possible, but hey we all have pantry essentials that we keep on hand, so I downloaded the app and went foraging in my cupboard.

First I scanned the barcode of a tin of Safcol Atlantic Salmon in springwater. I found out that the salt levels were ‘medium’ as opposed to other brands that had ‘no added salt’ and were therefore ‘low’ on the scale. It was really the only differentiating factor between the various brands. Funny, because I would continue to buy Safcol anyway, as I prefer the texture of the meat as compared to the other two brands I know of in the list.

(The app doesn’t contain a sustainable/ethical guideline – it’s purely health related)

OK – so how am I faring with my Masterfoods Wholegrain Mustard? Gee, added salt in our foods is a problem. Seeded mustard comes in handy for salad dressing and sometimes to add a bit of punch to a sandwich or sauce. But yikes – all the brands, except for one, had ‘high’ salt content. We really don’t know what we’re eating, do we…?

Now this is something I have on hand because I am terribly slack at making my own stock and if I do make it, it’s usually a vegetable stock with peelings and what’s left at the end of the week in the fridge. I want to get into making bone broth for its many health benefits, but haven’t gone there yet, hence my salt-reduced Campbells Real Stock chicken stock. Well, so much for salt reduced! There were three brands that offered the same product with less salt. But I had never heard of these brands, which may mean they are not stocked at the supermarket, but perhaps I’ll try the health food shop.

So I worked out that some of my pantry staples can be improved upon. As I delve further and further into the world of nutrition through studying my Integrative Nutrition course, I am finding alternatives for some of my ‘pantry staples’ anyway. But in the meantime, this is actually a really useful app and I recommend it. (Makes you feel kind of like a check-out-chick too!)

To download the app just head here.

Image credit: Bupa.

Here in NSW the cucumbers are as crunchy as ever and our fruit bowl is full of nectarines, peaches and apricots. As soon as fruits and vegetables are harvested they begin losing nutrients so it’s no surprise that buying what’s in season, as opposed to being cold-stored for months and months and then put on the supermarket shelves, is way better for you.

The closer it has been grown to your home the better because it hasn’t had to travel ages, losing precious nutrients along the way. So, what’s in season at the moment in NSW? Summer fruits – YUM!

• Apricots, Berries, Melons, Nectarines, Peaches, Plums, Strawberries.

And as for summer vegies, get into these beauties:

• Beans, Beetroot, Capsicum, Celery, Chillies, Cucumber, Eggplant, Mushrooms, Pumpkin, Squash, Sweetcorn, Tomatoes, Zucchini

Of course other vegetables are available all year, including Asian greens, radish, rhubarb, lettuce and cabbage, among others.

Here’s an awesome recipe from the Marie Claire ‘Seasonal Kitchen’ recipe book by Michele Cranston. It always gets a good response from guests when I whip it out at a dinner party. The colours look gorgeous! Most elements can be prepared earlier and kept in separate containers and then just assemble it before serving. Too easy.

Ingredients:
2 ripe roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
1 Lebanese cucumber, diced
1 tablespoon salted capers, rinsed and drained
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
8 slices prosciutto, cut in half
1 large beetroot, peeled and grated (wear gloves!)
2 hard-boiled eggs, grated
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
sourdough or crisp bread to serve (optional)

Method:
Put the tomato, onion, cucumber, capers and vinegar in a bowl and toss together
Arrange the prosciutto over a round serving platter and pile the beetroot in the middle. Spoon the tomato salad over the beetroot, then top with the grated egg. Sprinkle with parsley, season with freshly ground black pepper and drizzle with the olive oil. Serve with thin slices of sourdough or crispbread (serves 4 as a starter, so ramp up the ingredients if you want it to go further – people usually go back for more with this one!)

Enjoy x

Photo taken by me of image in Marie Claire ‘Seasonal Kitchen’

When my parents and grandparents were growing up food allergies were almost unheard of, even when I was a baby in the 80’s (yes I’m showing my age) food allergies weren’t anywhere near as common. I was diagnosed with Coeliac Disease in the mid 90’s and back then it was a mission for mum to find anything gluten free – she used to get special bread mix from a company in Europe that she had to bake herself, and other gluten free flour mixes she made up from anything she could (potato flour, corn flour, millet flour, even besan flour)

Luckily these days it is much easier to find allergy-friendly foods. But why are allergies so common?I was reading an article in Good Magazine (by the way I highly recommend subscribing to this magazine – it is awesome and printed on paper from certified mixed source pulp from well managed forests AND it is certified carbon zero) Check it out here.

Good Magazines article titled “New Zealand’s Allergy Epidemic” says many of the allergies skyrocketed around the early 2000s.
Coincidentally ( or not) when pregnant women and new mothers were told to ‘shun peanuts and guard infants against animal products and family pets’. Research has shown that attempts ay avoidances are likely to make children more susceptible to allergies than less.

