Use fast-drying towels up to four
times before washing. Hand towels see more frequent use, so change every other day. Longer wear makeup stays longer on a washcloth; to prevent reintroducing germs to the face, use a facecloth only once. All-natural cleaning products are easy
to find or make. For some tips, see Tinyurl. com/LovelyEcoLoo.
In the Bedroom From sheets and bedding to a fluffy robe, choose eco-friendly organic cotton in white, or colored with environmentally safe, non-metallic dyes. Blue light from a smartphone, com-
puter, tablet or TV can foster sleeplessness. “I keep all devices out of my bedroom and block all unnatural light,” says Leslie Fischer, an eco-minded mom and entrepre- neur in Chicago, who reviews mattresses for adults and babies at SustainableSlumber. com. “I sleep on a fantastic mattress that won’t fill my room with pollution.” A good pillow is a necessity. Citrus
Sleep rates the Top Ten Eco Options at
Tinyurl.com/NaturalPillowPicks. Mattresses should be replaced every
eight years. In the U.S., an average of 50,000 end up in landfills each day. California law requires manufacturers to create a state- wide recycling program for mattresses and box springs. An $11 recycling fee, collected upon each sale, funds the Bye Bye Mattress program. Connecticut and Rhode Island also recycle them. “An alternative is extend- ing mattress use with a topper,” says Omar Alchaboun, founder of topper-maker Kloudes, in Los Angeles.
What and Where to Recycle Find out where and what to recycle at
Earth911.com. Enter the item and a zip code or call 1-800-cleanup. Going green is money-saving, envi-
ronmentally wise and coming of age, which makes eco-friendly products easier to access. Earth Day is a perfect time to make simple changes that can have long-lasting and far-reaching results.
Connect with the freelance writer via
AveryMack@mindspring.com.
We Need Trees Arbor Day More Vital Now than Ever
The 147th annual Arbor Day on April 27 encourages tree planting worldwide to replenish lost tree cover including trees wiped out in the recent fires in California and hurricanes in Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico. The Arbor Day Foundation (ADF) is committed to providing 5 million trees in these areas alone. More than 3,400 U.S. communities will participate as an ADF Tree City. Visit
Tinyurl.com/USATreeCityDirectory for a current list and criteria for new communities to apply.
The ADF Alliance for Community Trees (
ACTrees.org) supports tree- growing programs for 200 nonprofit member groups nationwide via funding, information sharing and forging helpful connections. Trees are much more than aesthetics, says Program Manager Dana Karcher, who most recently welcomed Community Greening, in Delray Beach, Florida, and Outdoor Circle, in Hawaii, into the fold. “Trees clean the air, are a habitat for animals, retain storm water and more.” An affiliated nonprofit program online at
NeighborWoodsMonth.org encourages tree planting each October.
Billings, Montana, earned the latest Arbor Day Celebration Award after 12 elementary schools there engaged in environmental education stations and 180 volunteers planted and pruned trees. Other recent biannual award winners included California’s ReLeaf program and the Atlanta Beltline Arboretum. The need was great even before the world’s forests lost 73.4 million acres of tree cover in 2016, a 51 percent increase over 2015, due to poor forest man- agement, climate change-driven drought and fires, says Global Forest Watch. Hopeful global signs: The largest-ever tropical reforestation project in the Brazilian Amazon aims to plant 73 million trees in the next six years on 70,000 acres. A New Zealand participation goal for the Billion Trees Planting Programme targets planting 100 million trees annually for a decade. In July 2017, volunteers in Madhya Pradesh, India, planted 66,750,000 tree saplings in 12 hours, exceeding the previous record by Uttar Pradesh of 50 million in 24 hours, as part of India’s reforestation pledge of 2 billion new trees by 2030. A $10 annual ADF membership fee includes 10, six-inch-tall seedlings to plant or to donate to a national forest. Karcher’s paramount planting tip: “Dig the hole twice as wide and the same depth of the root ball. If it’s too deep, it’ll suffocate. Give roots space to grow.”
April 2018 29
eco tip
Jacob_09/
Shutterstock.com
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