By Melissa Cooper Sargent
We are in our homes, and our yards (yay Spring!), more than ever. What can we do in and around our homes to be healthier and care for our environment more? There’s a lot of easy things that can make a big difference. Let’s start with our indoor air.
Inside
The air inside our homes tends to be 2½ times more polluted than the air immediately outside, according to the U.S. EPA. As homes have become more energy efficient (a good thing!), they also have less air exchange (not so good for healthy indoor air). Less fresh air comes in through the cracks and less polluted indoor air seeps out. The easiest thing we can do is open windows. Other things to consider...
Disinfecting vs. Cleaning
Healthy households don’t need to disinfect every surface. Simple cleaning will do. The Covid-19 virus breaks down easily with soap due to its fatty cell wall.
If you need to disinfect due to an exposed or immune-compromised person in the home, avoid disinfectants with “quats” or quaternary ammonium compounds. The California Department of Public Health has specified avoiding products that contain quats in schools due to their asthma-causing effects. For disinfecting at home, use 70% isopropyl alcohol or 3% hydrogen peroxide or look for products with alcohol or hydrogen peroxide, such as:
Purell Multi Surface Disinfectant
Lysol Hydrogen Peroxide Multi-Purpose Cleaner
Lead
Test for lead at home. Fewer children are getting tested for lead since the pandemic, and yet, children are spending more time at home, where they may be exposed. Lead can be in household dust if a house was built before 1978. Test painted surfaces for lead with lead test strips, such as 3M Lead Check, available at hardware stores. Window and door frames and staircases get more wear and are more likely to have old paint exposed. Cleaning these areas with a wet cloth or wet mop minimizes lead exposure through household dust. For more on preventing lead exposures in the home visit ecocenter.org/ending-childhood-lead-poisoning.
Air filters
While our windows are closed, the air inside our homes circulates through the filter of the HVAC system or the furnace. Setting the fan to the “on” position on the thermostat will keep the fan running even if the heat or air conditioning is not on, thus keeping the air circulating, according to the U.S. CDC. The agency also suggests using pleated furnace filters and changing them every three months. A clean, effective filter means cleaner air in the house.
The CDC suggests considering a portable high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) cleaner if you don’t have an HVAC system or just want extra filtration. Select a HEPA cleaner with a Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) that is the same or greater than the square footage of the room. “The larger the CADR,” says the CDC, “the faster it will clean the air.” Additionally, exhaust fans in the kitchen and bathroom keep air flowing and may be useful if guests visit during the pandemic.
Home Projects
In the past year many of us have started home improvement projects. Remember to follow U.S. EPA best practices to keep your indoor air healthy during renovations. Among other suggestions, they advise misting surfaces with water before sanding or scraping to prevent dust and also using plastic sheets or tarps to cover surfaces and closing off work areas to contain dust. Good ventilation (fans and open windows!) is also key to keeping work zones safe.
Dryer Sheets
Household clothes dryers vent to the outside. You may not smell the perfumed dryer sheets in your own home, but the chemicals in dryer sheets are released into neighbors’ yards and can pollute outdoor air. A 2011 study found more than 25 volatile organic compounds emitted from dryer vents, seven of which are classified as hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) and two as carcinogenic HAPs. If a dryer is not properly vented to the outside of the home, that chemical-laden exhaust will pollute your indoor air. Be a good neighbor and forego dryer sheets.
Instead, you can cut static cling by adding wool dryer balls or a cloth with vinegar on it (Learn how to make your own dryer balls in Issue #73 of the Crazy Wisdom Community Journal in our Handcrafting Column). Or pull out and line dry clothes made of certain materials that cause static electricity, such as polyester, nylon, or rayon. Better yet, save energy and line dry all your loads. The washer and dryer use 13% of the household’s energy, third in line behind heating and cooling (47%) and the water heater (14%) according to Connect4Climate. Line drying clothes is a good excuse to be outside and enjoy the warmer weather. Of course, clothes can be line dried in the house as well.
Outside
In our yards, the best and easiest way to keep our family healthy and protect the planet is to avoid pesticides. Pesticides are linked to a wide array of negative health effects, including neurotoxic effects, reproductive harm, and cancer. Children and pets are most vulnerable since they are closer to the ground (and even roll on the ground), have frequent hand (paw) to mouth activity, are smaller in size, and—for children—have developing immune systems. Avoiding synthetic pesticides may require rethinking what defines a beautiful lawn and garden.
Read related article: Green Living: More Than the Three R’s: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle… Rot
Are dandelions the scourge of the lawn or could they be considered lovely little flowers? These bits of yellow dotting our lawns are, in fact, a most welcome site to pollinators (and children!) who have endured the barren, winter months. Dandelions offer hungry bees their first source of nectar each spring, sustaining our pollinators until the abundance of the season blooms in full. (And have you ever met a more joyous small child than one picking dandelion flowers, making dandelion chains, or blowing their white fluffy seeds?)
Anyone with a yard can contribute to helping monarchs, bees, and other pollinators. Embrace pollen and nectar-rich flowers like dandelions, clover, goldenrod, and aster that volunteer in your yard, and don’t poison your visitor with lawn and garden pesticides. Avoiding pesticides will create a healthy place for children and pets to play as well.
Tips for a beautiful lawn:
1. Fertilize naturally with compost, organic fertilizer, and even mulched lawn clippings. Synthetic fertilizers kill beneficial organisms in the soil and make plants more vulnerable to disease and pests.
2. Treat grubs naturally with beneficial nematodes or milky spore; not Merit ® or other products that contain neonicotinoids. Neonicotinoids are a class of pesticides particularly lethal to bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects. May, June, September, and October are the best times to apply grub treatments.
3. Avoid weed and feed products—they are pesticides! Most contain 2,4-D, a dangerous herbicide linked to cancer in humans and canine lymphoma. Corn gluten meal is a natural weed and feed. It feeds the soil with nitrogen and prevents seed germination. Other tips: mow high (raise blade to 3+ inches), overseed bare patches in lawn with grass seed (don’t use in combination with corn gluten meal), and aerate the soil in spring and fall.
4. Plant native perennials, shrubs, and trees to attract pollinators, and beneficial pest-eating insects and birds. One local source for native plants is The Native Plant Nursery at the Ann Arbor Farmers’ Market.
Melissa Cooper Sargent is an Environmental Health Advocate and works at the Ecology Center. You can reach her at melissas@ecocenter.org.
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There were seventeen sets of nail clippers. Books were on the shelves, books in boxes under the bed, and even more books in the attic. I found at least two dozen pairs of eyeglasses each with a sunglass inset. A microscope. Three weed whackers, four typewriters, and the boxes from every appliance he owned. At least 15 winter coats—why so many coats?