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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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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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If you are an eco conscious parent there is no doubt your kid will be one too. The only challenge we may face as parents is finding an effective way to teach our children about the environment. There is a growing concern that the environmental information our children find on television or in schools is biased either by activists who scare children with “gloom and doom” stories or by companies who are trying to downplay the effects of pollution in our environment.

To the average parent, finding accurate, balanced environmental information for children can sometimes be quite a challenge. But why rely on schools or TV when we should do it ourselves in the first place?  There are plenty of simple ways that we can help our kids understand the significance of caring for the planet. The key is to inspire them without sounding preachy or overly militant.  Here are some things we can do to engage our kids and inspire them to become caring earthlings (more…)

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