After the Swiffer Mop and Before the Vinegar

After the vinegar!

So I’m cleaning my apartment for the in-laws’ holiday visit and my kitchen’s tile grout looks filthy.  I use my Swiffer mop and then scrub with Clorox (the new Green Works version available in stores) to no avail.  In desperation, I seek google’s sound advice.  The solution (literally)?  One part vinegar one part water or a little baking soda paste.  It sounds homey and environmentally friendly and inexpensive, but does it really work?  Just look at the before and after pictures above!

When picking out cleaning products I try to moderate between price and environmental efficacy, so I have an assortment of ‘green’ cleaning products in my apartment.  Some work, some don’t.  But what seems to be most puzzling as peruse my way through all of the cleaning products I own is why have cleaning products in the first place?  Nearly everything I clean, as I think about it, could be easily cleaned with three fully biodegradable, non-toxic household items: lemon juice, vinegar, and baking soda.  The Do-it-yourself website, has a new Going Green topic on its side menu, has a great article called How to Clean Green which lists several recipes for green cleaners. Here are two easy and useful examples:

Carpet Spot Remover
•Cornstarch or baking soda
•Club soda
Blot the spot and apply baking soda or cornstarch immediately. When dry, blot with club soda and vacuum.

Glass Cleaner
•1 cup rubbing alcohol (optional)
•1 cup water
•1 tablespoon vinegar
Combine in a spray bottle and wipe clean with a newspaper. Alcohol hastens evaporation to prevent streaking.

And now, what about everything else.  Hand, dish and laundry soap, for example, isn’t as easy to make from scratch.  I personally suggest buying these products, unless you’re exceptionally handy, crafty an organized. Here are a few of my personal favorites and professional suggestions:

•Method brand soaps, as cliche as they sound, are easy to buy anywhere, use biodegradable ingredients, do not test on animals, use recycled and recyclable packaging materials and make use of government issued carbon-credits for their employee’s transportation and manufacturing process.  Plus, they’re smell great and come in cool-looking bottles!
•I use Green Works dishwashing liquid (water lily scent). It carries the Design for the Environment (DfE) certification, meaning the EPA screens all the ingredients put into the product and markets with the Sierra Club to endorse the ideas of preserving and protecting the planet. You want to hear the kicker? Green Works was created by Clorox! Proof that you don’t have to be anti-institution in order to be an environmentalist.
•For my wood flooring, I use Murphy’s soap; its biodegradable, kosher, cheap, and the bottles are recyclable.

•And finally, I suggested ECOS All Natural Laundry Detergent.  Its HE compatible, smells great, has a soy-based built-in fabric softener, and is grey-water safe (meaning you could use the left over water for your vegetable garden).  All this and it was on sale at Kroger’s!

As for my kitchen cleaning, my in-laws arrive tomorrow and I’m feeling pleased with my greening and cleaning! Word to the wise, you may want to use these cleaning solutions barefoot – its more comfortable and the grime from your shoes won’t be washed onto your newly cleaned tile!  Happy green cleaning!

Treehugger brand Hugg.com, a Discovery company, has decided to close the doors on Hugg, a popular green social news site.

From Hugg.com:

PLEASE READ!

On November 17th, 2008, Hugg will no longer accept new submissions or registrations. Hugg will remain publicly viewable until the end of the year, at which time Hugg.com will be closed. The Hugg.com domain will be directed towards a new feature on the TreeHugger forums where participants will be able to post and comment on interesting green links (coming soon). We welcome you to the thriving community at the TreeHugger forums and hope you’ll join us now to carry on the discussion. Go ahead and poke around on the forums – we think you’ll like it and enjoy conversing with such a diverse group of intelligent, passionate people!

We would like to express our gratitude and appreciation to the many Hugg users who have poured time and energy into providing the community with tons of great content. Unfortunately, due to increasing maintenance costs, we can no longer provide Hugg with the resources it needs to continue.

Please email tech@treehugger.com with any questions or comments.

Thank you.

(h/t – Paul Smith)

Anatevka move over. Concerns regarding the planet’s changing climate and the ills in the national housing market are serving to energize New Urbanism, says the Congress for the New Urbanism.

The movement’s holistic approach to building and rebuilding cities and towns – uniting the art of building, the creation of community, and the conservation of the natural world – is proving a rich source of solutions and long-term value in this time of significant change.

For the first time in Austin, Texas (hometown of our celebrated healthpatio denizen Eco Rock), the 16th Annual Congress for the New Urbanism was held from April 2-6, 2008. Katherine Gregor of the Austin Chronicle says the conference has a reputation for transforming thinking and land-use patterns in cities where it’s held. Cheers from HealthPatio for the 1,500+ planners, developers and others who gathered to promote the development of walkable neighborhoods and bring sprawl to a halt. (And jeers to the absent elected officials in city and county positions who neglected to sign up for even the introductory 101 session.)

But will it help keep Austin weird? I think so, considering the old urbanism of Robert Moses ala Long Island New York housing for muggles project.

Voluntarily plunging into an hour of darkness….no, this isn’t a thrill-seekers adrenaline boost. It is Andy Ridley’s idea for raising awareness about global warming.

