Sierra Club Green Home is a newly launched website that was designed to educate readers on how to make their homes more energy efficient, environmentally sustainable and healthy. There is a great deal of information on their website. There is even a section where you can “ask an expert” if cannot find what you are looking for.
The following are a few tips from an article titled Raising Healthy Children from Jennifer Schwab, director of sustainability for Sierra Club Green Home:
Make sure your bundle of joy isn’t wrapped in fabrics with toxic finishes or surrounded by dust mites!
- Switch to Eco-Friendly Bedding Synthetic bedding products are made from nonrenewable petrochemicals and some people may be affected by formaldehyde and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are emitted from these synthetic products.
- Tips to use when shopping – look for Formaldehyde-free wood components and organic cotton
- Benefit to the Earth: Natural fibers are renewable. If you buy those that are grown organically (without pesticides or synthetic fertilizers), you’ll spare the environment that toxic burden
People who crawl on the ground and make mud pies need plenty of soap and shampoo. But before you buy, learn the do’s and don’ts of personal care products
- Use Eco Friendly Personal Care Products: Most personal care products are eventually washed down the drain and sent coursing through our rivers and streams, and ultimately our oceans. In the process, they poison aquatic animals and ecosystems.
Top tips to looking good and staying healthy include:
- Use fewer products. Don’t believe the beauty industry’s hype. Most of us probably only need a couple of products daily–not the whole heap of cosmetics that we are told will make us look thinner, younger, and more attractive.
- Choose products in recyclable containers with minimal packaging
- Avoid fragrances. Unless otherwise noted, the fragrance is probably made from synthetic, petroleum-based ingredients and can trigger skin, allergic, and respiratory ailments
See why certain soaps are doing more harm than good!
- Use Green Cleaning Products: Avoid chemicals frequently found in cleaners that can cause teary eyes, burning nasal tissues, an itchy throat, a headache, or even dizziness. One suggestion would be making your own green cleaning supplies.
Top tips to avoid harmful chemicals
- Make your own green cleaning products by using basic ingredients such as baking soda, lemon juice, liquid castile (or vegetable-based) soap, vinegar, and salt
- Green your towels by using cloth instead of paper towels
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