if you enjoyed this video stay tuned for part 2! are there any habits you thought were sustainable but later found out the opposite? how about any you’d like to stay committed to but just can’t keep up long term? share with us please!!
Any tthoughts or opinions on cloth diapers, or using bamboo washcloths as toilet paper and washing them in the washer? The diapers have plastic snaps and plastic lining. They save money because diapers are expensive, I don't use them for environmental reasons. I assume keeping thousands of diapers out of landfills has to be a good trade off for any of the snaps or lining, correct me if I'm wrong.
@@chrystalteal4171 must admit this is something i haven't looked super in depth into since i'm child-free, but i'd say if you're cloth diapering for the sake of frugality, that's money well saved! i'd be curious to see some sort of analysis though because i'm skeptical it makes a huge difference environmentally 🤔but as i always say, money is a non-renewable resource too and if the extra labor is worth it for you, keep rockin it
Buying something because it was marketed as eco friendly and I was a sweet gullible young thing. Now I just in general try to buy less, buy quality products that will last longer and buy thrifted things and if I have to buy something in a single use plastic container I usually buy it in the biggest size I can get (I also am married with three kids so it is much more feasible for our household to actually use up the bulk sizes of things before they expire).
I feel as thought we have been firmly convinced that we can buy our way out of the environment crisis -stasher bags, beeswax wraps, tooth tabs, whatever. I think however that the reality is that the only way out of this disaster is for all of us to consume less of everything. Unfortunately buying less s*it is not the most popular concept.
The beeswax wraps aren't just for less waste. Some people use them because they want to get plastic and aluminum out of their lives. Everyone I know who uses them uses them because of THAT.
i’ve mostly given up on “zero waste” and now focus on just minimizing waste - i buy the biggest container of laundry soap i can find (minimizes plastic packaging and i dont have to buy it as often!), i try to get good quality shoes and clothes if i need new ones (especially shoes i focus on leather shoes that can be conditioned and resoled for years), instead of buying bottles of gatorade i buy the powder and use my own pitcher (the container of powder makes eight gallons which means i dont have like thirty bottles to throw away!) and honestly, following these are also cheaper in the long run (not necessarily up front though, it’s not for everyone) - buying in bulk means you arent paying for three to four times the amount of packaging, good quality shoes and clothes dont need to be replaced nearly as often, and the gatorade powder costs as much for an 8 gallon amount as like two of the 8 pack bottles.
@insidiouschaos812 I do that too! (getting the biggest container) 🎉, but I don’t buy leather shoes, and so I wanted to mention to look into the leather industry. I recently heard a podcast that got me curious and I did some research and what I learned changed my mind. I now choose to not contribute to the animal agriculture business and save some animals’ lives in the process while also knowing I’m doing the best I can for the environment. If you’re curious too and want your search to be less overwhelming, let me know, and I can send you the one podcast episode or anything else that could help, we are all here with the same goal so let’s help each other 😊
I love the term "minimising waste". It's so much more realistic than "zero waste". It's also a healthy approach to helping not just yourself but also the environment. Sometimes, we can only do so much.
DIY can produce more waste because we don't necessarily have the tools, time, or space to produce products in the most efficient manner. You bring up a very good point. Sometimes DIY is better, and sometimes it's not. We need to realize that DIY doesn't automatically mean less waste.
I'm not a rocket surgeon, but I am a chemical engineer. I understand that not all lab items are bad, and not all natural items are good, buuuuuut: Mercury is not easy to come in contact with nor arsenic in forms that hurt you unless someone did some lab stuff - so that's not natural (they at least did some garage chemistry). Point is it's not a bad rule of thumb to consider natural things to be good, and lab made things at least suspect - especially if you see the word cholor, fluoro or bromo in the ingredients! It's painful communicating health science information and advocating against legacy chemicals like PFAS and other classes as we learn about them without the knowledge that there are crunchy blogs out there and people out there who care too. It give me hope that there are some in the general population not willing to trust the PR line of the J&J's of the world and make simple products that make sense for our environment and our bodies. and pocket books sometimes. Don't be afraid of chemicals as we are all made of them, but it's not a bad idea to suspect industrial chemical companies of trying to pull a profit while disregarding human health, if a product doesn't smell right or your skin doesn't like it. This pattern of behavior has been happening for a while. Just be aware is all I'm saying.
thank you for spreading the truth about cleanwashing, organic lies, and chemiphobia. the fear of "chemicals" never made sense to me after learning that TABLE SALT is a chemical compound that we put on our food all the time. That was like 6th grade lmaoooo so I dont get how people with fully developed frontal lobes are still saying things like "chemical free" and "chemicals are bad" when it makes 0 sense
lmao yesss! every time i see someone on social media complaining about the length of the ingredients list on a product, i wanna scream HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE INGREDIENTS LIST ON A DANG BLUEBERRY? it's so long and very, very hard to pronounce 🤣
Literally everything in the world is chemicals. I think when people say chemicals in this context they usually mean artificially produced chemicals. These often are a problem because of the lack of regulations in the United States. Meaning many of these chemicals have not been safety tested
@@film9491 well that's just silly because naturally occurring chemicals can also be very dangerous, so people who say "chemicals are bad" need to be more specific! also, there is a lot of chemical regulation in the US thankfully!!
I was an organic farmer for decades. I don't use "organic pesticides". I grew strawberries using composted manure and cover crops for fertility. For weeds we hoed and used geese after harvest(geese don't like the taste of strawberry leaves, but love grasses, dandelions and other weeds). Insect pests were seldom a problem-I used a parasitic wasp to control the worst pest.
More biodiversity! Something to do with the manure other than just throw it all away! (And i net tha geese poop also helped keep the soil fertalized aswell) Fantastic! Keeps the soil healthier for longer and has a lower risk of eutrophication or pollution in thr waterways aswell.
@@bethanybrookes8479 Yep! "weeder geese" were used in strawberries by many farmers before herbicides came on the scene.. Keeping them in the patch was a problem until I discovered electrified poultry netting, which kept the geese in and predators out.
@@MyFocusVaries To be clear, there are "organic" pesticides. Elemental sulfur, finely ground, can be used against certain fungal pathogens like mildew, and various naturally occurring substances are allowed for the control of some insects. Concentrated acetic acid(vinegar) can be used for weed control. But the main point of organic farming is to keep the soil biosphere healthy, and the farm ecosystem varied(eg.., keep naturalized areas where pollinator and predator insects, and birds can live).
@@johnwise7693 I appreciate the clarification. And I know they are not universally applied. I gave up using vinegar as weed control years ago. It's got limited use and can kill plants you didn't want to affect. And it affects the soil. Yes, creating a healthy environment is the ideal.
I have finally given up on removing all plastic containers from my home. And I don't try to repurpose or recycle everything. Instead, i just cut down on buying stuff in the first place. Simplifying my purchases and frugal use prevents a lot of trash in the first place.
I was discussing this with a coworker, just last night. A couple of people were talking about putting their rolling bins out the night before pick-up. About how, sometimes, the bins were top-heavy because of how they had filled the bin. I told them about we make sure that the bottom of our bin is heavier, or the same weight as the top. By not producing a lot of trash, we can evenly load the bin, plus only need to put it out every 2-3 weeks.
I'm 99.9% sure that the miyoko's butter wrapper used to be compostable. I remember reading this on the back of the container and we would compost them in our backyard. But it isn't on the label anymore. So the influencer that you followed might have been correct when they posted the info at that time. I still use it because it is the best tasting vegan butter and doesn't contain palm oil. And yes, there are nuances to palm oil but I am tropical conservation ecologist so my view is that it is better to not buy/support palm oil since that agriculture industry destroys the rainforest (which is the most biodiverse ecosystem on land and also typically is better at storing carbon than other terrestrial ecosystems).
I just found your channel and YES. I have a science background and sometimes I just have to shake my head at some of the claims. Subscribed! Also, whenever someone talks about "chemicals" I always want to shout that WATER is a chemical. Just word salad to scaremonger.
Retired scientist and chemical officer here. Love organic gardening so kids can grab a tomato or pea off the vine and safely enjoy it sun-warmed. HOWEVER… I hate the supermarket BS. ORGANIC CABBAGE? Remove 2 leaves. Wash your fruit and veggies before eating them. Use common sense. If it sounds scary, it’s likely just a sales pitch for something more expensive. That nonsense just increases an already restricted food budget for folks who should be able to eat a healthy range of regular produce. End rant.
@@carolynjaussi709 i myself garden "organically" just 'cause i'm too cheap to buy *any* pesticides/herbicides/fungicides, whether synthetic or natural, plus i don't mind sharing the bounty with local creepy crawlies! and according to research many organic pesticides are just as toxic as (if not more than) synthetic pesticides, so i'd rather just use zero inputs on my garden and buy whatever i can afford/looks good at my local grocery store and farmers market and give it a decent wash (mostly just to remove dirt) 😅
Your body is the greatest chemistry lab on earth. It takes the food you eat, chemically deconstructs it and re shapes it into diffrent molecules so your cells can absorb then and repair the body!
@@kaleyjanenighI wonder why people are so obsessed with applying Jesus and God to everything... It does nothing for no one, and allows horrors to multiply under the guise of God's plan. 😬
I used to be a hardcore hippie and did a lot of unhinged stuff, including: - using soap nuts/berries (so basically same as washing my clothes with plain water) - not using spf and then using super expensive mineral one that irritated my skin - not using toothpaste for many years and then using only fluoride-free 🙃bc third eye or smth and now I have zillion cavities - not using shower gel or shampoo etc etc basically just using water and maybe soap if I had visibly dirty hands or feet - not using deodorant, only coconut oil (luckily I don't sweat that much) - coconut oil for face and body even though it worsened my acne and dry skin (bc plain oil does not hydrate your skin) - so much essential oils, esp tea tree and pathcouli - using cocoa powder and rye flour as dry shampoo (didn't work) - drinking spirulina every freaking day thinking it would cure my anemia ( it didn't) - not using pain killers, birth control pills etc bc scary big pharma chemicals - instead using high doses of super foods like ashwagandha, golden root etc which triggered a manic episode Aaand so much more... Must´ve smelled pretty good back then 💩
I really applaud you for your bravery to admit that some of the things you did were not the most scientifically sound. As she says in the end, to be able to change your mind in face of new evidence is commendable and not a lot of people can do it.
A friend of mine kept having her daugther eat apples fully, including seeds, because "it's natural, it's good for you". I had to metaphorically slap her in the face and explain to her that she was slowling giving her kid arsenic poisoning. This is why we study chemistry in school, people!
Thank you so much for making this video series! I went hardcore zero waste back in 2017 but am coming to terms with how silly, out of touch, and harmful some of the popular zero waste practices and problematic mindsets were back then. In the end, I don't regret it at all though- the movement really helped open my eyes to how wasteful our society is and helped me establish a new intentional way of consuming and creating. It helped me save money and buy less in general and inspired me to cook more as well as thrift most of my clothes. But I do love how our collective mindset is shifting to a more reasonable, sustainable approach- and shifting the blame from individuals to major corporations! I'm really loving how a lot of the sustainable influencers are making videos like these reevaluating the hits and misses of the movement :)
literally could not have said it better myself! i'm glad we were both able to discard what's not helpful and keep with us those lessons that are truly valuable 🧡
I work in net zero health policy and I just wanted to say THANK YOU. Healthcare emissions are HUGE and we need to prevent people from coming to hospital with melanomas or dental issues because they're scared of using toothpaste or sunscreen because it's damaging to the environment. Look after yourself, it will reduce emissions in the long run.
soooo you're telling me that not only is prevention going to save money and time and pain, but also the environment??! haha it's so obvious now that you brought it up but i've literally never thought of it that way, thank you!!
