Episode Summary: In this episode, Leekei, Jenn and Kristina shares ideas about new products and ideas on how to maintain ourselves and our homes clean while respecting the environment

Our bathrooms and kitchens are filled with cleaning products that are contained in plastic containers. It doesn’t really make sense for the environment.

Luckily with ancient wisdom, tips and new products, there are multiple ways to maintain a high level of hygiene.  

Research has shown that in order to achieve the Paris Agreement, we need human agency: Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook: The plausibility of a 1.5°C limit to global warming - social drivers and physical processes

There is an urgency for society, and businesses to rethink the way we consume, interact, and produce.

For more information on the project and to order your copy of the Carbon Almanac, visit thecarbonalmanac.org

Want to join in the conversation?

Visit thecarbonalmanac.org/podcasts and send us a voice message on this episode or any other climate-related ideas and perspectives.

Don’t Take Our Word For It, Look It Up!

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Featuring Carbon Almanac Contributors Jenn Swanson, Leekei Tang and Kristina Horning

From Langley in British Columbia, Canada, Jenn is a Minister, Coach, Writer and Community Connector, helping people help themselves.  

Leekei is a fashion business founder, a business coach, an international development expert and podcaster from Paris, France. 

Kristina is working on design theory and using design process in everything. With a background in architecture, civil engineering and education, she loves research, play and co-creating. Currently in Prague (that it is where she is originally from) and her base is US

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The CarbonSessions Podcast is produced and edited by Leekei Tang, Steve Heatherington and Rob Slater.

Hi, I'm Ima.

I live in Scotland.

Hi, I'm Jen and I'm from Canada.

Hi, I'm Ola Vanji and I'm from Nigeria.

Hello, I'm Leaky and I live in Paris.

Hey, I'm Rod.

I'm from Peru.

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Hi, I'm leaky.

Hi, I'm Christina.

Hi.

I'm.

Okay, what are we talking about today?

I want to talk about what tricks and we can do at home without using.

Yeah, I think what we are going to learn a lot of things to clean,

uh, ourselves, our laundry, our dishes, like all the cleaning items.

When we're looking for topic for this conversation, I found something.

. Um, I was doing some shopping and I found this really, really cute.

I mean, something I've been looking for for a long time.

This is, um, liquid soap and, uh, I normally never buy liquid soap

because I just find it crazy.

It's just.

It's just crazy to have this, because normally comes in a plastic container

and you know, once you are done with the soap, you just throw it away.

There's a couple of refill option, but when, um, when I made the

decision, I'm not going to use it again, uh, many, many, many years

ago, there was no option to refill it.

, , but then I found this and, um, What is wonderful about this, this soap, this

liquid soap, it's, it's in a container.

It looks like plastic, but it's not plastic.

It is compostable.

It means that once you are done with it, you can just remove the.

You're the lid because it's, um, it has to be very hard and they haven't

found a way to make it compostable.

And just use, just throw it with your, uh, with everything you throw

in the compost bin, like, you know, your vegetable pills and everything.

And this is made of, this is made of, um, of sugar can something.

And I think this is brilliant.

There are a lot of, new innovations in the market, which I find fantastic because

uh,, I think it's because of the climate urgency that makes the innovation and

business find, , innovative ways to, you know, to, to bring new products , to help

us make better, uh, consumption decisions.

So that's what I found.

. That's great.

Christina, you had an idea for what to do with the little ends of soaps?

Oh yeah.

I, uh, I was thinking if we don't buy liquid soap, we can put it, uh, in glass

container and, uh, put water with the leftover pieces of soap and, uh, shake a

door even we can put it in, uh, in a foot processor and make it, uh, uh, break it.

and, uh, create our own liquid soap with those wonderful smells from

the leftover craft soaps we got.

That's a great idea.

Yeah, but do you put it in, um, in the jar, in the glass jar or a pla

Because the problem with the problem very prac, I'm very practical.

