HealthyHome Green Building for Life

Happy Earth Day

2008-04-03T12:56:00.002-05:00

Happy Earth Day
By Tom Chasm

April hosts one day when we can stop and celebrate the accomplishments we’ve made to preserve our environment – Happy Earth Day. I was 20 years old that first Earth Day in 1970 and mildly interested in the concept, but the world took notice and the environmental movement was born.

One of the co-founders of Earth Day, former U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-WI), recognized the power of the anti-war teach-ins that were happening at college campuses all over the country.

In "A Brief History of Earth Day," by Gaylord Nelson (1989) he says, “I visited Santa Barbara in the summer of 1969 to speak at a water conference, and then flew north to Berkeley to speak at a conservation conference. On the plane I read an article about the use of campus anti-war teach-ins to educate students about the Vietnam War. Suddenly the idea occurred to me: Why not devote a day to a nationwide teach-in on the environment?

Thus was born Earth Day. Eight months later, on April 22, 1970, 20 million people, 2,000 colleges and universities, 10,000 grammar and high schools and 1,000 communities mobilized for the first nationwide demonstrations on environmental problems. Congress adjourned for the day so members could attend Earth Day events in their districts. The response was nothing short of remarkable, and the modern American environmental movement took off.

My major objective in planning Earth Day 1970 was to organize a nationwide public demonstration so large it would, finally, get the attention of the politicians and force the environmental issue into the political dialogue of the nation. It worked. By the sheer force of its collective action on that one day, the American public forever changed the political landscape respecting environmental issues."

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was a direct result of Earth Day in 1970. The Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act were passed by Congress. And the Supreme Court affirmed the EPA's role in environmental protection enforcement.

We’ve come a long way since the EPA set the first human health exposure levels. We’ve removed lead from our paint and gasoline. We no longer are exposed to DDT or asbestos on a regular basis. But technology keeps bringing us new challenges in the form of a stew of chemicals in the products we use that may or may not be harmful. These days as those chemicals are reported to be dangerous or even suspected to be, we can usually find safer alternatives from which to choose.

This year’s Earth Day Celebrations can proudly look back at the accomplishments that are a direct result of the first Earth Day, but due to our dependence on petroleum and coal for energy and transportation, we have a much bigger challenge to deal with right now.

It’s no secret that global warming is everyone’s biggest environmental challenge. The international recognition of this problem is bringing about intense research and development in water conservation, alternative energy sources and green initiatives. More and more cities are adopting green policies in building practices and in public transportation. States like California are passing laws limiting the use of dangerous chemicals in products sold to consumers.

Governmental mandates are cutting the amount of carbon gases being released into the environment, but not everyone is participating so we have more to do before we start to see a reversal of the damage which is causing our climate to change.

The choices on a personal level are growing daily. Organic food has become available in your local supermarket. Organic fibers are being used to make clothes and linen. Hybrid and electric vehicles, and bio-fuels are options for your personal transportation. Recycling and buying recycled products continues to be easier all the time. And the growth of the green building industry continues even though construction and the new housing market have slowed down.

Here’s some news you can use locally - Pinellas Living Green Expo is scheduled a couple of weeks after Earth Day this year. Set aside some time on the first weekend in May to attend the third Expo being held at the Harborview Center, 300 Cleveland St. in Clearwater, Florida. Get details at http://www.pinellaslivinggreenexpo.org/. You’ll find exhibitors who can offer more sustainable choices and information about reducing environmental impacts in the following areas: Transportation, Energy, Home Building and Remodeling, Food, Yard and Garden, Recreation and Leisure, Household Products and Practices, Sustainability Education and Lifestyles, and Arts and Culture. It just gets better every year.

Check out Earth Day Celebrations in your neighborhood and have a great Earth Day!

2008-03-13T17:27:00.005-05:00

March Into Spring
By Tom Chasm

I love March and the start of spring in Florida. People moan about not having seasons in Florida and they fondly reminisce about spring up North. Phooey – I’m from Chicago and yes I remember spring up North – it was not as cold as winter but it was still cold and rainy and gray and sometimes it snowed. I’ll take March in Florida any day.

Springtime means different things to different people. Spring cleaning comes to mind. Planting and tending your garden might be on your agenda. For some it is time to travel and take some vacation time, for example Spring Break. March is one of those months in Florida where I inevitably spend more time outside. The heat and humidity are still a distant memory and if I can’t get outside at least I can have my windows open and leave the A/C off at home and in the car.

In case you are going to get into spring cleaning and you’re not sure what to do with all the clutter you’re finding in closets and the garage, you have more green options today than ever before. Have you heard about St Pete Recycling Solutions yet? If you live in St Petersburg, you’re probably aware that your mayor doesn’t think it’s important to offer curbside recycling – don’t get me started. But just when you think it won’t ever happen, along comes a private company with the answer to your dilemma. St Pete Recycling Solutions does curbside recycling pick-up once a week. They will take paper, plastic, glass and aluminum cans. They charge $15.00 per month with several contract lengths from which to choose. Give them a call at 727-452-5278 or visit their website at http://www.oursprs.com/ for more information.

The city provides several recycling sites for you to drop off various materials - http://www.stpete.org/green/waste.shtm. And we’re blessed with an incredible selection of shops that will take your used items to re-sell. Some take donated items to benefit charity and some are consignment and some will buy your gently used goods. All are providing a wonderful alternative to the landfill option. And don’t forget my favorite website – Freecycle™ Online at http://www.freecycle.org/. I’ve mentioned this site before and probably will keep reminding you about their efforts. Here’s their intro from the site. “The Freecycle Network™ is made up of 4,229 groups with 4,397,426 members across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. Membership is free, and everything posted must be FREE, legal and appropriate for all ages.” The St Petersburg group has 4,742 members but can always use more. Give stuff, get stuff all at my favorite price – FREE!

While you’re spring cleaning, get under the kitchen sink and throw out all the toxic cleaning supplies you’ve been hording and consequently breathing. There are many non-toxic, safe cleaning products available. There is no reason to have cleaning products that aren’t safe. I cringe when I see the ads on TV that brag about how a certain product can make everything smell clean. Clean doesn’t have a scent – it’s just clean. In order to “smell clean” a product has to have added ingredients that get left behind, which in my mind means NOT clean.

I moved into a condo a couple of years ago so I don’t have my garden to tend any longer and I do miss it this time of year. This is such a good month to spend time gardening. I would suggest a couple of rain barrels to help with the watering restrictions. Florida is still suffering with a serious drought. And plant more native plants. The weed we call grass here needs far too much water to look good so start eliminating it by adding as many native plants and mulch and pathways and solar fountains and well you get the idea. A great way to improve the quality of your soil and avoid using fertilizers is to compost. We don’t really have much quality to our soil to begin with so lighten the load at the landfill and get a composter for your yard.

