How possibly could soap save CO2 emissions? Well in recent years there has appeared a proliferation of a new product, liquid hand soaps in push top dispensers.  We are sold this product for its convenience factor.  After all, who wants the ‘laborious’ task of massaging a stuffy old ‘bar’ of soap in your hands? (Excuse the sarcasm!)  But the cost of this so called ‘convenience’ is an externalized cost.   This product contains an excess of water.  That’s why it is liquid in the first place.  Water is one of the densest (heaviest per volume) of common substances.  Thus the transportation of liquid soaps contains a significant amount of excessive CO2 emissions due to the extra weight of the transported water! 

Stick with handsoaps.  Brave the inconvenience of massaging the bar of soap (which to some is a pleasant experience) instead of buying the ‘new improved’ product.

On another front, the sustainability front, avoid soaps labelled as ‘anti-bacterial.’  The issue here is that from our collective fear of bacteria (which are everywhere in and around us all the time, no matter what we do), a fear which has been instilled in us by advertisers on behalf of their corporate clients… this fear is driving the proliferation of agents which kill off the ‘easy’ bacteria and are breeding (through unnatural selection) a world of more virulent strains.  That is, we are creating a saturation of far more harmful bacteria in our environment by releasing massive amounts of ‘anti-bacterial’ agents.  The next logical step in this ‘war on bacteria’ will be to up the ante and strengthen the anti-bacterial agents, which will in turn breed for even more virulent strains.

Avoid products in general which contain anti-bacterial agents unless you are very clear on their need in some unusual situation, such as a severely infected person in the home.  Ordinary, everyday bacteria are seldom harmful.