But the problem with, uh, with backroom, it's normally covered with tiles and,

uh, I don't like glass, you know, glass containers in, in, in bathrooms because,

uh, can become very dangerous if you break it well in, uh, some bathrooms.

Yeah.

And, uh, you can also, there are these, uh, dispensers that they have glass inside

and they're covered with, uh, wood or, uh, fabric or uh, uh, any kind of material.

that is not breakable.

So that's.

Mm.

You know, and also I was thinking about that, uh, container you were talking

about, that it's, uh, , biodegradable.

I think that would be great thing for companies, uh, because they

can put, uh, a date when it has to be used up on the container.

So where plastic is not, uh, degradable, so it's forever.

But this piece.

Is degradable.

So there has to be certain expiration date, which is for

companies, they can make more.

So that, I think that would be interesting.

That's a good idea.

That's a good idea.

Yeah, that's a very good idea.

Yeah, because in the markets, in our farmers' markets, they have biodegrade,

but double bags, and if you put them in the refrigerator after a while

they'll start making holes and things.

So they are, they have short.

. Yeah.

Yeah.

When you look at the bathroom, jazz, so many things that contain plastic

and it drives me crazy, really.

, like, you know, uh, the deodorant, that's, again, if you buy

deodorant, most of the time.

I mean, it depends on, on how you like your deodorant, but, uh, most

of the time when it's a roll on and, um, there's always a plastic thing.

And, um, again, I found a solution which is, um, like paper tube.

, so the deodorant is in a paper tube.

. , , And it's new.

So I find it very exciting.

I, I bought, I buy my deodorant that way too.

I used to buy it in a refill shop where they, they would refill

a little container and you just scooped it out, um, with a little.

wooden stick and then used it, but it was kind of messy.

So I found the same.

Uh, I don't know if it's the same brand, but I found, um, the cardboard tubes

of, and, and what I noticed about them is you get a lot more of the product.

Hmm.

Cuz it goes all the way down to the bottom of the tube.

I know in the plastic tubes they've got little bracket things cuz you dial it up.

There's none of.

, you don't need any technology , you just push up the bottom

of the tube and it works.

So, um, yeah, I, I use that stuff too.

It's great.

And there's also the deodorant, which is like a rock.

It's a piece of rock they use.

So you just smear it on.

I tried that.

It didn't work as well for me, but it might work for some people.

Yeah.

You wet it, I think.

Don't.

Uh, it depends if, uh, if we're sweaty, we don't have to buy . Ah, . There you go.

Hmm.

For several years ago I started buying, um, laundry soap in strips

from a company, um, that's right here.

They invented the, the products here in Vancouver, and, uh, they.

, the laundry soaked to you in a little cardboard pouch and you can get

something like 30 loads out of a small cardboard pouch, um, which is fabulous

cuz it's not the great big jug that you have to put in your laundry room.

It's not heavy and it's completely recyclable, the cardboard.

And what you do is you peel off the strip and if you only wanna

do half a load, you rip the strip in half, put it in your machine.

Um, and it works really, really well.

So I've been buying that for a long time and this company

keeps inventing new things.

And the next thing they invented was, um, citrus.

, uh, cleaner that you could use in your kitchen or your bathroom.

And it comes in the same strips and you take a strip and you stuff it into

any kind of a bottle that you want.

I've got a big glass brown spray bottle and you put it in there and you put a

bunch of water in it, shake it up, and there's your cleaner for the next, however

long a bottle of cleaner lasts you.

and it's really nice citrus natural cleaner.

Um, then they came out with a toilet bowl cleaner, which is also, you take a strip

and you throw it in the toilet bowl, you leave it there for a while, you come back,

you clean your toilet and you flush it.

That's so, and there you go, . And it, again, it all comes in this cardboard.

I use vinegar and things like that for, um, windows and mirrors.

Um, but sometimes you just want a little extra.

. And then the latest thing they've gotten, which I haven't tried

yet, is, um, it's the, the, the tabs that go in your dishwasher.

