Category Archives: organic

In the future, you may never have to do laundry again

by PaulineLoughman Posted on March 24, 2016

take a load off

In the future, you may never have to do laundry again

By on 24 Mar 2016commentsShare

Get a load of this: Coming soon to a closet near you, clothes that clean themselves.

That reality is inching closer with new research from Australia’s RMIT University, where scientists have been testing nanotechnology that eats away at grime on fabric.

The secret behind this technology: silver and copper-based nanostructures. When these itty-bitty structures are exposed to light, they create “hot electrons” — a tiny burst of energy that can break down organic matter. The researchers found they could durably attach these nanostructures to material by immersing the fabric in certain solutions. Later, when this nano-enhanced, crud-covered textile is exposed to light from the sun or a lightbulb, poof! Within six to 10 minutes, the fabric starts to clean itself.

This is all exciting because way we wash our clothes now isn’t perfect. Washing machines use up precious H2O, dryers are huge energy wasters, and detergents can leach a troubling concoction of chemicals into the water supply. If nanostructures can be cheaply produced, using less energy and water than all those endless spin cycles, they might spare us a whole load of dirty fossil fuel emissions.

But don’t toss out your vintage washtub and antique clothespin collection — I mean, “washer and dryer” — just yet. While these results could be the first inklings of the self-cleaning textile revolution, the technology isn’t ready to roll out on an industrial scale.

Meanwhile, the Australian team is looking into other super-fabrics. Next up, according to ABC: Seeing if similar nanotechnology could be used to create antibacterial materials (or should we say, “anti-bactematerials”? No? OK, we won’t) to fight superbugs.

Source:

Nanotechnology self-cleaning clothes are on the way, RMIT University researchers say

, ABC.

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In the future, you may never have to do laundry again

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Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward Prove That True Love Is Real

by MartiMERMbd Posted on March 23, 2016

Mother Jones

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Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward are the most adorable couple ever photographed.

This is impossible to deny.

They loved each other so much and they wore it on their faces.

Don’t believe me?

I challenge you to look at these photos and not think “wow, this is an adorable couple.”

“True love is real.”

This one is so good.

For real. Look.

Smoking is bad but they do look cute together.

“Pucker up!”

Popcorn is just empty calories but there is nothing empty about the love in this photo.

Photos from movie sets are especially adorable because they’re in costume.

Awwwwwwwww.

I find myself looking at these photos of them all the time because the world can be a depressing place.

I love this one.

Anyway, today is National Puppy Day which is my excuse to share with you my favorite Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward photo.

Have a great day.

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Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward Prove That True Love Is Real

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Ted Cruz Used A Line From The Aaron Sorkin Film "The American President"

by Damon40Dkvzh Posted on March 23, 2016

Mother Jones

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It seems clear that this wasn’t plagiarism so much as an homage but it’s still weird.

It would be funny if he had said, “I’m gonna get the guns.”

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Ted Cruz Used A Line From The Aaron Sorkin Film "The American President"

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No One Knows Just How Big Europe’s Jihadi Problem Really Is

by RetaEdengjymusl Posted on March 23, 2016

Mother Jones

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In the wake of the terrorist attacks in Belgium on Tuesday, security services across Europe and elsewhere are on alert for more potential attacks. But even as Belgian police identify suspects and more information comes to light, no one can say just how big Europe’s jihadi threat actually is.

For one thing, there’s no generally accepted estimate of the number of terrorist operatives lurking in European cities. The most dangerous potential attackers are the men—about 5,000 from Western Europe alone—who have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight with ISIS and other jihadi groups. The Tony Blair Faith Foundation, a think tank set up by the former British prime minister, estimated in January that about 1,300 of those fighters have returned to Europe. Ed Husain, a senior adviser to the group, told Newsweek that the fighters are “a potent force and a significant threat.”

But it’s also unclear how many of them return home with the intent to kill. A report issued last April by the Congressional Research Service noted that “only a small proportion of foreign fighters have actually committed acts of violence upon returning to their home countries” and that “some European fighters may return traumatized and disillusioned by the brutality of the conflict and have no intention of committing violence at home.”

