Identifying Environmental Toxins In Your Home
by Krista Peterson

Protecting our children from products that can potentially harm them is becoming more and more difficult in this day and age. With environmental toxins more present at every turn, keeping our eyes open for asbestos, BPA, and lead may secure the long term health of our children.

Mothers know better than most how to take care of their children. Unfortunately, even giving your baby a bottle can be dangerous. Bisphenol A, or BPA, has been used for over 40 years in the production of plastic products.  Its negative effects are most commonly spread to us and to our children by plastic coming into contact with our food and drink.  Plastic bottles, even baby bottles and cups, often contain BPA. New studies are showing that BPA may indeed harm adults and children. To avoid BPA and to prevent infants from ingesting too much of it, mothers are encourage to breastfeed. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), breastfeeding provides myriad health benefits for both the mother and the child. Not only are children who are breastfed less likely to become obese, breast milk provides all the nutrients an infant needs for development, antibodies which protect infants from common illnesses and allergies, and better long-term health. Breastfeeding also reduces the risk of ovarian and breast cancers and obesity for mothers. Mothers and fathers should also check for and throw away scratched or damaged baby cups and bottles.

In addition to guarding against BPA, parents should keep a careful eye out for asbestos. Asbestos is found in drywall and other building materials in homes, offices, and schools. Once disturbed, asbestos releases fibers into the air and children and adults that frequently breathe these invisible fibers in are at risk for a serious cancer called mesothelioma.   Symptoms generally don’t show themselves for 20-50 years after exposure to asbestos fibers.  Because of this lapse in time, diagnosis and treatment are often postponed until the cancer has spread. Mesothelioma life expectancy is extremely low, and preventing exposure to asbestos is the best way to keep your children healthy.

Finally, lead poisoning can have devastating effects on the health of your children. Children are more susceptible to lead poisoning because they are more likely to put dust, dirt, paint, and old toys into their mouths. They are also less likely to wash their hands properly after playing in soil that contains lead. Lead poisoning symptoms include irritability, vomiting, loss of appetite, nausea, and behavioral inconsistencies.  Lead can also be found in drinking water and other household products. To protect your family form lead poisoning, have your home tested. If high lead levels are found, see a doctor about a lead blood test.

Environmental toxins like lead, asbestos, and BPA may threaten the long term health of you and your children, but prevention, information, and caution can reduce the risk of environmentally related illness.  If you observe mesothelioma or lead poisoning symptoms, even if they are noticed among neighbors or friends, see a doctor about screening and testing. Spread the news about how to protect our families.

Junk your car and give something back: how scrapping your clunker can help lead the way to a more sustainable future

These days, nearly all the choices we make in our consumer purchases – whether they are about our home (or the things we put in it), the clothing we wear, or the food we eat – have a potential impact on our future and our environment.

So too with cars. Given the environmental concerns surrounding increasing car sales, when your current car is at the end of its working life, what’s the best decision to make? Do you sell it for scrap and buy a new, more environmentally friendly model? Do you sell it for scrap, take the ultimate test, and try to live without a car at all?

Over in the UK, where – especially in urban areas – more and more people are choosing to give up their cars, one man, after being inspired by US-based initiatives, has come up with an option for getting rid of your old motor in the most environmentally friendly way possible and giving to a good cause at the same time.  With membership of car clubs nearly doubling from 64,679 in 2009 to 112,928 in 2010, who knows, perhaps people really are beginning to come around to the idea of a more sustainable future when it comes to car-reliance.

Giveacar’s founder Tom Chance started up his car donation fundraising organization – a first in the UK – after realizing two things: firstly, that there was an urgent need to address the environmental consequences of unregulated car disposal in Britain, and secondly, that the car scrap market was an untapped, potentially invaluable source of revenue for charities.

Giveacar offers a free service to its customers. They arrange for the collection and environmentally responsible scrapping and recycling of end-of-life motors. After a small deduction of administrative costs, the proceeds then go to a charity of the owner’s choice.

Over 2 million vehicles come off British roads every year, but half of these are left unaccounted for. They are not scrapped to environmental requirements, which stipulate that all cars must be disposed of at an Authorized Treatment Facility, where hazardous waste and pollutants are safely recovered or removed before the shell is sent off for recycling.

Many of the de-commissioned motors that are unaccounted for end up posing a significant environmental problem, as they are often left abandoned in driveways or by the road, leaching toxins and heavy metals into the ground, while oils and fluids are poured down sewers and drains. What’s more, some are illegally re-introduced onto the roads (after being supposedly junked by a dealer), leading to notable air pollution, not to mention safety, concerns.

Some 90% of the vehicles Giveacar receives are scrapped, and all to the highest possible environmental standards in authorized scrap yards, meaning that many heavy polluting cars are taken off the roads forever. In cases where a car has not reached the end of its life, and in recognition of the environmental costs of producing a new car, it is auctioned, thus generating more funds for charity.

Since it began last year, the Giveacar scheme has raised over $300,000 for over 250 charities, and has taken thousands of heavy polluters off Britain’s roads.

The theme of the piece was to be the lack of downsizing by Americans and how green building fit into the picture. While I wasn’t entirely sure what angle the story would take, it ended up having a slighlty more negative tone than I’d hoped. The story still highlighted the features of the home but on spoke about costs on the most cursory level. The point I’d hoped would come across was that people could make their homes very green for only a marginal increase in costs, while still getting the size  The home my wife and I built cost more per square foot than many green homes do because of other upgrades for which we opted. I’ll discuss the economics of our build in later posts, but in the mean time, I think this seed should be planted.

The story can be found here: Square footage still trumps eco-friendliness

The title isn’t compelling for the immediate future of more sustainable development for hopefully as our project gets more exposure, and companies like ecoUrban gain more tractions, this story will have a different ending soon enough.

The title of the blog has taken on new meaning given the completion of our home and the arrival of our son. And while Green Rising has always been a metaphor, it’s now more applicable to the realities of my life.

I hope the blog will take on a new focus, with the primary objectives being the discussion of living sustainably and raising a sustainable family. The former will focus on the physical aspects of a life more sustainable, including entries about our green home. The latter will focus on decision making as it relates to the growth and evolution of our family.

I know these objectives are still relatively vauge, but I find them to be more concrete than any others I’ve commited to in the past.

Finally, as part of our move from a loft to a home, my commute has increased from five blocks to five miles. While the distance is still relatively short compared to the average American commute, it is expotentially greater than it used to be. To transport myself to and from work as efficiently as possible, I plan on taking the bus as often as possible. In fact, my February 2010 Metro pass was all ready to be swiped this morning on my first official bus commute but Snowmaggedon 2011 has me working from home. If I live through it, I’ll let you know how it goes!

Here’s to a more sustainable 2011!