Art | Resources
Latex Strips on Wood Slat Bed Frame
Question from
I have sensitivities to multiple chemicals as well as a latex allergy and petroleum products.
We are having to replace our mattress and have settled on a wool bed such as you have described, with topper, wool pillows and a slat frame bed which has been finished and has off gassed x 3 years plus. However, I’d like to have latex strips applied having had an opportunity to lay on beds with and without the strips.
The bed frame we hope to buy had 60/40 strips applied 3 years ago and we are told there is still a slight odor but nothing like when they were new. We will be buying sight unseen (unsmelled) and I’d like your opinion as to these strips after several years – would you worry or do you know of any other alternative to apply to the slats on the bed frame? Our thinking is to go with this opportunity and hope for the best but know we can remove the strips if I react – I’ve heard of a coir bed rug but it too has natural latex and the maker admits to it having a smell so thoughts anyone? Thank you all!
Debra’s Answer
I have these latex strips on my wood slat frame and at first they smelled. I left them outdoors for about six weeks.
I’ve had them for, I don’t know, seven or eight years now and they still smell a bit.
Given your sensitivities, I would be extremely cautious about using them. I agree they do make a difference, but I would rather use something else. I’m thinking of making wool felt pads. I’m going to talk with Shepherd’s Dream.
Farmhouse Sink Installation
Question from Bonnie Johnson
I have always loved farmhouse type sinks. I have an old home and wanted to get one put in when I do the new countertop. I am looking at granit or some sort of stone for that. My understanding from my contracter is that I would not be able to handle the seal etc used to install a farmhouse sink and there are questions about bacteria growth? Does anyone here have one and if so what did they use to have it installed. Debra what are your thoughts?
Debra’s Answer
I love them too and wanted to install one in my kitchen but it was beyond my budget.
Readers, has anyone installed one and can answer Bonnie’s questions?
Fire Retardants in Nap Roll
Question from Erin
Hi Debra, My son needs a nap roll or sleeping bag for naptime at preschool. I didn’t want to buy a regular one new (I am concerned about fire retardants that might be added). So I was going to send him with a vintage one from the 70’s. It is cotton with polyester fill. I figured it would have off gassed by now. But, were these types of items treated with fire retardants back then? My husband is not excited to spend 10x the price to get an all cotton or wool one. Thanks!
Debra’s Answer
Well, not only could a product from the 1970s contain a fire retardant, fire retardants then were even worse than the fire retardants used today. <
This from Huffington Post: Flame Retardants Remain Widespread in Children’s Products
Organic Body and Bath Products in Plastic-Free Packaging
My guest Cory Trusty is President of the family owned business Aquarian Bath. She is an herbalist, organic gardener, and mother of two active girls. Cory and her husband are both concerned about the environment and take care in making their products. Their soaps and other products are free of chemical fragrances, SLS-free, Non-GMO, dye-free, and palm-oil free, with no animal testing. Most products are vegan. Plastic-free shipping materials include paper, starch, and biodegradable cello bags. Cory’s background is in Cell and Molecular Biology study at the University of Washington as well as Masters study at a Traditional Chinese Medicine Institute. Cory and her family enjoy nature biking and the beach in their free time. She is also Vice-President of SolarNetOne Inc, an innovative solar computing company. We’ll be talking about toxic chemicals in bodycare products and why and how they package their products without plastic. www.debralynndadd.com/debras-list/aquarian-bath
TOXIC FREE TALK RADIO
Organic Body & Bath Products in Plastic-Free Packaging
Host: Debra Lynn Dadd
Guest: Cory Trusty
Date of Broadcast: August 15, 2013
DEBRA: Hi, I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. And this is Toxic Free Talk Radio where we talk about how to thrive in a toxic world because it is a toxic world out there. There are toxic chemicals all around, but if we know how to recognize them, and we know what the alternatives are, we can choose wisely to choose toxic-free products for our own homes, we can choose to remove toxic chemicals that can make us sick from our bodies, and we can choose to, together, create a toxic-free world because it really all comes down to our choice.
So what this show is about is about learning what’s toxic and what’s not, and finding out what you can choose from to make your own toxic-free life.
Today is Thursday, August 15, 2013. And today, we’re going to be talking about organic body and bath products in plastic-free packaging.
Before I introduce my guest, I want to read a quote to you, and this is from William Morris. William Morris, you may not recognize his name, but you’ve probably seen his art, which was made in the form of patterns for fabrics and wallpapers back at the end of the 1800s. And it has a very distinct style, it has lots of flowers and birds and things in it. And you would probably look at that and say, “Oh, yes, I recognize that.”
But it was at the time, actually, in England, when industrialism was taking over art and that prior to making things in factories, things were made by artisans. And William Morris had one of the last artisan workshops before industrialism took over, and he was fighting for beauty and art.
And I went to his house in England, and I remember—I don’t have the quote right here, but I’ll find it. And it was a woman who had visited his place of work, where they were making the materials and the housewares that he was designing. And she was talking about how beautiful it was, and how the breezes flowed, and that she could smell the scent of flowers, and that they were using all these herbs and things to dye the fabrics.
And it was just a really beautiful description, not anything like the dusty, dirty, toxic factory.
And William Morris said, “Have nothing in your houses which you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”
And this is one of my guiding statements in my life, it’s that I want things to be both useful and beautiful. And so in my house, if I’m buying a product, I’m always looking for, well, what’s the most beautiful, useful thing that I could buy?
For example, I went to a Shaker Village some years ago, and they had carved measuring spoons out of wood. And so my measuring spoons have been hand-carved out of wood because I thought those were the most beautiful measuring spoons that I had ever seen and toxic-free as well and made by hand.
And I chose this quote today because my guest makes some products that are truly useful and I believe them to be beautiful, that she has both that element of making something organic, making something that’s toxic-free, and making something that’s beautiful.
Hi, Cory. This is Cory Trusty. She’s the president of the small family-owned business, Aquarian Bath. Hi, Cory. Thanks for being with me.
CORY TRUSTY: Hi, Debra. Thank you so much for inviting me to be on your show. I appreciate it.
DEBRA: Good! So Cory, I see from your bio that you studied molecular biology. And now, you’re making bath and body products out of organic ingredients. How did you become interested in making things that are toxic-free, and why specifically bath and body products?
CORY TRUSTY: Well, actually, I was studying Chinese medicine after I studied the cell and molecular biology because I was interested in a larger perspective on the human body and holistic medicine. And I found that I was interested more in topical application of herbs, so I started out making herbal salves for my family. And then, from there, we expanded towards soaps and shampoos because everybody needs soap. So that helped expand the business.