Don't forget Earth Day is rapidly approaching. More about that later. Enjoy the change of seasons March brings wherever you are.

Drugs Found in Watersheds of 28 Areas

2008-03-10T12:52:00.000-05:00

The Associated PressMonday, March 10, 2008; 6:13 AM

-- At least one pharmaceutical or byproduct was detected in testing within the watersheds of 28 major metropolitan areas, according to an Associated Press survey of 62 major water providers and data obtained from independent researchers.

Test protocols varied widely. Some researchers tested for more drugs than others. Thirty-five areas said they tested. Four said tests were negative and three said they were awaiting results. Twenty-seven locations said they had not tested watershed supplies.

Here's the list of the 28 areas with pharmaceuticals detected, with the number found and some examples.
Arlington, Texas: 5 (unspecified drugs)

Atlanta: 10 (including caffeine, sulfamethoxazole, diltiazem, acetaminophen, trimethoprim, cotinine and paraxanthine)

Cincinnati: 4 (gemfibrozil, ibuprofen, sulfamethaxazole and ethinyl estradiol)

Columbus, Ohio: 15 (including azithromycin, erythromycin, roxithromycin, tylosin, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin and caffeine)

Concord, Calif.: (unspecified drugs)

Denver: (unspecified antibiotics)

Detroit: (unspecified total; including carbamazepine, caffeine, cotinine)

Fairfax, Va.: 8 (erythromycin, lincomycin, trimethoprim, tylosin, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin and sulfamethoxazole)

Indianapolis: 2 (caffeine and cotinine)

Las Vegas: 9 (including sulfamethoxazole, atenolol, trimethoprim, meprobamate, phenytoin, carbamazepine and gemfibrozil)

Long Beach, Calif.: 9 (unspecified drugs)

Los Angeles: 9 (unspecified drugs)

Louisville, Ky.: 2 (ibuprofen and naproxen)

Milwaukee: 1 (cotinine)

Minneapolis: 3 (acetaminophen, caffeine and cotinine)

New York City: 16 (including atenolol, trimethoprim, carbamazepine, ibuprofen, estrogen, acetaminophen and diazepam)

Northern New Jersey: 13 (including acetaminophen, carbamazepine, codeine, dehydronifedipine, erythromycin, lincomycin and sulfadimethoxine)

Oklahoma City: 12 (including acetaminophen, fluoxetine, gemfibrozil, ibuprofen, iopromide, sulfamethoxazole and iopromide)

Omaha, Neb.: 2 (caffeine and sulfamethoxazole)

Philadelphia: 63 (including amoxicillin, aspirin, atorvastatin, bacitracin, diclofenac, phenytoin and fluoxetine)

Prince George's-Montgomery counties, Md.: 3 (caffeine, carbamazepine and cotinine)

Riverside County, Calif.: 9 (unspecified drugs)

San Diego: 12 (clofibrate, clofibric acid, ibuprofen and nine unspecified)

San Francisco: 1 (estrone)

Santa Clara, Calif.: (unspecified drugs)

Southern California: 9 (including atenolol, phenytoin, fluoxetine, gemfibrozil, meprobamate, naproxen and trimethoprim)

Virginia Beach, Va.: 4 (fluoxetine, estradiol, acetaminophen and ibuprofen)

Washington, D.C.: 5 (monensin, ibuprofen, caffeine, carbamazepine and sulfamethoxazole)

© 2008 The Associated Press

Global Warming Education Awareness

2008-01-28T17:19:00.000-05:00

Green New Year's Resolution # 1

Make a difference - Spread the word

January 31 is Global Warming Education Awareness Day and we would like to honor the day by starting an exchange of ideas on how each of us can help reduce global warming. We are guessing that since you have signed up for our e-mails, you care about the environment. If we have guessed wrong, we hope you will forgive us and ignore this message.

If you are concerned about global warming, we want to hear from you. We want to know the things you do that reduce global warming, whether it's letting your clothes air dry instead of putting them in the dryer, walking to work instead of driving or installing solar panels on your roof and selling electricity back to the power company. We know that some of us are in a position to do more than others and that's OK because even the littlest of things count. So don't be shy and let us know - no deed is too small or too large when it comes to reducing global warming.

If you don't yet have an idea but want to do something easy and relatively inexpensive that will have a large impact, we have an idea for you that comes with a special offer expiring on 1/31: Replace your incandescent light bulbs with our compact fluorescent bulbs. Buy 6 for the price of 5 -call us at 1-800-583-9523 for details and to order.

In exchange for your participation, we will share the ideas we receive with you on our website. We can all learn from each other and if as a result more people end up doing more things to spread the word and reduce global warming, we will all be better off. Saving the planet for our children and grandchildren to enjoy is certainly worth it.

Click on the comment button below to share your green ideas.

I'm Dreaming of Green Christmas

2007-12-05T08:47:00.000-05:00

I have very fond memories of Christmas mornings with my family. Santa did an amazing job of getting me and my siblings just about everything on our lists. The gifts we bought for each other were wrapped and under the tree, slightly man-handled with surreptitious shaking and weighing, in the quest to figure out what was in those pretty packages. We usually used one large box or bag to contain the shredded wrapping paper, ribbons and bows and superfluous packaging materials that housed our gifts. And then we threw it all away. That’s not a tradition to be honored.

So here’s the scary part. Americans throw away about 25% more trash between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve. That's an additional 5 million tons of garbage. And the 2.65 billion Christmas cards sold each year in the U.S. could fill a football field 10 stories high. If we each sent one card less, we’d save 50,000 cubic yards of paper.

It’s getting easier to be green during the holidays. If you send cards during the holiday season, look for cards produced with recycled content. Or recycle the ones you received last year by cutting off the covers and turning them into holiday postcards. You’ll save money on postage as well.

Buy recycled wrapping paper when it’s time to wrap it all up. Better yet, make your own from newspapers, recycled paper bags, magazines or old maps. If every American family wrapped just 3 presents in re-used materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields. Use cloth ribbon which can be used again and again instead of the stick on bows which get tossed out. I know it’s difficult to restrain yourself when it’s time to unwrap your gifts but if you’re careful you can save that wrapping paper and use it again.

Do you put up a tree? I probably can’t sway the die-hard “real tree” fans, but at least buy one that can be planted or mulch it when it has served its purpose. You can also pay Woodland Trust to plant one in its place. I am a huge fan of artificial trees for all the obvious reasons – saves a tree, there is no mess, it can stay up until February if I want, and I don’t have to buy it again.

You probably have ornaments and lights that you re-use from year to year, but if you’re buying new you’ve got some nice new environmentally responsible choices now. Your best investment in lighting is LED holiday lights. They reduce your electric usage by 90% and you won’t be scrambling around replacing burned out bulbs.

