Health, Taken Seriously

by Siobhan

My husband had always been more environmentally minded and health conscious than I was. I used to get annoyed when he wanted me to recycle even small scraps of aluminum foil – I drew the line at plastic bottles. And I tuned out whenever he ranted about the evils of cars. My attitude was that one person couldn’t really make a difference.

But my attitude changed when I started to experience health problems. I suffered from sick building syndrome in the last apartment we lived in because of inadequate ventilation and chemical contaminants (car exhaust outdoors and cleaning products indoors). My symptoms included headaches and fatigue. Over the last several years, I had been learning more from my husband, Sophia, and others about how the products we use, the food we eat, and the lifestyle choices we make impact our health and the environment, but this illness really opened my eyes to the fact that there are environmental poisons all around us and that they do have serious negative effects. In response, my husband and I decided to start making some changes that have already had a positive impact in our lives:

• Moving. We recently moved to a healthy apartment building and I no longer suffer from headaches or fatigue.
• Switching to green cleaning products. We bought a book called Green Cleaning by Linda Mason Hunter and Mikki Halpin. When we moved, we threw away most of our traditional cleaners. So far we’ve switched to green dish soap, hand soap, glass and surface cleaners, and furniture polish. We also plan to switch to green automatic dishwasher soap and laundry detergent when we run out of our old ones. This change has been very successful – we’re learning through trial and error which green cleaning brands we like the best, and it feels great knowing that when we clean we’re not coating our home or ourselves with toxic chemicals. However, one thing we’ve noticed is that just because a product is sold at a store like Whole Foods, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a green product, and we still have to carefully read the list of ingredients.
• So far the products we like are:
  • Ecover Dishwashing Liquid
  • Avalon Organics Glycerin Hand Soap
  • Seventh Generation Natural Glass and Surface Cleaner – I’m especially impressed with how well it cleans mirrors.
  • Earth Friendly Products Furniture Polish
• So far the products we don’t like are:
  • Earth Friendly Products Dishmate – it really dried out our hands.
  • 365 All Purpose Cleaner – it leaves streaks.
  • Method Foaming Hand Wash– Method is supposedly a green company, but this hand soap contains toxic ingredients.
• Switching to green personal care products. This change has been less successful. We started out by trying shampoo, conditioner, and face soap by Aveda. However, I have sensitive skin and all three of the products we tried caused my skin to break out. We’ve since switched back to our old shampoo, conditioner, and face soap but we still plan to give other green products a shot, such as toothpaste, lotion, and sunscreen.
• Switching brands of food and household products. We bought a book called The Better World Shopping Guide by Ellis Jones that rates companies according to how environmentally and socially responsible they are. We’ve been using this book combined with our own research to help us decide which brands to buy when we’re at the store. It’s shocking to learn that many of the brands we’ve grown up with are doing very poorly in terms of environmental and social responsibility. This has turned shopping, which can be a chore, into a game and given meaning to the hundreds of small choices we make when we shop.