3 Ways to Build Green

http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourworld/yourhome/articles/hazards_at_home_-.html
Protecting yourself from environmental hazards can start with the home itself. The “building green” movement, best known for embracing sustainable materials and designs promoting high energy efficiency, also focuses on creating healthy dwellings, a concept used increasingly in the construction of senior housing.

“Providers are finding that young seniors are increasingly asking them how ‘green’ their projects are,” says Mark Hanson, director of sustainable services for Hoffman LLC, a planning, design and construction firm in Appleton, Wis.
Principles behind green construction include:

Materials: A variety of materials that avoid potentially hazardous chemicals are now available. Experienced green builders can help you choose what makes sense for your construction or remodeling project.

Better air circulation:  Proper venting, filtering and air circulation prevent stale air from building up in a home. In remodeling, says Hanson, fans that move air completely out of kitchens and bathrooms are important.

Maximizing natural light:  This is a plus both for energy efficiency—well-placed, properly insulated windows provide passive solar heating—and for health reasons. Getting enough natural light can help your body set its circadian rhythms.  —RK

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4 Air Fresheners
Indoor plants: Place at least two tropical houseplants per 12-by-12-foot area to absorb airborne toxicants, including formaldehyde. Air-purifying plants such as areca and lady palms, bamboo, ferns and spider plants ideally should be placed close to your bed, favorite chair or other “breathing zone.”

Air purifiers: Whole-house air-cleaning systems with good filtration do a better job than stand-alone, portable room purifiers, says John Spengler, an environmental health researcher at Harvard. For even cleaner air, he recommends locating the newer air-to-air heat exchangers—either built in or as window units—in the bedroom, living room or wherever people spend most of their time.

Open windows: Opening windows and doors for about 10 minutes each day—with the heat or air conditioning turned off—will help circulate away indoor pollutants, says Catherine Zandonella, who writes about environmental health for the Green Guide. It’s best to open all doors and windows at once for maximum cross-ventilation.

Air out new purchases: “Televisions, computers and laminate or particleboard furniture give off hundreds of chemicals, and the newer they are, the more out-gassing you get,” says Bill Wolverton, president of Wolverton Environmental Services in Picayune, Miss. “Before you bring these items inside your house, remove all wrappings and let them sit outdoors or in your garage for a few days to reduce your exposure to these vapors.” —Sid Kirchheimer
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5 Natural Pest Repellents
Here are safer alternatives to commercial pesticides:

Ants: Sprinkle cinnamon, bay leaves, cayenne pepper or baby powder in problem areas and along baseboards and windowsills.

Cockroaches: Sprinkle equal parts of baking soda and confectioners’ sugar in problem areas.

Mice: Place cotton dipped in peppermint oil near problem areas. Used kitty litter is another repellent.

Mosquitoes: Mix 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water placed on your deck or balcony or dab lavender oil on your wrists and elbows.

Flies: Small sachets of crushed mint placed around the home will discourage flies. So will a potted sweet basil plant. —Sid Kirchheimer

Canary Cosmetics does not use nanoparticles in our products.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080521.wnano21/BNStory/National/

Tiny substances should be banned in foods, clearly labelled in personal-care products, environmental law group says

MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT

From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail

May 21, 2008 at 4:53 AM EDT

Nanomaterials should be banned in foods and some packaging, and there should be mandatory labelling for these novel compounds in cosmetics, personal-care products and cleaning agents, says the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy.

The institute says the food ban should be in place by November of 2009 and the labelling requirement by May of 2010. It contends that the “extremely rapid commercialization” of consumer products containing nanomaterials “requires an unprecedented sense of urgency by government in the creation of policy for this area.”

Nanomaterials are extremely small, engineered substances that many environmentalists worry could be the next frontier for hazardous chemicals in consumer goods. They’re currently being added to many products, including wrinkle- and stain-resistant fabrics, sunscreens and sports equipment, such as tennis racquets, among other items.

CIELAP, a Toronto-based environmental policy think tank, is issuing the timelines and recommendations in a report being released today.

Although the health or environmental threats, if any, posed by nanomaterials are not known, Susan Holtz, a senior policy analyst at the institute, said “this is an emerging issue” driven by the fast growth in commercial applications for the new technology.
The regulatory framework for ensuring the safety of these novel materials isn’t well developed in Canada or elsewhere around the world, Ms. Holtz said. She said the labelling requirement would give consumers more information with which to decide whether to buy a product.

