buy eco-friendly products

I’m not giving up being ecofriendly – just that the word ‘sustainability’ is more accurate, since being sustainable is better than just simply changing what I buy.

Sustainability also reflects more than just the environmental concerns I have – that there are other political movements I want to support (i.e. feminism, human rights, etc. etc.)

This will always be a progressive goal. I currently buy biodegradable soaps, shampoos, dishwashing detergent, laundry detergent, cleaning products (for the most part), etc. To me, there should be no question about whether this is the right or wrong thing to do. So what if the products are a few cents more… we only get one Earth.

i have almost completely switched to buying only eco-friendly products over the years… household cleaners, hygiene products, even my clothing and jewellery. however, i don’t feel i’ve reached my goal yet of only purchasing eco-friendly products, because i do have my moments of weakness. eco-friendly toilet paper and tissue are so expensive! sales on non-eco-friendly products too often entice me… plus i am still using a face wash and face lotion that are certainly not packaged in an eco-friendly way, and i even believe the company which makes them supports animal testing. yikes. but i justify this because i have such incredibly sensitive skin, and these products are the only ones that work for me after so many years of experimentation with my dermatologist. i wish i could track down a naturopathic dermatlogist! that would be a dream. so my goal as it stands right now is to eventually convert to buying only eco-friendly products, which basically translates to finding a new face wash and face lotion, as well as balancing my budget enough so that i can afford the eco-friendly toilet paper and tissues etc. i’d be happy if i could acheive this in my lifetime!

I’m already starting to do this, and where I’m situated in the country it’s fairly easy to do – heck, out here it’s sometimes even cheaper to buy local and environmentally responsible products.

I’d like to learn how to eventually switch over so that almost everything I buy has less impact on the earth. I’m not sure how I’d be able to find sanitary products I can live with, but I’ll investigate :) This goal is also closely tied into weaning myself off/away from corporations (see goal below); I plan to use buyblue.org, knowmore.org, responsibleshopper.org and the Green Pages (http://www.coopamerica.org/pubs/greenpages/) to help me choose wisely. There are piles of resources online on how we can do this – just found another basic one here: http://www.daily-acts.org/actions.html.

The point is, I – and we – can’t afford to have our ecological footprint grow bigger than it already is. That’s why we have rethink what and how we’re doing.