Clean Up Your Home
but not with cleaning chemicals! okay, really, isn't everything a chemical? yes. but you know what i mean. certain chemicals are toxic, and those are the ones you don't want in your home, much less in your ground water. but that's where they're likely to end up. it's easy to think of the los angeles air as being gross, but did you know that the air inside the average home is 2 to 5 times as toxic as the air outside? some of that is due to off-gassing of textiles, wood composites, and wall paint, but don't forget about the stuff you use to "clean" your home or apartment. most of it doesn't belong in your respiratory tract.
and ground water may not flow directly into your home, but the more we pollute it, the more it costs to clean up, and the more expensive your tap water becomes or the less water becomes available, period, meaning we might very soon face greater water shortages in quickly sprawling desert urban areas like los angeles and las vegas. last i checked, they're still installing green lawns in all those sprawling suburbs, even though it's not desert-native and, again, whatever chemicals you put on your lawn also end up back in the ground water, further reducing the supply of clean water! you shouldn't be scared to drink your tap water! and buying bottled water doesn't just mean making lots more plastic (a lot of which ends up in landfills); other environmental impacts of mass bottled water consumption include energy usage/greenhouse gas emissions from the production, and then all the diesel fumes emitted by the trucks that ship these bottles everywhere.
there's something called "pollution prevention" and it's pretty much what it sounds like. instead of having to clean up toxic waste sites, and having to use ultra-special liners in landfills to keep gross stuff out of your ground water, why don't you help to head off the toxicity of our waste products by not purchasing anything that's toxic? in addition to the stuff that you're using inside of your home, there are all sorts of by-products from the production process that you probably don't usually think about, and a wide range of seemingly innocuous companies are notorious for improperly disposing of them (usually on poor communities in third-world countries and on this country's poor black and latino communities). obviously you can't prevent all toxins just by your home use, but you can certainly make a dent.
you can start with the stuff you use to clean your house. it is the solvents in cleaning supplies that help to break down the dirt, but also which are likely to be the toxic parts of these products. what most people don't realize, though, is that much of the dirt in our homes is water-soluble! some of it isn't though (namely, oil-based messes), and for that, simple vinegar can do the job. actually, you don't need pure vinegar; you can use half vinegar and half water in most cases. if you can't handle the smell of vinegar, try using fresh lemon! all you have to do is keep lemons around the house, and when you need to do some cleaning, juice 2 or 3 of them. add that juice to about a cup of water, and put it in a spray bottle. some messes can't be dissolved because they need scrubbing, but you don't need ajax or comet for those. simple baking soda not only works as a gentle abrasive powder in the bathroom and kitchen, it also brings stainless steel to a brilliant shine (both your sinks and your pots & pans). i speak from experience. just remember, it helps to have an abrasive cleaning pad. a soft sponge won't do.
if you're not into the do-it-yourself mode, and would rather purchase your cleaning supplies, there are eco-friendly options out there. for instance, 'method' is a brand of cleaner you've probably already seen at the store. their products aren't just about looking cool or smelling good. they're all biodegradable, and i think they're primarily made with the same stuff just mentioned above. if you love the melon-cucumber smell, try the cucumber scented all-purpose spray. it actually doesn't smell like cucumber. it smells like melon-cucumber. another hint: don't use this stuff straight out of the bottle. get another spray bottle, and dilute it, 1 part 'method' cleaning spray to 5 parts tap water. it still works fabulously and it still smells great. they're not the only company making eco-friendly products, and earth LA has no intention of promoting individual products or brands. but this one happens to be one of the cheaper eco-friendly products out there. if you go to whole foods, they have a ton of products that are so outrageously priced it's ridiculous. trader joe's has lots of their own brand of cleaning products, and i believe most (if not all) are biodegradable. both 'method' and trader joe's brand of products definitely carry biodegradable dish and hand soap. you might like the variety of scents offered by 'method' better, though. trader's tends to use scents that are more earthy-crunchy, like lavender and tea tree oil.
and the one last thing i'll bring up here is laundry. there are lots of "free and clear" products on the shelves these days. 'all' and 'method' are two brands i know are biodegradable, but look for a free-and-clear detergent, then turn it around and look for the part where they mention it's biodegradable. there's a good chance that it is, and then you can feel good about buying it. you should also resist the urge to use bleach. lemon juice & hydrogen peroxide are both bleaching agents, and while i can't recommend their proper use (b/c i don't bleach anything at all), you can experiment with the quantities necessary for proper results if you absolutely must. and then there's fabric softener. it's sold in liquid for the wash cycle, and caked onto your dryer sheets. do you know why it makes your clothes softer? it breaks the fibers down and weakens them, speeding the demise of your favorite jeans, t-shirts, and everything else. all that stuff about static cling? it's just marketing hype. sure, there's static after you wash your clothes, but is there any real harm? seriously, folks.