Sunday, August 31, 2008

Going Green

Okay, I know the subject has been really popular in the last year or two due to a number of things. I know I got interested in all the things we can do for the environment after watching a special on Oprah. My sister Kristy has always been into it and tries really hard to recycle and things like this. One of the areas I am most concerned about is the health of my family and friends. There are so many things we can do to keep healthy that don't involve that much work from our part. I have been meaning to write a blog about this but didn't know how to describe some of the things I wanted to talk about. Yesterday I did some research on a couple of topic because I was hoping to find something I could copy and paste. As of right now I am still looking for a good article. So really quickly ( since I need to get ready for church ) here are some things to be aware of:

Don't reuse water bottles. If you are a water person, buy a biodegradable water bottle that you can refill and is good for the environment. People think they are doing the world a favor by reusing the plastic bottles they get a the store, but when you reuse a bottle you are actually harming yourself. When you feel the bottle up again, the water pouring into the bottle scraps the sides and let's toxins into your water. Water bottles are REALLY bad for the environment anyways so buy a nice 15 dollar one and refill that with some filtered water. You can also find water bottles that have filters at the top so you can use your tap water to fill them.

Another thing you can do for your self is to NOT put Tupperware in the microwave. It's basically the same reason. When the Tupperware heats up it spills toxins into your food and these toxins have been linked to cancer. Cancer seems to be on the rise every year that passes and there are so many thing we can do to help prevent it.

The last one I am going to mention is something a lot of people don't know about. It's called parabens. This is what I was researching yesterday because it's hard to explain in my own words. I still need to find a good article to post so that will come later today ( after church ). But basically parabens are something in lotions, soaps, shampoos, lubricants, make-up and a million other things. They are put in there to help prevent bacteria from growing to prolong the self life of these items. The problems is they are being linked to a number of problems. One of them being the fact that parabens mock our body's estrogen. So when the stuff soaks into our skin it can disrupt our hormone levels. There are a few study who link it to breast cancer. They don't know that it causes breast cancer BUT in one study they took 20 samples of breast cancer tissue and every single one had one or more parabens in it. Like, I said, I'll find an article for you that better explains things. But look at your lotions and make up products. You will be sure to find at least ONE paraben in them. I decided to read one of Tyler's lotions and it had 3 different ones in it and I was trying to decide if I should throw it away or not. Then I found his Aveno for sensitive skin, really expensive 8 dollar lotion and it had 6 freaking parabens in it so I chucked it. It's a choice but I would rather be safe the sorry. IN little boys like Tyler who has not reach puberty, it can mess with their hormones as well and in some study has thought to believe this is why mens sperm counts have been going way down in the last 10 years or so. OKAY I REALLY need to get ready. I hope everyone has a fabulous Sunday. Wish me luck because we haven't been to ALL of church in 3 weeks so I hope Tyler does okay.

1 comment:

Sandy said...

Have you heard that if you leave the caps on water bottles they can't recycle them cause the caps are not recyclable? It would take too long to take the caps off so they just chuck them back into the trash if they have caps on them!
have you found any product lines that don't have para-stuff in it? lol it would be interesting to see if there are any out there...