On bleach February 25, 2007

Someone asked me today why I recommend staying away from bleach. As a mother of 3, she’s been keeping the house clean with bleach and using it to keep her kids from infection. So what’s the big deal? In fact, I have plenty of friends who use bleach for a variety of cleaning and disinfecting purposes.

There’s the obvious risk that we all know about – swallowing bleach could be fatal. And so, we keep it where kids can’t get to it. Common sense. But is it so common? 53% of all calls to poison control centers are for children under the age of 6, and the vast majority are unintentional ingestion of medicines or cleaning supplies.

The next risk is that of mixing. Mixing chlorine with all sorts of things can cause harmful, and often toxic gasses. But bleach should always be mixed with water. Using it full strength can break down most fabrics and in fact metals (think of what it does to your body!).

Bleach and other chemicals don’t just enter your body when you swallow them, you can also internalize them by breathing the gasses they release or by absorbing them into your skin. That means that the residue bleach leaves on clothes, countertops, tubs, or whatever else you use it on can get into your body or your kids bodies long after use. Bleach has suspected links to breast cancer in women, reproductive problems in men, and learning and behavioral disabilities in children. Now, these links haven’t been proven, but they are strongly suspected, and as for me, if I can avoid bleach – with all the suspected harm it can do to my family – I’ll avoid it.

Non-chlorine bleach is an alternative, but there are even safer things to clean with. Also, non-chlorine bleach isn’t a disinfectant. You can disinfect with diluted tea tree oil or white vinegar, and both of those are natural. But don’t mix your non-chlorine bleach with either – it’s best to use them separately, and only mix your bleach (chlorinated or not) with water.

Check out Ovie! February 21, 2007

Organic Valley, whose organic milk is currently sharing space in my fridge with a leftover peice of strawberry pie, has a super cool website that I just found. They have games for kids (check out Ovie’s Underground in the Get Cultured! section), you can meet their farmers, and they have recipes – I can’t wait to try the Organic Mama Veggie Fritatta! Take a few minutes, look around, and read some real life stories of the farmers who are trying to make a difference.

New Zealand – setting the standard February 20, 2007

In news last week, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Helen Clark (should I point out that she is one of the 13 current female heads of state in the world?) pledged to make New Zealand the greenest country in the world. You can read more about the changes she plans to implement in an article published in The Independent.

Also recently, California’s governor, Arnold Schwarznegger,  has also been making a splash with green issues. He was profiled this month in Fast Company for his “profit-driven solutions for what ails the planet.”

Are we to see a shift in eco-friendliness? Up until now the vast majority of change has been fueled by grass-roots efforts. But if the news from this month is anything to go by, local and national governments may finally be towing the line themselves. This may cause plenty of up-turned noses, with different sides looking down on the other in a proverbial spitting contest. But I’m led to think that  the more voices take up the call, the greater the potential for transformational change. Well, done, Mrs. Prime Minister.

Organic milk – worth the premium? February 18, 2007

There’s been a lot of discussion out there about whether or not organic milk is worth what we pay for it. It’s one of the organic foods that has fully entered the main stream. All the grocery stores around me carry at least 3 different brands of organic milk, and US demand has actually become so high that many producers are augmenting their supply with imported organic milk from New Zealand and other countries. So the big question, is it worth it? I just came across a study published in a BBC news report (by no means recent – it’s from 2005) that says organic milk is higher in vitamins.

According to the report,  organic milk is higher in vitamin E, omega 3 essential fatty acids, and antioxidants. It also says that you probably get enough of these in your diet even if you don’t drink organic. But for me, the combined benefit of higher nutritional content combined with the lack of BGH (bovine growth hormones), pesticides, and antibiotics makes it a worthwhile expenditure – at least for my kids’ growing bodies. But regardless if it’s organic or not, milk – it does a body good!

Applause for Domino magazine February 16, 2007

Just out today, Domino magazine’s new issue is a “green issue,” focused on sustainability of all sorts. Domino magazine’s tagline is “The Guide to Living with Style,” and is run by the same conglomerate that publishes stylish, high-impact magazines like Conde Nast Traveller, Wired, The New Yorker, Vogue and Vanity Fair (which published a “green issue” last year – May 2006).

Top foods to buy organic February 14, 2007

Sure, if I could buy everything organic, I’m sure I’d feel better and have improved health. But we can’t all do that, either because of the increased cost of organics, or local availability. My local supermarket carries a few types of organic produce and dairy, but to get a good selection I have to drive 15 miles or so and then subject the kids to sitting in regular shopping carts (the places with good organic selection do not have the race car shopping carts – go figure!). So, to help consumers navigate the waters, the Environmental Working Group publishes a helpful guide to the “Dirty Dozen” (foods highly effected by pesticides) and the “Cleanest 12″ (foods regularly tested as clean). You can find more information here.

