With freedom, books, flowers, and the moon, who could not be happy?
Oscar Wilde
This past week I got two separate texts asking for my advice on what natural deodorant to use. Although this seems random and oddly personal, this is neither new nor strange behavior to me – I am often fielding texts, emails and questions from others on what my personal sustainable habits are, and/or why it is important in the first place.
To answer this first inquiry – you can make your own deodorant with coconut oil-based recipes like this one by Trash Is For Tossers, removing the baking soda if it irritates your skin. For insight and trustworthy brands I turn to sources like this article by Kris Carr, or organizations like Environmental Working Group.
Making sure our bodies are safe from chemicals goes well beyond un-stinking our pits, though, which is why I fell down an earth-conscious rabbit hole when I first became interested in this topic beginning with food and fashion, then to home, bathroom, skincare, cleaning products, and travel.
There was not a time and place where I made a solid commitment to environmental protection, it is more-so an ongoing evolution of educating myself and responding accordingly. Although I am not completely trash-free like this lovely Brooklynite, I am obviously doing something to attract the attention of friends and family who notice my efforts to take care of myself, others, and the planet.
My personal interest and actions stemmed from a deep love of animals, which led to making more conscious choices about things like eating more plants, purchasing organic food, and discovering less harmful or wasteful clothing options.
I have mentioned before that all of these lifestyle practices go hand in hand – just like we choose clean ingredients for our food to help sustain our internal bodies, we can do the same for materials used in skin or haircare and clothing for our external bodies. When we make choices to care for our bodies in this way, it supports the planet, and the cycle continues. We cannot have one without the other.
So why are my friends interested in chemical-free deodorant, even though we live in a metropolitan city with everything at our literal disposal? Probably because of all of the studies that continue to surface about how these ingredients, many of which are banned in other countries, affect everything from our hormones to our nervous system to the ecosystem as a whole.
Deodorant is not the only offender here – disruption of our bodies and the planet can come from pesticides used on crops, including cotton, which end up in water runoff and is absorbed not just into our skin and soil but also the air we breathe, and so on. We all know that sometimes animals are abused for testing purposes, and often undesirable side effects occur as listed pharmaceutical commercials.
This is all reason enough to shift our habits, but it is not always easy to breakup with our beloved products in favor of the new, possibly unfamiliar territory of more earth-friendly options. We are constantly enticed by the media, which makes us feel like we must consume in order to feel like part of our culture.
I can tell you that I have also had my fair share of challenges, whether it was judging myself for accepting takeout in a styrofoam container, or in relating to other people who do not share my point of view, which can understandably make one feel like an outsider because of an alternative approach to consuming and living. The bigger picture for me, though, is much more important than feeling accepted, or being less of a pain when I order out at restaurants, which is just a personal perception anyway.
That being said, over the course of the past couple of years I have learned to love my lifestyle and my choices so much that concerns or skepticism from others have started to more easily slide off of my shoulders. I have figured out unique methods, and how to have fun with the way I choose to support the environment. Because I took charge in making choices based on my own values, instead of feeling limited I feel more liberated than ever.
I have found New York and Brooklyn to be incredibly supportive of my chosen lifestyle, even though it is a large city packed with to-go containers and obscene amounts of trash. That aside, many restaurants have admirable initiatives that support local farmers, including ways of minimizing waste and giving back to underprivileged communities or the environment.
Most of you know about my deep love for my local greenmarket, of which there are several around the city and the state of New York. We have eateries like Dig Inn and sweetgreen that use compostable utensils, and spaces like Primary are opting for more sustainable building solutions. There are even eco-friendly pest control companies – even the most mindful of us cannot make peace with roaches.
Whether you live in a city, suburb or beach house – consider these sustainable swaps to begin making more earth-conscious choices for your mind, body, and planet, which can all be found at your local health food store, online like Thrive Market, or your farmer’s market:
To-go bottles and cups | reusable bottles, jars, or mugs.
Disposable utensils | compostable or bamboo utensils, rags or tea towels.
Packaged goods | brands who use recyclable/compostable packaging, shopping bulk food bins with reusable bags/containers.
Plastic bags | bring your own [smaller ones for produce, bigger ones for all of the things].
Paper bags/products | bring your own bag or use it for compost in your freezer, choose unbleached/post-consumer recycled paper products.
Shoes | revisit your closet, buy refurbished [clean of course], resole broken shoes, wear ’till ya can’t, planet-friendly options like Allbirds.
Clothing | shop your closet, buy second-hand, choose long term investment pieces, support eco-friendly fabric companies like PACT and Hyde.
House Cleaning | chemical free, homemade, products like Seventh Generation.
Home | organic/eco materials like Coyuchi linens, vintage or flea market furniture finds, reuse until it breaks, resell or repurpose, wall paint like Ecos.
Skin + Hair | organic when possible, simple/homemade [coconut oil is a miracle], brands like Acure.
Makeup | organic when possible, simple/homemade, go minimal, brands like Juice Beauty.
Food | farmers markets/local, organic/fair trade, unpackaged, compost food waste, ethical and earth-friendly restaurants that prioritize sourcing fresh and local like sweetgreen.
Takeout | meal delivery services like Sakara, prepped meal deliveries like Green Chef, companies who use compostable utensils, ask to omit utensils/plastic bags.
Miscellaneous | search for things like eco-friendly art supplies or toys in stores like Whole Foods, get creative and DIY with things you have on-hand at home.
When in doubt: do your research, ask around [I am here for you!], source responsibly, and just keep it simple. Often we think we need more than we do, and when we look a little closer we realize we have much of what we need already, including ingredients already in our pantry that might make our pits a little less stinky.
What do you do to make sustainable choices in a big [or small] city, and how does it affect your lifestyle?
Photo: wearing Hyde organic apparel, with my retreat co-leader Giulia Pline, photographed in NYC by Renee Choi.
No Comments