Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Earth Day 2009


I like to think of everyday as Earth Day. Don't get me wrong; I'm not a tree hugging, patchouli wearing, long haired, underemployed hippie. However, some would think I have some of those tendencies.

I recycle, because it makes sense to me. I ride a bike to work and to the grocery store, because it makes sense to me. I use the bus at times, when it makes sense to me. I'm vegan, because it makes sense to me.

I like the idea of reserving a day and reminding everyone about environmental stewardship. Just like Halloween, you could say that it's gotten way too commercial. I did, however, make a conscious decision on this Earth Day to alter a habit this week.

All my adult life, I've used liquid laundry soap. Last week I bought powered laundry soap. It seems to be a little cheaper per load, but I think the main advantage is the reduced waste. The soap comes in a cardboard box, which would seem easier to recycle than the hard plastic jug that the liquid soap comes in. Certainly you can take a special refillable jug into Whole Foods. I also recall Omaha had a natural foods co-op at one time where you could buy liquid soap in bulk. I'm not sure if there's anywhere else to buy bulk soap.

Another advantage to powdered soap: It's lighter on the bike than a huge jug of heavy liquid soap.

2 comments:

Steve B said...

Powdered detergents also tend to work better than liquid detergents, too. At least in laboratory testing anyway. Liquid detergents are sold at a higher profit margin...

munsoned said...

Huh?! This is all news to me. Of course this comes up just after I used a coupon for a couple smaller jugs of liquid soap. I shall make the switch to powder as soon as I finish up and recycle the liquid jugs.