For ornaments and gifts check out World of Good– http://www.worldofgood.com/. At World of Good you can find Fair Trade artisan made goodies from all over the world. Much of what is created comes from recycled materials. More fun and eco friendly ornaments and gifts can be found atEco-Artware - http://www.eco-artware.com/. Eco-Artware.com is a web-based gallery of unique, well-made and environmentally friendly gifts. Their natural and recycled products are eco-friendly and sustainable.

Here are some green gift ideas that will suit both the recipient and the planet. Gadget geeks who don't have a battery recharger in their collection are wasting a lot of money (and creating a lot of waste). Why not give them a charger with a selection of rechargeable NiCd batteries that can be used over and over? Or, go one better and give them a gadget that doesn't eat batteries at all, such as a solar-powered radio or battery-free flashlight.

For people who need to stretch a dollar, a thoughtful gift might be a water-saving showerhead, a set of compact fluorescent light bulbs or an insulated cover for a hot-water heater. These are gifts that will be appreciated year-around as they lower utility costs.

The person who has everything (or at least doesn't need more stuff) might appreciate a less tangible gift. For instance, you could contribute in their name to the purchase and preservation of an acre of land, have a tree planted in their honor or give them a gift membership in an organization that is working to make the world a better place, such as the Sierra Club or Oxfam.

So that’s just a few easy ideas to make your holiday season greener. Creating green traditions is important for you and me and for the planet. Happy Holidays!

This Sunday, December 2nd, at 8/7 PM Central, IQAir North America will be on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (ABC).

2007-12-01T13:13:00.000-05:00

This Sunday, December 2, 2007, IQAir will be featured for the second time this season on the hit TV show Extreme Makeover Home Edition. It also marks the fourth season in a row that the producers have selected IQAir to create America’s cleanest homes for deserving families.

IQAir doesn’t pay for product placements on the show and donates all its equipment and services. The Stockdale family in Middleton, Idaho may be the biggest challenge Extreme Makeover has ever faced. Ryan and Karia, both 26, have four children, Kayden, 6, Jett, 5, Baylee, 4, and McKinnon, 2 – and all four of the children have a rare genetic disorder that makes the Stockdale children extremely environmentally sensitive. Allergens and air pollution in their environment can cause a life threatening asthma attack.

“The Stockdales are the most environmentally sensitive family we’ve ever worked with,” says Frank Hammes, President of IQAir . “The slightest environmental irritation is very harmful to these children.”

Because this needed to be top-to-bottom the healthiest home ever built the Stockdale home features IQAir Perfect 16 whole-house air purification systems and IQAir GC MultiGas stand-alone air purifiers in the kids’ bedrooms.

“Having whole-house air purification reduces allergen levels in the home to trace levels,” says Hammes. “The room air purifiers that we placed in the bedrooms offer additional protection against gases and chemical pollutants. All products used on the show, are standard IQAir products, which makes this air purification setup affordable for normal homeowners.”

The episode took an unexpected twist, when IQAir learned that two of the Stockdale children attended public school. “We realized if we could get additional Perfect 16 systems overnighted out to us – the Stockdale children could have healthy air in their classrooms as well as their homes,” says Hammes. The next day the school superintendent, Richard Bauscher, personally open up the school and help us install the systems. To their surprise they were greeted by no one less than Ty Pennington. “He was so exited to see the air purification systems going into the classrooms that he filmed the whole thing with the famous Ty-Cam to show to the family, ” says Hammes.

Please help spread the word about this very special Extreme Makeover: Home Edition episode.

Eco-Friendly Flooring Available in St Petersburg, FL

2007-11-21T10:17:00.000-05:00

Environmentally-Friendly Flooring Available in St. Petersburg

November 21, 2007 St. Petersburg, FL - Walk into any flooring showroom, and you'll be faced with dozens of choices: colors, wood species, and finishes, to name a few. But all too often, one important choice is missing: wood flooring from sustainably-harvested forests, made without high levels of formaldehyde and other toxic chemicals.
Until now.
HealthyHome.com in St. Petersburg is now an Authorized Dealer for EcoTimber, a company devoted to providing these options - and only these options - to homeowners concerned about environmental issues.
"We've had many customers asking for environmentally-friendly floors. So many manufacturers are now offering one or two options they claim to be 'green', making it confusing to figure out which products are actually so," said Tom Chasm. "With EcoTimber, there's no question. It's all they do."

EcoTimber’s product line includes standard domestic wood floors such as Maple and Hickory, as well as hand-scraped flooring and exotic species such as Brazilian Cherry, White Tigerwood, and bamboo.

All EcoTimber wood flooring is certified from well-managed forests by the non-profit Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), which is supported by organizations including Natural Resources Defense Council, World Wildlife Fund and Forest Ethics.

According to EcoTimber CEO Lewis Erick Buchner, "The FSC's criteria for certification are the highest of any such group. The last thing we want to do is promote a system that sounds 'eco' but isn't.
Nor would we want to use sustainably-harvested wood, only to fill it with formaldehyde-laden adhesives that affect indoor air quality in our customers' homes."

According to Tom Chasm, EcoTimber products are also competitively priced. "Many people are drawn to EcoTimber products purely for their quality and beauty. When they discover the environmental aspects, and the price is in line with the competition, it's an added bonus."

To become an EcoTimber Authorized Dealer, HealthyHome.com’s sales staff was trained on both EcoTimber's product line and the environmental issues in the wood flooring industry.

"The training gave us the tools to help answer our customers' questions about environmental issues," said Tom Chasm. "We love showing people these floors and explaining their benefits. It's a very satisfying aspect, both for us and our customers."

We're Carbon Free

2007-11-09T13:54:00.000-05:00

HealthyHome.com Partners with Carbonfund.org to go Carbon Free
St. Petersburg, FL, Oct 23, 2007 – HealthyHome.com announces that it has offset its carbon emissions with Carbonfund.org, the country’s leading carbon solutions organization. HealthyHome.com has offset not only all carbon produced by the store, but also all carbon produced in the shipping of products to their customers. This commitment places HealthyHome.com as an environmental leader in the green building community and demonstrates proactive steps being taken in the fight against global climate change. HealthyHome.com’s customers are very concerned about global warming. Considering the implications of climate change, carbon offsets through Carbonfund.org are a natural extension of the work HealthyHome.com does on behalf of its stakeholders.
"Since a large part of our customer base resides outside of the Tampa Bay area, HealthyHome.com relies heavily on shipping companies to deliver our products across the US.”, states Tom Chasm, President of HealthyHome, “Thanks to Carbonfund.org., we can now rest assured that we are offsetting all of the carbon we are unable to reduce."
Carbonfund.org is a non-profit organization whose goal is to make carbon offsets and climate protection easy, affordable and a normal way of life for every individual and business. Carbon offsets enable individuals and businesses to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to offset the emissions they are responsible for in their normal activities, like home, office, driving or air travel emissions. For instance, a clean, zero CO2 wind farm can offset the carbon dioxide produced by a coal-fired power plant. By supporting renewable energy, energy efficiency, and reforestation projects, Carbonfund.org will retire an equivalent amount of carbon offsets. The financial support from these offsets will then help to continue the development of clean, renewable domestic sources of energy.
About HealthyHome.com Today, the term "Green Building" is thrown around a great deal by anyone trying to capitalize on the movement toward healthier, sustainable alternatives. We at HealthyHome have been at it 15 years, and have extensive experience with the products we offer. Each product is evaluated thoroughly to meet our standards for Green Building, Sustainability, Recyclability, and its contribution to a Healthy Home and Planet. Those high standards translate into the best products for you and your family, because at HealthyHome, we're serious about Green Building for Life!®

