The White House Goes Green!

It’s official – The White House turned Green!

I recently heard that the Shaklee Get Clean line of all-natural green cleaners are now being used in the White House. I heard Sloan Barnett, author of “Green Goes with Everything” tell us the story about how she was able to have the Vice-President’s home and the White House change their cleaning products to help protect the planet, but also to help protect the workers and the Vice-President and President’s family from the chemicals in traditional cleaners. Obama’s oldest daughter Malia suffers from asthma. Hopefully changing over to the Get Clean products will help! I’ll let you know if I hear any updates!

Earth Day Coverage

On April 25th, my boyfriend and I ventured out to a local Earth Day event. It was a first annual event with a family focus. As we were talking to all the different environmentally-focused vendors may expressed that they were concerned no one would show. They had not ever considered rain buckets, buying local restaurants, and information about conserving energy to be kid-friendly before. But with a little effort every booth at the event had something fun for kids to do or learn about. They painted gardening pots, planted seeds, touched reptiles, sampled organic pizza, counted rings on tree circles, and answered questions about shutting of lights and unplugging their DSi’s. It was a beautiful day and exciting to see our next generation of eco-minded activists and consumers!

While we were there we were interviewed for a local bit. Check it out! http://www.loudouni.com/news/2009-04-27/loudouns-first-annual-earth-day

The Earth Day Winners!

Congratulations to Rochelle and Jayna for being our Earth Day Giveaway winners!

Here’s to a healthier you, home, and planet!

I hope everyone celebrated Earth Day in their own special way! I was at an Earth Day fair yesterday that was family focused. It was wonderful to see so many families enjoying the beautiful day and getting more educated on what they can do to help save our planet! Most of the booths had kid activities which I thought was phenomenal! The education process cannot start earlier enough. One booth recommended no matter how “green” your family already is what are 5 more things you can do to help do your part. I already recycle, use canvas totes when grocery shopping, drive a scooter, pay carbon offset when flying, and use green cleaning products. So my five are:

- buy more from local growers and support more local organic restaurants
- use canvas totes for all my other shopping too (keeping a small zipped up one in my purse)
- supporting companies that are conscientious about packaging 
-  buying more recycled paper products (toilet paper, buy less paper towel, etc)
- unplugging appliances when not using and overnight

What are you and your family doing already and what 5 more things can you do?

Earth Week Giveaway!

In honor of Earth week we are having a drawing for 2 great Get Clean Packs! 

To Enter: Send an email (cynthia.piette@gmail.com) with “WIN GET CLEAN” in the subject and your name in the body! Or Send me a Tweet (cpiette)

The drawing will be held Earth Day April 22 and the winners will be notified via email. 

Good Luck and have a Happy Earth Day!

GRAND PRIZE

Get Clean Starter Kit ($176.00 value)

 

The Get Clean Starter Kit contains:

• Basic H2™ Organic Super Cleaning Concentrate, 16 oz. (1) 
• Basic H2™ Organic Super Cleaning Wipes, 35 Wipes (1) 
• Germ Off Disinfecting Wipes, 35 Wipes (1) – NEW! 
• Nature Bright® Laundry Booster and Stain Remover, 32 oz. (1) 
• Scour Off™ Heavy-Duty Paste, 9 oz. (1) 
• Hand Wash Concentrate, 32 oz. (1) 
• Dish Wash Concentrate, 16 oz. (1) 
• Dish Wash Automatic Concentrate, 32 oz. (1) 
• Fresh Laundry Concentrate HE Compatible, Regular Scent, 32 oz. (Liquid) (1) – NEW! 
• Soft Fabric Concentrate, 32 oz. (1) 
• Soft Fabric Dryer Sheets, 80 sheets (1) 
• Hand Wash Decorator Dispenser (2) 
• Dish Wash Automatic Concentrate Dispenser (empty) (1) 
• Nature Bright® Dispenser (empty) (1)

Including all the accessories you need to get really clean:

• Organizer Caddy (1) 
• Spray Bottles (3) 
  • Windows and Mirrors 
  • All-Purpose 
  • Degreasing – NEW! 
• Basic H2™ Full Strength Dispenser Bottle with Dropper Tip (1) 
• Dropper Pipette 
• 1 oz. Dispenser Pump for 32 oz. Bottle (2) 
• Laundry Measuring Scoops (2) 
• Dual Measuring Spoon (1) 
• Cleaning Accessories (4) 
  • Super Microfiber Cleaning Cloth 
  • Super Microfiber Window Cloth
  • Super Microfiber Dish Sponge 
  • Miracle Scrubber Pad