The report, written by Ms. Holtz, also recommends that the federal government create a Canadian inventory of products containing these compounds, a record of research activities on them, and a worker safety program for those involved in their manufacture.

More than 500 consumer items incorporate nanomaterials, according to a non-governmental tally maintained by the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, with three of them made by Canadian firms. One industry estimate projected that about $1-trillion worth of products incorporating nanotechnology will be on the world market by 2015.

Nanomaterials are very minute - ranging in size from one to 100 nanometres. One nanometre equals a billionth of a metre, and it would take about 100,000 particles the size of one nanometre to equal the diameter of a human hair.

Scientists make nanomaterials by arranging metals and other compounds at the level of the atom in unique ways, often into shapes resembling rods or spheres, creating new substances with more strength, conductivity or durability than the original materials from which they are constructed.

Because of their small size, there are fears that when products using nanomaterials break down, some of the tiny particles will be able to cross into cell membranes or become embedded in tissues in a way that is similar to such carcinogens as asbestos or such health hazards as the small particulates, or soot, contained in air pollution.

Ms. Holtz said nanomaterials are also being used in medical applications. She is worried that nanomaterials containing silver as an anti-bacteriological agent in wound dressing, for instance, could get into the environment and harm wildlife. She said there is “beginning to be an accumulation of evidence that things like this have ecological impacts.” Environment Canada and Health Canada issued a proposed regulatory framework for nanomaterials last year in September.

The government wants to regulate nanomaterials in the same way as new chemicals, if they have a unique structure or molecular arrangement. The requirement would expose nanomaterials to additional safety testing, but Ms. Holtz said the scientific protocols for evaluating these substances have not yet been determined.

http://www.enterprisenews.com/archive/x489859442/Grow-green-Try-an-environmentally-friendly-approach-to-a-lush-lawn

By Pam Adams
GateHouse News Service
Posted May 19, 2008 @ 09:55 PM
PEORIA, Ill. —
When it comes to synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, just say no.

Think of synthetics as your lawn on drugs, says Clark Abraham.

“The more you use, the more you need.”

Once out of rehab, however, the drug-free lawn gets by on less of everything — less fertilizer, less watering, less mowing. More importantly, the clean-and-sober lawn is safer for people and their environment, he says. Not to mention, “drug” prices, in this instance, are rising right along with the price of gas.

Abraham is one of the undoubtedly few area residents who has signed on to the SafeLawns Challenge, a national campaign to promote environmentally-friendly lawn care. But an eco-green lawn is a natural for him. He owns and operates Abraham’s Eco-Lawn Organics in Normal. He hasn’t used man-made chemicals on his own yard in 11 years.

The question is, how many others will join him, particularly in central Illinois?

That’s the challenging part for the SafeLawns Challenge, which aims to convince Americans — including homeowners, businesses, schools and other institutions — to convert one million acres of grass to organic lawn care by 2010.

“Organic lawn care is taking off on the East Coast and the West Coast,” says Paul Rosenbohm, owner of LAF Compost Inc. in rural Peoria. “They jump on the bandwagon first, we wait and let them work out the mistakes.”

Franz Hoerdemann, of Hoerdemann’s Landscaping in West Peoria, agrees. Though he tries to use as little synthetic fertilizer as possible, he suspects farmers are using more organic products than landscapers to fertilize or to control weeds and insects.

“I’m looking at it because it’s something we’re going to have to get used to,” Hoerdemann says. “But right now it’s not cost effective, even though fertilizer has gone up 40 to 60 percent because of oil prices.”

However slowly, even the traditional lawn-care industry is moving away from petrochemicals to organic products made of manure or bone meal.

The SafeLawns Challenge is sponsored by the SafeLawns Foundation, a not-for-profit based in Maine geographically and online at safelawns.org. Both are the brainchild/marketing tool for Paul Tukey’s mission. He’s a reporter-turned-landscaper who turned organic lawncare advocate after he was diagnosed with acute chemical sensitivity, brought on by an overexposure to chemicals.

Tukey, founder of a “People, Places and Plants” magazine and former host of a cable television show of the same name, is author of “The Organic Lawn Care Manual.” SafeLawns Foundation came about as a result of discussions with the publisher about how to promote the book. The foundation got off the ground just as Land O’ Lakes Purina Feed launched Bradfield Organics, a fertilizer billed as safe for people, pets and the environment.

