Happy Earth Day Beauties! Today we celebrate this gorgeous planet that we live on. Mother Earth nurtures us with invaluable life giving gifts of food, water, air, and abundant beauty. Taking a moment from our busy schedules to take in the breathtaking beauty of nature is calming, healing, and nurturing to our souls.
Watching a sunrise or sunset is uniquely stunning each time. The colorful blossoms each spring, and outstanding autumn leaves bring so much vibrant energy to our lives. The beige, black, and red sand beaches provide so much peace to our bodies. Green filled mountainscapes free our spirits, while open meadows and valleys share the unlimited space with our sky to remind us that there are no boundaries or limitations in our lives while we are living on earth.
When our life is challenging us with unrelenting circumstances, it is nature that heals and balances us while also providing us with clarity and insight if we only give it the opportunity.
The planet needs healing care and detoxing just as our bodies do. Our bodies are actually not that much different than the planet either. When we take care of our bodies for the long run, we have the ability to abundantly live out our life purpose and actually enjoy the process. When we have the philosophy of “we only live once it doesn’t matter” therefore take ill care of our bodies, we usually pay for it down the line in terms of mental frustration, emotional instability, and physical disharmony. On the other hand when we nurture our mental, emotional, and physical bodies, we feel in alignment with life and ourselves, and naturally the same goes for the planet. Mother Earth nurtures us and we much return the favor.
1. Vote Eco-Friendly Daily with Your Money
Whether you believe in the power of voting politically or not, we actually vote with how we spend our money every day. Since our world has decided that money is a prime dictator, we can advocate what we feel is most important based on what we spend our money on daily. Buying organic, sustainable, fair trade, and eco-friendly products and services will create more of a demand for those items and more large companies and corporations will follow suit. I believe that large corporations make changes based on what is lucrative for them. If we do not support corporations who violate people through sweatshops, use animals for cruel animal testing, and abuse the planets resources while also polluting it and us with chemicals and plastics, they will have to change their practices to continue to profit.
2. Support Local Organic Farmers
The food industry is a massive industry simply because as a collective we no longer grow our own food. In many cases we have no idea who grows the food we eat every day. We just buy food from our grocery stores. The people that we come in contact with when we buy our food may have stocked the food on the shelves, yet had no hand in actually growing the food we eat.
If you shop at local farmer’s markets, you can actually meet some of the people who work on the farms and/or work closely with those people who grow the food you eat. You can then support the organic local farmers in your area. Purchasing organic food at farmer’s markets is much more economical anyway. If shopping at farmer’s markets don’t work for your schedule, search for organic produce delivery services in your area, and shop organic at your local grocery stores. It is also vital to your health to eat organic food not only because of pesticides, but to avoid genetically modified foods which is literally eating unknown toxic substances. You can learn more about GMO foods here.
3. Shop Less but also Consignment, Thrift, Fair Trade & Organic
Shopping is time and energy consuming. When I used to shop recreationally and after emotional trauma to feel better, I was actually using up my creative energy in an unhealthy unproductive way. I also wasn’t aware that the things that I was purchasing were only temporary joys cluttering my home.
When I began my minimalist lifestyle journey the winter of 2009, I became more aware of my unhealthy shopping habits. I began downsizing my possessions and therefore not even desiring to shop recreationally. I also began putting more energy into creating content for this site and creating DIY beauty recipes products. My former shopping time and energy was refocused into a creative and sharing website. We all have unique gifts to share with the world!
I still do enjoy shopping. I enjoy shopping consignment and thrift stores to compile my seasonal capsule wardrobe because I know that shopping this way has the lowest carbon footprint on the planet, and the lowest financial imprint on my wallet. I also enjoy purchasing fair trade and organic products that support small businesses and communities who need it. I enjoy sharing my capsule wardrobe and thrifted finds to show you can still look chic shopping consignment. See more on the capsule wardrobe here.
4. Reuse, Recycle & Avoid Excessive Plastic Packaging/Bags
Recycling has become easier to do, yet I like to purchase items in containers that can be reused as well. Many of the glass jars from purchasing Trader’s Joes Organic Virgin Coconut Oil become the containers to store my organic herbs and natural ingredients that I use to make my DIY beauty care products. You can see how I store my herbs and other natural ingredients here. I also use these glass jars as my water bottle.
Avoiding excessive plastic packaging is actually easier to do when you buy fresh organic food. The less processed foods you eat, the less excessive plastic packaged food you will also have. You can use reuseable produce bags like these ones for small produce items. You can also use cute reusable and expandable grocery bags like this or this one everywhere you shop. I keep reusable shopping bags in my car at all times. I am still human though and if I forget, I forgive myself and move on. Keeping a small expandable bag in my purse really does make it easier not forget though.
5. Stop Using Chemicals in Personal Care & Cleaning Products
One of the reasons I stopped using even “natural” hair conditioners is because I realized that even though some of these ingredients in these products were not necessarily toxic to my body, they were in fact polluting our water supply. There really is no such thing as “new” water. The water that we drink, bath, and feel on our skin when it rains is the same water than our ancestors drank, bathed in, and felt on their skin in the rain. The difference is that now we must use special machines, filters, etc. to purify the water the best that we can to make it safe to drink and bath in.
Everything that we use in personal care and cleaning products return into the ecosystem and into our water. Water is so precious, and our planet is unique just because we have water here.