And then, I was also interested in really having products that were not going to create pollution for my customers. The shampoo of ours, they’re really an exciting product because it’s a solid soap-type product, but there’s no bottle, no plastic bottle required. So that’s exciting.
I’m interested in biodegradable ingredients, so that goes hand in hand with using the essential oils and other botanical ingredients, rather than chemical fragrances and dyes, and things like that.
DEBRA: Did you always feel this way about wanting to use natural things, or were you just a regular American consumer?
Was there was a point in your life where you changed your mind?
CORY TRUSTY: I was always interested in environmental things. I studied biology in college at University of Washington. And so a lot of the classes I took were more environmental-minded. I was interested in conservation and things like that.
Also, I’ve been helping my husband with his company during purchasing and receiving. And when you do that type of work, the plastic waste from the packaging can really build up quickly. And that was disturbing to me, so that narrowed my focus on wanting to make sure that I wasn’t contributing that type of waste to customers when creating products and shipping products.
DEBRA: I had a similar experience actually, not too long ago, several years ago, where, in my household, for years, my ex-husband used to empty the garbage. And so I would go to the store, and I’d buy something, and then I would just throw the packaging in the garbage. And even though I was aware of plastics and I knew the toxicity of them, still, there are things that you think that you just can’t buy unless you buy it in plastic.
And then I went and I lived in San Francisco for three months just on a temporary basis. And suddenly, I had to empty my own garbage. I had to take my garbage out to the garbage can. And I started looking at what was in my garbage.
And one of the things that really made a difference to me was that I was eating ricotta cheese at the time. And I was buying ricotta cheese in these plastic containers like you buy yoghurt in a plastic container. And I kept having these ricotta containers.
And finally I said, “Well, wait a minute. Isn’t there a way that I could buy ricotta cheese without a plastic container?”
And I ended up learning how to make ricotta cheese. And it was so much more delicious than the ricotta cheese in a plastic container. It doesn’t take that long.
At that point, I was walking everywhere because I was living in Downtown San Francisco. And I just walked to the little corner organic food store, and I bought organic milk in a glass bottle. I bring it back to my little apartment, and make my ricotta cheese. And then I’d take the bottle back, and exchange it for another bottle of organic milk. And then I’d make another batch of ricotta cheese.
And it’s a wonderful experience when you start thinking outside that little plastic.
We’ll be right back after the commercial break. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. This is Toxic Free Talk Radio. My guest is Cory Trusty.
She’s the president of Aquarian Bath, and after the break, we’re going to be talking about bath and body products.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and today, we’re talking about organic body and bath products in plastic-free packaging. My guest is Cory Trusty, president of the family-owned business, Aquarian Bath. And her website is AquarianBath.com.
And you can also find a link on my website—well, you can go to ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com, and it’s on that page, in the description of the show. And you can also find it on DebrasList.com where I have hundreds of links to websites like this—a lot of small producers, family-owned businesses that are making toxic-free products.
So that’s a place you can always find her as well.
Cory, why would somebody want to use organic body and bath products? What kind of toxic chemicals are found in them?
CORY TRUSTY: Well, some products have chemical fragrances in them. And a lot of those fragrances have phthalates, which have been associated with hormone disruption and cancers. Also, the thing about chemical synthetic fragrances is that, like the plastics, they’re proprietary. So you don’t necessarily know what the ingredients are inside.
DEBRA: Actually, I would make a stronger statement than that and say you don’t know what the ingredients are.
CORY TRUSTY: Pretty much, yes. The lab processing is quite expensive.
DEBRA: Yes, if it says perfume or fragrance on the label, then it could have thousands of ingredients that are available that could be in there. And each one of those is made up of at least a hundred ingredients. And you really don’t know what they are, or where they’ve come from, and it’s completely secret, which is, you can’t even find out.
CORY TRUSTY: And they get into the water supply also because they’re going down into the ground. So if you’re not thinking—just about the immediate consequences, you can think about the chemicals going down into the ground water, and consequences down the line.
DEBRA: Probably, the first don’t like perfume ingredients
CORY TRUSTY: Yes, I doubt it. What else?
DEBRA: What are some other ingredients that people might find?
CORY TRUSTY: Dyes, which are made from oil-based ingredients like petrochemical ingredients—so not necessarily biodegradable. SLS, which is a foaming agent, which can cause skin irritations for some people. What else? Some of these “glycerin soaps” like the clear soaps, those melt and pour soaps, a lot of those have been clarified with high concentration of alcohol to clarify it, so it’s more dying on the skin, compared to handmade soaps.
Also, other types of soaps that you get at the store might have the glycerin extracted from them. And the glycerin is a natural by-product of the soap reaction. When the oil reacts with the sodium hydroxide, it creates the soap, and it also creates the glycerin. The glycerin is naturally moisturizing.
The glycerin isn’t extracted like it is from the soaps that you buy at the store.
DEBRA: I think that’s a really important point because I’m always talking about the wholeness of things. A whole food, for example, has all its nutrients and fiber and it’s the whole thing that your body needs to have all those elements. And I think that most people don’t know that when you’re buying soap, soap is, as you said, the natural reaction between sodium hydroxide and the fat or oil, and it makes its own natural thing, which I would call a whole soap that includes the glycerin and everything that comes out of that reaction between those two substances.
And then if you go buy most soaps that are on the shelf in a big supermarket or something, they have now taken that apart, like industrial likes to do, and they sell the glycerin separate from the soap. And so you don’t have those moisturizing factors, and I think that that’s one of the big differences between an industrially-made soap and a handmade soap, is that you get those nourishing factors.
CORY TRUSTY: And the other thing about—actually, not just those soaps available from the store, but a lot of other handmade soaps, they add the chemical fragrances which doesn’t necessarily—they might smell good, but they might make you have an allergic attack.
One of the reasons why I avoid the chemical fragrances is from a young age, I’ve had allergies and asthma. I don’t anymore. I have allergies, but not asthma. But if I go through the grocery aisle that has the detergents and things, it can really set me off from just smelling all of that.
DEBRA: I understand. That’s true for a lot of people.
We need to take a break fairly soon, and when we come back, let’s talk more about soaps, your soap in particular. I want to encourage people to go to your website, AquarianBath.com, because these soaps are just so beautiful. Actually, all the products are beautiful.
There’s one, as you see the little strip go by on the top of the images in it, there’s one, I think you told me it was a salve that is shaped like a little sun inside the can.
And everything that Cory has done is just beautiful, as well as effective.
You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and we’ll be back to talk more with Cory Trusty from Aquarian Bath.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and my guest today is Cory Trusty, president of Aquarian Bath. And she’s got some really beautiful, effective and different sorts of body and bath products on the site. And we’re going to talk about some of those because they’re so interesting.
