More eco products for the home on a low budget

Hello fellow pagans!

Normally living off of the smell of an oily rag means that how you spend your money is better for the environment (a) because you are consuming less in general and (b) because often the products that you do use can be used in various ways.  What may be missing from the general household are products that are also biodegradable and are grey water safe for your garden.

Here are a few tips and tricks to keep you going...

What's in the image below

Poppy Seeds: An amazing exfoliant which means that you won't be using horrible products with plastic beads in them which are terrible for the environment.  Great to use on the face once a week.
Face washer: I wet the face and polish it in the morning only with a face washer, then use my face wash after that.
Bi Carb soda: A very fine exfoliant to use once daily if you need finer work done on the face.  Also great in combination with vinegar to clean areas of the house.
Lavender oil: Pure 100% is great for blemishes.
Apple cider vinegar: can be used as a toner for the face
Dr Bronner's Castile Soap: An incredible cleaner for the house (one part soap to 40 parts water), it's three times more effective than soap.  Great to use once a week on your hair before putting a treatment through, but don't use much, it's very drying.  It has fair trade ingredients, is biodegradable, vegetable based and can also be used about the home in your washing machine (1/4 cup to 1/3 cup for a regular load) and even to brush your teeth with.
Enviro Care Sensitive Body and Hair Cleanser + Enviro Care Hair Conditioner and Treatment: this stuff is fantastic.  You can use the body & hair cleanser for bubble bath and it's safe for babies.  Both products are biodegradable and grey water safe.  You can grab them from Eco Office Supplies online.

What's not in the above image - unpackaged products from Lush:
Lush sell solid shampoo bars which are free of packaging and great for travelling.  They also have 'toothy tabs' which are solid pills of toothpaste - also free of packaging.

Remember that stationery energy makes up for the majority of carbon emissions in the home - get onto it!

)O( Elspeth

Eco tip of the week: snap lock bags for your food storage

It sounds simple, right?  All you need do is buy a 50 pack of snap lock plastic food bags which you can clean out after each use.  You can freeze portions of food, including bread, store refridgerated items and separate your lunch box goods using them.  You'll find many different ways to use them.  Keep the rubber bands from your vegetables to tie them up that little bit tighter if you need to compact the plastic down before sealing the ends.

Image via Burnt Muffin

Fire and ritual: is it ever good for the environment?

Here in Australia, burning off areas of land is a natural process required to help particular flora germinate into the next season - so long as the fire is controlled.  That was certainly much easier for the Australian environment to take before the bulk of its landscape - particularly here in Victoria was deforested.  Before Europeans settled in Australia, the aboriginal people used to burn off areas of land in order to easily track down animals to eat and thus, fire was part and parcel of how the environment rejuvenated itself each year.  Seeds would benefit from this heat and then germinate in the ashen soil.  Naturally, with the environmental concerns of releasing carbon into the air that we don't need I will - on occasion - find myself guilty of just wanting a good old fashioned bon fire to celebrate a Sabbat.  So: do I post this article to make me feel better about burning a good fire and even a candle?  Maybe a little bit!  It has to make you wonder about the magick of ritual and whether we did use this over the years across cultures to 'put heat under' the germination of our seeds for our crops and trees.

A 4,000 year old fire ritual conducted in the remote village in Kerala in April this year has a positive impact on the atmosphere, soil and other environment effects, according to scientists who are now ready with their findings.

The “Athirathram” ritual held on April 4— 15 at Panjal village in Thrissur district was the focus of a detailed study by a team of scientists led by Prof V P N Nampoori, former director of the International School of Photonics, Cochin University of Science and Technology.

The scientists had focused on the fire ritual’s scientific dimensions and impact on the atmosphere, soil and its micro—organisms and other potential environmental effects.

The yagna seems to have accelerated the process of seed germination and also the microbial presence in air, water and soil in and around the region of the fire ritual is vastly diminished, according to a statement released by the Varthathe Trust, who organised the ritual.

Read more at The Hindu

Style and Sustainability

Read more on how to reduce your carbon footprint from the clothes that you wear...


If fashion's eco-warriors had their way, we'd all be wearing our environmentally aware hearts on our organic-fibre, ethically made sleeves. But in between hankering for the latest fad and worrying about its ugly carbon footprint, the conscientious consumer wonders why going green costs the earth...

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/style-and-sustainability-20111028-1mnks.html#ixzz1c9jjtvgF

The Ethical Consumer Guide (Global)

"Keep pure your highest ideals, strive ever toward them." - Charge of the Goddess

Since having started working in environmental conservation, I feel much more inspired to take on more ethical challenges to make sure that I take care of Gaia and honor the concept of the Gaia Hypothesis.