Colin Clarke, a political scientist at the RAND Corporation, agrees that many of the fighters return home and “wash their hands” of the jihadi experience. “I’d say the lion’s share probably do, or they just know that they’re being watched by the security services,” he says. “I’d say it’s only a small minority of guys that come back with the intent to attack.” Unfortunately, those that do are “usually highly skilled” and able to coordinate attacks like the ones in Paris and Brussels.

And for every man who straps on an explosive vest or picks up a rifle, there’s a long chain of people who have helped him plan, get weapons, forge documents, and carry out other logistical tasks. “You’re going to have a facilitation network that is two or three people to every one that’s an actual terrorist that wants to mobilize to violence,” says terrorism researcher Clint Watts of the Foreign Policy Research Institute. That means the 1,300 returned fighters could represent only a baseline number of jihadis, not a pool from which only a handful of attackers have emerged. “I would say it’s bigger,” Watts says.

No matter the exact size of the problem, some countries simply appear unequipped to handle the number of potential targets and the intense surveillance needed to track them. The problem is particularly bad in Belgium, which has a weak government and security services divided by language barriers. “Some guys are speaking Flemish, some are speaking French, some are speaking German,” says Clarke. “Very few are speaking Arabic.”

Other countries are facing similar crunches in manpower and resources. “The countries that I’m worried about the most are these smaller countries that lack both the capacity and the sort of competency in counterterrorism but have had a lot of foreign fighters go to Iraq and Syria,” Watts says. “Denmark, the Netherlands, and Belgium all need to be concerned.”

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No One Knows Just How Big Europe’s Jihadi Problem Really Is

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This New Bill Could Make Trump and Cruz’s Anti-Refugee Dreams a Reality

by JeannetteHuddle Posted on March 23, 2016

Mother Jones

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Following the terrorist attacks at a subway station and airport in Brussels on Tuesday morning, GOP presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz renewed their calls for Syrian refugees and other immigrants to be banned from entering the United States.

“We need to immediately halt the president’s ill-advised plan to bring in tens of thousands of Syrian Muslim refugees,” Cruz said during a Tuesday press conference in Washington, DC. “Our vetting programs are woefully insufficient.”

“I would close up our borders,” Trump said on Fox News. “Look at Brussels, look at Paris.”

This time, they may have some backing in Congress. After the terrorist attacks in Paris last November, more than 30 states mounted efforts to ban the resettlement of Syrian refugees in their communities—issuing executive orders, proposing state-level legislation, and even filing lawsuits. These efforts failed because the Constitution mandates that immigration policy be set by the federal government. Now Congress is considering a bill that would tweak federal law to make this sort of refugee obstructionism a whole lot easier.

Last week, the House Judiciary Committee approved the Refugee Program Integrity Restoration Act, paving the way for a vote on the House floor. The bill, co-authored by Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) and Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), would give state and local governments the opportunity to reject the resettlement of refugees in their communities—as was proposed by more than half of states after Paris—and it would shift the responsibility from the president to Congress of setting an annual ceiling on the number of refugees. The ceiling is currently at 85,000 refugees, after a September 2015 order from President Barack Obama, but Congress could set it as low as 60,000 refugees and block the president from raising it without congressional approval. In September 2015, Obama pledged that the United States would take in at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in 2016.

The measure would also allow “recurrent background security checks” of US refugees, a provision that critics say amounts to “continual surveillance” of refugees. It would also delay how soon refugees can obtain their permanent green cards—changing it from one year after their arrival to three years. The bill also requires that the Department of Homeland Security prioritize claims from refugees who fear persecution based on their religion, as opposed to those who face persecution due to other circumstances, like their race, nationality, or membership in a particular social group. Religious persecution would be an unlikely claim for most Syrian refugees coming to the United States: the vast majority of them are Muslim, and Sunni Muslims are Syria’s religious majority. This is one way the bill “clearly discriminates against Muslims as the intended target,” said the Rev. John McCullough, president of the Church World Service, on a press call with reporters last week.

