Going Green is Great Feng Shui
Practicing Feng Shui is one of the original ways of "Going Green"
Earth Day is always a wonderful reminder of how compatible “going green” is with the Feng Shui lifestyle. But it doesn’t need to apply to just one day. Feng Shui teaches us all year long: we are part of our environment, not separate from it.
An important Feng Shui principle is living in harmony with nature. This ancient Asian wisdom has so much respect for the environment and recognizes how we are all connected to it. Practicing Feng Shui is one of the original ways of going green.
I try to do as many green things as possible. I am not perfect, but I do have an awareness, and every little thing each of us does makes a difference. Feng Shui involves everything in our surroundings, from the air we breathe to the products we use. Everything.
We live in a society of consumerism and convenience, and I take advantage of these things too, but I am much more mindful now that I understand how harmful much of this can be.
Here are a few things that you can do to be a little more green. Even small things can make a huge difference.
REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE
I’m sure we have all heard the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle slogan. Often when people start applying Feng Shui, the first thing they deal with is clutter. Clutter includes anything that no longer serves us. Although we want to get rid of it, that doesn’t always mean it should just be thrown away in the trash. Many of those items end up in landfills, which is not good for the environment.
Over the years, I have donated countless items to Goodwill, Salvation Army, and the like. However, some items felt too nice to give to Goodwill, but I didn’t really have the time or interest to try to sell them. I found out about Freecycle.org, and I cannot recommend it enough. It is a website where you post your items; you choose your local area, post your items, and then people respond. You get to decide who you want to give it to. I have had such a positive experience with this, and it feels great to know that certain items are getting to have a new life with people who can use and appreciate them.
CHANGE TO REUSABLE GLASS OR STAINLESS STEEL WATER BOTTLES
To me, this is such a no-brainer and was one of the first things I changed over a decade ago. But some people still don’t do this. If you do the math, it is astonishing how much this saves. Just think about this. Let’s say it is only me and I just save one bottle a day and I’ve been doing this for over a decade. We will just say a decade for this. That is my saving 3,650 bottles, and I drink way more than one bottle of water a day. Then let’s say each person on my street did the same thing. I’m going to guess there are 40 people that live on my street. That’s 146,000 plastic bottles that would have been saved, just on my little street alone.
And I have also found out that not all plastic is being recycled. So the best way is to not have to recycle it in the first place. According to the OECD’s Global Plastics Outlook, only 9% of global plastic waste was ultimately recycled in 2019. In fact, while 15% was collected for recycling, not all of that material actually made it through the recycling process.
GO SHOPPING IN YOUR OWN HOME
This is a trick many designers use when decorating a space. Often it is about decorating on a budget, but it can also be about being mindful, creative, and repurposing items. Do you have an item or items that can move from one room to another instead of buying something new? Or can you paint or reupholster it? Get creative and have fun with this.
BE MINDFUL OF YOUR CLEANING PRODUCTS
According to the Building Biology Institute, “cleaning products are the main source of chemical exposure in most homes”. I have mentioned this topic before, but it is absolutely worth mentioning again. Many cleaning products contain ingredients that aren’t good for us or the planet. Depending on the product, they can irritate our skin or respiratory system, contribute to indoor air pollution, or cause environmental problems if we don’t dispose of them properly. Here is a website where you can look up your current products and check to see if/how harmful they are https://www.ewg.org/guides/cleaners/ And here’s a link to the EWG pocket guide for cleaners EWG-Cleaners-WalletGuide.pdf. The guide’s information is in the graphics below, but you can download the cheat sheet for your records. You can also sign up for their newsletter to get information.
GROW YOUR OWN VEGGIES
I did not inherit my mother’s green thumb. She used to grow so many things, and they would flourish. A couple of years ago, I discovered and purchased the Lettuce Grow Farmstand (pictured below) https://www.lettucegrow.com/. Part of their tagline is “no green thumb required”. It is so much fun and gratifying to grow your own veggies. (BTW, I never thought I would get excited about this).
It is a hydroponic growing system that uses significantly less water than conventional growing methods. According to Lettuce Grow, growing the ingredients for a simple green salad of lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers uses about 21 gallons of water with conventional farming, compared with less than one gallon when grown on a Farmstand.
USE LOW-VOC PAINTS
If you have ever painted anywhere in your home, then you know what that paint smell is like. That smell is called off-gassing, and it is not good for us to inhale; it can cause headaches in some people. Getting headaches from our products is not good. The funny (not funny) thing is that we have gotten so used to so many products doing this that we think it is normal. It is not! Products shouldn’t do this to us. This is especially important if you are painting a room for a baby nursery or maybe an older adult. But we all deserve not to have things irritate us.
Less-toxic paints are available, including low-VOC and zero-VOC options (VOC stands for volatile organic compounds).
And here’s a Feng Shui idea I love: bringing scent and intention into the painting process. You can add a small amount of essential oil to the paint to help soften or change the odor, while also choosing a scent that represents the energy you want to bring into the room—such as lavender for calm, rose for love, or an uplifting citrus scent.
Essential oil doesn’t reduce VOCs or make paint fumes safer, so good ventilation and following the paint manufacturer’s safety instructions are still important. Because paint formulations vary, check with the manufacturer before adding anything not specifically recommended for that paint.
CUT DOWN ON THE USE OF PAPER TOWELS
This is very easy to do. I still do have paper towels, but I use way, way less. I now use cloth napkins when I eat and then throw them in the wash when they need it. For cleaning, I use microfiber cloths, or if something is really dirty, I use older rags. I have a designated bin for the cleaning cloths and rags, and when it is full, then I do a separate load of laundry just for those.
SPEAKING OF LAUNDRY…
In Feng Shui, what’s closest to you has the greatest impact, and our clothes, sheets, and towels are some of the closest things to us. I highly recommend switching to a more eco-friendly laundry detergent. Also, replace dryer sheets with unscented ones, use wool dryer balls, or let some items air dry. I do that with my shirts and jeans. It also lengthens the life of your clothes.
AVOID SYNTHETIC FRAGRANCES
Some air freshener sprays, plug-ins, candles, and other fragranced products can affect indoor air quality or bother people who are sensitive to fragrance. There are lots of healthier options. You can use essential oils and make your own DIY sprays, use diffusers, or use plug-ins specifically designed for essential oils. Not all essential oils are created equal, so use a reputable brand.
These have been just a few random ideas, and I hope they gave you some inspiration. So much of this work is just continuing to open up our eyes and notice more and more of our surroundings. Again, any changes make a difference. It can be quite an intimidating and frustrating topic. When I first started learning about how harmful so many of our everyday products are, and about the idea of our carbon footprint, I got really depressed and overwhelmed. But now I just do the best I can and know that we can each make a difference.
“It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little.”- Unknown
If you want even more Earth Day/Green tips, click here
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