3 Simple Ways to Green Your Home

With so much information at our fingertips it can be overwhelming to figure out which lifestyle changes would have the most positive impact on our planet and health.  We wanted to highlight a few simple, attainable changes that you can make in your household today!

1. Switch to Reusable Snack Bags.

We produce roughly 300 million tons of plastic each year and half of it is disposable! World-wide only 10-13% of plastic items are recycled. Reduce your plastic use by starting small – replace ziplock bags with reusable ones. The dependence on single-use plastics, especially ziplocks, is a hard habit to break. Luckily, there are a multitude of great reusable options that are easy to clean (dishwasher safe!) and non-toxic. Lunchskins and Stasher are two of our favorites!

2. Ditch the Teflon!

Traditional non-stick pans coated with Teflon contain harmful highly fluorinated chemicals that are linked to a wide variety of health problems. These chemicals are also resistant to breakdown, remaining in the environment for millions of years and harming future generations. Replace your traditional non-stick pans with ceramic or cast iron alternatives that don’t contain PTFE or PFOA. Epicurious has a great round up here!

3. Use a Non-toxic, Plant-based Cleaner 

Most traditional cleaning products contain active ingredients and fragrances that are linked to asthma, allergies, and hormone disruption. Conventional cleaning products are also bad for the environment  – the ingredients cause harm to marine life and drinking water, and continue our reliance on petroleum. Start the process of replacing your traditional cleaning products (ie 409, Windex etc) with plant-based alternatives – Seventh Generation and Ecos are two effective options.

Ready to learn more about how to make your home even healthier and more sustainable for you and your family? Pick up a copy of one of our favorite resources “Healthy Child Healthy World” by Christopher Gavigan.