Your guide to eco-friendly toothpastes

Looking for more ways to incorporate an eco-friendly lifestyle into your daily routine? How about when it comes to keeping those pearly whites nice and clean? Maybe it’s time to think twice about the long list of ingredients in your toothpaste and make the switch to a greener alternative. Here is a guide of some of the best and worst eco-friendly toothpaste options, as well as a step-by-step guide for your transition.

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Baby steps to clean, green teeth

Eco-tips blog Paws and Pines recommends a phased approach to switching to eco-toothpaste. Otherwise, the new flavors and textures might leave your mouth feeling strange and unclean– just because it’s something unfair. Try following their recommended steps at your own pace:

Related: Looking to make your mornings greener? Try these 7 tips for a sustainable morning routine

1. Look for mainstream and conscious brands that you can find at most stores, like Toms of Maine and Hello Oral. These are mostly vegan, cruelty-free produces but are widely available.

2. Head to a natural food store for more options. Even Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s have a larger section of “natural toothpastes” to choose from, including Jason, Dr. Bronner’s, Kiss my Face and Desert Essence. Do some research (see below for reviews) and select the brands you want to try.

3. Take some time to get used to the different tastes and textures of natural toothpaste. Without chemicals and additives, they won’t be exactly what you’re used to. If you hate something, try a different brand before giving up.

4. If you’re really serious about being environmentally friendly, explore zero-waste options like products that come in glass jars. Even plastic containers are better than aluminum tubes because they can be more readily recycled.

What ingredients to look for

There are a lot of options out there, and packages often make sweeping claims. Try looking for products that are sodium laurel sulfate free as evidence shows there is no clinical benefit.

Also, keep an eye out for Fluoride free products. Although fluoride helps prevent tooth decay, it also has been linked to brain, kidney and gum toxicity, so it is up to you to weigh your preferences and make an informed choice!

It’s also a great idea to consider products that are vegan, cruelty free, certified organic and free of artificial sweeteners or colors.

Popular eco-friendly toothpaste options

Tom’s of Maine

This brand can be found in most stores and promises anti-cavity and whitening properties, with an official American Dental Association seal. Their Whole Care Gel offers tartar control and whitening benefits without artificial sweeteners, preservatives, colors or flavors.

Hello Oral

Their Sensitive Relief Fluoride toothpaste uses aloe vera and potassium nitrate to help calm sensitive teeth.

Dr Bronner’s

This is a popular and widely available brand that also makes biodegradable soaps and cleaning products. Their toothpaste is natural, fluoride-free, vegan and cruelty free and has recyclable packaging. It also utilizes 70 percent organic ingredients and fair-trade ingredients when possible. It is available in three flavors: peppermint, cinnamon and anise.

Jason

This company’s tea tree and cinnamon toothpaste is fluoride-free and certified organic. Their packaging promises healthy teeth and gums, but Grist’s reports that the spiced cinnamon taste is “absolutely disgusting.”

Dr. Ken’s

This brand’s maximum care paste is anti-everything: anticavity, antibacterial, antigingivitis, antiplaque, anti-tartar and antioxidant. It does still contain sodium fluoride but has a nice minty flavor that will remind you of your ex-toothpaste– in a good way.

Radius

This brand makes recycled material toothbrushes and has a certified organic toothpaste made from chamomile and coconut oil. It is natural, cruelty free and comes in BPA-free packaging. The Good Trade reports that their products are delicious and they even have a coconut-banana flavor for children.

Nature’s Gate

This brand’s whitening gel is fluoride-free with no artificial colors or sweeteners. According to Grist, the texture is more like a paste but quite difficult to squeeze out of the container.

Kiss my Face

Their whitening toothpaste is fluoride free and certified organic. Its ingredient list contains an intriguing surprise bonus of Iceland moss, but that might be what earned it an “incredibly awful” and “wretched” review in Grist’s decidedly unscientific study. It also contains sodium lauryl sulfate, which is discouraged by the Environmental Working Group.

Desert Essence

Their Natural Tea Tree Oil Toothpaste is fluoride-free with no artificial preserves and sweeteners. It also has a surprise ingredient of seaweed extract and though it is has been described as having a refreshing taste, some find it a bit too salty.