The two have been linked ever since. For instance, Bradford Organics sponsors how-to videos on the SafeLawns Web site, and SafeLawns selected Bradford products to use on its National Mall demonstration project.

But Tukey sees the SafeLawns Challenge and other activities as a public education campaign. He’s trying to change minds and myths, lawns and laws.

Traditional lawn-maintenance programs typically involve a four-step program — pre-emergent weed control, weed killer, a summer fertilizer, and a fall weed and seed. Tukey likes to say organic lawncare is a 12-step program, beginning with mental detoxification.

The perfect lawn is a marketing myth, he says, and the idea that organically-maintained lawns are ugly is a misconception. Using eco-friendly techniques on four acres of the National Mall, for instance, is designed to dispel the misconception that going organic is going ugly.

“Changing the tolerance level for what we call weeds is part of this,” Tukey says. For instance, people loved clover in the yard until the 1960s. “Now they’ve been convinced that, somehow, it’s un-American.”

Tukey also points out that traditional lawn-care practices also contribute to pollution, from chemical run-off into water systems to noisy lawn mowers.

“With organic lawn care, the soil needs to be every bit as alive as you and me,” he says. “If you’ve been using a chemical fertilizer program for any length of time, the soil is dead. The only way you can grow plants in dead soil is to use more and more synthetic fertilizer.”

Thus, Tukey’s lawn-care intervention.

Going organic is more costly and labor-intensive initially, he explains, because it’s a process of bringing soil back to life. Composting, leaving grass clippings down, and not cutting grass too low are part of the drug-free lawn rehabilitation program.

Organic lawn care practices are more cost effective in the long run. Eventually, lawns require less fertilizer, far less watering and maintain better in drought conditions.

The SafeLawns Foundation is also among the growing number of local and national organizations pushing for laws banning or limiting the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

Between the legislative push and the price of fossil fuel, the country is hitting bottom, Tukey says. “Frankly, people are going to have to change, whether they like it or not.”

Mom is ageless, but should she wish to pamper her skin, we want her lotions and potions to be safe.

Avon’s Mother’s Day gift bag contains two creams, ANEW Alternative Intensive Age Treatment SPF 25 and ANEW Alternative Intensive Eye Cream. If Mom were to use both of these creams, she would be exposed to:

• diazolidinyl urea (which may be derived from urine and contaminated with formaldehyde, a cancer-causing chemical);
• propylene glycol (an ingredient with strong contamination concerns);
• oxybenzone (dangers associated with enhanced skin penetration; linked to cancer, hormone disruption);
• undisclosed ingredients in “fragrance” (may include phthalates, linked to birth defects and cancer);
• four different parabens (which have been found in breast tumors and linked to endocrine disruption); and
• dozens of other ingredients with health concerns or that have never been tested for safety.

These aren’t the only Avon products that we hope mom will avoid. The Skin Deep database contains 356 Avon products, 84 of which score in the highest hazard range (between 7 and 10 on a scale of 1 to 10) due to ingredients linked to cancer, endocrine disruption, developmental or reproductive toxicity, allergies and contamination concerns (impurities linked to cancer, for example).

Why is the “company for women,” the company behind the famous Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, putting unsafe and untested ingredients in products moms use daily? If Avon really wants to support women, it should support their long-term health.

Here’s the heartening news: On May 1, a full 25 percent of Avon shareholders voted in favor of a resolution that requested the company report on policies regarding potentially dangerous, unlabeled nanomaterials in products. The vote shows that Avon shareholders are open to improvement - so let’s push them to make more commitments to women’s health!

Could insecticides in pet shampoos trigger autism spectrum disorders? That’s the suggestion of one of the first large-scale population-based studies to look how environmental factors and their interactions with genes contribute to the condition.

Mothers of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were twice as likely to have reported using pet shampoos containing a class of insecticide called pyrethrins as those of healthy children, according to survey results presented Thursday at the International Meeting for Autism Research in London. The risk was greatest if the shampoo was used during the second trimester of pregnancy.

Meanwhile, another study suggests that exposure to organophosphate insecticides double the risk of developmental disorders, including autism. Organophosphates have previously been linked to Gulf War syndrome.

While many chemicals have previously been blamed for triggering autism, there have been very few rigorous studies designed to investigate the link.

More at New Scientist.

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