Posts Tagged household
Posted by Candice on December 4, 2009 at 13:52 pm
Friday
The Good Human, a website founded by a guy called David, encourages people to be better humans through working to clean up the environment, being active in political issues and being more aware of one’s life and surroundings. David says “there are so many ways that we can all contribute to our existence here on Earth, and I found over time that mine was talking about environmentalism and sustainability issues.”
David covers a wide range of topics from solar energy to environmental impact of the fashion industry. There is lots to read about recycling, green washing, energy efficiency and other advice on how to “go green”. Of interest to us are the topics on natural cleaning. David has a comprehensive list of ways to use homemade cleaning products to tackle just about every cleaning task in your house. Many of them we’ve blogged about in our Green Cleaning Pantry series.
There is a series called ‘Greenwash of the Week’ and one example calls out SC Johnson on the Nature’s Source line which they claim to be simple, biodegradable, plant-based cleaner, however, David points out that they still contain non-natural ingredients including fragrances, dyes, stabilizers and preservatives.
The Good Human is definitely worth adding to your RSS reader or a quick browse now and then when you have the time.
Posted by Candice on November 3, 2009 at 23:51 pm
Clean House Helps Reading Skills
Research conducted by the National Center for Children and Families (NCCF) found a link between household chaos and children’s early reading skills. Household order was found to have a positive correlation with early reading skills and may include cleanliness, organization, routines. The research document references an earlier study by Dunifon et al. (2001) which found that adults’ education and income were predicted by the cleanliness of their parents’ home even accounting for parents’ schooling, income, and cognitive skills. This clean-house measure reflected a desire and ability to impose order in the household, which may reflect organization in other aspects of life such as work and parenting. The report posits that perhaps household order taps a more fundamental characteristic of parents or households, such as maternal industriousness, planning ability, or conscientiousness, that gives rise to both orderliness and better reading skills in children.
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Posted by Candice on October 23, 2009 at 15:16 pm
Friday
GoodGuide provides the world’s largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of the products in your home. There is definitely a growing interest in the impacts of the products we buy – on our health, on the environment and on society. There are more people buying organic and more people who can tell you what fair trade means and why it is important. Sometimes though, unless you’ve got a Ph.D, it is almost impossible to wade through the marketing speak to determine what the impacts of the products actually are. That is where The Good Guide comes in.
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Posted by Candice on August 13, 2008 at 23:19 pm
President Bush has said he will sign the Consumer Product Safety Modernization Act into law this week. The bill, which was overwhelmingly passed by the U.S. Senate and also cleared by the House, eliminates lead in toys and either permanently or temporarily bans six types of phthalates (THAL-ates) in children’s products. Three of the six permanently banned while another three have been banned on a temporary basis.
Phthalates are a group of chemicals primarily used to make plastics and vinyl soft, flexible and more durable. They are found not only in children’s products but in a wide range of products including garden hoses, wiring and cables, construction materials, flooring, automotive interiors, upholstery and medical devices. Phthalates are also common in products like perfumes, cosmetics, shampoos, lotions and air fresheners. It is difficult to point to children’s toys as being the main source of exposure to these chemicals.
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Posted by Candice on July 25, 2008 at 17:16 pm
No one likes to mention the C-word but should we be asking if the chemical-laden household cleaning products prevalent in most homes are contributing to the increasing incidence of cancer? The statistics can be somewhat misleading because factors like earlier detection due to better screening methods and a reduction in the number of lung cancers related to smoking make it look like we are winning the war against cancer.
In truth though, the incidence of cancer is still increasing with well over a million diagnoses each year and more than half a million cancer-related deaths.
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