Celebrity Sellout

I adore Kate Blanchett, admire Nicole Kidman, believe Julia Roberts is a great actress and have a great deal of respect for a great many actresses. However sadly these actresses, and more, sellout for money.

What do they all have in common?
They promote corporate brands of perfume, skin care and other personal care items. Jennifer Aniston is at least attempting to promote a clean brand of skin care (Aveeno) yet, unbeknownst to many, falls short since Aveeno are not as 'natural' or as healthy for us as they claim.

What is so wrong about promoting these brands/products? 
These brands/products contain ingredients that are deemed hazardous to our health, such as ingredients that are carcinogens (chemicals that cause cancer), endocrine-disrupting (hormones), and cause contact sensitivity and skin irritation, to name but a few problems. There are literally thousands of ingredients used in mainstream personal care/beauty products that do a great deal of damage to the human body and sadly these actresses are promoting these products.

In a time when cancer rates are high and rising (1 in 2 Americans will get cancer) and the Anti Cancer Foundation is launching it's Biggest Morning Tea (something JOLI do not endorse and here is why), these celebrity endorsements do us all a disservice because they inspire vast amounts of people to purchase products that are harmful to humans, animals and the earth.

Not to mention these companies test on animals as well, which is not something any good actress should support or endorse.

What can YOU do about it?
* Don't buy into the hype. Just because the beautiful and talented Kate Blanchett says she's uses a hazardous product doesn't mean you should join her and put your health at risk.
* Don't buy into the Biggest Morning Tea if you're still using mainstream products like fly spray, hair spray, hair dyes, perfume, bleach, germ killing liquids and soaps, non mineral makeups etc etc. Sadly there is no point raising money to cure cancer while you're still using products that cause it.
* Don't support brands that are not willing to ditch chemicals that are causing a great deal of ill health for many. There is a movement called the Cosmetics Safety Act where people are campaigning for companies to ditch the chemicals in their products. JOLI Natural Skin Care are on the list of Campaign For Safe Cosmetics Compact Singers. Notice non of the big brand names have signed.

What other things can be done? I'd love to hear your views.
  

Why Go Green? Oz Baby Trends ~ Green Guest Blog

Q1: Tell us a little about your business.

At Oz Baby Trends, we work with dedicated retailers, helping them bring sustainable parenting products to families across Australia so that those families can enjoy a simple, natural parenting journey. We are wholesale distributors for a beautiful range of cloth nappies and baby carriers.

Over in my other business – Eva Van Strijp – I help mothers thrive by teaching strategies that they can implement to create change that really lasts.

Q2: When did you decide you wanted to go green?

My decision to “go green” probably began way back in primary school when I started collecting items for recycling. Back then, we didn’t have a fortnightly curb side pick-up for recycling so we had to do it the old-fashioned way. Each week, we took our buckets of recycling and deposited it at the nearest recycling depot. Our family needed to reduce the amount of garbage that was going out each week, and to be honest, rather than being about “being green”, I think it just had more to do with the practicality of it. It just made sense to recycle whatever we possibly could. It seemed a shameful waste to throw away something that could be reused.

Q3: What prompted you to make the move to go green?

When I started my own family, I knew I wanted to use cloth nappies. I was called a hippy and a greenie but while the eco factor was a great bonus, again, my reasoning was practical. I wanted to be more self-sufficient and using cloth nappies meant I wouldn’t need to rely on the supermarket for a staple baby item. I also just had a gut feeling that they would be better for my baby’s skin.

Got a new baby on the way? Eva has a free mini eCourse to help you choose, use and love cloth nappies from the very start.

Q4: What difficulties have you found with going green?

I honestly don’t find it to be difficult. Because being green ties in with lots of our other life decisions, it doesn’t feel like a big drama or some extra stress on our lives.

For example, many decisions that we’ve made for our family budget have also been, by default, the “green” choice. All of the decisions we’ve made in terms of self-sufficiency have also been “green”. Everything we do to live more simply is, naturally, “green”. It just goes hand-in-hand with our lifestyle and I love that.

Q5: Is there one area you’re still yet to go green?

I still have lots of little food fails. While we do really strive to be self-sufficient, I also know that life with a big family is hectic sometimes, and heavily-packaged frozen food gets a look-in during those times!

Q6: Can you list some of the benefits / positive effects going green has had on your life?

I love that for our family being green also means being more self-sufficient. Whether it’s simply growing lettuce in a pot on the verandah or avoiding excess packaging by curbing the purchase of consumer goods that we just don’t need, it’s highly empowering to be able to make choices that have a healthy impact on our family and on the environment.

Q7: What suggestions would you make to those wanting to go green but not knowing where to start?

Start at home. There are numerous small steps we can take around the home to “green up” our lives. Just start by making the switch on one thing (serviettes for reusable napkins, tissues for hankies, paper towel for old towels, baking paper for butter wraps… the kitchen is a GREAT place to start!). You’ll find that within a few days you’ll have hardly noticed the change and will feel motivated to continue.

