Air Pollution

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Testing your home air quality

July 8, 2009 in Air Quality, Healthy Green Home by Jennifer | No comments

Poor air quality is rampant in many homes. It’s smart to test your home air quality, plus not even that expensive. Most homes don’t need fancy testing solutions. Two kits you can pick up at your local hardware / home & garden shop include a basic carbon monoxide detector and a radon testing kit.

Talking Combination Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm

A carbon monoxide detector will sound an alarm if gas levels in your home rise to an unsafe level. Carbon monoxide can leak from any poorly maintained fuel burning appliance and an appliance can go wacky without you knowing. Other places carbon monoxide can come from include, kerosene and gas space heaters; leaking chimneys and furnaces; back-drafting from furnaces, gas water heaters, wood stoves, and fireplaces; gas stoves; generators and other gasoline powered equipment; automobile exhaust from attached garages; and tobacco smoke, worn or poorly adjusted and maintained combustion devices (e.g., boilers, furnaces) or nearby auto, truck, or bus exhaust.

If you’re exposed to carbon monoxide at low levels you may feel fatigue or chest pain. At high concentrations, carbon monoxide can cause impaired vision and coordination; headaches; dizziness; confusion; nausea, flu-like symptoms, angina, impaired vision, and reduced brain function. CO exposure can be fatal. A carbon monoxide detector can actually save your life and all homes should have at least one.

The U.S. Surgeon General and EPA recommend that all homes be tested for radon. Radon, a radioactive gas that you can’t see, smell or taste, can pose a danger to your family’s health. Radon is the most common cause of lung cancer (after smoking) and claims about 20,000 lives annually. Studies show that it’s found in all 50 states and that one out of every 15 homes has an elevated radon level.

According to the EPA, radon can creep into your home through…

  1. Cracks in solid floors
  2. Construction joints
  3. Cracks in walls
  4. Gaps in suspended floors
  5. Gaps around service pipes
  6. Cavities inside walls
  7. The water supply

Luckily testing for radon only takes minutes and is easy to do. Learn how to test for radon.

Testing your home air quality is just one part of the puzzle. You need to also keep mold in check, keep icky chemicals out of your home, and take daily steps to improve your indoor air quality.

Six in ten Americans health affected by air pollution

May 17, 2009 in Air Quality by Jennifer | 1 comment

Air pollution is a major health risk for 6 out of 10 Americans according to 10th annual American Lung Association State of the Air report.

State of the Air is basically a report card for cities. The report assigns A-F grades to communities in the USA and looks at trends for 900 counties over the past decade. Ranking includes cities and counties most affected by pollution (ozone, or smog; annual particle pollution; and 24-hour particle pollution levels).

The problem of air pollution is double fold as most of the major pollution causing problems not only affect human health but also create more widespread global warming issues. While almost every major city in the USA has more pollution than it should, some are fairing better than others. According to the report, some very large cities have improved their air quality somewhat due to green efforts. Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Baltimore are among the cities making positive changes. have made improvements in their air quality over the past decade.

The fact that some cities are cleaning up their act can be misleading though, because while LA is cleaning up, they’re still ranked as #1 on the list for metropolitan areas most polluted by short-term particle pollution.

If you’re concerned visit The American Lung Association and view the report for all sorts of tips and facts such as…

  • How your city or county ranks.
  • How to protect your family from air pollution.
  • How to advocate for cleaner overall air quality – tips for addressing the EPA and others.
  • And lots more.

Green Tissues for Cold & Flu Season

December 4, 2008 in Healthy Green Home by Jennifer | No comments

In the last post, Eco-friendly Flu Fighting, I noted that I’m sick today. Since I tend to blog along the lines of how my day is going, it’s pretty much sick day here at Best Green Home Tips.

Right now let’s take a look at earth-friendly options for tissues.

Your most earth friendly tissue option are cloth handkerchiefs; but there are pros and cons.

Pros of cloth handkerchiefs:

  • Reusable.
  • Cost effective; much cheaper than buying oodles of tissue.
  • Often won’t dry out your nose as much as paper tissue.
  • Especially softer on a child’s nose.
  • You can use them plain, or drop some essential oil on them for treatment.
  • Can be used as cleaning cloths when they get too old.

Cons of cloth handkerchiefs:

  • Washing! Seriously, how much laundry do you want to do while you’re sick?
  • Can be icky.
  • Kids, in my experience, don’t tend to handle cloth tissues as well. They leave them laying around, and or try to toss them in the garbage.
  • You may need to purchase a lot in a bigger family, and if everyone wants their own, you’ll need to choose specific colors or monograms.

The next best tissue is recycled.

There aren’t too many pros and cons here, the basic gist is that recycled tissue is a good reuse product if you want paper tissue, but they’re not as green as cloth; because obviously they don’t last as long.

Options:

Organic cotton flannel handkerchiefs: Packaged in a brown paper bag. Available in your choice of natural colour or hand-dyed purple.

Colorgrown Organic Cotton Flannel Hankies

Organic Cotton HANKIES – Singles

100% Recycled Seventh Generation Tissues; Hypo-allergenic; Whitened without chemicals containing chlorine; No added dyes; No added fragrances

Green Forest Facial Tissue: 100% Recycled Paper; Whitened Without Chlorine; Minimum 40% PCR Content

Gaiam Facial Tissue: 100% recycled paper with a minimum of 20% post-consumer content; hypoallergenic, unscented and bleached with environmentally safe sodium hydrosulfite and hydrogen peroxide.

Eco-friendly Flu Fighting

December 4, 2008 in Green Cleaning, Healthy Green Home by Jennifer | No comments

I’m fighting the flu, or some sort of killer cold, hence the topic. I feel terrible, and also a little blah because it’s not even that far into cold and flue season. Darn huh?

If you’re looking to try and avoid (or deal with) all these sick germs flying around, I’ve got some eco-friendly ideas for you:

First of all you want your immune system to be in pretty good overall health. This means avoiding things like toxic home cleaning supplies, chemical laden fragrances in most conventional air fresheners, and chemical fibers in your home furniture, floors, and textiles. Your overall goal is to keep your air clean and free of any icky chemicals. Read the following posts to learn how:

Next you’ll want to avoid breeding germs in your home. Some studies show that the use of antibacterial products; like hand gel and dish soaps, actually help germs, not fight them. You may kill some off at first, but it’s like antibiotics. If you give a germ a dose of antibacterial soap, over and over, the germ may not keep dying off, in fact the germ may adapt and just be able to eventually outwit the soap. The best soaps to use are not antibacterial, but basic, natural and organic soaps. One nice hand soap is Manor Hall Soap Company Liquid Hand Soap.

If you’re already sick and looking for treatment options my advice is usually to start with the smallest plan of attack and move upwards. One, keep your house clean or if you’re already sick, see if someone will help you clean. Cleaning with hot soapy water does remove germs from household surfaces. Two, try some natural remedies like rest, hot showers, essential oils, tea and honey, and so on. To learn more about earth-friendly health care visit Simply Home Remedies. Three, visit the doc. I’m way into natural remedies, but I’m also not against using conventional health care when you need it. I don’t think overuse of medications or antibiotics is smart, but neither is suffering away. Smart medical care is sometimes best. Don’t avoid the doctor’s just because you want to focus on natural treatments.

Also read: Five natural & non-toxic care remedies for kids

More sick day posts coming up!