My Green Products II

Since the last post on eco-products, I've found some others in my house that I forgot about/didn't even know were eco-friendly.

Dr Bronner's Magic Soaps - These soaps are super. Bio-degradable, and you can use them for anything. I prefer the peppermint scent. You can even brush your teeth with it, though I haven't tried that one yet. When I went to the website to find info for this post I learned that the company is even cooler than I had previously thought. They are making an effort to have all of their "main ingredients" be fair trade, and they are one of the only products on the market that is certified to the USDA's National Organic Program (not that I trust anything the USDA does, but it's a start). They even have a little article on their website explaining the different tricks that other companies use to pass off their products as organic. I've heard some of this before, so I can say that it's not totally a ploy to sell their products to their target consumers. I also love that you can mix a little soap with a lot of water and it will last you ten times as long as any other hand soap. Good for the planet, good for the pocketbook. And reading the label provides hours of entertainment and confusion.

EcoForms- This company sells biodegradable pots made of grain husks that perform just like plastic pots. According to their website "No pollutants are used or produced at any stage of the manufacturing process. And because all scraps are recycled in the production process, no materials are wasted. Only a small amount of water is used in the binding formula, and the organic pigments are environmentally friendly." Sounds pretty good. They make them for individuals sale, as well as nursery production on a large scale. The website says that they only last five years though, which is a bit worrisome. I think it depends on the size and the way you use it because I have a large one that I didn't even realize was an EcoForm pot because it looks and performs just like plastic, and I have two smaller ones that seem to be degrading already.

Power strips - I didn't even realize that these were energy savers until reading this little article on Simply Green and then this one on Groovy Green. Apparently our appliances sap energy in very tiny doses, even when they are shut off. These are called "phantom loads" of energy, and the best way to combat them is to plug all of your appliances into one power strip, which you can then turn off at night or during the day when you're away. Fortunately I already had all of my appliances plugged into power strips because of the large ratio of appliances to outlets in my room. All I had to do was start shutting them off when I left during the day. Sweet.