Renée Loux’s Top 10 Tips for a Green Home

Tomorrow night I have the honor of connecting with a woman who has been named, “The Queen of Green,” Renée Loux. Not only does this inspiring raw diva have a prominent voice in the media for Organics, Green Living and Sustainability, she’s also well known for her a voice her incredible raw food recipes.

On her website she lists 1o simple, approachable steps people can take to start Living Green. I’ll list them briefly here, because whenever I get ready to interview a new guest, I always spend time learning as much about them as I can. I highly recommend you visit Renee’s site and avail yourself to all there is in terms of support for green living, organic awareness.

So here’s what she suggests as 10 steps to a Green Home. The following is largely an excerpt from her site, with a few of my own comments included when I found myself having something clever to say about it.

1. Use Green Cleaning Products

Aside from the fact that cancer, reproductive disorders, lung and skin damage, are some of the lovely side effects of inhaling toxic chemicals, don’t forget that kids are especially vulnerable!!

HEY! What about starting up community awareness programs and bringing non-toxic cleansers into schools, day cares, etc. Somebody should do that!

The destroy our eco-systems and contaminate water. It’s just YUCK and the solutions are so simple. Check out Renée’s Green Cleaning Solution Chart for the full picture.

2. Install a Water Filter

I was surprised that this was number two, but thrilled as well. I’ve recently been studying quite a lot about the ionization water filtration systems and I can testify to the fact that this is the evolution in water filtration systems. Taking the idea of just having clean water to making your water your medicine.

Very Exciting stuff, and I strongly encourage you to read more water ionization filtration systems.

3. Use of Energy Efficient Light Bulbs

Renée says, “Energy-efficient bulbs produce the same amount of light using about 1/4 of the energy.”

Compact fluorescent, full-spectrum, color-corrected. All of them will save energy and money. Though some of the bulbs are more expensive than standard bulbs, their extended life and low draw of energy makes them cost-effective and eco-friendly. How about a light bulb that lasts 20,000 hours— that’s 5 hours a day for 11 years!— just one of them will replace 26 store — bought light bulbs. So smart!

4. Use Recycled Paper Products (Unbleached or Naturally Bleached Recycled paper just makes sense.)

Here are a few stats that’ll shock you! (You can read more on Renee’s site!)

Every year, more than 900 million trees are cut down for US paper and pulp mills!

We throw away enough paper to build a 12-foot wall from New York to California (every year!).
More than 40% of landfill is paper— office and residential paper dominates it.

Recycled paper:

Generates 95% less air pollution
Uses 80% less water
Requires 65% less energy

than virgin paper. Sheesh! And we haven’t even started to discuss the effects of Bleach! Here’s what Renée says:

“Virtually all paper (unless otherwise stated) is bleached with toxic chlorine-based chemicals. The by-products are devastating to the ecosystem and exact a horrible toll on human health- cancer, birth defects, reproductive and developmental damage.

Think: coffee filters, toilet paper and feminine products especially!”

5. Purify Air with Houseplants!

If you ever needed a reason to start your indoor garden, now you’ve got 6 MORE!

1. Produce fresh air and oxygen
2. Reduce carbon dioxide in air
3. Reduce and remove chemical vapors emitted from synthetic materials, like formaldehyde, benzene, and ammonia
4. Offer healthy, microbe-free humidity to dry indoor air
5. Reduce airborne bacteria, mold spores, and mildew
6. Foster a calm, peaceful environments, with measurable benefits including reduced stress more productivity in the workplace and quicker recovery time for hospital patients.

Just so you know, all these facts and figures are meticulously sourced on Renée’s site!

6. Go for Natural Natural Lawn Care — Stop Using Pesticides & Synthetic Fertilizers

Here’s one to chew on:

“90 million pounds of pesticides are used on lawns in the US alone- per foot, this is more chemicals than commercial agriculture! These terrible poisons are devastating to our ecosystem. Many of them will never break down, contaminating fresh water and causing serious harm to humans and animals.” And as Renée repeatedly points out, kids are the most vulnerable!”