Cory, I’m looking at your unscented soap page. Let’s start there because I know that a lot of people that are listening are very sensitive to fragrances, and they’re always looking for unscented products. And you have so many of them, and they’re unique.
Let’s just go through and talk about some of them.
The first one on your list is the sea salt soap, and I’ve been using that and I totally love it. It’s completely different than any other kind of soap I’ve ever used. And as you say in the description, it’s harder than other soaps because it’s got so much sea salt in it. And I really find that it exfoliates my whole body, and it stimulates.
There’s enough resistance there that it stimulates that my skin and I just feel very, very clean.
CORY TRUSTY: Good. I’m glad you like it. I really love to use that one during the winter, if I’m having any type of eczema patch crop up, and I like to use it if I have any acne crop up or anything like that. It’s really nice for taking the itch out of the skin. Generally speaking, it’s good to smooth and polish the skin.
DEBRA: And I haven’t seen a soap like that. Is that something that you created yourself?
CORY TRUSTY: I can’t remember the name of the person who invented that type of soap, but I modified their formula. I never got their formula, but it’s basically our own formula, and there are other people who make that similar type of soap.
Mine is formulated to be a little more gentle, and it’s unscented.
DEBRA: It’s just perfect. It’s just got the right amount of—what’s the term for that? A texture to it.
CORY TRUSTY: Exfoliation?
DEBRA: Exfoliation, yes.
CORY TRUSTY: That blue unscented one is actually my personal favorite, and that’s the original version. And then I have a vegan version of it also for people who are sensitive to having a vegetarian type of formula.
DEBRA: So tell us what are the oils that you use. You have a regular set of oils, and then you have a vegan formula?
CORY TRUSTY: For this particular soap, it’s coconut oil, lard and castor oil. And for the vegan version, I use coconut oil, organic cocoa butter, and castor oil. And then about half of both of those recipes is sea salt. And there’s a bit of isatis, which is woad, or indigo powder. There are a bunch of different names for it, but the blue comes from an herb that I use.
DEBRA: It looks beautiful in the picture.
Here’s another one that is unusual, but I imagine a lot of people do it. You have a soap made with extra stout beer. Does that have a benefit to it, or it just makes it smell like beer for guys?
CORY TRUSTY: It’s more of a novelty type soap, but it’s also natural. It was made with beer in the water phase, Guinness extra stout beer in the water phase instead of water. And other than that, it’s just basically a regular soap.
The sugars from the beer make a little bit extra lather, but overall, it’s just a regular soap.
DEBRA: Okay, good. I think that’s a great idea. I could see that that would be a great gift for any man in somebody’s life. And just so that the listeners know how you think, the tag for this particular soap is upcycled from the Guinness beer pack.
So she’s using all these materials.
And I really like the way you stamp, instead of putting a label on it, that you stamp things into the soap. I have a local soap maker here where they stamp the size. They just break them up and weigh them, and then they stamp the weight in it. And I just think that that’s wonderful, so that it eliminates that packaging layer.
So tell us about your shampoo bars.
CORY TRUSTY: Shampoo bars, my original shampoo bars were the neem shampoo bar, and the sesame aloe shampoo bar.
And I designed them initially thinking about people with sensitive scalp type, these types of things because I was really initially interested in the herbs.
And then they got very popular, so we expanded that line, and now, we have a lot that are scented with different popular scents like our rose shampoo bar is very popular. We also have a patchouli shampoo bar that’s very popular.
And these are all scented with essential oils or botanical resins or waxes. Some of the other ones that we have right now are tea tree with eucalyptus, coffee butter, lavender orange, key lime and bay rum.
So we have, all in all, I’ve counted, I think we have 15 shampoo bar types now. There’s quite a variety and for different hair types. I have a couple for oily hair types and a couple for standard dry hair types. But most of them are formulated for normal scalp and hair. There are a couple like the sesame aloe and the neem shampoo bars that are more for people with sensitive scalp types—sensitive scalp types basically.
DEBRA: I really like that you have different ones for different hair types because I haven’t tried your specific ones, but I have tried shampoo bars in the past where they only just had one type. And because it wasn’t the right type for my hair, then I didn’t have a good experience with it. So I’m really looking forward to trying your shampoo bar for my type of hair because I do want to get away from those plastic bottles.
We have another break here. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio, and my guest today is Cory Trusty, president of the family-owned business, Aquarian Bath, and we’re talking about her wonderful organic body and bath products that are with plastic-free packaging. We’ll be back.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and I’m here with Cory Trusty, who is president of the family-owned business, Aquarian Bath. That’s AquarianBath.com. And during the break, I was just reading about your zeolite detox soap with activated charcoal and bentonite clay.
I didn’t see that the first time when I was looking through your website. But it’s very interesting. I clicked through to your blog post about avoiding radiation in daily life.
So tell us about why you put together this bar of soap.
CORY TRUSTY: Well, we were concerned about radioactive fallout from Fukushima. My husband has been following the accidents since the beginning in 2011, and we have a Geiger counter going here. And we take it out with a—if it’s raining, we take in the car, or if it starts to rain, we basically check to see if the clicks start to go up.
DEBRA: Are you still monitoring?
CORY TRUSTY: Pardon?
DEBRA: Are you still monitoring today? And are we still having radioactive particles?
CORY TRUSTY: Yes. It’s ongoing because of the tropopause. Every time there’s a cold front, we see a spike in radiation levels. And also, we took a trip up north. We’re in Florida, and we took the Geiger counter with us on a trip to Washington DC for 4th of July. And basically, there was a gradient as we went further north. The rad levels went up.
And we wanted to have the soap for cases when we go out, if we get caught in the rain, that we want to come home and be able to use the soap that has extra scrubbing power. So we use the zeolite and the scrub, as in, absorption power. The zeolite is specific for radioactive cesium.
And the activated charcoal and bentonite clay are also good for binding radioactive particles.
I talk more about that in the blog post. You saw the one on avoiding radiation in daily life. But I also have a blog post about avoiding radiation in the garden, which—
DEBRA: Yes, I saw that. I think this is amazing and something that’s very, very necessary. And I appreciate knowing that you’re accounting this because if we’re not looking at these meters individually, then you don’t know. There’s no place. You just would have to trust what they’re telling you or not telling you.
Also, you may or may not be aware that I’m promoting, and take myself a product called Pure Body Liquid Zeolite, which removes heavy metals, toxic chemicals and radiation from your body. And I’ve been taking that regularly since even before the accident.
And so that’s what I’ve been doing for that.
But zeolite is the thing for radiation, so I think you’ve got it right on.
