well if you cant afford to buy organic food your not alone!

while watching oprah today (ok shutup! yes i watch oprah!) ...... anyway i was watching oprahs earth day special and they were talking about organic foods and the risk of pesticides on our food, the effect of pesticides is much worse on small kids and babies obviously.

so if we cant afford to buy organic what do we do? wash them? well that will get off SOME of the pesticides but not alot really.

OR you can try the veggie spray! its free coz you can make it at home with a few simple ingredients! hurrrah! so give it a go!

INGREDIENTS
1 cup water
1 cup distilled white vinegar
1 Tbsp. baking soda
20 drops of grapefruit seed extract

after mixing fill up a spray bottle with the liquid and off you go! spray them and leave for about ten mins then rinse well and it will remove a vast majority of chemicals from your food. lets face it ANY less is better and it doesnt seem like a difficult thing to do does it?

anyway happy spraying!

xxxnat 

well we all know that nappies are a HUGE environmental problem in the world.

around 8 million nappies go into landfill each year in australia alone! ive heard that would fill the MCG up at least 3 times! yucko! now thats alot of poop!

with the impact on the environment in such a massive way we often ask how can we fix it? would it be better if we used washables like granny did?

well the answer to that is... its inconclusive! with water shortages and the use of power for washing and the effect of detergents basically it may work out to be just as bad if not worse than the mountain of poop that populates aus!

so what to do, what to do we all say! there is one newish option that wasnt available to us a few years ago which now is, THE BIODEGRADABLE NAPPY! sorry had to capitalise i think its important lol

the biodegradable nappy is being used by several brands now, but i use one particular type natures babycare, i came across it at my shop by accident and didnt actually look at the packet until id started using them, i liked that they were thin but worked the same if not better than the other nappies id tried.

tobias as a newborn had issues with his nappies leaking so i was constanly trying new ones to see how they worked for us, these didnt LEAK!

then i looked at the packet and a lil green circle caught my attention ECO..... this made me look into the nappy furthur! the nappy is made with a film based on corn not plastic it contains chlorine free pulp and tobias has not suffered nappy rash at all (except one week when my local shop was out of them and he was teething haha) since we started using them!

there are many brands that now stock compostable and biodegradable nappies and baby products like wipes, disposable bibs, liners and womens products now all you have to do is look for them!

they can be slightly more expensive than alot of nappies around now but they are still cheaper than alot too and the cost on the environment is alot more costly to me anyway.

so check them out and give them a try!

xxnat

well i really really like this group! hehe so i thought id try to contribute something meaningful that i do to try and help the earth as i love to hear other ppls suggestions and have acted on several after reading blogs here.

sometimes something we do in our household seems normal but often ppl just dont think about it and it takes a heads up or a lil info for them to make a change and thats how this group has effected me. i look here for new ideas to help the environment that may seem simple but has just plain missed the boat with me until i read.....

so keep bloggin ppl! it makes a difference, it has to me......

oh and p.s this isnt the meaningful blog lol im workin on that!

xxnat

According to G Magazine; Worldwide, about 270,000 trees are flushed down the toilet every day in the form of toilet paper.

Thats a lot of trees, so what do you use?  Virgin or recycled?

I still can't believe the amount of plastic bags still in use. At the local supermarket you only get a 'plakky' if you buy more than three items. Well, that is what the sign says! I see so many people ask for a bag when they only have one item. I have recently switched to using calico bags as I found out that the 'green' bags aren't biodegradable. So I use my 'green' bags for travel and giving to my family to encourage them to use less 'plakky' bags. My daughter takes her lunch in a paper bag and brings it home each day to reuse until it falls apart. She told me the other day that she was a little worried when she saw one of the school bins overflowing with plastic bags from the childrens lunch. I'm glad she notices these things, but it's hard for children to learn to use less plastic bags when their parents aren't. It's a hard lesson to learn. And I'm not being sarcastic! It really is...

http://www.heavenfelts.com/assets/Mawu%20A4%20Postermod.jpg

fabsugar.com/208285

Here is one for the fashion conscious gal....

We all have hundreds of plastic bags choking up our cupboards and pantries.  I have noticed that the major supermarkets have a recycling bin to put in your plastic shopping bags for recycling. 

This is in Australia anyway, i'm not sure about other countries (maybe others could let us know if they do it in their area) but this is a great idea instead of throwing them into landfill when having a clear out.

Want to save water while cleaning your teeth? Try turning off the tap! Don't let it run the entire time you are cleaning. Or one step further, put a little water in a cup and use that to clean toothbrush and rinse out your mouth!

