A friend of mine recently sent me the link to this article. It’s lengthy and covers a multitude of topics (BPA, phthalates, PBDEs, body burden, the ineffective Toxic Substances Control Act, etc.) I often discuss on this blog. My favorite sentence is this one, where the author is refering to the ability of the PBDEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers, i.e. flame retardants) to reduce sperm counts: “…a generation’s lacking aesthetics and sex drive is a wicked trade-off for the low combustion factors of our workspaces, living rooms and vehicles.”
Filed under: Chemicals on November 17th, 2008 | No Comments »
My youngest recently turned one. It’s amazing how much changes in just a year. When my first child turned one, I sat down and calculated some fun numbers–all the hours of sleep I’d lost in the past year, how many ounces of mommy’s milk he’d probably drank, how many diaper changes he’d been through. And while I didn’t do that the second time around, I did pause to reflect on cloth diapering. We have all the cloth diapers my second child will ever need and since we think we are finished having children, I can run some final cloth diaper numbers (these are the kinds of things I think about when washing or folding diapers–reminds me of some of the reasons why I bother).
We spent an estimated $700 on my first son’s cloth diapers. We were able to reuse all of those with my second child after having a friend repair a few of them. The cost of repairs was offset by money made selling diapers that my second child had outgrown. We spent an additional $100 trying some new diapers with child #2 for a grand total of $800–to cloth diaper two children. Now we have spent a little more buying wipes or disposables for vacations, but this is well under the estimated $1600 per child! Not bad at all!
Filed under: Random on November 15th, 2008 | 2 Comments »
For those of you following our radon saga, we just got the results back from our post-mitigation radon test. It was 1.4 piC/L! Well under the EPA’s safety limit of 4 and much lower than when our home was first tested (13!) Yay! We were advised to continue testing our home’s radon level (when done by a professional, about $125-150 in our area, although you can do it yourself with kids from Lowes or Home Depot for much less) every year or two. I’m so relieved to have this issue fixed. And just in time for cooler weather and closed windows.
Filed under: Air quality on November 12th, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Ever since the early 90s, I have been deathly afraid of fat. I stopped enjoying cream cheese and bagels for breakfast, painstakingly peeled cheese off slices of pizza, avoided nuts like the plague, and frequently bought Healthy Choice frozen entres. I would watch in horror as my Greek grandmother poured cups and cups of olive oil into her dishes. I cooked with nonstick cookware so as to use less oil. Read more »
Filed under: Food and Nutrition on November 10th, 2008 | 4 Comments »
House - We have been in our new home for three weeks and are finally getting settled. We have been lucky with the weather, which has been pleasant enough to open the windows almost daily. No new home headaches like I had with my last house!
Radon - We had a company mitigate our high radon levels (more than 3x the EPA’s allowable limit). It was super easy and not that expensive. The company sealed off the basement and sump pump with caulk and installed a fan that sucks air out from under the basement and pushes it out a pipe that vents to the outside. It took 3-4 hours to do. The total cost for the repairs was $725 and the work is guaranteed and transferable for 30 years. If at any point we test the home and find the radon level about 4 piC/L, they will come fix it until the level drops below that. The fee also included an independent test, which we have not done yet, to verify that their mitigation worked. Read more »
Filed under: Random on November 5th, 2008 | No Comments »
Have you voted yet?!?
Filed under: Random on November 3rd, 2008 | 2 Comments »
It’s getting chilly where we live. Time for lots of chili. This recipe for Three-Bean Vegetable Chili has been our favorite for two years now. See modifications at the end if you’re concerned about BPA.
Ingredients
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups chopped onion
- 2/3 cup chopped carrot
- 4 garlic cloves
- 4 cups water
- 2 cups frozen corn, thawed
- 1 cup chopped red bell pepper (about 1 large)
- 1 cup chopped zucchini
- 2 tbsp chili powder
- 2 tsp oregano
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 3/4 tsp salt
- two 28-ounce cans crushed tomatoes
- 2 16-ounce cans pinto beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 16-ounce cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 16-ounce cans black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 6-ounce can no-salt tomato paste
- 1 tsp to 1 tbsp finely chopped chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce (we’ve made this chili without the chipotles, but if you can find them, they add a great smokey flavor)
- shredded cheese, sour cream, and/or chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
Read more »
Filed under: Recipe on October 28th, 2008 | 2 Comments »
After going on and on about how healthy we tried to make our new home, we got some bad news today. We had a radon test performed by our home inspector. He placed it in the basement for 48 hours. The EPA sets the safety level for homes at 4 piC/L. Our home’s level was 13! Radon gas is colorless and oderless, and is the second leading cause of lung cancer after cigarette smoking, according to the EPA. Most radon enters the home from the ground below and surrounding it. It looks like mitigation is a fairly painless process–it should take less than one day to install some pipes and fans and should cost us less than 1k. I will post again once we’ve gone through it and I know more.
Have you tested your home? Anyone gone through mitigation before? Please comment if you have. The EPA estimates that radon causes 21,000 cancer deaths each year so if you haven’t had your home tested, maybe you should. I hear that you can purchase fairly inexpensive kits from Home Depot and Lowes to test for radon yourself (don’t know the accuracy of these) or you can hire a home inspector as we did.
Filed under: Air quality on October 14th, 2008 | 1 Comment »
This week we move in to our new home. We have been waiting for it to be built for months now and are very anxious to get settled. Posts may be a bit sporadic for the next week or two, and the site may even be down for a bit while our server is moved.
Since people spend a good chunk of their time inside their home, it was really important to us that our home be as healthy as possible. Especially with winter coming and us not being able to open windows, I was very concerned about VOCs and anything that might off-gas. Here are some of the health-concious and eco-friendly things we did to our home. If you’re house-hunting or remodeling or even redecorating, maybe you’ll find some of these ideas inspiring.
- We chose a builder that seemed more environmentally friendly.
- Interior paints were low VOC. Standard paints can have hundreds of grams of VOCs per liter, which can off-gas for years after the paint dries. A certified low-VOC paint has 50 grams per liter of VOCs or less. Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore, Restoration Hardware, and Home Depot all offer low-VOC paints. Some companies even offer a no-VOC paint (Harmony from Sherwin Williams and Freshair from Home Depot).
- All appliances are energy-star rated.
- Had a tankless water heater installed.
Read more »
Filed under: Air quality, Environment on October 12th, 2008 | No Comments »
In our house, almost every meal is accompanied by a green salad. And every salad needs dressing. How do you dress up your salad? Do you buy bottled dressings? If so, take a look at the ingredients. Probably within the first three you’ll see water. Do you really want to spend $3-5 per bottle for watered down dressing? In addition to water, the oil used to make your dressing are probably soybean oil, which is cheap for them but not as good for you.
Next time you need dressing, try my super simple, super yummy recipe. I pour extra virgin olive oil into a clean glass jar. Then I pour about the same amount, or a bit less, of balsamic vinegar. Finish with a squeeze of honey mustard (acts as an emulsifier and adds a touch of sweetness to balance the vinegar). Cap, shake, and pour. Yum! It’s better for your health (with no added salt or sugar, and monounsatured fats plus antioxidants from the olive oil) and it’s cheap.
Filed under: Food and Nutrition on October 8th, 2008 | No Comments »