Comments on: Two Different Shades Of Green

By: YoungHouseLove

YoungHouseLove — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:55:20 +0000

I love Dr. Bronner’s lotion. John thinks it’s greasy but it’s so natural and it leaves my skin feeling awesome.

xo,
s

By: Christina K.

Christina K. — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:14:48 +0000

Silly question: is there a natural lotion/moisturizer that you prefer?

By: YoungHouseLove

YoungHouseLove — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 20:54:17 +0000

We tried a new brand from Target (begins with an L and is completely organic and well known in Europe) but it didn’t rub in very well – so we were left looking all white. I’m currently on the hunt for Say Yes To Carrots Lotion with SPF 25 (supposedly it exists – it’s new though – and it’s apparently amazing and easy to rub in according to a write up I read). That brand is also more reasonably priced so hopefully it won’t break the bank. Hope it helps!

xo,
s

By: Robin

Robin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 20:35:10 +0000

Loved this post – I am slowly switching all my personal care products over to more natural brands like Dr Bronners, Burts Bees, Toms of Maine, Jason Organics and the like. Just back from Whole Foods and had to comment that the price of the California Baby sunscreen you recommended made my jaw drop – $7.50 per ounce! A small 3-ounce tube was $22.50! As a pale gal who uses an ounce of sunscreen DAILY on the recommendation of my dermatologist, that is crazy expensive for me. (I literally go through a bottle of sunscreen a week.) Maybe the tiny amount needed to cover your little girl makes it affordable, but wondering if the grown-ups of the house use a different brand for day-to-day SPF protection? I use the EWG site as a guideline, but would love to hear your perspective, as you seemed very keen on California Baby which made me think maybe you road-tested a few other brands in your switch to safer products for your family. Any advice?

By: Rachel Elizabeth

Rachel Elizabeth — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:35:18 +0000

We are working on being even more green. Our first baby is due in August and we want to make our home the healthiest environment possible. We are also cloth diapering and we recycle like made.

By: Kathi

Kathi — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:16:18 +0000

We don’t do as much yet as I’d like to when it comes to being green, but in the last couple of years, we’ve significantly increased our recycling/reuse efforts. This has cut down the amount of trash we throw out down to 1 kitchen sized bag a week (we used to have 2 or 3 a week).

I love No Impact Man! I’ve been following his blog for a couple of years and he’s very inspiring!

By: Caroline

Caroline — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:10:36 +0000

Just wanted to say that I love that you referenced venn diagrams… hilarious!

By: Catherine

Catherine — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:17:23 +0000

Here’s a great reason to feel good about using Dr. Bronner’s (or other veg-derived soaps): my toddler inexplicably decided to chug our “Baby Mild” Dr. Bronner’s the other day. We use it to clean him, us, the floors, my bras, etc. & always kept it handy next to the tub. I was two steps away from him, turned away for literally a moment, but didn’t even see him do it. When he started to puke uncontrollably, however, I figured out what happened.

Not so fun – but the good news is that if it had been petroleum-derived, we would have been in for a trip to the ER. As it was, he was briefly very sick, we were scared mightily, but everything was ok. I cannot tell you how many less dramatic moments I’ve had where I’ve thought, “I’m so glad I switched over to the non-toxic [spray cleaner, deodorant, etc.] version!”

My husband was a little reluctant to chuck all our old brands & thought using baking soda & vinegar to clean was nothing short of heretical, but now we’re really glad we made the switch!

By: jja

jja — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 16:08:44 +0000

Living in Germany one simply has to be green. Driving mostly bike, separating garbage – paper, glass, bio, plastic etc. using by low energy saving bulbs.
Buying organic food, supporting local farmers. Here it is just a way of life. Even most paid CEO won’t use his Mercedes if he lives in a city then rather a bike, bike traces are all around the city and you pay more tax if you drive a car, so called ecology tax. No plastic bags at grocery, mostly a cotton one, reusable. Energy saving household equipment using extremely small amount of water or electricity. I love this country to giving me so many opportunities to be green.

By: MarT

MarT — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:12:18 +0000

Also got interrupted on my last post. I have also seen rain barrels wrapped with chicken wire or hog wire (the bigger stiffer rectangular kind) and then used attractively and effectively as a low trellis. We also have many folks out here in Seattle who run copper rain chains down to them instead of gutters which is beautiful and creates a great sound:

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Amaryllis-Copper-Rain-Chain/1713051/product.html

One designer in Seattle who is really innovative and has experience with how to do sustainable landscaping and make it look good is Cameron Scott of Exteriorscapes. His portfolio is pretty fun to look at, he has a lot of experience and ideas about rainwater storage and I bet he could do a whole guest post on how to make it look pretty.

http://www.exteriorscapes.com/exteriorscapes.html