• General Groceries/ Supermarket Shopping: For an all-round guide go to the Ethical Consumer Guide which you can view online - it really is wonderful for all kinds of consumerism as to whether each product is ethically sound environmentally, in regards to animal cruelty, fair trade and how they treat their workers.
• Animal cruelty - a concise list of information: The above is more helpful because it talks about ethical consumerism in general, and if for some reason you are more passionate about/want to know more about which products test on animals go to PETA's Caring Consumer website.
• Aromatherapy products - as mentioned in this previous article, it's incredible what goes on when you're not paying close attention!  I'm letting quite a few of my aromatherapy oils and resins run out because they are unethical to have in my home.  For more info, go to Crop Watch and I will post updates on here for new information/discoveries.

Great companies to purchase from:

• Sanitary products - Wise Woman Pads (Victoria, Australia) and Moon Pads (Tasmania, Australia) - The wonderful makers of cloth sanitary pads to help save the environment.  So long as you wash your moon pads well by soaking them overnight in a bucket then putting them in a laundry bag to wash, they will last up to five years.  Also, if you buy yourself a rubber menstrual cup to replace tampons you'll save even more money over the years from buying additional packets of tampons which absorb moisture away from your body and can cause toxic shock syndrome.  Put your soaking water back onto the garden so that the garden can benefit from your blood.
• Skin and Hair Care - Sukin (Australia) -Skin and Hair Care with no animal testing, a carbon neutral product range and recyclable packaging.  They smell beautiful and provide products that really last.

Cropwatch.org

For more independent research on buying ethical aromatherapy products please go to
www.cropwatch.org


Cropwatch...

• Is an Independent Watchdog for Natural Aromatic Products used in the aroma (: fragrance/cosmetics, flavour, aromatherapy), traditional herbal medicine & phytochemical industries. Many of these natural commodities are under threat via their over-exploitation in the wild (see articles inCropwatch Files section), or their continued use & availability faces uncertainty via the imposition of restrictive & over-precautionary legislation.
   
• Cropwatch's independent stance & expressed opinions can counter-balance information about natural aromatic products obtained from commercial sources, trade magazines & (even) learned journals. The reports & policies of governmental/non-governmental bodies & authorities can often show bias towards corporate concerns, against the wider public interest.
   
• Information provided to Cropwatch is derived from a number of sources e.g. from academics, researchers, aroma industry employees, health industry professionals, ethnobotanists, ethnic peoples and others, all of whom  have primary concerns for natural products & the environment.

Endangered species of plants and their essential oils & resins to boycott - Rosewood, Sandalwood and Frankincense

Yet again I provide another update for the New Age industry to pay serious attention to, and I sadly look at these oils in my collection and feel a sense of sadness over my materialism - another reason not to worry about buying products to affirm your faith.


ROSEWOOD - An endangered species with a violent & corrupt industry history
Apparently rosewood has been an endangered species for decades now, and some articles I've read on the internet state that due to the demand from aromatherapists, this product is still being supplied.  Dalbergia nigra or Brazilian Rosewood, is listed as an endangered species which has a strong, sweet and long lasting smell.


The following information is from a website which begins to talk about the blind demand for Rosewood oil and the roots of its corrupt industry in Brazil:

In mid December 2003 the body of a 27 year old Greenpeace activist was found floating in the Amazon. Emily Craddock was investigating the activities of the illegal loggers operating throughout the Amazon basin. It is believed that she may have fallen overboard. However, as it is believed that loggers had threatened this expedition, investigations are ongoing. It is known that Brazilian campaigners against illegal logging have been threatened with their lives. My respects to Emily and her family, a sad loss to the world at such a young age.

I would just ask those who insist on selling and using rosewood oil to consider this: What you have done is indirectly contribute to the death of the young lady mentioned above. All the excuses the trade come up with about "we only use the sawdust" "we only use the leaves" "we are only tiny users compared to other trades" etc. are hogwash to cover them continuing to trade in endangered species and helping support criminals.

SANDALWOOD AND FRANKINCENSE

Rather than copy and paste the information about the over-harvesting of these plants, I'll direct you straight to the source: 
Aromatherapy School

Please: if you find any articles like this to alert other members of the Wiccan and New Age community, please respond with a link in my comments so that I can do further research.  I'll continue to dig through to see whether there are any more products we ought to look out for.


Love, light & responsibility,
)O( Elspeth.

Rosewood information sources:
Scientific Rosewood names from Wikipedia
Article on Greenpeace activist from Aroma Medical

Airlines take the reigns to make their own biofuel

Relatively un-witchy I know.  Seeing as my 30 Days of Paganism left me bereft of things to write about in regards to environmentalism I thought that I needed to add more to the blog for more discussion and hopefully more household tips in the long term for everyone to contribute less waste and carbon emissions.  So here's a better start!


This is a really exciting article.  Rather than waiting for competing fuel companies to create the biofuel, our airway companies are seeking to make their own fuel rather than waiting for the oil companies to buy out special models of aircraft or the competing fuel companies.  It could also see a great deal of food scraps, green waste (clippings & grass cuttings) and packaging so that the majority of waste created in the home can go towards biofuel.