About Carbonfund.org Carbonfund.org is the country’s leading carbon reduction and offset organization. Carbonfund.org educates the public about the dangers of climate change and makes it easy and affordable for individuals, businesses and organizations to reduce their climate impact. Carbonfund.org works with 300 corporate and non-profit partners including Discovery, Dell, Orbitz, Environmental Defense, Lancome and Working Assets.

The ABC’s About VOC’s

2007-10-21T15:08:00.000-05:00

by Michael Fallarino with Andy Pace

Increasingly, consumers seeking building products with lower inherent toxicity are looking more closely at ingredients and asking tough questions. In the architectural coatings industry, those ingredients that have the potential to be hazardous are commonly classified as volatile organic compounds, or known better by their acronym, VOCs.

In the workaday world of bucolic upstate New York, the term VOC seems unfamiliar to most consumers and even most construction industry personnel. But just as ignorance of the law does not exempt one from it, ignorance of the effects of VOCs doesn’t exempt one from their effects. Additionally, products that are either touted as “Low-VOC” or even “Zero VOC”are not necessarily free from potentially harmful ingredients. Some contain what are classified as Hazardous Air Pollutants or HAPs, and these chemical compounds can differ from VOCs.

In this article, Andy Pace, of Safe Building Solutions in Waukesha, WI and I will take a brief, focused look at what VOCs and HAPs are, and how they are formed. Because the subject of VOCs and HAPs is so massive and the science of their effects is so young, our discussion will focus on just a few of the main elements that can contribute to lowered indoor air quality (IAQ).

Understanding the effects of HAPs and VOCs on human health is important because we spend about 90% of our time inside increasingly tight structures where accumulations of interactive chemicals can cause concentrations of pollutants that can be as much as 50 to 100 times greater than outdoor air.

The importance of this in the paint and coatings industry was brought sharply into focus for me as I was writing this month’s column. I was referred to a couple who were building a spacious new luxury home. They had made it a point to investigate, specify, and ensure that all the materials that were used throughout the process were as non-toxic and free of harmful chemicals and the potential for outgassing as possible. In this process, they repeatedly surpassed the knowledge base of their architect and design-build team. The possibility that during the completion phase of the project they could sabotage their vigilant work by installing paints and finishes that could degrade the quality of their indoor air was a thought that never crossed their minds. This is ironic, because architectural coatings can be a massive source of indoor pollution given the surface area that they occupy. We must also remember that they are routinely used for recoating.

When I began to educate them as to how the dynamics of toxicity work when many conventional products are applied to absorptive substrates such as gypsum board, they became eager to learn of alternatives and anxious to learn how to correct mistakes that they had already made.

What are VOCs, exactly, and why all the fuss?

The Indoor Environment Department (IED) Staff of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (a division of our EPA) defines VOCs broadly as “chemical compounds based on carbon chains or rings with vapor pressures greater than 0.1 millimeters of mercury at room temperature. These compounds typically contain hydrogen and may contain oxygen, nitrogen and other elements.”

Prior to this century, US government tests that examined chemicals and passed laws that restricted their inclusion in architectural coatings, focused primarily on the damage that these chemicals created in outside air.

During the second half of the 90s however, the EPA’s National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL) began to investigate how architectural coatings could contribute to indoor air pollution and harm human health. They began compiling research from tests of conventional alkyd and latex products, as well as Low-VOC and Zero-VOC latex coatings. An important aspect of their research was simply to devise tests that would be meaningful. Interestingly, a solution to this question became apparent when they applied coatings to different substrates and then monitored their behavior.

What they learned was that the emission behaviors of chemicals were very different when coatings were applied to non-absorptive substrates such as glass, aluminum, and stainless steel, than they were when they were applied to the absorptive surfaces that they are typically used on such as wood and gypsum board. Naturally, they concluded that to be meaningful their tests needed to reflect the behavior of coatings on the surfaces that they are normally applied to.

Part of the reason why this research is important, is that architectural coatings are commonly deployed in commercial spaces such as schools, hospitals and medical facilities, day care centers, offices, hotels, and other public spaces in which continuous occupation is the rule. Especially in the case of medical facilities, patients with compromised immune systems may be subjected to hazardous air pollutants that can pose a threat.

A few key points summarized from recent government research are as follows:

• Alkyd coatings can contain as many as 100 different VOCs.

• The majority of emissions from latex paints occurs after the coating has dried.

• It may take as long as 3.5 years for some VOCs to be released from gypsum board.

• Some paints marketed as “low-VOC” may still emit significant quantities of HAPs.

• In addition to VOC content data, consumers need emission information and performance evaluation results to make wise and completely informed purchasing decisions.

Assessment criteriaMany criteria can be used to assess the relative level of toxicity in the coatings that are sold, purchased, and applied. Government regulations have increasingly restricted the presence of chemicals in paints and coatings that might have a negative impact on the atmosphere (regarding smog creation), but strict regulations for chemicals that might have an impact on human health have yet to be implemented. We would like to stress the fact that coatings which carry a “low” or “zero VOC” label aren’t necessarily free from Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) or toxins. This a critical point that is often misunderstood. “Zero VOC” does not mean non-toxic.

What follows in this article is a thumbnail sketch of a few HAPs that are classified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as potential sources of both acute and chronic irritants or carcinogens. They may be present in low-VOC latex paints and represent a risk to painters and susceptible consumers.

Because human immune system responses can differ by orders of magnitude (factors that increase in 10-fold steps), it is impossible to state with consistency what effect a given chemical, combination of chemicals, or coating will have on any individual. But perhaps better safe than sorry. In his editorial “Life as a used paint can”, veteran painter and Professional Painter magazine editor Bruce MacKinnon laments about a list of personal woes including Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and raises the fuzzy issue of responsibility as it relates to HAP exposure.

