In Celebration of National Water Quality Month

The following post is by Herban Lifestyle interns, Maggie Mascarenhas and Chelsie Lawrence.

August is National Water Quality Month, so we will be dedicating the next few weeks to posting tips on easy ways to conserve and protect our most precious element!  We also thought it would be fun to share with you some of the ways that we at Herban Lifestyle strive to do our part to save water.

Our Products
Herban Lifestyle products are free of chemical preservatives like parabens and phthalates, which are known endocrine disruptors (hormone-mimicking compounds that interfere with your body’s normal hormone function stimulating cancer development and triggering immunity, fertility, metabolic, developmental and cognitive problems). Endocrine disrupting chemicals can be found in a wide variety of personal care products, cleaning products, toys and even food. Not only are these chemicals bad for human health, but when we use them, they end up in our water systems, polluting the water and causing health problems for fish and amphibians.

All of our plant-based ingredients are carefully screened to make sure they are grown without pesticides, which prevents water pollution through runoff from the farms where they are grown. By preserving these water systems, we not only protect the animals that call these systems home, but also help ensure that future generations of people will have clean water to drink. And since all of our products are made with natural ingredients, such as certified organic vegetable oil, instead of harsh chemicals, they are all completely biodegradable.

Our Process
Our rain barrel captures waters for our gardens, we use ENERGY STAR appliances (ENERGY STAR qualified dishwashers save, on average, 1,300 gallons of water over their lifetime), we filter water for drinking rather than buying bottled water, and we don’t make water-based products (which saves water, uses less packaging, costs less to ship and negates the need for preservatives).

Our 55-gallon rain barrel

Our Suppliers
At Herban Lifestyle we carefully research our suppliers to make sure that they use environmentally sustainable practices, including water conservation. One of our main essential oil suppliers, Mountain Rose Herbs, is also a Green America Gold Certified company and embraces sustainability and environmentally responsible manufacturing processes. The Mountain Rose Herb River Project, for example, focuses on cleaning and sustaining river ecosystems, stream health, and fish habitats. By only using suppliers that adhere to a strict standard of water conservation and preservation, we further cut down on our water waste and help minimize water pollution.

We realize there is always more that we can do to protect this most precious of commodities. What are some of your favorite water-saving/preserving tips?

Cleaning Up the Greenwash

The following post is by Katie Peige, Herban Lifestyle’s Sustainability Associate.

Back in July, I moved back to Arizona and I’m now newest member of the my Econista friend’s household. With the move came a shift of my lifestyle to the greener side of things, one of them being greener household cleaners. Basically the only things we use are vinegar, baking soda, and thieves all purpose cleaner.

More people are using natural cleaning methods because most cleaning products on the market contain chemicals and toxins that create indoor air pollution and can lead to health side effects such as lung damage.

Because there is no industry certification for what is “natural” or “eco-friendly” or “healthy,” household cleaner manufacturers can get away with greenwashing their products. So the Environmental Working Group (EWG) launched their “Online Guide to Healthy Cleaning” a few weeks ago, to let consumers have a better idea of what’s in their products and what effects these products might have on their consumers. Unlike food and cosmetics, it is not required that cleaning products list all of their ingredients, so EWG had to do some real digging to determine the full ingredient lists.

Like EWG’s Skin Deep Database, the Online Guide to Healthy Cleaning really surprised me with the items that got a bad grade. Here’s an example: When I think toxic cleaners for some reason the first thing that popped into my head was Windex. So I typed in Windex, expecting to have a bad grade come up, which it did. Windex Original Glass Cleaner got the grade of D, so did Windex Nature’s Source Glass Cleaner and Windex Multi-Surface Vinegar Cleaner. So I wanted to try a more eco brand, thinking for sure the eco brand would get a better score. I looked at Seventh Generation’s window cleaner, Natural Glass & Surface Cleaner, Free & Clear, the score was better, but not by much, with a C grade, mainly because of the ingredient methylisothiazolinone. Frustrated, I clicked on the category “Glass/ Window Cleaner” to see who could best the C grade. Turns out of the 49 glass cleaners out there, 4 received an A: Simple Green Naturals Glass & Surface Care, Rosemary Mint; Whole Foods Market glass cleaner, unscented; Green Shield Organic Glass Cleaner, Fresh; and Citra-Solv Citra Clear Window & Glass Cleaner.

For the record, there are simple homemade DIY recipes out there, including pure vinegar; you can check them out here. Or try our Four Thieves Vinegar or All-Purpose Cleaner recipes! Happy Non-toxic cleaning everyone! Have any favorites?