Carlton Hobbs switches to Dish Soap Bars

In our continued search for ways to reduce our impact on the enironment, Stefanie recalled that during her time in Russia,she obseved people hand-washing their dishes using bars of dish soap, rather than liquid soap from plasic containers. Such had soap bars for dish-washing seem to be genrally unavailable even in health food stores.

However, a quick internet search yielded results: on etsy.com, Garden of Saint Francis, a natural goods vendor, was found to be selling homemade dish soaps composed of lye and coconut or palm kernel oil: http://tinyurl.com/3to7q3n

We have now acquired these and have begun using new bars of dishwashing soap that are proving to be both effective for cleaning and for environmental conservation. Just one bar of dishwashing soap is projected to last about as long as a 25 ounce bottle of dishwashing detergent, totally eliminating the need for any kind of plastic packaging.8 bars of soap can be purchased for $23, less than $3 per bar. Comparatively, even the cheapest online price for Seventh Generation plant-derived dish soap is nearly $4, a savings of a whole dollar. Even better than the price, soap bars save us from using the plastic containers holding the 25 oz dishwashing liquid. The Clean Air Council's data shows that in 2008 only 13.3% of plastic bottles were recycled (Waste and Recycling Facts, Clean Air Council, accessed 9/1/2011: http://www.cleanair.org/Waste/wasteFacts.html.) In 2005, a UN publication on the environment estimated that more than a staggering 13,000 pieces of plastic are littering every square kilometer of ocean on our planet (Jeftic, L. "Marine Litter." UN Environmental Program, 2005: http://www.unep.org/regionalseas/marinelitter/publications/default.asp.) Imagine how that could be impacted by using 0 plastic containers of dishwashing liquid per year (if you average a new dishwashing liquid package every 3 weeks, that's more than 17 plastic dish liquid containers per year saved from becoming a part of the plastic pollution problem.)

Check out our use of the new soap bars in our dishwashing videos below.

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London Lodge Decoration

We have recently redecorated our gallery at 16 Bloomfield Terrace in London.

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Carlton Hobbs' White Roof

Summer has officially arrived, and we here at Carlton Hobbs are celebrating by painting a heat reflective white roof coating onto the roof of our gallery space at 60 East 93rd Street.

 

Why white? An informative article in the New York Times about the White Roof Movement drew our attention to the benefits of having a "cool" roof. The article details a family's amazement when their home's interior temperature dropped from 115 degrees to 80 degrees farenheit inside after treating their roof with a white covering. If energy bill savings aren't enough of a deterrent, the article goes on to state, then think about global warming: in the interest of slowing its effects, even Nobel Prize Winner and current Energy Secretary Steven Chu made a bid on television to convince audiences to "make it [roofs] white."  An asphalt roof in New York City, it is revealed, can reach a staggering 180 degrees farenheit! At Carlton Hobbs, we hope that by investing in a white, energy efficient rooftop, we can do our part to make our urban environment a little cooler and to do our part to consume less energy. Lots of time and energy went into the selection of covering and painting the layers on our first rooftop, pictured below, and we will spend the next few weeks covering the remaining roof spaces.

 

With something as simple as just repainting a roof, we hope that we can become part of a growing commitment of people to energy conservation and heat reduction in New York City, and the world.

 

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