The Worst Offenders: Peaches Apples Sweet Bell Peppers Celery Nectarines Strawberries Cherries Pears Grapes (Imported) Spinach Lettuce Potatoes

The Clean List Onions Avocado Sweet Corn (frozen) Pineapples Mango Asparagus Sweet Peas (frozen) Kiwi fruit Bananas Cabbage Broccoli Papaya

Our friend vinegar February 14, 2007

Natural cleaning folks and the green-minded have known for ages that vinegar is an important cleaning agent. You can use it as a disinfectant, fabric softener, all purpose and glass cleaner, the list goes on. But I was pleasantly surprised (as well as entertained) by what I found at Joey Green’s Wacky Uses website. Here’s a selection of the useful, surprising, and truly wacky uses for household vinegar (specifically, the Heinz brand, according to Joey Green). Italics are my comments.

• Kill bacteria in meats. Marinating meat in Heinz Vinegar kills bacteria and tenderizes the meat. Use one-quarter cup vinegar for a two to three pound roast, marinate overnight, then cook without draining or rinsing the meat. Add herbs to the vinegar when marinating as desired.

• Dissolve warts. Mix one part Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar to one part glycerin into a lotion and apply daily to warts until they dissolve.
• Grow beautiful azaleas. Occasionally water plants with a mixture of two tablespoons Heinz White Vinegar to one quart water. Azaleas love acidic soil.
• Relieve arthritis. Before each meal, drink a glass of water containing two teaspoons Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar. Give this folk remedy at least three weeks to start working. (this one doesn’t sound too pleasant!)
• Kill unwanted grass. Pour Heinz White Vinegar in crevices and between bricks. Or use a spray bottle.
  
• Cure an upset stomach. Drink two teaspoons Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar in one cup water to soothe an upset stomach. I’ll stick to gingerale and chamomile tea, thank you.
  

• Deodorize the air. Heinz Vinegar is a natural air freshener when sprayed in a room.

• Relieve itching. Use a cotton ball to dab mosquito and other bug bites with Heinz Vinegar straight from the bottle.
• Relieve a sore throat. Put two teaspoons of Heinz Vinegar in your humidifier.
• Turn a chicken bone into rubber. Soak a chicken bone in a glass of Heinz Vinegar for three days. It will bend like rubber. Who thinks of this?
  

• Condition dry hair. Shampoo, then rinse hair with a mixture of one cup Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar and two cups water. Vinegar adds highlights to brunette hair, restores the acid mantel, and removes soap film and sebum oil.
• Repel ants. Use a spray bottle or mister filled with a solution of equal parts Heinz Vinegar and water around door jambs, window sills, water pipes, and foundation cracks.
• Keep drains open. Pour one-half box of old baking soda down the drain followed by one cup Heinz White Vinegar. When the bubbling stops, run the hot water.
  

• Remove decals or bumper stickers. Soak a cloth in Heinz Vinegar and cover the decal or bumper sticker for several minutes until the vinegar soaks in. The decals and bumper stickers should peel off easily.

• Prevent lint from clinging to clothes. Add one cup Heinz Vinegar to each wash load.
• Prevent ice from forming on a car windshield overnight. Coat the window with a solution of three parts Heinz White or Apple Cider Vinegar to one part water.
• Prolong the life of flowers in a vase. Add two tablespoons of Heinz White Vinegar plus three tablespoons of sugar per quart of warm water. Stems should be in three to four inches of water.
• Relieve a cold. Mix one-quarter cup Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar with one-quarter cup honey. Take one tablespoon six to eight times daily.
• Prevent soapy film on glassware. Place a cup of Heinz White Vinegar on the bottom rack of your dishwasher, run for five minutes, then run though the full cycle. A cup of white vinegar run through the entire cycle once a month will also reduce soap scum on the inner workings.
• Unclog a shower head. Unscrew the shower head, remove the rubber washer, place the head in a pot filled with equal parts Heinz Vinegar and water, bring to a boil, then simmer for five minutes. A better idea – Put the vinegar and water in a zip-lock baggie, place over your connected shower head, and secure with a strong rubber band. Let sit 30 minutes.
  
• Relieve a cough. Mix one-half cup Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar, one-half cup water, one teaspoon cayenne pepper, and four teaspoons honey. Take one tablespoon when cough acts up. Take another tablespoon at bedtime.
  

Coming Soon! February 13, 2007

Watch this space! Soon you’ll see all sorts of newness! We’re gearing up to send new cleaning teams to Gwinnett, North Fulton, and Sout Forsyth counties.

And if you keep reading, you’ll find posts on green cleaning, organics, and maintaining your healthy home. Stick with us!