 

HONORARY PRIZE

Health Home Pack ($86.90 value)

The Get Clean Healthy Home Pack contains:

• Basic H²™ Organic Super Cleaning Concentrate, 16 oz. (1) 
• Basic H²™ Organic Super Cleaning Wipes, 35 Wipes (1) 
• Scour Off™ Heavy-Duty Paste, 9 oz. (1) 
• Dish Wash Concentrate, 16 oz. (1) 
• Fresh Laundry Concentrate HE Compatible, 32 oz. (Liquid) (1) 
• Soft Fabric Concentrate, 32 oz. (1) 
• Soft Fabric Dryer Sheets, 80 sheets (1) 
• Spray Bottles (3)
  • Windows and Mirrors (1)
  • All-Purpose (1) 
  • Degreasing (1) – NEW!
• Laundry Measuring Scoop 
• Super Microfiber Window Cloth 
• Dropper for measuring Basic H²™ (1)

 

 

 

 

Green Cleaners – Save Money

I think most people associate eco-friendly with more expensive. I know when I go to Staples I look at the price tags on the printer paper, 30% recycled and 100% recycled and always wonder why charge more? If we really want people to buy eco-friendly products then there should be no set-back. Luckily one eco-friendly purchase is more cost effective – Green Cleaners! 

I cannot speak for all brands on the market, but anything that is in a concentrated form is likely to save you money. Here is one example comparing 2 traditional brands and 2 green brands (product prices obtained from Kroger, Athens, Ga on May 26, 2007):

General Purpose Cleaning	Size	Cost	Usage/Gallon	Gallons of solution	Cost/Gallon
Fantastic Heavy Duty 409 Orginal Seventh Generation All-Purpose Get Clean Basic-H2	32 oz 32 oz 32 oz 16 oz	$2.79 $2.79 $5.49 $10.15	Straight Straight Straight 2 teaspoons	¼ gallon ¼ gallon ¼ gallon makes 48 gallons	$11.16 $11.16 $21.96 $0.21

Families who switch to Shaklee’s Get Clean products save an average of $200-$300 each year! By just switching your household cleaner you can save money and help save our planet!

Cleaners – Environmental Benefits

Did you know the average US household generates more than 20 pounds of hazardous waste each year? Now think about how many households are in the US and how many years each household exists…that’s a lot of waste! The scariest part about traditional cleaners is that most do not dispose of them properly allowing for these wastes to pollute our environment and pose a threat to human health.

The good news is there is something we can all do! Switching to green cleaners can eliminate these toxins from seeping into our soil and water. For example, switching to Shaklee’s Get Clean line of environmentally friendly cleaners eliminates 248 pounds of greenhouse gases each year!

Most people recognize that chemicals are bad for our environment, but many do not think about the packaging of products. Your green cleaner isn’t truly green unless it come in concentrated forms helping to reduce packaging waste. The Get Clean Starter kit alone eliminates 100 pounds of packaging waste from landfills! In the last year alone Shaklee helped to eliminate 2.7 billion bottles of conventional 26-ounce window cleaner – if placed end-to-end, these bottles would wrap around the earth more than 18 times! The reduction in waste and chemicals when buying one starter kit is equivalent to planting 10 trees!

Predictions show that all our US landfills will reach capacity by 2050. Once this happens our planet may start to look like it did in Wall-E! Besides cleaners, start looking at packaging and buy items that use less and try to recycle the packaging you can! 

 

Green Cleaners – Health Benefits

This is by far the green area I am most passionate about! I think because just by changing brands you can do so much to make the planet and your family healthier! A lot of people are unaware of the dangerous chemicals in traditional cleaners. Sloan Barnett likes to call this the “Real Dirt on Clean” on her book “Green Goes with Everything.” Some facts she discusses include:

- Fewer than 20% of registered chemicals have been tested for toxicity
- 90% of all poison exposure occur at home
-  90% of our time is spent indoors, where the EPA reports air pollution is up to 5 times higher than outside
- 1 out of every 13 school-aged children has asthma (up 160% since 1980)
- Common household cleaners and appliances give off fumes which can potentially increase the risk of children developing asthma

Here are 2 clips with Sloan talking about the hazards of traditional cleaners and why it is important to use green alternatives:

Reusable Water Bottles

So if we aren’t supposed to buy bottled water, what should I do? 