We only have a few minutes left, so I want to make sure that we talk about your plastic-free packaging. So tell us more about that. What made you decide to be plastic-free and how do you do plastic-free packaging?
CORY TRUSTY: I don’t like bubble wrap and other types of plastic packaging coming in to my home, Styrofoam and things like. And so I don’t want my customers to experience that from our company.
I use crafts, paper-padded mailers instead of plastic bubble wrap mailers. And I use cardboard boxes with paper tape. For filler, I use either paper or cornstarch peanuts that are biodegradable. And I encourage everyone who has a small business that ships to go to Uline.com and you can find all these packing materials. And you can ask them to leave a note in your account that you only want your products shipped with paper padding when they send you a box of mailers, instead of plastic, their mailers, it will have paper—just bulk, round, recycled paper type thing.
DEBRA: You sell other products, in addition to soaps. I want to make sure that we don’t miss those. Can you tell us what the other products are, and how they’re packaged?
CORY TRUSTY: I sell deodorants in glass jars or tins. And I sell tooth powders in tins or in biodegradable cellophane bags. A lot of people will call a plastic bag cellophane bag now. These are actually real—it’s a wood product, it’s a real cellophane bag, so you can choose to have tooth powder in a cellophane bag, or in a tin.
I sell cedar soap decks that are handmade for your soaps. I also sell lotion bars, which are—they’re like chapstick consistency.
They’re hard that you can rub on your hands or skin.
DEBRA: Those are the ones that look like sands.
CORY TRUSTY: Yes, they’re like snowflakes.
DEBRA: They’re just so pretty in the tin. Every time I look at that, I just go, “Oh, how beautiful.”
CORY TRUSTY: Okay, cool. It took me a long time to find the right mold for that product. Some other things I sell are herbal salves and balms, perfumes that are scented with botanical ingredients, not chemical fragrances. I sell flaxseed, microwaveable pillows, or facial masks for TMJ that cover your jaw and forehead.
Those are all made with certified organic flax. And for the neck pillows, you can choose scented certified organic herbs like lavender or spearmint or rose or chamomile. And we basically make those to order. They make great Christmas gifts.
And those can come in a bag or without a bag. It’s your choice.
I sell gift sets for Christmas, and different holidays. We had a nice holiday gift set last year that we’ll bring back again. It was a shampoo bar and a soap of your choice with two cedar soap decks and a lip balm. So it’s a nice gift for someone who might have sensitivity or they’re trying to reduce plastic in their life. It’s a thoughtful gift.
I think those are the main things. Lip balms in tins, in slide tins.
DEBRA: I’ve tried the toothpaste too, as well as your soap. And I liked it very much. It has a wonderful licorice taste, and it really got my teeth very clean. I can’t say enough about how much I appreciate your deep level of integrity about what you’re doing. And just your overall viewpoint about wanting to be safe for all life, safe for your customers and safe for the environment, and I see that in everything that you do.
CORY TRUSTY: I’m really glad you like the product, and I appreciate the compliment.
DEBRA: Thank you very much for being with me today. And good luck in everything that you’re doing. I’ll certainly do what I can do to let people know about it.
CORY TRUSTY: Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Have a great day.
DEBRA: You too. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. We’re here every day, Monday through Friday. You can go to ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com, and find out about all the shows, future and past—well, not all the shows in the future, but you can find out who’s coming up for the week. You can find out all the people I’ve already interviewed. You can listen to all the past shows, and see who’s been on. All of these shows are so interesting. I’m learning so much. I’m meeting so many wonderful people. And we really are talking about the crème de la crème of people who are doing the least toxic things on the planet.
Some of these people have been working in this field for decades, like I had. Some people are new to it. But everything is about how we can remove toxic chemicals from our lives.
In addition to listening to the shows, if you go to ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com, you can also look across the top of the page, and there are many other parts to my website. The first link goes to the Q&A, where you can leave a question, and I will answer it, and my readers will answer it too. And some of my readers are very experienced in this topic.
You can also go to Debra’s List, which lists hundreds of businesses like Aquarian Bath that are selling toxic-free products.
Some of them are very individual. They’re very specific types of products, and some of them have hundreds of products just on one site that they’ve chosen very carefully.
You can also go to the next link. It’s called Body Detox. And that tells you how you can remove toxic chemicals from your body.
And we’ll talk about more tomorrow. In fact, tomorrow, you can call in with your question. It’s Free for All Friday, where I take your questions on the air.
I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. This is Toxic Free Talk Radio.
PLA Fibers in Organic Mattress
Question from Lana
Dear Debra. I am researching a mattress for my daughter. I wanted cotton or wool or both, and the most affordable so far for me is Naturepedic organic cotton quilted deluxe.
The only problem – it contains PLA fibers somewhere in the mattress. I know it is polyester derived from plants, but is it ok to have it inside the organic mattress? They said that it was tested for off-gassing.
They also said they don’t use any fire retardants and are able to comply with the law due to this mattresses design.
Is this possible? Can I trust this statement? I also liked White lotus green cotton wrapped in wool mattress, but since green cotton is not organic I thought it didn’t make sense. The organic option of it is double the $. Thank you so much. Lana
Debra’s Answer
Yes, it’s all true. I don’t see that PLA fibers are a problem. It’s a plant fiber. It doesn’t offgas.
You can trust the statement about no fire retardants.
The First Affordable Natural Sofa
My guest Emily May Bird Kroll is CEO and Founder of Ekla Home, which makes custom natural upholstered furniture. On the day of our interview, she will be launching a new natural sofa “with a design that more people can afford.” Emily has successfully designed, manufactured, and distributed custom furniture since 1992. She has created custom and contract furniture for notable interior designers, celebrities and large corporations. Emily is passionate about changing the way the furniture business works in the United States where production is notoriously wasteful, and many toxic chemicals are used. Determined to make the process of producing furniture safe for her craftsmen and clients, Emily launched EKLA HOME in 2007. The granddaughter of a furniture designer on one side, and an architectural and scrap metal recycler on the other, EKLA HOME’s approach is rooted in Emily’s DNA. A lifelong Southern California resident, Emily is at the nexus of a close beachside community that holds environmentalism as a way of life and a business model. We’ll be talking about toxic chemicals in sofas and how to avoid them by choosing a safa made with natural materials. Elka Home is no longer in business.
