Is Your Home Fragrance Product Making You Sick?

     As fall continues, we spend more time closed up indoors. The same air is circulated over and over again. The products we use to fragrance our homes may be toxic, and the effects can become more noticeable as winter wears on. With the holidays, I am constantly burning candles to evoke the scent of everything from candy corn to apple pie and sugarplum dreams (whatever that smells like). Boys and dogs stink this place up, so I've always been one to spray down with the sweet smell of anything other than what I can only call "dudes." And that's putting it politely.

     I've blogged many times about my revulsion for synthetic fragrances. They give me migraine headaches, sneezing fits, burning eyes and skin irritations. When the family and I undertook our green initiatives, fakes smells were among the first products to be banned up in here. Candles went in the trash in favor of diffused essential oils, laundry went unscented, and I stopped wearing perfume (until I found Lavanilla). Within weeks, many of my symptoms disappeared. I could breathe clearly for the first time in ages.
      I don't think it's necessarily one toxic product that will do a person in; it's the cumulative effect on our bodies as we go throughout our days consuming garbage. I'm reminded of Lily Tomlin in The Incredible Shrinking Woman, where a housewife ends up moving into her kids' dollhouse, shrunken to Barbie's size from her use of common household products in the modern 1980s.

     What I've learned is these types of symptoms are indicative of poisonous chemicals like VOCs, volatile organic compounds. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, VOCs are "emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids. VOCs include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have short- and long-term adverse health effects. Concentrations of many VOCs are consistently higher indoors (up to ten times higher) than outdoors.VOCs are emitted by a wide array of products numbering in the thousands."
     The EPA also comments on how VOCs can damage health: "Eye, nose, and throat irritation; headaches, loss of coordination, nausea; damage to liver, kidney, and central nervous system." 
     Another big offender: pthalates. You may remember a lot of press about getting pthalates out of the plastics used in baby products. That was a few years ago. I honestly can't say I trust agencies, manufacturers and media to tell me something is suddenly safe. Pthalates are particularly nasty for developing nervous systems; this toxin is most definitely disruptive to the endocrine system (and I wonder why my thyroid is thrashed?!?). 
     Pregnant women and families with children should be particularly vigilant about creating a pthalate-free home. I feel the only way to minimize exposure is to use completely natural products as much as I can. I've learned this is actually possible 90% of the time. When utilitarian items like PVC shower curtains, new upholstery, or dry cleaned clothes happen into my life, I allow them to "off-gas" outside before I use them.

 

     I feel pretty well-versed on green cosmetics (please see Organic Orgy), so I've decided to make sustainable, healthy fragrances my next pet project. Over the next several indoor months, I'll post lots more on indoor toxins like VOCs, BPA, Formaldehyde, Pthalates and all their nasty cohorts. 

     Chime in!  How do you mitigate Eau de Dude et Dog at your house?!?

     

Spread Art and Love Just by Shopping For Cool Stuff

January 2009: Last fall, I called upon family and friends of Innerspace Yoga to reach out to help at-risk children in the Indianapolis community. Thanks to your generous donations in class, our seven year old friend had a warm Christmas with many toys and new boots! Thanks to your abundant shopping through links on Innerspace Yoga and kitty: we also raised about $100 in advertising revenue, which bought materials needed for the art studio at St. Mary’s Child Center!
    One person bought her holiday stationery; another picked up a motherlode of Legos. Little bits added up and the children enjoyed new art supplies! The teachers requested a gift certificate to Michael's, where they could maximize their dollars. They loved it!
    Although I don’t really know who did what since Innerspace isn’t privy to your personal information, I thank you from the bottom of my heart....whomever you are! In the coming year, Innerspace Yoga will reach as many as 100 at-risk Indianapolis youth, spreading the message of peace, love and sustainability through the art and science of yoga. As always, I invite you to get involved with that effort. Namaste!


Update 11-11-09: This year, Innerspace Yoga will donate 75% of our advertising revenues between November 1, 2009 and January 1, 2010 to St. Mary's Child Center to purchase items from the wish list for the students' art instruction. To participate, just click on ad banners and hotlinks on any page in our domain - including this one. To learn more about the project and to get started, please visit our Seva page on the Innerspace mothership site. You can also start now by browsing the Innerspace OM Shop at the bottom of this post.
     The products, brands, and artists advertised within the Innerspace domain are not directly participating in the Seva Project 09. When you click on their links, you are leaving us and going to them to become a customer (hopefully). Please enable your browser to accept cookies on these sites, otherwise your purchase won't earn revenue for us! Thank You so much, Your Kitty.

