Chemicals and Fear Mongering

Cosmetics just in the morning... so many ingredients.

The minute you wake up, how many chemicals are you  really using?  Between the shampoos, toothpastes, and preservatives in your breakfasts - the amount of chemicals used in just one morning is astounding.  However, they have been getting a bad reputation recently.  This past week I've taken the time to try and understand where exactly all of this fear of chemicals and preservatives was coming from.  Many sustainability websites and health websites have been painting certain chemicals as "dangerous" or "unhealthy" for humans.  Although I agree it would be nice to stop producing certain synthetic chemicals for the environmental reasons - I have come to the conclusion that in terms of your health most chemicals are just fine.

When you hear the word chemical what do you think? Poisonous? Toxic? Harmful? Unfortunately our language has given this word a very bad connotation which sometimes scares people away from the truth that chemicals are a necessary component to life.  We humans are made of many different chemicals one of the main ones being carbon.  They are natural pieces to our existence and we should be opening our eyes to the truth instead of associating it to sickness, poisoning, and death.

The first question this caused me to ask was the question of a set of chemicals called parabens.  This past summer France has made it their mission to rid the shelves and hotels of products containing certain parabens in fear of possible problems caused to their ability to mimic certain hormones.  After reading the government recall of these products I was shocked and horrified that my own country wasn't doing anything about these products that were supposedly so dangerous... that was until I did my own research into the chemicals real properties.

So many chemicals, such small text...

In my own bathroom out of the 16 products I used 10 contained parabens.  Before I used a single product again I decided to do some research in some trustworthy places.  I was taking the word of people in the green community without any evidence of true experiments to back it up.  As reputable as these websites and government policies are - it is always better in my opinion to have a check of the facts yourself or else you can be roped into believing falsehoods.

After reading many medical papers published on the topic of parabens and its ability to change into a similar form of a hormone, it has been ruled as safe for use.  I did my research using the website for the US National Library of Medicine which has databases of peer reviewed medical journals (Human biological monitoring of suspected endocrine-disrupting compounds).  If you are curious for yourself if your products are safe or you simply want to understand each chemical on the back of your cosmetics I highly suggest doing research on such a site.  The fear mongering needs to come to an end because it is only making people more afraid and distrusting of the FDA which in my opinion is more of a danger than a benefit.

I am always open to changing my mind about these ideas if factual arguments are presented, but I want the end of fear mongering within my communities because it is doing more harm than good.  Maybe not in the way of cosmetics as we don't need them necessarily to survive but this is a continual trend with food, and many other life saving products.  We cannot live in fear because sometimes there is some chance that something bad can happen - just do your research and learn more about things you feel unsure about.  Don't forget the well known saying "Knowledge is power", and continue using your shampoos and cosmetics, they are well researched.

What exactly are you spending? Money? Think again...

The other night I was watching a very interesting video recommended by a friend called Human Extended Version Volume 1. Although this is a very powerful video and had many important messages and questions for us as human beings, there was one line that struck me the hardest.  Near the end of the video there was a man who really got me thinking about life and society in itself.  He was speaking generally about the economy but the human condition in itself.  He ever so thoughtfully posed the question: What exactly is money itself?  A seemingly basic question when you were brought up in a society who never questioned its origin - however I wanted to dive deeper.

He explained that money is not just a device we use to purchase materials, it was not simply a valuable stone, coin, or gold backed piece of paper.  In fact he realized that money was nothing more than a quantity of time.  This takes the idea of money back to the source - work.  When you work you are spending time helping others (bosses, managers, customers), and in compensation for your time they give you something called money that you can exchange with others who share their time to help you.  It seems simple, and not very important as it is just the "middle man" so to speak.  That basically by buying certain products we are giving parts of our lives away to obtain them.

Take for instance if I was working a minimum wage job at around 8 dollars an hour.  When I needed to buy a new shirt which on average from a typical shop is around 20 dollars - that means this shirt is worth around 3.8 hours of my life.  How much did you spend on your closet?  Time is not something you can earn or get back like money, so why do we treat employees as if they are only worth 2 or 3 shirts per day?

Using time to buy products makes me ask why certain people's time is worth much more than others.  If this is how we are to value each other in society how is it that someone who scrubs the floor all day is worth exponentially less than the boss who manages all of the housekeepers?  I do understand that certain positions need more or less experience, education, and skill to obtain and thus should be compensated greater amounts, but how many times more is too much?

When it comes to being socially responsible I want to ensure equality among those who spend their lives working for what seems to be very unequal wages and thus also must unequally spend their lives continually working for the basics instead of the luxuries.  For instance in a relatively moderate company such as a hotel the general manager typically makes over 2 times more than their hourly employees such as front desk workers or bellboys.  If you were to take this to a larger extreme such as a large shopping outlet like JCPenny, the CEO was making more than 1795 times more money than their workers for the same amount of time (David Herris Gershon, retrieved from  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/27/1251041/-JC-Penney-CEO-Makes-1-795-More-Than-Workers-Largest-Gap-in-U-S-as-Company-Loses-73-Value).