I too loved Hey Human, I would get their deodorant because it was good quality and in paper containers and half the price as Native. Then they disappeared and Native stopped offering paper containers
I’m glad that you mentioned that essential oils generally are safe, but can be misused. I use lavender oil in my laundry to keep mildew smell from forming when I hang dry stuff or…forget it in the wash for like an entire day. Works like a charm, no issue. I also use it as a bug repellant (along with cedar wood oil) and I’ve only had a tick once! They’re also anti bacterial, anti fungal, anti microbial, etc (depending on the kind) so they can be good for cleaning. But like…wtf are people doing putting them in FOOD. Not diluting them enough, not doing skin patch tests, using them on their cats and dogs with only as much info as the doTerra rep gave them, putting them in soft mucous membranes, I just can not. People know better than to eat dish soap or bathe in bleach but they’ll eat borax and put tea tree oil on their dog and think it’ll be fine. I’m a low chemical girlie. Absolutely on the crunchier side. But like…come on… Also attempting herbal medicine but using essential oils instead of following instructions and using raw plants…You can get seriously sick and in some cases worse.
There's this chick on SkillShare and she has the only essential oils course. It was pretty 101 stuff, I already knew everything she was saying, but she LEGIT RECOMMENDED putting lemon EO in your water! DAILY! There were other red flags, too, but you can't tell people that! Only serious, qualified herbalists can recommend something like that, and they typically DON'T. FOR A REASON. Yeah, people want to play pretend with herbalism, but shortcut it and they assume using an EO is equal to using the raw plant. That's absolutely NUTS and disastrous. Great comment! ❤
LOVE that you are talking about this. I am tired of environmental consciousness, zero waste and organics being all tied up together through blatant lies and zero fact checking.
I follow my grandmother`s zero waste habits, and I also use the clothes she and my aunts gave me, as well as kitchenware they used for years and years and still work perfectly fine, etc etc.
Thank you so much for sharing this info. My dad is a PhD chemist, so we roll our eyes a lot at all the hippie dippie claims and outright lies made by companies nowadays just trying to make money off of ignorance with good intentions. Actually knowing what's what does far more good.
oh gosh, if only we could all be raised by scientists!! or at the very least that research-backed information was the norm instead of the exception! thanks so much for watching 😚
The fear mongering of chemicals and GMOs makes me sad as a scientist in sustainable biotech. We genetically engineer microbes to make chemicals more sustainably than chemistry or extracting from natural resources. But sustainable/green chemistry has its own strengths and will be part of a more sustainable future.
I am married to an organic chemist. He helps me break things down in the eco brands, so if it's still useful or not. I have low chemical use in my home, since I am sensitive to fragrances and don't think we need to use the harsh chemicals as heavily as they are being used for general cleaning. Cleaning hoards or bio hazards need the heavy duty stuff.
Hey- one thing I’m curious on is fluoride. It’s toxic in large amounts, so how come we can use it- even if we spit it out? Does it not bioaccumulate? What makes it safe? I’d prefer an answer over “it prevents cavities.” I use fluoride on and off.
Synthesised versions of natural things are usually quite a but safer than their natural counterparts because they are much more consistent. Less variability equals more consistent results.
@@thebeatles92195 Aspirin and salicylic acid both come from Salix Alba, specifically its bark. You may see it in more "natural" products under the ingredient "willow bark extract". The question then becomes do you want the active ingredient salicylic acid or aspirin or do you want a much weaker salicylic acid mixed in with a bunch of random chemicals (ie all the other natural compounds in the plant) which at best do nothing but dilute the active ingredients and at worst can cause allergic reactions and other health problems. And let's not forget how castor oil is processed castor seeds to remove the natural super deadly ricin.
I am a vegan who eats tons of produce. I still think it is a good idea to know the dirty dozen as it helps you decide which fruits and vegetables to rinse off well before eating. It is helpful to know which fruits and vegetables have the highest amount of conventional pesticides, because whether you like it or not, some of these are carcinogens. Many people in the United States have unreal levels of glyphosate in their blood and I think it's a good idea to try to limit that in any capacity. That being said, I totally agree that organic fruits and vegetables still use organic pesticides. We should be washing and rinsing everything if it is not pre-rinsed! Especially things like berries and apples. (BTW, many greens, such as kale in the list, are pre-rinsed. You actually do more harm than good by rinsing them a second time.) You should do a video on which fruits and vegetables to actually take time to rinse and which ones are typically pre-rinsed. This would save a lot of time and keep us safe!
lots of things are possible or probable carcinogens, including some organic pesticides, which the dirty dozen completely ignores. as they say, the dose makes the poison!
I always had to hold back laughter when I saw "chemical free" labels or when someone said they didn't trust products with "chemicals you can't pronounce" in them. A chemical is just a bond between atoms. Everything is chemicals!
Despite dealing with chronic illness, I was making my own cleaning products and skincare products for a while. I also tried the no shampoo thing. Figured out that I was getting horrible results with my laundry, my hair started falling out, and I was creating more waste and spending more money (that I didn’t have). I use so much less product now that a bottle of shampoo lasts months, toothpaste as well. Buying good products and replacing them less often/repairing when able is the way to go for me. I would bet my carbon/waste footprint is far lower this way. Being mindful of the amount of product one uses each time is important, too. People tend to use far too much dish soap, shampoo, conditioner and such than they really need just out of habit or simply not paying attention.
The thing I had to stop was buying a sustainable toilet paper subscription. The subscription is $37 for 24 rolls, and it's only $13.50 for the same number of rolls of TP made from recycled paper at Target. (I don't actually know which is more sustainable, but I can't justify the price difference).
recycled toilet paper is a GREAT alternative to conventional TP, and let's not forget that money is also a non-renewable resource so we need to spend it wisely!! i do believe that much of the markup on these bamboo TPs is to cover the cost of excessive advertising
Hey! Not sure if this is something you'd be into but we got an "aftermarket" bidet that has a booty and "female" setting, and the pressure goes from super light to painfully heavy so it's good for 1 and 2. You don't even need TP, but we still keep some to dry with. If you wanted to be really sustainable you could rip up old t shirts to dry with and just wash them after. Since you're already clean when you use the rags, it would be cleaner than washing underwear even. It was a one time purchase of about $50 and we've used it for years. Cheaper in the long run and you don't have to go to the store!
Haha, I love this video. Thank you for telling it like it is. One thing that's bothered me since early on with some of the ZW dogma is the notion that you can use baking soda for anything and everything. Toothpaste, hair conditioner, deodorant... No you cannot! Bicarb damages tooth enamel and hair folicles, causes skin rashes and stains melanated skin. It's great for cleaning burned food out of your cooking pan but it is NOT the miracle product that some people make it out to be. Another thing is the notion that it's more eco-friendly to DYI everything. Sure, if it's a matter of just mixing together a couple of things you already have in your pantry anyway, using existing kitchen utensils, then sure it's worth doing it. But if it means sourcing a multitude of different ingredients from different shops, each in their own individual packaging, and purchasing specialized equipement just for that? How is it more eco-friendly than manufacturers doing the exact same thing but in bulk and through optimized processes? It definitely feels like posturing rather than problem-solving tbh. ZW is a good idea and a lot of tips about how to aim for it are very useful, but let's not just buy everything people tell us just because they call it ZW. Chemistry and science are more complex than recipes.
This is the first time I’m hearing about the EWG not being reliable! I didn’t even think twice about it, thanks for bringing that up. Can’t wait to look more into it and re-evaluate where I might have fallen for that marketing
Have you checked if things are indeed being recycled?? I’ve heard that our recycling goes in the garbage and a lot of other places do this. As well as recycling plastic is pointless because they send it over seas where it takes more resources or ends up in the ocean
beyond my town's website i haven't looked further into it 😅 but my town is relatively environmentally conscious and also specifies several common things [like berry clamshells] that they do not accept, so i feel like if the tetrapaks, gable top milk cartons, etc. were just being thrown away they'd stop accepting them? you do have a great point though and if i wasn't moving soon i'd probably try to make friends with someone who works at the facility so i could pick their brain!
@@allisonfromearth totally! I’m sure it’s different everywhere you go. I live in Indianapolis and my brother told me they just throw the recycling with the garbage and it’s really hard for me to wrap my head around, that they would even make people pay for a recycling program that doesn’t actually recycle
I started getting my skincare from the zero waste store in my town and I had an acne reaction so bad I’m still fixing it three months later so we’re just using a brand that has mostly glass packaging and is non-comedogenic now and we’re cleaning out the packaging to either reuse or recycle at Sephora. Also I feel the toothpaste difficulties ugh
I hope your career flourishes now that you've eschewed pseudoscience! This video was so well edited and researched and I actually learned a ton! The space needs more creators who are scientifically literate and are unwilling to scare their audience to make a buck. I ended up falling out of love with personal sustainability because of how much creators like that make it seem like it's all about buying the perfect items. I'm glad to be back into it finally with a better outlook!
that was a huge cause of eco burnout for me too! it was like every other day i was guilt-tripped into buying something else i "needed" to buy/replace, and a lot of the time i totally fell for it 😩 but at the end of the day, refusing / reducing are where it's at! and thanks so much for the kind words, your comment really touched me in the heart department 🧡
That chemophonia section was fantastic! The whole video was good but that was great! Also yay to fact checking. Great education for your whole audience
Re: essential oils - anyone else remember that trend in like, 2010 for dumping citrus oils into your water-bottles? My office had an oil mlm lady in it who convinced a bunch of people to put like, a teaspoon of random oils in their water every time they filled it up. She was making bank off them
Yeah, all the clean- and greenwashing really has become a problem. I mean - you might as well slap a huge sticker on a bar of soap or a bottle of shampoo that is shouting "NO Arsenic, NO Mercury" on it in big and friendly looking letters. It might be correct but it is also saying nothing. Many also confuse "zero waste" with "I have less stuff in my trash can". Regardless of where else there might be more stuff going in the bin. Case in point: essential oils, as brilliantly pointed out here. Same as with energy efficiency labels you find on anything from washing machines to light bulbs. They are pretty much bunk and paint a pretty distorted picture of reality. My mum once said "Well, if they put on more "plus" signs on new devices - do we even need to plug them in anymore or do they make their own power?" Pretty "boomer" take but she does have a point. It does not matter how long you make that green bar or how many plus signs you paint on it. It's all relative. Sure, if you have a 25 year old fridge, then a new one is certainly going to use less power and is therefore also very likely to be more eco friendly than the old one. That is all well and good. I have no issues with that. Does that mean you have to throw out a fridge as soon as it is downrated to C? Absolutely not. That would be insane and uneconomic. It would make appliance makers happy, though. The LED light bulbs in my home had an A++ energy rating when I bought them. They still work fine years later. Now they are rated F or even G. Which might make some people feel bad for having them or buying them now. Does that mean I am going to throw them out? Hell no. Those things are expensive. Once they eventually break, yes I will definitely replace them with whatever good rating variant available when that happens. However: I am not going to send a perfectly working appliance to the landfill because because it is "not green enough". Because that is something that would be pretty wasteful - the opposite of green. But that is something that manufacturers do not like to hear because they want you to buy their stuff, and more faster please.