And, Hmm, I, we buy an eco kind right now, but it's still.

that has no phalates and no foss, whatever.

They are all parabens, all those things.

Uh, we're on a septic field here, so we have to be careful.

But, um, those still come in a little plastic wrapper that you

have to take off before you put the, the puck in the dishwasher.

Well, these, this company, um, they come all connected together

like squares in a chocolate bar and you just snap off a square and

pop it in so there's no plastic.

Again, it comes in a cardboard container.

and, uh, it's fantastic.

So I said to them, are you gonna do dish washing liquid next?

Like for, for washing, hand washing dishes, because I

wanna stop buying that too.

And liquid soap, they haven't done that yet, so I'm waiting

for them to invent more things.

, that's great that, that all these new things coming up to the market I've

read an article talking about the study cuz I don't read this study because

it's a, it's a scientific paper that was published by, let me, um, by a German.

Which is, um, the university, university state humble cluster of excellence,

climate, climate change society.

So it's, uh, it's clicks and , what this report found

out is that, um, that the Paris agreement, , on paper, it's feasible.

So we can, we have everything, , in our hands to limit global warming

to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050 as per the Paris Agreement.

It's feasible.

We have everything but it's.

Plausible.

, uh, in fear.

We can do it, but we are not on this path.

The reason is that, um, , in order to achieve that, we need the drastic changes

in our behavior and, uh, in we need.

Drastic changes in social changes, and especially in the way we consume.

And also, you know, uh, how businesses answers to bring

the answers to the market.

Because we have everything, but it just, you know, the market , doesn't, I mean,

no, I shouldn't say it doesn't, it's, it's coming up too slowly, so we need

to, Happen year and more and faster.

And um, what they come up with something, uh, with a turn,

which I find quite interesting.

Um, they call it human agency and , it's only with human agency

that we will be able to reach our, , Paris agreement target.

So yeah, so all these little things are very, very important for us.

reach that target.

And, and I'm thinking too of not just the fact that you can compost something

or you can reuse something, but the manufacturing is different in these cases.

And so is the shipping, if you're not using a big truck to ship

giant containers that are heavy, that are mostly water, um, yes.

And you're able to mail things through the, the regular post.

, um, or, or, you know, you can fit dozens and dozens of these little cardboard

packages into a box, uh, for delivery.

Um, you're saving gas, you're saving, uh, you know, the transport costs

also as well as the manufacturing.

Um, and the waste that comes from that, because I'm sure

with your bottle of soap, yes.

The waste when you're using sugar cane is gonna be very different

for the environment than it is if you're making plastic.

Well, certainly, yeah.

I don't know the details of it, but I'm sure.

Yeah.

So at Consumer agency, it's not just what we do with the end product, it's how the

whole thing is created in the first place.

Yeah.

It's consumer, it's human agency, it's consumer agency,

but also manufacturer's agency.

It's, and also government, but Oh.

. Yeah.

Christina, , you were talking about something very interesting related

to cycle and moon and, uh, nature.

Yeah.

Uh, nature.

Yes.

And in, um, in alt cultures, they were connected to the nature so closely.

So they realized by just observation that uh, during the moon cycles, when

moon is waxing, that things are not easily cleaned, but whatever positive

things we want, like taking vitamins or something good, then they absorb really.

, when is, uh, moon waxing?

Was it, is it the moon?

Waxing becoming is when it's getting bigger.

Okay.

And moon waning is when it's getting smaller.

Okay.

So when the moon is waxing, it's, it's difficult to clean, it's

difficult, more difficult to clean.

You need more products and it's, uh, it takes longer.

You have to scrub.

And when the, and also like, uh, for example, when people clean, uh, shelves,

moldy shelves in their cellars, uh, when the moon is, uh, waning, then it's

easy to do it with just vinegar and the cleaning will be easy and quick.

I think that's very helpful.