“Throughout the 2000s where ‘avoidance’ was mandate, food allergy around the Western world skyrocketed”, says Dr Elizabeth Forbe-Blum, allergy specialist at Wellington’s Malaghan Institiute.

“That’s when the epidemic began.”

She goes on to say “Not only do we have more children that are allergic to food, but the allergic reactions are far more severe.”
Contrary to popular belief, babies that start eating eggs between four and six months of age were five times less likely to develop an egg allergy, compared to those that avoided eggs until their first birthday.”

Not putting anything but mothers milk in the child’s mouth may be preventing a very important part of human immune system development.

Were you pregnant in the early to mid 2000s? What advice were you given by your midwife or doctor?

Another theory is that we are just ‘too clean’ these days. Our genes haven’t changed but our environment has, the Good Magazine article goes on to say. Without a multitude of germs to defeat, our immune systems lack a ‘normal’ workload, so they seek out something to attack and turn harmless food into the enemy.

Would you agree with this theory? If so, what does it mean? That we should give children free reign in those mud puddles?

I found some interesting facts when researching allergies. Did you know…

• The researchers found that if surveys asked people if they think they have food allergies, 3 – 38% answered yes. However, only 1 – 11% of these people had their food allergy confirmed by a medical specialist.
• The occurrence of food allergy probably varies across different geographical areas e.g. because of different dietary patterns and differences in exposure to pollen. For instance fish allergy appears to be more common in countries like Norway, Portugal and Japan where fish is consumed in greater amounts than in most other countries.
• Hazelnut allergy appears to be more common in geographical areas where birch pollen is abundant because of cross-reactivity between the birch pollen and hazelnut.
• In China, where rice is the most commonly eaten grain, more people are allergic to rice than to wheat. Rice is generally considered a low allergen food in the Western world.
• There is no universally “safe” food. A person with allergic tendencies can become allergic to anything. The development of food allergy depends on the individual and on the quantity and frequency of exposure to a food.

Do you suffer from allergies? If so, when did they develop for you and how do you live with them?

Are you a parent? Have you done anything to reduce the risk of your child developing allergies?

Image credits: Jonny Boy via Flickr,  lmcarter.com

Source: Good Magazine, http://www.food-allergy.org/inside_GFWR.htm, http://www.foodallergens.info/Facts/Treatment.html

Everyone knows about the standard old wives tales, like baking soda takes out stains etc etc. But how many hidden gems, such as walnuts, are out there, waiting to make our lives that little bit better?

Well when you google it, the options are endless. Websites out there detail how to make natural house-hold cleaning products for pretty much everything.

Suddenly, those “essentials” that are filled with chemicals don’t seem quite so essential anymore.

So as well as the slightly more conventional what wonderfully whacky things did I come across? Peanut Butter and Jelly (or Jam for those of us that don’t live in America) can be used to get rid of ants. And Vodka can be used to keep flowers fresh and to cure poison ivy!

The most natural ant poison out!

Some of these natural alternatives are a bit more normal, and as an added bonus I swear, reading through them, they would also be cheaper to make than buying cleaning products, and you’re minimising the chemicals that are in the air around your home.

 So if you have people in your home, like my mum, who are incredibly sensitive to what is in the air around them, or you just want to cut down on the chemicals in the world, then give some of these ideas a try. By doing so you will improve your health, clean the air around you and lessen the use of unnecessary chemicals: it’s a win win win! And plus.. it could be kind of fun to make some of these concoctions!

 Image credit: http://www.inquisitr.com, anselm23 via flickr, herbal-ayurveda-remedy.com

So it’s scary to see this report from Forbes that calls the company out for removing chemicals of concern in its iconic baby shampoo in some countries, but not others.

The product currently on shelves in the United States, Canada, and China still contains known carcinogens such as formaldehyde-releasing preservative quaternium-15, as well as the chemical byproduct 1,4-dioxane.

Formaldehyde and 1,4-dioxane are known carcinogens. The federal Consumer Product Safety Commission has reported that “the presence of 1,4-dioxane, even as a trace contaminant, is cause for concern,” and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services added formaldehyde to its list of known human carcinogens in June 2011.

Great. So people are washing their babies’ hair and slathering moisturisers on their brand new baby skin with products that contain known carcinogens – how is this okay?!

In their defense, On November 16th, they did announced that they would remove quaternium-15 and other formaldehyde-releasing preservatives from all of its baby products worldwide within two years, and reduce 1,4 dioxane in all of its baby products to less than 4 parts per million. Long term, the company indicated it will replace the chemical process, called ethoxylation, that results in 1,4 dioxane contamination. Johnson & Johnson also announced that it has removed phthalates from all of its baby products worldwide. (This doesn’t include their non-baby products though, like Neutrogena and Aveeno lines).

But still, TWO years to remove all these chemicals? That seems an awfully long time when consumers are demanding they be removed yesterday!

Were you a Johnson & Johnson’s baby? Would you use these products on your child?

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Image credit: Mommy-ish.com