I really appreciate this video. I recently have been trying to become more zero waste in my daily life. I feel immense guilt if I buy toothpaste or a conventional toothbrush. My bamboo toothbrush was causing me to have receding gums. It’s nice to know that what works for me is GOOD ENOUGH!! Eco friendly sometimes means more expensive and that’s hard in this economy!
Just a question- did you move the toothbrush far back enough for the wood to affect you? It might’ve been that, and I think you could use something similar to plastic that mimicks it, so to speak.
I really appreciate your wisdom of fact checking products and food claims etc and it has made me realise how gullible I have been . Where do you recommend we can go to look for evidence based science. Thank you for making these videos; they are both grounding and motivating.
you are so not alone! i spent 5 years unknowingly spreading misinformation within the zero waste + sustainability movements so now it's all about trying to right those wrongs and grow as good earth people 🧡 my favorite science communicators are the eco well, unbiased sci pod, lab muffin beauty science, and food science babe -- all these scientists are active on IG, but lab muffin and food science babe are also on youtube, and unbiased sci pod and the eco well have really good podcasts!
Just got recommended this video from the algorithm out of the blue and I ended up happily watching it until the end. You seem to be the kind of person I want to aspire to be like. It's rare that I take such inspiration over a video of someone I've never seen before. Immediate subscribe, looking forward to going through your other videos!
Yes!! I got into zero/low waste in preparation for moving out of my parents' 6 months ago and most of it is really cool, but yeah, the issues you bring up are... scary. and very prevalent, there still are people advocating for essential oils in everything and people being terrified of "chemicals". this has especially been an issue when trying to read, watch and listen to everything i can find, including ten year old stuff that might not even align with their values anymore, and definitely not recent science. But yeah, sorry for the rant, health has become my main boundary when it comes to zero waste What I've decided to focus on has become farming practices and transportation of food, recycleable packaging and REDUCTION. you don't need it. you don't want it. don't buy it.
I had thought, if I DIY my skincare, hair care and make up, I would not create as much waste and could save some bucks. Well... while I had to try out different recipes first, to find something that would work for me, I also wasted a lot of ingredients on trying to make my own mascara (hint: none of the recipes I found, worked). I also came to the realization that I could not use up the final products before they turned, even though I used them every day. They were very easy to use and luckily also didn't break me out (until they turned, that was how I figured that out) and I then had a lot of the ingredients turning bad before I could use them up even though I created literally everything I needed myself (besides mascara). The reason why I started to do this was merely because I wanted to use more "natural" products and any natural cosmetics product I had tried broke me out like crazy, caused rashes and irritations (even my scalp and body skin got messed up). Besides that I think if you found products that you always re-buy because they work perfectly fine for you, that's still better than trying out thousands of different products which then land in the trash (or buy all the ingredients to make your own products which also land in the trash because you can't use them up in time). Where I live basically anything can be recycled. Glass, plastic, aluminum foil, tin cans, paper, tetra packs etc. What I also wanna meantion: I used to have flatweave cotton rugs and my cats destroyed them. I now have flatweave rugs made from polypropylene and they don't show any signs of scratching even after years. They are also VERY easy to clean and don't stain - all of that already made them last WAY longer and will probably make them last for many more years. THAT is now something I am looking for. Products that work and last. I am not looking into buying everything new after 1 or 2 years of usage. I want things to last. And if that means the material isn't natural, so be it. I think we need to realize that a lot of things that get bought for the sake of sustainability don't really last very long and need to be exchanged constantly. And while production always creates harm to the environment, I really prefer longevity. Of course if one's a person who wants new things all the time, it probably is better to go for more natural materials, but if you're like me and want things to stay for as long as possible, it isn't always easy or even possible to find a purely "natural" solution for that. On the other hand: we do have stainless steel wine cups, they look cool and don't break and I am thinking about getting plates and cups made from stainless steel once my regular ones aren't doing it anymore. But that might take a long time still. I'm not tossing stuff out that's still fine to use.
Thanks for your honesty. The underlying message here is that there’s only so far we can get as individuals. Government policy, regulation on how things are sold, and re-thinking consumerism in the late capitalist age are what we need to focus on now. The other message: don’t do things to impress others or ‘educate’ others. You describe it beautifully.
I used to be in a zero waste fb group, but i never went hardcore. It made me discover bulk barn and tips and tricks to make the most of the food i buy , and that's the only valuable takeaway i had from that. I left the group when it became overrun by essential oils mlms and by the most ridiculous pseudoscience. Like, no i'm not going to use apple cider vinegar as a rinse in my washing machine, i'm not going to rinse my hair with it nor am i going to drink it because *magic* 😬 and the handmade soap for the washing machine? That's just going to build up on your clothes. What you need is a detergent and it's just not the same as a soap. There are good habits to take from zero waste, but there is too much general bs spread as Facts that now i refuse to be in those spaces :( so i really appreciate this video, it's a breath of fresh air for me 😅
Re pesticides, it's not about toxicity it's more about the harm they do to local eco systems and polinator populations. On a human scale some can be carcinogenic but overall, the broader issue is the entire system of our food industry, the centralized aspect of it, and the harms monocultures cause broadly. None of this is simple. I think reductionism is a HUGE issue in eco-friendly stuff in general. Just like so many things, people want a quick, easy fix with no need to learn. That's not how life works tho. We NEED education about damaging systems, chemistry, biology, ecology, sociology, farming practices, impact of scale, the list goes on. It's complex. There's not a simple solution. It's a systemic solution that involves changing our economic structure away from capitalism, away from centralized supply chains, and toward a broader CULTURE of reuse, sharing, and care of ecology.
absolutely, 100% agree! what makes it tricky is when natural pesticides are more ecologically damaging than synthetic pesticides, because they’re less effective at the same dose so higher quantities must be used, and because they haven’t been engineered to target specific pests, i.e. they’ll kill pests but also predator species and pollinators. really grinds my gears that people think natural pesticides are inherently better for the environment! i wish we could take what works from conventional agriculture and what works from organic agriculture and discard the damaging aspects of both
Thank you for sharing this stuff - way too many people fall for what's easy and don't fact check anything at all. We need more people to accept that things like this are incredibly nuanced and complicated
My personal gripe is related to reducing and recyling plastic. Back in the 1990's when only clear water and soda bottles were recyclable in upto far and few between places, it was more possible to have less plastic packaging in one's waste stresm (landfill amd recycle) than it is today.
Thank you for debunking the Dirty Dozen! I’ve definitely fallen for greenwashing and chemophobia before, so it’s good to learn this information. Looking forward to more videos from you 👍
Working in communication/public ed at a recycling center, I LOVE your tip to check with your municipality! Recycling Partnership is a quality resource if you can’t find information on your city’s website.
Have you heard of Uncle Harry's toothpaste? They come in glass jars and you can buy a huge one for $35 that will literally last you years and is made from bentonite clay which remineralizes your teeth. they even have a cinnamon flavor.
I'm so glad that I found your channel! I often feel like the critical perspective is missing when people talk about zero waste. I think it is very important to discuss how sustainable some products really are in relation to conventional ones
Thank you for this video! I feel like I have been obsessed with perfecting my zero waste life, at the sacrifice of other family benefits (driving all over for that package free option, ordering online for a zero waste option when something okay is sitting at the store nearby....). This is eye opening and would love to see more videos like this!
Great advice! I catch myself believing things that I really should look up. The point of keeping an open mind is simply beautiful, but, so hard to get people to listen! Thanks so much for making attempts, its got to be worth it.
so so rare! i hope more eco content creators start to appreciate the damaging consequences of sharing misinformation and feel supported enough to correct themselves going forward 😌 one can dream lol
I'm really not a fan of essential oils and hate that they are so prevalent in eco-friendly soap and shampoo options. I have an allergic reaction to at least a few of them, while I can often use cheap soaps with synthetic fragrances without any problems. I still prefer unscented products though for the most part. Edit: Also thanks for mentioning sunscreen. I've felt a little guilty for prefering non-mineral sunscreen over mineral one because I like the consistency better especially in my face. Granted there are still many non-mineral brands that feel disgusting in my opinion but at least there are like two that feel ok.
I always appreciate your level-headed, thoughtful, and playful takes on sustainability (and def still buy "regular" toothpaste because your cavity from the brief time without fluoride scared me lol)
I had someone tell me to end my own life on TikTok at one point for informing people to not just go chucking their light bulbs into their recycling bin the because the standard company (mentioned by name) for my area does not recycle light bulbs. Apparently, a company that isn't 100% perfect is absolutely horrible, and anyone that uses them as a reference resource for anything should be damned to hell immediately.
This is your first video I’ve ever watched. Love it! I’ve been saying these things for years to any friends and family who try to get me to buy into all these things. Thanks so much for sharing this!!!
I have just found you and am now subscribed because you are against pseudoscience and fear mongering. Thank you for exposing‘influencers’ and actually following scientific research. Having an opinion does not make someone a scientist.
I gave up trying to 'properly' dispose of everything in 2023. It was causing so much stress. I still have a couple of terracyles and I take stuff to the recycling yard regularly but it was very freeing to say ok, that's going in the dumpster and I'm ok with that.
I thankfully live in a country where recycling is organised for you by public authorities. The only things I would have to bring somewhere more then 10 minutes away are special waste products like old paint etc. We can only do so much as individuals without proper systems and legislature in place!
One thing that "zero waste" has done for me is save money. "reusable" paper towels, silicone zip lock bags, getting my spice jars refilled, ect. but from day one, i always listened to science. always have used fluoride, never did oil pulling, "reef safe" sun screen etc. Some zero waste products i use and has helped me save money in the long run with a 2 person household
I do the same. Skin stuff because my skin (especially on my face) is super-sensitive, but also in the household cleaners I make because I don't want to put oil in something that's supposed to clean my countertops, mirrors, etc. :)
It's really reassuring to see the younger generation leaning how to think independently and not be fooled by corporate propaganda, and learning the value of doing one's own research. In truth, all generations should learn these skills, but people can be sarcastic and critical of certain age groups, and, imo, that's a fallacy. I used to be like you in the past...yearning to do what I can to abide by 'green' rules. In the end, the truth is that many of these so-called sustainability 'rules' are bullshit manipulation tactics to get us to secede our rights to the globalists (who's main platform is to depopulate the earth, and create an obedient slave race to work as peasant serfs for the elite caste). If you don't believe me, look into the WEF, and see for yourself. This was a great video, and very helpful and encouraging. Thank you.
ah man i have THOUGHTS about that slogan! i realize now how privileged and insensitive it is to advocate spending more money than you can afford on the luxury of morals -- especially when the morals you're "voting for" may not be as great as they appear, like our miyokos butter example. luckily, i do think being environmentally conscious ends up saving money, some of which can be used to sort of "subsidize" a few of the more expensive things (like fair trade coffee for instance), but still...to encourage or even expect folks to do that for *everything* is overly idealistic and doesn't help!
Let's not let synthetic fragrance off the hook that easily. Companies aren't required to disclose what's in "fragrance", and unfortunately for me, I may never be able to narrow down what chemical I'm allergic to (to the point where I now work from home, because whatever it is seems to be in a LOT of personal care products). At least with an essential oil, you can identify what gave you problems.
i do see how frustrating it’d be to have an allergy and not be able to pinpoint what’s triggering it 😩 totally understand what you’re saying but being allergic to something doesn’t mean it’s unsafe for people who aren’t allergic! and there’s reason to believe synthetic fragrances are less allergenic than natural fragrances. wanna add that there are a few [annoying] reasons why manufactures aren’t required to disclose fragrance ingredients (including limited real estate on the packaging), though that also applies to the ingredients in natural fragrances. look up the chemical composition of lavender essential oil - it has DOZENS of ingredients!!