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Quick Laundry Tip: Waste Not Want Not

     Hopefully, you have made the switch from America's favorite laundry detergent brands to something more eco-friendly, something not formulated with dyes, petrochemicals and fake fragrances that irritate skin, mucous membranes and the environment. In Kitty's laundry dungeon, current favorites include all the products manufactured by Seventh Generation, ECOS detergent, and dryer balls.
     One of the quickest ways to maximize laundry product efficacy and frugality is to drastically reduce the amount of soap you use. In my front loader, regardless of the product I may be using at any given time, I only add a drop of detergent the size of a quarter. When I bought my Maytag Neptune a few years ago, the salesperson told me I could continue to use my regular (not HE) Tide as long as I added this small amount. I have noticed even the HE formulations only require this tiny amount as well.
     My clothes are just as clean with this small amount of soap and cold water, and I am spending a whole lot less on products. The hours spent toiling in the dungeon, however, have not been curtailed. I still do over 10 loads/week!

In the Event You Like Skiing as Much as I Do!

Kittens, I apologize for not blogging and bringing you the Zen of Homekeeping recently. Between all the shopping and mopping, I have had to choose between posting new insights and less pleasant chores like laundry and wall-washing! In the event you like skiing as much as I do, I have a North Face promotion for you (below). After all, "homekeeping" includes getting the winter gear out of storage and replacing pieces here and there, right? BTW, my first purchase of the winter is a helmet for shizzle!

FTC Compliance

This morning, Liberty Post pointed me to a new FTC rule. Because I care about lawful compliance (although, I like to think I can discern for myself what is and is not malarkey in the media, and likewise I strive to be honest in everything I publish), I am posting the Advertising Policies for the entire domain.

"Innerspace OMnimedia publishes a variety of blogs and electronic magazines celebrating and supporting conscious lifestyle choices." That's the mission. Here are the facts: We are a privately funded corporation. We want to bring sustainable culture to people in many ways, from traditional news features to essays and yes, advertising. We like to think we are uniting cool people with cool stuff when indeed our editorial content is appropriate for "stuff." The companies featured throughout the domain demonstrate an aspect of sustainability, whether they are purveyors of organic clothing, natural cosmetics, or yoga products. Whatever.

Innerspace OMnimedia chooses our advertising partners with discernment; sometimes a brand is featured because we ourselves use and endorse the products, and sometimes we feature ad banners from the aforementioned partners simply because we like the graphic effect. We pretty much do what we want when we want and we believe our readers are astute enough to know media is supported by advertising.

When a customer clicks on these visual elements, she might or might not be taken to a place with further product information or the ability to purchase said item. If she buys the item, Innerspace OMnimedia is given a commission. It's called "affiliate marketing." It's an aspect of media in the digital age.

During the holiday season, we sometimes run Seva Projects which take those commissions and distribute them to Indiana children's charities. During the rest of the year, those revenues keep the Mothership up and running. When readers' buying sprees go to charity, we are very explicit about run dates for the project, as well as who will receive portions of our revenues. In other words, you'll know about all the love you are about to spread by buying cool stuff!

As for consumer reviews (particularly on Kitty channels), your Kitty personally buys the products in question with her own funds, tests the products on herself, and gives a "transparent" and honest review. We do not review swag or samples. Your Kitty does not review anything she has not paid for herself; products posted in clickable links may or may not generate revenue, and exist mainly for the readers' convenience. Now you know. Thanks

All the Cool Kids are Doing it!

When I first began greening up the place about three years ago, I signed up for Ideal Bite. I've enjoyed it ever since. They send free little tips for things one can do to live a more sustainable, healthy lifestyle. They're funny, too. I especially love to check their coverage of specific cities before I travel; it's always good to know where I can get local organics and natural spa treatments whenever I'm on location! Oodles of Toodles, Kitty.

More Biodegradable Picnic Products

There are times when you just can't feasibly feed a huge crowd (or even just a big one) using proper plates, napkins and glassware: field trips, scouting & sporting events, parties beyond your china capacity and the like. So you use the paper plates and plastic cups and sporks, feeling guilty for denuding a forest for your fete. Never fear, Kitty is here with the latest in biodegradable serving products.

As seen in an earlier post, corn plastic can be used to make disposable cups. Utensils can be made from a similar starch product, Spudware or bamboo. I have seen sugar cane products at the store as well. Some food manufacturers are even packaging with such eco-friendly choices. I guess I could get my miso soup anywhere, but I prefer Annie Chun's for the bio-bowl. Personally, I think disposables are terribly wasteful, and plastics aren't for everyday culinary use - but I don't feel as wasteful knowing my container won't be around long after I am not! Restaurant owners please take note of the new options in take-out supplies!

Sugar cane bowls from Gaiam

Plates, also made from sugar cane fibers left over from extracting the juice from the plant.

Spudware made from plant starches makes an eco-difference!

Bagesse cups: also made from sugar cane fibers. I like this material even better than paper because the products are made from by-products of sugar manufacturing instead of trees. We need all the trees we can get!