Inside the Envelope, page 2

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Hello,
We found your web site a after doing a search re: Paint Fumes. We have always used (well-known paint brand) paints for environmental, personal health/safety reasons and easy application/clean up. After viewing a spot on the New VI with the folks from (national hardware chain) we decided to buy Canadian, support local business and purchase paint for our bedroom. We chose the color and selected a paint that one would think was safe due to the wording and picture on the can... Beauti-Tone - Signature Series - Interior Latex Paint - Velvet - Ideal for kid's rooms, Srubbable, Tough & Durable with a picture of a boy and girl beside the bulleted points. Well, problems started during application of the base coat primmer... burning throat and eyes followed by a headache. The next day we were still feeling rather "off" when we began to apply the first coat of paint... more burning throat, eyes, headache, now with nausea, bloody nose and a feeling of being very unwell. We have painted with intense colors before with no problems and have always made sure to ventilate/use fans etc.. Our concern is of false advertising and that children and other adults are being exposed to toxins. With our reaction (and we're not of the type referred to as "environmentally sensitive") there must be high levels of VOC's in this paint or something else toxic and the term "Ideal for kids rooms" and the picture of the boy and girl should not be used. We did look into the VOC count (as it's not listed on the can) and were told it is "under 200 and when color is added it's higher". As consumers, we feel deceived and really sick with the exposure to whatever is in this paint. We have yet to put the finishing coat on the job and really don't want further exposure.
Teresa & Adrian, BC

Note: Ignore the marketing pitch on the can and find out the VOC count. If not on the can, ask the dealer for a spec sheet. Read more about this topic at: http://eartheasy.com/live_nontoxic_paints.htm

Dear Eartheasy,
Just came across your site on the Internet and thought I would like to add the following.
Just returned from Scotland where I met with GAIA RESEARCH E-mail: GaiaGroup@aol.org./ who have been involved in the eco field for some thirty years. Interesting things happening in especially Germany.

Prior to that spent four years designing and building 2 homes in the Comox Valley that incorporated some eco principles as well as Barrier Free. Thought I might mention that one home utilizes a cold room for refrigeration which allows me to pull the plug on my fridge for half the year, or more. Very easily done by placing the room on a North facing wall and insulating the interior walls only, and the door; and, leaving a vent hole in the outside wall. Shelving is also much easier to use that a fridge as shallower and more at the right height; and, little of the deteriorating sliminess that fridges can cause.

Also, by incorporating two diagonally placed windows in my bathroom I was able to vent the post shower mist in minutes instead of those interminable fans. Think two windows with cross ventilation is the key.

Milled all the wood on site which provided me also with much firewood and sawdust for a variety of projects. Called in the Forest Resource Centre in Courtenay for expertise in selectively harvesting the wood for biodiversity. Much work, but well worth it, and the framer seemed to like it as well. All 1 x 8's for formwork and unfinished fir on the exterior that is holding up extremely well unpainted much to his 30 years of building expertise, surprise.

Re other aspects of the house. Used blueboard and plaster on parts of the living room walls, alder flooring, natural cross-ventilation in terms of window placement, poured concrete bathroom counter with an inert power colorant added; Rumford fireplaces which are considered maximally heat producing though they are fireplaces. I find they work for stack effect ventilation. Basement floor is the same colored concrete and use the first floor (350 sq. ft.) for storing wine, juice and other products that need to be kept cool. The north wall is a ten foot high shiplapped concrete wall buried in the hill. Used a lot of boneyard products to keep cost down in the way of linseed Marmoleum for floors, boneyard double pane wood windows
of all shapes and sizes. My one regret is using fibreglass insulation and if I had to do it over would use cellulose with borax and top it up once it had settled. Also if you apply it wet it works better. This information was given me by GAIA Architects. They have been in this field for thirty years and have ready access to Europe and all the innovations going on there. The
head of GAIA Architects is trying to get organizations in Germany to print information in English so it is more widely recognized.

What else, (may be repeating myself) - stone walls, the stone being transported from Highway sites, loose laid; landscaping produced from selective weeding; porches and the like from concrete chunks retrieved from the dump; and, copper downspouts (yet to be installed) that apparently are good for the wetland just down from the house. Did talk to a someone from the Forest Resource Centre about removing all but deciduous trees abutting a
wetland re harmfull effects. Apparently is very relative to the particular situation. Took down the trees to achieve solar gain just before the Regional District prohibited anything from being touched within 30 Metres of the wetland. No pesticides are allowed. Surrounded the wood stove which is central to the kitchen to use as cooking surface also, with 4" of conrete about 4' high which retains heat. The wall abuts the bathroom too so re-radiates in to the bathroom. Installing shutters on the windows on the North side of the building to also cut heat loss. Will add more if I can think of it.

Regards, Barbara Sankey
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Hello,

I have used something on my dog the last two summers which I found very easy to use. At least it's not that poison that I have washed her with before only to multiply the fleas.

Anyway, what I have used has been very, very effective. It is apple cidar vinegar. Her water bowl is about a quart size. I put a capful or two of vinegar in her water. She smells it, but she will drink it if there is nothing else. But I figure if humans can eat pickles, ketchup, etc., this has to be better than giving her a poison bath. Anyway, the first summer I tried this and amazingly it worked. We had had fleas jumping around our rug, besides on the dog and cats. Within a few days of using this method, we notice the fleas in the rug disappeared as well as on the animals. We were especially amazed that they had disappeared on the cats since they don't drink that much water. During the winter when bugs aren't so bad, I cut down or cut out giving the vinegar to the animals. This summer I wasn't as regular (every day) with the vinegar and we had a bad summer for bugs, but the fleas weren't bad at all. In fact, I could probably count on both hands the amount of times I had a flea jump on me. This is the best thing I have ever seen. I hope you will try it and have the same luck I have.

Kara

Note: Here's a good source of information about apple cider vinegar for flea problems with dogs: http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/archives/Best/1995-11/fleas.html

Hi, my name is Yukari Asai. I am Japanese. I am eighteen years old. The air pollution has no relation to national borders. Because the atmosphere enters one country, soon the atmosphere travels around the world. So, scientists are worried about the air pollution. In recent decades, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has greatly increased, and thick forest areas absorbing carbon dioxide are rapidly disappearing. Because of the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the earth is warmed. The industrialized nations must think all over the world. If the industrialized nations think all over the world, atmosphere don't clean.

The environment is becoming increasingly polluted. So we must clean the earth. If we don't clean the earth, we can't live the earth. How can we reduce the air pollution? I think that we had better reduce burning coal and petroleum. If we can decrease carbon dioxide, the atmosphere is clean. But we ask for profit, so we burn coal and petroleum. We must talk about environmental pollution problems.

We should take an interest in environmental pollution problems. If we don't take an interest in environmental pollution problems, we don't solve environmental pollution problems. If we really want to solve environmental pollution problems, we should act for environmental. For example we use recycling paper, we recycle can, and so on. I want to act for environmental around me. And I want people to act for environmental.

Yukari

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. . .Thanks to the writers for these thoughts, and for giving permission to print their letters.