Thank you for this! It's soooo good to hear a more skeptical approach to sustainability. Following the evidence not the marketing. This video made me follow you😊
I’ve never liked using essential oils for diy cleaners because I usually have very bad allergic reactions to them. I’ve always used extracts, like I use peppermint extract in my homemade cleaning product and mouthwash, and I use that a lot for baking anyways so it’s multifunctional, and you can make it yourself. So overall yea way better than essential oil
This is refreshing. Would love to hear how you decide which produce to purchase. When you toss out concern between labels of conventional vs organic do you instead look up the individual farm’s practices? Account for shipping distance? Worry about packaging vs loose? Just buy what you want and not worry about it?
amazing question! i'd love to make a video on the topic. for now i try to prioritize local and seasonal, whether it's organic or conventional -- but unfortunately the budget doesn't always allow, so i have to make frequent concessions. ideally i'd go for local and seasonal produce without packaging whenever possible, grown using an optimized combination of organic practices and conventional practices (some organic methods are better for the environment and some conventional methods are better for the environment). my next "project" is to learn more about that!
Hey Allison! I adored this video. I'm legit sharing it with my Mom. She takes the damn "Dirty 30"/"Clean 15" shit as gospel. Insanity. So, I was put off of the zero-waste movement for some time because of the crazy content creators, lies, green/cleanwashing, etc. I'm a minimalist, so YT thinks it needs to throw zero-waste at me constantly, too, because algorithm. I much prefer simply being as informed as possible, making smart buying decisions, and composting. I think the label zero-waste has ruined itself. Like someone else said above, I fervently believe that less/smarter consumption is the key. Thanks for this video. You're a rockstar. I'm subbing! ❤🎉
I appreciate your commitment to be a researcher. I agree we need to question marketing and be vigilant. An important part of the conversation is missing here, though. Organic farming isn’t just about the health of the consumer from ingesting the animal or produce, it’s about sustainable farming practices that create less harm to the planet and the people that live near the farms. We have government requirements for being certified organic that many folks have fought to protect against administrations that tried to rewrite them to include more pesticides (see Clifbar vs GW Bush administration). The end goal of pushing organic is to build a more sustainable system. I think it’s also important to question one study that says people are avoiding vegetables all together because they’re afraid of pesticides. Only 12% of American adults are eating the RDA of fruit and vegetables. I can definitely see this push towards organic having the unintended consequence of discouraging people but there is plenty of evidence that greater factors are at play. Not having access to fresh produce of any kind is a bigger problem: food deserts and food swamps. Also food addiction to cheap processed food is probably the biggest issue. Some awesome folks and I started feeding people plant based food boxes during the pandemic. We included organic and nonorganic produce and people would cry tears of gratitude. They would share photos with us of what they cooked with the boxes. Having access and community support are much more important to health. Thank you for doing this video. It’s important work! www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/organic-food/
the study didn't claim fear of pesticides was the ONLY reason people aren't meeting the RDA for produce, it's just one reason, and the groups most affected by food insecurity are put at an even greater disadvantage because of this type of marketing
Duude Hey Humans was the best! Affordable and in stores so no additional shipping needed! I hope they’re just getting ready for a revamp or something! 🤞🏽🤞🏽
Thank you for making this video. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this as I have been thinking, and have discovered many of the same things. As a person on a low income and also being concerned about my health in the environment, I have sometimes fallen in to just believing what is said even though as you pointed out, there is no scientific proof. Thank you for putting this information out there and sharing your experience.
Huge on number 2! I have sensitive teeth and I just need to use specific toothpastes and mouth washes and I try to consider that the alternative is needing to get dental procedures done that will produce significantly more waste (on top of being more expensive for me and just not as good as not needing them in the first place).
I went from a regular western diet and consumption habits to veggie to vegan and as zero waste as i could possibly go, and my health took a real bad dip. Started buying granola bars and eating animal products again and my health is so much better, I'm doing so much better in life and overall, it was a great decision. Everyone can do their own thing, but i try to do what's best for me.
I am a certified aromatherapist and there is so much misinformation about essential oils out there. I do still believe they can be better than synthetic fragrance but you are right they are not necessarily sustainable. They require sooo much plant matter and they are being grossly over promoted. Quite frankly you can do most cleaning with just a wet cloth.
I just found you and I'm so excited to see where you go with your channel and hear more about the science of things! I know you're not a scientist but knowing that you have been reading/ listening to more science as a personal goal gives me excitement. I'm excited to see how you grow!
I happened to come across this video and I appreciate your presentation. It is hard to acknowledge when we made cringy comments in the past, and I also appreciate your take on things. I have also come to a lot of similar conclusions.
Love this, and I gotta nerd out a little and nitpick (because what am I, if not pedantic?) When it comes to "mineral" and "chemical" sunscreens, it's not about "natural" versus "man made ChemiKills," but the process through how they work. Yes, mineral sunscreen is made up of chemicals, because everything is chemicals, but the term refers to absorbing and diffusing UV rays through a chemical process, rather than blocking through a physical process. And as for the "reef safe" claims, the real solution is stop tourism, which would devastate local economies, so the green bandage gets slapped on, so people still get to go snorkeling while feeling like they're doing no harm.
absolutely right! my point is that when someone hears "mineral" or "physical" vs. "chemical" they shouldn't assume the "chemical" ones are inherently bad!
@allisonfromearth absolutely! I used to be an esthetician and am big on preaching about sun protection, and whenever anyone asked which is better, I told them it depends. Both are equally effective when used correctly. I use tinted mineral on my face because I'm sensitive to most chemical sunscreens, and folks with oily skin tend to like how it's more matte. But with mineral, people tend to mix it with makeup or not use enough to avoid the white cast it leaves behind, decreasing its effectiveness.
Thank you for this video! Lots a great information, and sometimes all people need is to hear the "permission" from someone else to make a change in their life/mindset (though I understand that can go both ways - SO I HOPE MORE PEOPLE, ALL PEOPLE WATCH YOUR VIDEOS!). I really appreciate that you are thoughtful and consider things holistically, and importantly, you understand the difference between Research (peer-reviewed independent scientific-method using work) and a google search (spanning the spectrum of quick to rabbit-hole indepth). Can't wait to watch your other videos!
You are amazing! I appreciate your real talk SO much. I just want to do my best to be decent consumer without making it the only interesting thing about me/part of my personality. Thank you, totally subscribing!
My mom swears by her fluoride free toothpaste because she can eat food directly after brushing. She went to the dentist recently and they found that she has 5 cavities. Fluoride free toothpaste is a SCAM, my dude!
Thank you for debunking the Dirty Dozen❤ I've been holding onto some stress not being able to afford organic and eating a 'dirty' alternative. I'm so glad I can let that go now.
i'm touched!! thanks for sharing that with me. truly it's all marketing -- otherwise people wouldn't be duped into spending 50% more on produce that doesn't come with any sort of guarantee it was produced with *actually* sustainable methods and isn't even safer or healthier than the cheaper stuff!
So glad you brought this up about essential oils. I am an herbalist and my opinion has changed on them. They really should not ever be ingested. It’s only one constituent of the plant while a ton other gets left behind and the big thing is what it takes to produce it. I’ve seen people make toilet cleaner with EOs and it’s absurd you are literally flushing potentially hundreds of pounds of plants down the toilet. If that isn’t a reflection of our consumerism I don’t know what is
This popped up in my recommended section, and I really enjoyed the video! The background music and sound effects, while fun, were a bit loud compared to your voice and would be less distracting if they were slightly lower volume. I will still be subscribing and watching more of your videos tho!
Great video! I do wish you'd mentioned a sun protection option that does not involve wading through tons of journal articles though: hats! And long sleeves! They're effective, reusable, and leave significantly less environmental residue. Sunscreen is for what the hats and long sleeves can't cover. I think if you're not touching ocean water directly, you can probably wear whatever, but we should still continue to be careful at the beach, especially if there are reefs. Invest in a long sleeved wetsuit if you're doing these activities often - besides the enviro benefits, your risk of sunburn goes down because you don't need to reapply!
Some DIYs are a great idea to reduce plastic use. Such as spray cleaners, which are super easy to make. I've never found a DIY dishwasher powder that works.
if you enjoyed this video stay tuned for part 2! are there any habits you thought were sustainable but later found out the opposite? how about any you’d like to stay committed to but just can’t keep up long term? share with us please!!
Any tthoughts or opinions on cloth diapers, or using bamboo washcloths as toilet paper and washing them in the washer? The diapers have plastic snaps and plastic lining. They save money because diapers are expensive, I don't use them for environmental reasons. I assume keeping thousands of diapers out of landfills has to be a good trade off for any of the snaps or lining, correct me if I'm wrong.
@@chrystalteal4171 must admit this is something i haven't looked super in depth into since i'm child-free, but i'd say if you're cloth diapering for the sake of frugality, that's money well saved! i'd be curious to see some sort of analysis though because i'm skeptical it makes a huge difference environmentally 🤔but as i always say, money is a non-renewable resource too and if the extra labor is worth it for you, keep rockin it
Buying something because it was marketed as eco friendly and I was a sweet gullible young thing. Now I just in general try to buy less, buy quality products that will last longer and buy thrifted things and if I have to buy something in a single use plastic container I usually buy it in the biggest size I can get (I also am married with three kids so it is much more feasible for our household to actually use up the bulk sizes of things before they expire).
I feel as thought we have been firmly convinced that we can buy our way out of the environment crisis -stasher bags, beeswax wraps, tooth tabs, whatever. I think however that the reality is that the only way out of this disaster is for all of us to consume less of everything. Unfortunately buying less s*it is not the most popular concept.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Buying all these eco friendly things are still feeding into consumerism.
Like you said, buying less shit is the way ro go
Am I the only person who finds beeswax wraps gross? The texture, the idea that it traps particles.
@@jenniferfriesen7691you are not the only one who thinks that they are gross.🤮
The beeswax wraps aren't just for less waste. Some people use them because they want to get plastic and aluminum out of their lives. Everyone I know who uses them uses them because of THAT.
i’ve mostly given up on “zero waste” and now focus on just minimizing waste - i buy the biggest container of laundry soap i can find (minimizes plastic packaging and i dont have to buy it as often!), i try to get good quality shoes and clothes if i need new ones (especially shoes i focus on leather shoes that can be conditioned and resoled for years), instead of buying bottles of gatorade i buy the powder and use my own pitcher (the container of powder makes eight gallons which means i dont have like thirty bottles to throw away!)
and honestly, following these are also cheaper in the long run (not necessarily up front though, it’s not for everyone) - buying in bulk means you arent paying for three to four times the amount of packaging, good quality shoes and clothes dont need to be replaced nearly as often, and the gatorade powder costs as much for an 8 gallon amount as like two of the 8 pack bottles.
