Green Cleaning Products

All-Natural Cleaning Products Are Safe

Anne — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:59:02 +0000

I was first introduced to all-natural cleaning products over fifteen years ago at an allergy clinic. They recommended a particular brand to all of their patients because they were hypoallergenic and healthier.

The more I learned about all-natural cleaning products, the more amazed I was at how unsafe the alternative is!

Some people say they don’t like all-natural cleaning products because the house doesn’t smell clean afterwards. It’s true. These cleaners typically don’t have the strong chemical smell or added fragrance of traditional household cleaners. But do you know what else you’re missing when you miss the smell?

You’re missing an increased risk of cancer.
You’re missing respiratory irritation.
You’re missing a greater chance of asthma for yourself or your children.
You’re missing an association with allergies, birth defects and psychological disorders.

Give me a smell-less, all-natural safe clean any day! I am SO grateful to that allergy clinic. I loved the cleaners they recommended and continue to use them to this day. And I am far healthier and safer for it!

Organic Cleaners

Anne — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:38:47 +0000

Organic cleaners have certainly become my friend. They are non-toxic. I can inhale while cleaning and not cough. I don’t have to spray, then hold my breath. I don’t get headaches from cleaning.

Do you know what I mean?

I always thought I really didn’t like to clean. OK, I’m still not crazy about it. But what I realized after switching to organic cleaners, is that the way cleaning with chemical cleaners made me feel is what I really disliked, not the cleaning itself!

Eco-Clean Products

Anne — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 16:02:38 +0000

Just what is the appeal of green cleaning products? Non-toxic cleaners are definitely healthier for the person cleaning! And the other main draw is that they are supposed to be eco friendly instead of dirtying the environment. I say “supposed to be” because I am sorry to say there are many products that market themselves as green but are decidedly not eco-friendly.

Just what makes green cleaning products environmentally friendly or eco-clean anyway? There are several things.

First, they should not contain harmful chemicals like phosphates, borates or nitrates; you know, the things that kill the plants and wildlife exposed to the runoff.

Then, ALL of the ingredients that they DO contain should be truly biodegradable, breaking down easily and quickly into natural compounds like carbon dioxide and water (some so-called green cleaners have some such ingredients, but others that take years and years to biodegrade).

In addition, the greenest of the green cleaning products are concentrated, meaning you add your own water to a small amount of the concentrate. This can keep hundreds of pounds of packaging waste from filling the landfills. It also drastically reduces the amount of weight being shipped cross-country, thereby reducing pollution related to the movement of freight.

And finally, for a truly green and eco-friendly cleaning product, it should be from a company that is itself green, a company that has respect for the health of its customers and the health of the environment as one of its underlying principles. Without that, green is just a marketing color!

A New Ecological Awareness

Anne — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:00:10 +0000

Did the pope endorse using green cleaning products? Well, not exactly. But the late Pope John Paul II did say “…a new ecological awareness is beginning to emerge which, rather than being downplayed, ought to be encouraged to develop into concrete programs and initiatives.” He also acknowledged, in his 1990 World Day of Peace message, that world peace is threatened (among many other things) by a “lack of due respect for nature.” Exercising due care for the environment is certainly within the scope of this teaching.

Green Goes With Everything

Anne — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:00:42 +0000

Have you heard of the soon to be released book “Green Goes With Everything: Simple Steps to a Healthier Life and a Cleaner Planet” by Sloan Barnett? Featuring green cleaning products and much more, Dr. John Spengler of the Harvard School of Public Health says, “Sloan Barnett has written a thoroughly researched, highly readable handbook for ‘cleaning up our act’ at home. Follow even a little of her advice, and your children will eat healthier, breathe cleaner air, and learn for themselves how to identify and avoid potentially toxic materials.” Promises to be a good read. Look for it at Amazon.com beginning in October.

"Green Politics" Are Irrelevant

Anne — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 17:28:02 +0000

I know women who shy away from green cleaning products because they are uncomfortable with the political baggage that comes with the package. While some sound the cry of global warming, others think it’s a sham.

For me, the politics of the issue are irrelevant. It’s just a common sense thing. We know the earth’s resources are not inexhaustible. We know there are practices that harm our natural resources. And now we know there are easy, effective things we can do to be good caretakers of the environment, for this and future generations. Seems like a no-brainer to me.