There are better ways to take care of those delicate garments. Here are nine greener alternatives to dry cleaning.

Part of being a conscious consumer is to know how to properly care for your things. This way, you can ensure that they last longer. When it comes to clothing, you should make a habit of looking at the labels and trying to follow the instructions on them. But what about when they say “dry clean only?”

We all know by now that dry cleaning is not a good thing. Conventional dry cleaning is a highly toxic process. Most dry cleaners use the chemical perchloroethylene (perc), which has been linked to various forms of cancers, eye, nose, throat and skin irritation and reduced fertility. Thankfully there are better ways to take care of those delicate garments.

1. CO2 Dry Cleaning
In recent years, eco-friendly dry cleaners have started to pop up in major cities. This may be a good option for those favorite pieces you just don’t want to experiment on. Look for cleaners that uses liquid carbon dioxide (CO2) instead of that toxic perc. Type in your zip on NoDryClean.com and you can find one near you. An added advantage is that the CO₂ that’s used is captured as a byproduct of existing industrial processes, which decreases the amount of this greenhouse gas going into the environment.

2. Wash Cold
Many clothes that are labeled “dry clean only” really aren’t, retailers just lazily label them that way. Some synthetic textiles like rayon and acetate, as well as knits like wool and cashmere should never be washed, but otherwise it’s almost always safe to run them on the cold, delicate cycle in the washing machine. About 90% of the energy required to do a load of laundry comes from heating the water up, so washing cold helps you tread lighter on the earth too. Just pre-treat stains with a good (eco-friendly) spot remover.

3. Hand Wash
Sometimes, the answer can be just as simple as getting your hands a bit dirty (and wet). Hand washing is often the best way to clean delicate knits made from wool and cashmere, but works for just about anything. Just fill any water-tight receptacle with water, place dirty clothes in the water until they are saturated and use friction to remove dirt from the clothes. An added bonus is that you burn calories while doing this while eliminating the energy usage associated with washing machines.

4. Wonder Wash
This clever thing uses a patented pressure system that forces detergent into the fabric at high speed for a fast, efficient, economic and very easy way to gently wash your clothes. In just a few minutes you can clean up to a five pound load. When I lived in a building without access to laundry facilities I used mine all the time. The Wonder Wash uses a lot less water, and is ideal with delicates like woolens, silks, knits and cashmere garments.

5. Soap Nuts
Soap nuts are made from wild-harvested dried berries which contain saponin, a natural cleaner that has been used for laundry for hundreds of years. It works as a surfactant, breaking the surface tension of the water to penetrate the fibers of your clothing, lifting stains from the fabric and leaving dirt suspended in the water that is rinsed away. Soap Nuts are gentle on both clothes and skin, making them ideal for those with sensitive skin, eczema, allergies and psoriasis. But don’t expect these shells to foam up like commercial soaps, which have artificial foaming agents. Foam simply does not represent cleaning power.

6. Non-detergent Laundry Ball
These laundry balls by SmartKlean naturally maintain the softness, elasticity and color of fabrics. It’s much gentler on your clothes and will make them last longer. The ball, which washes 365 loads without soap or detergent, contains active components derived from earth minerals and leaves zero residues behind. It’s ideal for sensitive skin (and delicate clothes) and helps conserve both water and energy.

7. Remove Stains with Pantry Staples
To remove tough stains like coffee, grass or wine, a few basic items that you already have in your pantry can do the trick. Sprinkle salt or baking soda on fresh stains to absorb as much of it as possible. Then apply vinegar. On more stubborn stains, make a paste made of vinegar and baking soda and rub in into the fabric like you would any stain remover. To remove those pesky yellow underarm stains, soak the garment in white vinegar for at least 10 minutes before washing.

8. Wool Dryer Balls
To dry clothes more gently, toss those toxic dryer sheets and try these reusable, handmade, wool dryer BaaLLs that kill static and soften clothes without the toxins. Made (in the U.S.) from 100% certified organic wool, they reduce drying time by 40% for a full load, saving you money and energy, and softens, and reduces static cling on clothes without using any chemicals or leaving any residue.

9. Use Better Detergent
Most conventional laundry detergents contain surfactants like nonylphenol ethoxylate, which are known hormone disrupters and can pollute our waterways, and artificial fragrances, which can be among the most toxic components of any home or personal care product. Brands like Ecos, Seventh Generation, Ecover, Method, Berryplus and Biokleen offer eco-friendly laundry detergents, some even biodegradable, that clean without toxic ingredients.

Image: lisalaible

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We need to save our oceans, and quickly. The most recent and widely cited report on fisheries predicts a complete global fisheries collapse by 2048 and asserts that ninety percent of large fish such as tuna and swordfish are already gone.

Other than the people using seafood wallet cards and reading eco-blogs, does anyone care?