@insidiouschaos812 I do that too! (getting the biggest container) 🎉, but I don’t buy leather shoes, and so I wanted to mention to look into the leather industry. I recently heard a podcast that got me curious and I did some research and what I learned changed my mind. I now choose to not contribute to the animal agriculture business and save some animals’ lives in the process while also knowing I’m doing the best I can for the environment. If you’re curious too and want your search to be less overwhelming, let me know, and I can send you the one podcast episode or anything else that could help, we are all here with the same goal so let’s help each other 😊
@@princessaomei have done my own research and am comfortable buying good quality leather and other animal products, thanks!
I love the term "minimising waste". It's so much more realistic than "zero waste". It's also a healthy approach to helping not just yourself but also the environment. Sometimes, we can only do so much.
DIY can produce more waste because we don't necessarily have the tools, time, or space to produce products in the most efficient manner. You bring up a very good point. Sometimes DIY is better, and sometimes it's not. We need to realize that DIY doesn't automatically mean less waste.
I'm not a rocket surgeon, but I am a chemical engineer. I understand that not all lab items are bad, and not all natural items are good, buuuuuut: Mercury is not easy to come in contact with nor arsenic in forms that hurt you unless someone did some lab stuff - so that's not natural (they at least did some garage chemistry). Point is it's not a bad rule of thumb to consider natural things to be good, and lab made things at least suspect - especially if you see the word cholor, fluoro or bromo in the ingredients! It's painful communicating health science information and advocating against legacy chemicals like PFAS and other classes as we learn about them without the knowledge that there are crunchy blogs out there and people out there who care too. It give me hope that there are some in the general population not willing to trust the PR line of the J&J's of the world and make simple products that make sense for our environment and our bodies. and pocket books sometimes. Don't be afraid of chemicals as we are all made of them, but it's not a bad idea to suspect industrial chemical companies of trying to pull a profit while disregarding human health, if a product doesn't smell right or your skin doesn't like it. This pattern of behavior has been happening for a while. Just be aware is all I'm saying.
thank you for spreading the truth about cleanwashing, organic lies, and chemiphobia. the fear of "chemicals" never made sense to me after learning that TABLE SALT is a chemical compound that we put on our food all the time. That was like 6th grade lmaoooo so I dont get how people with fully developed frontal lobes are still saying things like "chemical free" and "chemicals are bad" when it makes 0 sense
lmao yesss! every time i see someone on social media complaining about the length of the ingredients list on a product, i wanna scream HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THE INGREDIENTS LIST ON A DANG BLUEBERRY? it's so long and very, very hard to pronounce 🤣
EXACTLY lmaoooo. @@allisonfromearth
Literally everything in the world is chemicals. I think when people say chemicals in this context they usually mean artificially produced chemicals.
These often are a problem because of the lack of regulations in the United States. Meaning many of these chemicals have not been safety tested
@@film9491 well that's just silly because naturally occurring chemicals can also be very dangerous, so people who say "chemicals are bad" need to be more specific! also, there is a lot of chemical regulation in the US thankfully!!
One can stop buying table salt and changing to rock salt or sea salt as both are healthier.
I was an organic farmer for decades. I don't use "organic pesticides". I grew strawberries using composted manure and cover crops for fertility. For weeds we hoed and used geese after harvest(geese don't like the taste of strawberry leaves, but love grasses, dandelions and other weeds). Insect pests were seldom a problem-I used a parasitic wasp to control the worst pest.
More biodiversity! Something to do with the manure other than just throw it all away! (And i net tha geese poop also helped keep the soil fertalized aswell) Fantastic!
Keeps the soil healthier for longer and has a lower risk of eutrophication or pollution in thr waterways aswell.
@@bethanybrookes8479 Yep! "weeder geese" were used in strawberries by many farmers before herbicides came on the scene.. Keeping them in the patch was a problem until I discovered electrified poultry netting, which kept the geese in and predators out.
Thank you for sharing this and challenging the idea that organically grown produce involves pesticide use.
@@MyFocusVaries To be clear, there are "organic" pesticides. Elemental sulfur, finely ground, can be used against certain fungal pathogens like mildew, and various naturally occurring substances are allowed for the control of some insects. Concentrated acetic acid(vinegar) can be used for weed control. But the main point of organic farming is to keep the soil biosphere healthy, and the farm ecosystem varied(eg.., keep naturalized areas where pollinator and predator insects, and birds can live).
@@johnwise7693 I appreciate the clarification. And I know they are not universally applied. I gave up using vinegar as weed control years ago. It's got limited use and can kill plants you didn't want to affect. And it affects the soil. Yes, creating a healthy environment is the ideal.
I have finally given up on removing all plastic containers from my home. And I don't try to repurpose or recycle everything. Instead, i just cut down on buying stuff in the first place. Simplifying my purchases and frugal use prevents a lot of trash in the first place.
I was discussing this with a coworker, just last night. A couple of people were talking about putting their rolling bins out the night before pick-up. About how, sometimes, the bins were top-heavy because of how they had filled the bin. I told them about we make sure that the bottom of our bin is heavier, or the same weight as the top. By not producing a lot of trash, we can evenly load the bin, plus only need to put it out every 2-3 weeks.
I'm 99.9% sure that the miyoko's butter wrapper used to be compostable. I remember reading this on the back of the container and we would compost them in our backyard. But it isn't on the label anymore. So the influencer that you followed might have been correct when they posted the info at that time. I still use it because it is the best tasting vegan butter and doesn't contain palm oil. And yes, there are nuances to palm oil but I am tropical conservation ecologist so my view is that it is better to not buy/support palm oil since that agriculture industry destroys the rainforest (which is the most biodiverse ecosystem on land and also typically is better at storing carbon than other terrestrial ecosystems).
I just found your channel and YES. I have a science background and sometimes I just have to shake my head at some of the claims. Subscribed! Also, whenever someone talks about "chemicals" I always want to shout that WATER is a chemical. Just word salad to scaremonger.
ahh welcome! i'm so glad to have a sciencey person watching 🥰 please don't hesitate to let me know if i get something wrong!
same here. subscribed. ;)
Retired scientist and chemical officer here. Love organic gardening so kids can grab a tomato or pea off the vine and safely enjoy it sun-warmed. HOWEVER… I hate the supermarket BS. ORGANIC CABBAGE? Remove 2 leaves. Wash your fruit and veggies before eating them. Use common sense. If it sounds scary, it’s likely just a sales pitch for something more expensive. That nonsense just increases an already restricted food budget for folks who should be able to eat a healthy range of regular produce. End rant.
@@carolynjaussi709 i myself garden "organically" just 'cause i'm too cheap to buy *any* pesticides/herbicides/fungicides, whether synthetic or natural, plus i don't mind sharing the bounty with local creepy crawlies! and according to research many organic pesticides are just as toxic as (if not more than) synthetic pesticides, so i'd rather just use zero inputs on my garden and buy whatever i can afford/looks good at my local grocery store and farmers market and give it a decent wash (mostly just to remove dirt) 😅
Science or $cience?
Your body is the greatest chemistry lab on earth. It takes the food you eat, chemically deconstructs it and re shapes it into diffrent molecules so your cells can absorb then and repair the body!
And Jesus our creator is for sure the greatest chemist
@@52sreshtasamanvitha15 Really? Was that necessary?
@@kaleyjanenighI wonder why people are so obsessed with applying Jesus and God to everything... It does nothing for no one, and allows horrors to multiply under the guise of God's plan. 😬
What a great point you made! I will have to be even more grateful to be alive in this miraculous body!
@@lauriepowell3959 (the wrong chemistry is bad fallacy)
I used to be a hardcore hippie and did a lot of unhinged stuff, including:
- using soap nuts/berries (so basically same as washing my clothes with plain water)
- not using spf and then using super expensive mineral one that irritated my skin
- not using toothpaste for many years and then using only fluoride-free 🙃bc third eye or smth and now I have zillion cavities
- not using shower gel or shampoo etc etc basically just using water and maybe soap if I had visibly dirty hands or feet
- not using deodorant, only coconut oil (luckily I don't sweat that much)
- coconut oil for face and body even though it worsened my acne and dry skin (bc plain oil does not hydrate your skin)
- so much essential oils, esp tea tree and pathcouli
- using cocoa powder and rye flour as dry shampoo (didn't work)
- drinking spirulina every freaking day thinking it would cure my anemia ( it didn't)
- not using pain killers, birth control pills etc bc scary big pharma chemicals
- instead using high doses of super foods like ashwagandha, golden root etc which triggered a manic episode
Aaand so much more... Must´ve smelled pretty good back then 💩
👍❤️
I really applaud you for your bravery to admit that some of the things you did were not the most scientifically sound. As she says in the end, to be able to change your mind in face of new evidence is commendable and not a lot of people can do it.
What’s wrong with soap nuts?
Yeah, when someone says it’s natural I always think so arsenic
right?? so convenient how they forget about arsenic, etc. 😅
Or asbestos. A really amazing natural mineral.
A friend of mine kept having her daugther eat apples fully, including seeds, because "it's natural, it's good for you". I had to metaphorically slap her in the face and explain to her that she was slowling giving her kid arsenic poisoning. This is why we study chemistry in school, people!
a few Apple seeds won't kill you
@@corvusmonedula Twice a day every day for months while being 8 years old definitely will
Thank you so much for making this video series! I went hardcore zero waste back in 2017 but am coming to terms with how silly, out of touch, and harmful some of the popular zero waste practices and problematic mindsets were back then.
In the end, I don't regret it at all though- the movement really helped open my eyes to how wasteful our society is and helped me establish a new intentional way of consuming and creating. It helped me save money and buy less in general and inspired me to cook more as well as thrift most of my clothes.
But I do love how our collective mindset is shifting to a more reasonable, sustainable approach- and shifting the blame from individuals to major corporations! I'm really loving how a lot of the sustainable influencers are making videos like these reevaluating the hits and misses of the movement :)
literally could not have said it better myself! i'm glad we were both able to discard what's not helpful and keep with us those lessons that are truly valuable 🧡
I work in net zero health policy and I just wanted to say THANK YOU. Healthcare emissions are HUGE and we need to prevent people from coming to hospital with melanomas or dental issues because they're scared of using toothpaste or sunscreen because it's damaging to the environment. Look after yourself, it will reduce emissions in the long run.
soooo you're telling me that not only is prevention going to save money and time and pain, but also the environment??! haha it's so obvious now that you brought it up but i've literally never thought of it that way, thank you!!
There is no such thing as zero waste!!!! Everything has a byproduct.
I too loved Hey Human, I would get their deodorant because it was good quality and in paper containers and half the price as Native. Then they disappeared and Native stopped offering paper containers
Interesting, I've seen the paper packaging for Native deodorant become more available in my local Target over the past 2 years or so.
@@sleepingroses761 lucky
I’m glad that you mentioned that essential oils generally are safe, but can be misused. I use lavender oil in my laundry to keep mildew smell from forming when I hang dry stuff or…forget it in the wash for like an entire day. Works like a charm, no issue. I also use it as a bug repellant (along with cedar wood oil) and I’ve only had a tick once! They’re also anti bacterial, anti fungal, anti microbial, etc (depending on the kind) so they can be good for cleaning.
But like…wtf are people doing putting them in FOOD. Not diluting them enough, not doing skin patch tests, using them on their cats and dogs with only as much info as the doTerra rep gave them, putting them in soft mucous membranes, I just can not. People know better than to eat dish soap or bathe in bleach but they’ll eat borax and put tea tree oil on their dog and think it’ll be fine.
