The Day The World Turned Day-Glo
Hello! Thank you for joining me today, its so nice to get to spend this time with you, I hope you’re being super good to yourself. I have been making time to get outside as much as possible, it’s springtime here in New York City, and there are so many trees, plants, and blossoms that are just exploding with color and greenery and it feels so good to be outside.
I spend a lot of time indoors and I spend a lot of time thinking about the indoors, so it’s important that I get out often for balance and also - did you know that Earth Day is April 22nd? I’ll admit, it’s a holiday I often forget about, but it’s an important one. Today we are talking all about how to make your home a green machine!
This podcast covers about all things home and that includes our planet - no matter where you end up moving, you’re still going to be living on this earth - even if you’re planning on moving to one of those space hotels permanently, the planet will be your billion dollar view. So, it make sense to take care of it like we would a brand new sisal rug, right?
The construction industry is a major player in the creation of greenhouse gases and there are a lot of major initiatives going on right now to try and reduce the impact we are having on out planet. So many of us, on a personal level, are doing our parts to take care of our home, by recycling waste, composting, using public transit or biking, avoiding fast fashion when possible.
But, when it comes to what is actually in our homes, how do you even go about making sustainable choices, what does that even mean? Today, we are going to go through all the really awesome options you have when selecting new materials for your home- what to avoid, and how not to get fooled by false advertising. Before we get into I want to say that one of the largest ways our homes contribute to carbon emissions (bad thing) is through the energy they use. So choosing sustainable materials is super important but it comes second to things like selecting major appliances that are energy star certified. This includes microwaves, refrigerators, washers, driers, and air conditioners. You can look for the blue star on the box or the website when you’re shopping for appliances.
What this means is that the product has been reviewed and officially certified to be efficient, that means that it uses less energy than other models. What that added up to is saving you money on your annual electricity bills, which is awesome in addition to using less energy.
You’ll also want to make sure that every light bulb in your home is a super long lasting and efficient LED bulb. These bulbs have pretty much taken over the light bulb market now, which is great so they’re easy to find. But, you want do make sure that you don’t have any left over incandescent bulbs lying around because these do use more energy and they don’t last as long.
Another good thing to keep in mind is if you are replacing things like faucets, shower heads, or even your washing machine - you can look for water efficient fixtures. Low-flow fixtures are all over the market, you just have to ask for it - whether you search for it online or go to your local hardware store and ask a sales associate to help you find a low-flow fixture. Showers and faucets are measured in what’s called GPM or gallons per minute. Toilets are measured in gallons per flush. So that’s how many gallons of water they use either per flush or per minute. There are a lot of great products on the market no that are marked as being low water consumption, so you should definitely consider that if you are considering getting a new faucet for your bathroom, definitely a new washing machine, and 100% a new toilet. We actually use the most water through our toilet because it takes a lot of gallons of water power to flush a toilet. Interestingly enough - the United States is one of the very few countries that actually uses potable water to flush our toilets, which is actually kind of crazy when you think about it. So drinkable, treated water to flush our toilets. So we might not be able to fix that today, but we can definitely chose the fixture we use in our homes.
If you are making upgrades to your heating and cooling, look for ways that will increase your home’s efficiency. Things like making sure your home is properly insulated and that doors and windows have tight seals around them will go a long way to creating a comfortable indoor climate without using tons of energy.
And if you are interested in adding photo voltaic cells to your roof to incorporate solar power into your home, that’s the kind of investment that pays for itself over time.
Okay, so those are the big moves right, but not everyone is upgrading at that capacity most of the time, so what about some of the more surface level decisions that can help us live in more sustainable homes?
When we say the word sustainable, what does that even mean? There’s so much product green-washing on the market right now, I’ll get into that in a little bit later. But, the best way to not get fooled by products that say they’re green and really aren’t is to be fully informed. So, when a product says it’s “sustainable” or “green,” there are three categories that it can fall into:
LOW VOC
Rapidly Renewable
Recycled Content
Let’s dive in. The air we breath is so important, and we work so hard to make sure our homes smell nice, by cleaning, burning scented candles, using scent diffusers, air filters, cooking and baking things we know will smell good. But, there are choices we make in the materials for our home that have a huge impact not just on the smell but on the actual air quality of our homes, which has a direct effect on our health. Volatile organic compounds or more generally referred to as VOC’s are the fumes that certain man made materials emit, typically from petroleum based products, but they show up in dry cleaning chemicals, paints and paint thinners, fabrics, and furniture. You’ve definitely inhaled some VOC’s if you’ve ever experienced that new car smell. Long story short, these things stink and the scary side is we inhale them, and prolonged exposure can be not so good, especially for kiddos, pets, and anyone with allergies, or other breathing sensitivities.
Long term and short term exposure could lead to:
Eye, nose and throat irritation
Headaches and nausea
Damage to liver, kidney and central nervous system, yikes!