In advance of the House Judiciary Committee vote last week, 234 organizations—including the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants and the American Immigration Lawyers Association—sent a letter to Congress opposing the legislation. They noted “the current vetting process for refugees is incredibly rigorous and includes screening by U.S. federal law enforcement and national security agencies.” Giving state and local governments a veto on refugee resettlement, they wrote, wouldn’t enhance security and would instead “codify discrimination against refugees.” They concluded: “It is simply un-American to treat persecuted individuals, who want nothing more than to start a new life in safe and welcoming communities, as criminals.”

The bill’s chief sponsor, Rep. Labrador, a former immigration lawyer, is convinced that current vetting processes aren’t sufficient for screening refugees from Syria. “Compared to countries where US intelligence has strong footing, many current refugees are coming from failed states such as Syria, where there is very little US intelligence presence,” he said when introducing the bill before the House Judiciary Committee last week. “The simple fact is that we do not know who these people truly are.”

If the bill reaches the Senate, it will face an uphill battle. Following the Paris attacks in November 2015, the House passed another piece of legislation that would have effectively halted the admission of Syrian refugees into the United States. In January, the Senate blocked the measure.

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This New Bill Could Make Trump and Cruz’s Anti-Refugee Dreams a Reality

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Cuba’s Organic Revolution: Coming to Your Fridge?

by JacelynSUN Posted on March 23, 2016

Mother Jones

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When President Barack Obama earlier this week became the first sitting US president to visit Cuba since the revolution, he brought along a veritable army of representatives of US business interests—including agribusiness lobbyists. Among the most prominent was Devry Boughner Vorwerk, a former Cargill executive who now chairs the US Agriculture Coalition for Cuba.

The Coalition launched early last year, soon after Obama announced he would ease trade and travel restrictions imposed by the long-standing US embargo against Cuba, and that he would prod Congress to revoke the trade ban altogether. It’s a conglomeration of grain-trading giants like Cargill (the globe’s largest grain trader and the biggest privately owned US company), Archer Daniels Midland, and Bunge, as well as industry groups including the North American Meat Institute and the American Soybean Association. The group represents what might just be the wedge that will ultimately convince the GOP-led Congress to put aside its staunch anti-communism and agree to lift the embargo: As much as heartland Republican politicians despise the Castro family and all it represents, they love the agribusiness interests that dominate their states.

It’s easy to see why US agribusiness has set its sights on the island nation just 90 miles southeast of Florida and quite close to the Gulf of Mexico ports through which most American grain and meat exports flow. Before the revolution, the United States and Cuba maintained a robust trade in foodstuffs. At inflation-adjusted prices, pre-1959 Cuba imported about $600 million worth of US food—mostly meat and rice—according to a 2015 US Department of Agriculture report. Cuba, in turn, sent about $2.2 billion (current dollars) worth of sugar, tobacco, and pineapples our way. But then the revolution launched an era marked by a thwarted CIA-led coup and attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro, culminating in an embargo banning US trade with Cuba.

In 2000, Congress eased the embargo on food exports to Cuba, but in the 15 years since, they’ve rarely reached pre-revolutionary levels. Cuba is reluctant to trade with its old enemy, and lingering restrictions from the embargo make it difficult to do so. While US companies like Cargill are allowed to sell their goods to Cuba, they’re still prohibited from financing the sales with credit—they are required under the embargo’s terms to demand cash up front. That leaves them at a big disadvantage compared with companies from other exporting nations that don’t restrict Cuban trade.

While Obama would like to end the credit restrictions, he can’t do so by executive order. That’s why the US Agriculture Coalition for Cuba is pushing Congress to repeal the embargo altogether. To get an idea of what kind business opportunity post-embargo Cuba might offer US agribusiness, the 2015 USDA report points to another Caribbean island nation with a similar population size and per-capita income: the Dominican Republic. US agribusiness firms export about $1.1 billion worth of goods to the DR annually, representing more than 40 percent of its food imports. In 2014, the USDA reports, US companies exported $286 million worth of food to Cuba, accounting for just 15 percent of its food imports, and less than competitors based in Brazil and the European Union.

So, there’s a lot of money on the table, which might explain why US agribusiness firms are licking their chops at the prospect of open trade with Cuba. But what do the thawing of US-Cuba relations and the potential end of the embargo mean for Cuba’s domestic farms and urban gardens growing vegetable and fruits for local consumption?