There was a book written about it, how in Switzerland, in the mountains, how in

the Village they, I think the name of the book is, uh, moon Cycles And, uh, in the

Villages they cut their hair by the moon.

They, uh, cleaned, they uh, also, Started, uh, heating up the house

certain time during the, uh, season.

So all these little tricks, uh, I think would be really useful for us.

And when the moon is waning, we can use half of the amount of, uh,

products on for washing laundry or dishes or things like that.

So I think that would be wonderful.

And I agree with you with the culture change that, uh, Does it mean to be clean?

Uh, how much of the cleanliness are we supposed to ? How

much what the smells are?

I think a huge deal for that.

Like we have to keep certain smells, uh, are okay.

Certain smells are not so, and with the natural environment, we can,

uh, make our own cleaning products.

There are plenty of books on that.

Like for instance, I, uh, put a baking soda and into the drain and pour vinegar

on top of it, and it fizzes up and cleans wonderfully, the drains from,

uh, in the kitchen and in the bathroom.

So these little tricks I think might help us in the, and the last

thing in the cottages, which, uh, in the mountains where you don't

have much water, uh, in America.

I was visiting somewhere and they had this wonderful sign in the toilet

when it's, uh, Yellow, let it mellow.

And when it's brown, let it drown.

I love that poem, . And so that's a huge saving for, uh, a lot of, uh, people.

Less, uh, less toxins, which in the water there's a lot of

chlorine and, uh, Other chemicals, even though it's drinking water.

So for me that was really important because, uh, I always, when I flush,

I always picture people who don't have drinking water, uh, in, uh,

other countries or in other places.

Even in the states, a lot of people have to get their water somewhere.

They don't have running water and uh, I'm flushing with it.

It's just

It's just crazy.

So that's my thought about how to keep little bit, keep up

with the reality of things.

. Yeah, I think there's so much ancient wisdom that we are not

using or we are not even aware of I.

Listening to a podcast, uh, with Paul Hawk Hawkin.

Um, and he was talking about, he was talking about this tribe, I

can't even remember where, but he was talking about them, , this tribe

who was, who had disability to, uh, to make weather forecast, with, um,

Hundred, not a hundred percent, but nearly a hundred percent accuracy.

Two years or a couple of years in advance.

And, and it's not , it's not as sophisticated.

It's really sophisticated actually, because it's not like it's not

based on, uh, metrics of your today's weather forecast, but it's

based on observation of nature and observing the pattern of nature.

And this is something I would love.

I would love, love, love , to learn.

Um, like, you know, for example, sadly this week there's this

earthquake in, um, in Turkey.

And apparently the animals knew that was something awful.

Was going to happen because, uh, the, there's some, you know, horrible pictures

of, um, of dog barking as if like, you know, it's a, it's a matter of,

of life and death and it's actually, it's a matter of life and death.

And there was also birds flying like crazy and you're telling people,

and you know, All this , you know, wisdom and understanding of nature.

We are losing them.

Um, I think it's very sad, I don't know how we can learn it again.

Relearn it.

. Yeah.

If we pay attention, it would be so helpful.

I, uh, I took a permaculture course in Canada, uh, and um, they talked, uh,

it was a verge permaculture, and they talk about some little beetle that goes

up in the grass exactly at the same level as the snow pack is gonna be that.

It's like, isn't it amazing?

That is amazing.

Yeah.

That is incredible.

Hmm.

I had some stories about smells, but we may have passed that already.

. Go for it.

Go for it.

So we used to run an Airbnb before Covid in our spare guest.

And so it was right in our house and it was just one bedroom and one bathroom.

And we, we advertised it as an eco Airbnb and it's very fun.

We had lots of people from all over the world and it was a wonderful experience.

, one of the complaints we got was very interesting, and the complaint

was that the sheets didn't smell.

Sweet.

Uh, it was from one person and it was because I, we don't use

anything with a strong smell.

It was, they were clean, they were washed, there was nothing wrong with them.