I’m a low chemical girlie. Absolutely on the crunchier side. But like…come on… Also attempting herbal medicine but using essential oils instead of following instructions and using raw plants…You can get seriously sick and in some cases worse.
There's this chick on SkillShare and she has the only essential oils course. It was pretty 101 stuff, I already knew everything she was saying, but she LEGIT RECOMMENDED putting lemon EO in your water! DAILY! There were other red flags, too, but you can't tell people that! Only serious, qualified herbalists can recommend something like that, and they typically DON'T. FOR A REASON. Yeah, people want to play pretend with herbalism, but shortcut it and they assume using an EO is equal to using the raw plant. That's absolutely NUTS and disastrous. Great comment! ❤
Sometimes you do gotta bathe in bleach, just sayin'
😂😂😂
Hear hear. Some people have no sense of basic chemistry safety and should get nowhere near essential oils, it's quite scary.
@@lsamoa the fact that some people think using peppermint oil in a tincture that calls for steeped peppermint…it’s wild out here 😂
@@RealBradMiller there do be days like that 😂
LOVE that you are talking about this. I am tired of environmental consciousness, zero waste and organics being all tied up together through blatant lies and zero fact checking.
I follow my grandmother`s zero waste habits, and I also use the clothes she and my aunts gave me, as well as kitchenware they used for years and years and still work perfectly fine, etc etc.
Thank you so much for sharing this info. My dad is a PhD chemist, so we roll our eyes a lot at all the hippie dippie claims and outright lies made by companies nowadays just trying to make money off of ignorance with good intentions. Actually knowing what's what does far more good.
oh gosh, if only we could all be raised by scientists!! or at the very least that research-backed information was the norm instead of the exception! thanks so much for watching 😚
The fear mongering of chemicals and GMOs makes me sad as a scientist in sustainable biotech. We genetically engineer microbes to make chemicals more sustainably than chemistry or extracting from natural resources. But sustainable/green chemistry has its own strengths and will be part of a more sustainable future.
I am married to an organic chemist. He helps me break things down in the eco brands, so if it's still useful or not. I have low chemical use in my home, since I am sensitive to fragrances and don't think we need to use the harsh chemicals as heavily as they are being used for general cleaning. Cleaning hoards or bio hazards need the heavy duty stuff.
Hey- one thing I’m curious on is fluoride. It’s toxic in large amounts, so how come we can use it- even if we spit it out? Does it not bioaccumulate? What makes it safe? I’d prefer an answer over “it prevents cavities.” I use fluoride on and off.
I was listening to an interview with Bea Johnson and she suggested reusing condoms and I was like, oh, this is wacky territory…
omg!!! now THAT is unhinged 💀
I'm sorry but WHAT THE FU*K
My mum joked once that's how she became pregnant with my brother. My father was a tightwad (this was in the 1940s)
Reusing condoms is wild!
Synthesised versions of natural things are usually quite a but safer than their natural counterparts because they are much more consistent. Less variability equals more consistent results.
and usually better for the environment too!!
This isn’t meant to come off as though I don’t believe you. Just wondering. Could you provide any examples?
@@thebeatles92195 Aspirin and salicylic acid both come from Salix Alba, specifically its bark. You may see it in more "natural" products under the ingredient "willow bark extract". The question then becomes do you want the active ingredient salicylic acid or aspirin or do you want a much weaker salicylic acid mixed in with a bunch of random chemicals (ie all the other natural compounds in the plant) which at best do nothing but dilute the active ingredients and at worst can cause allergic reactions and other health problems. And let's not forget how castor oil is processed castor seeds to remove the natural super deadly ricin.
Also, the saved space from not having to farm massive amounts if land for a tiny bit of product also helps.
I am a vegan who eats tons of produce. I still think it is a good idea to know the dirty dozen as it helps you decide which fruits and vegetables to rinse off well before eating. It is helpful to know which fruits and vegetables have the highest amount of conventional pesticides, because whether you like it or not, some of these are carcinogens. Many people in the United States have unreal levels of glyphosate in their blood and I think it's a good idea to try to limit that in any capacity. That being said, I totally agree that organic fruits and vegetables still use organic pesticides. We should be washing and rinsing everything if it is not pre-rinsed! Especially things like berries and apples. (BTW, many greens, such as kale in the list, are pre-rinsed. You actually do more harm than good by rinsing them a second time.) You should do a video on which fruits and vegetables to actually take time to rinse and which ones are typically pre-rinsed. This would save a lot of time and keep us safe!
lots of things are possible or probable carcinogens, including some organic pesticides, which the dirty dozen completely ignores. as they say, the dose makes the poison!
I always had to hold back laughter when I saw "chemical free" labels or when someone said they didn't trust products with "chemicals you can't pronounce" in them. A chemical is just a bond between atoms. Everything is chemicals!
Despite dealing with chronic illness, I was making my own cleaning products and skincare products for a while. I also tried the no shampoo thing. Figured out that I was getting horrible results with my laundry, my hair started falling out, and I was creating more waste and spending more money (that I didn’t have). I use so much less product now that a bottle of shampoo lasts months, toothpaste as well. Buying good products and replacing them less often/repairing when able is the way to go for me. I would bet my carbon/waste footprint is far lower this way. Being mindful of the amount of product one uses each time is important, too. People tend to use far too much dish soap, shampoo, conditioner and such than they really need just out of habit or simply not paying attention.
We seriously need more people like you and lab muffin beauty science etc, debunking the fear mongering and educating people. 😀👍
Thank you for mentioning lab muffin, I love her videos and wanted to reference her... But couldn't remember her name.
lab muffin, the eco well, and food science babe changed me with their badassery!!
The thing I had to stop was buying a sustainable toilet paper subscription. The subscription is $37 for 24 rolls, and it's only $13.50 for the same number of rolls of TP made from recycled paper at Target. (I don't actually know which is more sustainable, but I can't justify the price difference).
recycled toilet paper is a GREAT alternative to conventional TP, and let's not forget that money is also a non-renewable resource so we need to spend it wisely!! i do believe that much of the markup on these bamboo TPs is to cover the cost of excessive advertising
Hey! Not sure if this is something you'd be into but we got an "aftermarket" bidet that has a booty and "female" setting, and the pressure goes from super light to painfully heavy so it's good for 1 and 2. You don't even need TP, but we still keep some to dry with. If you wanted to be really sustainable you could rip up old t shirts to dry with and just wash them after. Since you're already clean when you use the rags, it would be cleaner than washing underwear even. It was a one time purchase of about $50 and we've used it for years. Cheaper in the long run and you don't have to go to the store!
I was buying recycled TP... And then they stopped carrying it. I now use a bidet, and barely use TP.
Or, you know, do what we did before TP existed if you REALLY want to "help the planet."
Bidet! I got a bidet toilet seat and I’ll never look back.
Haha, I love this video. Thank you for telling it like it is.
One thing that's bothered me since early on with some of the ZW dogma is the notion that you can use baking soda for anything and everything. Toothpaste, hair conditioner, deodorant... No you cannot! Bicarb damages tooth enamel and hair folicles, causes skin rashes and stains melanated skin. It's great for cleaning burned food out of your cooking pan but it is NOT the miracle product that some people make it out to be.
Another thing is the notion that it's more eco-friendly to DYI everything. Sure, if it's a matter of just mixing together a couple of things you already have in your pantry anyway, using existing kitchen utensils, then sure it's worth doing it. But if it means sourcing a multitude of different ingredients from different shops, each in their own individual packaging, and purchasing specialized equipement just for that? How is it more eco-friendly than manufacturers doing the exact same thing but in bulk and through optimized processes? It definitely feels like posturing rather than problem-solving tbh.
ZW is a good idea and a lot of tips about how to aim for it are very useful, but let's not just buy everything people tell us just because they call it ZW. Chemistry and science are more complex than recipes.
This is the first time I’m hearing about the EWG not being reliable! I didn’t even think twice about it, thanks for bringing that up. Can’t wait to look more into it and re-evaluate where I might have fallen for that marketing
trust me i'm right there with you!! i was pretty bummed when i found out, you just feel duped ya know?
Have you checked if things are indeed being recycled?? I’ve heard that our recycling goes in the garbage and a lot of other places do this. As well as recycling plastic is pointless because they send it over seas where it takes more resources or ends up in the ocean
beyond my town's website i haven't looked further into it 😅 but my town is relatively environmentally conscious and also specifies several common things [like berry clamshells] that they do not accept, so i feel like if the tetrapaks, gable top milk cartons, etc. were just being thrown away they'd stop accepting them? you do have a great point though and if i wasn't moving soon i'd probably try to make friends with someone who works at the facility so i could pick their brain!
@@allisonfromearth totally! I’m sure it’s different everywhere you go. I live in Indianapolis and my brother told me they just throw the recycling with the garbage and it’s really hard for me to wrap my head around, that they would even make people pay for a recycling program that doesn’t actually recycle
I started getting my skincare from the zero waste store in my town and I had an acne reaction so bad I’m still fixing it three months later so we’re just using a brand that has mostly glass packaging and is non-comedogenic now and we’re cleaning out the packaging to either reuse or recycle at Sephora. Also I feel the toothpaste difficulties ugh
I hope your career flourishes now that you've eschewed pseudoscience! This video was so well edited and researched and I actually learned a ton! The space needs more creators who are scientifically literate and are unwilling to scare their audience to make a buck. I ended up falling out of love with personal sustainability because of how much creators like that make it seem like it's all about buying the perfect items. I'm glad to be back into it finally with a better outlook!
that was a huge cause of eco burnout for me too! it was like every other day i was guilt-tripped into buying something else i "needed" to buy/replace, and a lot of the time i totally fell for it 😩 but at the end of the day, refusing / reducing are where it's at! and thanks so much for the kind words, your comment really touched me in the heart department 🧡
I absolutely LIVE for your rants, keep them coming 🙌🏽
oh adriana!!! i'm sure we'll never run out of rant material, will we 🤣
That chemophonia section was fantastic! The whole video was good but that was great! Also yay to fact checking. Great education for your whole audience
appreciate that so much! 🕺🏼
Re: essential oils - anyone else remember that trend in like, 2010 for dumping citrus oils into your water-bottles? My office had an oil mlm lady in it who convinced a bunch of people to put like, a teaspoon of random oils in their water every time they filled it up. She was making bank off them
Yeah, all the clean- and greenwashing really has become a problem. I mean - you might as well slap a huge sticker on a bar of soap or a bottle of shampoo that is shouting "NO Arsenic, NO Mercury" on it in big and friendly looking letters. It might be correct but it is also saying nothing. Many also confuse "zero waste" with "I have less stuff in my trash can". Regardless of where else there might be more stuff going in the bin. Case in point: essential oils, as brilliantly pointed out here.
Same as with energy efficiency labels you find on anything from washing machines to light bulbs. They are pretty much bunk and paint a pretty distorted picture of reality. My mum once said "Well, if they put on more "plus" signs on new devices - do we even need to plug them in anymore or do they make their own power?" Pretty "boomer" take but she does have a point. It does not matter how long you make that green bar or how many plus signs you paint on it. It's all relative. Sure, if you have a 25 year old fridge, then a new one is certainly going to use less power and is therefore also very likely to be more eco friendly than the old one. That is all well and good. I have no issues with that. Does that mean you have to throw out a fridge as soon as it is downrated to C? Absolutely not. That would be insane and uneconomic. It would make appliance makers happy, though.
