Sustainability Blogs

A Word About Sustainability

Sustainability is multi-faceted concept that has implications on every aspect of our lives. The basic definition is “the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level.” This can refer to environmental sustainability, which is the most common use in popular parlance, but it can also refer to economic sustainability, and social sustainability. To be sustainable is to accept change, but to maintain a balanced existence. If we consider our world as resting on a stool supported by the pillars of environment, economics, and society you can see that we cannot impact one of the pillars without repercussions being felt in the other two. The earth is currently not operating in a sustainable fashion. Industries pollute the air and water, people are irresponsible with their trash, which ends up in the oceans, companies are focused on ever increasing profits to the extend that they cut staff, benefits for staff, environmental programs and any other ‘extra’ expenditure to maximize profits at the expense of the workplace culture. Conversely, attempts to raise the pillars of social and environmental issues will have negative repercussions on the economy. We need balance.

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If you have been following my blog you may have noticed the tagline: Going Green Doesn’t Have to be a Sacrifice. I believe that we have a responsibility to try and leave the planet a better place than when we arrived. I am very concerned that our current rates of consumption globally is unsustainable. For me, one of the most unsustainable products today is the dizzying array of plastics. The extraction of the crude oil to make plastics produces some of the worst rates of GHG emissions among industries. Plastics do not break down in the environment, meaning that they keep polluting for decades to hundreds of years, depending on the product. And to top it off, many of the plastics used is made for product packaging – not even an item in and of itself. Am I suggesting that we eliminate all plastics? No! The medical industry is very dependent on plastic products and to go back to using only metals and glass will come at the expense of patient comfort and a lot of added labor. The plastics used in car manufacturing allow the cars to be lighter weight, and hence more fuel efficient. I WOULD like to see the elimination of single-use plastic products of all types (straws, packaging, bottles, etc) and be replaced with items that are meant to be re-usable.

I read a great passage a few weeks ago. I wish I had saved it somewhere because I cannot recall the source, and have not been able to find it again. The passage stated that we do not need 1,000 people to be perfectly sustainable. We need 10 million people to do an OK job at it. This really resonated with me. I started to take stock of my own life and prioritize areas that I can make great improvements without it being too drastic of a shift. The products I provide through Treasures By Sandra are not meant to be the most eco-friendly versions of that product. They are meant to be sustainable. By this I mean that my raw materials are organic and fair trade as much as possible, I buy from local suppliers whenever I can, the packaging I use is meant to be re-usable and/or biodegradable, and they are good quality items that are effective. Over the next few weeks I will be posting on the individual products, what goes into making them, how I choose my raw materials, and why I consider the product to be sustainable.

What efforts do you make to be sustainable? Do you feel that sustainability is important in the home? Let me know in the comments!

About Treasures By Sandra

Sweat Equity for My Treasures

I may have been quiet this past month on the TBS Blog, but I certainly have not been idle! So many new products to introduce, so many new events coming up! First and foremost I am excited to announce that I have been accepted into the juried Vista Strawberry Festival http://www.vistastrawberryfest.com/ as a craft vendor. And not only into the main fair, this year the Vista Chamber of Commerce has decided to try adding a quieter area dedicated to wine tasting and a select number of artisanal crafters, and I have been asked to be one of them! This new area, the Wine, Artisan and Acoustic Court is meant to be a more intimate setting for people to relax, enjoy wine tastings from La Fleur’s Winery and Twin Oaks Valley Winery. This area is free and open to all festival attendees regardless of age, but they will be checking ID’s for age as you enter. On top of this the Vista Chamber of Commerce has provided me with 100 discounted wine tickets. At the festival these tickets will be $7 each and can be redeemed for a 4-oz sample of wine. You can get them from me for $5 each. I only have 100 of them, so email me right away if you would like to order some. I cannot tell you how excited I am for this event, and hope to see some of you there! If you can make it to the festival mention that you follow this blog and get 10% of any Treasures By Sandra Purchase. #vista #california #socal #sandiego #sandiegoliving  #sandiegoevents #strawberryfestival  #family #familyfun #californialiving #sd 

I have so many new products that I am excited to introduce! I have been busy doing research and experimenting with my recipes and have four new health and wellness products to unveil this month. They will be making their debut this weekend and I am very excited! I will do in-depth posts on the evolution of these recipes and why I have decided to tackle them, but for now I will just give a brief introduction,

Pain Relief Balm. This heavenly balm starts with an olive oil base. I add various herbs all known for their pain relieving properties to the oil to infuse into a strong herbal mix, then the herbs are strained out and the oil is added to beeswax and essential oils to make a wonderful feeling and moisturizing balm. I sprained my index finger a few weeks ago and it is still giving me grief. This recipe has been tested and modified repeatedly until I found the maximum relief, and I am very happy with the results.

Healing Salve. This salve is based on olive oil infused with comfrey leaf – traditionally known as ‘knit bone’ for it’s healing properties. I have left this recipe unscented, however I can accommodate custom requests for adding essential oils, if requested. Comfrey leaf has been used for centuries to promote healing of broken bones, sprains, strains, and skin irritations like poison oak or allergic dermatitis. The chemical components of the comfrey plant promote cell generation to speed the healing process.

Chest Rub. I have been making this chest rub for my kids since they are babies. They were born with environmental allergies and every spring have a hard time with sinus issues. This chest rub recipe has been made as a more environmentally friendly version of the vapo-rub many of us grew up with! Eucalyptus, lavender and other essential oils combine to help open up the airways and sinuses to help with comfort and breathing. My boys like this so much they still ask for it most nights and they are 9 and 7 now.

Laundry Whip. This is my newest creation, and I am loving it! My recipe takes common, concentrated laundry soap bars and mixes them with borax and washing soda to provide an amazing detergent with a very light, refreshing scent. This detergent gets all stains out, and my laundry comes out the softest I have ever felt it – even softer than when I used commercial fabric softeners! This is a super-concentrated formula that has to be tried to be believed. And the best part is that one tablespoon per load of laundry is all that is needed. It dissolves well in hot, warm, and cold water and because the soap bar has already been mixed into solution it rinses right out without leaving residue in your clothes fibers (hence the softness I mentioned). I have been using this soap exclusively for several weeks now and can honestly say that I will never buy laundry detergent again!

This is just a brief update on my happenings for the past month. I will be writing more later to provide additional details to the new products. For now though, I hope to see folks this Sunday in Vista for some wine tasking and product sampling fun!