As fossil fuel dries up and will eventually no longer be available, it excites me that these companies are taking it into their own hands to start making biofuel rather than waiting for anyone else to do it.  It is, however, going to cost a fortune to only fuel 2% of British Airways' aircrafts:


'Solena formed a joint venture with British Airways in February to build a £200 million ($305 million) plant in London by 2014 to turn up to 500,000 tonnes of waste a year into 73 million litres of jet fuel. This would be enough to fuel about 2 per cent of BA's aircraft based at London's Heathrow Airport.'


My mind is drifting off into an idealistic world where we can scoop up the waste currently floating in the ocean and thrown into areas of the earth to reuse purely for fuel.  'Clean Up Australia Day's could be run on a weekly or monthly basis in order to collect enough waste to contribute towards the production of biofuel...  All of which costs money in one way or another.  Too idyllic for words!  What if the airlines paid people to collect rubbish - my head is about to explode.


Read the article here.

Green renters

Aah finally something for someone like me wanting to do something from a rental property:

http://greenrenters.org/

Connect with the environment

Okay, so we need to have something which is actually educational on here. Whilst the woman in the previous article I blasted was not necessarily the worst, most pitiful ambassador for the practice of Wicca she did bring up one very important issue: the environment.

If you're wanting to make a difference, please do some further reading and become proactive about climate change.

One million women
This website is aimed towards Australian women, however why not still join? It aims to help calculate the amount of carbon emissions you make per year so that you can reduce it by one tonne - the aim is to get 1 million women involved to bring down 1 million tonnes of carbon emissions. So far the campaign has 11,083 women behind it and we need more!

Green magazine - free pdf files
The Australian Greens Party releases their own publication, keeping readers informed about climate change and policy implementation to tackle carbon emissions head on.

One million women - Climate Change FAQs
This provides you with the background on the history of climate change and why we need to proactively contribute to cutting it back NOW

Old article that I'm UNhappy about

There is the possibility that all of the wrong statements have been taken by this witch, but I don't like what's been published... Perhaps it was actually a long conversation and they've chosen all of the wrong parts for publication, which the media is notorious for. I've highlighted the two statements which misrepresent Wicca ridiculously. It's a badly researched piece and I don't know why on earth this woman is saying that Wicca is 'largely a protest movement' in relation to the environment... since when was spell-casting a form of protest?! Whilst many witches are Green party members, you can hardly confuse religion with protest. That's like saying that my artwork is a form of protest - even though it's not vaguely political in nature!

'Witchcraft is for the weak and oppressed?' Did I actually read that? Let me just do a double take... oh she did too... Witchcraft has a history of oppression but it has never been designed FOR the weak and oppressed. I have never picked up a book and read that anywhere. You could say that it strengthens souls and replenishes our perspective on life... I understand that she is trying to make it sound like a welcoming religion for the oppressed, but I feel that it has the opposite affect and puts down Wicca. Again, she needs to separate the practice from the issues that come with it: protest is separate to religion, as is the statistic of how many weak and oppressed people come into the Wiccan faith is again separate to the practice itself. The entire section on pagans walks around what we do rather than addressing it.

And I can't help but think: does she believe that ALL women are WEAK and OPPRESSED?

Am I alone here? I find this article to be incredibly badly researched and gives the wrong impression on Wicca.

Blessed Be,

)O( Elspeth

HAVING A SPELL WITH WITCHCRAFT PROVES POPULAR FOR WOMEN

The Sun-Herald

0ctober 16 2005

by Barney Zwartz

Witches and charismatic Christians are leading religious growth in Australia with many women turning to witchcraft or paganism as a reaction against the patriarchal nature of traditional Christianity.

Dr Philip Hughes of the Christian Research Association said the numbers of people participating in nature religions - mostly witchcraft and paganism - rose by 140 per cent between 1996 and 2001. Agnostics were on the rise too, he said.

For many, nature religions were seen as environmentally friendly.

But Dr Hughes said their numbers remained small, with fewer than 25,000 adherents in Australia.

"They are never going to be really numerous as it is largely a protest movement."

Leading witch Caroline Tully says witchcraft is a religion for the weak and oppressed, especially women.

"Actually, I'm surprised the guys haven't taken advantage because there are so many single women," she said.

"There aren't many men, and a lot of them aren't particularly appealing."

Dr Hughes said growth among Pentecostals (such as Sydney's Hillsong Church) had been remarkable, along with ethnically based religions. For example, the Coptic Orthodox Church grew by 83 per cent between 1991 and 2001.

"Immigrants head to the churches in large numbers, even if they did not attend in their homelands," Dr Hughes said. However, he said he discounted fears in some church circles of mass conversions to Islam.

"The number of converts is very small, probably in the realm of less than a thousand or two. Only 2.5 per cent of all Muslims in Australia were born of Australian-born parents and some of these would be grandchildren of immigrants."

About 25,000 Australians identified themselves as Buddhist at the last census. Dr Hughes said young people liked its simplicity and ethics.

He said changes in immigration meant religion was now more diverse. Between 1996 and 2001, Buddhist numbers grew by 79 per cent, Hindus by 42 per cent and Muslims 40 per cent.

But all these groups together were still less than 5 per cent of the population.