It may be difficult to ascertain what ingredients are in a finish if a manufacturer chooses to not disclose the information willingly. Material data safety sheets (MSDS) need only list information relevant to the physical, chemical, and toxicological makeup of a substance where the ingredients constitute more than 1% of the total volume and are not considered part of a "proprietary blend".

We list below a group of common chemicals that may be included in paints and coatings, and which have been implicated to have potentially toxic effects for human health.

The Glycols Paints may contain several forms of VOC-forming glycols that are commonly added as wetting agents. Although there is a general movement away from ethylene glycol (EG) as an additive in paints, it is still a commonly used toxin. Alternatively, propylene glycol (PG) is a replacement for EG, and while it is still a VOC, it is also an FDA approved food-grade additive.

Ethanol Classified by the EPA as a major VOC, ethanol (BEE) is a form of alcohol that can deter the body’s processing of other toxic chemicals.

Ammonia The EPA has exempted this chemical from classification as a VOC when used as a paint additive, and its presence need not be disclosed on MSDS sheets.

Acetone A solvent whose vapors are a respiratory tract irritant and which may cause coughing, dizziness, dullness, headache, central nervous system depression, narcosis, and at high concentrations, unconsciousness.

Biocides Added to inhibit the growth of microorganisms in the can and on the coated surface, biocides may contribute significantly to the formation of formaldehyde. Products with biocides intended for exterior use can become sources of HAPs if used indoors.

Formaldehyde One of a group of HAPs in the Aldehyde family. Although it hasn’t been used as a paint additive for many years, it is commonly created by two or more mutually reactive chemicals (formaldehyde precursors) during the application and curing process. It is considered a probable human carcinogen.

Other Aldehydes: Acetaldehyde, Benzaldehyde, and Propanol These chemicals can be respiratory irritants and bind to cells such as liver and lung cells to create autoimmune responses.

Crystalline Silica Otherwise known as quartz, it is considered one of the most dangerous occupational dusts and a carcinogen, and is commonly found in paints and coatings, especially exterior latex paints. While it can become airborne during paint application, the primary risk is from dust exposure through abrasion or the sanding of dry films.

Pigments These may be glycol and VOC-free, or they may contain glycol, VOCs, and formaldehyde-forming biocides.

Odor Masking Agents These are chemical additives that conceal the odors of offensive chemicals. They may function as irritants in and of themselves.

Summary The suggestion by the EPA that consumers need emission information and performance evaluation results to make informed purchasing decisions is an idea that involves a different way of thinking. For those of us who place indoor air quality high on our list of building objectives, responsibility must begin and end with ourselves. For those inclined to move in this direction, we would like to cite a thought-provoking book that is becoming a classic for reorganizing our thinking: Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough and Michael Braungart.

~~ Information in this article came from AFM Safecoat's website - www.afmsafecoat.com ~~

IQAir - The Finest Air Filter on the Market

2007-10-17T17:28:00.001-05:00

For Allergy Sufferers - The standard HealthPro is recommended for allergy sufferers who don't have any particular need for gas or odor control. Instead of an activated carbon filter the HealthPro features a pressure equalization chamber between the fan and HEPA filter to maximize air delivery. It is also more economical since there is no activated carbon filter to replace.

HealthPro Plus: For Asthma Sufferers - In addition to the filtration provided by the standard HealthPro model, the HealthPro Plus contains a gas phase filter for the control of gaseous contaminants and odors. The HealthPro Plus is especially recommended to asthma sufferers, since their respiratory systems are often sensitized to gaseous irritants, as well as allergens.

Advanced Controls - The unit provides five fan speed settings and a sophisticated filter monitoring system that calculates the remaining life of each individual filter. The unit also features an integrated timer and a remote control.

HealthPro Series: Features - Air Outlet Diffuser returns clean, low turbulance, low velocity air

Dimensions: H 28" x W 15" x D 16" HealthPro: 29 lbs.

HealthPro Plus: 35 lbs.

Certificate of Performance - In an industry where most air cleaners don't actually meet the manufacturers claims, IQAir tests and certifies each and every HealthPro.

In their state-of-the-art Swiss production facility,each HealthPro is tested for particle filtration efficiency, filter leakage and air delivery. Each HealthPro comes with its very own two-page Certificate of Performance, detailing the test results for that very machine. Their quality control engineers only approve products that pass their stringent testing. That's how serious they are about real performance.

Special Notice to Odor-Sensitized Individuals
This IQAir advanced air cleaning system has been manufactured with great attention to detail in our Swiss production facility. All components used in IQAir Systems have been carefully selected for maximum allergen retention and extra long filter life.

Please note that the device may give off a slight odor in the first minutes of operation. This is the characteristic odor of a true cleanroom-grade HEPA filter. It stems from the food-grade, solvent-free, hot-melt glue separators meeting the filter paper. These separators are used to guarantee maximum performance and extra long filter life. This odor is safe and 100% non-toxic. The odor is not caused by plastic parts of the housing, which are made from UL approved, non-offgasing plastic.

Should this IQAir system be used in the home or office of an odor-sensitized individual, it is recommended to run the device for three hours (on high speed with the windows wide open, if possible) in a non-critical room to eliminate any trapped odors.

Clearing the Air

2007-10-10T11:13:00.001-05:00

EPA studies conclude that indoor air quality in your home, school, church or place of employment is 2 to 10 times worse than out door air quality. Since we spend up to 65% our time at home it is essential to know how to improve your indoor air quality.

Why is our indoor air quality so bad? When you insulate properly and use tighter windows to minimize energy loss, you also trap allergens and pollutants inside your home. Being a society dependent on synthetic chemicals means when we bring home a new piece of furniture, an appliance, a new cleaning product, or home improvement supplies like paints and stains, we’re introducing new toxins to our indoor spaces.

There are a couple of approaches to clearing the air. As I’ve mentioned in previous articles there are alternatives to the toxic products we commonly use. It’s getting easier to find products that are organic for instance. Cleaning supplies are available without toxins as well. Green building materials, safe paints, stains and coatings are also a good way to reduce indoor air pollution. So when you reduce the chemical pollutants you’re taking first step toward cleaner air.

But nature has a way of producing elements that we all have to put up with. Pollen, dust, dust mites, mold and mildew spores are a few culprits that contribute to poor air quality indoors and out. The best way to reduce your exposure to these trouble makers at home is to remove them from your air with an air filter.

One type of air cleaner, which isn’t very effective, is the ionic air purifier. Electrically charged ions attach to air borne particles which fall from the air onto a collection plate and the floor and your furniture. Simply walking through the room will cause the particles not attached to the collection plate to become air borne again.

The most effective air filters use HEPA filtration. HEPA is an acronym for "High Efficiency Particulate Arresting" filter. HEPA filtration by definition traps 99.97% of particulate matter that is .03 microns in size. Some HEPA filters are better than others and can filter even smaller particles.

