My friend Julia and I paired up together to create a project to help save our watershed, the Saskatchewan River Basin, from an evil chemical called triclosan. We created a hand sanitizer, hand soap and shampoo that are 100% organic and triclosan-free! We entered the "Caring For Our Watershed" contest and tried to win a cash prize of up to $1,000! We ended up making it into the top ten, and we are currently working to get first place, and win the grand prize! Wish us luck :) Here is our proposal we wrote:
Squeaky Green
The South Saskatchewan River Basin is the watershed we and 1.7 Million other people depend on. It is our duty to protect it and ensure that it will function for generations after us. We, two girls in Grade 8, realize that we have the opportunity to protect and preserve a source of water that is crucial to Canada’s ecosystem.
There are watersheds all over the world, but the one we live in is the South Saskatchewan River Basin. It is created by the Old Man River and the Bow River coming together and turning into the South Saskatchewan River. The water from our watershed comes from the water towers in the Rocky Mountains and goes into Hudson Bay. It also has some smaller streams that flow up to the Arctic and down to The Gulf of Mexico. The people in our watershed live alongside many animals in the South Saskatchewan River Basin, which are located in the mountains in B.C., the forests in Alberta, and the prairies in Saskatchewan and Manitoba! Consequences to the land come with so many people living here. Some key vulnerabilities in the watershed are landscape modification, water supply, climate change, invasive species and industrial development. Our watershed faces a lot of hardships, but we know how to fix a major issue.
http://www.ecofriendlysask.ca/2011/09/meewasin-valley-authority.html
Triclosan is an antibacterial and antifungal chemical that is 95% found in consumer products we use every day in our homes and schools. The chemical company, Ciba, invented triclosan in 1960 and introduced it to the heath-care setting in 1972. In the last decade triclosan has been added to over 1000 “over the counter products”. This white, salt-like substance targets animal’s hormones and has substantial damage on their reproductive systems, irritates human skin, is toxic in algae, phytoplankton and contributes to the development of cancer and other health issues. Aquatic organisms take in triclosan mainly through their gills when they are consuming food. Since triclosan exists mainly in household products such as soaps, hand sanitizers, dishwasher detergent, shampoo and toothpaste, it’s being drained into our watershed.
Our proposed solution is to create 3 triclosan free, organic consumer products: hand sanitizer, foaming hand soap and shampoo. With inspiration from DIY websites, we created our own recipes. Our line is titled “Squeaky Green”. We believe that by using Squeaky Green products we can create a better future for the South Saskatchewan River Basin and ensure that the animals and humans living in and around it are safe.
Our hand sanitizer is a quick and easy hand-washing tool that not only keeps your hands clean, moisturizes, and exfoliates, but also saves the environment. In the hand sanitizer there is: pure Aloe Vera gel, high proof vodka, Vitamin E oil, tea tree oil, orange essential oil, orange juice(Tropicana), orange juice(freshly squeezed), orange zest and cinnamon.
9% of 1-3 ml of the soap humans use to wash their hands is triclosan and the average person washes their hands 10 times every day. We were alarmed by that statistic and decided to do something about it, so we created our soap! It contains: water, castile soap, olive oil, vitamin E oil, and lemon essential oil.
Washing your hair is something everyone has to do, why not do it in a way that benefits the environment? Our shampoo is made of: coconut milk, castile soap and vanilla essential oil.
We were curious if our products actually worked, so we conducted a Petri Dish Experiment. Here are the results from our hand soap experiment:
Squeaky Green products are easy, affordable alternatives to chemical filled consumer products that work and smell great.
We want our idea to be implemented mainly in homes and school bathrooms. We will put our soap into school bathrooms all over Saskatoon and our sanitizers into different classrooms, teacher’s desk, computer rooms and libraries. For our shampoo, we will start with our family and friends and expand from there. Squeaky Green can be all around Saskatoon in no time!
We want this to be big, so we have created a commercial and showed it to some classes to inform them on the problem and solutions we came up with. Instead of just buying premade soap, sanitizer and shampoo, students could make it themselves and learn about the effects of triclosan in the process.
Our products will be very beneficial to the environment! Triclosan is a certain chemical that is suspected of causing cancer. The Environmental Protection Agency gives triclosan high human risks, as it can cause liver problems and depression when mixed with water and inhaled. Without triclosan in our products, we will be helping people steer clear of cancer, liver problems and depression.
