PGC Day 1: The Dark Side of Beauty

Hey guys! So, I have been very busy with Project Green Challenge! There are 3-4 challenges posted every day, and I try to do as many as I can. I will blog a few of my favorite entries/challenges so you can see some of what I have been working on. Also, here is the link to Project Green Challenge if you want to check out the contest yourself:

http://projectgreenchallenge.com/pages/home

It is pretty big, with 2,280 people around the world currently signed up! Also, my username is longlivepassions if you want to see my rankings on the leaderboard!

The premise behind this challenge was too select 5 of our conventional beauty products we use and narrow it down to one. We had to look up some of the ingredients and talk about them.

The Dark Side of Beauty

Revlon Grow Luscious Mascara

TRESemmé Freshstart Dry Shampoo

Bath and Body Works Lemon Body Lotion

Dove Ultimate GoFresh Cool Essentials Anti-Perspirant Deodorant

Neutrogena Skin Clearing Blemish Concealer Stick

Ingredients for my Revlon Grow Luscious Mascara:

Aqua (water) EAU), Parafin, Stearic Acid, Cera Alba ((Beeswax) Cire D'Abeille), Isododecane, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Hydrogenated Polycyclopentadiene, Trisiloxane, C30 45 Alkyl Dimethicone, Cera Carnauba (Copernicia Cerifera Wax), Cera Carnauba ((Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax) Cire De Carnauba), Triethanolamine, Bis Vinyl Dimethicone Copolymer, Polymethylsilsesquioxane, Dimethicone, Hydrogenated Olive Oil Stearyl Esters, Isosteareth 200 Linoleate, Acacia Gum (Acacia Senegal), Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein/PVP Crosspolymer, Phytantriol, Nylon 6, Tocopherol Acetate, Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate, Panthenol, Methoxy Amodimethicone/Silsequioxane Copolymer, Silica, Calcium Aluminum Borosilicate, Simethicone, Butylene Glycol, Hexylene Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol, 1,2 Hexanediol, May Contain, Titanium Dioxide (CI 77897), Black 2 (CI 77266), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, 77492, 77499), Ultramarines (CI 77007)

This mascara contains paraffin, which may be cancer causing and has actually been restricted in other countries because of it. It is produced with petroleum based chemicals and could promote drying of the skin or make the skin more sensitive to sun damage.

Dimethicone is also in this mascara, which is considered a probable carcinogen by the EPA and may disrupt the endocrine system.

Green Challenge #2 Results and Microwave Pancakes

Hello again! This upcoming week I start the 30-day Project Green Challenge, and I am very excited for that journey!

This past week I collected my garbage (well, most of it) to see what I was throwing away and how much I was. During the week, I generated about one small garbage can worth of trash that weighed about 8 lbs. Most of it was food related, some food and lots of food packaging that is not recyclable. Some culprits were granola bar wrappers, yogurt containers (since we can only recycle plastics #1 and #2).  Unfortunately, I don't really have the option of composting at this point in my life, but I would love to in the future, and that would help with some of the food waste. A few of the other things include kleenex and dental floss. I am sort of happy since I threw away about one pound of garbage each day, which is much less than the national average of 4.4 lbs a day. However, I would like to cut this number down significantly, since at the rate of one pound of garbage per day, I will create 365 lbs per year, and 3,650 lbs by the time I am 30. Eww. That is a lot of garbage and lot to ask of Mother Nature.

In other news, I made pancakes for the first time in the microwave. They were surprisingly amazing and my room smelled like pancakes! :)  Basically, make pancake batter like you normally would, and then put it on a greased, microwave safe plate. Microwave for 90 seconds to 3 minutes, depending on the strength of your microwave and how big you make it. The pancakes were not as fluffy, but just as delicious as regular pancakes and much easier clean up! Perhaps this will be my new midnight snack!

Happy almost October!

Green Challenge #2

Hello strangers! I know it has been a little while! I am very happy that it is the weekend and that I am getting caught up with things. School/RA stuff/ teaching stuff is plenty busy!

The month of October will probably have an increased number of posts, since I will be participating in Project Green Challenge, which is an awesome contest that puts out optional daily challenges that teach about various "green" aspects of life. I am very excited, and will participate as time allows! Some of last year's challenges involved writing blog posts, or writing various reflections, so I will be sharing that!

Also, this week I will be looking at the quantity of garbage I produce. Starting Sunday, Sept 23rd, I will collect everything I throw away or waste during the week to see how much it adds up to! I am looking forward to this challenge. I feel like I already do a pretty good job, but measuring it in specific numbers will be helpful.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and will try my best to post more often! Thank you for being loyal readers!

A music video!

Hello all! This is a music video I made for the residence hall I work at, and I thought I would share! We changed the lyrics to Payphone by Maroon 5! Have a wonderful week!

Bringing your own sunshine...

Source: http://simagjewelry.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html

Today was a bit of a gloomy day, but I just woke up and felt great! While blue sky sunny days are usually my favorite, today the rain felt really chill and peaceful. Also, I was jamming to a very peppy, rather cheesy song by the British singer Olly Murs! Here is the music video if you want to listen to it!

Not a whole lot of substance today...
And for those of you who know me well, you know that hugs are basically my favorite things in the whole wide world!  I have also included a few quotes about hugs!

Have a wonderful weekend! A post with more substance is on it's way!

America's Wilderness

My environmental politics professor showed this video clip today in class, and it literally gave me chills! (Well, it was pretty cold in the classroom too...) I just loved the combination of footage from all of these different natural parks, the music, and the quotes! Definitely worth 3 minutes of your time!

Environmental Quotes Part 2!

Happy weekend! This past week has been my first week of classes, and I am lucky enough to be taking two courses that deal with the environment! Woot! And there have been many perks of RAing on the new Environmental Sustainability living learning community in our building! My first post about environmental quotes has been my most visited post out of all 100 posts, so I figured it was time for a part 2! All of the background images come from pictures I took this summer.

I completely agree with this quote from John Ruskin. I truly feel that there is natural beauty is all around us, just as there was in the Alpujarras Mountains, in Granada, Spain.

My Environmental Politics professor included this Thoreau quote in class this week, and I put it with a photo from Ronda, Spain.

Sunsets always amaze me, so here is a sun quote from Henry Ward Beecher with a photo of a sunset over the city of Florence, Italy.

I love love love trees, and this picture is from camping at Starved Rock State Park in Illinois.

Have a delightful day!