I offer a bunch of suggestions and recipes for natural and organic DIY personal care products for skin, hair, and body. You can see this list by scrolling over DIY in the menu bar at the top of this site. I also share natural non-toxic household cleaning options that are also very easy to make and extremely affordable.
Avoiding chemicals in personal care and cleaning products is crucial for the health of our bodies and also for the health of the planet. Please learn to read ingredients in products and not be swayed by the front label of a product stating that it is organic or natural but also includes many lab created unpronoucable and questionable ingredients. For example I’ve seen many “natural” household cleaners that still contain synthetic detergents.
Mother Earth is a living vibrating entity, just like the people, plants, animals, and other organisms that live on it.
Today is a day to honor our planet and also take the time to acknowledge what changes we can make in our every day lives to keep the earth healthy and thriving. The earth is more of our home than the actual houses that we live in. We can choose to be powerful and protect ourselvers and our earth with the choices that we make daily.
How will you share your love for life and the planet today?
Image by abduzeedo.com
Lana says
April 22, 2014 at 10:44 pmA beautiful, well-rounded post. It’s true nature can bring us so much serenity, and it is imperative to respect and protect it. Like you, I save my glass jars instead of buying Tupperware and now I have a bursting cabinet; I may need to recycle some! I’m always looking for ways to lessen my environmental impact/carbon footprint every day. Buying natural cleaners is expensive, and I’m just now getting into trying to make some of my own. When I run out of the bottle I bought of all purpose cleaner, I’m going to try your recipe and use that bottle! 🙂 do you have more recipes like that you can share? I’d love to see stuff for window cleaner, toilet/tub cleaner, even dish washing liquid? Although I try to buy biodegradable dish washing liquid.
As you know from my other post, I’ve had recent frustrations with my skin and even my hair (it gets so dry throughout the week) so I’m taking the kind advice you gave me and going super simple with it, just doing OCM at night, sunscreen during the day, and on my hair just detangling with store-bought conditioner I’m using up and vinegar, followed by aloe and camellia oil as an (amazing!) styling duo. It seems to be helping me, and the plus is these more simple things will hopefully be better for the environment too!
I will wrap up my (long, sorry!) response by asking 2 more things:
-how can I take shorter showers and use less water? This may seem obvious, but with crazy curly hair and OCM sometimes that takes a lot of water. Hot water in my place is iffy right now too, although I’m hoping it’ll get fixed soon.
-do you have another easy recipe for detangling conditioner? The vinegar is not enough slip, I just use it to get the store bought conditioner off my hair. I tried the rhassoul clay and aloe one, but the clay is too drying for my hair.
Thank you! Happy Earth day! I actually celebrated by buying an entire grocery bag’s worth of local, organic produce from a local farmer. Kale, rainbow chard, beets, mesclun mix, spinach, zuchinni, cucumbers, and micro greens ^_^ yum!
Dawn Michelle says
April 23, 2014 at 7:27 pmHi Lana,
Thank you for your kind words! I will share some more natural DIY household cleaners since I only have one so far on the blog. Some store bought natural cleaners that I use and love are Bon Ami (super inexpensive) which is a powdered cleanser for the sink, tub, toilet, anything that needs scrubbing, etc. and castile soap for dish and laundry soap. I also have found a powdered laundry detergent that lasts a long time too.
In order to not take long showers, I apply my hair products outside of the shower and only rinse and detangle in the shower. I also oil cleanse outside of the shower. I honestly don’t enjoy doing my hair in the shower so try to keep my hair care in the shower as short as possible. Currently I spritz my hair and scalp in sections with a diluted herbal apple cider vinegar rinse, then apply a DIY banana conditioner to my hair on top of the ACV. I originally wrote about using bananas for a conditoner in this article. It provides amazing slip, curl definition, and is moisturizing. I then rinse and detangle under running water and style as usual afterwards.
Hope this helps!
Tracy says
April 22, 2014 at 11:49 pmWhat a fabulous idea to make resolutions to honor Eartht Day. So insightful and beautifully written. If you don’t mind I think I will steal your resolutions for myself. For Earth Day I planted an herb garden and started some container fruit trees. Cant wait to start using my own herbs.
Dawn Michelle says
April 23, 2014 at 7:33 pmHi Tracy,
Thanks so much! Yes definitely use these resolutions or create others for yourself that honor the earth. I love that you have planted an herb garden! What kind of containers did you use for your fruit trees? I have so much to learn about growing my own herbs and organic food and love learning what others are doing.
Have a beautiful day!
Hazel says
April 23, 2014 at 5:23 amVery eloquently put! Love reading your blog.
Dawn Michelle says
April 23, 2014 at 7:43 pmHi Hazel,
Thank you so much! I hope you are having a beautiful day!
Tracy says
April 24, 2014 at 4:50 amHi Dawn Michelle,
I usually always use old terra cotta pots for planting, they are good at “breathing” so theres never too much or too little water being absorbed or held in the bottom of the container. I always keep a broken one and use the pieces to cover the holes in the bottom of the other pots to help keep the soil in and the water from draining too quickly. They last forever and I just keep reusing them over and over. For the trees I used some plastic liners, the ones plants come in when you buy them, so they wouldnt be too heavy to move around. Happy Planting!
Dawn Michelle says
April 25, 2014 at 10:25 amHi Tracy,
Thanks so much for sharing this!