Sunday 25 August 2013

How to grow fresh air


On Wednesday we finished off with a piece of advice about clean air and indoor plants. Tonight we wanted to follow up on that comment.

What's the problem with indoor air?


"The indoor environment is five to ten times more polluted than the exterior"
(1994 CSIRO review)

"In recent years, comparative risk studies performed by the US EPA and its Science Advisory Board have consistently ranked indoor air pollution among the top five environmental risks to public health" (US EPA, 1993)

The average Australian spends 90 percent or more of their time indoors. Despite this, relatively little research has been done on the quality of air in our homes, schools, recreational buildings, restaurants, public buildings, offices and cars. According to the Commonwealth Government many chemicals present in indoor air environments have not been thoroughly tested and little is known about their long-term health effects. Even less is understood about the health effects from constant exposure to mixtures of these chemicals.

Peace Lilly
Can indoor plants really make clean air?


Yes!

There is a wealth of scientific evidence that supports the beneficial effects of indoor plants including a large NASA programme.

Plants can remove toxins from air, up to a staggering 87 percent of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) every 24 hours (according to NASA research). Modern climate-controlled, air-tight buildings trap VOCs inside. VOCs include substances like formaldehyde (present in rugs, vinyl, cigarette smoke and grocery bags), benzene and trichloroethylene (both found in man-made fibres, inks, solvents and paint). The NASA research discovered that plants purify that trapped air by pulling contaminants into soil, where root zone microorganisms convert VOCs into food for the plant.

When you breathe, your body takes in oxygen and releases carbon dioxide. During photosynthesis, plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. This makes plants and people natural partners, as indoor plants can increase oxygen levels.

What are some of the other benefits of indoor plants?

... During photosynthesis plants release water vapour which increases humidity of the air around them. By placing several plants together you can increase the humidity of a room, which helps keeps respiratory distresses at bay.

... According to researchers at Kansas State University adding plants to hospital rooms speeds recovery rates of surgical patients. Compared to patients in rooms without plants, patients in rooms with plants request less pain medication, have lower heart rates and blood pressure, experience less fatigue and anxiety, and are released from the hospital sooner.

... The Dutch Product Board for Horticulture commissioned a workplace study that discovered that adding plants to an office decreases fatigue, colds, headaches, coughs, sore throats and flu-like symptoms. 

... In a study by the Agricultural University of Norway, sickness rates fell by more than 60 percent in offices with plants.

... A study at The Royal College of Agriculture in Circencester found that students demonstrated 70 percent greater attentiveness when taught in rooms containing plants.

Still not convinced? Check out this four minute TED talk.

How are we growing our fresh air?

With indoor plants of course! Here's a couple of photos of our fresh air generators around the house.



Which plants are best for clean air?

Bill Wolverton (of NASA fame) wrote a great book called "How to Grow Fresh Air", a fantastic resource for anyone interested in this topic. The best indoor house plants to grow fresh air include:


  • English ivy (Hedera helix)
  • Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum)
  • Golden pothos or Devil's ivy (Scindapsus aures or Epipremnum aureum)
  • Peace lily (Spathiphyllum 'Mauna Loa')
  • Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema modestum)
  • Bamboo palm or reed palm (Chamaedorea sefritzii)
  • Snake plant or mother-in-law's tongue (Sansevieria trifasciata'Laurentii')
  • Heartleaf philodendron (Philodendron oxycardium, syn.Philodendron cordatum)
  • Selloum philodendron (Philodendron bipinnatifidum, syn.Philodendron selloum)
  • Elephant ear philodendron (Philodendron domesticum)
  • Red-edged dracaena (Dracaena marginata)
  • Cornstalk dracaena (Dracaena fragans 'Massangeana')
  • Janet Craig dracaena (Dracaena deremensis 'Janet Craig')
  • Warneck dracaena (Dracaena deremensis 'Warneckii')
  • Weeping fig (Ficus benjamina)
  • Gerbera daisy or Barberton daisy (Gerbera jamesonii)
  • Pot mum or florist's chrysanthemum (Chrysantheium morifolium)
  • Rubber plant (Ficus elastica)

In addition here's some really basic tips:


  • Consider the amount of sun your indoor plants are likely to receive (some can survive on less light than others).
  • Keep watering schedules regular (use a calendar).
  • Periodically clean each plant with a damp cloth to ensure proper absorption of air particles and toxins.
  • Keep their soil replenished with organic compost. 
  • If possible use rainwater for your plants.
Finally if you’re looking for the plants of least resistance try Peace Lilies, Dracaenas or Golden Pathos, they're all quite hard to kill!