Smoke and VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) from paints, synthetic carpet, and particle board for instance can be eliminated by using filters containing activated carbon, zeolite, and potassium iodide.

Filters can be rated as highly efficient but they are only as good as the machine that houses them. If air flows around the filters or escapes from the housing because it isn’t sealed properly the filters are useless.

The best air filters made come from a Swiss company called IQAir. The HealthPro Plus has received more #1 reviews than any other air purifier. IQAir has created a Hyper HEPA filter capable of filtering particles as small as .003 microns. Hospitals around the world rely on IQAir to help protect staff and patients from infectious diseases like tuberculosis and MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). When the dreaded disease SARS began to spread in Hong Kong hospitals in 2004, the Hong Kong Hospital Authority tested dozens of air cleaners. They determined that IQAir made the only room air cleaners suitable to be used in the fight against SARS.

Whole house air filtration is also an option, especially if you are building a new home, but it is possible to retro-fit a whole house unit into an existing home. Most whole house filters can also control humidity which is a key factor in controlling mold, mildew and dust mites.

You can protect your family and breathe easier by reducing the pollutants, allergens and irritants in your home and when it’s time to add air purification, don’t waste your money on inferior technology. I’m glad I could help clear the air.

Transforming Markets, or Transforming Marketing?

2007-09-27T14:15:00.000-05:00

An article by Bill Walsh, National Coordinator

Healthy Building Network
September 27, 2007

trans-for-ma-tionn.

1. A complete change, usually into something with an improved appearance or usefulness. [1]

After reading the last edition of the Healthy Building News, Blessed Unrest In The Green Building Movement, a respected expert on the Forest Stewardship Council's (FSC) certification process remarked that he appreciated the article's acknowledgment of an often overlooked point: that "the FSC system is positively transforming both the building materials market and global forest stewardship." He asked somewhat rhetorically, where else can we directly associate a shift in the green building marketplace to positive change at the point of impact?

It is a good question.

The goal of market transformation is a cornerstone of the green building movement. It anchors the mission statement of the USGBC [2] as it does ours here at the Healthy Building Network. Transformation is an ideal, but it has also become a buzz-word. To what extent is the green building movement accomplishing the goal of transformation, triggering "complete change" commensurate with the challenge we face? It's hard to tell.

A big part of the problem is greenwash. Too many companies and industries have indeed transformed, i.e., completely changed, their marketing strategy to rebrand products and practices "green" even as they relentlessly resist transformation of the status quo.
When Home Depot invited suppliers to submit products for consideration in its Eco-Options program, manufacturers claimed that more than 60,000 of the items currently on the shelves were already "green." According to the New York Times, "Plastic-handled paint brushes were touted as nature-friendly because they were not made of wood. Wood-handled paint brushes were promoted as better for the planet because they were not made of plastic." [3]

That line was crafted to make readers chuckle.
But is the joke on us?

Industry trade associations have tied the USGBC in knots for years with these very same arguments. The American Plastics Council wrapped its defense of PVC plastic, also known as vinyl, in a package that defended all plastics as green building materials. The American Forest and Paper Association (AFPA) has whittled their opposition to independently certified forestry practices down to a slogan, all wood is good wood.

Rebranding the status quo is counterproductive, even dangerous, if we believe even half of what we profess to be the urgency of the threats to our health and the planet.

In order to see through the greenwash campaigns of those who are marketing transformation while opposing the complete change that is necessary at the point of environmental and human health impactâ€”the mines, forests, factories and communities from which our building materials comeâ€”we must do a better job of recognizing successful, transformative market initiatives like the FSC. Let's help each other do that.

A sunny solution for electricity woes?

2007-09-07T16:57:00.000-05:00

SARASOTA (Bay News 9) -- With a growing area and the resulting increased need for electricity, communities are looking at alternative sources of energy.

And Sarasota has become a test site for a large-scale solar power setup. Florida Power and Light is installing 1,200 solar panels at a closed landfill in Sarasota.
FPL spokesman Mel Klein said the project may shed new light on photovoltaic, or solar-powered, energy.

"Certainly in the state of Florida this is going to be the largest photovoltaic array that we're aware of," said Mel Klein with FPL. "This is a good start and we're glad we got the opportunity to do it in Sarasota County."
Construction on the facility should be completed in October. Its builders said the solar facility will prevent more than 654,000 thousand pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the air each year.
Solar power hasn't been as popular in the past because of its cost, but that is changing as the cost continues to drop. Homeowners can qualify for energy rebates and if they produce more electricity than they use, they can sell it back to power companies.

But Klein said people can not solely rely on the sun to power their homes. He instead said solar energy can be a part in helping to alleviate power supply problems.

2007-09-04T15:43:00.000-05:00

Volatile Organic Compounds:
Source: Environmental Building News
Published: Friday, July 27, 2007

The term "volatile organic compound" (VOC) means different things to different people. In high school or college chemistry class we learned that VOCs are a class of carbon-based compounds that readily become volatile (gaseous) under ordinary (atmospheric)conditions. Thus, we learned that VOCs are any of those carbon-based compounds that smell strong and readily evaporate—stuff like acetone, rubbing alcohol, and propane.

As used by ambient air quality regulators, the term VOC has a quite different definition. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other regulatory bodies, VOCs are organic compounds that readily volatilize under atmospheric conditions and that react in sunlight to generate smog. Thus, from a regulator’s standpoint, compounds are VOCs only if they contribute to certain type of outdoor air pollution.

These differences in definition have led to a lot of confusion. Especially in the green building community, we think of VOCs as contributors to indoor air quality (IAQ)problems—and the amount of VOCs is often our only IAQ metric for a product. But there are lots of compounds that meet a chemist’s definition of VOC but are not photoreactive so are not defined as VOCs by regulators. Some of these chemicals—including formaldehyde, methyl chloride, and many other chlorinated organic compounds—have serious health and ecological impacts. This was driven home by an exhibitor of sealant at the recent American Institute of Architects convention who said that his low-VOC product was the most toxic product he offers—because the carrier is perchloroethane, a hazardous solvent that is not considered a VOC by EPA.

Further complicating matters, some VOCs have potentially serious health effects, while others are relatively benign. And the amount or type of VOCs that are in a product may or may not be a good indication of what is released into the air—some react with ozone or with other compounds and morph into something new as they volatilize.

The label describing VOC levels in grams per liter on a can of paint indicates that paint’s contribution to smog formation. For indoor air quality purposes, we should look to results from chamber-testing protocols that analyze key VOCs individually. Most of these protocols reference California’s list of chemicals for which acceptable exposure levels have been established. These include California’s Section 01350 specification, Greenguard for Children and Schools, SCS Indoor Advantage Gold, and Green Label Plus. Even these aren’t comprehensive, however—they don’t (yet) address many “semivolatile organic compounds,” among other chemicals. We have a ways to go before we can know when the air is really clear.