7. Choose “Green Energy” Options through your Electric Utility

“For a small premium, you can elect to get your electricity from renewable sources such as wind, solar, or biomass. This is a direct way to personally get off fossil fuels. Very cool. And will keep our planet from melting. Sign up and save the world!”

8. Favor Cloth over Paper

“Each of us uses an average of 700 pounds of paper products per year (which makes up a third of what goes into landfills).”

Use cloth towels, instead of paper towels. Cloth napkins instead of paper napkins, and rags instead of disposable substitutes. My Grandpa used to carry a handkerchief for occasional sniffles and in Thailand, well, they don’t even USE toilet paper! And neither does any other creature on earth, but I’m not going to get into that conversation here.

9. Be Wise with Laundry

“USE BIODEGRADABLE DETERGENT AND OXYGEN BLEACH— free of chemicals, toxins, irritants and harmful substances that do not break down. Better for you, your kids and the environment.

WASH CLOTHES ON COLD — washing machines perform just as well with cold water as with warm or hot. It will save energy and money and extend the life of your threads.

WASH FULL LOADS, BUT DON’T OVERFILL — it takes the same amount of energy for a small load as a large load. Of course, large loads use more water, but an overfilled machine won’t perform as well and may need a longer wash/rinse cycle. Pre-soaking gets clothes cleaner with a shorter cycles.

HANG DRY WHAT YOU CAN — Nothing is better than fresh, line-dried clothes. It will save energy, money on electric (dryers are a huge draw of power), and smells wonderful. Your clothes will thank you too- the dryer is rough on fabric, elastic and wears out colors quickly. Even in cold moths (or sans yard), some laundry can be hung indoors- socks, under-ware and lightweight clothing such as tee shirts will dry quickly. A folding rack can be stashed away without taking up much room. If you like clothes fluffy, tumble drying for a few minutes will do the trick.

CLEAN THE LINT SCREEN— every time the dryer is used. Simple. Air will flow more freely for efficient drying time. Ch-ching.

BUY AN ENERGY EFFICIENT WASHER AND DRYER WHEN THE TIME COMES — they use 50% less energy and 35-50% less water for the same washing and drying action. Look for the Energy Star* models, which meet strict guidelines by the Department of Energy and the EPA.

10. Get Off Junk Mail Lists/ Recycle Paper

“More than 62 billion pieces of unsolicited junk mail arrives in American mailboxes every year. Each of us receives about 41 pounds of junk mail- annually 44% of it ends up in the landfill unopened. That is more than 4 million tons of wasted paper!”

“There are ways to get off unsolicited and junk mail lists and reduce the hemorrhage of waste. It takes a little time and effort- so be persistent! Our planet is worth it.”

“Avoid having your name sold to advertisers by specifically requesting that your name not be lent, sold or traded to any other organization for their mailing lists whenever you send a check for donations, for mail order purchases, to renew subscriptions or when returning a warranty card.”

WHEEW! I can’t help reading after all that stuff that I’m an environmental terrorist. I mean, compared to most people out there, I’m an eco-extremist. There’s so much we can do to make a difference.

Each of us is responsible for assessing our own actions and being accountable to ourselves. Those of us who hold the interests of humanity to heart don’t sleep well at night knowing they’ve dropped the ball and done less than they could.

We’ve got to keep evolving toward a more conscious way of life. It’s the only way things will really change. It’s the only way the masses will finally say “NO!” loud enough to stand up to the handful of people who do not care, who do not want to make things go right.

As you can imagine, I’ve got loads of questions to ask her and am so, so excited about getting the chance to connect one on one tomorrow night. If you’re already a member of the Sisterhood, then be sure to join us for the call tomorrow night at 10:30pm EDT.

Of course, if you’re not in the Sisterhood, then…

…well, then, why the heck not? C’mon already! Sign up. It’s cheaper than chocolate cravings and much lower in calories and an entirely GREEN program!

Mmmuah!