As Sustainable As Possible - BSG Blog — bamboostrawgirl

Have you ever thought about the evolution of the toothbrush? The earliest form of "toothbrushes" were actually “chewing sticks”- for example, miswak or neem. In ancient Babylon, people chewed on twigs to shred the edge into fibres, creating a "brush" that they would use to clean their teeth. Some plants even contained cleansing or antiseptic properties. Miswak or neem chewing sticks are still common in some parts of the world.  The Chinese were probably the first to invent the earliest form of 'toothbrush' in the form we currently recognise. These were made with boar bristles stuck onto or tied with twine onto the handles of...

I used to attend weekly talks about Buddhism at a temple a few years ago and recently they’ve restarted their sessions (now on video conferencing - yay!) After last night’s session, one of my classmates asked a question about how to deal with pests since the Buddhist approach is to avoid needless killing (“ahimsa” - non harming). I thought about my own response to pests. I realised that my preference over time has been to shift the “pest” or shoo it away rather than whip out a spray.Here’s my citronella and lemongrass incense stick for repelling mosquitos — I’m giving...