DIY toothpaste recipe

Not satisfied with the store-bought ingredients and packaging? Try to make your own toothpaste out of three simple ingredients. Combine coconut oil and baking soda and at a 2:1 ration (twice as much coconut oil as baking soda) and then add a few drops of your favorite essential oil, like peppermint. That’s it!

Other eco-friendly tips while you’re brushing

There are other ways to be a more eco-friendly brusher besides just the paste you use.

Opt for a wooden or bamboo toothbrush and avoid plastic flossers. There are also silk floss options that are biodegradable. Make sure you turn the water off while you are brushing to conserve fresh water.

Finally, use less paste. Just about a pea-sized amount will be sufficient and avoid swallowing it.

Via Grist

Images via stevepb, superkitina, marco verch, thegreenj,

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A Mumbai industrial complex becomes a modern, mixed-use campus

In the Mumbai suburb of Vikhroli, Indian architectural firm Studio Lotus and GPL Design Studio have given a disused industrial complex new life as a modern, mixed-use center. Dubbed the Imagine Studio, the project serves as an experience center for ‘The Trees,’ a flagship adaptive reuse project for Godrej Properties Ltd. Imagine Studio provides new public and private functions while celebrating the site’s industrial heritage.

Located on a one-acre site, the Imagine Studio complex spans 10,763 square feet and comprises a small cluster of renovated industrial buildings. The programming includes a marketing office, sample showcase flats for ‘The Trees,’ meeting spaces, an all-day cafe located within a repurposed Boiler Plant, a multipurpose gallery for cultural events and several outdoor spaces to market the client’s upcoming residential and commercial development properties. The public is also invited to experience the multifunctional space.

“The intent was to illustrate an invigorated public realm as a microcosm of the [Trees’] master plan while preserving the essence of the site’s industrial heritage,” the architects said. “Existing buildings and its elements were recycled not only to underline their relevance in the bygone eras but also add meaning as important design punctuations in the narrative. The buzzing public spaces will eventually extend the edge of the gated development to include the community and city in its activities. Buildings of the Imagine Studio will ultimately get absorbed into the commercial hub of the development; continuing to stay on as key markers celebrating the rich traditions of the historic company while taking it strategically forward into its future.”

Related: Architects to transform two old railway yards into eco parks in Milan

The Imagine Studio is defined with an industrially inspired palette that includes concrete, Corten steel, brass and timber combined to follow the Japanese principles of “wabi sabi,” or a view of beauty in imperfection. The materials are deliberately left unfinished so as to develop a patina over time. Elements from the old buildings were also salvaged and reused, such as the old louvers of the primary industrial plant that were repurposed, coated in Corten steel and perforated with patterns.

+ Studio Lotus

Images via Edmund Sumner, Dilip Bhatia, Studio Lotus, GPL Design Studio

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This luxury resort in Canada is recognized globally for its contributions to eco tourism

The Fairmont Chateau Lake Lodge in Alberta, Canada is setting the bar high when it comes to sustainable eco tourism. As a popular accommodation choice for outdoor enthusiasts with an unparalleled location inside Banff National Park (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), preserving the national wildlife around the resort is of the utmost importance. The hotel was the very first in Canada to receive the highest possible rating from the Hotel Association of Canada’s Green Key Eco-Rating Program in 2005, and won the award again in 2016. The business also holds an award from the 26th Annual Emerald Awards recognizing outstanding environmental achievements for its sustainability program.

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Activities around the resort include guided mountain tours, skiing, canoeing, horseback riding, fishing, mountain biking, rafting, ice-skating and scenic hiking. Guests can enjoy amenities such as a luxury spa and multiple dining options.

Related: Bee + Hive to help explorers book green hotels and sustainable tourism experiences

Over the past ten years of operation, the Fairmont Chateau Lake Lodge has implemented a “No Net Negative Environmental Impact” incentive for its eco tourism hotel operations, with full transparency and results reported annually to Parks Canada. The resort also purchases half of its total energy from wood biomass-generated Green Power and uses energy efficient heating sources throughout the property.