In addition, Leigh Anne Van Dusen, Co-Founder and General Manager of O Ecotextiles spoke about the textiles used to make Ekla Home upholstered furniture. O Ecotextiles is committed to changing the way textiles are being made by proving that it’s possible to produce luxurious, sensuous fabrics in ways that are non-toxic, ethical and sustainable. Co-founders (and sisters) Patty Grossman and Leigh Anne Van Dusen created O Ecotextiles in 2006 and the collection has garnered accolades and honors since it debuted at Decorex in 2007, where it won Best Merchandise from House & Garden magazine. In 2009, Environmental Building News and BuildingGreen named O Ecotextiles one of the top 10 Green Building Products of 2008. www.oecotextiles.com
TOXIC FREE TALK RADIO
The First Affordable Natural Sofa
Host: Debra Lynn Dadd
Guest: Emily May Bird Kroll
Date of Broadcast: August 14, 2013
DEBRA: Hi, I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. And this is Toxic Free Talk Radio where we talk about how to thrive in a toxic world because there are toxic chemicals all around us in consumer products, just walking down the street, and falling from the sky, and the water we drink, and the food we eat. And sometimes listening to the news, it seems like every day, there is a new toxic chemical to worry about.
But there are many toxic-free alternatives available, many consumer products that don’t have toxic chemicals in them, many ways to remove toxic chemicals from our homes and our bodies and our schools and every place.
And we can live in a toxic-free world. It’s just a matter of each of us making choices and one by one, putting all of those choices together will have fewer and fewer toxics, and more and more health and happiness, productivity, and anything else that we want, not impeded by toxic chemical exposures.
Today, we’re going to talk about sofas. A lot of people have been asking me about sofas because of all the news about fire retardants. It has been on the news a lot in the past couple of years. There are also some new regulations going in the State of California about fire retardants.
And also, today, my guest is releasing the most affordable organic sofa I’ve ever seen. I just took a peek at her website before the show, and I didn’t see that it’s up yet. But she’s going to be telling us all about it.
But first, I want to tell you about my personal experience with sofas. I have had a toxic-free sofa for—let’s see how many years it has it been now, probably almost 30. The first toxic-free sofa I had, and let me tell you that the sofa was one of the first toxic things I got rid of in my house.
The first one that I had was, I was living at my parents’ house actually, and my mother had chosen a very modern sofa that had a back that was made out of canvass, flat, cotton canvass. And then it had pillows. And all the whole frame was on metal and it had chrome arms. And then you would put these pillows in.
And the pillows themselves were made out of all kinds of synthetic materials and probably had fire retardants on it.
So I just took all those pillows off, and I made my own big pillows out of cotton fabric, organic cotton fabric, stuffed them with organic cotton, and I had a lovely sofa.
But then, for some reason, I don’t remember why, it didn’t fit in the small places that I was living, and I just wanted a regular kind of sofa. And about 20 years ago, I decided to make my own sofa. And this was before I could go to a place and have one custom-made by somebody who has all the natural materials available to them like my guest.
And so what I did was I went to an auction, and I bought an old sofa that had a nice frame, and that had spring cushions, the old-fashioned kind. And then I took it to an upholsterer and I said strip everything off of it. And he stripped it down to the wood frame and the metal springs.
And then I got 100% natural linen upholstery fabric, and some cotton upholstery fabric. And he stuffed everything with organic cotton. And it cost me, I don’t even remember, $2000 or $3000 to have this done 20 years ago. But I can tell you that I still sit on that sofa and it still looks as beautiful as the day I got it.
And fortunately now, we have plenty of places where there are people who know exactly what they’re doing, know the materials, you have lots of choices, and they can custom-make whatever it is that you want. And there are also sofas that are already designed that you can just order.
So, I want to introduce my guest, Emily May Bird Kroll, who is the CEO and founder of Ekla Home. Hi, Emily.
EMILY MAY BIRD KROLL: Hi, Debra.
DEBRA: Thanks for being with me.
EMILY MAY BIRD KROLL: Thank you for having me.
DEBRA: Instead of me reading your bio, why don’t you tell us about your background and what led you to start doing custom-building of furniture from non-toxic and sustainable materials?
EMILY MAY BIRD KROLL: Well, I started in the furniture business in 1992. And I worked for a company that was making reproductions of 18th and 19th century farmhouse furniture. And from there, I was asked by the company to investigate upholstery, meaning sofas, that we could add to our collection of pieces.
So, I began researching upholstery, and was introduced to a manufacturer of sofas, and started the process of developing this collection for the company I was working for.
That company was then sold. And I had decided I was a little more interested in learning about the soft side of the business, meaning, the upholstery side of the business. And I went to work for the manufacturer that we were working with in the former company.
I developed a couple of designs for him and learned the process of manufacturing as well as learned about the ingredients and so forth in upholstery pieces during that period.
Shortly thereafter, I opened my own store, my own retail store, which is in Santa Monica, California. And I designed my own pieces for that store. And I originally had the original manufacturer make pieces for me for my own collection.
During the ‘90s, I became aware that the furniture industry was responsible for pretty much raping two-thirds of the world’s forests for its furniture production. And that really upset me. My family, we’re in the recycling business in Europe. And I grew up in a consciousness which involved no waste and lots of reuse. And I just was upset that our industry was responsible for such devastation.
So, I started investigating sustainable wood, recycled wood. I started working in reclaimed wood in the mid-90s as well. And I started working in alder for my [unintelligible 07:22]. And alder wasn’t really used in those days for case fits. It was considered a waste crop. But it is a sustainable crop. And it has [unintelligible 07:29]. So we started doing the wood.
And then, as the years went by, I became aware that the upholstery side of the business also was environmentally harmful in many different ways. These are the chemicals, again, the waste of the wood, et cetera.
So, I started researching in 2003—2002 or 2003—about doing a more sustainable product on the upholstery side of the business. I researched for several years. And that led me in 2005 to writing the business plan for Ekla Homes which was to create an entirely organic collection of upholstered pieces.
And then, I launched the brand in 2007 to get a little bit of funding to do the project. The business started in 2007, but we launched our first collection in 2008.
DEBRA: When I read that your core values on your website that they are very deep, I liked them very much. Would you tell us your core values, so that I don’t read them?
EMILY MAY BIRD KROLL: Well, I would say that it’s really important that we—one thing is we’re making these pieces that are healthy for consumers, but also, again, in our industry, the workshops. Unfortunately, many of the people that are working in a furniture workshop have been affected by the carcinogenic chemicals that they work with every day in making conventional pieces.
So many of the guys that have been working for many years in the business, their hands are chewed away from the toxic chemicals that they had to work with, and cutting fabrics, and handling fabrics, and handling foams. Many of them have respiratory problems.
I have one builder that I’ve been doing wood with for years who I honestly think has been affected by the vapor he’s inhaled because it’s just not as clear as he was a number of years ago when dealing with him.
