3 Simple Steps to a Healthy Home
A post for 
Blog Action Day on the Environment.
We spend a large percentage of time indoors. Between workplace, home, shopping, entertainment, etc., we can spend as much as 90% of our time in a building. On an average, we spend 50% of our time at home.
Recent studies have shown that indoor environments can contain a range of harmful pollutants including: mould, radon, volatile organic compounds (VOCs); and that old classic, cigarette smoke.
While there is not much you can do about air quality in most of the public buildings you frequent, you can easily make changes to improve the air quality in your home.
There are three steps you need to look at:
- Eliminate
- products that give off gases: treated drapes, vinyl, plastic, composite wood, etc.
- chemical cleaners
- paint and solvents—store them in a shed or garage, away from the house.
- Standard air fresheners
- cigarette smoke
- Ventilate
- make sure your home has adequate ventilation
- make sure the fans exhaust to the outdoors and not into the attic or back into the room
- run bathroom and kitchen fans for 20 minutes after showering or cooking
- Filter
- Make sure you have good furnace filters and change them regularly
- Use the kitchen exhaust fan while cooking to eliminate grease and clean the filters regularly
- Regularly change or clean vacuum bags and filters
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So, after years of inaction, Congress finally has a chance to pass meaningful energy legislation. The bill they are about to pass includes the best fuel economy standards ever (35 mpg by 2020) and a renewable electricity standard (15% by 2020) that guarantees the growth of renewable, clean energy. But there is a chance these two key advances won’t make it through to the final bill.
I am working with a coalition to make sure Congress sends the president a strong energy bill with meaningful changes for our environment and planet. This legislation would be a monumental step toward stopping global warming. Go to http://www.energybill2007.org and sign the petition. This is our chance for real progress, don’t let Congress back down!