Easy Going Green?
Easy Going Green?
Is it? Well I think it is getting easier every day. When I started about 6 years ago, it wasn't nearly as easy as it is now. Today, information about Green is blooming everywhere...which is good and not as good. I'm pleased that more people are being exposed to the importance of being eco-friendly -for their own personal health, their family and the health of our planet. This increase in Green demand has made it much easier to find Green products. Yet I'm concerned that some people think Green is just a trend. Since this level of media attention cannot sustain itself, I'm worried that folks will drop Green like a hot potato for the next big thing. I hope that through our sincere efforts here in this Green group, people will see the value of going Green for themselves and make it a conscious lifestyle choice.
Here are a few examples of how I knew that going Green was the right lifestyle choice for me:
- My apartment didn't smell anymore. Seriously. When we got rid of the synthetic carpets, the chemical cleansers, the NYC unfiltered air, the scented candles, I felt I could breathe clean air inside for the first time. This was most noticeable when I fell off the wagon and brought something toxic into the apartment.
o In need of a TV/computer home entertainment cabinet, I explored various stores in NYC with an eye for what would go best with our décor. It never occurred to me that the nice looking and already off-gassed sample furniture at the store wasn't the same piece that would be delivered to my apartment 6 weeks later. So when the piece arrived, I signed for it with a smile thinking just how beautiful it would look in our study. I thought the initial smell was from the kinda sweaty delivery men...so I spent the next 2 hours setting up all our TV/Computer/Stereo/DVD tech equipment into the new home entertainment cabinet. And then my husband came home. He went right up to the wooden piece the size of a queen size bed and gave it a good long sniff. Then he turned to me and said "Baby, I think it is beautiful but it has to go. It smells of toxic stain and chemicals that they use to seal the wood and keep out bugs. It will make us sick." Definitely not the reaction I was expecting. And marriage being a series of compromises, we just closed the door to the study and opened the windows...for 6 weeks...and then after the cabinet off-gassed, we used the room again. (In fact, now I know that is can take from 6 weeks to 6 months (!) for products to off-gas from all the chemicals manufacturers use.) Now I only buy non-toxic furniture, floor samples or antiques. Lesson learned!
- I sleep better at night. In bed I was a tosser and a turner with a perpetual runny nose and dry cough at night. Not the prettiest sight or the best way to start off a marriage. After we purchased our organic mattress (just $1100 for a custom made organic cotton mattress at 7th Generation at http://www.seventhgeneration.com), organic sheets/pillowcases/pillows, I was a new woman in bed. I now sleep soundly without Kleenex or a water pitcher nearby.
- My cooking doesn't make people sick anymore. I could write a book about my cooking mishaps... like when too much smoke from my cheap rental apartment oven led to us shivering all night due to the open windows... but I would rather share the lesson I learned from when I poisoned my husband with soy sauce. It seems that conventionally Soy Sauce has MSG - one of the more allergenic substances used in everyday cooking. Pleased with myself over my new, soy sauced, stir fry concoction, I watched as Dr. Blue Eyes ate and then his eyes turned red...his throat swelled up...his temperature soared. Now I grow and buy organic spices and turn to Sally Fallon's expert cookbook Nourishing Traditions for all my healthy recipes. Sally does a wonderful job at explaining why foods can make you sick and how to prepare healthy home cooked meals. You can read about her popular book on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Nourishing-Traditions-Challenges-Politica lly-Dictocrats/dp/0967089735.
What has been your experience in trying to go Green? Please share so we can all learn how to make is easier for each other.
Mary Beth Gonzalez
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