From the desk of our product specialist:

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Here at Ecohaus, human health is just as important to our mission of sustainability as is the health of the environment. So, when we look at bringing a product on, we have a list of features that we energetically avoid in the products that we sell. We call this our “Bright Lines” policy (as in “bright lines in the sand” that we do not cross) and this is one of the cornerstones of our product-selection process. Our “Bright Lines” list includes things like persistent bio-accumulative toxins (PBTs), hormone disrupting chemicals, radioactive ingredients and more!

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We have just added another chemical called triclosan to our “prohibited” list and we want to tell you about it. You might recognize it as the active ingredient in many “antibacterial” products. Triclosan really seems to be everywhere.  It is present in hundreds of popular consumer products including liquid hand soap, toothpaste, lotions, undergarments and children’s toys (just to name a few.)   We are seeing triclosan being used in many building products as well. 

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Why does Ecohaus work hard to avoid this popular chemical in our products? Officially classified as a pesticide, triclosan is a persistent bio-accumulative toxin. According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), lab studies link triclosan to thyroid dysfunction, developmental defects, and liver and inhalation toxicity — it persists in the environment, breaks down into substances highly toxic to wildlife and pollutes the human body.  Triclosan has been found in 58% of rivers, 97% of breast milk and in the urine of 75% of the population.   The EWG recommends that consumers avoid the use of triclosan-laden products whenever possible.

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Given the above, it is especially interesting to note that anti-microbial soaps, where triclosan is widely used, have not proven to be any more effective at preventing the spread of infections than plain soap and water.  Even the American Medical Association recommends that people avoid using anti-microbials such as Triclosan.

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According to a report in the Washington Post posted on April 8th, mounting concerns about the effects of triclosan have spurred the FDA and the EPA to begin a reevaluation of this widespread substance.

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Triclosan is only one of hundreds of such chemicals that raise serious concerns about their effects on our bodies and our environment. Currently, we have a regulatory system in which products are only regulated once the damage is already done.  To learn more about what you could do to help change the system, and ensure that chemicals used in consumer products are first proven to be safe for people and ecosystems, check out these links at the EWG:

http://www.ewg.org/kid-safe-chemicals-act-blog/kid-safe-chemicals-act/

http://action.ewg.org/t/1875/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=26526

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To read more of the Environmental Working Group’s extensive report on triclosan, click here.

And here are a few additional links to more information:

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/pesticides/factsheets/Triclosan%20cited.pdf

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/07/AR2010040704621.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triclosan

http://abetterwaytoclean.com/?p=39 

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 For detailed information about personal-care-products and how they rate for toxicity, be sure to visit the Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database.

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Sustainability explored through Multi-Media Dance Performances:

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Deborah Slater Dance Theater celebrates 20 years of theatrically innovative work with the world premiere of Men Think They Are Better Than Grass in seven performances April 30-May 9 at Z Space / Theater Artaud in San Francisco. The large-scale, evening-length work is inspired by the beauty and fragility of the natural world and W. S. Merwin’s poetry (from which it takes its title) and explores the interrelationship between humanity and the environment. Choreographed and directed by Deborah Slater, Men Think They Are Better Than Grass incorporates text, animation, visual design, an original score and video. The work uses interactive technology to create a stage environment that changes over time, through a wikipedia-like web component that will be uniquely different from performance to performance. This reciprocity between art, technology, and the stage–artistically innovative, participatory and solution-oriented–is at the heart of Men Think They Are Better Than Grass and will shape the creative process and the performance experience for artists and audiences alike. Performances will be given Friday, April 30, at 8 p.m. (Preview); Saturday, May 1, at 8 p.m. (Opening Night with post-performance Gala); Sunday, May 2, at 5 p.m.; Thursday, May 6-Friday, May 8, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, May 9, at 5 p.m. Z Space / Theater Artaud is located at 450 Florida Street, San Francisco.

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Tickets for Men Think They Are Better Than Grass are priced $20-25 with discounts for seniors, students and groups and may be purchased at www.brownpapertickets.com or by calling 1-800-838-3006.

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Blue Pine Wood is responsibly harvested from Oregon's forest land.

Ecohaus (a retailer of wood products from well-managed forests) and Sustainable Northwest Wood (a distributor of wood products from well-managed forests) have long partnered to bring a wide range of beautiful, Northwest, FSC certified wood products to a local audience. Our commitment to this joint-mission comes from our conviction that sustainable forestry can -and does- positively affect the lives of people in our community and beyond. 

An excellent example of this principlein motion is our Blue Pine, a unique offering from Sustainable Northwest Wood. The story behind this beautiful wood product has more to it than just the wood’s striking aesthetic, this is a story that has helped create jobs locally and improved forest health, too. 

