Articles tagged “Green Cleaning”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Calculate Your Water Footprint By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Home & Garden Jan 7 2008 You may have come to terms with your carbon footprint, but how much do you know about your water footprint? In fact, one flush of a toilet in the developed world, says the United Nations (PDF), uses as much water as the average person in the developing world allocates for an entire day's cooking, washing, cleaning, and + READ MORE

Best of 2007: Detox Your Home By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Home & Garden Jan 3 2008 Indoor air pollution can be two to five times worse than outdoor air pollution, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Neutralize trace organic pollutants, such as benzene and formaldehyde, simply by growing certain varieties of houseplants.Find out which ones you want to add to your your detox arsenal, + READ MORE

Make a Potato Soup By Kelly Rossiter IN Food & Health Jan 1 2008 I love soup. Potato Soup Serves 4 4-5 medium size potatoes (I usually use Yukon Gold), peeled and diced1 large onion, diced5 cups chicken stock, vegetable stock or water1 tbsp butter or vegetable oil1 tbsp fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried1/2 cup or so white wine or vermouth1 cup or so of light cream or milkSalt and pepper to + READ MORE

Detox Your Home: Assemble a Green Cleaning Kit By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Home & Garden Dec 18 2007 What's not to love about mixing your own cleaning products from tried-and-tested formulas? Oven Cleaner 1 cup or more baking sodawaterA squirt or two of liquid detergent Sprinkle water generously over the bottom of the oven, then cover the grime with enough baking soda that the surface it totally white. + READ MORE

Detox Your Home: Detect, Remove Lead Paint By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Home & Garden Dec 10 2007 Sorry, parental units, but discovering traces of lead in your kids' toys is the least of your problems with this neurotoxin. Wash and wipe down surfaces: Meanwhile, wet-mop floors and wipe windows and other contaminated surfaces with trisodium phosphate or another high-phosphate detergent-note, however, that although... + READ MORE

Turn Off Your Engine By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Tech & Transport Dec 7 2007 If you're braking your car for more than 10 seconds-that is, anywhere except in traffic-turn off the ignition key. Idling gets zero miles per gallon, spewing greenhouse gases and smog-causing toxic pollutants in its wake.Even if Old Man Winter is breathing down your neck, says NRCAN, you can drive away after 30 seconds + READ MORE

Clean Your Wool Rug with Snow By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Home & Garden Dec 4 2007 Heavy woolen rugs are a doozy to clean, especially if they're the size of a blanket or larger. Best done at a temperature of 25°F or colder, and on new or powdered snow (the finer the flakes, the more thorough the cleaning), this method works because below-freezing temperatures harden and break up bits of grease that... + READ MORE

Build a Green Library: Naturally Clean by Jeffrey Hollender By Collin Dunn IN Home & Garden Nov 28 2007 This is the first in a series of posts about recommended reading, for building a green library in your home. With a glossary of terms that you need to know, a resource guide to find additional information and recommendations for products in your home, and a plethora of DIY natural cleaning alternatives found within,... + READ MORE

Detox Your Home: Grow Fresh Air with Houseplants By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Home & Garden Nov 26 2007 The air within our homes is significantly more polluted than the environment outside, according to an growing body of scientific evidence. Golden pothos and philodendrons, for instance, practically hoover formaldehyde (found commonly in particle board and foam insulation) out of the surrounding air, while flowering... + READ MORE

Recycle That Turkey Fryer Oil into Biofuel By Collin Dunn IN Food & Health Nov 26 2007 Over 2 million folks across the country deep-fried their turkey this Thanksgiving, and, while many folks swear it's the best turkey you'll ever eat, cleaning up can be troublesome. Companies like Grecycle in Tuscon, Arizona and Biodiesel Industries in Dallas, Texas, along with an increasing number of municipalities,... + READ MORE

Detox Your Home: Pay Attention to Warning Labels By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Home & Garden Nov 16 2007 Exposure to the toxic chemicals many household products contain-including your window cleaner, tile scrubber, and furniture polish-can really do a number on your central nervous system, resulting in brain fog, difficulty breathing, and even sudden mood swings. If you're planning to ditch the existing contents of your... + READ MORE

Redecorate Without Buying Anything New By Collin Dunn IN Home & Garden Nov 6 2007 Courtesy of Apartment Therapy's 8 Step Fall Cure (their version of "a house becomes a home") comes a valuable lesson: decorating doesn't necessarily mean shopping. Restore: If you have quality furniture that's a little out of date, upgrade it by restoring it with a fresh coat of paint, a reupholstered seat, or new... + READ MORE

Stock your Kitchen Part 3: Thai Cooking By Kelly Rossiter IN Food & Health Oct 31 2007 Kelly Rossiter is offering ideas about cooking basics; see introduction here. So forget the take-away and we'll get you ready to cook.Cooking oils: Peanut oil, vegetable oil, sesame oil Canned and bottled goods: Soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, coconut milk ( I always use light coconut milk because it tastes the... + READ MORE

Multitask with Baking Soda By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Food & Health Sep 5 2007 There's more to baking soda than unclogging drains and fluffing up cakes and muffins. Strange but true: More than 100 tons of the popular refrigerator deodorizer were used to clean the Statue of Liberty's inner copper walls during its 1986 restoration, primarily because of baking soda's ability to attack grease by... + READ MORE

Make Stuff Last, Save a Bundle By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Home & Garden Sep 5 2007 Here's a surefire way of making sure you don't fritter away your hard-earned clams, say the experts at Consumer Reports: Spend less. Taking care of what you already own and postponing the bank-account-draining day you'll have to replace them makes your money stretch further, which is almost as good as making more, with + READ MORE

Hack Your Swiffer By Jasmin Malik Chua IN Tech & Transport Aug 27 2007 We're still not sure what Gianfranco Zaccai, CEO of the design consultancy that brought us the Swiffer, was smoking when he called P&G's best-selling (and admittedly revolutionary) cleaning system "eco-friendly." A sheet of magnetic rubber and some adhesive can turn your dust mop into a handy screw retriever you can... + READ MORE