Small clean, green switches with Big benefits

Easy-peezy, cleaner, greener switches you can make to enjoy a cleaner, greener life:

{Self / Conserving Energy} -- washing your clothes
Swap out those perfumed, covered in beef fat (refer to previous entry), dryer sheets and soften&scent your clothes instead by adding 1c. of vinegar to the rinse cycle of your wash + an essential oil scented strip of fabric in the dryer. You'll decrease your exposure to hormone-disrupting pthalates, and if you throw in a full-size clean, dry towel to your dryer spin cycle you'll get a quicker more energy efficient dry! (Wash clothes in cold water for bonus points.)

{Self / Pollution} -- best produce to buy organic
Farmers use tons of weird chemicals to keep the bugs off your vitamin & mineral packed healthy choices, resulting in organic produce being the cleanest, greenest choice. But organic produce is pretty darn expensive, so here's a list of the top 12 to buy organic - these fruit&veg have the highest pesticide residue (aka the highest amount of chemicals coating & absorbed in 'em), so if you're going to buy anything organic, these should be on your list!
The Environmental Working Group's 'Dirty Dozen': apples, celery, strawberries, peaches, spinach, imported nectarines, imported grapes, sweet bell peppers, potatoes, domestic blueberries, lettuce, kale. For more information (including 15 fruits & veg with the lowest pesticide residue, and therefor with the least organic-status priority) click here.

- Support local farms by buying their seasonal produce & decrease your contribution to around- & across-the-world shipments which emit toxic crap, damaging the environment.

{Natural Self} -- making up your face
If the task of switching out all of your fave chemical-laden makeup products is too daunting, consider aiming to switch out just the couple you use every single day, like foundation & mascara. Its the chemicals you are exposing yourself to on a regular basis that are accumulating in you, so feel good about a clean, natural foundation, and don't stress over that favourite MAC eyeshadow which you only smear on for occasional nights out. (My favourite mineral powder foundation is free of synthetic colours, parabens, nanoparticles, and other bad ingredients & my favourite mascara doesn't smear, flake off, or clump my lashes.)
It's probably a good idea to look at the moisturizer you are putting on your face every day, too (stay away from retinyl palmitate - vitamin A, when applied topically, has been linked to the growth & formation of tumors).

{Green World}
- Unplug electronics you are not currently using to save energy - like that blow-dryer that is still plugged in from this morning, or the cell-phone charger constantly attached to the wall.
- Take a walk instead of a drive! Your health, gas tank (read: pocketbook), and mother earth will thank you. It's raining?... Sweetie, you're not going to melt (some of my mother's wisdom for ya).
- To remind you of the obvious: Turn off lights when you leave the room! Same goes for heaters when you're not home, or when you've got a window open. & that barely-leaking tap in your bathroom? Fix it pronto.
- Cut 5 minutes off your shower-time: you'll save 15-25 litres of water per minute. Set a timer for yourself to make sure you keep within your limit (my bathroom light can be set to turn off after a certain amount of time, and if I don't wash fast I'm stuck shaving my legs in the dark). & turn off the tap while you are brushing your teeth.
- Be conscious of the products you are washing yourself with, which are then washed down the drain. Use shampoos, conditioners, soaps, & washes that are biodegradable.

"Don't think of it as inheriting the earth from your parents, but as borrowing it from your children."

What are your top tips for a cleaner, greener self & world?
PS if you have anything you'd like to see me write about, let me know! My creative juices have not been flowing lately! :p