DEBRA: We need to take a break, but we’ll be right back and we’ll talk more about this. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and my guest today is Emily May Bird Kroll, CEO and founder of Ekla Home. We’re going to talk about sofas and other furniture.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and my guest today is Emily May Bird Kroll, CEO and founder of Ekla Home, where they make sofas, chairs and upholstered bed frames, and anything else?
EMILY MAY BIRD KROLL: Ottomans, pretty much anything that can be upholstered.
DEBRA: Yes, basically upholstered furniture. So Emily, tell us more. You were starting to talk about the chemicals that workers are being exposed to, and also then the consumer would be exposed to those same chemicals, although the workers would be exposed to more of them. But tell us about some of those chemicals, and how they might affect our health.
EMILY MAY BIRD KROLL: Do you have Leigh Anne on the line, our on-house chemist?
DEBRA: She’s on the line, yes. Is it time to bring her in?
EMILY MAY BIRD KROLL: Yes, I think she’s the best one to—because she has the most in-depth knowledge of the effects of the chemicals themselves.
DEBRA: Okay, Leigh Anne. Hi.
LEIGH ANNE VAN DUSEN: Hi.
DEBRA: Are you there?
LEIGH ANNE VAN DUSEN: I am here.
DEBRA: Emily, would you introduce Leigh Anne, please?
EMILY MAY BIRD KROLL: Leigh Anne Van Dusen has a company called O Exotextiles, and O Ecotextiles is our exclusive supplier of fabric. They work to the highest standard for health and sustainability in the production of the fabrics that they create.
Leigh Anne and her sister, Patty, both have backgrounds in chemistry and has worked tirelessly to develop their collection of helpful fabrics.
DEBRA: So Leigh Anne, tell us about the toxic chemicals that you’ve learned about that are in textiles.
LEIGH ANNE VAN DUSEN: Well, we have been studying since we started, which is about the same time Emily started her company, maybe a year or two earlier, but we started doing the same thing—learning about what is involved with textile production.
What we found is we were horrified by the chemicals used in textile production because they include some of what I would consider most dangerous chemicals that are used—lead, PBDE’s (which are the fire retardants we hear so much about now), but also alkylphenol ethoxylates (APEO’s) which are endocrine disruptors, and formaldehyde is used a lot. I think I mentioned lead, but mercury and lots of the heavy metals are found in the dye stuff.
So, the fabrics—a finished fabric is, by weight, about 25%. This is the fabric made of natural fibers. It’s about 25% synthetic chemical. So it’s really important that you know what those chemicals are or that you have a third party certification that warrants that your fabric is safe because your skin is the biggest organ of your body and it’s busy inputting all these chemicals, not to mention the fact that they [unintelligible 13:32] they saw into the air, and then you can breathe them in. And some of them outgas, the ones that, at ambient air temperature, those that evaporate.
So there are lots of chemicals used in textile processing that are just not good for us. And we see a lot of times, fabrics that are advertised as being made of organic cotton. And that’s fabulous. We really support the organic agriculture.
But if you think of organic apple sauce, if someone started with organic apple, and then added red dye #2, and preservative chemical emulsifiers, the final product couldn’t be called organic apple sauce.
DEBRA: No, it couldn’t. Could you tell us some more about this because I think that there’s an assumption that if something is organic, then people are going to handle that material in a less toxic way, all the way through the line. And it sounds like you’re saying that’s not necessarily true with organic cotton.
LEIGH ANNE VAN DUSEN: Organic cotton is just that. It’s the fiber. But there are a lot of steps in textile processing. That fiber has to go to a mill where it’s spun into yarn. And then it goes to the weaving mill where it’s put on a loom, and they have about six or eight steps […] that involve washing with detergents, bleaching. Almost every natural fiber has to be bleached before it’s dyed. And then it’s dyed.
And then there’s finishes applied often. And the finishes, for example, every permanent press finish has formaldehyde in it. It’s a formaldehyde resin.
And so there are many steps after the fiber part where the chemicals are introduced. So even though you start with organic cotton, and a lot of manufacturers advertise their organic cotton sheets or whatever it is they’re advertising, that’s just the first step. And, as I said, it’s great to start with organic cotton, but if they’re processed conventionally, and you aren’t paying attention to the chemicals that are used in the dyes, and the optical whiteners and all that stuff, then you end up with a fabric that’s 25% by weight synthetic chemicals, many of which are not good for you.
DEBRA: Well, that explains why sometimes I’ve looked at—once I needed to buy a prop for a TV show, and I wanted to show an organic sheet. So I just went down and I bought a sheet that was labeled organic cotton. And I took it out of the package, and it had this sheen on it, and this finish. And I thought this doesn’t look like an organic sheet at all.
And that explains that because that isn’t always—you don’t always get on the label. In fact, most of the time you don’t get on the label what’s been done to the fabric, what’s been done to the fiber. You just get what is the type of fiber that’s used in the making of it.
LEIGH ANNE VAN DUSEN: I was just going to say the same is true for the latex on the market, which are the films used in supposedly eco-furniture. Natural latex in the U.S. can be a blend of petroleum product, as well as other chemical binders, and can be labeled as natural latex, the wools and the cottons as well in the actual eco-furniture pieces.
Again, as a consumer, one has to dig beneath the surface, and request documentation of those items that they’re purchasing.
DEBRA: Good. We’re going to talk about this more after the break. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and we’re here with Emily Kroll from Ekla Home, and Leigh Anne from—I’m sorry. I don’t have it in front of me.
We’ll be back in a moment.
DEBRA: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd, and my guest today is Emily Kroll from Ekla Home and also Leigh Anne Van Dusen of O Ecotextiles. And let me just give you their websites. Ekla Home is E-K-L-A Home dot com. EklaHome.com. E-K-L-A.
Emily, does Ekla have some meaning? I got it.
EMILY MAY BIRD KROLL: It’s just my initials.
DEBRA: Emily Kroll LA. Now, I got it. I thought maybe it was some Swedish word for extreme [cross-talking 00:18:58] or something.
EMILY MAY BIRD KROLL: It’s just my initials.
DEBRA: Okay, so I got it now. O Ecotextiles is O and then Ecotextiles.com. And they’re in Seattle, Washington. I haven’t been to that website yet, but I will absolutely be going there.
Before we go on, I just want to read the homepage at Ekla Home because it’s just so beautiful. It says exactly what the furniture is about. It says, “At Ekla Home, we strive to make the least toxic furniture on the planet. Our organic collection consists of sofas, chairs and upholstered bed frames made with pure, non-toxic ingredients. Each piece is made with certified organic natural latex, certified organic wool, and certified organic cotton barrier cloth. Our fabric collection is exclusively supplied by O Exotextiles, and all meet the Global Organic Textile Standard for sustainable, non-toxic textiles. Each piece is made from FSC-certified wood, non-toxic adhesives, recycled steel springs, and zero VOC finishes. Best of all, we use no chemical fire retardants. Our entire collection is handmade in Southern California with love.”
