Green Options

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I found Smelly Chick’s Online Soapmaking Resource the other day, because they had blogged about my seed packet tutorial. Interestingly enough, the site includes “tutorials, soap porn, industry news, and more”.

Now, the term “yarn porn” is often thrown around in the craft world. In fact, you are reading a blog post by the proud owner of knittingwhorehouse.com (I collect domain names with the loftiest of intentions). But… “Soap Porn”? Smelly Chicks, you asked for it, and I’m going to goat’s milk this for all it’s worth. Ahem…

No doubt as a parent you’ve witnessed some odd behavior from your toddler. Things like running naked after the cat brandishing salad tongs, eating miscellaneous crusty items off the kitchen floor (but refusing good food at dinner), and even drinking her own bathwater — in great big gulps, soap and all.

While I can take a reasonable guess at what was on the kitchen floor, the actual ingredients in that soapy water were a bit of a shock. An article from the Cox New Service published early in 2007 reported that up to 57 percent of all baby soaps may contain a suspected carcinogen, 1,4-dioxane.

Editor’s note: This week, Lighter Footstep’s Chris Baskind takes a look at something most of us use every day: soap. This post was originally published on July 31, 2007.

For more information on products that may contain sodium laureth sulfate, see Jennifer’s post on "natural" beauty products.

Well, they smell good, at least.

But take a look at the label of your favorite hand soap, shampoo, or body wash. The first listed

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Washing the car may make your ride nice and shiny, but all that water runoff might make you feel dirty.

When you wash your vehicle on a paved surface such as a driveway or parking lot, all that dirty, soapy water has to go somewhere. Chances are it flows into storm drains, which lead directly to creeks, lakes, and streams harming water quality and wildlife.

This month I wrote about making biodiesel from algae, growing biodiesel crops in freeway medians, refinery issues surrounding high gas prices, and the demand for sustainable biofuels.

Here are some stories I missed:

Al Gore was in Argentina, where he spoke before the biofuel industry there (May 1)
Argentina is looking to jump on the biofuel bandwagon by offsetting 5% of its fuel usage with biodiesel or

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Over the months I've been slowly eliminating all sorts of unnatural and synthetic chemicals from my diet and my life. Processed foods and and unsustainable clothing have been thrown by the wayside. So why am I still smearing pesticides all over my body?

Mother Earth News has a fantastic article on Why You Don't Need Antibacterial Soap. While a simple google search will turn up dozens of articles and debates about

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