Paint Any Color But Think Green

2007-08-17T16:41:00.000-05:00

Painting your home or office used to be a fairly toxic operation. We got the lead out of paint in 1979 but you can still be exposed to VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) in some paints that are known to cause health problems. According to the EPA – “VOCs include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have short- and long-term adverse health effects. Concentrations of many VOCs are consistently higher indoors (up to ten times higher) than outdoors. VOCs are emitted by a wide array of products numbering in the thousands. Examples include: paints and lacquers, paint strippers, cleaning supplies, pesticides, building materials and furnishings, office equipment such as copiers and printers, correction fluids and carbonless copy paper, graphics and craft materials including glues and adhesives, permanent markers, and photographic solutions.” That new paint smell that lingers even after the paint is dry is the process of VOCs off-gassing. To most people it is unpleasant and it can make some extremely ill. VOCs from paint are also a major contributor to the depletion of the planet’s ozone layer.

But a couple of companies developed paints from the ground up which are low and zero VOC, and that’s all they produce, because they know how important it is to protect people and the environment. AFM Safecoat has been making a complete line of paints, stains and coatings since the 70s. These companies make products that don’t contain petroleum based solvents, phenols, formaldehyde, heavy metals, crystalline silica (a known carcinogen), ammonia, chlorides, butyl ethers, or odor masking chemicals or fragrances. They are low odor when wet and virtually odorless when dry. They can safely be used in occupied spaces such as hospitals, schools, office buildings, hotels, etc. These companies created superior quality durable paints and that is all they make.

And remember these low and zero VOC paints only remain non-toxic if they are tinted with pigments that have zero VOCs. So don’t buy a safe paint and let someone tint it with a toxic colorant. Make sure that they are using a zero VOC pigment or you’ll negate the non-toxic benefits of the paint. Most big box stores don’t bother with the more expensive pigments that are zero VOC because the majority of their paints aren’t low or zero VOC to begin with.

I’ll give you a hint of what’s on the horizon. I know of a company that is producing a soy-based zero VOC paint that they claim can be used inside and out, will cover in one coat and doesn’t require a primer! I think that sounds too good to be true but we’ll know soon and I’ll keep you posted. It’s exciting to see the “small” manufacturers step up to the plate and create products that out-perform the big guys and are safe for everyone. They won’t be the “small” guys forever with that kind of dedication and ingenuity.

California and five states on the East coast have started regulating VOC levels allowed in paints sold in those states. It won’t be long before it will be a requirement everywhere. As the major paint manufacturers scramble to develop products that they will be allowed to sell in those states, they lobby for looser regulations and more time and continue to produce the toxic stuff. AFM is already there and continues to get better.

I talk with people every day who have been affected by the load of VOCs being introduced into our environment. These people were not sick until they were exposed to toxic substances which compromised their immune systems. Now they have to research and test everything they bring into their homes because a household cleaner or new carpet or paint or a detergent or just about anything can make them very ill. Most of these people could not paint their homes or be in a work environment that was being painted. Until now.

VOCs stink and that is about the best thing that can be said about them. You don’t have to be chemically sensitive or suffer with an environmental illness to use a safe paint; in fact it is one way to protect your health. So paint your house blue, yellow, or red, but think green and safeguard yourself and the environment by using the safest paint you can find.

Mom Was Right

2007-08-14T15:10:00.000-05:00

by Tom

I grew up in the 1950s in a small Midwestern town. My Mom had 4 kids in a 7-year time span. I don’t know how well thought out the four of us were, but she was young and that’s what everybody else was doing. My parents had to be frugal. Because money was budgeted carefully, there were certain things we did because Mom said so.

Most of her rules came from her childhood – 7 siblings, living on a farm with no indoor plumbing, experiencing the gritty reality of the depression followed by World War II. Abundance was not in her vocabulary.

If we stood in front of an open refrigerator one second longer than was necessary her internal alarm clock sounded – “Shut the ice box door now!” It was a refrigerator but for most of her early years it really was an ice box.

We didn’t have air conditioning so keeping the doors and windows open in the summer was okay. But in the winter we were reminded often that we were not heating the whole neighborhood, when we didn’t close the door quickly enough.

And for heaven’s sake, when you leave your room, turn off the light. She knew electricity didn’t grow on trees. I don’t remember when she finally got a dryer, but I do remember when the weather permitted, we hung the laundry on the clothesline in the back yard and when the weather was nasty, it dried on the clothesline in the basement. My Mom should have been given an energy star rating.

We recycled and re-used not because it was ecologically important to do so, it was economically required. Hand me down clothes and furniture and toys were fine. When someone grew out of something or didn’t need it any longer, it meant they passed it on.

My Dad loved to build things. He built the home my Mom still lives in.
My room, where I allowed my brother to stay, had a built in desk and bookshelves. He fixed everything he could. Most of his nails and screws and hundreds of parts and pieces were kept in jars that originally housed peanut butter, jelly, mayonnaise, etc. He never threw a tool away; he repaired and refurbished them. He actually bought an old upright piano for my siblings and me. It was really in bad shape but he knew he could spiff it up for us, so he took it apart one piece at a time and covered it with some type of colored plasticized cloth that was just hideous and we loved it.

Now we recycle because it is important for the planet. It’s pretty easy being green these days with the help of Mom’s rules and the many committed organizations and people who are helping us all make a difference.

Check out http://www.throwplace.com/ where you can give away your excess goods to others who can use them. List things to donate there. Every item listed on Throwplace.com is FREE. Another cool website is http://www.freecycle.org/ whose mission statement says "Our mission is to build a worldwide gifting movement that reduces waste, saves precious resources & eases the burden on our landfills while enabling our members to benefit from the strength of a larger community."

My parents were green before it was essential to be so. I like to think of them as light green. The principle is the same even if they did it merely out of financial need.

Mom didn’t know that her example would be one that is to be emulated. Thanks Mom, I don’t think I’ve ever told you how much I appreciate your green lessons. They served us well then and still do. Turns out you were right all along.

The Real Cost of Bottled Water--SF Chronicle Forum

2007-07-08T16:04:00.000-05:00

(February 18, 2007) San Francisco ChronicleBy Jared Blumenfeld, Susan LealSan Franciscans and other Bay Area residents enjoy some of the nation's highest quality drinking water, with pristine Sierra snowmelt from the Hetch Hetchy reservoir as our primary source. Every year, our water is tested more than 100,000 times to ensure that it meets or exceeds every standard for safe drinking water. And yet we still buy bottled water. Why?

Maybe it's because we think bottled water is cleaner and somehow better, but that's not true. The federal standards for tap water are higher than those for bottled water.

