One of the notable movements of the young 21^st century has been the “green movement”.   It pervades every aspect of our public consciousness from climate change/global warming to recycling to our grocery shopping habits.  One of the most exciting trends now is building green.  The construction of houses, offices, and commercial –industrial buildings has begun to be affected by the profitable desire to create environmentally-friendly homes and work places.

In this next series of articles we intend to explore the value of “going green” in our most important environment, our homes.  In our first article we will examine the meaning of going green in general terms.  There are three levels of activity that seem most relevant to us:  a) sustainable construction of homes and offices; b) interior furnishings and indoor environmental quality; and c) personal health and wellness.

Green buildings not only make for healthier living environments but also for reducing building and upkeep costs.  According to the U.S. Green Building Council (established in 1993), green buildings, on average, reduce energy use by 30-50%, carbon emissions by 35%, water use by 40%, and solid waste disposal by 70%. Green buildings save $58 billion of sick time from work annually and add $180 billion in increased worker productivity annually. 

It makes both financial and environmental sense to build green.  Green is indeed the color of money.  The construction of the 11-story Banner Bank Building in downtown Boise, Idaho is a case in point.  Completed a couple of years ago, the building site was chosen because of its proximity to public transit and downtown facilities.  Commuters pay parking fees commensurate with their vehicles’ fuel efficiency, thus encouraging the use of more efficient cars.  The building uses 60-80% less water than conventional buildings through capturing storm water from streets and parking lots, water that is also recycled to flush the toilet system.  Because of several energy efficiency measures, including “smart” heating and lighting systems and under floor air ventilation, the building uses 65% less electricity and overall 50% less energy than comparable-sized downtown buildings.

Occupant comfort is also a goal of the green building movement.  Home buyers increasingly are focusing their attention on environmentally-friendly homes because they are safer and will save them money.  And the housing market at present is definitely a buyer’s market.  Building new homes or renovating existing homes and marketing them successfully means offering something special, something “green”.  Indeed, pride in purchasing in a designated green community has become a growing phenomenon in SW Florida.

Homes in such communities have been created or re-created using the most efficient and effective indoor design techniques.  Builders and contractors can receive tax credits for many of the home improvements that they make.  By 2010, residential green building is expected to grow to a $20-$38 billion industry; some analysts have suggested a $60 billion growth within the next five years.  Many homes have been constructed or renovated using simple passive design elements such as recycled, environmentally=friendly building material, improved cross ventilation, solar lighting, overhangs and porches to reduce sunlight, tinted windows, and low-flow fixtures and water-saving appliances.  Newer innovations include the use of no or low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) paints, finishes, and carpets, as well as bamboo and cork flooring.  Home owners themselves can make simple “green” adjustments by shifting from incandescent to compact fluorescent bulbs and replacing ordinary air filters with high energy-score filters that last longer.

The one category of “green living” that has not yet received the attention it deserves is the health and wellness of the domestic and work environments that have been created.  What is the point of moving into an environmentally-friendly home or workplace if we do not crate a safer, non-toxic environment?

It is sobering to think of the impact of household chemicals, for example, on indoor air pollution.  According to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), homes have up to five times the concentration of hazardous chemicals in the air compared with the outdoors.  As a consequence, women who remain at the home have a 54% higher death rate from cancer than women who work outside the home.  Many cleaning products and personal care products release toxic gasses into the air not only when they’re opened but also when they are stored away.  These gasses have been connect4ed to increased rates of disease, including not only cancer but also chronic asthma, birth defects, diabetes, and heart problems.  And toxic waters can harm the environment through air, water, and solid waste pollution.

The California department of Fish and Game has reported that the greatest dangers to aquatic life actually come from household bleach, all-purpose cleaners, laundry and dish detergents.  By “going green”, we can eliminate this insidious indoor problem and truly make our lives healthier and more long-lasting.

Cynthia Mitchell is a professional speaker who specializes in educating consumers and professionals connected to the real estate and healthcare industries on the value of non-toxic living. She is available to speak with your group and welcomes your feedback to this article at her website www.timeforwhatmatters.com

“For thousands of years the native Aborigines of Australia have used the leaves of the Tea Tree to cure various ailments.  Early in this century, doctors and scientists began to realize that the natural oil contained in the leaves had incredible halting properties.  Over the last 75 years, considerable research has been done, and Tea Tree is finally being recognized as an extremely effective curative for a wide range of medical conditions.” (Mackenzie, That Amazing Tea Tree Oil)

Tea Tree oil, an essential healing oil, takes its name from the botanical Melaleuca Alternifolia,  (not Melaleuca Quinquinerva, the species brought into the Everglades her in Florida.)  We can thank Captain James Cook and his botanist, Joseph Banks, in the late 18^th century, for using the leaves for brewing a tea, and drinking the essence.  It was not until the 1920’s however that the Chief Chemist at the Museum of Applied Technology in Australia, Arthur Penfold, extracted the oil and recognized its antibacterial and antifungal, hence healing, properties.

