HOW much do I use???

Have you ever wondered how many of our Earths natural resources you use in a 24 hour period, just going about your normal day to day activities?  I have to admit that I never really paid attention to the things I use on a daily basis, so I decided to spend an entire day keeping track of the items I use everyday.  Let me first say, I had no idea that I used so many different items each day.  With that said, here is all the items I used, broken down into different groups:

Food & Drink                                                             
Fiber One Bar                                       
Diet Coke                                             
Garden Salad                                        
Lite Italian Dressing
Hot Dog                                                                        
Mustard
Hot Dog Bun
Rice
Chicken Curry
Strawberry Ice Cream

Housing & other buildings
Concrete
Stucco
Wood
Electricity

Photo credit: www.coca-cola.com

Water
Refrigerator
Stove

Clothing
Jeans
T-Shirt
Bra
Underwear
Socks
Tennis Shoes
Lab Coat
Pajamas

Transportation & Roads                                                             
Car - plastic and metal                                
Tires                                                    
Asphalt                                                
Paint                                                    
Plastic reflectors                                   
Concrete                                              
Metal railings 

School Supplies
Paper
Pencil
Pen
Textbooks
Calculator                                            
Plastic dividers
Binder

Photo credit: www.apple.com

Personal Care Products
Shampoo
Conditioner
Hair Dryer
Brush
Face soap
Barrett
Eye Liner
Lipstick
Lip gloss
Deodorant
Toothpaste
Toilet Paper

Leisure Activities
Computer
iPhone
iPad                                                               
Shopping
Movies
Book
Television

Other
Items from work:
Agar
Test Tubes
Incinerator
Incubator
Bio Safety Hood
Biological Waste Bags
Pipette
Microscope
Biochemical Tubes
Centrifuge
Water Bath
Refrigerator
Freezer

Wow! Look at this list.  It is amazing to think that each and everyone of these items on this list uses up one or more of our Earths resources.

Let's look at just one of these items in more detail.  This is the shampoo that I use on a daily basis.  Suave Professionals: Damage Care


http://www.suave.com

Here is a list of the ingredients in this shampoo as provided on the bottle:

Water (Aqua), Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Chloride, Glycerin, Dimethiconol, Fragrance (Parfum), Carbomer, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, TEA-Dodecylbenzenesulfonate, PPG-9, Tetrasodium EDTA, TEA-Sulfate, DMDM Hydantoin, Citric Acid, PEG-45M, Hydrolyzed Keratin, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Ascorbic Acid [Vitamin C], Niacinamide, Mica (CI 77019), Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891)

This shampoo is used by applying it to your hair once a day, lathering, and rinsing.

This shampoo is made by L'Oreal USA Creative Inc.  I tried to contact them to see if they could tell me how and where this shampoo is made, but I have not received a return e-mail yet.  I will let you guys know if and when they get back to me.

I bought this shampoo at Wal-Mart, however, I am sure that it had to get there by a delivery truck to the store and possible a boat if the product was made outside of the United States.

I am not sure if this product will ever become "not useful", but if it did, all of the ingredients listed are compounds that can definitely be used elsewhere on Earth.


According the the website http://www.suave.com , there is very minimal animal testing with this product and they are in the process of testing all of their products with non-animal testing methods, which will be implemented in the near future.  Also, the shampoo is biodegradable so it will be absorbed naturally into the Earth.


This product was not around 100 years ago, but I am sure that back then, people used what ever soap (possibly handmade) they had available to wash their hair.


Reflecting back on everything that I have observed during this 24 hour period, I realize that I use way too many natural resources on a daily basis.  There are 3 other people living in my household, so I can just imagine how my totals would increase when I multiply them by 4.  Now think about all the people in my city, in our state, and in the entire world that use many of these products on a daily basis as well.  All of this "environmental soul searching" is really opening my eyes to the value of our planet.  I am definitely ready to make some major changes in mine and my families lives.  I hope you will do the same.