In a 2008 report on the US Marketplace by Seafood Choices Alliance, chain restaurant operators report that only 22% of their customers are concerned about the environmental condition of the oceans. According to retailers, 25% of their customers are concerned. They better start caring because all-you-can-eat shrimp platters might not be the only casualty of the coming catastrophe. All life on earth depends on the health of the oceans. Even ours.

Not surprisingly, if consumers don’t care, few retailers and restaurants will take action because, after all, their job is to give consumers what they want or to go out of business. If retailers and restaurants won’t take action, neither will the wholesalers. Only 37% of retailers decided not to sell a certain seafood because of environmental considerations, according to a 2007 survey.

The terribly sad thing about this nearly imminent collapse is that it’s preventable. Though pollution, ocean acidification, and global warming all play a part, overfishing is by far the largest problem. And the most fixable. According to the book Bottomfeeder, we are vacuuming the bottom of our oceans clean.

We need a multi-pronged plan:

1. Consumers (and that means everyone) need to step up and push retailers and wholesalers to do the right thing. The power of the purse truly is a force to be reckoned with, but it has to be collective to work.

2. Governments need to cooperate on regulations and enforce fishery quotas.

3. New policies need to be put in place to protect fisheries.

Point 1: How do we get consumers to care? I truly believe that people would care if they only knew how bad it was. It’s not in the seafood seller’s business plan to let their customers know. That’s why I believe in-your-face tactics like some of Greenpeace’s recent campaigns can be really effective. Their ability to raise consumer awareness can push retailers to do the right thing.

Greenpeace’s recent brilliant attack on Trader Joe’s is a case in point. They used the attack, Twitter and humans dressed as giant orange roughy outside the stores to protest Trader Joe’s sales of endangered fish. The campaign was barely out of the gate before Trader Joe’s announced it would follow Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch recommendations for purchasing seafood.

Then there was the protest against the high-end Manhattan Restaurant, Nobu. It got a lot of attention, including in the New York Times.

Lamely, Nobu chose to leave the fish on the menu but to tell customers that it’s endangered and they should choose something else.

Less well-publicized, Greenpeace also puts out a seafood scorecard that allows consumers to assess how well their favorite supermarkets do in terms of sourcing sustainable seafood.

Another novel idea is that of consumer supported fisheries. Or Seafood CSAs: These seem promising from the point of view of supporting the smaller scale fisherfolk and keeping them in business. Such schemes, though great, are likely to be adopted by so few people that they won’t make a huge difference in the future of our oceans on their own.

In addition to consumer-focused efforts and campaigns, other ideas are being floated to help save our oceans. In order to do away with what is called the tragedy of the commons, some fisheries experts and governments (including ours) are proposing a privatization plan that provides individual transferable quotas that fisherfolk bid for. The logic is that everyone will have a vested interest in conservation. The plan does seem to have worked in some places. But I suspect, as usual, the devil is in the details. Critics say that such a plan will force smaller fisherfolk out of the game in favor of the large fleets that cause most of the destruction in the first place.

Up until now, governments have been lousy at cooperating to save our fisheries and oceans. The problem with global trade is that everyone has to commit to supporting bans on certain types of equipment or fishing moratoriums on certain species. That is slowly changing. The Pew Environmental Group recently formed a coalition dedicated to reforming the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy.

And even more recently, France’s President Sarkosy announced his support for a ban on the sale of bluefin tuna. The British fisheries minister joined the ban, and more are likely to follow.

It’s clear from all of this, that everyone needs to do his or her part. How can you do yours? Here are six easy recommendations:

1. Educate yourself about what is sustainable and what isn’t. Try reading a book on the subject. The wallet cards such as Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch cards are great, but a subject as complex as this deserves further study.

2. Know the big three. The three most popular types of seafood in America are also the most environmentally problematic – salmon, shrimp and tuna. Stay away from farmed salmon and eat wild salmon as a special occasion food. Find out where your shrimp was farmed or caught. If it’s really cheap, you probably shouldn’t eat it. Most species of tuna are endangered and high in mercury, too. Enjoy the small species (such as skipjack) if they are hook and line (not long line) caught, and only once in a while.

3. Give that supermarket sushi a pass. It’s full of cheap tuna, salmon, and shrimp. See above.

4. Develop a love for sardines, both canned and fresh. They are great for you (full of Omega-3s), are low on the food chain and are abundant.

5. This is the hardest one. You have to spread the word. Remember, people don’t know this information, so you have to tell them. It’s hard to talk to people about their food choices without being seen as an annoying, judgmental killjoy, but find a nice way to tell your friends and family members that they might want to lay off the canned albacore or treat it as a special occasion food.

6. Be Hopeful.

Further Learning:

End of the Line
Bottomfeeder
A Good Catch
Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World
Fish Forever
Seafood Lovers Almanac

Image: Jonathan Assink

The post It’s Time to Get Serious about Overfishing appeared first on EcoSalon.