Uh, we used very nice cotton fancy sheets and, um, but we didn't have,

uh, one of those strong laundry, like, like those chemically smells.

I can't even walk down an aisle of.

Grocery store, becau, the, that aisle I avoid because I can't

stand the chemical smells.

I, I wouldn't be able to smell anything today, as you could tell.

But the, the second story, , there's a program called Under the Influence, which

is, uh, this wonderful program about the history of advertising in products.

And it's a, a radio program, um, and probably a podcast anyway.

, I learned about the, the product Fabrice.

You know, that product Fabrice that takes, smells out.

That product very, very nearly didn't happen.

Um, the person that invented it was going door to door to show people how

it worked when it first started, and nobody was convinced it, it did work.

It took smells out, but it didn't leave any smells.

And it wasn't until they had tried everything getting

people, oh yeah, it works.

It works.

But I wouldn't buy it until they added in scent.

They had to add a chemical scent into the product so that when it took out

the smell, it then left the fresh linen or whatever the heck smell it was.

Isn't that bizarre?

So, so it wasn't good enough that it did what it was supposed to.

and it worked very, very well.

It didn't seem fresh and clean until they added scent in and then the product

took off and we still have it today.

Isn't that interesting?

I thought it was interesting.

. I think it's very interesting.

I.

But I think people have a certain lot, lots of people and including

me, have a certain idea of, uh, what, you know, clean should look

like, smell like, feel like . Yeah.

But it's cultural.

It is.

If you hang your stuff outside, it smells fantastic when you bring it in.

But we don't do that very much.

We can't do that very much in many cases, so, so we fake it with chemicals.

Yeah.

. . Yeah, it's, uh, I want to add to the smells I love, uh, because,

uh, the detergent and everything is, uh, doesn't smell anyway.

And maybe that's the habit that we have to replace it.

Not nothing but something.

So I started using natural.

Oils, uh, aromatic oils like lavender or lemon, and just few drops into anything

that doesn't smell, makes it really nice.

But from the habit point of view, it's almost like a visual piece that.

Let's say if, uh, the toilet bowl cleaner smells like lavender that

I'm putting on my sheet, it would not be good . I would not want to

mix those two, but I can do lemon.

But even though like we're very specific to smells, what's

comfortable and where is it comfort?

So putting these walls, it's, it's tricky to put these, but the oils,

aromatic oils, natural oils, not, the chemical oils are really nice to add.

They are, they're not safe for pets.

In some cases.

You have to be very careful about infusing, uh, essential oils in your

house if you have a pet, but yes.

And kids.

And kids, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

It is quite strong.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We can use plants like dried lavender or dried Yes.

Uh, lemon Rh or, uh, orange Rh.

Yes.

To put on the heater.

My daughter gave me a book once I, I actually passed it on because I didn't

have enough time to do it, but it was, it was a zero waste book and it was all about

how to use, uh, orange rhs and lemon peels and, Turn that into cleaner if you put it

in the bottom of a jar and put some water and a little bit of vinegar in, and then

you have a citrus cleaner, homemade with things that you're gonna throw out anyway.

And uh, it had all these different ideas and I tried some of them.

I didn't do all of them, but I tried some of them.

And, uh, I think, I think it can come down to convenience though.

If it's not convenient for people, it's a lot of.

Oh, so we need to find ways that, , serve our needs for convenience,

but also serve our, better habits.

Yes, yes.

Okay.

We've learned a lot of tricks today.

How to keep outside cleans and smelling good and, uh,

and our indoor clean as well.

, maybe also we can use community to, uh, maybe some people in the community, in the

retirement home would love to make these things, uh, and share with everybody else.

So using community connections to do this, uh, Thanks, uh, for others.

Oh, a beautiful idea.

That's a good idea.

Yeah.

Go and, and see all the people to learn from the tricks.

The experiences.

Thanks France.

Thank you so much.

Thank you for this conversation.

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