The Green Book featured on the Today Show June 19, 2007

The Today show featured a new book on the market that you may be interested in. The Green Book by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas Kostigen gives consumers simple ways to conserve energy, conserve water, and generally green your life. Tip come from the authors’ lives, general news, and celebrities too!

Tips include unplugging appliances when you’re not using them (because they still use energy when not in use), bringing your own toiletries when you travel to avoid the cheapo disposable hotel toiletries, and installing a water-conserving toilet (or flushing once less a day).

Check it out! And if when you do, let me know what you think!

Green searching! June 17, 2007

Interested in finding out what the world wide web can offer you in terms of Green services and products? Now it’s easier to find out! Green Maven is a great search tool, and even has its own plug-in for Firefox browser! (If you haven’t used Firefox, you should try it.)

So, go try Green Maven. Go ahead, I dare you.

Does it matter? June 15, 2007

“If it’s someone else’s job, why should I worry about how they do it?” … “If they sell it at Publix it must be safe!” … “If it was really dangerous, it would be banned.“

These are some of the attitudes out there about cleaning products. If we believe conventional wisdom, Formula 409 is perfectly safe for all of us, as long as we don’t drink it. And we know this because if it wasn’t safe there would be some public outcry, the grocery stores wouldn’t sell it, the manufacturers would recall it, and the government would protect us all from it. So therefore, every cleaning product purchased at a major retailer is perfectly safe, when used with common sense. And, every product used by a maid or janitorial service is perfectly safe, because they wouldn’t think to use it otherwise.

Unfortunately that’s not the case. The vast majority of cleaning products sold at major retailers are made with and composed of suspected and known carcinogens, mutagens (chemicals known to cause genetic mutation), products known to cause reproductive disorders, and more.

The fact is, if you have some sort of unexplained health complaints – frequent headaches, dizziness, shortness of breath, and a host of other symptoms. If you have any undiagnosed symptoms and are still using regular cleaning products, natural products are worth trying. Also if you’re pregnant, have young children, or elderly in your home, phasing out the chemicals could be a great way to improve energy levels, decrease doctor visits, and ensure the long-term health of your family. Stay tuned for some posts about the harmful effects of chemicals and what household products use them. You’ll be surprised.

And of course, if you’re in the Atlanta area call Broom Huggers (that’s us) for all-natural, non-toxic healthful maid services.

Klean Kanteen stainless bottles June 12, 2007

Did you know that in most cities the municipal water supply goes through much greater scrutiny than bottled waters? That means your tap water may be healthier than bottled water. And frankly, the plastic used in bottled waters is atrocious for the environment. Really, if you’re drinking bottled water – especially from those little throw-away single use bottles – consider switching to something a little more earth friendly. Either get yourself a water cooler if you’re too cool for tap water, or if you just don’t like the taste, get a decent filter for your tap. And spend the money you would have used on bottled water to get yourself a nice reusable bottle to keep with you on the go. It wouldn’t hurt if it was pretty too, right?

Klean Kanteen has sippy adapters now for use with toddlers and preschoolers. Turn your stainless steel Klean Kanteen into your child’s spill-proof sippy, and you won’t have to worry about the carcinogenic hazards of poor quality plastics leeching into little Johnny’s juice. They’re on sale now at Reusable Bags. And while you’re there, pick up a tote bag for your groceries. Save us from plastic-bag-dependency!

Product review: Simple Green June 9, 2007

I’ve never been a huge fan of Simple Green, even though it was my first foray into healthier cleaning products. In fact, I learned about it and got my first sample and coupon at a Baby Fair (no, it wasn’t a fair selling babies, silly! It was a product fair for people with babies!). I liked it, it did an okay job for me, and through it I learned about the health hazards to me and my baby from regular household cleaners.

That said, Simple Green always seemed to me like it did everything half way. It was half-way environmentally-friendly, and half-way healthy. It did a decent job cleaning, but nothing I’d write a blog about. Now, before I move on to tell you why I’m a convert, let me elaborate for a moment on the chemical composition of Simple Green. It’s made from a solvent called 2-butoxyethanol, which is a known environmental hazard, and it causes a whole range of health problems. But, according to the MSDS sheet, upon completion of the manufacturing process, Simple Green® does not possess the occupational health risks associated with exposure to undiluted 2-butoxyethanol, it is non-carcinogenic and non-mutagenic. Simple Green’s Clean Building products (lemon scent is not included) have also received the Green Seal, which is pretty trustworthy for making steps toward environmental accountability. The good: it’s safe, concentrated, and healthy. The bad: it has a pretty big footprint in the grand scheme of things.