Some can cause cancers for our pets, and some in us.
Symptoms of exposure include:
nose and throat discomfort
headache
allergic skin reaction
nausea
fatigue
dizziness
The phenomenon of a material emitting a VOC is referred to as off-gassing and different materials will off-gas for different periods of time, at different levels. For instance, the picture frame you spray painted will off-gas at a high level for a short amount of time, but your new sofa with petroleum based upholstery will take longer to complete its off-gassing, but it won’t be as strong.
So the goal is to chose materials that have no or low VOC’s. The most common way you will introduce VOC’s into your home is through paint - things like varnishes, lacquers, and sealants. No-VOC paints are getting so common, and most major paint suppliers have a paint base that is low or no VOC, so just check the label or ask a sales assistant at your local hardware store - they’re advertising the heck out of them. And this is why I always recommend using chalk paint with painting furniture, which is naturally VOC-free and it gives you an awesome finish.
It can be harder to tell with assemblies like furniture, but this is another reason why using thrifted furniture is a great bet - it’s done off gassing, just to add on to the other bunch of reasons I mentioned the episode from two weeks ago why vintage furniture is the best. The next best thing is to focus on materials that are natural, as opposed to man made. But generally furniture isn’t the biggest off-gassing culprit- it will be your wall paint or any sealants, stains, and varnishes that you use.
However, it can occur in textiles. I had ordered a blanket from online - it was this really plush, cushy looking throw blanket that I was in love with. It arrived and it smelled like it had been sitting in a vat of gasoline for days. That’s just really not what I wanted when I curl up with a throw at the end of the day to relax, so I returned it. I even wrote the company a message and let them know what the issue was - I ordered another one, thinking that maybe it had just been exposed to something in the shipping process. But, Sure enough the second one came and smelled exactly the same way. I let the company know that it wasn’t okay, but I never heard back from them. Once in a while you do get a textile that just has some very strange off-gassing - and you don’t have to keep it!
Speaking of natural materials, these are not all made equal and one of the really awesome things to focus on for sustainability in you home, is identifying rapidly renewable natural materials to use. This means that from the time a raw material begins its lifecycle, to the time its ready to be harvested and used in your home is relatively short. A good example is bamboo, which is used frequently in flooring and counter tops. Bamboo takes around 5 years to fully mature, and to really be considered rapid in this context the raw source needs to fully mature in under ten years. Ten years actually still feels like a long time, but this is in contrast to a wood like oak, that can take decades to fully mature, or stone, which takes millions of years to form.
Other rapidly renewable materials include linoleum which is made from linseed oil and is highly durable. You can use this as flooring, counter tops, and even counter fronts. Cork - which can be used as flooring and wall texture, which is a really fun accent wall. Cotton -which can be used in fabrics, carpet, rugs, and bedding. Rubber which you can actually get a double whammy from rubber because its often recycled. This will be used in furniture and flooring. There’s also wheat board which can be used for cabinetry. So for instance, if you’re renovating your kitchen, you may want to consider using linoleum or bamboo for your counter top with wheatboard cabinetry that is painted with a low VOC paint.
I mentioned recycled materials just a second ago in reference to rubber, and this is an entire category of materials, especially in world of fabrics and textiles. Recycled content is a wonderful way to incorporate sustainability into your home and it is becoming super common. It’s super easy to find great resources. Recycled content is being used in products that we buy more and more, which is so important because a lot of times there is more going in to the recycling plant then there is coming out of the recycling plant. Just as recycling your used plastic bottles is super import, so is buying new products that are made with them. Seeing things made out recycled content is becoming really common in fashion, we’re seeing things like shoes and bags, and there are two types of recycled content that I want to tell you about. These are the two big buckets that items can fall into.
There’s pre-consumer (also referred to as post-industrial) and post-consumer. So, pre-consumer/post-industrial is basically when there’s a manufacturing plant, and there are scraps or the cuttings that fall on the floor. If the company uses those - they scoop them back up and maybe they use them to create a different product, maybe they put them back on the assembly line and them in the product they’re making - that’s considered pre-consumer/post-industrial. This is important because in a lot of ways we think companies are just doing this, but sometimes they’ll do it and then they’ll advertise that there’s recycled content in their product. But, really its just that the company is cleaning up after themselves.
So then there’s post-consumer recycled content, and this is when we think of, I drink bottle of water, I recycle it, it gets made into something else. It’s when a consumer has used something and it gets a new life as something else. So, when we’re talking about recycled content, it’s important to understand what the quantity is. If the company is knowledgable, about sustainability - they will tell you - they’ll say it’s 50% pre-consumer and 25% post-consumer. Because obviously, pre-consumer is easier to collect. Post-consumer requires more effort on the part of the manufacturer. But, it’s important for us to understand, because if a product says it has recycled content, and then it turns out it has a 5% pre-consumer recycled content, that’s not really feeling like a sustainable product anymore, is it?
