Living Green Is NOT a Choice...
For Our Family - It's a MUST!
Living green became a way of life for us when we discovered that our son's asthma can be triggered by common household chemicals and pollutants. Before that, we thought 'green living' was a fairly vague term that meant remembering to recycle the milk jugs. But that all changed when asthma became a part of our daily lives. We suddenly started thinking about the direct impact every product or chemical brought into our home was having on our son's health... ...and living green began looking like a smart lifestyle for our family to adopt. Especially when we found out that most chemicals marketed for home use are untested. We weren't the only ones who were concerned about this problem. PBS ran a special report called "Kids and Chemicals" in 2002 that really called attention to this issue and the idea of living green. Here's an excerpt from the blurb on PBS.org: "It is a medical mystery marked "urgent." Across America growing numbers of children are suffering from asthma, childhood cancers like leukemia, as well as learning and behavioral disabilities. Scientists are searching for clues to the causes of these illnesses, and a growing body of research suggests that everyday environmental toxins-what kids eat, drink, and breathe-may put them at risk. " We started making simple changes around the house that could mean the difference between a healthy day and a day dealing with asthma symptoms for our toddler son. Here are some of the things we've done: - Change to non toxic cleaners
- Change to green home products and personal care products
- Change to non toxic lawn care products
- Remove pesticides from all produce
- Avoid fragrances in home and personal care products
- Avoid artificial sweeteners (like aspartame or sucralose)
- Use high quality nutritional products to help our son's little body and immune system fight the effects of any unavoidable exposures
Why all these changes to a 'living green' philosophy of life in our house? Some of the arguments we heard from those around us included: - 'We grew up just fine without using non toxic products.'
- 'We use standard cleaning products and don't have any trouble.'
For me, the quick answer to those questions was simple. Kids are exposed to many more chemicals today than ever before, simply because more exist and are easily available than in past generations. My son is not 'fine' using standard home products and does have trouble with them around. It's not worth messing around with, especially since we have an easy solution. But there are also experts whose research is backing up what I've seen happening in my own home. In the 2002 PBS special "Kids and Chemicals" mentioned earlier, it is noted that: - Common household chemicals are not well tested for their effects on children
- Children are more affected by chemical exposure than adults because of their small size, their habits of playing on the floor and putting their hands in their mouths.
- Even breastmilk contains chemical toxins that are passed to nursing infants
The EPA reports that children are more vulnerable because - They are still growing
- They eat, drink, and breathe more than adults do pound for pound
- They are exposed to more chemicals because of their play habits (like being on the floor and putting hands in their mouths)
It's become such an issue because the effects of chemicals on children have not really been studied long term. Think about it... ...there are so many more chemicals in use today than ever before and we don't even notice that we're using them. Could it be that the huge increase in asthma cases we've seen in the past few decades is caused in part by something as simple as this?To identify the most dangerous chemicals in our home, I checked a list from the EPA of products considered to be
hazardous waste.
People are starting to pay attention.
The National Children's Study
is a project to watch over the next decades since it will be following 100,000 children across the US from before birth to age 21 to show how environmental influences affect their health. This is a huge project (Congress has given more than $110 million to the study), and the results are a long time away......but it shows how important this issue really is.In the meantime, we are going to continue living green at our house to help our family stay as healthy as possible.
This asthma article considers the effects of common household cleaners and chemicals on health and the environment.
Here are some home cleaning tips that will help you get started.
Not sure what eco friendly cleaners are? Look no further...
Natural household cleaners are much more than homemade versions made from vinegar and water.
For me, green housecleaning is a way of life that we will always stick to. And it's so easy!
If you want to live green and learn more about how we make it a way of life, let me know here.
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