Home & Garden Resources
Our homes are a major focal point of lives – eating, sleeping, working, cleaning, or just relaxing. Our society devotes increasing amounts of time, money and energy into our "personal domains," often without considering how many of the choices we make can affect our health and well being, not to mention the impact they may have on our environment.
http://es.epa.gov/techinfo/facts/safe-fs.html
Learn More
http://www.pbs.org/tradesecrets/
Trade Secrets – a spin-off site of the Bill Moyer’s PBS special, looks at how chemical companies have compromised public health and how these chemicals pervade our daily lives.
Consider the choices we make on a DAILY basis:
Cleaning
Look closely at the household products you are cleaning with. Most of us will be surprised at the chemicals and ingredients in them and whey they are harmful to our environment and us.
Learn more
http://www.seventhgeneration.com
Non-toxic and environmentally safe household products.
Cooking
We live in the age of convenience: with microwaves, Teflon pans, plastic packaging, containers and the like. Most assume they are safe and indispensable products to make our lives easier. This is not necessarily the case.
Learn More
http://www.ewg.org/reports/toxicteflon/cookwaretips.php
Environmental Working Group’s tips on safe cookware.
http://www.organicstyle.com/feature/0,8028,s1-41-30-32-1110,00.html
Safer Food Storage
resources_foodtips.html
Tips on food packaging and storage.
Building/Remodeling
Building or remodeling a home? Painting your home? So many choices to make and many can have an impact on health and the environment.
Learn More
http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/
Information on sustainable architecture and building.
http://www.greenhome.com
A great environmental “web store.” Good resource for paint, stains and much more.
http://www.buildinggreen.com
A resource for environmentally friendly building alternatives, Publisher of Environmental Building News.
http://www.greenfusiondesigncenter.com
A unique retail store, gallery and education center featuring green building materials and natural home furnishings, a book store, and a marketing galley for our partners, products, and services.
Furnishings
Think about the “things” that surround you in your home such as mattresses, furniture, rugs, etc… You might be surprised to find out the chemicals that are used to manufacture many home furnishings.
Learn More
http://www.checnet.org/healthehouse/education/articles-detail.asp?Main_ID=359
Rest Easy on a Safe Bed
http://www.ecolivingcenter.com/articles/flameretardants.html
Cause for Alarm Over chemicals—Flame Retardants
http://www.ewg.org/reports/inthedust/summary.php
Toxic Fire Retardants in American Homes
http://www.checnet.org/healthehouse/education/quicklist-detail.asp?Main_ID=351
What to look for when buying new furniture.
Garden
What are you using in your garden? When those pesky, invasive weeds keep popping up, consider some healthier alternatives before dashing off to the store to buy the “super duper weed killer.” Pesticides such as herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides all have one thing in common – they are used to kill. With this in mind, we need to consider the impact these products may have on our bodies as well as our environment.
Learn More
http://www.beyondpesticides.org
http://mcstoppp.org/
Marin County Stormwater Pollution Prevention
Online Resources/Green Guide
http://www.lifekind.com
Organic mattresses, bedding, furniture and other natural products.
http://www.coyuchi.com
Local (Marin) manufacturer of a full line of organic linens.
http://www.planetnatural.com/site/index.html
Online store for natural gardening alternatives.
http://www.furnature.com/
Healthy Furnishings and Fabrics
http://www.naturalhomemagazine.com
Electromagnetic Fields (EMF’s)
EMF exposure/“dirty power” and the potential health risks is a widely debated topic. There is good reason to learn more — electricity today is not a simple 60 Hz electrical signal. The increased use of modern electronics and other non-linear, time-varying loads has over-loaded the distribution system with electrical pollution that causes "dirty" power.
Learn More
http://www.latitudes.org/articles/electrical_sensitivity_articles.html
Electrical Sensitivity: A Growing Global Concern
http://www.who.int/peh-emf/about/en/
World Health Organization’s information and resources on EMF’s
http://www.electricalpollution.com/
Website with information on EMF exposure, dirty power.
http://www.energyfields.org/
Website for Council on Wireless technology Impacts.
http://www.consumerreports.org/main/detailv2.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=299629
Are Cell Phones Safe?
Personal Care
A frightening statistic from the Environmental Working Group: 89% of the 10,500 ingredients the FDA has determined are used in personal care products (FDA 2000) have not been evaluated for safety by the CIR, FDA, or any other publicly accountable institution (FDA 2000, CIR 2003).
Learn More
http://www.organicconsumers.org/bodycare/orgstand20405.cfm
Debate continues over standards for body care products