Q8: Any other advice / comments regarding going green you’d like to share?

Start small. It’s better to begin with baby steps and actually have them stick than to bite off more than you can chew and find yourself falling promptly back into old habits. Begin with one small, simple transition. Do it till it’s second nature, then take on another one. It’s all about changing our habits through changing our mindset – and mindset changes can take time.

But keep at it - it’s worth it!

Author BIO

Eva Van Strijp is a mother of five, business owner and creator of SimplicityKickstart – a free 14 day guide to conquering the chaos.

When Eva isn’t hanging out with her family or running a business, she’s eating chocolate, listening to podcasts or tending her veggie patch.

  

Disconnect Between Emotional and Rationale

Have you ever observed people spending money? It can be hard to see what people spend money on in supermarkets and large chain stores, however, since JOLI have been holding a market stall it's a little easier to watch people and notice where they part ways with their hard earned cash and how it matches up (or not) with their ethics.

For example, at markets, the highest selling product is food. Not the type of food you take home to cook for the family but immediate, ready made, takeaway food in throwaway (add to landfill) packaging. People selling cheap trinkets also sell a lot, while those with specialty items, especially more pricey items, lag behind in sales. Many people consider beauty products a luxury and therefore not worth their money or ethics.

Recently JOLI were at a three day festival all about women connecting with each other, Mother Earth and themselves. From our humble little stall we were able to see the people coming and going and which stalls sold LOTS and which didn't.

To begin with, there was a lady across the way who had a friend who was confused about where her stall was.  I went over to say hello, realised they were having this issue and proffered a stall map to help and guided them over to the staff for further help.  They literally did not respond to my hello and gave me annoyed looks, you know the one... "Why are you talking to us!".  Later I asked to borrow a hammer because it was so windy marquees were almost going flying (some did fly away!).  Whilst the hammer was loaned, the look that accompanied the hammer - as though I was being so annoying and intrusive.  So much for sisterhood!  I found out days later that the stall holder's friend thought her stall was going to be where mine was and was annoyed that it wasn't and somehow this was my fault, or at the very least worth taking out on me by way of rudeness/coldness.  Feeling the sisterhood love right there... not!

For the most part the women there were (meant to be) spiritual beings, at one with the earth, garden and nature, many vegetarians and animal lovers and activists. The type of women who passed by the JOLI stall, read our ingredients labels (some of the cleanest skin care on the market) and balked because we use beeswax (in only a few products). While they were happy to apply lavish amounts of creams and lotions from the sample pots, say how wonderful the creams are, they purchased very little (kind of scabby and not very spiritual or respectful of the work involved in making my skin care products).

These same women spent copious amounts of money on strands of clip-in dread locks ($25 per dread) made with synthetic fabric and synthetic dyes (that are most likely tested on animals), mass produced clothing (possibly from sweat shops and most likely using synthetic dyes, tested on animals), tarot readings, temporary henna ink art and take away food on plastic plates and paper cups (but at least the forks were bamboo).

Quite frankly, the people were somewhat laughable when they're eating all that takeaway food on disposable plastic plates and paper cups and putting them in the regular bins instead of the recycle bins (which is exactly what hundreds of people did at the festival). Not a lot of ethics or 'connecting with Mother Nature' about that.

Further more, if any of the ladies at the festival use fly spray, insect repellent, Glen 20, washing detergent, disinfectant, mainstream soaps, perfumes, hair dyes, have a large wardrobe etc. then they need to remember those things are far more harmful for the environment and animals that a couple of grams of beeswax in a lip balm.

People kidded themselves that they were being Earth Loving beings (or even self loving) while spending huge amounts of money on instant gratification and disposable items. At the same time talking themselves out of genuinely beneficial products where a lot of hard work has gone into the ethics of what JOLI produce. For me personally, taking care of my skin with clean, green products is far more important and ethical, with long term benefits, than $25 synthetic dread locks, $25+ henna art that will only last a week, $5 cups of coffee and mass produced clothing.

Whilst observing this it was easy to see there is a disconnect between our emotional and rational side. Our rational side is all like: I'm a vegan and don't eat or hurt animals and practice yoga and ride everywhere and I'm all about connecting with and protecting Mother Earth. While our emotional side is all like: Oh I want it, I MUST have it and I cannot differentiate between want and need, good and bad, earth friendly or environmental hazard.

It's time to get real about what we spend money on. If we are really are about saving the earth and protecting animals and being spiritually connected then making purchases based on 'wanting' an item vs 'needing' an item isn't going to work. You HAVE to ask yourself, do I really need this mass produced disposable item? Do I really need more clothes made in sweat shops, sold for cheap and produced at such vast quantities that we destroy the earth just to provide them?

Let your rationale guide you and not your emotions.