Tag: environment

Ditch Tampons – Sustainable and Healthy Menstrual Cycle Tips

Let’s be real. No one looks forward to getting their period. In all honesty, the entire process is a messy, unpleasant business that leads to overflowing trash cans and last minute runs to the store to stock up on more panty liners. At the end of every cycle it’s all you can do to let out a sigh of relief while waiting for the next visit to strike in a matter of weeks.

If you think the pain of this disposal will only be felt by your trash can, think again. Your period is more expensive than you know. Spending just $5 a month on disposable period products (a very conservative estimate) will cost you close to $3,000 over the course of your menstruating life. My guess is that there are plenty of ways you’d rather spend your hard earned cash than dumping it in the bin.

The Environment and Your Tampon: A Bad Combination

But there’s more to worry about with your period than staining your favorite pair of underwear. In truth, your easy access to modern period-care products is coming at a sinister cost for the environment. The average woman uses more than 16,000 pads and tampons throughout her lifetime, creating more than 300 pounds of plastic that will never truly go away. Multiply that figure by the 3.5 billion woman on the planet today, and you have roughly 12 billion sanitary pads and 7 billion tampons winding up in landfills every year. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to realize this is a major problem.

The problems with your period products go far beyond their disposal issues. It turns out that many pads contain special chemicals that make them extremely efficient at absorbing fluids, often up to 10 times over their weight. While this is a great way to keep leaks in check, these chemicals come in some crazy combinations, and far too little research has been conducted concerning their effects on the environment, much less your body. Until these chemicals can be thoroughly studied (which is unlikely to happen anytime soon), your best solution is to keep them away from your skin.

Cotton Is Not Your Friend. Here’s Why.

Cotton commercials are amazing, aren’t they? Pretty women dancing in snow-white fields, their cotton skirts twirling in perfect sync with them. Life would certainly be better if this was an accurate depiction of the cotton industry, but the truth couldn’t be more different. Most tampons actually contain rayon, not cotton (a synthetic fiber that is known for drying out the vaginal wall), but the ones made from cotton are hardly better.

In fact, cotton is one of the dirtiest GMO crops on the planet. Four out of the five common pesticides used on cotton have been found to have adverse environmental impacts, and Aldicarb, a common insecticide, is known for being a real nightmare for the natural world when it mixes with wildlife and wetland systems. If these growing conditions aren’t bad enough, commercial cotton goes through some equally damaging post-processing that leaves it chlorinated, bleached, and re-treated with pesticides before you get the pleasure of putting it next to one of the most intimate parts of your body.

Putting Your Body at Risk For No Good Reason

There are an awful lot of weird plastics in pads and tampons, many of which contain chemicals that no one fully understands. Some of these chemicals, like BPA and BPS have been found to change the ways that embryos develop in the womb while also increasing your risk of developing certain types of cancer and even heart disease. Phtalates, a chemical found in many tampons, has been known to affect the way the body expresses genes, and it has occasionally even lead to organ failure.

Take a moment to think about the logic of placing plastic-based, largely untested synthetic products right at the most sensitive part of your body. There’s no way to justify it! The skin around female reproductive organs is extremely thin, meaning your blood vessels run right up against the surface. Skin is surprisingly permeable, which makes it simple for the synthetic chemicals in your pads and tampons to be absorbed into your bloodstream and travel throughout your body. In the same way that a tobacco patch floods your bloodstream with a taste of nicotine, your synthetic pads are slowly leaking a cocktail of chemicals into every corner of your body.

Choosing Natural Alternatives For Your Period

When you look at the facts, there’s not a lot to like about conventional period products. However, the good news is that companies around the world have woken up to this fact and have created a vast array of alternative products that keep your body safe while reducing your impact on the environment. Best of all, most of these products are reusable for months, even years, meaning that you’ll save gobs of money after your one-time investment to buy them.

Are you ready to ditch your disposables and enjoy some alternative period products? Here are some of the latest options.

Period-Safe Underwear

Sometimes it takes a little out of the box thinking to find the best period solution for you. Thankfully, many clothing companies are doing just that, and innovative new underwear is beginning to change the game for good. THINX underwear is designed to be period safe, and its built with an absorbent layer that keeps leaks in check all day long. Different pairs even have different absorbency levels, meaning it’s possible to wear underwear with the carrying capacity of two tampons. Because they look and feel just like any other pair of underwear, period safe undies are a comfortable, discrete way to keep your cycle in check.