As readers might remember, necessity forced Cuba to embark on a remarkable experiment in essentially organic, local food production in the mid-1990s—a story explored in-depth by the climate writer Bill McKibben in this 2005 Harper’s piece and by scholar-activist Peter Rosset here. The short version: Until the 1990s, the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc nations propped up Cuba’s food supply by sending over boat loads of wheat and rice, as well farm machinery and petroleum-based fertilizers and pesticides, which the communist nation put to use on large, state-run farms. In exchange, Cuba exported its old colonial-era crop, sugar, at a wildly inflated price. When the Soviet Union collapsed, those perks dried up, and Cuba’s sugar exports didn’t earn nearly enough on the open market to maintain the same level of food and farm-supply imports.

The result was what became known in Cuba as “the Special Period.” According to McKibben, citing the Food and Agriculture Organization, per-capita food intake on the island plunged from 3,000 calories in 1989 to 1,900 four years later, the equivalent of removing one meal per person a day. What happened next has been described as an “agro-ecological revolution.” Here’s McKibben:

Cuba had learned to stop exporting sugar and instead started growing its own food again, growing it on small private farms and thousands of pocket-sized urban market gardens—and, lacking chemicals and fertilizers, much of that food became de facto organic. Somehow, the combination worked. Cubans have as much food as they did before the Soviet Union collapsed. They’re still short of meat, and the milk supply remains a real problem, but their caloric intake has returned to normal—they’ve gotten that meal back.

Jullia Wright, a senior research fellow at the United Kingdom’s Coventry University who studies Cuba’s post-Soviet food system, told me that the nation’s urban-farming networks remain highly productive today. The government doesn’t keep precise data on how heavily Cuba’s urban dwellers rely on these operations for food, but they supply a “high percentage” of the leafy greens, fruits, herbs, fresh corn (for human consumption), beans, and small livestock consumed in cities, she says.

Of course, most of what Cargill and its US peers want to export into Cuba doesn’t compete directly with these products—they’re more interested in exporting things like corn and soybeans. At least initially, they’ll be be trying to displace commodity-crop producers in Brazil, Canada, and the European Union, not market gardeners in Havana.

For that reason, the eventual end of the embargo don’t present an immediate threat to Cuba’s small producers, said Miguel Altieri, a professor in the department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at the University of California–Berkeley who visits Cuba regularly. “The basic situation hasn’t changed for the peasant movement,” he said. Even if US firms eventually buy land in Cuba to grow export crops—say, pineapples or mangoes—it wouldn’t necessarily affect the smallholder movement, he said, because only about 70 percent of Cuba’s arable rural land is currently in production. So there’s room for both the kind of industrial production that might interest US agribusiness firms and the small operations currently supplying Cubans with fresh food.

The problem, Altieri said, is that unlike those agribusiness lobbyists now on the ground in Havana, the main smallholder groups are “not actively involved in the conversations about the transitions in Cuba.” The first generation of small-scale ag leaders were close to Cuban President Raul Castro—”they could go to Raul and say, ‘Hey, man, don’t forget about us—we’re important,'” he said. But that generation has passed away or retired, and the new leaders don’t have nearly the same access to decision-makers, Atieri said.

With the right policies in place, Cuba’s highly productive small farms could both feed Cuba and earn foreign exchange by exporting, Altieri said. The worst-case scenario is that the small farmers now feeding Cubans will start exporting their crops to the United States en masse to take advantage of higher prices, removing a reliable source of affordable food from the island, he added. He said that such a situation could be avoided if Cuban policymakers put incentives into place to ensure that about a third of farmland remains devoted to providing food to Cubans, but it remains to be seen whether the government views Cuba’s robust domestic food system as an “achievement of the revolution” that’s as much worth preserving and expanding as gains in health care and literacy.

Meanwhile, US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who accompanied Obama on his Cuba foray, has articulated a post-embargo vision of Cuba as a major supplier of organic vegetables to the US market. In an interview with Modern Farmer after he led a trade delegation on a trip to the island in November, Vilsack marveled at the productivity of Cuba’s farms, noting the “impressive array of root vegetables,” the “fairly significant garlic production,” and the bounty of citrus and avocados. “I think they just have an unlimited opportunity” for exporting organic produce to the United States, he said.