The Environmental Law Foundation has sued eight bottlers for using words such as "pure" to market water that contains bacteria, arsenic and chlorine. Bottled water is no bargain either: It costs 240 to 10,000 times more than tap water. For the price of one bottle of Evian, a San Franciscan can receive 1,000 gallons of tap water. Forty percent of bottled water should be labeled bottled tap water because that is exactly what it is. But even that doesn't dampen the demand.

Clearly, the popularity of bottled water is the result of huge marketing efforts. The global consumption of bottled water reached 41 billion gallons in 2004, up 57 percent in just five years. Even in areas where tap water is clean and safe to drink, such as in San Francisco, demand for bottled water is increasing -- producing unnecessary garbage and consuming vast quantities of energy. So what is the real cost of bottled water?

Most of the price of a bottle of water goes for its bottling, packaging, shipping, marketing, retailing and profit. Transporting bottled water by boat, truck and train involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels. More than 5 trillion gallons of bottled water is shipped internationally each year. Here in San Francisco, we can buy water from Fiji (5,455 miles away) or Norway (5,194 miles away) and many other faraway places to satisfy our demand for the chic and exotic. These are truly the Hummers of our bottled-water generation.

As further proof that the bottle is worth more than the water in it, starting in 2007, the state of California will give 5 cents for recycling a small water bottle and 10 cents for a large one.

Just supplying Americans with plastic water bottles for one year consumes more than 47 million gallons of oil, enough to take 100,000 cars off the road and 1 billion pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, according to the Container Recycling Institute. In contrast, San Francisco tap water is distributed through an existing zero-carbon infrastructure: plumbing and gravity. Our water generates clean energy on its way to our tap -- powering our streetcars, fire stations, the airport and schools.

More than 1 billion plastic water bottles end up in the California's trash each year, taking up valuable landfill space, leaking toxic additives, such as phthalates, into the groundwater and taking 1,000 years to biodegrade. That means bottled water may be harming our future water supply.

The rapid growth in the bottled water industry means that water extraction is concentrated in communities where bottling plants are located. This can have a huge strain on the surrounding eco-system. Near Mount Shasta, the world's largest food company, Nestle, is proposing to extract billions of gallons of spring water, which could have devastating impacts on the McCloud River.

So it is clear that bottled water directly adds to environmental degradation, global warming and a large amount of unnecessary waste and litter. All this for a product that is often inferior to San Francisco's tap water. Luckily, there are better, less expensive alternatives:

-- In the office, use a water dispenser that taps into tap water. The only difference your company will notice is that you're saving a lot of money.

-- At home and in your car, switch to a stainless steel water bottle and use it for the rest of your life knowing that you are drinking some of the nation's best water and making the planet a better place.

Jared Blumenfeld is the director of the San Francisco Department of the Environment. Susan Leal is the general manager of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

How Green is Your Garden?

2007-06-04T15:11:00.001-05:00

Gardens and yards are starting to flourish this time of year. Are you taking care to guard the safety of your children and pets as well as yourself while battling the weeds and bugs in your garden? Unfortunately studies show that U.S. homeowners spend more than $2 billion a year on poisonous chemicals in the form of insecticides, herbicides and fungicides.

But the good news is that there are proven methods and products that are far less dangerous than using synthetic chemicals. Less toxic pest and weed control products are becoming more common. The benefits of treating your yard and garden with natural products are obvious. Studies show that even occasional exposure to poisons found in synthetic insecticides and herbicides through touch or inhalation can cause cancers and heighten the risk of childhood leukemia (Occupational and Environmental Medicine, January 2006).

Runoff from residential and agricultural land also threatens birds, fish, frogs and other wildlife. The U. S. Geological Survey indicates that more than 95% of streams that were sampled contained one or more pesticides and that dead zones in bays, gulfs and oceans are caused by nitrate fertilizer runoff. Remember, dont over fertilize. If you arent composting yet its time to start. By using compost and leaving grass clippings in your yard you can eliminate the use of ammonium nitrate fertilizers.

Here are some tips for battling the bugs and weeds naturally. Earth friendly weed killers such as Deadeye Natural Weed Killer are made with acetic acid (vinegar), sodium chloride (salt), corn gluten, fatty acids, and plant oils such as clove.

When you need to rid your plants of pests try diatomaceous earth or another product that works the same way called C-M Powdergard which contains mint and limestone. Apply around the perimeter of your yard and at the base of your plants. These products are not poisons. They work by puncturing the shell of the insect causing them to dehydrate. Both products are safe around pets and children and can also be used indoors. Another simple solution for white fly and aphids is to mix 2 teaspoons of dish washing detergent with a gallon of water which you can apply with a sprayer. Spray both sides of the leaves. The live pests will suffocate but their eggs will not be affected. Make sure to go back and reapply to take care of the new generation that will most likely appear.

Natural predators can help you do the job of controlling pests as well. If you actively encourage them, your job will become much easier. Wasps are an excellent ally against garden pests. They can help control common caterpillar pests and some lay eggs in aphids. The ladybeetle feeds on aphids as well. Another aphid hungry predator is the lacewing in its larval stage. So when you detect a problem take a day or two to watch the drama play out before marching in with your spray bottle.

Never under-estimate the effectiveness of plain old hands on methods as well. Get a good set of gardening gloves and pull those weeds, or use weeding tools, making sure to get as much of the root system as possible. And some of the insects youll be battling can be removed by hand also. Sometimes just a hard stream of water can knock those bugs off your plants as well.

Another approach is to select plants that are native to your area. Native plants are usually naturally resistant to local pests. Contact your County Extension office for a list of plants that will do well in your climate and soil. Check with them to see if they sell soil collection kits so youll have a better idea what plants will suit your soil.

The bottom line is to make your garden or yard a safe place for you and your children and pets. Just because the big box store or even your local garden supply store sells the chemicals that are supposed to make your yard green doesnt make them safe. Read the warning labels, they are there for a reason. Avoid toxic chemicals. Before you choose the poison, try the natural organic way to green your garden.

Welcome

2007-06-04T08:11:00.000-05:00

Welcome Green Builders and Bloggers!

We're HealthyHome. We've been in the Green Building marketplace for 15 years, way before it was the hot topic it is today. We started our by selling non-toxic products used in the home to both the chemically sensitive and the environementally aware. As time went on, our focus shifted more and more to Green Building, with non-toxic, safer paints, recycled cotton fiber insulation, non-toxic gardening and lawn care, and a bunch of other green building supplies.

This Blog is intended to be our thoughts on the Green Building movement that's gaining momentum in our nation, finally; to showcase some green building that's being done on a small scale by individuals; and to think out loud about the possibilities, and showcase new products (whether we sell them or not).

Our goal is information, not sales. Since this is our field, we hope to bring our extensive network of contacts to bear on bringing information to our readers that is useful, actionable, and interesting.

We hope you enjoy, and we look forward to your comments, posts, and suggestions.