Wednesday 21 August 2013

Squeaky Clean, Green Home!

How toxic are your cleaning products?

What cleaning products do you use to clean your house? Can you pronounce all of the ingredients listed? Do you know which ones are harmful to you and the environment? We believe it's important to know what's in the products we use to keep our house clean. With a little reading you might be surprised at just how harmful many cleaning products are - not to mention the damage they are doing to our aquatic ecosystems once flushed down the drains.

Despite the myth that most cleaning products fall into one of two categories toxic or expensive, we believe that there are other options that don't cost much and are not toxic. So this blog is about an awesome squeaky clean and green cleaning product that we've started using.

So what's in your average collection of cleaning products? 

The average household contains a large number of toxic chemicals, which we're exposed to on a regular basis ranging from synthetic fragrances to the noxious fumes in oven cleaners. Ingredients in common household products have been linked to asthma, cancer, reproductive disorders, hormone disruption and neurotoxicity. While manufacturers are keen to point out that in small amounts these toxic ingredients aren’t likely to be a problem, we are exposed to them routinely, and in combinations that were never tested.

Some of the common nasties include:
Phthalates
This one is found in fragranced household products (think air fresheners, soaps etc). If 'fragrance' is listed on the label, there’s a good chance phthalates are present. Phthalates are suspected endocrine disrupters associated with reproductive effects, including reduced sperm count in men.
Ammonia
A very common nasty found in polishing products and glass cleaners. People who get a lot of ammonia exposure often develop chronic bronchitis and asthma. Ammonia can also create a poisonous gas if it’s mixed with bleach.
Chlorine
Toilet bowl cleaners, mold removers and laundry whiteners can all contain chlorine, as did chemical weapons in World War I. Do you really want this in your house.


So what do we clean with?

One of the cheapest and most simple cleaning products we've started using is Vinegar. It cost just over  $1 for 2 litres last time we shopped. Vinegar is a weak form of acetic acid that is edible (and can't harm your stomach).


Vinegar (with a citrus twist)
We've recently discovered that soaking citrus peel in vinegar for 2 weeks, before discarding the peel creates an even better product. Our citrus vinegar has cut through greasy pots and cleaned up our stainless steel cook top up an absolute treat. We think the addition of the citrus (we used orange peel) also removes most of the sharp vinegar smell. We've also used it to clean all our kitchen surfaces and the shower, where it cleaned up the tiles way better than any other product we've paid a lot more money for!


PS One last piece of advice - don't waste your money on an air freshener - open the window and buy some indoor plants to help filter the air.



Monday 12 August 2013

Travel to work

What does it cost to get to work?

There are many ways of calculating the household cost of driving. We could dedicate a whole other blog to the environmental and social costs - but not tonight. The purpose of the table below is to show some of our thinking around the cost of travel to work. So to make it easy we've worked out the cost based on mileage reimbursement in Australia (for 2012). For a small car, like ours with an engine capacity of 1.6l or less it's 63c per kilometre. If your car has an engine capacity of 2.6l or more it's 75c per kilometre. 

A daily public transport ticket (in Melbourne) costs $11.84 (for zones 1 and 2) and $4.84 (for zone 2 only).

As for running or cycling to work it's pretty much free - aside from the extra food needed to fuel the body; and it makes your legs look great!


So every day we catch public transport (and don't drive) we save $8.52! And if we cycle or run to work the savings are even bigger.

It's worth remembering that we live 28km from the centre of Melbourne, and at present neither of us work in town. However when we bought our house (2 years ago this weekend!) we were looking for property that was within a 10 minute walk of the Belgrave / Lillydale train lines. This criteria was an absolute deal breaker - we didn't view any houses where we couldn't comfortably walk to a train station on these lines. We own one (small) car and neither of us have any desire to be dependent on a car as the only means of travelling to work every day.

How do we travel to work?

Clearly if you've been reading our blog you'll have worked out that our default option is not driving.

Most days Stephen gets a train into Richmond and then changes lines. Nicole gets 'SmartBus' from the end of the street direct to work. Stephen is a fair weather cyclist (which is understandable given it's an almost 60km round trip) and Nicole mixes up the bus to work with cycling or running to work. That's not to say we never drive to work - we both drive on average once a fortnight, depending on late night meetings or early starts.

