What: VidaAire Lemongrass Sanitizer and Air Purifier

Features: Odor neutralizer and sanitizer made from natural essential oils. Can be used virtually anywhere to sanitize any surface because it leaves no residue. Lemongrass oil is a natural disinfectant and the essential oils in VidaAire have been clinically proven to help alleviate stress and anxiety and elevate mood.

Green Factor: Non-ozone depleting, non-toxic, organic, safe for people with allergies to harsh chemicals.

Bonus: VidaAire smells lemony fresh and clean naturally.

Disinfectant chemicals have a purpose and place, but should be used very sparingly as scientific studies have shown that disinfectant chemicals have been linked to chronic health issues like asthma, hormone imbalance, potential reduced fertility, and immune system problems.

What kind of disinfectant chemicals are we talking about? The kind we come in contact with everyday in household bleach, ammonia-based cleaners, triclosan in antibacterial soaps and other antibacterial products and nano-silvers found in antibacterial plastics, textiles, soaps and other materials.

Visit Women’s Voices for the Earth to learn more and then consider signing  this petition to tell companies to replace toxic chemicals in their household cleaning products with safer alternatives AND disclose all of the ingredients that they use in household cleaning products on the product label.

If you’re trying to be more green, like I am, but you get a little overwhelmed with all the organic this and Acronym-Free that—relax.

I’m about to you tell you the absolute easiest way for you to start being more environmentally friendly.

Ready?

Use greener cleaning products.

Hold on.  Get back here.  I see a few of you running to chain yourself in front of your closet full of pine-fresh scented cleaning products. Read the rest of this entry »

Minimal Mercury Marinated Tuna by Small Footprint Family — Like tuna but hate those pesky high mercury levels? Dawn highlights some sources for tuna with much lower levels of mercury and as a bonus, shares a recipe.

Will Your Kid Be Carrying a Pesticide (Triclosan) in His School Supplies? by The Smart Mama — Jennifer illuminates an issue that has been chapping my proverbial butt for a while now… Microban is in/on lunch boxes as well as a ton of other school-related items and it’s not good stuff.

Color My Driveway: Cornstarch Sidewalk Paint by Pink and Green Mama — This homemade sidewalk paint, made with ingredients you can probably already find in your own kitchen, is so cool that I wish I’d thought of it first.

Do I Make You Uncomfortable? by Heather’s Homemaking — Do you ever wonder if your commitment to the environment makes your less-green friends uncomfortable?

How to Clean a Toilet by Oooh Baby Green Living and Parenting — J. Claire teaches you how to clean your toilet the green way.

Cleaning Out Plato’s Reusable Closet with a Stylish Texas Teen by Greenopolis — Consignment stores can help fatten up a teen’s wardrobe at a fraction of mall prices. And? It’s much greener than buying new.

On Our Blog:  Back to School at the Thrift Store

Before we had kids, my husband and I always lit a match after, you know… Post-children, however, we figured it wasn’t all that safe to keep a book of matches lying on the back of the toilet, so I started buying spray air fresheners to mask the smells. Yet the more I used them, the more concerned I became about their toll on the environment. How could I pride myself on reducing my carbon footprint when I was blasting an aerosol can on a daily basis?

Behold: Poo~Pourri Toilet Deodorizers, an organic, environmentally friendly bathroom spray. Their newest spray, Nature’s Call, is a blend of organic oils (including lemongrass, orange and grapefruit) that eliminate odors at the source, which is why it’s used before you go. Basically, the oils work to wipe out the smell before it hits the air, leaving the room with a fresh, clean scent.

Poo~Pourri products comes in a variety of different sizes, including a 5ml tester bottle that would fit nicely in my purse (I can’t count the number of times I’ve been in a public restroom, wishing I had something like Poo~Pourri to discreetly hide the fact that last night’s meal wasn’t sitting so well). Each product is 100% green – safe for both the environment and septic tanks – and is outfitted with an unconditional, 30-day money-back guarantee. So really, there’s no reason for you not to give Poo~Pourri a try!

