The great thing about going green is that you don't have to change your entire life to make a difference. Every little bit does help. But whether you're taking a first step or getting ready to move off the grid, there are five basic things to always keep in mind:
Step 1: Manage pests safely
Though it is often encourage children to "go out and play," exposure to common lawn / garden care and indoor pesticides is identified by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) as potentially causing a range of health problems, including asthma, hyperactivity and behavior problems, cancer, learning disabilities, reproductive disorders, and compromised brain development. Rather than stifling healthy activity in children, you can make healthier choices in pest control!
What to do:
• Avoid unsafe chemicals indoors and outdoors. Many pesticides are volatile. That means that they volatilize — or become gaseous. This allows the pesticides to drift throughout the application area to eliminate pests. But this also means that they can contaminate all surfaces in a home. To combat these negative effects, only use non-toxic, pesticide-free products. You can also try these simple remedies to eliminate pests:
- For ants, you can sprinkle red chili powder, paprika, or dried peppermint (or its essential oil) where the ants are entering. For outdoor pets, place their food bowl within a larger bowl of soapy water.
- For fleas, feed your pet brewer's yeast in powder (mixed in food) or tablet form.
- For ants, termites, lice, fleas, spiders, or roaches, mop or spray floors with Borax. It's poisonous if ingested, so store and use carefully.
- For ants and fleas, mix 4 oz of a natural soap in 1 gallon of water and spray as needed. Or sprinkle powdered soap around your home's foundation.
• Prevent pests through good sanitation and food storage habits, and by preventing their entry structurally by:
- Seal all cracks, and apply caulking to outdoor plumbing and electrical outlets
- Install door sweeps
- Use (or fix holed) window screens
- Manage outdoor lights to prevent insects' gathering
- Eliminate moisture problems in walls, ceilings, and around the home's foundation
- Install and maintain vents, vapor barriers, fans, air conditioners, dehumidifiers, piping, and appliances that will keep the home dry
- Properly store all food
- Remove shoes and wash hands immediately after playing outside to prevent the estimated 70 percent of dirt (which contains chemicals) that can be tracked indoors.
Step 2: Use non-toxic cleaners, body care, and home furnishings products
We bring home a wide variety of products that can contribute to making our family and home sick and filled with potentially harmful toxicants. We put them in our grocery bags and they can be found in many home and life-style stores as well.
Luckily, there are a number of safe and healthy alternatives to these products, which allow you to make informed and wise choices in your marketplace to seriously reduce the amounts of chemicals you invite in your home.
Cleaners, body care items, and home furnishings are the three main categories that can have serious effects on you and your child's health.
What to do: Cleaners
- Use gentle castile soap and water - these have been shown to keep surfaces as free of bacteria as antibacterial soaps do. In fact, antibacterial soaps and disposable wipes have not proven any more effective than regular soap in preventing infections among average consumers, but raise significant concerns about developing resistant bacteria. Also, triclosan commonly used in antibacterial product may be problematic.
- Buy Safer Cleaning Products: many local, online, and discount stores carry cleaning and home products that are very effective without harsh chemicals or fumes. Or make your own safer cleaning products with typical household products.
- Look for with safer ingredients: cleaning products labeled nontoxic, bio-based, chlorine-free, organic, phosphate-free, natural fragrance, and/or biodegradable. Learn to read a label.
What to do: Body care items
- Buy Safer Body / Bath Care: look for products made organic botanical oils, paraben-free, preservative-free, petroleum-free, and vegetable-devired surfactants.
- Reduce the need for anti-bacterial soaps by frequently requiring hand washing.
- Avoid body care products with toxic synthetic preservatives (parabens), petroleum-based ingredients, sodum lauryl and laureth sulfates -1,4-Dioxane, synthetic fragrances and artificial colors, formaldehyde donors and other proven harmful chemicals.
What to do: Home furnishings
- Buy safer home furnishings: look for products made with natural or organic cotton, natural latex, 100% FSC certified /reclaimed / or recycled wood, hypoallergenic down and feather, non-toxic / water-based paints and stains with zero VOC, water-based adhesives, no formaldehyde, no polyurethane, fabric fibers; abaca, cotton, hemp, visose, jute, muslin, wool, wools, vegetable and low-impact dyes.
- Clean floors with a HEPA filter vacuum cleaner that traps fine particles of dust, soot and pollen, and wet mop regularly.
- Avoid polybrominated diphenyl ethers (flame retardants) and resins and glues containing carcinogenic formaldehyde and other neurotoxic, VOC (volatile organic compounds) in paints and stains, particleboard.
- Always avoid using products that say POISON, DANGER, WARNING, or CAUTION.
Step 3: Clean up indoor air
Did you know that people in America spend 90 percent of their time indoors? It might seem safer and cleaner, but indoor air pollution is linked to a host of health effects. Common indoor air pollutants — which are exacerbated by smoke, mildew, and gas — include formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, secondhand smoke, asbestos, lead, and volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds.
Not to worry, it's easy to reduce the risk. Start by replacing products that contribute to the problem, then try some other simple steps.
What to do
- Our furnishings are the source of a substantial portion of indoor air pollution. That's why it's essential to use natural products are natural, from upholstery fabric and carpeting, to building material glues and adhesives, to paint and wallpaper.