What a great way to recycle old clothes. Stained or ripped it doesn't matter, rags can be used for many things. Mopping up after the little ones, cutting up for art and craft, washing the car, making a bed for the pet to keep them warm in the cold months... Does anyone have any great ideas on what you can do with rags? My hubby uses rags in the shed to mop up oil when he is working on the car or to wipe his hands on before he comes into the house. Old cloth nappies that have becomes so worn that you can see through them make fantastic rags. I have a bunch from when my daughter was a baby. (She is now 7) I've used them quite a bit over the years and they have become so worn they are now the household rags. After they were nappies they were cut up and used as flannels and wash clothes. Now they are in the shed and the children use them to help wash the car (this way they can't do much damage!). I'd love to hear all your fantastic ideas on how to use rags!

Thinking of getting a pet for your children, but don't want something that takes hours to care for and your children will lose interest in within a couple of months. Try getting a couple of chickens! They not only eat your food scraps but they will lay you little gifts. Eggs! It's so easy now to have a couple of chickens in your backyard. There are quite a few small coops available and you can always let them run free in the garden every now and then. We have bantams, as they are nice and small even when they are all grown up, so the children still find them cute and interesting. Also with bantams there are so many colours and feathery varieties there is one to suit any household. At our house the eldest helps with the feeding and the youngest checks the eggs. Of course as with any pet (especially birds) you should encourage your children to wash their hands after handling a chicken or collecting eggs. Eggs should also be thoroughly washed before put into the fridge or eaten. If you would prefer to have chickens primarily for eggs then it would be better to get a breed of chicken specifically for that purpose. All round a chicken is a very resourceful addition to any household (o yeah! and a great pet!)

Has anyone seen a bin liner made out of recycled plastic? Just interested! They have bottles and shopping bags made out of recycled plastic, why not bin liners?

The use of plastic bags has surged by 1 billion according to this article.  With the introduction of 'green' shopping bags i am horrified and really think people need to STOP and THINK before accepting that plastic bag from the shops.  Myself included, i try hard not to get any more bag as i have too many but often forget to take my green bags whith me.  I think, this has been a real kick in the butt for me and i'm certainly going to try harder to remember to take the green bags shopping!!

I just read this on the BBC News:

"The rate at which some of the world's glaciers are melting has more than doubled, data from the United Nations Environment Programme has shown.

Average glacial shrinkage has risen from 30 centimetres per year between 1980 and 1999, to 1.5 metres in 2006.

Some of the biggest losses have occurred in the Alps and Pyrenees mountain ranges in Europe.

Experts have called for "immediate action" to reverse the trend, which is seen as a key climate change indicator."

I found a great idea in a magazine and thought I would try it out before I wrote it down. I no longer use washing detergent to wash my nappies. I rinse them in hot water and then put them on a hot wash cycle in the washing machine and in the final rinse water I add a cup of vinegar. The nappies come out clean, so I am happy with the result. It also suggested to add lavendar flowers to the vinegar and let stand for two weeks and then use that in the rinse water. Apparently it makes it smell nicer. So that will be the next thing to try. Once I can find some lavendar flowers...

my kids are beeing taught all about global warming etc at school, it think its great.. yesterday at the docs jayde told a complete stranger " did you know that you should be saving elec-trick-itie (lol) to stop our planet from dying"... i though it was so cute...

xoxox

Did you know it takes 10 times more energy to produce a textile than to produce glass?  So next time you walk past that op-shop think Vintage not second hand!   Some great bargins are to be found in the op-shops or markets.  Sometimes you can find Designer clothes too, if that is your thing, and you will be doing the Planet a favour.

One of the easiest ways to reduce land fill is to compost.  Put back what nature has given us. 

The most obvious way to do it is to build a compost heap but if you are short on space you can have a worm farm which will give you the castings from the worms and the liquid can be used as a fertilizer for your garden or pot plants.  There is also a fermentation type method that can be done...i'm really sorry but i don't know what it is called but i'll try to find out. 

You can compost almost anything,  from food scraps to the dust in you vaccum cleaner bag.  There are some exceptions like meat and dog  feaces, although worms don't like to much citrus or onions.  But really, if it is organic and it came from the earth it can go back to the earth.

Happy composting......

To whom ever it was that invited me to this group.  I love it!

It is quite a warm day where I am today. So I have watered the garden early this morning so it won't get too thirsty. I've kept the curtains closed, to keep the hot sunshine out, and timed it just right in closing my windows so that the hot breeze doesn't come in. I have a couple of jugs of tap water in my fridge for when we all get thirsty and don't have to let the tap run til the water runs cold. I have a heap of ice cubes in the freezer, which I add to the cats water dishes in the middle of the day (can do the same for dogs too). Ice cubes are also great for my hot little one year old to play with. It makes him forget temporarily about the heat. Does anyone know any other ideas on how we can save energy on hot days? We tend to have a bbq for dinner on hot days. That way we don't make the house all hot when cooking dinner and we can all sit outside and enjoy the cool end of the day.