Reverse World - Gardens that Eat Insects!
Date: November 12, 2008 | Category: Cleaning, Featured, Kitchen, The Home
Managing pests like flies in the kitchen has been a challenge for more than one eco-minded housekeeper. If you have a fruit bowl, at some point you will likely have fruit flies buzzing around your kitchen. The flies are harmless but, quite frankly, watching them land on your beautiful farmer’s market finds can be a minor bummer.
The Insect Eating Garden from Gifts that Bloom is a Venus fly trap that makes a meal out of the little buggers. For just $10.95, it is about the same price as bug spray but without any harmful chemicals. Just add water and sunshine and at least one problem will be history. (more…)
Simple and Sudsy
Date: September 4, 2008 | Category: Cleaning, The Home
Back in the early days of the eco-movement you used do a load of laundry only to pull it out to find that it wasn’t really clean and then you’d have to run it again, which kind of negates the eco-friendliness of it all, no? Times have certainly changed, evidenced by the great cleaning products that we frequently feature. A new contender has entered the world of green cleaning. Solay Simple makes a multitude of cruelty-free, biodegradable, unscented, and non-toxic cleaning products. Our favorite is the laundry soap. It’s 100% free of petroleum bases or ingredients like sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrances, phosphates, animal by products, dyes and other common triggers for respiratory or skin irritations. Instead it uses purified water, a coconut-derived surfactant blend, a soy based fabric softener, and a cellulose-derived optical brightener, with an extra kick of cleaning power attributed to Himalayan salt. No disappointments here.
Charlie Is So Helpful Around the House
Date: August 28, 2008 | Category: Cleaning, Featured, Kitchen, The Home
Conventional household cleaners often contain chemicals (surfactants) which don’t easily biodegrade in sewage treatment plants (thus contaminating our waterways) and have been identified by the EPA as endocrine disrupters (hormone trickers). Not the All-Purpose Cleaner from Charlie’s Soap company, which quite frankly is one of the best cleaning agents we’ve ever used. (more…)
Through the Looking Glass
Date: August 22, 2008 | Category: Cleaning, Kitchen, The Home
While scrubbing and scouring are not inherently fabulous, dirty windows can obscure even the most majestic of views. Yet most commercial household cleaners are loaded with VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) that are damaging to you and the planet. Linked to respiratory ailments, these toxins also contaminate our estuaries. Renowned home design expert Isabella Smith has created a beautiful line of natural cleaning products that combine powerful cleansing abilities with environmental sensitivity.
Non-toxic and biodegradable, Maison Belle’s glass and countertop cleaners come in kitchen complimenting lemon vanilla, lavender mint and grapefruit bergamot. Packaged in recycled materials (so chic, you’ll want to display them not hide them behind the cupboards), they’re as gentle on the ecosystem as they are on your olfactory system.
Spores No More
Date: July 21, 2008 | Category: Cleaning, Kitchen, The Home
Besides being unsightly, mildew is downright unhealthy and can cause all sorts of allergic reactions, like headaches, fatigue and difficulty breathing. Unfortunately, the best way to avoid an outgrowth is by keeping things dry; a little hard to do in one’s bathroom and kitchen. Second best is to keep things tightly sealed. Now, we’ve got just the solution!
MildewFree Sealant is low in VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds) and cleans up with water, eliminating the need for toxic solvents and providing long durability and less waste. It’s also free of dangerous isocyanates, which can cause dermatitis and asthma when touched or inhaled . Given the areas where mildew is likely to grow, this is definitely a hazard we’re eager to live without.
Want more facts? Check out this article from Care2 on how to kill mold and mildew without harming other green things, like the earth.
Dust Bunnies
Date: June 19, 2008 | Category: Cleaning, Kitchen, The Home
Some five years ago I was having my house cleaned when it struck me that I always had chest pains on cleaning day and that the chemicals in my household detergents and supplies must be contributing to my children’s asthma. The fact that their asthma and my bronchitis instantly improved after changing products is enough empirical evidence for me. Strangely it was not easy to convince my cleaning lady that she needed to use different products - she was set in her ways. Luckily now there are cleaning services devoted exclusively to green cleaning, like Maid Brigade. The Green Clean Certified system guarantees that the products used are kind to the environment and to your health. Products meet criteria such as no carcinogens, no human or aquatic toxins, no reproductive toxins, non-corrosive to eyes and skin, low VOCs, non-flammable and formulated (and packaged!) for a low enviro-impact. When it comes to sweeping up dust bunnies, the Maid Brigade team uses ProTeam 4-stage filtration vacuums, which remove three times more particle matter from the air than their sucky counterparts. Other essential Maid Brigade tools include microfiber cloths and mops. Check out the site’s GREEN TV. If you aren’t in the market for a cleaner, maybe you will get some ideas about how to do it yourself!