- Ventilate the home by opening windows, even for a short time. It's is the second best pollution reduction strategy in your home after prevention.
- Populate your home with indoor plants, which absorb air impurities. Areca palm, lady palm, bamboo palm, rubber plant, and Boston fern are great examples.
- Use air cleaners and purifiers with approved HEPA filters.
- Change the air filter in your air conditioning and heating units as the season change, or at least once a year.
- Change your vacuum bag, and be sure it has a clean filter to prevent the spreading of dust, which can be redistributed into the air.
- Avoid carpets and synthetic flooring. All natural rugs, like jute or wool, or wood flooring (with safe adhesives) are better, chemical-free alternatives.
- Don't use conventional paints, cleaning supplies, pesticides, furniture made from particle board, and "air fresheners" that emit harmful chemicals. Instead, seek non-toxic, naturally derived, and "low or no VOC" alternatives for paints, carpets, and furnishings.
- "Air out" new carpets and home furnishings before indoor use, especially newly painted and newly carpeted rooms. The new carpet smell is most likely unhealthy.
- Use building materials, furniture, and other products that are low emissions.
- When indoor pollutants do decrease air quality, use non-toxic techniques to scent the house, such as placing orange slices, lemon slices, cloves, or any other herb in boiling water on the stove.But be careful — the term "non-toxic" is not regulated. Look for specific claims and product ingredients.
Step 4: Shop smart — try to eat more organic and healthy foods
Eating organic food reduces the amount of toxic pesticides in our bodies. It's grown without potentially harmful, long-lasting synthetic chemicals and is approved by the FDA after meeting rigorous standards.
In conventional grown food, however, synthetic or chemical means may have been used to fertilize soil, control weeds and insects, and prevent livestock disease. These non-organic foods often contain chemical and pesticide residue.
What to do
- Eat USDA certified organic fruits and veggies and avoid those with the highest pesticide residues: apples, cherries, imported grapes, nectarines, peaches, pears, red raspberries, strawberries, bell peppers, carrots, celery, green beans, hot peppers, potatoes and spinach. The best way to accomplish this is by shopping at Natural Foods Markets and at neighborhood farmers' markets for locally grown foods.
- After you get what you bought home, wash all fruits and vegetables (even organic) before eating to reduce surface traces of chemical residues, wax, and pesticides on non-organic produce.
- Choose your protein wisely: meat, eggs, milk products, and poultry that are hormone-free, antibiotic-free, free-range and/or fed with vegetarian feed.
- Avoid conventional dairy and meats: these are treated with artificial hormones and antibiotics that interfere can affect human health and development.
- Avoid foods high in sugar, high in fat, processed, and fast foods. Less processed foods are greater nutritional content and are less likely to contain artificial and chemical preservatives.
Step 5: Be wise with plastics
Plastic provides a good amount of affordable convenience. Only recently have we discovered that the hidden cost may be our health. Plastics, which are used in much of our food storage and cooking, have the potential to negatively affect health in certain applications.
Some petroleum-based plastics leach harmful chemical into foods and drinks, especially when plastic comes in contact with oily or fatty foods, during heating and microwaving, as a result of harsh cleaners, and when exposed to excessive moisture.
Luckily, we can all make safe choices.
What to do
- Choose smart plastics (see icons below) and avoid putting them in the microwave (where they can release dangerous chemicals when heated) or the dishwasher (where they can degrade in the heat and excessive moisture).
- Safe plastics are those that use polyethylene (marked with a #1, #2, and #4) and polypropylene (marked with a #5), which require the use of less toxic additives. They also are non-chlorinated.
- Avoid PVC products, like vinyl chew toys (marked with a V or #3). Also skip choosing products that use polycarbonate (again #3) and polystyrene (marked with a #6), which often are found in baby bottles or sippy cups. If you can't eliminate them all, then make sure they are cleaned regularly. Also take a close look at products marked with a #7, which indicates that the package in question is made with a resin other than those already mentioned, or the product is made of more than one resin used in combination. These could be safe — or not.
- Be aware of plastic products in your child's surroundings - squeeze toys, rattles, bath toys, cribs, teethers, pacifiers, high chairs, sippy cups, and baby bottles
- Opt for toys and books made with natural wood, paper, cloth, or metal.
- Opt for plastic alternatives - glass, ceramic that's lead-free, and stainless steel — whenever possible.
- Use glass or ceramic containers to microwave food and beverages.
- Be cautious of cling wraps, especially for microwave use. Wrap foods in butcher paper, waxed paper, or paper towels. Or store food in glass or ceramic.
- Avoid using plastics that aren't identified on the packaging.
- Look for products that state "no phthalates" or "no bisphenol A (BPA)."
- Wash plastic containers by hand with a mild soap.
Written by: Kristi Boulware
I started as a Preschool Teacher for about 8 years and then moved up through management to be a very successful School Director. Most recently with Childrens Lighthouse Learning Center's McKinney location. I have since been moved to the Home Office of Childrens Lighthouse as the Social Media Consultant. You can find more information about us at http://www.childrenslighthouse.com/.