Triclosan also has a large negative affect to animals. According to beyondpsticides.com, triclosan is highly toxic when exposed to sunlight in aqueous area. It is specifically toxic to algae, keystone organisms and bullfrogs, because it can effect development, since the reproductive system becomes damaged. With all of these living organisms turning toxic, that would affect eat those organisms would also be harmed.
Not only do our products work, but they are affordable too! For our sanitizer it will cost us $5.44 for a 209 ml; we will charge $6.94. 563 ml of shampoo costs $7.91 to put out, leaving us to charge $9.41. Coming in at $1.06 for 500 ml our foaming hand soap will be sold for $2.56. All our products have a $1.50 profit margin.
Since our watershed is so important to Canada, as it supplies us with an abundant amount of freshwater, we want to keep it safe. Triclosan and other chemicals are very hurtful to the people and animals that house themselves in the watershed, so by removing it from our everyday products, we are helping the environment. We believe that removing triclosan from our watershed is very beneficial to the environment and will improve our watershed a lot.
Squeaky Green: Saving our watershed, one pump at a time!
Reference List
Jabs, M. and B. (2014). How to Make Natural Moisturizing Sanitizer. Retrieved from www.diynatural.com
Triclosan (2014). Retrieved from http://www.beyondpesticides.org/antibacterial/triclosan.php.
Stromberg, J. (2014). Five Reasons Why You Should Probably Stop Using Antibacterial Soap. Retrieved from www.smithsonian.com.
4 Things You Should Know About Hand Sanitizer (2009). Retrieved from http://www.besthealthmag.ca/best-you/prevention/4-things-you-should-know-about-hand-sanitizers#Y8yAHrIhY3RLuICc.97.
Martin, A. (2011). Antibacterial Chemical Raises Safety Issues. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/20/business/triclosan-an-antibacterial-chemical-in-consumer-products-raises-safety-issues.html?_r=0.
Katie from Wellness Mama (2013, May 23). DIY Foaming Hand Soap. Retrieved from www.wellnessmama.com.
Waichman, P. (2015). Triclosan Side Affects My Result In Serious Illness Lawsuits. Retrieved from http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/triclosan.
Katie from Wellness Mama (2012, January 19). How to Make Natural Shampoo. Retrieved from http://wellnessmama.com/3701/natural-shampoo/.
Kary, T. (2014). Cancer-Linked Colgate Total Ingredient Suggests FDA Flaws. Retrieved from www.bloomberg.com
This is a experiment we did to test if our Squeaky Green worked which showed that if there as mold, there was bacteria, and it turned out that there was no bacteria left after we washed our hands with Squeaky Green!!
Squeaky Green
The South Saskatchewan River Basin is the watershed we and 1.7 Million other people depend on. It is our duty to protect it and ensure that it will function for generations after us. We, two girls in Grade 8, realize that we have the opportunity to protect and preserve a source of water that is crucial to Canada’s ecosystem.
There are watersheds all over the world, but the one we live in is the South Saskatchewan River Basin. It is created by the Old Man River and the Bow River coming together and turning into the South Saskatchewan River. The water from our watershed comes from the water towers in the Rocky Mountains and goes into Hudson Bay. It also has some smaller streams that flow up to the Arctic and down to The Gulf of Mexico. The people in our watershed live alongside many animals in the South Saskatchewan River Basin, which are located in the mountains in B.C., the forests in Alberta, and the prairies in Saskatchewan and Manitoba! Consequences to the land come with so many people living here. Some key vulnerabilities in the watershed are landscape modification, water supply, climate change, invasive species and industrial development. Our watershed faces a lot of hardships, but we know how to fix a major issue.
http://www.ecofriendlysask.ca/2011/09/meewasin-valley-authority.html
Triclosan is an antibacterial and antifungal chemical that is 95% found in consumer products we use every day in our homes and schools. The chemical company, Ciba, invented triclosan in 1960 and introduced it to the heath-care setting in 1972. In the last decade triclosan has been added to over 1000 “over the counter products”. This white, salt-like substance targets animal’s hormones and has substantial damage on their reproductive systems, irritates human skin, is toxic in algae, phytoplankton and contributes to the development of cancer and other health issues. Aquatic organisms take in triclosan mainly through their gills when they are consuming food. Since triclosan exists mainly in household products such as soaps, hand sanitizers, dishwasher detergent, shampoo and toothpaste, it’s being drained into our watershed.
Our proposed solution is to create 3 triclosan free, organic consumer products: hand sanitizer, foaming hand soap and shampoo. With inspiration from DIY websites, we created our own recipes. Our line is titled “Squeaky Green”. We believe that by using Squeaky Green products we can create a better future for the South Saskatchewan River Basin and ensure that the animals and humans living in and around it are safe.
