Label Lessons 101: Surfactants (Repost)

Courtney Miller
If you know to look at labels on household and body care products, you know of at least one ingredient to stay away from - a surfactant called sodium laurel sulfate (SLS). Surfactants are marvels of modern chemistry, because they solve the age-old salad dressing problem - the impossibility of...

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Preconstruction Land Planning

Kevin Caldwell
In my previous blog, I discussed the concept of protecting, and incorporating the ecology of a building site into the green-building process on raw land.  To clarify, this process is largely focused on protection of rural and semi-rural forested areas that will be impacted rather than urban sites. Forest ecosystems,...

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GreenWays and Means

Courtney Miller
One of the eco-friendly components of my cleaning business is that, whenever possible, I ride my bike with an attached trailer filled with products and supplies. The majority of my clients live outside of Asheville, so I end up driving often (I offset the miles with a company called TerraPass);...

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Bathroom Essentials

Courtney Miller
My cleaning-related research produced a couple of fruit-related ideas that I wrote about in my last blog. While these methods are über-accessible and work well enough for the average homeowner, they don't produce the professional results that I'm after in other people's homes. My experimentation has succeeded, however, in producing...

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Fruit-ify Your Home

Courtney Miller
I've been experimenting with simple ways to make eco-friendly cleaning products or co-opt common items for use in cleaning endeavors. I'm sure you're aware of the cleaning power of lemons (they work especially well as a copper cleaner) but here are a couple of other fruit-related cleaning ideas: 1. Shower...

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Green Cleaning Goes National

Courtney Miller
The spanking received by the Romney campaign last week for its failure to comprehend the basics of the Venn diagram has provided me a perfect opportunity to discuss the rare intersection of two fields that consume most of my time - house-cleaning and politics. Back in February, several reporters (Glenn...

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Label Lessons 101: Surfactants

Courtney Miller
If you know to look at labels on household and body care products, you know of at least one ingredient to stay away from - a surfactant called sodium laurel sulfate (SLS). Surfactants are marvels of modern chemistry, because they solve the age-old salad dressing problem - the impossibility of...

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Whole Flooz(ie)…?

Courtney Miller
[by Courtney Miller - owner, 2 Wheels and a Mop] Green consumers - moms and non-moms alike - are aware of the importance of using eco-friendly cleaning products. Non-green products damage the environment by polluting the atmosphere and water supply and can negatively impact the health of adults, children, and...

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Environmentally hit in the head

Boone Guyton
When our pet poops on our hardwood floor we push its face in it and hit it upside the head and put it out where it is supposed to go. Then we reward it with treats when it deposits its waste properly. We modify its behavior. Humans have been depositing...

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