In 1930, the Medical Journal of Australia published findings of Dr. E.M. Humphrey who was encouraged by the way that the oil dissolved pus and left surrounding areas clean (Humphrey, E.M. Medical Journal of Australia  I 417-418, 1930)  He urged the dental industry “to take seriously the antiseptic properties for gums and the mouth”.  He also noted that when added to soap it would make the soap up to 60 times more effective against Typhoid bacilli than the so called disinfectant soaps.  These findings excited both the scientific and medical communities and further research was funded.  Subsequent articles were published in the Journal of National Medicine and the British Medical Journal. 

From diabetic gangrene in man to other diseases, Tea Tree Oil was known as a “safe, effective, non-toxic, non-irritant, antiseptic disinfectant.” (Australian Journal of Pharmacy, 18, 274-275, 1937)

By the start of World War II, Melaleuca Alternifolia had earned its reputation as a miracle healer — one that was medically recognized world-wide for the successful treatment of conditions including:

• Ear, nose and throat infections
• Gynecological infections, like Candida
• Nail infections
• Skin infections
• Dental nerve capping
• Hemorrhages, wounds, and first aid
• Many and varied veterinary applications

Why was such an incredible discovery put aside?  The answer is simple; the discovery and popularity of penicillin.  Science rejoiced that it had finally triumphed over nature – or so it seemed.  Modern medicine, built on synthetic chemicals, reigned over natural medicine…for a while.

A heightened awareness of over-exposure to synthetic chemicals has consumers demanding options.  With a 75 year history as a safe effective antiseptic, tea tree oil stands unparalleled as a natural alternative.  Among its properties are its antibacterial, antifungal nature, its ability to soothe as it heals and of course, its ability to clean as a solvent.

For over 17 years, an INC 500 company has built its business around versatile, cutting-edge wellness products; many which utilize a standard of tea tree oil unavailable anywhere else.  Customers simply order, by phone or internet, replacements for those everyday products which may contain toxic chemicals.  The company manufactures everything in the U.S. and offers 300 non-toxic product replacements in 5 divisions:  personal care, nutrition, designer skin care, pharmaceuticals and ecosense home care.

If the prospect of a non-toxic lifestyle is attractive to you and if preventing disease is a focus of your life, consider simply switching stores.  Here’s to your health!

This article was written by Cynthia Villari Mitchell, M.Ed. in 2002.  She is currently the owner of Time for What Matters, and consultants with individuals and businesses on a local and national level with “an eye on your health” – physical, financial, personal and environmental.

Each and every day millions of consumers go shopping for everything from personal care to homecare products without thinking twice about the ingredients.  They make no connection between the products they use in the kitchen, bathroom, and laundry room and the adverse health of their families in such forms as asthma, skin rashes, and even heart disease and cancer.

And yet these days you can’t even open the New York Times without seeing a full-page warning that “toxic chemicals in everyday products are dangerous to your health and the health of those you care about”. (Mount Sinai School of Medicine)  If you are like me, you ask at least two thought-provoking questions.  First, why do companies that manufacture these products continue to do so even though they know how harmful certain ingredients are to human beings?  Second, who do people take such chances with the most valuable gift we have, namely our health?

Recently, I interviewed a woman who was pregnant.  She had researched thoroughly the materials used in building their new home.  In fact, given her history, she would be considered an expert on building a sound home.  She was impressed to learn about the harmfulness of products she bought on a regular basis, and delighted to know that safer ones were available.  I showed her the website, nottoopretty.org which delineates those products that can harm the baby in utero.  She was amazed indeed.  What world you do if you were in her shoes?  Would you make some different choices in your purchases?  Would designing a room with the right space and furniture be as important as providing a toxic-free environment for the family and baby to be?

The Center for Children’s Health and Environment is our nation’s first academic research and policy center to examine the links between chemicals and a slew of problems like learning disabilities, infertility, asthma, allergies, and cancer.  At risk are many people, pregnant women, couples who want to have children, school-aged children, senior citizens…women who work from home…and the list goes on.  A PBS special, Chemicals and Children, with Bill Moyer, highlighted the depth of the problem both for the child in utero and the adult whose mother may have been exposed to toxins.  The documentary even went as far as to link the implications of a person whose DNA would reflect such exposures.  In other words, the long-term effects of toxins can be expressed in our genes.  What will it take, therefore, to create a more conscious consumer?