Recently in Grant County, Oregon the closure of four out of the five sawmills in recent years resulted in layoffs for over 20% of the local workforce, devastating the local economy. In an effort to revive community enterprise while restoring forests; local environmental groups, loggers, federal agencies, and community leaders worked together to find common ground to remove standing dead trees, mostly blue pine, from local forests. This effort, whose focus on good stewardship and restoration, won them support from a diverse group of stakeholders and helped supply local mills with the timber they needed to stay open. Mike Billman of Malheur Lumber Company says “Working with local and national environmental organizations, Malheur Lumber Company has seen advancements in forest restoration projects on our local National Forest land. We expect that our collective efforts will improve forest health and ecological diversity while providing for forest related jobs and supplying raw materials to the forest products industry. We are excited to work with Sustainable Northwest Wood and to be an integral part of sustainable forest management!”

Through Ecohaus and Sustainable Northwest Wood, the wood from community initiatives like this one can, in-turn, become a strong and sustainable part of the buildings that house and sustain communities up and down the West Coast. 

West Coast wood = West Coast jobs 

Responsibly managed wood = Jobs for years to come. 

SW-COC-000023

As the world moves toward a more sustainable future of resource and energy management, we are experiencing a fortuitous, simultaneous growth in awareness of issues about human health. Somehow, the sustainability movement and the push for healthy indoor air quality have always gone together. Perhaps it is the natural result of attentiveness to the material sources and ingredients that makes people notice the health effects of their choices. Or perhaps health and sustainability go together simply because eco-friendly building materials are hardly worth it if residents’ health and quality of life still suffers. Whatever the reason behind it however, it is good news for everyone that the importance of indoor air quality has been getting more attention lately.

From formaldehyde in the FEMA trailers and the off-gassing of PVC shower curtains, to the Sulfur compounds in certain drywalls, indoor air quality has been in the news more and more. Evidence is mounting that exposure to the chemicals commonly found in homes (in adhesives, finishes, paints, cleansers, synthetic carpets, vinyl flooring etc) can have serious, cumulative effects.  The American Lung Association of Washington reports that these chemicals (less than 5% of which have been officially tested for toxicity) can be linked to asthma, cancer, impaired child development, reproductive disorders and more!

At Ecohaus, we strive to find building and remodeling materials that are as low-toxic as they can be, and people report that they really experience a positive difference when they choose safe options. Benefits can include: painting a room without getting a headache, or being able to finish a floor without having to move out to avoid dangerous fumes.

Our carpets and rugs are free of polluting stain guards and flame retardants (natural wool doesn’t need them!) Our cabinets are free of added urea-formaldehyde. The resins and cements in our countertops have nothing harmful to off-gas. You don’t have to compromise your indoor air quality for lack choices – we’ve got materials for your whole job!

Now through January 3, we are celebrating the healthfulness of our products with special Healthy Home Combos! 

-  Take 10% off your purchase of tile with any countertop purchase!
-  Take 10% off select area rugs with any flooring purchase!
-  Get a free $1,000 Ecohaus gift card with cabinet purchases over $10,000!

For more information about indoor air quality, please visit the websites for the Washington Toxics Coalition, and the American Lung Assocation of Washington.

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Picture from 350.org's Day of Climate Action

Above is a picture from 350.org’s international climate action day that took place on October 24th, 2009. Across our blue planet, people took up the effort to convince world leaders that we should bring atmospheric carbon dioxide back down to 350 parts per million. This is the level at which, scientists say, life as we know it can continue to thrive.  For more information about this number, please visit Bill McKibben’s website, 350.org.

Now those world leaders are set to start meeting at the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen next week to begin drafting an international plan that could set future limits on CO2 emissions and lay out strategies for reaching those limits. To be successful, they need to hear from us – the people that their decisions will affect. They need to hear that we are paying attention to what they’re deciding, and that we care.  There are at least two different petitions that you can sign to add your voice to the chorus: 350.org and Hopenhagen.org. These websites also provide updates on developments as they happen in the United States and around the world. Please join us in encouraging the UN to take strong action on this important issue.

To see more inspiring pictures from October 24th, please visit 350.org’s flickr stream.

Here at home, Ecohaus is trying to do our part – cutting our carbon footprint by providing local materials as much as possible, and by offsetting our carbon output by purchasing carbon credits in local forests through the Northwest Natural Resource Group.

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On November 19, 2009 the Ecohaus Portland store will be hosting NW Energy Star and Imagine Energy for an event around Energy Savings of all kinds!

The Live Better Northwest 2010 Prius will be there – which you can enter to win! All you have to do is pick up a game board at Ecohaus and then collect stickers at 3 local events where you can “Spot the Prius”. Finally turn in your gameboard for the drawing! For more information visit: www.livebetternorthwest.com

While you’re at the store  on November 19, you can also talk to our home-energy-auditor partners Imagine Energy. They can help you save money around your house by saving energy – and give you advice about how best to take advantage of the Federal Tax Credits!

