It’s Earth Day.

Aided by my own midlife transition, I’m transitioning to a stage of life where I am really trying hard to live more lightly on the planet. 

It’s always been strange to me that people, in general, think it’s a bad thing to express sensitivity, respect, and care towards nonhuman animals, and other tree/plant/rock/insect/arachnid friends.  

Or somehow think that they don’t feel pain, loss, fear, or think that other life forms that also exist on this planet are somehow “less than” people. 

Anyway, taking the cue/the knowledge shared to me from the Green Stars Project blogger, I’m reducing my consumption of single-use plastic.

I’ve switched to bottle-free shampoo and conditioner, I’m exploring alternatives to toothpaste in tubes, I’ve found mouthwash tabs that (I thought) were in glass jars, but they turned out not to be. At least not from the Vitacost website, anyway. 

One of the toothpowders from the original website says it’s also in glass/metal jars, but I had to buy it from a site where I had a coupon, and it, too, was in plastic.

I got some deodorant from Pretty Frank that’s not in plastic containers.

I’m trying out different kinds of bottle-free laundry soap (I was using Tru Earth and I got some scented ones, but the scent was WAY too strong for my system, so I’ll probably go back to the unscented laundry strips). 

I generally can only invest in this stuff as I run out of the plastic-bottled products I currently had, but I’m going to try to do some more Green Star reviews on the items I did get. 

https://notoxlife.com/products/dish-block

https://www.dropps.com/products/sensitive-skin-laundry-detergent-pods-lavender-chamomile

https://www.kindlaundry.com/products/detergent-sheets

I also recently read this book that I either got with a gift card someone gave me, or I won it through a giveaway, but the author’s approach to downsizing was really inspirational and motivating. Especially when I look at my own stuff, and think about what is really relevant to my lifestyle.

Like, as much as I cherish the vintage Arrowhead set I inherited from a family member a while ago, I never entertain with things like dinner parties, and why do I need a full set of dishes (and a full set of silverware, etc.) when I actually (yes, seriously!) use one fork, one spoon, one knife, and a couple of bowls? 

I could sell those, and get a nice handmade artisan bowl and a fancy (single) set of silverware, instead. 

Anyway, I’m pretty subdued at the time of writing this post…tired, saddened over the natural world, and did I mention I was tired?

But, I’d love to hear about the changes and sacrifices and efforts you all are making for the planet on this 2023 Earth Day.