And I can’t think of any set of standards that would be better than that. I think you’ve done a great job, and beautiful designs.
So tell us more about, either of you, can tell us more about how you make your furniture, about these extraordinary materials.
EMILY MAY BIRD KROLL: Well, I can tell you that these extraordinary materials are, unfortunately, very, very expensive and it’s been a constant challenge for me to really get the pieces out in the world which my goal is to get these pieces into people’s homes rather than toxic pieces that affect them.
And so I’ve had such a challenge in trying to figure out ways to make these pieces more affordable for people. Unfortunately, that latex is a commodity and the commodity is exchanged, and its price fluctuates with the world market’s demand on it as a product. And so we have to absorb the price fluctuation that generally has gone up because there’s a greater demand for rubber for tires, in the developing parts of the world.
And so it’s a constant battle to try to pass along savings to people. It’s the hardest thing really as a manufacturer to try to—I would love to be a non-profit organization but I’d be out of business because I couldn’t pay for my own living expenses, and we really are working on the tightest margin as possible, to even call ourselves a for-profit business, just so we can get these pieces out in the world.
DEBRA: Well, I think that this is really an important thing to talk about because it seems that in the world today that people have much more attention on price than how much something costs, or how much money they can save. Their decisions are more money-driven than they are driven by supporting their health or the environment.
And I can understand that because we’re in a tight economy.
But at the same time, it’s really important to support businesses like yours because you’re the future. I mean, you’re the present. You’re here right now, offering this product. But this is the standard for the future. If we want to hope to have life on earth, these are the kinds of products that everybody should be using.
And I know for myself, I’m not an independently wealthy person, but I always am willing to spend the money. I don’t know if you’ve heard me at the beginning of the show, I was talking about many years ago, having a sofa custom-upholstered. And it was $2000 or $3000 then. And it’s not that I have $2000 or $3000 that I can just write a check every day for all kinds of expensive products.
But it’s so important to me to have non-toxic things in my home that I make my decisions about what it is that I want, and then I see how I can come up with the money for them.
Right now, there’s something that I want, and I’m looking around my house, and I’m asking myself, what do I not need anymore? What can I sell? And turn that unused item into some money, so I can buy this non-toxic thing.
And we can also simplify our lives. There are many ways that we can fill dollars from here and there, get an extra job, whatever it is. I have consistently made these kinds of decisions in my life to come up with the money to be able to pay for things.
I appreciate very much that you’re looking at how can you make it as inexpensive as possible. But I also want people to understand, as you said, these are very expensive materials, and they are more expensive. But look, I’ve probably—how many thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars have I saved on medical bills.
When I look at something that cost $4000 or $5000, I just ask myself, “How much does cancer cost?” And I know how much it costs because I know people who have cancer, and it’s tens of thousands of dollars.
EMILY MAY BIRD KROLL: Certainly because many of these trends that we’re discussing like eating better, and obviously, the furniture issue that I addressed, are trends that have started and have taken grasp in the United States.
And I’ve gone to Europe, well, there is now, with regard to the environment, but in my industry, there hasn’t been much interest in sustainability in the furniture industry. And I think that it’s just the point that you’re making. In the United States, we don’t have nationalized health care, and God forbid, anyone gets ill, the cost of illness in this country can completely wipe out a family financially.
And so I think we are more aware because the need to stay healthy in the present, and in the coming years, to avoid, high health care cost. I think that’s constantly on one’s mind.
DEBRA: It is constantly on my mind. We need to take another break, but when we come back, we’ll talk more with Emily Kroll of Ekla Home, and about her new, more affordable sofa. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. We’ll be right back.
DEBRA: Okay, we had a little technical problem there. I’m hoping you can hear me now. This is Debra Lynn Dadd at Toxic Free Talk Radio. And I’m here with Emily and Leigh Anne—Emily Kroll from Ekla Home, and Leigh Anne Van Dusen from O Exotextiles.
So Emily, would you tell me—you went through this whole process and worked very hard to come up with this more affordable design. Tell me some of the problems that you ran into, and some of the solutions you came up with.
EMILY MAY BIRD KROLL: Well, it’s a case of raw materials and laborers. Again, we’re producing our pieces in the United States. And I just want to mention something that in the 90’s, you said you spent a couple of thousand dollars to have your piece re-upholstered. In the 90’s, a mid-range sofa, because I sold things at retail, a mid-range sofa in our industry went between $2000 and $3000.
Now, when the Chinese came in, and literally dumped, their currency manipulation to get products into our country, they dumped furniture into this country. And they were selling, undercutting our entire industry, to gain the market.
And so they were selling sofas at $500.
And these are the same pieces that, again, the quality wasn’t the same, but they flooded the market with these types of items.
And what has happened is that these types of things are still on the market. You see on television ads for an entire sofa, chair, loveseats, set, at $599. And you think, how on earth can that piece be made?
It’s not only the labor that’s less expensive, but they’re actually manipulating currency to do so.
So people’s consciousness has changed about what things cost. And the majority of the manufacturers did go off shore when this happened, and they started producing their pieces in China. So we even have American manufacturers that had been producing all over Asia now for a decade or so, and these are pieces that you see on the market here from the big manufacturers, American manufacturers that maybe $1000, $1500 each.
The pieces look great, and those people would be happy to have the pieces in their homes should they not have chemicals in them. But it’s literally shifted people’s consciousness about what things cost.
So we’re actually producing still in Los Angeles. I’ve always produced in Los Angeles. We’re producing in Los Angeles. We’re paying a living wage. So we have laborer’s cost involved in making these pieces, as well as the raw materials’ cost.
So what we had to do in value engineering the pieces was to try to make the piece that was quicker to make than one of our more complicated pieces, thus, reducing labor cost per piece in creating the pieces.
We also had to look at the materials used and how we could—I wouldn’t say eliminate, but design a piece that was structurally sound while using less material than our 300-pound sofas that we’re making now, the piece on the main collection.
So we’re calling our new piece, we’re calling it the Athens sofa, which is the piece that’s democratized, that everyone can afford. And we changed construction in the base. We’ve done, basically, a one-step type of upholstery that can be sewn, and pulled onto the piece, and upholstered more quickly than our more complicated pieces. So we’ve, and again, streamlined the materials. The piece, it’s an armless sofa. Imagine a futon, but it’s nicer-looking than a futon, but it gets the job done for a piece to sit on, that people can lay on, sleep on, watch TV on, but has no toxic chemicals in it.
