Aug 23 2009
10 Steps To A Healthy Home
It is easy to achieve a healthy, all-natural living environment within your home and atmosphere. Once you have reached it within your own home, it is even easier to start to make the change all around you, outside your home as well. I recently read The Healthy Home Workbook: Easy Steps for Eco-Friendly Living by Kimberly Rider. I learned some very valuable information on how to not only change the way I live and think, but also how to encourage those around me to change their ways. The change is not only for yourself it is also for the environment. It took me 3 months to change the arrangement I had going on in my own bedroom. And now I am working on my son’s bedroom and guest bedroom now. The change will fully be done by 2009. I hope I can be living in a totally earth-friendly home by then and continue to encourage others to join me.
Here are a few steps that stuck out to me the most. They are easy to accomplish then you might first think.
•Inspect Your Beauty Products:
Look at the ingredients of your personal-care products. Educate yourself, research the chemicals, and read what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has to say about them. Be aware that there is a healthy, petrochemical-free alternative to nearly every product you use, from shampoo to deodorant.
•Assess Your Clothing:
Ask yourself: Is the fabric natural? Has it been chemically treated? Was it mass-produced? Consider buying from companies with samll production lines so you’re not contributing to waste generated by factories. And buy vintage! That’s the best way yo recycle clothes.
•Look At The Food You Buy:
Read the ingredients on packaged foods and research unfamiliar additives. Food stamped “organic” was grown without pesticides (amoung other benefits), but it still may originate from a big, out-of-state producer. Fresh, seasonal, and locally grown foods make the best options.
•Assess The Home:
The biggest surfaces in your home, such as the floors and walls, affect air quality the most. Consider installing hardwood floors (especially a sustainably harvested wood, like bamboo) instead of synthetic carpets, which use petrochemicals. If repainting, consider using paints low in VOCs (volatile organic compounds ) or, even better, a natural plaster finish.
•Inspect Soft Goods:
“Green” your bedroon first, since that’s where you spend a third of your life. If possible, invest in a quality mattress of latex foam, cotton, or woold batting. Replace synthetic pillos with wool or cotton filling, and look for unbleached, untreated linens.
•Evaluate Your Car:
Be sure an adequate barrier exists between your garage and living quarters to reduce exposure to toxic fumes. If you can’t buy an electric car or hybrid, try making a commitment to walking, biking, or using public transportation.
•Be Aware:
With so many chemicals in so many products-furniture finishes, electronics, art supplies-it’s imperative that we pay attention to where we’re encountering chemicals and how to minimize the problem.
•Evaluate How You Cook and Store Food:
Choose cookware made of stainless steel, clay, ceramic, glass, or even cast iron instead of nonstick pans, which at high heat can release harmful PFCs (perflucorochemicals). Also consider how you store food. Dioxins and phthalates can leach from soft plastics. Store food in stainless steel or flass jars with rubber seals instead of using plastic wrap or containers.
•Inventory Household Cleaning Products:
Many chemicals in these products, especially drain cleaners, oven cleaners, and cleaners made with ammonia or chlorine bleach, have come under scrutiny for possibly contributing to health problems. Consider nontoxic alternatives, like baking-soda cleansers or products from green companies like Seventh Generation.
•Look At Your Pets, Garden, and Outdoor Spaces:
Are you using pesticides or herbicides in your garden or on your lawn? If so, consider safer alternatives such as soap-based or garlic sprays. Check the ingredients in the flea powder, shampoos, and collars you put on your pets, and exchange them for nontoxic alternatives if necessary.
To read more log on to some of Kimberly Rider’s favorite web sites:
Natural Resource Defense Council
*Going Green Tip: Clean your refrigerator coils to get better productivity out of your fridge.