But don't you just hate public transport?

No. We use the time to play games on the iPad (one of us - Nicole - is obsessed with Candy Crush), watch podcasts, catch up on the news or listen to music. What ever it is that we're doing we don't descend into road rage. An added bonus is sometimes it can be quite sociable, Nicole regularly sees friends and colleagues on the bus.


We'd love to know what you think - and how you travel to work, feel free to comment.

Monday 5 August 2013

Whole food

What do we mean by 'whole food'?

For us whole food is about unprocessed, unrefined real ingredients, no additives, preservatives or funny numbers. It means we buy ingredients not processed food. If your Granny wouldn't recognise something on the list of ingredients chances are it's best avoided! This week our shopping basket included fresh meat and chicken, tinned tuna slices in olive oil, dried (Australian) chickpeas, Potatoes, Carrots, Broccoli, Spinach, Beetroot, Lemons, Whole native peppercorns, Spelt flour, selection of Australian grown nuts, Oranges, Cheese, Milk, Eggs and Yoghourt. Pantry basics include Cornflour, Rice, Oats, tinned Australia Tomatoes, and a whole lot of herbs and spices.

Why whole food?

Less waste - both food and packaging. When we buy meat, poultry or seafood we try to buy whole cuts and make use of all the 'left overs'. This week we had Roast Lamb for Saturday lunch, with local spuds, carrots and broccoli. The leftovers made over a litre of amazing stock and Shepherd's Pie for six. Some of the stock went into the pie, the rest will be used over the coming weeks as a flavoursome base for soups, slow cooked casseroles and possibly even a risotto. It's not only less waster in our kitchen - but within the whole food supply chain. For example there is more packaging required for a chicken breasts on a tray than for a whole chicken. Thanks to Woolies for these images to prove a point.

Finally we believe that you can't beat homemade stock! Meal planning is an important part of buying and using whole food. Thinking about whole cuts of meat means we tend to plan our meals for the week ahead based on what cuts we buy. By buying only the food we need for the week we tend to have less food waste.

What's on the menu this week?

This week we stocked the fridge and the pantry with food from the Dandenong markets and the Heathmont farmers market. So far this week we've had two roast dinners (lamb and chicken). We've also made Shepherd's Pie, Chicken Salad and a whole lot of stock. Also on the menu bean chilli (with Australian chick peas and local organic mushrooms); another spanish omelette (local organic eggs, cheese and spuds); and later in the week we'll make curry and a risotto.

If you haven't worked out by now we love to cook! Favourite recipes to follow in another blog.









Saturday 3 August 2013

Compost

What are the benefits of compost?

According to the City of Whitehorse food waste currently makes up 44 percent of items currently found in the average rubbish bin. So the first and obvious benefit is we are reducing the amount of waste going to landfill. Better yet making compost - and applying it to your garden improves the soil by releasing the nutrients back into the soil, saving money on fertilisers along the way. 

How do you make compost?

According to Clean Up making your own compost is a lot easier than most people realise, and we agree.  A composting system can be started in specially made containers, wooden boxes, or in a simple heap. We opted for a system that looks like a Death Star! We chose this system because we have a small garden, and we can roll the Death Star to where we want to empty it.

Composting organisms require four equally important components to work effectively:
  • 'Green ingredients' such as kitchen scraps, fresh lawn clippings, weeds pulled from your garden - they supply nitrogen to the compost. If all you have is green stuff, your compost will turn into a stinky slime ball!
  • 'Brown ingredients' that supply the compost with carbon for energy (heat). These items are often drier than the green ingredients, leaves, branches, straw, etc.
  • Oxygen to enable the decomposition process (turn your compost regularly, or take the Death Star for a roll!)
  • Water, compost should be moist, but not soaking wet.

How do we collect material for our compost?

We bought a compost caddy for our scraps, which we keep on the kitchen bench. We use compostable liners and it snaps shut to keep in the moisture and the smells. Our Death Stars are located next to the Laundry door - making it easy to access them - no trips to the bottom of the garden path for us! We also add fallen leaves and straw to keep the green / brown balance. 

What's our secret ingredient?

No it's not 11 herbs and spices, just one herb - Comfrey. The leaves are a useful addition to compost as they contain silica, nitrogen, magnesium, calcium, potassium and iron. Comfrey leaves are about 15 to 30 percent protein which is as high as most legumes.