You may have heard about VOCs or Volatile Organic Compounds. They’re essentially dangerous gases which are emitted from a variety of solids and liquids. This article explores what VOCs can do to your health, where to find them, and how to avoid them.

VOCs and Your Health

According to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), VOCs can cause:

* Eye, nose, and throat irritation
* Headaches
* Loss of coordination
* Nausea
* Damage to liver, kidney, and central nervous system
* Respiratory distress
* Cancer

Yes, VOCs cause a tremendous number of health issues and unfortunately, they aren’t just emitted when you’re exposed to them. They continue to emit toxic gases for decades. For example, paint is one item that emits VOCs and painted walls continue to emit these gases for many years after the paint has first been applied.

Where Do VOCs Come From?

You might be surprised to find that a large number of items that emit VOCs are in your home already. Common household VOC emitters include:

* Paints
* Paint strippers
* Solvents
* Wood preservatives
* Aerosol sprays
* Cleansers and disinfectants
* Moth repellents
* Air fresheners
* Petroleum fuels
* Hydraulic fluids
* Hobby supplies
* Dry-cleaned clothing

VOCs are the main contributor to indoor air pollution. In fact, the EPA’s Total Exposure Assessment Methodology found the most common organic pollutants are two to five times higher inside homes than outside. The good news is that it’s fairly easy to avoid adding more VOCs into your home. Use natural air fresheners like essential oils rather than spray air fresheners. And when painting or staining, use VOC free or low VOC paint and store fuels, adhesives and other VOC emitters outside in a well-ventilated area.

VOC emissions are one of the most dangerous contaminants inside your home. They can cause serious health concerns and when thrown away, leech into our ground water and soil. Start protecting yourself and your environment by avoiding all VOC-emitting products. It’s the healthy and green way to go.

Plugged toilets are disgusting, messy and a real pain in the neck. It’s so very tempting to grab a bottle of liquid drain cleaner and pour it down, hoping the clear the mess without getting your hands, or anything else, dirty. Yet that liquid drain unclogger is incredibly harmful to the environment. The chemicals leach into our soil and taint our water supply. Not to fret, there are easy and green ways to unclog your toilet. Next time it becomes plugged, try one of these eight green tricks.

#1. If you’ve only flushed once and it’s apparent the toilet is plugged, turn the water off at the source so no more water can fill the tank or bowl and flush again. Nine times out of ten this easy little trick will take care of basic toilet clogs. Another option, if this doesn’t work, is to tap the backside of the bowl to jostle the clog.

#2 If step one doesn’t work then you can resort to the plunger. Plungers release suction and like a tap to the backside of the bowl it’ll help jostle the clog.

#3 A good old-fashioned plumber snake will also help drive a hole through the clog. This may be especially useful with children around, as they have the uncanny ability to throw the strangest things into the toilet.

#4 A plumber snake can be purchased for about $15 to $20 dollars at the hardware store. It’s an easy device to use – simply unwind the device using the reel type handle and let the snake work its way gradually through the clog.

#5 Hot water. Provided you have room in the toilet bowl, fill a bucket with very hot tap water and pour it quickly into the bowl. This works in a number of ways. The hot water sometimes dissolves enough of the clog to loosen it. The change in water pressure in the tank may force the clog through, and the motion of pouring the water into the bowl may jostle the clog enough to force it through.

#6 Baking Soda. Again, assuming the toilet bowl isn’t ready to overflow, pour one cup of baking soda and one cup of vinegar into the bowl. This can also be followed by a gallon of hot or boiling water. The vinegar and baking soda cause a reaction, remember volcanoes in grade school? The reaction may work to loosen the clog.

#7 Dish soap. Another green toilet-unclogging remedy is to pour in a gallon of boiling water and a quarter to one-third cup of dish detergent. You’ll want to make sure it’s environmentally save and biodegradable dish detergent for this practice to be environmentally sound. Dish detergent works to break down the clog, just like it breaks down the dirt on your dishes. You’ll probably need to let it set for a while before the clog breaks free.

#8 When all else fails it may be time to put on a pair of very long rubber gloves. Ick, right? Well it’s better than pouring caustic drain cleaner into our water supply, not to mention the dangerous fumes drain cleaners give off.

Unclogging a toilet is no fun and there’s really no way to make it enjoyable, unless you’re a plumber and charging $100/hour. Fortunately, there are a number of tried and true green ways to unclog a toilet.

It’s amazing how much it costs to light a home inside and out. And there is a bigger cost than just the money you’re spending on electricity and bulbs. There is also an environmental cost to producing all of that electricity. Let’s take a look at seven energy-saving indoor and outdoor lighting tips.

#1 One of the easiest ways to conserve energy is to invest in a dimmer. If you don’t need all 100 watts blasting, then a dimmer can reduce the amount of energy pulled from a light fixture. Great places to put a dimmer are in bathrooms, kitchens and dining rooms and even in your living room if you use overhead lighting.

#2 100 watts isn’t always best. Choose your lighting by the room. Some rooms need lots of bright lighting, say over your vanity for example; you want to be able to see your face clearly before you put on make-up or shave. However, you probably don’t need high voltage fixtures in your closet.

#3 Compact fluorescent bulbs. CFL bulbs cost a bit more per bulb; however, they last ten times longer than the average incandescent and they use less energy. A single CFL bulb can save over $30 in electricity costs over the life of the bulb and it saves 2,000 times its own weight in carbon emissions.

#4 Motion sensors. These are great for outdoor lighting because they turn on only when there is movement. They’re perfect for porch lights, over the garage and even on your back patio or walkway.

#5 Solar lighting. Solar lighting is another great option for both indoor and outdoor lighting. Solar panels can be used to provide energy to internal lighting. And outdoors, solar lights can be used to light walkways, porches, pools, fountains and other outdoor features.

#6 Passive solar is a no-cost lighting solution. Passive solar means letting the sun light your home. Whether it’s through strategically placed windows, skylights or solar tubes, the sun can do a tremendous job of lighting your home for free.

#7 Use timers on vacation. Finally, timers are a great way to have lights turn on and off when you’re away. Many people, when they go on vacation, leave the lights on. Instead of wasting all that money and energy, put lights on a timer.

Just incorporating a few of these energy-saving indoor and outdoor lighting tips can cut your energy bill in half each year. Enjoy the savings and your contribution to a greener planet.