In a word…PATIENCE…one customer at a time…one household at a time…one generation at a time.  I have spent my career helping people define the level of wellness they wanted to experience in their lives.  Likewise, I have spent many days on the sidelines asking such questions as, “Exactly what will it take?”

Some people criticize the American medical establishment because it would appear to be committed to treating disease rather than preventing it.  The same might apply to the parent who, finding a child asthmatic, seeks only medical attention without thinking about the environmental exposures n the home that contribute to the unhealthy condition.  What if there was something you cold do to change the quality of your life…would you do it?  What if that one solution was to change the products you purchase to safer, healthier ones?  Women’s asthma has recently been documented as having increased 65%…could that be a result of unconsciously buying the very products that lead you to your inhalant?  Ask anyone who has ever been threatened with an inability to breathe…what would they do to breathe again?  Would they be willing to become more conscious consumers?

What is the result if we pay no heed?  The Mount Sinai School of Medicine ran an add recently that startled many of us…with a picture of an infant it read, “Our most precious resource is being threatened, WHY?”  Whether you are of childbearing age or in the second half of your life…the question begs your answer now.  What would e the price of remaining unconscious?  What would be the value of changing your habits today?

“Today’s children inhabit a fundamentally different planet from the one we experienced as children. In the past 40 years, at least 70,000 chemicals have been introduced into their world…many through consumer products.” (CHILDREN”S Health Environmental Coalition) Childhood asthma has nearly doubled in the past 20 years, and asthma deaths among children and young people increased by 118% between 1980 and 1993. Asthma is now the leading cause of hospital admissions for children. (EPA September 1996)

Likewise, according to the National Cancer Institute, children’s cancer has risen 10.8% in the past decade, with an estimated 80% TO 90% linked to exposure to carcinogens found in the environment. (Landigan, M.D. and Needleman, M.D., Raising Toxic Free Children, 1996)

MANY CHEMICALS WIDELY USED AND COMMONLY FOUND AT HOME ARE TOXIC TO CHILDREN. It is no coincidence that at the same time, “an epidemic of developmental, learning, and behavioral disabilities has become evident among children.” Animal and human studies demonstrate that many of these chemicals are developmental neurotoxins that contribute to these problems. Neurotoxins pose a health threat that those of us who want to live longer and healthier lives need to be about.

Early in my childhood, I remember as a baby boomer, my mother’s high priority on two things: doing homework and keeping a spotless home. I remember every Saturday as being cleaning day with all of us participating in cleaning everything from the dust on the furniture to the dirt on the stairs leading to our 3^rd floor tenement home. My grandparents owned the home where I spent my first16 years. Their hard-work ethic made quite an impression in my life. There are many aspects of that life that I will always respect and value, but the disease of asthma isn’t one of them. Anyone who has ever had trouble breathing, even for a moment, can begin to imagine what the trauma of this disease is like.

In those days, we thought that products such as Tide, Lysol and Clorox were simply the hallmark of a clean home. We knew that we needed to exercise caution when using certain products, like Draino, which had a picture of the skull and crossbones on it meaning “warning”. What we didn’t know was that years later, the use of products like these would be the subject of much controversy and scrutiny, especially by the very baby boomers like me for whom these “convenience” products were manufactured.

I’ll never forget the day I read my first MSDS sheet, material safety data sheets as they are called. I had been challenged by the vice president of our counseling enters to consider the value of detoxifying our home and office as a way to reduce my need for my inhalants. She was persistent that the evidence was astounding. I merely had to take a look at the hazardous ingredients present in the products I used everyday and the symptoms they could cause and suddenly, as if it were yesterday, began to make a possible link…to the world of asthma and allergies. A link that neither my wellness nor my medical practitioners had ever mentioned. I wondered….what if she is right?

I thought about all the children I had worked with when I was an elementary guidance counselor. How many children were on Ritalin, how many had EAP’s (educational treatment programs) because they couldn’t concentrate? How many had behavioral disorders? We used to point the finger at genetics, or diet, or family dynamics. We never even considered the harmfulness of out gassing of chemicals used in their homes and even in their schools. We never even though about it…although some people have.