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Cuba’s Organic Revolution: Coming to Your Fridge?

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Are There GMOs in Cheerios? Soon You’ll Know.

by Phillip85T Posted on March 23, 2016

Mother Jones

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Is Big Food ready to surrender to it critics and begin to label genetically modified ingredients? In the past week, grocery-aisle titans Kellogg, Mars, and General Mills, have all announced plans to label their products. In doing so, they join soup giant Campbell’s, which announced its own labeling plan in January.

The spur, as I reported recently, is a Vermont labeling requirement set to go into effect on July 1. Rather than have to segregate products destined for Vermont (a state with a population of 626,000) for labeling, these firms have decided it’s easier to just label everything.

In a blog post on the company website last week, a General Mills exec laid out the rationale: “We can’t label our products for only one state without significantly driving up costs for our consumers and we simply will not do that. The result: consumers all over the US will soon begin seeing words legislated by the state of Vermont on the labels of many of their favorite General Mills products.”

The moves represent quite a departure for large food manufacturers. Led by the Grocery Manufacturers Association—a trade group made up of processors like the above-named companies as well as genetically modified seed/pesticide purveyors like Monsanto and DuPont—the food and agrichemical industries have fought labeling efforts mightily, pumping tens of millions of dollars to defeat initiatives in California and Washington state.

The GMA has also enthusiastically promoted a series of bills before Congress that would nullify any state labeling requirements. The latest one died in the Senate last week. I asked the GMA whether it still hoped to reverse Vermont’s law with federal legislation.

“These company announcements show that the Senate needs to find and pass a uniform national standard for food labeling when it returns in April from its recess,” a GMA spokesman replied.

So, expect a renewed push for an anti-labeling bill later this spring. In the meantime, gigantic food companies appear to be none too optimistic this effort will succeed, if the announcements from Kellogg, et al, are any indication.

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Are There GMOs in Cheerios? Soon You’ll Know.

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8 Of The Best Spring Flowering Shrubs

by EsmeraldaSym Posted on March 21, 2016

Whether youre renovating your garden or just looking for a bit more color, spring is an excellent time to consider adding some new plant material. Spring-flowering shrubs are a great way to liven up a yard. If you choose the right shrub to fit your needs, youll be rewarded with a gorgeous spring display year after year.

1. Forsythia spp.

This may be one of the most flexible options for spring blooming shrubs. Forsythias can grow ten to fifteen feet tall and wide. They naturally have a beautiful, arching form when fully mature.

If you dont have space for a mature specimen, they can be pruned into a smaller, compact shrub, or even used as hedging. Make sure to prune your forsythia after it has bloomed in the spring because it will start to set next years blooms soon after the new growth appears.

They prefer full sun and may benefit from supplemental irrigation in dry areas. Lots of mulch is helpful to provide water retention and nutrients.

Hardy to zone 5.

2. Lilac (Syringa spp.)

Lilacs are very durable shrubs that prefer drier locations, such as on slopes and in well-drained soils. They also require very little feeding. A high phosphorus fertilizer in early spring will promote blooms, whereas too much nitrogen in the soil will actually reduce flowering.

Cutting off the old blossoms once theyre done will promote more flowers the next year. You can also prune lilacs as needed to either control their size or shape. They have a tendency to spread by runner shoots, which you can cut off at ground level.

The most common bloom colors for lilacs are purple and white, with yellow and bicolor varieties also available. The strength of their scent varies with each variety, but all blooms will have the classic heady lilac aroma that can drift throughout your entire yard.

Hardy to zone 3.

3. Daphne spp.

The fragrance of daphnes is what makes these plants stand out. There are many different types, and all of them smell amazing.

The rock daphnes are a group of spreading groundcovers. They grow up to ten inches tall and make attractive mounds similar to heathers. Cultivars of Daphne cneorum are commonly available in garden centers. There are also a few shrub daphnes. Most of these tend to be smaller shrubs, only getting two to four feet tall, like Daphne x burkwoodii. The occasional variety, like Daphne bhoula, can grow up to eight feet tall.

