Do you love following the latest trends? Then pull up a chair and have a seat: I've got the in on some insanely big trends coming to the green beauty industry. Green beauty is great because you don't have to worry about any synthetic ingredients in your products. Here are three green beauty trends to look out for.
You’ve heard about the wonders of coconuts and coconut oil, but which to choose? Refined, naturally refined, unrefined, virgin, cold pressed, expeller pressed, “100% pure”…Is there a difference? If there is, do these differences affect our health?
Are you as sensitive to regular, conventional perfume as I am? I literally start to sneeze whenever I catch a whiff of it. Even if it smells nice, it's as if my body knows it's all artificial and reacts to it. My nose has always been this way, even before I knew what the term “green beauty” meant. I guess it was just destiny (and a sensitive nose) that led me to more natural, greener beauty options.
The kitchen has become more than just a space in which to prepare the next meal. Today (unlike in the past, when the kitchen was more functional than for entertaining), the kitchen is central to the home; a gathering place. And likewise, the kitchen is an expression of one’s style and values. Some folks love a sleek design, others a more country kitchen style.
Plastic and plastic byproducts can take hundreds of years to decompose...IF they ever decompose at all. Toothbrushes, toilet bowl scrubbers, and towel racks are just a few items that are generally made from plastic or a plastic byproduct. I bet there are tons of pounds of those items alone all over the planet. There are always other options!
Looking for more natural ways to wash those dirty clothes? Try organic soap nuts! Soap nuts, otherwise known as “soap berries," come from the Chinese Soapberry tree (Sapindus mukorossi). Although they look like nuts, they are actually dried fruit that is similar to lychee. Soap nuts are usually harvested after they drop from trees grown in the jungles of Indonesia or India. Soap nuts have various uses, and they can be used for cleaning more than just your laundry.
As we discussed in part one of Solar Panels: A Beginner’s Guide, solar panels and solar systems can be very simple but at the same time very complex. A simple system is designed to take the power produced by the sun and absorb it into the solar panels.
Not long ago, I was digging through my cupboards looking for some protein to add to a meal. I came across a can of black-eyed peas and thought I was in luck—that is, until I saw the expiration date. Two years ago! Instinctively, I reached to put the can in the trash.
But wait. Isn’t canned food supposed to last forever?
Thirty years ago and about eighteen miles from Aspen, Colorado, Jerome Osentowski built a “hoop house,” a tunnel made of polyethylene that heats up due to solar radiation. He had in mind a greenhouse and kept adding to it with recycled steel and other materials. Over the years, his original hoop house design expanded into five greenhouses that now produce food via climates ranging from Zones 6 through 12.
In our fast-changing world, evidence of climate change, the need for sustainable practices, and concern for local environments are always intertwined with economics. Entrepreneurs and scientists who are consistently searching for alternatives to fossil fuels and natural gas have toyed with one idea—algae biofuels.