Dear Debra, My favorite part of preparing this week's newsletter has been writing about Bau-Biologie, also known as Building Biology. I had the pleasure of interviewing top Bau-Biologists in the country and came to really understand what Bau-Biology is and how it has contributed to our whole concept of a natural home. I hope you will enjoy reading about Bau-Biologie as much as I enjoyed writing about it. Writing this article also reminded me of the roots of the whole healthy home movement, which actually began with my book Nontoxic & Natural in 1984, followed by Helmut Ziehe bringing Bau-Biologie from Germany in 1987, Carol Venolia's book Healing Environments in 1988 and then David Pearson's book The Natural Home. We've come a long way in twenty years! Debra :-) GreenHomeGuide just posted an article I wrote for them on Choosing the Right Air Cleaner for Your Baby's Nursery. Even if you don't have a baby, it's got good advice for choosing an air cleaning device for any room.
HEALTH, HOME & HABITAT ~ 1 November 2005
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AT HOME WITH DEBRA: How I Minimize Exposure to Plastics It's second nature to me now to always be looking for alternatives to plastic. But there are some plastics that can't be avoided in today's world. Learn how I minimize plastics--which plastics I use and which I live without. Read How I Minimize Exposure to Plastics...
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ABOUT: Bau-Biology (Building Biology) I've known about Bau-Biology for years, but could never quite define it. I knew it had something to do with being in harmony with nature, and healthy houses, but I didn't know how it was the same or different from what I and others were doing in those fields. Well, I have it all sorted out now. It's much more than I expected and establishes a standard we would all do well to strive for.
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DEBRA'S LIST: New Website Links Here are just a few of the website links I added to Debra's List in the last two weeks. I added two new links to the Toxics reference page. The Precautionary Principle describes a movement gaining ground here in America that encourages "When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically." And the index to Rachel's Environment & Health Weekly contains over 600 back issues with well-regarded data on the health and environmental effects of toxic chemicals. On the Pest Control page I added two new links. Orange Guard is water based indoor/outdoor insecticide that kills on contact, and is safe enought to use around food, humans and pets. The National Pesticide Information Center has links to everything you might ever want to know about pesticides, from how to read the label to health and environmental effects and safer alternatives. On the Energy page is a link to SolarRoofs.com , which sells solar water heaters for tropical, temperate, and even hard-freeze climates. Go to The Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy to find state, local, utility, and federal financial incentives to help defray the costs of installing renewable energy. And just for fun, Candtec Candle Systems sells a coiled beeswax candle. Before you burn it, you can pull as much as you want through the specially designed holder to make a candle of your desired length and burn time. Coiled candles come in sizes that will burn from 12 to 100 hours. A real conversation piece!
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DEBRA'S BOOKSTORE: What I'm Reading
Home Enlightenment:
Nutrition and Physical Degeneration I've also added to Debra's Bookstore a new page of books on natural building . This is only the beginning. I have many more natural building books on my shelf.
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SWEET SAVVY: Pumpkin Recipes I got a bit carried away with pumpkin the last couple of weeks. Here are three pumpkin recipes made without refined white sugar or artificial sweeteners that I added to my Sweet Savvy recipe database:
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Q & A: Nontoxic garden hose Dear Debra ~ I was wondering if you know of a safe nontoxic garden hose, one that doesn't leach any toxic chemicals or plasticizers into the water? R. G.
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Q & A: Alternatives to dry cleaning Hi Debra, We are such fans! Do you know of an alternative to dry cleaning clothing? When I purchase new clothes that are not washable, I hate to dry clean them! I am so concerned about the chemicals used -- I react to all of them. Thanks for all you do!
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Q & A: Natural ingredients in personal care products Dear Debra, I read that a person should avoid castor oil in personal care products in Terressentials' Healthy Person's Guide to Personal Care Ingredients. Castor oil is in many organic and natural cosmetics. Could you let me know what you think. Thanks. A. F.
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If you have a question of general interest, I am happy to answer free it in this newsletter and post it on my website for others to benefit from. If you have a question you would like to submit, please send me an email to debra@dld123.com with your question. It may take two to four weeks or longer for your question to appear in the newsletter. Usually I send an immediate quick answer to email questions, but then give a more detailed answer in the newsletter. All of the questions and answers, include those in the current issue, can be accessed through the Q&A index page at http://dld123.com/q&a/index.php. I also am available to answer your questions immediately and personally with a paid telephone consultation.
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The new, revised, edition of
Home Safe Home
is now available
in bookstores nationwide.
Home Safe Home tells what toxic chemicals are generally found in specific household products of all types, and safe solutions you can buy or make at home. It's different from other books on toxic chemicals because the focus really is what you can do to protect yourself and your family and create a healthy home. I bring over twenty years of research and personal real-life experience to this book. * 10 Simple, Inexpensive Things You Can Do To Reduce Household Toxics * How Toxic is Your Home? Quiz (excerpt from the book)
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Debra's List
~
100s of links
to 1000s of nontoxic, natural & earthwise
products
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