Cleanin' up.

Ever since the founders of Method (two dudes, Eric Ryan & Adam Lowry) came to speak at Target, I've been a big fan of what their company does. So this past weekend we picked up a bunch of Method's new baby products and a book they wrote called squeaky green. I thought it would be an ode to their product line, but it's not. It's just packed full of smart, useful tidbits. Here are some thoughts I found interesting, and maybe you will too:

* A recent study found that 287 chemicals (including pesticides, garbage waste and flame retardants) were found in the bloodstream of newborn babies. Of those 287, 180 chemicals are known to cause cancer in people or animals.

* Since the 1950s when A/C was invented, most people don't regularly open windows and air out their houses. In other words, houses nowadays have become vacuum-sealed places for toxins from cleaners and other stuff. Asthma rates have soared since, now affecting more than 20 million people. Cancer too.

* Kids spend most of their time on the floor crawling and such. Grime and bacteria likes the floor too, so that's why it's smart to take off shoes (a MN habit anyway), ditch carpet for hardwood and use a HEPA vacuum.

* Almost all the cleaners we use in our bathrooms are marked hazardous/poison/flammable. Why is it not safe to dispose of our cleaning products, but it's safe enough to use on every single surface our skin touches?

These are just a few of the many interesting points. If you've been following the blog for a while you know that the Robertsons aren't about pimping other people's products or about soapboxing. Not our style. We say "to each, their own." And by the way, we're certainly not the most "eco" of all people we hang with. We're just trying to look out for ourselves (and baby) a couple decades before the government finally gets around to regulating this stuff. 

-T