80 percent of the hotel operations use energy-efficient lighting, holiday decorations use LED lighting and free parking is awarded to guests driving hybrid vehicles. Each year the resort helps celebrate the World Wildlife Fund Earth Hour to raise awareness for environmental issues by switching off all of the lights on the property for one hour.  

Water-saving fixtures installed at the hotel save 3.9 gallons of water per toilet flush and 1.5 gallons of water per minute in the shower. The new fixtures along with the construction of a water treatment plant helped the hotel decrease its water consumption by 38 percent between 1995 and 2015. Guests are encouraged to do their part by reducing their towel and linen usage, which saves both water and electricity.

The Fairmont CAREs Program — Westslope Cutthroat Trout Restoration Project works to preserve Canada’s wild trout population; the hotel has donated $12,000 to the cause since 2012. The resort’s culinary program works with Ocean Wise, a local conservation program that allows consumers to make sustainable choices when purchasing seafood. All possible food and beverage containers are recycled, as well as all paper products, batteries, light bulbs, electronics and toner cartridges. The hotel also works with suppliers and vendors to reduce the amount of packaging for delivered products.

+ Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise

Via Dwell

Images via Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise

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Solar-powered prefab home in Texas features a whimsical pop art water catchment system

It’s always interesting to see the homes of architectural professionals, but one Texas home builder is blowing our minds with his custom-made design. When builder Jeff Derebery and his wife Janice Fischer were ready to build their own house just outside of Austin, they reached out to OM Studio Design and Lindal Cedar Homes to bring their dream to fruition. The result is a gorgeous prefab home that features a substantial number of sustainable features such as solar power and LED lights, as well as whimsical touches that reflect the homeowners’ personalities such as a water catchment system concealed under the guise of pop art.

The design for the 3,000-square-foot, single-story home is filled with features that show off the homeowner’s fun personality as well as building knowledge. Clad in an unusual blend of Shou Sugi Ban charred siding and cedar planks with an entryway made out of turquoise copper panels, the home boasts a unique charm.

Related: A prefabricated timber facade envelops a gorgeous glass home on a Norwegian island

Stepping into the interior of the four bedroom and two-and-a-half bath home, an open layout that houses the living room, dining area and kitchen welcomes visitors. The space is incredibly bright and airy thanks to a series of clerestory windows and floor-to-ceiling glazed walls that both stream in natural light and provide unobstructed views of the river and rolling landscape.

There is also a spacious 350-square-foot screened porch that is the perfect spot for dining with a view. But without a doubt, the heart of the home is an exterior open-air courtyard that separates the private spaces from the social areas. An idyllic space for reading in solitude or entertaining, the courtyard is decorated with furniture made out of recycled plastic.

The beautiful design conceals a vast array of sustainable features. The roof of the structure is covered in commercial-grade foam panels in a solar-reflecting white that provides a tight thermal envelope for the home. Additionally, the house generates its own energy thanks to the rooftop solar array of 36 panels that was installed on the adjacent carport. According to the architects, the family has a negative electric bill in both winter and summer and are often able to sell energy back to the local grid.

Texas builders have a lot of experience in dealing with the state’s drought issues, so Jeff and Janice were careful to integrate a water-conserving strategy into the home as well. An on-site well with a 2,500-gallon holding tank meets their personal water needs, and two additional tanks, one by the carport and another by the horse barn, collect and store rainwater that is used for various tasks such as taking care of the horses and dogs, cleaning and irrigating.

Then, there is the fun artwork hidden throughout the home and the landscape. As lovers of art, Jeff and Janice wanted to incorporate a few unique but functional pieces on their property. First there is Cubie, a 12-foot storage cube made of polycarbonate panels that conceals a well holding tank as well as the water softener and a UV filtration system. There is a fun pop art propane tank shaped like a yellow submarine with the faces of the members of The Beatles painted in the windows. Finally, a pop art collection wouldn’t be complete without a little Andy Warhol, so a deer feeder tower was painted as an oversized can of Campbell’s soup.

