Here is the occasional feature from the Center for the Urban Environment (CUE). In this submission CUE staff interviews Alexandra Zissu, writer/editor/speaker and native New Yorker. Zissu who will be speaking on the subject of “Breathe Easy: A How-To for
Creating a NonToxic Home Environment" at Green Brooklyn.. Green City on September 18th. The event—sponsored by the Center for the Urban Environment—is in its fourth year and is the borough’s largest celebration of environmentally conscious programs, projects, and initiatives in New York City. In close partnership with the Green Market at Brooklyn’s Borough Hall, this year the full day fair and symposium promises to help New Yorkers weed through what ‘green’ really is. For more information visit www.greenbrooklyn.org.

CUE: Thanks for taking the time to answers some questions in our “Ask the Expert” corner. As a guru of the non-toxic home environment—let’s start with the basics. How do you define toxic?

Zissu: Anything with the potential to harm human health and the environment. That’s pretty wide ranging, I know, but also covers what I tend to refer to as toxic.

CUE: If I can’t do everything to keep my home free of toxins—what are the three most important things I can do?

Zissu: I often give a talk to various groups that covers a "toxic top ten list" — ten home areas where people can make changes that will really make a difference in terms of minimizing their exposure to the bad stuff. Before I launch into the top ten, I always give three beyond simple changes anyone can do tomorrow to immediately reduce indoor air pollution. Once you’re feeling proactive, it’s easier to launch into those ten areas, I have found. These three tips include:

1. Take off your shoes before or just after entering your home. The residues on your soles — gas, pesticide, dog shit and so much more — should not be tracked into your home, especially if you have a crawling baby. One scientist I often interview at the NRDC says removing your shoes should be considered an “everyone-does-it” public health measure along the lines of handwashing. Apparently Brooklyn has the second highest pesticide use in all of New York State (thanks, roaches). Kicking off your heels couldn’t be easier and the results are dramatic and instantaneous.

2. This is particularly important among for urban working types: don’t dry clean your clothes. Wet clean or CO2 clean instead. The chemical used in conventional dry cleaning is a probable human carcinogen. For more information: http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/ask/wetclean

3. Switch all of your conventional cleaners to green ones. 

CUE: There are so many “green” products out there, how can the average consumer differentiate between those that are legitimate and those that are not?

Zissu:  It’s tragic that there is so much greenwashing going on right now. At the same time there are very few trustworthy regulations out there along the lines of the USDA Organic stamp for food that could help the average consumer figure out which so called eco cleaning product, face cream, or even mattress is what it claims to be. So it’s crucial to do your homework before you go shopping. That way you’ll never find yourself in the grocery store wondering which "green" toilet scrub is better. Luckily there are now many great resources to help you figure out what’s legit. See below.

CUE: For local Brooklyn-ites, how does “buying local” play out in building a non-toxic home environment?

Zissu:  To my mind, buying local usually refers to food. Brooklyn has many great farmers markets, clued-in restaurants, and a well-regarded food Co-op that can make local eating a reality, even year round. In terms of local for other aspects of the home, I like to ask myself whenever I’m in the market for anything — is it possible to get, say, a chair that was made around here from reclaimed wood from around here? Craig’s List, Freecycle, and dumpster diving make furnishing "locally" more possible. So does hiring local artisans to do millwork, and doing things like buying locally made pottery and clothing. There are even people in and around the city making soaps, creams and more. All of this falls under the term local.

CUE: Theses are tough financial times for many of us—does income play a role in living organically and what are some easy things that everyone can do in their house that doesn’t require added expenditures or products?

Zissu:  I get this question more often than any other question. I’ll start with food: I have belonged to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm for 8 or 9 years right now (check out www.justfood.org for CSAs that deliver in Brooklyn) and although I love and frequent my local farmers markets, I find it to be the most inexpensive way to get local, organic fruits and vegetables. Through them I now also buy my meat and things like honey and maple syrup. You’d think my grocery bills would be much higher than they were back when I wasn’t only eating local/organic but they aren’t. Eliminating supermarket shopping from my life has made the overall experience a lot cheaper. This carries over to all other aspects of life. Yes, the "green" things I buy are often more expensive than their conventional counterparts but living this lifestyle— I buy so much less extraneous stuff than I used to that I actually spend much less money now than before. There is a lot of focus on purchasing things when discussing an environmentally friendly way of living. I understand why, but it’s a bit of a contorted conversation. When I think of my own environmentalism, I don’t automatically think of shopping! But I know that transitioning to a more treehugging approach requires changing more than a few products. On the whole, I find "green" to be a leaner existence, and therefore less expensive. Or at least no more expensive than my conventional counterpart. To answer your question more fully, I’d say NOT buying anything new doesn’t require added expenditures or products. Use all purpose products instead of buying ten different cleaners for various rooms in your house, or a cream for your eyes, another for elbows, another for hands. You get the point. Kids maybe need one new toy instead of eighteen. Try making your own cleaning products. Carrying around a reusable water bottle really cuts down on cash and waste. Less is more. And less plastic is even more than that.

CUE: As the co-author of The Complete Organic Pregnancy—you have taken a long view of organic, non-toxic living. What is the single greatest benefit it brings you and what are some good resources for others who are interested in embarking on a similar path in their own lives?

Zissu: I don’t know what the benefit is and that’s the point. There have been 80,000 to 100,000 new chemicals introduced in the U.S. since World War II and the human health effects of less than 5 percent of these are known. I think of it as defensive driving with my body, and with my daughter’s body. I don’t personally want to wait around for our government to play catch up and admit which plastic contains harmful hormone disrupting chemicals, or which flame retardant shouldn’t have been in our mattresses, or — oops! — what’s the next DDT. Following the precautionary principle and taking steps to avoid and/or minimize exposure to the unknown is really what this is about. I have done the research and made some conclusions about what I hope the benefits are, but ultimately only time will tell. That this approach also keeps these very same chemicals away from other humans (hello, farmers) and out of the environment at the same time is critical.

Here are some of my favorite resources: www.thegreenguide.com;  www.thedailygreen.com;  www.plentymag.com;  www.simplesteps.org;  www.watoxics.org;  www.healthychild.org;  www.treehugger.com

Alexandra Zissu lives in the West Village with her family. She is co-author of The Complete Organic Pregnancy (Collins, 2006), co-writes "Ask an Organic Mom" for TheDailyGreen.com and "Green Mums" for Cookiemag.com. She’s also The Green Guide’s parenting columnist, kids editor at New York Magazine, and has written recently on eco-topics for T: The New York Times Style Magazine, Plenty, and Health among other publications. Her next book covers obsessively greening your kitchen and is due out from Clarkson Potter in 2010.

Interview conducted by Rebeccah Welch—Associate Director of Public Affairs at the Center for the Urban Environment. As a guide to a more sustainable New York City, the Center is dedicated to educating individuals about the built and natural environments. For more about our work visit www.bcue.org.