Now, on to cleaning capabilities. I wasn’t impressed – at first. I found that it cleaned most surfaces just as well as other cleaners, with no difference in effort or time spent cleaning. So if I’m not going to save myself time or effort, I might as well go with something that has less of an environmental footprint. Right? Until I cleaned my stove top and oven with it tonight! Oh. my. goodness. I breezed through my stove top. The stove backsplash didn’t clean as easily – it’s a softer vinly-ish surface so I had to use a scraper (my scraper from Pampered Chef is perfect) to get off some of the grease spots there. But I’ve never cleaned my stove top faster than I did today. And I was so impressed, I decided to give it a real test and try it on my oven then and there! Now, this never happens. I have 2 toddlers. In other words, I only have time for one cleaning task at any given moment. But, I was actually so excited about cleaning that I couldn’t stop myself! I cleaned my oven. And it was easy!

So, as a degreaser (which is basically what you need for stovetop and oven), Simple Green is amazing. I’ve compared it to most of the other oven cleaners out there, and there isn’t an oven cleaner on the market that equals (much less beats) Simple Green when it comes to health and environmental concerns.

Bamboo flooring samples May 14, 2007

Alas. Bamboo sounded so great. Renewable resource. One of the harder of the hard woods. A variety of shades. Did I mention it’s a renewable resource?

The problem is, I don’t like it. I got my samples in the mail ages ago, and I’ve been trying to convince myself that it’s really gorgeous and would look beautiful in my living room. But the truth is, I don’t like it. I’m not a big fan of the colors they sent me, and I’m just not excited about the knots in it. Ho-hum.

So my next task is to go back to the flooring outlet and see if they have any other renewable woods that I can use. Hm. Maybe something hand-scraped?

Best water bottle May 9, 2007

Here it is. Featured on Oprah. Called the toughest water bottle by Backpacker Magazine.

Sigg water bottles are a great looking, fully-functional way to tote your water and be kind to the earth. They keep your water tasting like water and don’t allow particles to seep into it.

They’re dishwasher safe. And the rest of the good news? After 10-15 uses, it pays for itself! Yes, your tap water is most likely perfectly safe and clean, and if you filter it well you can be sure it is. In fact, it’s probably cleaner than most bottled waters. And… no more putting plastic water bottles in the landfills. Check it out here!

Spring bugs be gone! May 6, 2007

Want an easy way to protect your kids – and yourself and your kids – from those pesky spring bees and flies and mosquitoes? Without those nasty sprays? Or the lotions your kids hate? Use a dryer sheet! I don’t know what it is exactly, but there’s something in those dryer sheets that makes pests stay away (well, maybe not all pests – they won’t do anything about the playground bully). Put one in your kids pocket – just keep a corner of it hanging out for best effect.

You can also slip one into the dog’s collar, under your horse’s bridle… or tie one to the umbrella of your picnic table.

Oprah’s Green show April 23, 2007

Oprah had a great show on Friday about making environmentally-friendly choices. The goal of the show was to show viewers small things they can be doing in their every day lives to help the environment. A few highlights -

• Paper or plastic? Neither! Bring your own reusable bags when you shop. The plastic bags take eons to biodegrade, and paper bags use a staggering amount of trees every year. So, BYOB! Bring your own Bag!
• Water – one liter of bottled water takes 5 liters of water to produce. Use tap water – filter it if you feel the need, and buy a reusable aluminum bottle.
• “Fake” Clean: Clean doesn’t smell like pine or lemon. Clean doesn’t smell! The chemicals in regular cleaners aren’t healthy for people, animals, or the earth. Use natural cleaners and a natural cleaning company (need we say, like Broom Huggers!)
• Did you know that appliances and electronics still use 40% of their power when they’re not in use? Your toaster, lamps, tv – they all use 40% of their power as long as they’re plugged in, on “standby.” The solution? Use a Smart Power Strip. Turn of the power strip and it’ll keep those appliances from sucking energy. Also, it groups your electronics in ‘clusters,’ so that when you turn off your TV, it also turns off your DVD player and surround sound too. Clever!

There are some awesome resources at Oprah’s website, along with some video feed. Check it out!

Tune in tomorrow! April 19, 2007

Oprah is having a special ‘green’ show tomorrow. Gotta see that! Tune in to Oprah tomorrow to see the real deal, or check back here tomorrow evening. You can bet I’ll give a  recap!