Some 2.2 million people participated in last year’s ‘Earth Hour’ in Sydney, cutting the central business district’s energy usage by more than 10 percent.

It is hoped that the movement would expand in 2009, which would be a particularly significant year since it is the deadline for United Nations talks to determine action going forward on the topic of climate change, as set after the Kyoto Protocol.

I (and our household) observe a sabbath from electricity one day out of seven, starting Friday at dusk and ending Saturday at nightfall. It works out to be about 25 hours where we refrain from driving our car, turning on lights, heating water, cooking, or using other electricity-run appliances. We do use an average size crock-pot for our hot lunch food during the day on Saturday, and some lights are set on timers so we can tend to the children. We also do heat the house (but don’t adjust the thermostat) since we have a baby. Our gasoline use is already low since my partner works from home and I walk to work- I work where the kids attend school so that’s easy. We get a tank of gas monthly, lately thats been ~$50 worth in our one vehicle.

So although we take time off from using some electricity, I wonder if we over-compensate by doubling up on laundry on Sundays, doing more errands during the week, and so on. Tim Blair and others
have a healthy skepticism as well.

But I would imagine for those people who do are used to having electricity immediately at their fingertips ALL the time, turning it off, even for one hour during the Earth Hour event tomorrow, will be a fascinating and [sorry...] enlightening experience!

…simply turn off my computer.”

I subscribed to The Laws of Simplicity by John Maeda, where I saw this poignant phrase appear on a post titled Digitally Green. The whole article is worth a look! And the book by the same title is also available for your simple reading pleasure.

Fluorescent lighting is the poster child for efficient technology and electronics. While the long white tubes were traditionally seen in large institutions, like office buildings and product warehouses, CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lighting) can now be found in household floor lamps, street lights, and ceiling fixtures in restaurants.

According to EnergyStar.gov, CFLs use 75% less energy and last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs. Since they’re more efficient, and a byproduct of energy consumption is heat, CFLs create less heat, making them safer to use in the home.

These kinds of statistics are impressive, but how many typical consumers understand the science behind lighting technologies?  And further, what are the health impacts of fluorescent lights?

CFLs tend to have a bad rep for creating harsher white light, which makes our eyes sore – not to mention the eyesore of the bulbs themselves. And then there’s the mercury that’s contained within the bulb itself, which would certainly be a safety issue within many households.

Luckily, CFL’s have not only been studied extensively for their efficiency and safety, but there have also been a lot of improvements to transition the technology from industrial to personal use.

Back at the ranch, Energystar.gov provides if a bulb breaks, which also gives tips on how to pick up other toxins in your home, and information on how to dispose of CFL bulbs properly. 

As to the details of CFL technology, www.Howstuffworks.com provides a seven-part tutorial.  Put simply, Compact Fluorescent Lighting creates light by inciting a chemical reaction, while an incandescent bulb heats up an element that emits light as a result.

CFLs are now more versatile and aesthetically pleasing.  Replacement for nearly any wattage can be found, sometimes called Soft White or Watt Replacements on packaging, and the tubes are now curled up and placed inside familiar looking round glass bulbs, to fit perfectly inside any lamp shade or even fit into fixtures featuring dimmers or three-way switches.

Some more interesting articles on CFLs:

• Popular Mechanics runs its own tests on several brands of CFLs and incandescent bulbs, studying brightness, light quality, heat, and efficiency.
• A short article about new laws to make recycling fluorescent bulbs easier for consumers, as well as some information on the environmental effects of disposing of these bulbs.

How? Promote strong climate law. It is being promoted in the U.K. with Friends of the Earth spear-heading the effort, and they say it’s working.

How?

• Pledge
• Web-march

This promotion caught my eye because of their use of web media – you can upload your own video or animation! Some of the clips will also be chosen to appear in a short film produced by Friends of the Earth. Way cool!

What does Friends of the Earth say about themselves?
Friends of the Earth wants a healthy planet and a good life for everyone on it. In fact, we believe you don’t get one without the other. We are trusted and determined and have been making life better for people and the planet since 1971.

Check out the video here.

I was so happy when I read this fundraising press release to assist the good efforts of Healthy Child Healthy World last Saturday, October 13. Which also happens to be my birthday! Yay for me.

In short, a joint project between builder Tom Schey and environmentalist Kelly Meyer, the recently completed LEEDandreg Platinum certified project7ten, one of the most environmentally friendly homes in California, opens its doors for three weekends in October to educate and raise awareness about simple everyday choices and green products that can create a healthier environment.

Three weekend open houses will benefit Healthy Child Healthy World. Even better, random drawings of eco-cool prizes such as Shaklee Get Clean Starter Kits ($150 value) will be given to a lucky few.

About Healthy Child Healthy World
As a national leader for nearly two decades, Healthy Child Healthy World has become the nation’s leading organization of its kind, and helps millions of parents, educators, health professionals, and the general public take action to create healthy environments and embrace green, non-toxic steps.
Healthy Child Healthy World was founded by James and Nancy Chuda, in 1991 after their daughter Colette died from a rare form of non-hereditary cancer. Healthy Child has since become a resource for millions of parents and caregivers worldwide.