Overall, to be socially responsible one must think of what money really represents before deciding what employees deserve to earn.  Of course different jobs require different amounts of compensation but the effects of a wage 1000 times higher than employees can send not only the wrong message to the customers but it undervalues the lives of the employees since to earn this money they are giving up their time.  Awareness is always the start to making changes.

Small change, big rewards: Showers

You stand in the hot shower still trying to wake up from the alarm clock at 6 AM trying to get ready for work in your still sleep deprived state.  You turn the faucet on and wait for it to heat up, and then you step in and groggily let the water pour over you as if the water is your batch of morning coffee - opening  your eyes slowly.  Finally you shower up and before you know it you've been in there for a good 15 minutes.  You've only just started your day and you have already used 33 gallons of water. That's more water than is suggested to drink in 4 days.

Personal Background

Sadly to say, when I first began tracking my water, electricity, and fuel use last month this is what I found.  I was astonished how wasteful I was being with all of this potable water going down the drain.  I started creating this environmental calculator to create my baseline levels, but after 12 days of seeing how much water I was wasting I was determined to put it to a stop.  I decided to make a small change, which in turn created a large change.

Steps to Saving Water - The Easy Way

#1:

Instead of sitting in the shower with the water running when I don't necessarily use it, I simply flipped the switch and turned it off for those periods.  Its crazy how simple it is.  The bathroom is already heated from the water that was running to wet your hair and get the soap all lathered that when its time to actually shampoo you don't need it to keep you warm.  Also, the amount of water that you save during that time turns your 15 minute showers into more of 5 minute showers - which are just as comfortable.

Don't get me wrong, I still spend about 15 minutes IN the shower, I just don't need the water running the entire time.  I work in the hospitality industry thus I need to be as presentable as possible; but why not try to have a smaller impact on the environment?

#2:

Repeat #1 for the entire month.  I made sure to make it a point to turn off the water.  Some days I accidentally reverted to my old ways - it is fun to take a nice hot steamy shower once in a while, but I was determined to change my unsustainable ways.  

#3:

See how much you are saving, and use that as motivation to continue.  I have tracked my entire month worth of water use.  I am shocked to see the results of my small change.  On my Shower Water Usage graph you can see that within the first 12 days of the month (before I made my changes) I was using over 64% of the shower water I used for the entire month! That's only 2/5th's of the month with over 3/5th's of the water use.

Overall Findings

In the end of my month long experiment with water, I found that I don't want this to be the end.  I have even made predictions for the future.  If I changed my average shower use from an average of 13.3 minutes (29.5 gallons per shower) to 5.7 minutes (12.7 gallons of water)  I would be able to save 16.6 gallons per day.  At the end of the year that puts me at a saving of 6082 gallons.  That is enough drinking water for the entire country of Tuvalu for a day.  Granted its small - about 11,000 residents, but still enough water to drink for an entire COUNTRY would be going down my drain in just a year had I not changed my ways.

I am not saying that you should be unreasonable when trying to save the planet, you and I are both people with typical habits that are hard to change.  However, the way we take our showers is such an easy change that it leaves me asking WHY NOT?  Why not help change the world, put the water on hold and see how much you can save!

Be Inspirational

Being part of this responsibility pact is not about sitting back and being quiet about what you believe.  You need to step out there and deliver your points, and hopefully inspire some like-minded souls to travel down a similar path of social responsibility.  I am still on my journey of working towards being inspirational in terms of the responsibility pledge. However, I am glad to have found inspiration to blog about it from one fellow colleague of mine, a blogger named Caterina Solang.

We speak different languages, we have different backgrounds, we don't even write about the same topics.  The only similarity between us is that we are both inspired by HER passion for blogging.  Yes, you read correctly - she has the ability to inspire herself through passion as well.

After talking with her for a few hours I was starting to feel more and more enthusiasm for blogging - even though I had never even tried before.  Just the way she goes about her blogging and talks about it to different people sparks intense interest in each of us willing to lend an ear.  I was so interested into why she was tremendously excited all the time about the blogging world that I even decided it was a good idea to join myself - and I am very thankful for that.  She has inspired me and I am sure many others while she was simply just being herself and doing what she loves.

We need more people to inspire in the world, and more people who we can look up to.  That is why I have compiled a list of how to be  inspirational - especially when spreading the message of being socially responsible and green.  The more people who have this spark ignited within them will cause a greater trend of positive change.  So, without further adieu:

How to Be Inspirational

Follow your own path.