The LED light bulbs in my home had an A++ energy rating when I bought them. They still work fine years later. Now they are rated F or even G. Which might make some people feel bad for having them or buying them now. Does that mean I am going to throw them out? Hell no. Those things are expensive. Once they eventually break, yes I will definitely replace them with whatever good rating variant available when that happens. However: I am not going to send a perfectly working appliance to the landfill because because it is "not green enough". Because that is something that would be pretty wasteful - the opposite of green. But that is something that manufacturers do not like to hear because they want you to buy their stuff, and more faster please.
I really appreciate this video. I recently have been trying to become more zero waste in my daily life. I feel immense guilt if I buy toothpaste or a conventional toothbrush. My bamboo toothbrush was causing me to have receding gums. It’s nice to know that what works for me is GOOD ENOUGH!! Eco friendly sometimes means more expensive and that’s hard in this economy!
Just a question- did you move the toothbrush far back enough for the wood to affect you? It might’ve been that, and I think you could use something similar to plastic that mimicks it, so to speak.
Using up what we already have and mindful buying, are slowing down what comes into our home. Great video ❤!
thank you thank you!! 🧡
I really appreciate your wisdom of fact checking products and food claims etc and it has made me realise how gullible I have been . Where do you recommend we can go to look for evidence based science. Thank you for making these videos; they are both grounding and motivating.
you are so not alone! i spent 5 years unknowingly spreading misinformation within the zero waste + sustainability movements so now it's all about trying to right those wrongs and grow as good earth people 🧡 my favorite science communicators are the eco well, unbiased sci pod, lab muffin beauty science, and food science babe -- all these scientists are active on IG, but lab muffin and food science babe are also on youtube, and unbiased sci pod and the eco well have really good podcasts!
@@allisonfromearth Also chemistry books from your local library are worth getting ;)
Just got recommended this video from the algorithm out of the blue and I ended up happily watching it until the end. You seem to be the kind of person I want to aspire to be like. It's rare that I take such inspiration over a video of someone I've never seen before. Immediate subscribe, looking forward to going through your other videos!
as a small creator this means the world 😭🧡 thanks a million for taking the time to share that with me!
Yes!! I got into zero/low waste in preparation for moving out of my parents' 6 months ago and most of it is really cool, but yeah, the issues you bring up are... scary. and very prevalent, there still are people advocating for essential oils in everything and people being terrified of "chemicals". this has especially been an issue when trying to read, watch and listen to everything i can find, including ten year old stuff that might not even align with their values anymore, and definitely not recent science. But yeah, sorry for the rant, health has become my main boundary when it comes to zero waste
What I've decided to focus on has become farming practices and transportation of food, recycleable packaging and REDUCTION. you don't need it. you don't want it. don't buy it.
never apologize for a rant on this channel!! we love a rant! and i agree 😊
I had thought, if I DIY my skincare, hair care and make up, I would not create as much waste and could save some bucks. Well... while I had to try out different recipes first, to find something that would work for me, I also wasted a lot of ingredients on trying to make my own mascara (hint: none of the recipes I found, worked). I also came to the realization that I could not use up the final products before they turned, even though I used them every day. They were very easy to use and luckily also didn't break me out (until they turned, that was how I figured that out) and I then had a lot of the ingredients turning bad before I could use them up even though I created literally everything I needed myself (besides mascara). The reason why I started to do this was merely because I wanted to use more "natural" products and any natural cosmetics product I had tried broke me out like crazy, caused rashes and irritations (even my scalp and body skin got messed up).
Besides that I think if you found products that you always re-buy because they work perfectly fine for you, that's still better than trying out thousands of different products which then land in the trash (or buy all the ingredients to make your own products which also land in the trash because you can't use them up in time). Where I live basically anything can be recycled. Glass, plastic, aluminum foil, tin cans, paper, tetra packs etc.
What I also wanna meantion: I used to have flatweave cotton rugs and my cats destroyed them. I now have flatweave rugs made from polypropylene and they don't show any signs of scratching even after years. They are also VERY easy to clean and don't stain - all of that already made them last WAY longer and will probably make them last for many more years. THAT is now something I am looking for. Products that work and last. I am not looking into buying everything new after 1 or 2 years of usage. I want things to last. And if that means the material isn't natural, so be it. I think we need to realize that a lot of things that get bought for the sake of sustainability don't really last very long and need to be exchanged constantly. And while production always creates harm to the environment, I really prefer longevity. Of course if one's a person who wants new things all the time, it probably is better to go for more natural materials, but if you're like me and want things to stay for as long as possible, it isn't always easy or even possible to find a purely "natural" solution for that.
On the other hand: we do have stainless steel wine cups, they look cool and don't break and I am thinking about getting plates and cups made from stainless steel once my regular ones aren't doing it anymore. But that might take a long time still. I'm not tossing stuff out that's still fine to use.
Thanks for your honesty. The underlying message here is that there’s only so far we can get as individuals. Government policy, regulation on how things are sold, and re-thinking consumerism in the late capitalist age are what we need to focus on now. The other message: don’t do things to impress others or ‘educate’ others. You describe it beautifully.
I used to be in a zero waste fb group, but i never went hardcore. It made me discover bulk barn and tips and tricks to make the most of the food i buy , and that's the only valuable takeaway i had from that. I left the group when it became overrun by essential oils mlms and by the most ridiculous pseudoscience. Like, no i'm not going to use apple cider vinegar as a rinse in my washing machine, i'm not going to rinse my hair with it nor am i going to drink it because *magic* 😬 and the handmade soap for the washing machine? That's just going to build up on your clothes. What you need is a detergent and it's just not the same as a soap. There are good habits to take from zero waste, but there is too much general bs spread as Facts that now i refuse to be in those spaces :( so i really appreciate this video, it's a breath of fresh air for me 😅
Re pesticides, it's not about toxicity it's more about the harm they do to local eco systems and polinator populations. On a human scale some can be carcinogenic but overall, the broader issue is the entire system of our food industry, the centralized aspect of it, and the harms monocultures cause broadly.
None of this is simple.
I think reductionism is a HUGE issue in eco-friendly stuff in general. Just like so many things, people want a quick, easy fix with no need to learn. That's not how life works tho. We NEED education about damaging systems, chemistry, biology, ecology, sociology, farming practices, impact of scale, the list goes on.
It's complex. There's not a simple solution.
It's a systemic solution that involves changing our economic structure away from capitalism, away from centralized supply chains, and toward a broader CULTURE of reuse, sharing, and care of ecology.
absolutely, 100% agree! what makes it tricky is when natural pesticides are more ecologically damaging than synthetic pesticides, because they’re less effective at the same dose so higher quantities must be used, and because they haven’t been engineered to target specific pests, i.e. they’ll kill pests but also predator species and pollinators. really grinds my gears that people think natural pesticides are inherently better for the environment! i wish we could take what works from conventional agriculture and what works from organic agriculture and discard the damaging aspects of both
Thank you for sharing this stuff - way too many people fall for what's easy and don't fact check anything at all. We need more people to accept that things like this are incredibly nuanced and complicated
My personal gripe is related to reducing and recyling plastic. Back in the 1990's when only clear water and soda bottles were recyclable in upto far and few between places, it was more possible to have less plastic packaging in one's waste stresm (landfill amd recycle) than it is today.
Thank you for not being irrational about fluoride!
Thank you for debunking the Dirty Dozen! I’ve definitely fallen for greenwashing and chemophobia before, so it’s good to learn this information. Looking forward to more videos from you 👍
Help me. Why does everyone here hate the EWG's Dirty Dozen ? Is it not "science based"?
Thank god you exist. So many people need this video. Great job!
Working in communication/public ed at a recycling center, I LOVE your tip to check with your municipality! Recycling Partnership is a quality resource if you can’t find information on your city’s website.
Have you heard of Uncle Harry's toothpaste? They come in glass jars and you can buy a huge one for $35 that will literally last you years and is made from bentonite clay which remineralizes your teeth. they even have a cinnamon flavor.
it doesn't appear to have fluoride
I'm so glad that I found your channel! I often feel like the critical perspective is missing when people talk about zero waste. I think it is very important to discuss how sustainable some products really are in relation to conventional ones
Thank you for this video! I feel like I have been obsessed with perfecting my zero waste life, at the sacrifice of other family benefits (driving all over for that package free option, ordering online for a zero waste option when something okay is sitting at the store nearby....). This is eye opening and would love to see more videos like this!
Great advice! I catch myself believing things that I really should look up. The point of keeping an open mind is simply beautiful, but, so hard to get people to listen! Thanks so much for making attempts, its got to be worth it.
Thank you for calling out the chemophobia! So so rare to see that in eco/low waste spaces
so so rare! i hope more eco content creators start to appreciate the damaging consequences of sharing misinformation and feel supported enough to correct themselves going forward 😌 one can dream lol
I'm really not a fan of essential oils and hate that they are so prevalent in eco-friendly soap and shampoo options. I have an allergic reaction to at least a few of them, while I can often use cheap soaps with synthetic fragrances without any problems. I still prefer unscented products though for the most part.
Edit: Also thanks for mentioning sunscreen. I've felt a little guilty for prefering non-mineral sunscreen over mineral one because I like the consistency better especially in my face. Granted there are still many non-mineral brands that feel disgusting in my opinion but at least there are like two that feel ok.
I always appreciate your level-headed, thoughtful, and playful takes on sustainability (and def still buy "regular" toothpaste because your cavity from the brief time without fluoride scared me lol)
I had someone tell me to end my own life on TikTok at one point for informing people to not just go chucking their light bulbs into their recycling bin the because the standard company (mentioned by name) for my area does not recycle light bulbs. Apparently, a company that isn't 100% perfect is absolutely horrible, and anyone that uses them as a reference resource for anything should be damned to hell immediately.
This is your first video I’ve ever watched. Love it! I’ve been saying these things for years to any friends and family who try to get me to buy into all these things. Thanks so much for sharing this!!!
this video was so good, i couldnt believe you only have 2k subs when i saw the subcount! this is top tier content
ahh haha i appreciate that! hopeful to reach more earth people as i make more content 🤞🏻
I have just found you and am now subscribed because you are against pseudoscience and fear mongering. Thank you for exposing‘influencers’ and actually following scientific research. Having an opinion does not make someone a scientist.
The US needs to take a look at some European countries and upgrade their eco and sustainability ethos. Decades ahead of the US in these respects.
I gave up trying to 'properly' dispose of everything in 2023. It was causing so much stress. I still have a couple of terracyles and I take stuff to the recycling yard regularly but it was very freeing to say ok, that's going in the dumpster and I'm ok with that.
I thankfully live in a country where recycling is organised for you by public authorities. The only things I would have to bring somewhere more then 10 minutes away are special waste products like old paint etc. We can only do so much as individuals without proper systems and legislature in place!
One thing that "zero waste" has done for me is save money. "reusable" paper towels, silicone zip lock bags, getting my spice jars refilled, ect. but from day one, i always listened to science. always have used fluoride, never did oil pulling, "reef safe" sun screen etc. Some zero waste products i use and has helped me save money in the long run with a 2 person household
I can’t handle fragrances, so, I don’t use essential oils. You can still DIY without it.
