green cleaning
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Get your company to clean up its janitorial act
Three years ago, the National Geographic Society’s director of general services wanted to clean up his cleaning operations. Bob Cline launched an investigation into the impacts of maintaining the society’s facilities, examining everything from the chemical composition of cleaning products to the decibel level of vacuums, from filtration systems to fuels. Mess is more. “Basically, […]
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Umbra on baking soda
Dear Umbra, I liked your column about homemade cleaning products. I have a question, though: What’s up with baking soda? It’s frequently bandied about as an eco-friendly cleaner, but I have no idea what it is, where it comes from, or how it’s made. AmandaCharlottesville, Va. Dearest Amanda, Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate, a naturally […]
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Umbra on unclogging without chemicals
Dear Umbra, How does one unclog a clogged bathtub drain without pouring toxic chemicals directly into the waste stream? Allie CatBoiling Springs, Penn. Dearest Allie Cat, I don’t believe that’s your real name. But yours is a noble question. Let’s get motivated by reviewing a Drano material safety data sheet [PDF], where we find that […]
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Umbra on bathroom mold
Dear Umbra, Do you have any tips on dealing with the nasty black mold that appears in bathrooms without dousing it in highly toxic chemicals? Kirsten Dearest Kirsten, I read that hydrogen peroxide would work, so I tried it for you in the Grist Test Bathroom. The recommendation was to dilute the solution in a […]
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How to clean your house without hurting the planet
If you think of your home as a haven from pollution, we’ve got some bummer news. Levels of pollutants in indoor air can be from two to more than 100 times higher than outdoors, according to the U.S. EPA. That indoor pollution is due in large part to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that evaporate, or […]
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Washed Up
400 — loads of laundry washed by a typical U.S. household in one year1 35 billion — loads of laundry washed every year in the U.S.2 74 — percentage of U.S. households with washers and dryers3 7 — percentage of washing machines replaced by U.S. consumers each year3 81,000 — annual electricity consumption, in gigawatt […]