A great place to find recycled content is in the textile world. So that includes fabrics, upholsteries, and carpets. One of my favorite carpet companies is called Interface Flor. They make carpet tiles for the home and the office. When you’re thinking about carpet, you want to think about the sustainability of the fiber that’s on the front of the carpet which is what your feet touch. But, you also want to think about what the backing on the carpet is made of. Interface actually has a carbon negative backing that is made with post consumer recycled content. Carbon negative is referring to the idea that they are reducing their carbon footprint by using things that would otherwise be going to the landfill. Interface also has a really fantastic recycling program if you had their carpet in your space and are getting ride of it they will take it for you, and recycle it into new carpet.
That’s another thing to think about - in general if you are getting ride of things, if you’re demolishing things in your home, talk to your contractor about where the items are going. So you’ll have drywall, wall studs, old kitchen cabinets - try and see if anything can be salvage or recycled rather than just going straight to the landfill.
One of the best ways you can participate in recycling, is recycling what’s in your home already. By that, I mean - the most sustainable flooring is the one thats already in your home. So if you have wood floors, or linoleum - think about ways that you can refinish, treat, and reuse what’s already in your space. Anytime you’re diverting something from the landfill, you’re reducing your carbon footprint.
One material I want to talk to you a little bit about is concrete. Especially when it comes to concrete flooring. I think concrete often gets a reputation for being sustainable, and it can be. But it isn’t always. As I mentioned before, if you have concrete in your space, it might be your sub flooring in your basement or in your garage - using this as-is -maybe adding some VOC-free sealant or a little bit of polish to it. That’s a great sustainable flooring option. But, if you’re looking at adding new concrete, you might want to think twice about that. Just because there is quite a bit of mining required to get raw materials for concrete. This includes mining for sand, which does take a lot of time, effort, and resources. You can get concrete that has recycled content, and this helps too.
So, I started to touch on greenwashing a little bit, and I wanted to talk more about this. One of the really important things to remember is that sustainability is super popular right now. It’s a big selling point, so you’re going to find companies that will be advertising sustainable products, when they aren’t necessarily doing the work around creating sustainable products. It does take research, time, and effort to create a truly sustainable product. A lot of times companies just want to get the business for sustainability and not do the work around it. So, one of the things that will help you identify this is to just be educated. So, by listening to this podcast and continuing to do research around what sustainability means, you’ll be able to identify companies that are saying they are creating sustainable products, but if you go to investigate further, you will find, not so much.
For instance, if a product like a carpet says it has recycled content, but you look at the information, and it says it has 10% pre-consumer recycled content, then you know that they’re just picking up a couple of scraps off their manufacturing floor and throwing them back in, so it doesn’t really feel that sustainable anymore, does it? The important thing is to keep asking questions and stay informed.
A good example of this is bamboo fabric. We talked about bamboo a little bit before, and it’s a wonderful material to use for flooring, countertops, furniture - but there are some manufacturers that have decided to just keep using #bamboo with everything they do. The word bamboo is trending, the idea of bamboo is trending and they just want to take it to the Nth degree, and create bamboo fabric. While in theory that’s great, in reality the chemicals that had to be used to teat bamboo to make it pliable enough to be woven into fabric, are super toxic and terrible for the environment. So you’re really offsetting all of the good you’re doing by using a product like bamboo because you have to add all these additional chemicals.
Lastly, one of the very best things you can do to help reduce the carbon footprint of an item in the shipping stage. We have talked a lot about the material types, which is really important. But, there’s also the amount of energy and resources that it takes to create a product, and a lot of that is used in the shipping process. Whether it’s during the manufacturing process, or just shipping the item to you, the amount of fossil fuels that are used on cargo ships and trains and airplanes to get these materials from one place to another is huge.
For instance, there’s a carpet company in my industry that I will not use because I know for a fact that they weave the carpet in one location, and then ship it across the country to another location to apply the backing to the carpet. Then, they ship it to you. There’s a huge waste, and the price reflects that. It’s really just a matter of the company not being efficient in the manufacturing process.
The very best way to reduce the amount of fossil fuels required to get your product from where it’s made to you, is to shop local. This doesn’t mean just using the mom-n-pop shop around the corner, although you definitely should utilize any resources within walking distance. From a sustainability standpoint, “local” is defined as anything within a 500 miles radius of you. So, that might be the next state over, the next state over, but as long as it’s within your general region - you’re in good shape. And this even helps to stimulate your local economy which is great.
Thank you so much for joining me today, and you are now a fully informed environmental advocate, so go out there and get your home looking and feeing awesome and be proud of yourself for working to reduce your carbon footprint. If you enjoyed this podcast you can tap the five stars on Apple Podcasts - that rating helps other people find this podcast and grow our amazing community. I hope you have an excellent day and I’ll talk to you next time!