+ OM Studio Design

+ Lindal Cedar Homes

Images via Lindal Cedar Homes

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The Akshar Foundation is creating sustainable schools to teach children important life skills

Based in Assam, India, the Akshar Foundation is on a mission to create a new type of sustainable school with its unique education model. The education reform initiative strives to create government schools that are eco-friendly, low-cost and centered in building the most successful environment for children to learn and grow.

At the forefront of the school’s positive environmental impact is its recycling model. Instead of tuition, students pay “plastic school fees” by bringing in a minimum of 25 pieces of plastic from their homes or communities each week. Most of these plastic items are non-recyclable and would otherwise be destined for a landfill. Instead, the school staff and students find creative ways to reuse the plastic throughout the campus.

While India doesn’t have nearly as much plastic use per capita compared to the United States, the country’s massive population (and the fact that 40 percent of plastic waste is neither collected nor recycled) means that India still produces enough plastic to pollute its oceans and rivers substantially. Luckily, thanks to the country’s recent bans on single-use plastics, along with innovative organizations like the Akshar Foundation, India is beginning to fight back against plastic pollution.

Related: India plans to eliminate single-use plastic by 2022

Clean plastic waste is collected by the children, who can take items that would otherwise be thrown out from their own homes or collect plastic from around their communities. The material is then separated and cleaned, and the plastic bottles are compacted with other plastic materials, such as plastic bags and packets, to create a “brick.” These “eco-bricks” are used to construct things for the school, everything from toilets to flower planters, to save money and teach the students important vocational skills. The kids learn how to make the bricks, mix the cement and learn the construction skills necessary to build with and reuse recycled materials.

In addition to the recycling program and regular curriculum, students are trained in sustainable subjects such as gardening, carpentry and solar tech. The foundation plans to eventually implement irrigation, electronics and lighting into the educational program to supplement the Akshar Landscaping Enterprise as well. Through this program, students are taught to run a profitable business in the landscaping industry and how to beautify public spaces, all while connecting with nature.

India accounts for over one-third of the world’s rabies-related deaths, most of which are spread by the large number of stray dogs that live on the country’s streets. The school runs a campus animal shelter in order to bring awareness to the street animal crisis. The students and faculty sheltered, cared for and found homes for 20 dogs in the first year of the program. The children play a part in the medical care for the dogs, as well as caring for them while they are recovering from medical procedures before finding them forever homes. Students are able to learn basic medical skills thanks to this program.

Akshar schools enable a “meta-teaching” program so that each student has access to personalized, private tutoring to supplement regular lessons. Each younger child is mentored by an older student who has been trained to tutor, all while being guided by an adult teacher.

Related: Green school in Bali shows students how to live sustainably

Children in India are often motivated to quit school out of pressure to earn an income and help their families, resulting in about 47 million students dropping out of school by the 10th grade throughout the country. Akshar has this covered, too. The foundation pays students to work part-time at the school to supplement their learning, with wages based on academic level and teaching skill (meaning students are motivated to improve grades even more).

With sponsorship from the Motivation for Excellence Nalanda Project, Akshar students have access to the latest technology to aid in their learning. Student teachers are able to utilize tech such as tablets to add an extra resource to tutoring and mentoring. Younger students are therefore able to familiarize themselves with technology and be taught by a peer who is closer to them in age in addition to an adult teacher.

All students take part in the secondary curriculum that combines abstract learning with practical life skills. Some examples include pairing carpentry with mathematics, solar technology with physics, embroidery with economics, teaching with psychology, recycling with ecology and landscaping with biology.

Through these inventive school models, the Akshar Foundation hopes to arm its students with skills that will help them in all aspects of life. In addition to gaining experience in the usual subjects of math and science, children learn empathy, responsibility, sustainability and cooperation.

The flagship 100-student school, Akshar Forum, serves as a “testing ground” for teaching methods that will eventually spread to more and more schools throughout the country in the coming years. By implementing a fellowship program, government schools will have the chance to learn Akshar’s innovative education design for a period of two years by a trained fellow.

Partners for the school include the United Nations, The Education Alliance and the Education Research & Development Foundation. Learn more about the Akshar Foundation by visiting its website.

+ Akshar Foundation

Images via Akshar Foundation

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