Some Eco-Friendly companies have the answer. Not everyone is thrilled about the idea of lugging around a reusable water bottle, and I’m not going to sugar coat it for any of you…get used to it! Many companies offer some great reusable bottles, you just need to find the one that is right for you. I would highly recommend aluminum bottles because they are lightweight and recyclable, and if not recycled it will eventually breakdown in a landfill. My recommendation:

SIGG - Choose the SIGG style which matches your style. Express your originality and enjoy the functionality and quality of Swiss design with our SIGG Lifestyle Water Bottle collection! Designed to fit your on-the-go lifestyle, our ultra lightweight water bottles are available in a wide array of colors and designs, allowing you to choose the one that best fits your personality.

Bottled Water = Bad News

I am working on a strategic communications project for a class and I chose to research bottled water. I live in DC and one day I was walking by a garbage can and noticed the majority of the overflowing trash was bottled water. It caught my attention and for a couple weeks made a conscious of looking to see how many people buy bottled water. I would guess that we all have at some point. It is easy, convenient, and a necessity for life. So if we are thirsty we pop into the nearest store and buy a bottle of water anywhere from $.89 – $3.00. I remember my grandpa joking when I was younger that someday water won’t even be free! Well guess what gramps, you guessed right!

So why is it that Americans consume approximately 160 bottles of water each every year? Well because most think it is safer than tap water, National Water Quality Association, 56% of all people are worried about the quality of municipally treated tap water. Another reason might be because we don’t want to carry a water bottle around each day, or we forget to. When Nalgene water bottles were first made, I saw many people carrying them everywhere. But after the BPA scare many don’t think water bottles are safe either.

So what is our motivation to change? Here are some facts that might make you think twice about buying bottled water:

- Plastic bottle can take up to 1,000 years before they begin to decompose
- 8 out of 10 plastic bottles become landfill waste    
- 90% of the cost is in the bottle, lid and label 
- It takes over 1.5 million barrels of oil to manufacture a year’s supply of bottled water, enough to fuel 100,000 cars  
- Plastic bottles are one of the most prevalent sources of pollution on our beaches
- Like all plastic, these bottles will be us forever since plastic does not biodegrade; rather it breaks into smaller and smaller toxic bits that contaminate our soil and waterway
- All of the U.S.’s 2,216 landfills will reach capacity by 2050
- Compared to a liter of tap water, producing a liter of bottled water requires as much as 2,000 times more energy 

I don’t mean to use scare tactics on you, but these are very scary facts that marketers don’t tell us about. I urge you to make a conscious effort this month to change your water drinking habits, or at least become more aware about how can make changes in the future!

 

Earth Day Becomes Earth Month

Earth Day was created in the 1970s by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, an environmental activist. Earth is celebrated on April 22 in over 150 countries. Nelson say it as a day to take political action for a better environment. Now Earth day has become much more than that, but why?

I am doing my thesis on how environmental movement started as a social movement and now is a consumer movement. Good or bad, it is a reality. A social movement engages people to change policy, a consumer movement encourages buyers to buy a certain way. So in basic terms it is carbon-emission policy vs. buying green. What gets more headlines? Which has had more success?

A recent study done my Cone Inc. reported:

- American interest in the environment has gone up 35% in the last year
- 34% of Americans say they are more likely to buy environmentally friendly pro

ducts
- 35% feel that companies should sell more environmentally friendly products
- 85% think that companies should show their support for the environment year round

Not really that surprising considering the amount of advertising for green products right now. It seems like most companies have come out with an environmentally friendly stance or product line. But will it all just disappear when the green fad ends? 

I would like to encourage you to assess your life and decide why if you want to live more environmentally friendly? I’m not advocating for you to sell your car and bike everyday, or stop using electricity. I am talking about awareness. Be more aware of the alternatives and ask yourself, “Is this product really better for the environment?”

I will be celebrating Earth Day all month long! I hope you join me!