Find It Here: Poo~Pourri

Take one long-haired cat, a bushy-tailed dog, and two active little boys, and what do you get? Well, in my house you get lots of fun times AND a very dirty family room carpet. I’m not one for using chemicals for cleaning anywhere in my home but I like a clean carpet (who doesn’t?!) so I was super excited to try out the new Oreck Halo Vacuum Cleaner. The Oreck Halo not only vacuums up dust and debris like typical vacuum cleaners, but actually kills microorganisms without the use of harsh chemicals thanks to the use of UV-C light technology. If you’re an allergy or asthma sufferer, this vacuum will hold special appeal in that it kills dust mites eggs (up to 90%), which can trigger allergies. Beyond just killing dust mite eggs this vacuum also kills a host of other microorganisms, such as flu viruses, e-coli, mold and salmonella. According to the company, the Oreck Halo’s UV-C light is even powerful enough to kill the superbug MRSA, the antibiotic-resistant bacteria that causes staph infections. Wow! Now for the performance of the vacuum itself… Prior to trying out the Oreck Halo, we had a high-end vacuum cleaner which retailed for more than $400 but I felt the Oreck had stronger suction, was easier to maneuver, and had a better all-floors function. In addition, the attachments were longer and more user-friendly to take out.  My assessment is that the Oreck Halo performs better than expected for vacuuming debris, PLUS it includes UV-C light technology for killing microorganisms. And considering that the floor in your home probably has more bacteria (much more) than your toilet seat, I’d say that the Oreck Halo is worth a look, especially if you are in the market for a high-end vacuum. Or you have a crawling baby. Or you just want your floors to be cleaner than your toilet seat :)

Find It Here: Oreck.com

You like green stuff, right? Yeah, we knew that about you guys (we haz powers!) and that’s why we’ve partnered with Ecostore USA to give away a $25 gift certificate to one lucky reader. Ecostore USA carries plant and mineral-based, non-toxic personal care stuff, baby stuff, household stuff and pet stuff and and it’s all “super concentrated” so that a little bit goes a long way and saves you some of that other kind of green.

Find It Here: Ecostore USA

Win It: We’re giving away a $25 gift certificate to Ecostore USA. Click here to fill out our simple entry form. Just enter ECO5 as the giveaway name and provide the answer to this question: What is the Ecostore USA slogan? Enter by 5/21/09. $25 value. Open to US and Canadian residents. Contest closed. Congratulations to Beth!

I love to travel and explore with my family. At the same time I dread it—being out of my comfort zone, being away from my kitchen where I prepare meals that nourish our bodies with good food and our souls with tradition, and stepping into the unknown of chemicals and cleaners used at the place where we will rest our heads.

Since we’ve stopped using chemicals and have been eating real food, we notice it, even the kids do. Walking into a shoe or toy store makes our eyes water with all the off-gassing. It’s amazing what we can subject our bodies to, lack of nutrition, bombarding it with chemicals and disease, and our lovely bodies continue to function. Our family, thankfully, is more in tune so we can make better decisions knowing what’s good and not.

We realize this and are more accepting of the outside world when we travel but there is one thing we cannot tolerate. And you shouldn’t either. When you think about it, it’s an amazing invention that never existed and now has become a necessary element in making a house a home.

Sprays, plug-ins, plug-ins that self-spray, odor neutralizers, air sanitizers, and aromatherapy candles in just the right scent are all there, something for everyone. Air fresheners seem to work to help erase the smells in the room and clean the air, but actually they work on us. The chemicals coat our nasal passages with a film that deadens the nerve endings. They mask the problem and fool us into thinking the room is fresh, the smell we have learned to think of as clean.

Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t know about you but I can hardly remember life before hand sanitizers, although I’m certain having kids figures prominently in my desire for cleaner hands, what with all manner of virii constantly  circulating through my son’s preschool. But, as much as we depend on them, conventional hand sanitizers aren’t known for being very…natural. Frais, however, is one hand sanitizer that happens to be free of unnatural chemicals such as parabens, propylene glycol, petrochemicals, ethoxylates, silicones, phthalates, mineral oils, DEA, sodium lauryl sulfate or other sulfates, artificial colors and artificial fragrances. Frais uses pure sugarcane alcohol and a blend of eight natural essential oils to kill 99.9% of harmful germs including influenza, the common cold, tuberculosis, bird flu, MRSA staph and many others. As if that weren’t enough, Frais is also dermatologist-approved and cruelty-free and it’s my new first choice for all the germy hands in our family!

Find It Here: Frais

My grandmother recently emailed me some homemade recipes for cleaning products that she clipped from the paper. I was surprised to find that I already have all of the ingredients to make them, and since I have 2 young boys I clean up A LOT of messes. I thought I’d pass them a long to you so you can try them out, and save a little money.

Furniture Polish: Combine 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1/4 cup of distilled vinegar, and 2 tsp. lemon juice and shake well. Dip a clean and dry cloth into polish and rub wood in the direction of the grain. Refrigerate any remaining polish.

Toilet Bowl Cleaner: Sprinkle bowl with baking soda and drizzle with white vinegar. Let soak 30 minutes, and scrub with toilet brush. For tough stains, let soak overnight.

All Purpose Cleaner: Combine 2 cups of white distilled vinegar and 2 cups of water. Use on counter tops, kitchen floors, windows, mirrors, and any other hard surfaces. For tough jobs, warm the cleaner in the microwave.

Let me know how these work for you!

Author Patricia Wooster is the founder of the Project Organic Eating blog, where healthy eating meets affordability!

Around my place, we eat a lot of veggies—especially carrots and potatoes, which means a lot of scrubbing and cleaning of said vegetables. Thankfully, we found the Tampico scrub/vegetable brush by the good people at GreenBoatStuff.com. (This family-owned company has a range of green products, with particular emphasis on boating and watersports, and proudly asserts its Earth-friendly nature in its name.) What I adore most about this rough brush, though, is not that it makes vegetable-cleaning a hundred times easier and quicker than, say, a toothbrush, though it really does; not its great price (a steal at $3.25 plus shipping); and not the health factor of having well-cleaned versus inadequately cleaned veggies. I love the green denominator best: It’s plastic-free and constructed to be as biodegradable as possible, even if it were to accidentally make its way into the marine ecosystem! The bristles are made of Tampico fiber, which is a vegetable fiber from a plant indigenous to Mexico, and the handle is of finished hardwood. A few of the other great things about Tampico are its capacity to store and release water, its resistance to heat and oils, and its abrasiveness, which makes it ideal for other applications on and off the boat and around the house. Although not the sleekest, most fashion-forward brush (but who needs form when you’ve got oodles of function?), it more than gets the job done—sans chemicals!

Find It Here: GreenBoatStuff.com

If you’re like me, an undomestic goddess of a kingdom comprised mostly of pet hair and assorted baby stuff, any help in biting back the dust is welcome. National Geographic’s Green Guide recently published an article on vacuum cleaners, including product comparisons and buying pointers. I dug that they say vacuums are super-easy to repair but that seldom happens. It could, however, probably save you some money, not to mention please Mother Earth (and who doesn’t like to keep on HER good side?) to try having the vacuum repaired or parts replaced (or do it yourself!) before you donate it to a thrift store, charity, or even “freecycle” it.  But if it’s time for a better vacuum or your household includes an asthma-and-allergies sufferer (like mine), take heart because today’s vacuum cleaning market lends credence to the idea that there’s a sucker born every minute—but this time, it’s in a good way! Some models with HEPA filters (sometimes pricier, sometimes not) even help whisk away and imprison the brain cell-killing chemicals in flame retardants, the hormone-tampering phthalates as well as the carcinogens and pesticides that sneak in from the outside world. I take safeguarding the environment seriously but I can’t resist one final pun—peruse The Green Guide and, for a more comprehensive list of vacuums’ green ratings, Consumer Reports. With these helpers, it’s sure to be a wind-wind situation when you choose your next vacuum cleaner!

Find it Here: The Green Guide