Teens Turning Green

Living the Green Life

By Michelle Klahr

It’s pretty easy to make fun of myself for the seemingly ridiculous (and borderline obsessive) practices I’ve adopted over the past few years in a quest to live a greener, healthier lifestyle: Avoiding bottled water at all costs, throwing out whole sets of Teflon pans and plastic cooking utensils, meticulously scanning ingredient lists of any shampoos, soaps, cleaning products, and packaged foods before purchasing - the list goes on. As I’ve learned more about the potential dangers of everyday products, I’ve chosen to live by the Precautionary Principle, a.k.a. “better safe than sorry.”

Simply put, the Precautionary Principle states that if an action or product has a suspected risk of being harmful, responsibility falls on policymakers and manufacturers to ensure the action or product is notharmful.  In my own life, I translate this as: If there are two options for a product and one is suspected to be safer and/or better for the environment, why not buy that one, even if it is a bit more expensive?

I’ve applied this principle across most aspects of my day-to-day life. In addition to making eating choices that are organic, sustainable, and free of chemicals, I’ve made green changes to my personal care products, kitchen supplies, cleaning products, and bedding. Below are four areas to focus on if you are interested in moving towards a greener, healthier lifestyle.

1.       The ingredients in the products you put on yourself

•   Your skin is your body’s largest organ, and it is incredibly absorbent. Many soaps, lotions, perfumes and other products you apply contain chemicals that are endocrine disruptors, suspected carcinogens, and probable neurotoxi

• Don’t be fooled by marketing slogans that advertise products as “natural.” Check out ingredient lists for yourself. Beware of “the dirty thirty” (see sidebar link) including common (and scary) chemicals such as parabens (e.g., methylparaben), pthalates (e.g., dibutyl phthalate), aluminum compounds (in most antiperspirants) and 1.4 dioxane (known animal carcinogen, found in 46 out of 100 personal care products marketed as organic or natural).

• Also beware of products that contain “fragrance.” As fragrance is a trade secret, companies aren’t required to disclose fragrance ingredients. Even when products don’t have pthalates on the label, for example, many contain undisclosed pthalates within "fragrance."

2.       The way you handle, cook, and store your food

• The two kitchen chemicals I watch out for the most (besides pesticides in food) are Teflon and BPA. Teflon is part of the perfluorinated chemical (PFC) family. When pots and pans coated in Teflon are heated to high temperatures, the Teflon chemical releases toxic fumes that are known to kill pet birds. BPA is a harmful hormone-disrupting chemical that is found in many plastic food storage containers and also in the lining of canned food.

• Replace nonstick Teflon cookware with safer alternatives like stainless steel and cast iron.

• Replace plastic Tupperware with glass food storage containers.

• Avoid canned soups, vegetables, etc.

3.       The products you use to clean your house

• Cleaning products are all over our homes, and many contain all sorts of scary chemicals, usually not disclosed by manufacturers. When you cover your house with these products, they release toxic fumes that pollute your body and the environment. With repeated exposure, they can cause serious harm.

• Choose non-toxic, eco-friendly cleaning products. Whole Foods Market has strict standards for cleaning products and I trust most items on their shelves.

4.        The bedding you use to sleep on

• You spend a third of your life with your face buried deep in your pillows, sheets and mattress. Depending on your bedding choices, you may be spending these hours inhaling dust mites, flame retardants, and a cocktail of other toxins and allergens. A greener bed can promote better sleep habits and cleaner indoor air.

• Purchase an organic latex mattress or use an organic wool mattress topper to create a barrier between you and your conventional mattress.

• Watch out for sheets that are advertised as “no iron,” as this indicates the sheets are coated in potentially harmful chemicals.

Learn more about this topic:

§     Environmental Working Group

§     The Dirty Thirty List

§     Super Natural Home