I do the same. Skin stuff because my skin (especially on my face) is super-sensitive, but also in the household cleaners I make because I don't want to put oil in something that's supposed to clean my countertops, mirrors, etc. :)
It's really reassuring to see the younger generation leaning how to think independently and not be fooled by corporate propaganda, and learning the value of doing one's own research. In truth, all generations should learn these skills, but people can be sarcastic and critical of certain age groups, and, imo, that's a fallacy. I used to be like you in the past...yearning to do what I can to abide by 'green' rules. In the end, the truth is that many of these so-called sustainability 'rules' are bullshit manipulation tactics to get us to secede our rights to the globalists (who's main platform is to depopulate the earth, and create an obedient slave race to work as peasant serfs for the elite caste). If you don't believe me, look into the WEF, and see for yourself. This was a great video, and very helpful and encouraging. Thank you.
At 12:55 - that is me!!! I constantly talk about “voting with my dollar” but how it’s spreading me too thin
ah man i have THOUGHTS about that slogan! i realize now how privileged and insensitive it is to advocate spending more money than you can afford on the luxury of morals -- especially when the morals you're "voting for" may not be as great as they appear, like our miyokos butter example. luckily, i do think being environmentally conscious ends up saving money, some of which can be used to sort of "subsidize" a few of the more expensive things (like fair trade coffee for instance), but still...to encourage or even expect folks to do that for *everything* is overly idealistic and doesn't help!
Let's not let synthetic fragrance off the hook that easily. Companies aren't required to disclose what's in "fragrance", and unfortunately for me, I may never be able to narrow down what chemical I'm allergic to (to the point where I now work from home, because whatever it is seems to be in a LOT of personal care products). At least with an essential oil, you can identify what gave you problems.
i do see how frustrating it’d be to have an allergy and not be able to pinpoint what’s triggering it 😩 totally understand what you’re saying but being allergic to something doesn’t mean it’s unsafe for people who aren’t allergic! and there’s reason to believe synthetic fragrances are less allergenic than natural fragrances. wanna add that there are a few [annoying] reasons why manufactures aren’t required to disclose fragrance ingredients (including limited real estate on the packaging), though that also applies to the ingredients in natural fragrances. look up the chemical composition of lavender essential oil - it has DOZENS of ingredients!!
@@allisonfromearth Fragrance-free: problem solved
A rocket surgeon haha
Thank you for this! It's soooo good to hear a more skeptical approach to sustainability. Following the evidence not the marketing. This video made me follow you😊
yahooo!! thank you thank you 😊
Such an awesome video thank you for all the information!!!! ❤
I’ve never liked using essential oils for diy cleaners because I usually have very bad allergic reactions to them. I’ve always used extracts, like I use peppermint extract in my homemade cleaning product and mouthwash, and I use that a lot for baking anyways so it’s multifunctional, and you can make it yourself. So overall yea way better than essential oil
huge fan of the extract as well! thanks for sharing that 🧡
This is refreshing. Would love to hear how you decide which produce to purchase. When you toss out concern between labels of conventional vs organic do you instead look up the individual farm’s practices? Account for shipping distance? Worry about packaging vs loose? Just buy what you want and not worry about it?
amazing question! i'd love to make a video on the topic. for now i try to prioritize local and seasonal, whether it's organic or conventional -- but unfortunately the budget doesn't always allow, so i have to make frequent concessions. ideally i'd go for local and seasonal produce without packaging whenever possible, grown using an optimized combination of organic practices and conventional practices (some organic methods are better for the environment and some conventional methods are better for the environment). my next "project" is to learn more about that!
Hey Allison!
I adored this video. I'm legit sharing it with my Mom. She takes the damn "Dirty 30"/"Clean 15" shit as gospel. Insanity.
So, I was put off of the zero-waste movement for some time because of the crazy content creators, lies, green/cleanwashing, etc. I'm a minimalist, so YT thinks it needs to throw zero-waste at me constantly, too, because algorithm. I much prefer simply being as informed as possible, making smart buying decisions, and composting. I think the label zero-waste has ruined itself. Like someone else said above, I fervently believe that less/smarter consumption is the key.
Thanks for this video. You're a rockstar. I'm subbing! ❤🎉
Thank you! This analytical lens is so desperately needed in this space.
I appreciate your commitment to be a researcher. I agree we need to question marketing and be vigilant. An important part of the conversation is missing here, though. Organic farming isn’t just about the health of the consumer from ingesting the animal or produce, it’s about sustainable farming practices that create less harm to the planet and the people that live near the farms. We have government requirements for being certified organic that many folks have fought to protect against administrations that tried to rewrite them to include more pesticides (see Clifbar vs GW Bush administration). The end goal of pushing organic is to build a more sustainable system. I think it’s also important to question one study that says people are avoiding vegetables all together because they’re afraid of pesticides. Only 12% of American adults are eating the RDA of fruit and vegetables. I can definitely see this push towards organic having the unintended consequence of discouraging people but there is plenty of evidence that greater factors are at play. Not having access to fresh produce of any kind is a bigger problem: food deserts and food swamps. Also food addiction to cheap processed food is probably the biggest issue. Some awesome folks and I started feeding people plant based food boxes during the pandemic. We included organic and nonorganic produce and people would cry tears of gratitude. They would share photos with us of what they cooked with the boxes. Having access and community support are much more important to health. Thank you for doing this video. It’s important work! www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/organic-food/
the study didn't claim fear of pesticides was the ONLY reason people aren't meeting the RDA for produce, it's just one reason, and the groups most affected by food insecurity are put at an even greater disadvantage because of this type of marketing
Duude Hey Humans was the best!
Affordable and in stores so no additional shipping needed! I hope they’re just getting ready for a revamp or something! 🤞🏽🤞🏽
pleeeease let this be the case!! also wouldn’t be mad if they came out with an antiperspirant 🤞😩
Thank you for making this video. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this as I have been thinking, and have discovered many of the same things. As a person on a low income and also being concerned about my health in the environment, I have sometimes fallen in to just believing what is said even though as you pointed out, there is no scientific proof. Thank you for putting this information out there and sharing your experience.
oh it's SO easy to believe these things! thanks so much for taking the time to watch + comment 😊🧡
Huge on number 2! I have sensitive teeth and I just need to use specific toothpastes and mouth washes and I try to consider that the alternative is needing to get dental procedures done that will produce significantly more waste (on top of being more expensive for me and just not as good as not needing them in the first place).
I went from a regular western diet and consumption habits to veggie to vegan and as zero waste as i could possibly go, and my health took a real bad dip. Started buying granola bars and eating animal products again and my health is so much better, I'm doing so much better in life and overall, it was a great decision. Everyone can do their own thing, but i try to do what's best for me.
new to your channel and just subscribed -- i haven't seen a zero waste habits vid so founded in science and it's like a breath of fresh air!
appreciate that so much 😊
I am a certified aromatherapist and there is so much misinformation about essential oils out there. I do still believe they can be better than synthetic fragrance but you are right they are not necessarily sustainable. They require sooo much plant matter and they are being grossly over promoted. Quite frankly you can do most cleaning with just a wet cloth.
I just found you and I'm so excited to see where you go with your channel and hear more about the science of things! I know you're not a scientist but knowing that you have been reading/ listening to more science as a personal goal gives me excitement. I'm excited to see how you grow!
I happened to come across this video and I appreciate your presentation. It is hard to acknowledge when we made cringy comments in the past, and I also appreciate your take on things. I have also come to a lot of similar conclusions.
Love this, and I gotta nerd out a little and nitpick (because what am I, if not pedantic?) When it comes to "mineral" and "chemical" sunscreens, it's not about "natural" versus "man made ChemiKills," but the process through how they work. Yes, mineral sunscreen is made up of chemicals, because everything is chemicals, but the term refers to absorbing and diffusing UV rays through a chemical process, rather than blocking through a physical process.
And as for the "reef safe" claims, the real solution is stop tourism, which would devastate local economies, so the green bandage gets slapped on, so people still get to go snorkeling while feeling like they're doing no harm.
absolutely right! my point is that when someone hears "mineral" or "physical" vs. "chemical" they shouldn't assume the "chemical" ones are inherently bad!
@allisonfromearth absolutely! I used to be an esthetician and am big on preaching about sun protection, and whenever anyone asked which is better, I told them it depends. Both are equally effective when used correctly. I use tinted mineral on my face because I'm sensitive to most chemical sunscreens, and folks with oily skin tend to like how it's more matte. But with mineral, people tend to mix it with makeup or not use enough to avoid the white cast it leaves behind, decreasing its effectiveness.
Thanks for posting this, a good look into the issues of going zero waste.
Thank you for this video! Lots a great information, and sometimes all people need is to hear the "permission" from someone else to make a change in their life/mindset (though I understand that can go both ways - SO I HOPE MORE PEOPLE, ALL PEOPLE WATCH YOUR VIDEOS!). I really appreciate that you are thoughtful and consider things holistically, and importantly, you understand the difference between Research (peer-reviewed independent scientific-method using work) and a google search (spanning the spectrum of quick to rabbit-hole indepth). Can't wait to watch your other videos!
Great insight on so many different topics! I would like to see more about debunking USDA loopholes, seeing their logo on everything lately.
ooh do you have any specific examples of USDA loopholes? i'm not sure i know what you're referring to!
You are amazing! I appreciate your real talk SO much. I just want to do my best to be decent consumer without making it the only interesting thing about me/part of my personality. Thank you, totally subscribing!
My mom swears by her fluoride free toothpaste because she can eat food directly after brushing. She went to the dentist recently and they found that she has 5 cavities. Fluoride free toothpaste is a SCAM, my dude!
amen 🙏🏻 i got my first 2 cavities in my LIFE when i used fluoride-free toothpaste. i’ll just never understand the demonization
Thank you for debunking the Dirty Dozen❤ I've been holding onto some stress not being able to afford organic and eating a 'dirty' alternative. I'm so glad I can let that go now.
i'm touched!! thanks for sharing that with me. truly it's all marketing -- otherwise people wouldn't be duped into spending 50% more on produce that doesn't come with any sort of guarantee it was produced with *actually* sustainable methods and isn't even safer or healthier than the cheaper stuff!
Thank you for sharing! Very reflected and informative.
appreciate that so much!
So glad you brought this up about essential oils. I am an herbalist and my opinion has changed on them. They really should not ever be ingested. It’s only one constituent of the plant while a ton other gets left behind and the big thing is what it takes to produce it. I’ve seen people make toilet cleaner with EOs and it’s absurd you are literally flushing potentially hundreds of pounds of plants down the toilet. If that isn’t a reflection of our consumerism I don’t know what is
dude i never thought of it that way!!! my mind is blown with the toilet cleaner 🤯 such a good example
This popped up in my recommended section, and I really enjoyed the video!
The background music and sound effects, while fun, were a bit loud compared to your voice and would be less distracting if they were slightly lower volume. I will still be subscribing and watching more of your videos tho!
appreciate your feedback very much. this was only my 11th video so i'm still learning 🤭
I just found your channel and it's so refreshing!
Great video! I do wish you'd mentioned a sun protection option that does not involve wading through tons of journal articles though: hats! And long sleeves! They're effective, reusable, and leave significantly less environmental residue. Sunscreen is for what the hats and long sleeves can't cover.
I think if you're not touching ocean water directly, you can probably wear whatever, but we should still continue to be careful at the beach, especially if there are reefs. Invest in a long sleeved wetsuit if you're doing these activities often - besides the enviro benefits, your risk of sunburn goes down because you don't need to reapply!
Some DIYs are a great idea to reduce plastic use. Such as spray cleaners, which are super easy to make. I've never found a DIY dishwasher powder that works.
Good for you admitting these things.