The final numbers are in! It was the hottest day of the year and traffic was at it’s absolute ugliest but that did not dampen people’s passion for sustainable waste solutions!

At our Seattle Waste Alternatives and Electronics Recycling event on July 29th, Seattlites turned in 36,931 pounds of old electronics! That means that nearly 18.5 tons of garbage were collected for local, certified-responsible recycling by Total Reclaim. 

Our very esteemed guests at the event included: local green resource GreenDwelling Seattle;  the international watch-dog group The Basel Action Network; the waste-diverting countertop manufacturer Squak Mountain Stone; Cedar Grove Composting (who gave out 100 free bags of compost in 20 minutes flat); Arcade Magazine; the salvage company Second Use Building Supplies; Seattle Public Utilities; and the new-to-Seattle reusable-moving-box company Frogbox.

Visit www.ecyclewa.org for more information on how to recycle your electronics responsibly in Washington State.

Live Music was provided by the fantastic, fun gypsy-swing band Hochiwichi.

The folks of BAN showing off their program for verifying E-Waste Recyclers

It took over 7 box trucks to move all the waste that was collected.

This radio's a real old-timer!

The local recycling company, and E-Steward, Total Reclaim will be here to collect it all and take it back to their plant on 6th Avenue for processing. That’s right, all the processing gets done just blocks from our Seattle location in SODO, so you don’t have to worry about the polluting waste that we collect getting exported to another country.

  Click here to see an article and some video captured of E-Waste in Ghana.

The exportation of electronic waste to third world countries has become such a problem  for human and environmental health that the Basel Action Network (BAN) has developed a third-party-qualification program called E-Stewards. For years, BAN has been a watchdog organization, trying to ensure the responsible handling of these materials, so they are the perfect ones to be setting the standard. You can read more about E-Stewards and the other efforts of BAN’s hard-working staff by clicking here.  

If you are in the Seattle area, please join us for this fun community event!  We’ll have folks from all across the spectrum of waste alternatives to talk about what they’re working on – from an artist who uses salvaged construction materials and people who turn wastepaper into building supplies to local composters and more! If you are not in the Seattle area, you can find an E-Steward in  your area by going to www.e-stewards.org.

The proceeds from the raffle and collection baskets were all donated to the River City Skate Park – a soon-to-be-breaking-ground destination for the youth of South Park.

ECOSS’ primary mission is to help businesses and individuals, through education and outreach, prevent pollution, conserve energy, manage hazardous materials and clean up contaminated properties. Since 1994, ECOSS has offered confidential, free training for businesses around how to make their operations more efficient (read: save money) and sustainable. If you’re a business owner and you want to learn more, please click here!

The work of the folks down at ECOSS extends to enriching the community through facilitating coalitions and organizing around a variety of neighborhood causes. An example of one such cause has been the River City Skate Park – the idea for this park began with kids in the South Park neighborhood who wished for a good place to practice their skateboarding.  You can find out more about the work that ECOSS has accomplished in the community at large by clicking here, or read their recap of the party on their blog.

ECOSS Executive Director Kevin Burrell addresses the crowd

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Imagine if the Whole World Used Sustainable Building Practices…  

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Ecohaus believes that by switching to sustainable building practices the world could stretch our natural resources further, diminish the occurrence of many chronic health problems, promote the growth of local economies, and decrease the release of harmful greenhouse gasses. Since 1992, Ecohaus has been supplying the Pacific Northwest with building and finish materials that are based on a holistic model of sustainability, incorporating consideration for the environmental, health and local impacts of the products we choose to carry.

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When we select our products, we research the entire lifecycle–from harvesting and manufacturing, to performance and longevity,through disposal, whether it’s re-cycling, repurposing or composting if biodegradable. We look for third-party certification, salvaged, or recycled materials. We look for products that will be durable and last a long time–in fact, many of our materials will outlast their conventional counterparts. We look for products that can be easily diverted from the landfill. For example, our carpet tiles can be turned into more carpet tiles, and our decking can be turned into mulch.

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When we think about the impacts of a product on people’s health, we look for materials that are as low in toxics as possible for the people making the material as well as the people living with it. Many adhesives and finishes contain harmful toxins that can cause poor indoor air quality and lead to problems like asthma, allergies and “sick building syndrome.” We offer alternatives to these products, and people feel the difference.

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When we think about the impacts that our choice of products can have on a local community we strive to find socially responsible, sustainably minded companies to work with. We look for products that make it possible for people to lift themselves up while managing their resources responsibly. For instance, we pay a fair price for wood from certified forests to incentivize people NOT to slash and burn their resources. We work with family owned and operated businesses. And we work with owner/operators in the Pacific Northwest.

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Imagine a world where we use materials that we find close to home, where we keep our air and water clean, where our built environment helps support our natural environment – this is an “Ecohaus Future.”

Imagine if we managed our resources so that we could draw from them forever.