SanJoseGreenHome.com

We all know by now that toxins in our home can affect our general health but did you know that flame retardants in the house can lower your chances to have kids?  If you are a male then pay attention.  And if you are a female who has a male than also pay attention…  Recent studies show that flame retardants, found in 96% of all house dust, can seriously lower a male’s chances of being a fertile stud.  

Surprisingly, flame retardants are found in furniture padding, draperies, electronics equipment and plastics.  These flame retardants end up in dust and then inside of us.  

Flame retardants using PBDE (polybrominated biphenyl ether) were phased out in 2004 because of their hormone altering or endocrine disturber effects.  Instead of PBDE, the industry has gradually upped the use of the organophosphate based flame retardants, TDCPP (tris (1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate) and TPP (triphenyl phosphate).  The problem is, they still may also have hormone altering effects. 

A lot of our concern has been about levels of endocrine disturbers in pregnant women and resulting hormonal problems in infants and children. But what about getting pregnant in the first place?  Is there something going on with the male contribution side of things? Why have male testosterone levels and semen quality seen a downward trend?  Very likely that part of the reason is (more…)

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Let’s face it, no home is truly green without supporting the health of its inhabitants.  With a rise of cases where more and more people, and especially our children, are developing allergies, asthma, and chemical sensitivities, many are looking for solutions in the the quality of their indoor air as never before. 

Want to hear some awesome news?  We have an abundance of options to keep our in-home air as fresh as the Amazon rain forest.  OK ok, maybe not like the Amazon, but close.  Come with us on a tour of non-toxic and sustainable materials to learn some things you can do to give your lungs a break that they deserve. 

PART II

If you have learned something new here, please share it with your family and friends.  They will thank you for it.

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Which part of the world does your bite come from?

It seems not just that many years ago, imported food was considered a status symbol, no matter what condition it was in when it finally arrived at the table.  This was just as true in Eastern Europe, where I grew up.  My mother used to be a “produce director” at one of the biggest grocery stores in town.  Once in the blue moon she would bring home what everyone called “deficit” goods.  Those included exotic nuts from India, baby fruit purées, and of course the mighty banana!  Gosh you should have seen the looks in our eyes.  My sister and I were more excited to see a banana than most people buying a brand new hybrid today. 

Those days are long gone and now Europeans as well as Americans live in economies where food is so plentiful that we are faced with hundreds of choices of fruit and veggies from every corner of the globe.  Things change but today we’re facing a very different dilemma.  There is a growing awareness that the food that ends up on our dinner plates has a much higher price tag than what we actually pay for it with our hard earn dollars.  What does this mean? 

In many cases, Western society routinely purchases food that was grown more than 1000 miles away and transported to the local grocery store.  While food prices in the store are relatively inexpensive, the environmental cost of transporting our food is often very high.  You see, all these trucks, trains, and boats, all of which consume fossil fuels, are the primary methods for transporting large quantities of food around the world.  Inevitably, transportation of these goods leave a trail of pollution and produce (more…)

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Synthetic turf can look just as real grass from a few feet away but does it hold water with its new eco claims?

Installing synthetic turf has become all the rage recently. It was even featured on some Bay Area local channels. Commonly known in the past as astro turf, it has been reinvented, repacked and now called ‘eco turf.’ It is being touted as the latest in green landscaping. There is even a striking list of ecological “solutions” that this product addresses. Those include no mowing, no watering or expensive irrigation systems, no weed control, and no other maintenance headaches like fertilizing and hauling away grass clippings.

The latest synthetic turf is even manufactured from recycled plastic and is recycable at the end of its life. Your kids can play on it in the rain and won’t get muddy. It is wheel chair accessible. So it seems like we have solved a horde of environmental issues with one product, so what’s not to love?

Stepford Lawns

Do you recall the part in the movie, The Stepford Wives where one of the Stepford wives gets stabbed and it messes with her wiring and she starts repeating “ I thought we were friends, I thought we were friends? That’s what I imagine synthetic turf is saying when I stab it with my accusations of it being a pseudo green product. Like my friend Owen Dell would say, it’s kind of like organic heroin, organic or not it is still fundamentally a bad idea.

Aromatherapy it’s not

I’ll begin with the deceptively simple argument that my primary distrust of synthetic turf is based on the fact that it is not alive. It does not breathe and therefore it offers no oxygen as a byproduct. On a warm day the entire area around a synthetic playing field reeks of melting off-gassing plastic, not an enjoyable smell. It certainly is not aromatherapy. Again because the stuff is not living and breathing the cooling effect is absent and thus the heat island affect is increased. The ‘heat island’ refers to the phenomena in which urban air and surfaces sustain higher temperatures than nearby rural areas.

The images below comparing air, water, bermudagrass, sand, asphalt, and synthetic turf surface temperatures illustrate how (more…)

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Bring on the home decorations and holiday get togethers – let’s do it green and healthy.  The holiday season is here in earnest!

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