Bedrooms
“Most people spend more time in the bedroom than in any other room of the house,” remarks Huffington Post Eco Eti- quette columnist Jennifer Grayson. “So it’s important to focus on making bed- rooms as green and healthy as possible.” She advocates paying special attention to sleepwear, bedding and furniture people sleep on.
4 Start with a good foundation. Box springs can be constructed of plywood or particleboard, which commonly contain formaldehyde, classified as a probable human carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a toxic air contaminant by the state of California. Choose those that have been certified as formaldehyde-free or with low emissions. A platform bed made of Forest Stewardship Council- certified wood, sourced from sustain- ably managed forests, is a healthy alternative.
4 Don’t sleep on a cloud of chemicals. “If your face is pressed up against a conventional mattress for seven hours a night, then you’re going to be breathing in whatever chemicals are off-gassing from that mattress for seven hours a night,” warns Grayson.
Mattresses are commonly treated with fire-retardant chemicals to com- ply with U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission rules. To avoid toxic chemicals like the hydrocarbon tolu- ene, emitted from mattresses stuffed with polyurethane foam, instead look for untreated, wool-covered mattresses (wool is a natural fire retardant) filled with natural latex or containing a spring system wrapped with organic cotton batting.
Non-organic cotton production relies on lots of hazardous synthetic chemicals in its production. Organic cotton, linen and wool bedding are safer bets, especially when certified to meet strict environmental standards.
4 Block the afternoon sun. During the day, shut off air-conditioning vents in-
Find more big ideas in Natural Awakenings’ article, “Spring Green Rehab,” at
Tinyurl.com/3nhan6s.
side bedrooms and block the afternoon sun with interior or exterior solar shades. By day’s end, even in warm climates, bedrooms should be cool enough for sleeping with the addition of a slight breeze from an open window or a slow- running floor or ceiling fan.
4 Go wireless. It’s impossible to com- pletely avoid electromagnetic radiation from today’s technologies, so lower expo- sure in the bedroom by removing elec- tronic devices and placing electrical items at least five feet away from the bed.
4 Forget fabric softeners. Most fabric softeners contain highly toxic chemi- cals that latch onto sheets and can be inhaled or absorbed directly into the bloodstream through skin. Instead, add a quarter-cup of baking soda to the wash cycle to soften sheets and other laundry.
4 Leave the lights off. Motion-detecting nightlights save energy while allowing safe passage in the wee hours.
Laundry Room
In a typical U.S. home, the washing machine accounts for 21 percent of home water use and combined, the washer and dryer comprise 5 to 8 per- cent of home energy demands. Diane MacEachern, founder of BigGreenPurse. com and author of Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener World, explains that a good way to conserve key resources is to use these appliances less—reducing the number of loads and drying items on outdoor clotheslines or indoor racks. MacEachern says, “You can prob-
ably wash things like sweatshirts and blue jeans less frequently without much consequence, and a clothesline requires
no energy other than the sun.” Also, make sure that whatever goes into the washer or dryer with clothes is non- toxic, or else you’ll be wearing toxic chemical residues next to your skin all day, cautions MacEachern.
4 Select cold water. On average, only 10 percent of the energy used by a clothes washer runs the machine; the other 90 percent goes to heat the water. The typical American household does about 400 loads of laundry each year, resulting in much energy squandered on hot water. With the exception of laun- dering greasy spots or stubborn stains, routinely wash in cold water, using a cold-water eco-detergent.
4 Install a clothesline. Running a dryer for just 40 minutes can use the energy equivalent of a 15-watt, compact fluo- rescent bulb lit for a week. Stretch out a line and hang clothes outside to dry in the fresh air to save about $100 a year on electric bills. The sun imparts a disin- fectant benefit as a bonus.
4 Replace an old machine. A washer or dryer that is older than 10 years has hidden costs.
EnergyStar.gov notes that an older machine uses more energy and can cost from 10 to 75 percent more to oper- ate than a new, high-efficiency appliance.
4 Choose eco-friendly laundry prod- ucts. Conventional laundry soaps contain chemicals that can be problem- atic for us and wreak havoc on marine
natural awakenings
April 2012
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