1. Be yourself - the thing that truly inspires people is the fact that we notice that you are actually a real person.  The fact that "it" really can be done!  Its very motivating to know that others who have gone before you have succeeded.
2. Speak up - Although you might be doing everything right, you aren't being heard.  Unless you speak up about what you are doing and why it is worthwhile no one will have the opportunity to be inspired by your story.
3. Do the right thing - This doesn't mean do what people tell you is right, but instead do what you know is right.  Change is almost always greeted with opposition - so don't be afraid to face the critics.

Overall, although the main aim is to inspire others to follow your new responsible lead - the main thing I want from this small list is that you all learn to be inspired by yourself.  Just as Caterina has been able to keep up her amazing blog not for others nor for praise, but for her true love of literature; I hope that you can inspire yourself to keep on being green and socially responsible no matter the criticism or difficulty.  Take your own path - and see how far it goes, and if all else fails you can still look back and inspire yourself to continue and who knows who will want to tag along on the way.

But..WHY?

Beep...Beep...Beep...beepbeep...beepbeep...beepbeep...beepbeepbeep...beepbeepbeep........

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

You might laugh, but just last month that right there was the theme song of my life.  The alarm clock would run for a good hour before I could will myself out of bed.  It got to the point that I could recognize the time based on the increments the alarms would speed up.  I had no reason to leave my warm comfortable bed in the morning until my roommate started poking me to see if I was still alive because after an hour she too couldn't stand the screeching of the clock.  What little motivation I had to wake up went into pressing the glorious snooze button that gave me an extra five minutes of peace.

This all stopped when I picked up a very interesting book.  Simon Sinek opened my eyes to a whole new way of going about business with "Start With Why"- but I wanted to take it one step further and apply it to my daily life.  I could consider myself a personal business, in fact we function in very similar ways.  We could all think of our names as our personal brand and with that in mind we would need to create our own brand mission statement.  Why do people love apple? Because they are selling the unique individual mindset.  If you wanted the same results just apply it to your personal brand and people would want not necessarily your product but possibly your attention.

That is when it all changed for me - I created my own personal mission statement.  If I were to function strategically like a company I would need to have a good mission to base my decisions on.  As I am very interested in social and environmental responsibility I decided to create one that encompassed these beliefs. "I bring people together to make them realize we are all part of a greater whole - and we need to work together to make a difference".  Simple enough right? NO. 

I found that the common phrase, "actions speak louder than words" to be missing a critical element.  Actions do speak louder, however words are the sturdy base that give power to your actions.  This new "WHY" I had given myself set me up for success.  I knew why I was doing the things I was doing each day.  I knew why I was getting up each morning.  I knew what I was striving for.  This is powerful when you get up and start going.

That was the day I decided to create my blog.  I was tired of being tired, and wanted to put my "WHY" into action.  It gave me the reasons to go out and do what I wanted, and left no excuses to stay wrapped up in the sheets for a dull and boring day.

I hope that my personal brand of "Rachel" can be perpetually changed by a single WHY.  I hope we all can make a big impact with this simple change - we owe it to ourselves.

Interns: the ethical debate

"I'd like a latte with extra foam non-fat organic milk with brown sugar, please." The lady standing in line behind rolls her eyes as she heard 5 more of these complicated orders rattled off by this young girl.  This girl however was not drinking any of these coffees - she was an intern and this was her daily "lesson" about the job she was working in for the summer, for free.

This is the typical stereo type of what being an intern is all about. But in actuality is this what really happens?  In my experience - NO.

Taking in an intern can be one of the most ethical business practices in my opinion.  This is because as a young student trying to get an edge on a very competitive workforce, internships are the only way that can actually give me real experience.  This should be taken with a grain of salt however, I only say this with internships aimed at teaching rather than profiting from cheap labor in mind.

Following I will expose the pro's and con's of taking on an intern and then how you can make a difference in someone's life if you do choose to help them out with a mentor mentee relationship.  The days of coffee orders and photocopying are soon to be over.

Pros:

1. You are giving a young student or someone looking to work in the sector an opportunity of a lifetime.  "Experience" is the hardest thing to earn and a prerequisite to most jobs for graduating college students.
2. You have the opportunity to hire this intern after graduation - making an easy transition to your team.
3. Your company can learn from the new interns fresh mindset and can advance through these observations.  A new intern asks very good questions because they can truly see from an outsiders view what is working and what needs changing because they haven't gotten used to any of the operations yet.
4. An intern can be innovative and handle new projects that otherwise normal employees wouldn't have the time to handle.  It is a win-win, good experience for the intern and a great advantage for the company.

