Written by Stephen Treffinger
Q: I’ve heard some candles can create indoor air air pollution and even be dangerous. Are there safer alternate options?
A: Paraffin, the wax from which many candles are made, is derived from petroleum. When it burns, it emits poisonous fumes. These irritate some folks’s eyes and also can exacerbate bronchial asthma and different respiratory circumstances. Artificial fragrances and colours also can produce irritating fumes. On high of that, some wicks comprise lead (to make them firmer), which is launched into the air.
Alternate options embody beeswax in addition to waxes made out of soy, coconut, rapeseed and different oils. Some vegans don’t help the usage of beeswax as a result of it’s an animal product, and a few really feel the beekeeping business shouldn’t be cruelty free. Soy wax is actually extra sustainable than petroleum, however its potential negatives embody the usage of pesticides. (Search for natural soy wax.) The opposite vegetable waxes talked about are comparatively clear.
Be sure you learn the tremendous print. I used to be lately lured in by a candle from a well known model that was “formulated with vegan-friendly components” solely to seek out it additionally contained paraffin. So ensure you’re getting 100% of no matter various wax you search. Additionally, verify to see if synthetic scents or different chemical compounds have been added. (Select candles scented with nothing however important oils.) Search for wicks which might be made out of cotton, wooden or hemp — and glass containers that may be recycled or reused.
Natural Savanna candles, poured in Kenya, are handmade from natural soy wax and regionally sourced components. A hundred percent of income from the sale of the candles helps create jobs for Kenyan ladies and fund kids’s schooling. Les Crème candles have pure natural coconut wax and cotton wicks. Hive to Residence candles incorporate regionally sourced beeswax, natural coconut oil, cotton wicks and sustainable packaging. Rapeseed wax candles are tougher to seek out, particularly in the US. However loads of locations promote the wax itself for those who’re a candle maker.
Q: My kitchen looks like a poisonous waste dump full of plastic baggage and storage containers, plastic wrap and extra. Are there higher decisions?
A: Certainly there are. Plastic containers have gotten numerous unfavourable press, particularly people who comprise Bisphenol A, or BPA, which has been found to be an endocrine disrupter linked to all types of potential well being points and is banned in lots of states. Now we’re swimming in BPA-free plastics. Sadly, these can comprise Bisphenol S (BPS), which is chemically related.
Another is glass or metallic storage containers with silicone lids. (Silicone isn’t good as a result of many communities don’t recycle it, however it’s primarily made out of a naturally derived materials, silica, and lasts for much longer than plastic.) Manufacturers embody Ikea, Pyrex, and Public Items.
Design recommendation for a much less poisonous life. (Klas Fahln/The New York Instances)
You can too reuse screw-top glass jars. (If the unique housed one thing fragrant like garlicky dill pickles, you’ll need to run the lid by means of the dishwasher first.)
Plastic wrap and even some wax paper additionally comprise supplies derived from petroleum. Additionally, they’re (typically) one-time-use merchandise, so that they maintain your bowl of guacamole contemporary for a day earlier than off to the landfill they go.
However there are plastic-free wraps, sometimes cotton material coated with some kind of wax, that can be utilized repeatedly to cowl a jar or bowl, or wrap a bit of reduce fruit or a wedge of cheese. They don’t final ceaselessly however they’re sometimes compostable (or can be utilized as fireplace starters). I discover they often decide up odors, however a radical wash in cool water and delicate cleaning soap, adopted by a radical air dry freshens them. Bee’s Wrap has two variations — one coated in beeswax, the opposite in a vegan-friendly soy-coconut wax mix.
One other intelligent product is Meals Huggers, that are a set of 5 sizes of colourful, stretchy discs made out of food-grade silicone. They’re dishwasher, freezer, and microwave protected. You should utilize them as jar lids or slide them over the reduce finish of a lemon, onion, apple or different produce. The corporate additionally makes silicone “Hugger Luggage” that take the place of plastic meals storage baggage.
Q: I’m fascinated about attempting pure material dyeing however am afraid it’s actually sophisticated. The place can I discover out extra?
A: Making dye from vegetation and animals goes again to historic instances and has been finished by practically all cultures. Immediately there’s a neighborhood of dyers you possibly can faucet into for data, concepts and provides.
I’ve lengthy been a fan of indigo, a plant within the bean household whose leaves — when soaked and fermented — produce a stupendous deep-blue dye. Different colours will be produced utilizing flowers, roots, berries, fruit and vegetable peels, wooden, and even bugs.
The Bible mentions a selected blue dye coloration, referred to as tekhelet, whose precise formulation has been misplaced however is believed to have come from a secretion of sea snails.
Design recommendation for a much less poisonous life. (Klas Fahln/The New York Instances)
However you’re proper. It’s typically extra sophisticated than merely boiling some flower petals and dunking in a bit of cloth — particularly if you would like the dye to be sturdy and keep uniform over time.
Botanical Colours, based mostly in Seattle, affords schooling and pure dyeing supplies. They help farmers and natural and regenerative farming, organizing workshops regionally and typically in different elements of the nation, on subjects together with dyeing with mud, indigo, persimmon tannins and extra. Additionally they have a biweekly on-line present referred to as Suggestions Friday, which started through the pandemic. The group’s president, Kathy Hattori, and sustainability and communications director, Amy DuFault, communicate with artists, writers and students about pure dyeing and coloration.
Maiwa, based mostly in Vancouver, British Columbia, sells a wide range of supplies for the pure dyer in addition to downloadable directions (“Find out how to Dye With Indigo,” as an example), books, and materials. They promote “Sluggish Garments,” or the contributions of hand spinners, hand weavers and pure dyers as an antidote to mass manufacturing. Additionally they supply courses, lots of them free, by means of their College of Textiles.
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