Clean Well
Date: May 20, 2008 | Category: Cleaning, Home Furnishings, Kitchen, The Home
CleanWell is a revolutionary sanitizer that uses Ingenium, a unique blend of essential oils, which meets both EPA and FDA standards for germ-killing ability. CleanWell’s kid-friendly sanitizers, soaps, and wipes are made with ingredients from renewable plants such as thyme that don’t require pesticides during their growing process and are 100% biodegradable.
The company’s products eschew any harsh chemicals, are not tested on animals, and now come in a variety of scents like orange vanilla, lavender, and ginger bergamot (with spearmint lime on the way). We also love that CleanWell’s PET bottles were designed for re-use with easy-to remove labeling. You can get your fix at Whole Foods or Target (or order them on Amazon).
Keepin’ It Squeaky Green!
Date: May 9, 2008 | Category: Cleaning, Events, Lifestyle, Media
I admit it, I’m a fanatic about keeping my home sparkling clean - but just looking clean isn’t enough. The always charismatic Method boys, Adam Lowry and Eric Ryan, just released their coffee table cool book on eco-friendly, safe approaches to cleaning. On Wednesday evening they signed their tongue-in-cheek books for swooning fans at Spring home store in San Francisco (one of my favorite spots to find green products). Cleanophiles lined up to get personal notes memorialized on their new guide, Squeaky Green: the method guide to detoxing your home. True to the Method spirit, this book is fun, witty and smart. I was hoping to catch a few people dancing on the reclaimed tables at this late afternoon event where the Veev was flowing, but everyone behaved and indeed… kept it pretty clean!
Laundress Goddesses
Date: February 14, 2008 | Category: Cleaning, Kitchen, The Home
It took three years in research and development, but laundry goddesses Lindsey Wieber and Gwen Whiting finally won their battle against stains. Made entirely from plant-based enzymes, essential oils and organic ingredients, The Laundress line of tough-acting laundry must-haves are truly exquisite. Bestseller Stain Solution is known to have successfully removed old stains from velvet, and butter sauce from cashmere. We would have applauded the fragrant duo for simply avoiding using dyes, chlorine and other chemicals in their products, but the chic recyclable plastic packaging definitely garners them a standing ovation.
Get Clean Quick Scheme
Date: February 1, 2007 | Category: Cleaning, The Home
While cleaning products don’t usually garner excitement, I was downright giddy when I got a delivery from Shaklee. I’d been eagerly waiting to try out their Get Clean Starter Kit ($154.45). I’d heard that the products smell significantly better than many organic cleaners (which are well intended and all, but sometimes smell like tossed salad or the cosmetics department the before Valentine’s Day). Verdict - yes, all of the products have a light, clean scent, not perfumy, really nice. My guests have professed passion for the hand wash at the kitchen counter, which smells delicious (not fruity or flowery) and has just the right viscosity and sudsing quality. My true love is the automatic dishwash powder because it works so well, which is something I cannot say about its healthy competition. I’ve actually been very happy with all of the other products, especially the Fresh Laundry liquid concentrate. Shaklee boasts that in third-party performance tests, it removed stains and dirt 30% better than competitors like All® and Mighty® and was better at spot stain removal than Shout® Triple Action and Spray’n Wash®. Besides pulling double duty as spot remover and detergent, it is also super-concentrated, which is good for people with storage issues and the less-is-more crowd. Thirty-two ounces cleans 32 loads, whereas Liquid Tide® takes 100 fluid ounces to clean the same amount. (Also consider this: Shaklee estimates that by using the Starter Kit instead of the usual suspects at the supermarket, 108 pounds of packaging waste have been saved from landfills.) The detergent is free of hazardous chemicals and made from natural, sustainably sourced ingredients derived from corn and coconuts. Like other Shaklee products, Fresh Laundry contains no phosphates, nitrates, borates, or dyes and is safe for septic systems and greywater applications. Even more thrilling is receiving the refills to the starter kit - the waste factor has really been reduced. These products are the real deal and can be purchased without becoming a member or signing up for something more than merely cleaning house. Click here for more.
