Marie's Green Living Monthly Column - Archive

Happy New Year! In the beginning of every year, most of us take a few moments to think about our lives and consider the goals we would like to accomplish, and then set resolutions. While it seems that a great many of those resolutions involve things like losing weight and making money, wouldn’t it be great if we all decided to live a little greener in 2011? 

As we approach the end of 2010 and look forward to the beginning of a new year, I thought it would be nice to leave you with some great cleaning tips that I have gotten from friends, family members, and co-workers along the way.  Use them wisely and share them with your friends so that this year's holiday cleaning can be fun and "green" for us all!

Cold and flu season is now upon us!  This is the time of year when most of us are concerned about keeping ourselves and our families "germ-free".

We already know the precautions about covering our coughs and sneezes, washing our hands frequently, keeping our hands and fingers away from our faces, and keeping a distance from infectious people...

...but what if the infectious person is someone you live with or work with?

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It is a time when people become more educated about the signs of breast cancer, its symptoms, and how to help prevent it. Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women and the second leading cause of cancer death in women in the United States. According to the American Cancer Society, one of every eight women will learn they have invasive breast cancer in their lifetime.

September is here!  Summer is winding down, the new school year has begun, and autumn weather is quickly approaching.  For many of us, the first sign of autumn isn't just a yard full of leaves.  It's the sneezes, sniffles, asthma, and a variety of germs that follow, especially if you have children.

Last year, my husband and I were asked to be part of a new reality TV series called Breakthrough with Tony Robbins.  Robbins chose six families, all with different struggles in their lives, and helped them overcome tough obstacles to get back on the right track.  The show recently aired two of its six series.

Did you ever try to read the ingredients on the back of a bottle of shaving cream or face wash?  You probably read things like, "propylene glycol, quaternary ammonium compound, or nonylphenols."  What the label didn't tell you is that these ingredients are all known to be hazardous chemicals, in some cases causing bronchial asthma, gastritis, skin irritation, and even death.

The hot weather has finally arrived, which means summer is almost here.  Summer brings lots of good times and family fun, but it also brings heat, humidity, mold, mildew and bugs!

Throughout the month of June, Maid Brigade will be discussing non-toxic ways to prevent and remove mold and mildew in and outside the home, plus offer green cleaning tips on keeping your home "mildew-free."   For those interested in a "bug-free" summer, we will also be discussing different kinds of natural insect pest control.  Log on to blog.maidbrigade.com for more information.

Make this summer a happy, healthy, and "green" summer for you and your family!

In a recent survey by the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, about 20 percent of the U.S. population suffer from allergies and asthma, and their conditions are exacerbated by the tiny dry particles floating around our homes.  The natural response to this is to keep our homes sparkling clean, but unfortunately some of the products we use to rid our home of allergens contain irritating ingredients themselves. 

When it comes to household cleaners, consumers have little or no information about the chemicals contained in these products and there is no legal requirement for full ingredient labeling.  Don't you have a right to know what is inside the cleaners you use in your home and around your families?

As Maid Brigade’s new Consumer Health Advocate, I believe that “green” living is such an important step in healthy living. I feel there are still so many people that are confused with what is “green and healthy” for their families and the environment and what is not, especially when it comes to green products and green cleaning. I can understand how doing research on this topic can be very time consuming, so through my role as Consumer Health Advocate, I plan to do the research and keep our readers informed about proper green cleaning and how this way of life is healthier for our families. This way you can focus your time on more important things in life.

The holidays tend to present more emergency cleaning challenges than other times of year. This month Annie shares her helpful green cleaning tips  to ease your stress this holiday season!

They say that spring moves up the coast 15 miles a day. Sadly, this beautiful time of change is also heralded by the drift of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides from commercial and private spraying.

It can be overwhelming to detoxify your home, but if you have young children and are of childbearing age, it will most likely be an anxiety-provoking priority of yours. Where to start? What to do? What to believe? I recommend you pay attention to these Top Ten Toxic Targets in your home. 

Here are a few simple tips that anyone can implement to make their home greener and healthier in 2009!

My friend and colleague Carl Frankel wrote a nice blog recently about the economic collapse, and he ends with, “Here's what I keep asking myself: would I exchange increased financial insecurity, and even some personal hardship, for a world rescued from eco-collapse? And of course the answer is, in a heartbeat, yes.” I spoke to him on the phone and he elaborated, saying

Some of the  most powerful and impressive green movements were started by one individual with a visionary inspiration.  Here we feature several pioneers of the green movement.

Plastics have snuck up on us in the most unexpected places, including our bodies.  Who knew that the ingredient to make plastic soft , known as phthalates, are found in perfume oil solvents and the resulting fragrance, paper coatings, adhesives, printing inks, air fresheners, and nail polish? We might have thought to look at our plastic food packages, but air fresheners? Nail polish?

The holidays tend to present more emergency cleaning challenges than other times of year. This month Annie shares her helpful green cleaning tips  to ease your stress this holiday season!

This consumer fact might ring a bell for you: A consistent finding in polls shows that people are very well intentioned towards their health and the environment but that they don’t know how to implement solutions to address their concerns in their everyday lives. Many consumers don’t understand that “green” living, in today’s terms, is as much about health as it is about the environment. There are several people who refuse to use green cleaners because they don’t smell strong enough to thoroughly clean a surface. You’d be amazed how often people make the judgment about “clean” related to the smell of commercial products.