Cons:

1. If you aren't actually teaching the interns something, you are pretty much exploiting them for free/cheap labor.
2. If you are doing such things then you are robbing a potential candidate of an actual job position not just an internship.
3. Interns take time to train and explain the "why's" of your company.  If you don't have the time be careful of taking on an intern.
4. Interns can become a liability if not properly trained.  As they have little to no previous industry experience letting them on their own can possibly wreak havoc as they little to no industry common sense.  How was I supposed to know that you don't give free drinks to a customer that complains?

Overall, the pros and cons of taking on an intern are very subjective.  Based off of the companies actions alone it could be one of the most ethical or unethical choices the company could make. This alone could make or break their efforts of becoming socially responsible.  I have the bias of currently being an intern so I would suggest to anyone thinking of taking one of us onto your team to do the right thing and give us a priceless experience - we will thank you for it later.  We are the future of the work force - shouldn't we have the best chance of doing it right?

P.S. To all the companies who have given me the opportunity to learn and thrive in my chosen industry, thank you for all the time you have spent with me teaching me the tricks of the trade.  I know it will pay off in the future!

10 Topics You Must Cover on Your Responsibility Pledge

These days I find that most people are setting goals to achieve personal success.  Goal setting is a great tool to use, when used properly.  However, most people are setting more than one goal at once or even 100 mini goals at once.  The problem with this is that you typically start to fall through on your plans and eventually burn out.

To aid in your goal making process and to make your plan stick I advise using a pledge to yourself.  This isn't just something you say to yourself, or think everyday.  This is a physical paper in which you list exactly what your goal means and then you sign it so that you can see exactly what you stand for.  This becomes even more powerful when you sign one with a group of people because when you make your goals public, you tend to stick with them longer.

In the green club at my school, we are beginning to implement a Green Pledge for our school where we encourage our students to sign a certificate stating exactly how they will help the environment and others around them - hopefully this will keep the recycling high and the waste low!

Without further adieu:

Responsibility Catalyst's Pledge:

Protecting our Beautiful Earth One Step At A Time

1.  Waste - Waste is the number one factor you can control.  This goes beyond just plastic bags but into food waste, water waste, electricity waste, etc.  This is one of the most important factors for your pledge as this will get results quickly for everyone to see and be motivated to continue not to waste.

2. Water Conservation - This is one of the fastest ways we waste.  On average 2.2 gallons of water per minute out of the shower means that by the end of the morning you are already using about 22 gallons if you are taking 10 minute shower.  Turn the water off when not in use, the amount you save can be drinking water for weeks.

3. Electricity Conservation - 10 watts here, 60 watts there.  One can save electricity in such simple ways that it makes no sense NOT to participate.  Flip the switch when you leave a room, unplug unused appliances, and ensure your machines are energy efficient.

4. Fuel Use- Most of us need to travel in some form to get to work.  Be conscientious of your modes of transportation and the amount of fuel they burn.  The benefit of public transportation is that the 7mile/gallon busses are being shared by 30+ people.  Make the responsible choice, and if you must use a personal car - drive it as little possible, and as efficiently as possible.

5. Buying Power -  We as consumers have the ability to influence the economy by changing our spending habits.  If we all make sure to buy from sustainable companies and demand responsible practices more and more businesses will start to follow suit.

6. Community Service - We all have needed help at one point in time.  Giving back to the community is not only a thank you for everything they have given you but its also a way for you to help someone in need.  Small things make the most difference from picking up a piece of trash on the beach to tutoring kids that are struggling in school.

7. Standing for Your Beliefs - Many people have become so set in their ways they refuse to change.  Many don't understand the need to make a difference by living responsibly.  You must have the determination to do good and stand up for what you believe in and not let the naysayers get you down.

8. Tracking Progress- This gives you a sense of accomplishment and the encouragement to keep making small changes.  If you can't see that taking a 5 minute shower instead of a 10 minute shower saves you 11 gallons of water then are you really understanding your full impact?  Its important to know where you began and where you are headed.

9.  Encourage Others - Its amazing that you have taken the next steps to living responsibly, but are others around you struggling to make a change?  Encourage beginners by helping them out, or by giving them tips and tricks on how to make responsible living easier.  Its always nice to have a community to support you, so be those open arms.

10. Always Find a Way to Improve -  The most important thing to realize in life is that there will always be someone better than you and also someone worse.  Even if you have become the best at the moment, someone is just waiting to come around and take your place.  With this understanding we can change the negative thoughts into a positive statement.  There will always be something more that you can do to help the world. Smile more, help more people, recycle more - its a never ending challenge to give back to the Earth.

I Rachel here by virtually sign the Responsibility pledge on September 3rd, 2015.

If you believe in these actions then please "sign" and post them near by so that you can hold yourself accountable.  Its a promise to do better for the world - why not take the plunge? Good luck in your quest for a responsible life!