Healthy Home

By Lorri Ballance Laird, Writer and LuxEcoLiving Advocate Since 1978, lead paint has been banned in the United States.  But even today, in 2012, the...

Sustainable Design: Green Cabinetry By: Lisa Adams, Designer and CEO of LA Closet Design and LuxEco Advocate So much is said about going green, but what exactly defines green? In short, green design (also referred to as "sustainable design" or "eco-design”) is the art of designing and building environments that comply with the principles of economic, social, and ecological sustainability. The goal of designing green is to produce places, products and services that significantly reduce or eliminate negative impact on the natural environment, while creating healthy places to live and work. When it comes to your home, educate yourself and make conscious choices about the materials living with you. Do they meet these goals?

Get rid of hazardous substances in your home and clean house with these great green cleaning products. By Brooke Rewa, Lux Eco Editorial Assistant Household cleaning products are full of hazardous substances that put our loved ones at risk. A clean house can be especially dangerous to children and pets. Toxic chemicals from conventional household products can be found on your floors, counters, carpets and transferred directly into the mouth of your pet or child. Many everyday cleaning products contain petroleum based pesticides and denatured ethanol, a type of ethanol that has one or more substances added to it making it poisonous. While we know little about the long-term health affects and environmental damage these hazardous substances can cause, it is safe to say the outcome cannot be good.

by Mary Elizabeth Williams-Villano, LuxEco Editorial Assistant and author of the Resplendent Repurposing series As if those of us who are concerned about toxic chemicals in our environment didn’t have enough things to worry about, we must now add methamphetamine lab sites, either currently operating or long closed down, to the list. The inconvenient truth is that you could be living in one right now. Or parked next to one. -- Mary Elizabeth Williams-Villano, LuxEcoLiving Editorial Assistant