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Household chemicals contribute to both indoor and outdoor pollution. Try using more natural cleaners or make your own using vinegar, baking soda and lemon juice. For tips on green cleaning go to www.earthesy.com.
Natural Cleaning Products
(a) Vinegar: Vinegar is a great natural cleaning product which also acts as a disinfectant and deodorizer. Mix one part vinegar with one part water in a spray bottle. This will clean many surfaces of your home (not marble), and the smell will disappear when it dries! Some places to try: bathtub, toilet, sink, countertops, stovetop, kitchen appliances, windows, laundry room.
(b) Lemon Juice: Lemon juice can dissolve soap scum and hard water deposits, and will clean and shine brass and copper. Mix it with vinegar and/or baking soda to make a cleaning paste. Another idea is to mix 1 cup olive oil and 1/2 cup lemon juice to make a furniture polish for hardwood furniture.
(c) Baking Soda: We've all heard about putting a box in the fridge to absorb odors (freezer too). Baking soda can also be used to scrub surfaces just as you would use abrasive commercial cleansers.
2. CUT THE LIGHTS Trade your old incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescent ones. Try plugging in all your major electronics into a power strip. Appliances and e-gadgets use electricity even when turned off, but by switching off the power strip when you leave the house you can effectively unplug them.
3. TURN ON THE TAP Fossil Fuels are used in the packaging of water. Making bottles to meet America’s demand for bottled water requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually. Additionally not only the manufacturing of these bottles but also transporting them to market severely drains limited fossil fuels. Once the water has been consumed, it is necessary to dispose of the plastic bottle. Unfortunately, according to the Container Recycling Institute, 86% of these bottles become garbage or litter. Buried water bottles can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade and if incinerated produce toxic byproducts such as chlorine gas and ash containing heavy metals.
Water filters currently provide the best and healthiest solution to the problems of both bottled water and tap water. Here's how: *40% of plastic water bottles come from city water systems*Americans consume 2.5 million bottles of water every hour, and only about 10% of those are recycled on average, tap water costs 0.0015 per gallon, while a 16-oz bottle of water can cost up to $2. Water filters remove more dangerous contaminants than any other purification method, and they are uniquely designed to work with municipally treated water. Also, drinking filtered water is a much more economical practice than drinking bottled water. The pure water product of a water filter costs little more than untreated tap water. Furthermore, because water filters use no more energy than is already required to propel water through a home’s plumbing system, they circumvent several of the environmental problems of the bottled water industry. Using water filters over plastic water bottles benefit the environment and your wallet without losing the quality and freshness of the water you drink.
So ….. TURN ON THE TAP!
4. FEED THE BEES Pesticides, pollution and habitat destruction are taking a toll on the birds and insects that pollinate our food supply. You can help by planting yellow, purple and blue flowers to attract bees and red and orange flowers to attract hummingbirds.
5. SAVE A TREE The paper industry is one of largest contributors to global warming. If every household in the United States bought recycled paper napkins, a million trees could be saved. By planting trees around your home you will benefit from the cooling effect of a tree and help the environment. Go to Arborday.org to find out which trees will do well in your zip code. No room to plant a tree, consider donating money to eco-organizations that have tree planting projects.
6. DISPOSAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS When it is time to dispose of compact fluorescent lights (CFLs), they should not be placed in the curbside pickup, as they contain mercury. They can be disposed of, like other household hazardous waste such as paints, pool chemicals, propane tanks and rechargeable batteries, at county solid waste collection sites. Here are the collection sites closest to St. Gregory’s:
Palm Beach County: Delray Beach Broward County: Pompano Beach South County Transfer Station North HHW
Collection Center
Clean Water is a Precious Resource. Our recent drought tells us that this true even here, where we are now under strict restrictions and can only water once per week. According to the City of Boca Raton records, average use here is 338 gallons per day. Each gallon is not only use of water but also use of energy and other resources to make it fit to use, distribute it and then treat it as sewage. What can we do to reduce use? Use slow flow faucets and shower heads. Take shorter showers. Repair leaks. Fill the dishwasher and clothes washer. Cut back on landscape watering. Use low maintenance plantings. More info is available at the EPA website; www.epa.gov/owow/NPS/dosdont.html |
1. CLEAN UP,
NATURALLY