The decision to live a sustainable lifestyle doesn't have to be difficult or require a compromise in your daily routine.
Sure, you could convert your home into an earth ship and live off-the-grid, growing your own food on a closed-loop watering system and weave your own clothing, but you can also live a more sustainable lifestyle by simply reevaluating your purchase choices and routines.
Keeping house isn't a thrilling ride that most of us savour, so when it comes to basic maintenance we turn on autopilot and:
- Reach for the same-old tired products that our families used growing up
- Just grab whatever product is cheap and within arms reach of whatever store we happen to be in
- Use the product that was on sale once that you've continued to buy
- Set up an auto subscription to conveniently receive products every few months without a second thought
We get it - if it ain't broke, don't fix it!
But the thing is - it is broken.
The world has drastically changed since the 1950's, and our products need to change, too. We now know that plastic just isn't recyclable the way we were misled to believe, and we have to stop using it as much as possible.
Curiously, there seems to be a prejudice that products which are gentle on the environment are not as effective as artificially or chemically produced products. This often prevents people from even trying something new, but the funny thing is, concentrated cleaners and laundry detergent are an example of "what's old is new again". For generations people used powdered detergents to wash their clothes and made their own cleaners out of common household items like vinegar and baking soda - the thought of purchasing liquid soaps at an inflated price would have had our great-grandmother's shaking their heads.
Luckily, there are some wonderful companies out there making this happen.
Quebec-based company Myni (previously known as Filo) has created a line of all the home cleaners you need, and companies such as Eco Living Club and Tru Earth have stepped up to solve both the plastic waste problem and toxic chemical concerns with conventional laundry detergent.
The innovation of concentrated cleaners, detergents, and soaps have reduced the foot print of products to be less energy intensive in production, in use, and in disposal. Their concentrated formulas are strong and effective, use biodegradable ingredients so as to not harm our water systems, and are great for people living in compact spaces and those with mobility issues. Their light weight and compact design allow for limited packaging, simple transportation logistics, and conservative shelf space, both in stores at in your home.
In case you're not quite sold yet, there are other major social impacts of switching to eco-responsible products. You're reducing your personal ecological footprint as well as sending a message to major companies about what's important to you as a customer. Big companies are not going to change without being forced to - if they see sales dropping, they investigate and put the effort into fixing their products and production process in order to keep in business.
What's more, supporting small local businesses also has a huge impact: Your purchase helps sustain jobs in your community, advances innovation in green technologies, and keeps your local environment clean - from eliminating needless packaging to reducing the carbon footprint that international companies use in transport and storage.
Let's recap:
- Clean home = win!
- No garbage = win!
- Less storage required = win!
- Supports local businesses = win!
- Clean environment = win!
The solutions are here, we just have to choose them!
