According to Liora Pearlman, the founder and moderator of Beijing Organic Consumers Association, yes, it is! While many of her BOCA members confess to buying “some" organic, Liora says that by utilizing delivery services and just committing to regular delivery days, she has found that her family can achieve about 95% organic food in the home. “Our kids eat 99% + organic...they have food allergies so their diet is quite restricted so it's easy to know the stats. The things that are not organic are things like: hazelnut milk, some of the Rice Dream brand rice milk, any sweets like ice cream bought for special occasions (eaten by hubby and me at night, since my kids are dairy allergic and I make my own "Ice cream" from chocolate Rice Dream for them), the occasional box of cookies or more typically the WASA rye crackers we all sometimes snack on”. Yes it takes a lot of effort and planning ahead but with a few changes in your weekly shopping habits, you can begin moving toward a more organic lifestyle. In my house, we buy/eat/use organic as much as possible.

If we can’t get organic, I try to get biodegradable, natural cleaning, cosmetic and baby products, even if I have to have them shipped from overseas, which can get very expensive, especially for baby products. I want to use biodegradable diapers (yes, they are really out there, 100% biodegradable diapers from Australia, made in China and then shipped back to Australia and then I pay a fortune to have them shipped back to me in China…and we wonder what’s wrong with the world???) and chlorine-free baby wipes, organic bottom balm, etc. Not easy to find in Beijing! It would be great to see some of the natural/organic food suppliers make more of these natural products at affordable prices more available. I think over time we will see an increase in demand for these ‘green’ choices and therefore, more availability of them.

As far as household products and cosmetics are concerned, the situation on finding quality substitutes for the carcinogenic sludge we have all been programmed to buy and coat ourselves with is really improving in the Jing, with many local companies springing up here and there that are manufacturing organic or all-natural cleaning products or cosmetics. Some of these companies provide our fair city with environmentally friendly and safe dishwashing liquid, laundry powder, lotions, creams, etc. I found one at Lohao City that uses black tea as a cleaning agent for dishes. It doesn’t suds up as much but it works great on the pots and pans!

Liora has also found a few places in Beijing who stock imported earth friendly products. Nick’s Mart at Lido carries made in the USA Ultra Dishmate brand dish soap, which comes in 4 yummy scents, including lavender and almond. The ingredients are water, coconut oil derived surfactants, salt and lavender oil. It feels and looks just like regular clear dish soap.

Lohao sells a citrus-based brand that has dish soap, hand soap and a wonderful veggie wash but it's quite pricey, 10 bucks for dish soap is a stretch! Finally, Liora suggests using homemade cleaning agents and recipes as well. For laundry, including diapers, baking soda, cheap white vinegar, and essential oil, with the occasional dish soap for stains and hubby's collars on his work shirts. Tea Tree Oil will disinfect, and any essential oil in the rinse for the scent are all great tips. Google “homemade cleaning recipes” and you’ll get tons of ideas for phasing out neurotoxins in your environment.