So it’s taken a lot of work. And again, it’s not a piece that is $500 or $1000. It’s still coming in just under $2000, but that’s literally the best that we can do between value engineering, making pieces in the States, and raw materials.
DEBRA: Well, I think that that is actually a reasonable price. It may be more than people want to spend, but I put an announcement of this show in my newsletter yesterday, and a gentleman went to your website, and I said very clearly in the announcement that you are going to be releasing this new sofa today.
And he wrote me back and he said, “Oh, all the sofas cost so much money. Can’t you get them to do a sofa that costs $3000 instead of $4000, $5000,” whatever they are.
And I wrote back and I said, “Yes, there’s one for $2000. It will be available tomorrow.”
EMILY MAY BIRD KROLL: Actually, I think he may have been confused when looking at our pricing because our pricing is all from $2000 to, probably the sectionals are more obviously, because it’s two sofas in one, but we do have sofas certainly just under $3000, and then averaging to about $3,500.
DEBRA: He was looking for a sectional.
EMILY MAY BIRD KROLL: Well, the sectionals, people have to remember that it’s two sofas in one, so it’s double—double the labor, double the materials, when making those pieces.
DEBRA: Now, these are all custom-made, yes?
EMILY MAY BIRD KROLL: Well, they’re all handmade to order, so we have the line that’s shown in the photograph, on the site. And we make those pieces, and their prices are on the pricelist grid. And we can also make custom pieces for people.
So if people see something in the conventional world of furniture that they like, a style, we can generally make that piece in organic materials. There are a few pieces that are impossible, but other than that, we can make pretty much anything.
But otherwise, they’re handmade to order, each piece.
DEBRA: Good. So I don’t see the picture of the new Athens on the site.
EMILY MAY BIRD KROLL: It was supposed to be up last night. Our web guy was having some technical issues. And so I would anticipate it being up later today, or I’m hoping—I hope today or tomorrow.
DEBRA: I know what it’s like with these technical issues.
EMILY MAY BIRD KROLL: As we all know. Unfortunately, you plan for the best, and it’s production, you’re going to have a glitch somewhere. So it’s due up.
DEBRA: So anybody who is looking for it, you can look for it tomorrow online. And it probably should be there. You can also go to the website EklaHome.com, and you can e-mail them and tell Emily that you’re interested in it, and when it’s up. She can probably let you know or give you some information about it. You can also call them, and they may even be able to make something for you custom with fabrics that you are interested in, or whatever.
This is a company that is dedicated to having non-toxic sofas with organic materials and no chemical fire retardants.
Thanks so much for being with me today, Emily and Leigh Anne also. I really admire what it is that you’re doing, and I appreciate your being with me.
LEIGH ANNE VAN DUSEN: Thank you so much, Debra.
EMILY MAY BIRD KROLL: Thank you for having us.
DEBRA: You’re welcome. You’ve been listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. You can go to ToxicFreeTalkRadio.com, and learn more about the upcoming guests. And also, you can listen to the archives of all the guests that have ever been on the show.
You could listen to this show again if you want to. And if you’ve enjoyed those, please tell your friends and family and neighbors and anybody that you would like to know more about how to live toxic-free because it really is, each of us, learning to live toxic-free, and making those toxic-free choices that is going to create a toxic-free world for all of us.
I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. This is Toxic Free Talk Radio.
Natural Remodeling for the Not-So-Green House
My guest is Carol Venolia, author of Natural Remodeling for the Not-So-Green House, one of my most favorite books about building. This context of integrating your home with nature in the place where you live provides a foundation for all other decisions made regarding design and materials. Natural light from the sun, natural cooling from breezes, natural insulation from earth allows you to eliminate many toxic chemicals as well as aligning with nature. Founder of Come Home to Nature website, Carol is an architect with a passion for reconnecting humans with the rest of life. She wrote the e-book Get Back to Nature without Leaving Home; wrote Healing Environments: Your Guide to Indoor Well-Being; penned the “Design for Life” column in Natural Home Magazine for 9 years; and has designed eco-homes, schools, healing centers, and eco-villages. 
Carol has been honored by The Green Economy Post as one of ten pioneering women in green design, and was named a Green Design Trailblazer by Natural Home Magazine. We’ll be talking about how everyone can become more aware of nature surrounding our homes and use natural flows to our benefit. www.comehometonature.com
The MP3 of this interview has been lost, but will be placed here if we can find a copy.
Amazingly Natural Toothpaste (It Really Is!)
My guest Darryl Bosshardt developed Earthpaste—”amazingly natural toothpaste”— “because we couldn’t find a natural toothpaste we loved for our families.” He is passionate about healthily living, healthy eating, and life-long learning. After growing up working for his family’s salt and mineral business (Redmond, Inc.) in Utah, he earned a Bachelors of Science degree at Southern Utah University and an MBA at Western Governor’s University before returning as a third generation family member at Redmond. In his spare time Darryl enjoys the outdoors, hiking, fishing, canyoneering, beekeeping, and just about anything else he can get is hands on. We’ll talk about toxic chemicals in toothpaste, good dental hygiene, and the simply healthy ingredients in Earthpaste. www.debralynndadd.com/debras-list/earthpaste
The MP3 of this interview has been lost, but will be placed here if we can find a copy.
Water Filter for College Dorm?
Question from Chris
We would like a to find a way to provide safe drinking water for our child who is moving into a college dorm. Any recommendations? Unfortunately, she won’t have a sink in her room. There’s a big bathroom down the hall. The Brita pitcher would be convenient, but I’ve heard they aren’t terribly effective.
Debra’s Answer
I agree Brita filters are not very effective.
If you need a pour-through filter, your best bet is a Berkey. Their Travel Berkey filter makes 1.5 gallons of water and is sized for apartments and hotel rooms.
Vegan-friendly Bedding
Question from Lisa
Hi Debra, I appreciate all the research you are doing to provide safe alternative products for all. Do you know of organic bedding, matresses and toppers, that are “vegan friendly”, that do not use silk or wool?
Thank you very much,
Lisa
Debra’s Answer
Check Debra’s List: Textiles: Beds & Bedding recommendations. Nearly all the recommended companies have mattresses and bedding made from organic cotton.
You might consider wool if it has been sheared in a “friendly” way. I’ve read that some wool is a byproduct of sheep slaughtered for meat and there is cruelty in the handling of sheep in the wool industry.
But I know for a fact that some wool (such as the wool used by Shepherd’s Dream) is sheared from the living animal in a humane way. Not all wool comes from “the wool industry.”