Reusable Pads

The idea might sound gross at first, but hear it out. Reusable pads are as simple as they seem; they are cloth (often organic cotton) pads that can be washed between uses to keep you stocked up for every occasion. Not only are reusable pads often more absorbent than regular ones, they are far more comfortable. In most cases, reusable pads come in three pieces that include a holder and two inserts, making it simple to change up the absorbency depending on how heavy your cycle is. While it costs a lot to buy enough reusable pads to last throughout your entire period, the money you spend is a one-time investment because these pads can be used for years to come without any extra expense.

While these pads are handy to have available, a big disadvantage is that they need to be carefully washed. Before tossing the liners into the washing machine, they need to be soaked in cold water, and if you find yourself putting off laundry, day you might come up short on supplies by the end of your period.

Menstrual Cups

If you haven’t already been introduced into the wonderful world of menstrual cups, be prepared to change the way you deal with your period forever. While they look like a simple substitute for tampons, menstrual cups are actually far more useful. There are plenty of brands of menstrual cups available, but in most cases they are silicone cups that are easy to fold up and insert right at the base of the vagina. When inserted, menstrual cups create a seal that keeps them in place and allows them to collect period blood without leaking for up to twelve hours. When the cup needs to get changed, all you need to do is pull it out, empty it in the toilet, wash it out and stick it right back in. After a few uses, most women find their menstrual cups as simple to use as tampons once were- and far more convenient.

When you use a menstrual cup, your purse will never again be filled with annoying tampons, and you’ll never need to worry about getting caught unprepared. Small, easily packable and simple to wash at the end of your period, you’ll never want to switch back to regular products. Best of all, most cups cost less than $30 and will last a decade or more. Your wallet will be fuller and landfills will stay a little emptier, thanks to the fact that your dirty pads are no longer landing in them.

Softcups Cups

If you’re eager to try out a tampon alternative but aren’t sure you’re ready to commit for the next ten years, a Softcup is a smart option for trying them out. Like most menstrual cups, softcups are flexible menstrual discs that are worn right at the base of your cervix. Rather than absorbing your flow like a tampon does, softcups collect it and can be dumped out when they get full. Unlike other menstrual cups though, softcups are single use.

While you won’t be reducing as much trash as you would from sticking to strictly reusable products, softcups are a great in-between menstrual option that will allow you to experiment with alternatives without investing in pricy products. Also, because they are made from medical grade material made with elastomers, they eliminate any chance of developing toxic shock syndrome. Best of all, softcups can be worn for more than 12 hours, making it effortless to go hours without thinking about your period.

Conclusion

There’s no reason to pollute the planet every month just because you’re on your period. There are plenty of alternatives to conventional menstrual products that are made from natural products, reusable for years, and so comfortable you’ll forget you’re even on your period. If you’re ready to try out some alternatives to your icky pads and dangerous tampons, take the time to give some of these alternatives a try.

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5 Ideas to Help Kids Love the Outdoors

(NaturalPapa – Mike Freiberg) One of the best ways to ensure that your kids stay active and healthy is to instill a love for the outdoors. If you find yourself having to kick your kids out the door to keep them away from the TV and computer, try these ideas to make being outside and enjoying nature a more regular, effortless part of your kids’ lives.

1. Teach them how to have fun outside

When my boys were younger, the complaint I heard constantly was, “But there’s nothing to do outside!” I realized that I needed to show them some of the fun that was out there to be had, so we spent time camping, fishing, riding bikes, and playing simple outdoor games.

Kids don’t instinctively know all the traditions and culture that grown-ups take for granted, but by teaching them to be capable outdoorsmen-and-women, dads can alleviate some of the struggle of pushing them to play outside. If you’re a little insecure in your outdoor skills, make technology work for you – there’s an endless supply of online resources for you and your kids to develop wilderness skills.

2. Make the natural world a place for learning

Kids love to learn about the world around them – and the more you understand about nature, the more exciting it becomes. My boys love Animal Planet, but it took some work to convince them that the plants and animals in their proverbial backyard were as interesting as what goes on in Africa or the Amazon. For them, the turning point was the anthill in the backyard. When we talked about the way ants socialize and communicate, and the billions of connections that they need to survive, suddenly our backyard was a pretty cool place to be.

Project Noah is a good resource for teaching kids about local wildlife – it provides fun facts and identifying characteristics for thousands of animals, and even allows kids to contribute to ongoing zoological research.

3. Find what’s exciting about your part of the world

Even if you don’t have big mountains or beaches in your neighborhood, there’s always something beautiful to discover. It might take a little more work if you live in an area without a lot of natural green-space, but you can check Google Earth, or your state’s park listings for information on the closest wilderness areas. Kids are great at finding natural wonder, so it doesn’t need to be the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls—a local creek or pond can be enough to get them excited.