Bill Moyer, a well respected reports on PBS, recently featured a television special entitled “Kids and Chemicals”. This sequel to Trade Secrets”, aired two years ago was just as explicit and compelling. The program was an attempt to educate parents about the seriousness of the problem and prompt them to seek alternative action. Moyer interviewed Dr. Phillip Landrigan, of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, who works with scientists around the world to understand how kids are affected by their exposure to chemicals. According to Landrigan, of the 3000 high production volume chemicals in use in this country today, only 43% have been even minimally tested. Further, he stated that children are potentially more vulnerable to chemicals than adults. “They play on the ground, they live low, they breathe more air, they eat more food, they put their hands in their mouth and so they transfer more toxic chemicals into their body than we do’? (Transcript from PBS broadcast, Kids and Chemicals)

Dr. Sandra Stienberger, a biologist at Cornell University, joins Dr. Landrigan in asserting that exposure during pregnancy doesn’t by itself mean that a child will get ill. “What matters is the intensity of the exposure during pregnancy and when it occurs in fetal development. A chemical exposure occurring early in pregnancy might cause miscarriage,” argue the researchers. If it occurs later on, it might cause birth defects. Later still, it might damage brain cells. Says Dr. Stienberger, “Maybe certain problems that we understand…as attention deficit disorders, hyperactivity, the inability to pay attention aggressive and violent behaviors might have their origins during these windows of vulnerability.” (Transcript from PBS broadcast)

Moyer’s’ reports on a newly proposed project called, “The National Children’s Study” that will track 100,000 children from the womb to age 18 and provide definitive answers necessary for new regulations and laws protecting children from exposure to toxins.

In the meantime, what are some steps that we can take to make our home and office safer for us? We can begin by replacing everyday mass-produced consumer products. Take action now. “The very nature of change is gradual. It begins with a decision to change, a commitment to change.” (Debra Lynn Dadd, Nontoxic Home and Office) Finding safe products easy and rewarding. Even the smallest steps can make an enormous difference.

This article was written by Cynthia V.Mitchell, M.Ed, wellness consultant and owner of Time for What Matters, the company with “an eye on your health”

What does it mean to “go green” and why is it necessary to create a safer indoor environment? Culturally the word green has many meanings. Green refers to the Green Movement, being environmentally friendly, there is also green fundraising and green finances. Green as it applies to indoor air environments means non-toxic, safer, prevention of disease, especially childhood diseases like asthma, allergies, ADHD, and the like. Since 1980 asthma has increased by 600% and the Canadian lung association and the Asthma Society of Canada identify common household cleaners and cosmetics as triggers. There are more than 3 million poisonings a year and household cleaners are the number one cause of poisoning in children. Chemicals are attracted to and stored in fatty tissue and the brain is a prime target for these neurotoxins because of its high fat content and very rich blood supply. An EPA survey concluded that indoor air was 3 to 70 times more polluted than outdoor air. Houses today can be so energy efficient that “out-gassing” of chemicals is common because chemicals have no where to go so they build up inside our homes. We spend 90% of our time indoors at work or at home, 65% of our time at home and mom’s, infants and the elderly spend 90% of their time in the home.

Because chemicals have the ability to attach to dust particles, the air or water, they can travel far from where they were used. Toxic chemicals often get into the body because we inhale them, swallow them or absorb them through our skin. Some chemicals or their by-products lodge in our bodies for a short while others can remain there for years. Arsenic, for example, is mostly excreted in 72 hours of exposure while chlorinated pesticides can remain in the body for 50 years! By simply replacing everyday toxic consumer products with safer greener options we an contribute to the well being of our families and our planet!

Another way of reducing our exposure to chemicals is to make structural changes. As an example: install chlorine filters on showerheads, install activated carbon filters to remove lead, chlorine by-products, install water distillers to kill microbe and remove arsenic, install operable windows for natural ventilation! In fact it is recommended that we exchange the air in our homes three to four times a day! We can also use formaldehyde free materials to replace cabinets and countertops, use rapidly renewable floor materials, like bamboo and cork, replace vinyl flooring with natural linoleum. Linoleum that is made from natural renewable material such linseed oil, pine resins and cork. Use low or no VOC and formaldehyde free paint and use solvent-free adhesives to name a few money-saving and health-preserving options.

Going green is affordable and is a way to reduce our exposure to toxic chemicals. Eliminating the cause of environmental illness is much more cost-effective than treating the symptom. Simple changes in the home may prevent some exposure. The best course to long-term prevention includes eliminating persistent chemicals that accumulate in our body and replace them with safer non-toxic options.

Cynthia Mitchell is a professional speaker who specializes in educating consumers and professionals connected to the real estate and healthcare industries on the value of non-toxic living. She is available to speak with your group and welcomes your feedback to this article at her website www.timeforwhatmatters.com