Green Home

Antibacterials Go Retro

Kim D — Wed, 14 May 2008 01:33:42 -0400

If your shaving cream bottle boasted, "Now With Toxic Pesticides!" would you still slather it all over your face? What if your toothbrush came free with a canister of roach killer? Would you think twice before putting it in your mouth? Although these products are not so transparent with their ingredients, they do contain pesticides. The popularity and danger posed by antibacterial products can be seen in the fact that one of the most common pesticides used in these products,...

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What Lurks Inside...

Kim D — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:55:54 -0400

Along with drain products, acid-based toilet bowl cleaners are in the top three of the most toxic household products available because they contain caustic ingredients that burn eyes, skin and internal tissues. They can also contain chlorine or ammonia and even pesticides. So here’s another cleaning task where going green can make a serious difference in the safety and health of your household and the environment. The problem is that cleaning the toilet is, um… gross. Brightly colored...

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An Ounce of Prevention Beats a Pound of Hair

Kim D — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:02:33 -0400

You may think the toilet or trashcan is the dirtiest spot in your home, but believe it or not, your drains have them beat. Yet, we never really think about — much less clean — all that scary bacteria, hair, skin and myriad of other scummy drain inhabitants until it backs up. Unfortunately, commercial drain products can contain sodium hydroxide, also known as lye, and sodium hypochlorite, code for bleach. Both of these chemicals are designed to eat away whatever is clogging your sink and are...

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Safe 'n Easy Shower Cleaning

Kim D — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:16:06 -0400

Marketers know we hate cleaning the shower. All that awkward reaching and scrubbing — it’s no wonder there’s a glut of shower cleaners promising to work “automatically.” Just spray and go about your day. Come back later and magically your shower is clean. Hooray! Too good to be true? Yep. Those cleaners contain toxins that can be irritating to the skin and eyes, cause cancer and harm the environment. Their hazard labels say to avoid contact with eyes and skin, yet the fact that they are...

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April Showers Bring... Muddy Floors

Kim D — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:53:28 -0400

Part of green cleaning is figuring out ways to reduce the cleaning burden in your home so you don’t need toxic products in the first place. Call it a pre-emptive strike, if you will, against spring's muddy shoes, dripping umbrellas, and wet raincoats. If you’re lucky enough to have a spacious mudroom, using the space wisely will help control dirt and clutter throughout your home. If you don’t have a mudroom, setting up a corner of an entryway or hallway can be just as effective. Follow...

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Give Mothballs the Bounce

Kim D — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:07:58 -0400

Spring has already sprung in most parts of the country and you may be thinking about putting away wool sweaters and blankets for the season. But that’s just what the moths want you to do so they can have months of uninterrupted eating. Don’t break out the toxic mothballs just yet. There are greener ways to fight moths and keep your woolens clean and intact. Mothballs can contain ingredients that are strongly linked to cancer and may also damage the liver, destroy red blood cells, and cause...

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The Green Dish on Dishwashing

Kim D — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:10:11 -0400

The day I read that the average dishwasher uses 3.5 gallons of water per load while a person hand washing the same sized load uses 15 to 16 gallons was the day I stopped using my automatic dishwasher. Considering the fact that my dishwasher was so ineffective I was basically doing both, I figured I was using just under 20 gallons of water per load! I had to figure out how to do my dishes by hand without wasting all that water. Here’s what I found out. Greener hand washing Choose a nontoxic,...

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Wash the Windows, Clear the Air

Kim D — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:15:16 -0400

One of the easiest steps you can take to green your cleaning is to skip the neon blue glass cleaners and switch to plain old vinegar and water in a reusable spray bottle. This simple switch will allow you to reduce your household’s impact on the environment by buying less packaging and to clean up your indoor air by releasing fewer toxins into the air and water. Why switch? Conventional glass cleaners can contain a number of different toxins. One of the main chemicals you’ll happily avoid...

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Spring Greening

ElizaT — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:48:33 -0400

By Jolia Allen If you’re still under the illusion that you’re “cleaning” your house with popular, off-the-shelf products, you may have inhaled too many toxic fumes. In truth, these chemical cocktails contaminate your home, your body, and your planet by emitting volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that can have short and long term adverse health effects. According to the EPA, concentrations of many VOCs are consistently (up to ten times) higher indoors than outdoors. This spring,...

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Breathe Easy

ElizaT — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:09:40 -0400

By Amelia Glynn We are what we breathe. And unfortunately, the air inside our homes isn’t always pretty. The Environmental Protection Agency, which ranks poor indoor air quality among the top five environmental risks to public health, estimates that the air inside our homes is a whopping two to five times more polluted than the air outside. Multiplying this by the fact that we spend as much as 90 percent of our time indoors results in a slew of health problems, ranging from dizziness...

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