4. Love the outdoors yourself

Practicing what you preach may be the hardest part about getting your kids outside. It’s easy to think that you don’t have time amid grown-up concerns to get out in nature, but it’s tough to impose priorities on kids if you aren’t willing to get involved yourself. Not only will it be easier to get kids outside if they see you enjoying the outdoors, but it will also do wonders for your own peace of mind. Make it a personal mission to spend more time outside; kids don’t push easily, but they love to follow a good example.

5. Have fun backyard activities

The days of letting kids play out in the street until sundown may be behind us, but your backyard can be a great place for kids to play when you can’t be right with them to supervise. Make your backyard a fun place to be; build a sandbox, a swing, or a treehouse.

Most of those projects are a lot easier than they look—a sandbox can be as simple as four railroad ties and a couple bags of sand. You can make swings easily with rope, old benches, and a sturdy bough of a tree. A treehouse is a little bit more work, but you don’t need to be an engineering genius to make it happen. Overall, think about what you had as a kid (or what you wish you’d had), and do what you can to make it a reality for your kids.

6 Things in Your Home That Are Unintentionally Making Your Family Sick

Carpet

Homes are meant to make a family feel safe, secure, and together. While many people take steps to ensure that their homes are clean and healthy places, there are several considerations you may be overlooking in your endeavors to keep your family healthy. Check out these six areas in your home that might accidentally be causing problems for your family.

Carpeting is a household staple. But carpeting might be making your family feel sick. For one, carpet traps pollen, pet dander, dust mites, and other allergens. Some carpet materials also give off volatile organic compounds. These compounds evaporate and are inhaled, which can cause respiratory problems. Volatile organic compounds don’t just appear in carpeting, either.

To eliminate the problem, furnish your home with items that don’t contain volatile organic compounds by asking at the furniture store. Buy thinner carpeting and keep your home well ventilated.

Dust Mites

Most people with dust allergies are actually allergic to dust mites. The microscopic critters like warm weather and high humidity. When they die, they tend to collect in fabric-based furniture and accessories, like beds, pillows, couches, and the like. So if you or anyone in your family experiences allergy symptoms outside of the typical allergy season, the reaction may be to a dust mite allergy.

There are several steps you can take to reduce the number of dust mites in your home, including keeping your humidity down, regularly washing your linens in hot water, and getting rid of bedroom carpeting.

Drinking Water

The EPA regulates and protects clean drinking water, so most people feel it’s safe to drink straight from the tap. But even with the EPA’s involvement, drinking water may not be as clear of contaminates as we’d like to believe. Trace amounts of pharmaceuticals, like ibuprofen and anticonvulsants, have been found in metropolitan water supplies.

The simple workaround might appear to be to drink water out of bottles, but a lot of water bottles are actually filled with tap water that hasn’t been filtered for these specific contaminates. Consider instead water filtration for the whole house, which has the added bonus of preventing the plastic waste that comes from drinking water out of bottles.

Carbon Monoxide

Most homes have smoke detectors that alert you to the presence of smoke in your house. But unless your smoke alarm specifically also features a carbon monoxide detection system, the dangerous gas might be present in your home without your knowledge. Carbon monoxide is odorless, colorless, and has many common household sources like gas heaters, furnaces, dryers, fireplaces, motor vehicles, and more. To protect your family, make sure carbon monoxide producing devices are properly ventilated, and purchase a detector.

Mothballs

Fumigants are what make mothballs so useful against pests. Mothballs contain chemicals that release into the air and kill pests at high enough doses. But these high doses of chemicals can also be harmful to humans. The side-effects of inhaling these chemicals include dizziness, headaches, vomiting, difficulty breathing, and red blood cell loss. Next time you need to take care of creepy crawly pests, safer ways to treat the problem exist. You can eliminate moths without resorting to mothballs.

Refrigerator

Your refrigerator might also contribute to making your family ill. A packed fridge with incorrectly stored food can end up growing things that cause food poisoning. Plus, if the temperature is off, by even a little bit, it only makes matters worse. Keep your cooked and uncooked foods well away from each other, especially meats. Clean the interior of your fridge regularly. Find out what temperature your fridge should be and check it often.

While checking for mold and having a working smoke detector seem like obvious ways to keep your house clean and your family healthy, you may be overlooking some subtler aspects of the equation. Some of these issues, like dust mites, the refrigerator, and carpeting, aren’t deathly serious, others like carbon monoxide and mothballs can cause serious health problems, especially with prolonged exposure. Thankfully most of these areas are easy to take care of with a little diligence.