How to make your home environmentally friendly with green
cleaning
Let’s face it
– Mother Earth has taken quite a beating the last few
millennia.
Its size alone gives our planet an aura of invincibility. How
could something so large be hurt by mere mortals? A human being
couldn’t possibly damage million year old ice caps and oceans,
destroy acres of thousand year old trees or punch a hole in the
sky.
The impossible is happening, however, and cracks are starting to
show in Earth’s armor. Ice caps are melting, oceans are diminishing
and a hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica is threatening to
change our climate in drastic ways. As evidence of global warming
mounts, our fears grow and our question becomes this: is there
anything we can do to help?
How to make your home environmentally friendly with green cleaning
Let’s face it – Mother Earth has taken quite a beating the last few millennia.
Its size alone gives our planet an aura of invincibility. How could something so large be hurt by mere mortals? A human being couldn’t possibly damage million year old ice caps and oceans, destroy acres of thousand year old trees or punch a hole in the sky.
The impossible is happening, however, and cracks are starting to show in Earth’s armor. Ice caps are melting, oceans are diminishing and a hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica is threatening to change our climate in drastic ways. As evidence of global warming mounts, our fears grow and our question becomes this: is there anything we can do to help?
Fortunately, the answer appears to be yes. Although much of the damage – such as the hole in the ozone layer – may be irreversible, there are many things we, as individuals and as a whole, can do to help preserve our planet. One of the more important things humans can do is to stop taking Earth for granted and start caring about how we treat it.
“Green” has become the catch-phrase for environmental awareness, and we see it almost everywhere consumers shop today. We can buy energy efficient appliances and alternative fueled cars. Products are packaged in recyclable containers. At home, we recycle papers, cans, glass, plastics and batteries. Some of us even make our own compost.
It’s not always easy being green, however. Replacing our old stuff with new, energy-saving products takes money, and old habits often die hard – tossing old batteries in the trash is easier than making a trip to the recycling center once a month.
But even the smallest steps can make a difference. A good way to begin the quest of living green is to make your home an environmentally friendly one. And one of the easiest changes to make to your home is how you clean it.
The average home supply closet is filled with toxic materials. Laundry soap and fabric softeners, window cleaners and furniture polish – and just about anything in between – are created with man-made materials designed to make housecleaning simple but with little thought to how those chemicals can affect the Earth.
But breathe easy. There are natural, healthier and environmentally safe alternatives out there. Some may cost more, and others take a little time to prepare, but ask yourself this question – shouldn’t the planet we live on be just as clean as the home you live in?
The Lemon Pledge
Lemons not only smell great, but they are the perfect green replacement for dozens of cleaning products typically used around the home. One such product is furniture polish. Commercial polishes are filled with nasty sounding chemicals such as petroleum distillates, ammonia, silicone oils and nitrobenzene, and often smell like something you would put into your car’s engine.
Lemons and olive oil combine to make wonderfully smelling furniture polish alternatives. Mix two parts olive oil with one part fresh lemon juice, mixing just enough for the day’s use. Another option is mixing ¼ cup apple cider vinegar with 4-5 drops of olive oil. For those who prefer to buy commercially made products, choose a vegetable-based soap, such as Murphy’s Oil Soap, which polishes furniture, paneling and wood floors.
Dish Pan Hands
Whether washing dishes by hand or using a dishwasher, look for detergents free of chlorine, phosphates (most detergents are phosphate free today) and synthetic chemicals. Planet, Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Dish Soap and Seventh Generation are good commercial buys – and the lavender scent of Seventh Generation is an added bonus.
If you are concerned these green alternatives are not as strong as the more common brands, let Mother Nature give you a helping hand. A teaspoon of lemon juice added to a sink full of soapy water can boost a detergent’s grease cutting power.
Bright and shiny
Believe it or not, vinegar is housekeeper’s best friend. In various dilutions, vinegar can be used for everything from removing mold in the bathroom to cleaning windows. Lemon juice combined with vinegar makes a great all-purpose cleanser, and leaves your appliances and windows shiny and streak free. Use flannel clothes rather than paper products for cleaning. Again, those who prefer to buy can find many green options on the market – Seventh Generation makes a good all-purpose cleaner, as does Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day or Simple Green, a concentrated cleaner which can be diluted to suit your needs. Actor and activist Ed Begley, Jr. has his own line of green cleaning products – try Begley’s Best All Purpose Cleaner.
Scouring power
That little yellow box of baking soda sitting in your pantry can help you do much more than bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Alone, baking soda can be used to scour sinks and tubs, and it can be sprinkled over rugs and carpets as a deodorizer. Mixed with water, a baking soda paste can scrub away proteins (meat drippings in the oven or on the stovetop) or pet stains. Dry baking soda can even remove burned plastic bread wrappings off a toaster!
Baking soda is the perfect green alternative to those traditionally toxic oven cleaners. Simply sprinkle ½ cup dry baking soda throughout your oven, spray lightly with water and leave overnight. After scraping stains and spills, rinse with water. It also works wonders on your toilet bowls – mix ¼ cup baking soda with ¼ cup vinegar and scrub. A comparable commercial brand is Bon Ami Non-Abrasive Cleanser.
Laundry day
Once again, lemons and vinegar make great natural alternatives to the common, chemically-filled, commercially made detergents available today. A teaspoon of fresh lemon juice thrown into your wash with a plant-based detergent, such as Planet or Seventh Generation, can make your laundry smell fresher. Instead of chlorine bleach to brighten your clothes and towels, try adding ½ cup lemon juice to the rinse cycle.
Vinegar can be used to soak stains out of cloth diapers and also makes a great fabric softener – just add half the amount of vinegar as you would your usual softening product. It can also be used as a stain treatment. Simply spray a little white vinegar on a stain just prior to washing.
Green Cleaning Solutions
There are many books and Web sites today to help those interested in green cleaning. Some of the sites and books used for this article include:
“Uncommon Uses for Common Household Products,” 1999, FC&A Publishing – Tips on how to use items found around the home for cleaning, disinfecting, gardening and much more
Low Impact Living (lowimpactliving.com) – Describes the impacts the products we use have on our planet. The site offers green alternatives to common brands and even has an in-home impact calculator which allows you to determine how green your home is now.
Natural Resources Defense Council (nrdc.org) – This site features a green living kit filled with energy-saving ideas, health information, shoppers’ guides, gift-giving tips and more.
Healthy Living with a Twist (lime.com) – A fun and colorful site with podcasts, live journals and shopping tips. Its green living section includes tips on recycling, cleaning, gardening and creating an eco-friendly home.
National Geographic’s The Green Guide (thegreenguide.com) – The Green Guide is a great site, filled with tips on living green and little known facts, such as what really happens to those dishwashing suds when they go down the drain.
Green Living Tips (greenlivingtips.com) – This site is filled with facts, and may seem a bit overwhelming. But it also has great tips on how to use products found in nature to clean your home, as well as sponsored links to other green sites.