Our hand sanitizer is a quick and easy hand-washing tool that not only keeps your hands clean, moisturizes, and exfoliates, but also saves the environment. In the hand sanitizer there is: pure Aloe Vera gel, high proof vodka, Vitamin E oil, tea tree oil, orange essential oil, orange juice(Tropicana), orange juice(freshly squeezed), orange zest and cinnamon.
9% of 1-3 ml of the soap humans use to wash their hands is triclosan and the average person washes their hands 10 times every day. We were alarmed by that statistic and decided to do something about it, so we created our soap! It contains: water, castile soap, olive oil, vitamin E oil, and lemon essential oil.
Washing your hair is something everyone has to do, why not do it in a way that benefits the environment? Our shampoo is made of: coconut milk, castile soap and vanilla essential oil.
We were curious if our products actually worked, so we conducted a Petri Dish Experiment. Here are the results from our hand soap experiment:
Squeaky Green products are easy, affordable alternatives to chemical filled consumer products that work and smell great.
We want our idea to be implemented mainly in homes and school bathrooms. We will put our soap into school bathrooms all over Saskatoon and our sanitizers into different classrooms, teacher’s desk, computer rooms and libraries. For our shampoo, we will start with our family and friends and expand from there. Squeaky Green can be all around Saskatoon in no time!
We want this to be big, so we have created a commercial and showed it to some classes to inform them on the problem and solutions we came up with. Instead of just buying premade soap, sanitizer and shampoo, students could make it themselves and learn about the effects of triclosan in the process.
Our products will be very beneficial to the environment! Triclosan is a certain chemical that is suspected of causing cancer. The Environmental Protection Agency gives triclosan high human risks, as it can cause liver problems and depression when mixed with water and inhaled. Without triclosan in our products, we will be helping people steer clear of cancer, liver problems and depression.
Triclosan also has a large negative affect to animals. According to beyondpsticides.com, triclosan is highly toxic when exposed to sunlight in aqueous area. It is specifically toxic to algae, keystone organisms and bullfrogs, because it can effect development, since the reproductive system becomes damaged. With all of these living organisms turning toxic, that would affect eat those organisms would also be harmed.
Not only do our products work, but they are affordable too! For our sanitizer it will cost us $5.44 for a 209 ml; we will charge $6.94. 563 ml of shampoo costs $7.91 to put out, leaving us to charge $9.41. Coming in at $1.06 for 500 ml our foaming hand soap will be sold for $2.56. All our products have a $1.50 profit margin.
Since our watershed is so important to Canada, as it supplies us with an abundant amount of freshwater, we want to keep it safe. Triclosan and other chemicals are very hurtful to the people and animals that house themselves in the watershed, so by removing it from our everyday products, we are helping the environment. We believe that removing triclosan from our watershed is very beneficial to the environment and will improve our watershed a lot.
Squeaky Green: Saving our watershed, one pump at a time!
Reference List
Jabs, M. and B. (2014). How to Make Natural Moisturizing Sanitizer. Retrieved from www.diynatural.com
Triclosan (2014). Retrieved from http://www.beyondpesticides.org/antibacterial/triclosan.php.
Stromberg, J. (2014). Five Reasons Why You Should Probably Stop Using Antibacterial Soap. Retrieved from www.smithsonian.com.
4 Things You Should Know About Hand Sanitizer (2009). Retrieved from http://www.besthealthmag.ca/best-you/prevention/4-things-you-should-know-about-hand-sanitizers#Y8yAHrIhY3RLuICc.97.
Martin, A. (2011). Antibacterial Chemical Raises Safety Issues. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/20/business/triclosan-an-antibacterial-chemical-in-consumer-products-raises-safety-issues.html?_r=0.
Katie from Wellness Mama (2013, May 23). DIY Foaming Hand Soap. Retrieved from www.wellnessmama.com.
Waichman, P. (2015). Triclosan Side Affects My Result In Serious Illness Lawsuits. Retrieved from http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/triclosan.
Katie from Wellness Mama (2012, January 19). How to Make Natural Shampoo. Retrieved from http://wellnessmama.com/3701/natural-shampoo/.
Kary, T. (2014). Cancer-Linked Colgate Total Ingredient Suggests FDA Flaws. Retrieved from www.bloomberg.com
This is a experiment we did to test if our Squeaky Green worked which showed that if there as mold, there was bacteria, and it turned out that there was no bacteria left after we washed our hands with Squeaky Green!!