Why I Turned Green

Like most people, I grew up thinking that our home wasn’t clean unless it smelled like Lysol, Pledge or Clorox. When I became responsible for cleaning my own home, I found I was holding my breath because my cleaning products were an affront to my nostrils! Intuitively, I knew it couldn’t be healthy to inhale this stuff. But these were products and brands that I had seen advertised and used for years. I guess I felt safe perpetuating the “trust” in these cleaning products.

My first pregnancy, in 1980, coincided with the Love Canal tragedy in Niagara Falls, NY. Having visited Niagara Falls in my youth, I felt a connection to that news story. There began my first education about the EPA and the effects of toxic chemicals. So whether it was that incident or the natural protectiveness which many pregnant women experience, I wanted to do only the right things for my unborn child. I refrained from drinking alcohol and consuming caffeine, but when it came to cleaning my home, I used the same products my mother used. Products on the store shelves must be safe to use, otherwise they wouldn’t be sold – right?

In the last few years, I’ve become increasingly more educated about the invasion of chemicals to our bodies through absorption, ingestion and inhalation. I’ve learned that babies are born with over 200 toxins already in their bodies. The rise in childhood cancer, learning disabilities, autism, asthma and hormone-related cancers and birth defects are frightening. My research really kicked in when a previously very healthy friend was diagnosed with leukemia, as was her stepson. Then their young dog died of cancer. This occurred soon after they moved into their newly remodeled home. Whether related or not, it’s difficult to attribute these events to a coincidence.

Similarly, another friend’s family who lived in their home as it was being remodeled was met with tragedy. The pregnant mom gave birth to a baby with an inoperable brain tumor. This devastating coincidence is not just about the remodeling of a home. It’s more about exposure to an abundance of toxins and how little control we have exercised over the contaminants we introduce daily to our households.

According to the EPA, indoor air can be more polluted than the air on a busy city street. In some areas, common household products such as cleaners and cosmetics are second only to automobiles as a source of air pollution. These are all reasons why I’ve turned green. I am trying to keep my family healthy, warn those I care about through education and promote products that are truly good for us and our planet. To learn more about why you should turn green, I recommend that you read Gorgeously Green by Sophie Uliano, Not Just a Pretty Face: The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry by Stacy Malkan, and support the Environmental Working Group.