All types of daphne are quite low-maintenance. They rarely need any pruning or shaping. They appreciate moist soils with good organic matter. Daphnes are considered poisonous plants, so take care if you have pets in your yard that like to forage.

The hardiness zone varies depending on which type you choose, anywhere from zone 4 for Daphne burkwoodii, to zone 8 for Daphne bhoula.

Daphne x burkwoodii ‘Carol Mackie’

4. Witch Hazel (Hamamelis spp.)

Witch hazels may be the earliest blooming shrub of all. In many parts of the Northern Hemisphere, witch hazels may start to bloom in January or February.

They have a distinct, hairy-looking blossom that is often fragrant, depending on the variety. The species witch hazels, such as Hamamelis virginiana, tend to smell stronger than modern hybrids, like Hamamelis x intermedia Arnold Promise.

Witch hazels are understory plants in their natural habitats and tend to do better in partial, but not full, shade, and moist soil. Theyre a slow-growing shrub, with an open vase-like form that will not become too dense. They can grow up to twelve feet, although they blend easily into the background once theyre done blooming for the year.

The hardiness zone can range from zone 3 to zone 5.

5. Viburnum spp.

Most viburnums have attractive blossoms, but not all viburnums smell. Whereas the early varieties Viburnum carlesii and Viburnum x bodantense are worth planting for their spring fragrance.

Both with grow up to eight feet tall and wide over time, but can be easily pruned to shape. They prefer full sun and well-drained soil with good organic matter. Both make effective hedging plants or can stand alone as specimens.

Viburnum carlesii is a hardiness zone 4 and Viburnum x bodantense is hardy to zone 5.

Viburnum carlesii

6. Rhododendron spp.

A celebrity of spring-flowering shrubs, rhododendrons can be absolute show-stoppers for a few weeks every year. They are available in countless colors and shades to suit any taste or garden plan.

They have leathery, evergreen leaves and can grow up to twenty feet tall and wide when mature. They can be pruned back to fit into your space as well.

Rhododendrons prefer partial or full shade and a protected location that doesnt get a lot of wind. They do best in moist, acidic soil high in organic matter. A fall application of fertilizer suitable for acid-loving plants will give them an extra boost.

Most varieties of rhododendrons are not very cold tolerant, and will only be hardy to a zone 7 or 8. Although this is slowly changing as plant breeders develop cultivars that are more hardy. If you live in a colder climate, keep an eye out for hardy selections in your local garden center.

7. Flowering Quince (Chaenomeles speciosa)

These shrubs may be overlooked due to the fact they have thorns. But their show of bright white, pink or red flowers early in the spring makes them worthy of a second look. In addition, they will produce quinces in the fall. These are two-inch, round, nutritious fruit that are traditionally used in jams, jellies and baking.

If you have a place in your garden where the thorns wont be an issue, or youre looking for a good natural deer fence, flowering quince could be a great option.

They grow up to eight feet tall and wide. They can handle many different types of growing conditions, are not particular about what type of soil they grow in, and are drought tolerant once established.

Hardy to zone 4.

8. Azalea (Rhododendron spp.)

These are the smaller cousins of rhododendrons. They are often deciduous and lose their leaves in winter, unlike their evergreen relatives.

Azaleas typically grow from two to eight feet tall. If you need to prune them to shape, make sure to do this soon after the blooms have finished for the year. They will start to set flower buds for next year in the spring.

They prefer partially shady locations and can handle a bit more sun than rhododendrons. The soil should be acidic. Mulching with pine or other conifer needles can be a great way to reduce the pH if your soil is too alkaline.

The hardiness zone for azalea varieties can range from 5 to 8.

Related
A Guide to the Worlds Best Botanical Gardens
Selecting the Right Tree For Your Garden
5 Simple Ways To Get Your Garden Ready for Spring

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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8 Of The Best Spring Flowering Shrubs

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6 Reasons Why You Should Never Use VOC Paint Again

by FaustoLWHK Posted on March 21, 2016

You’re probably used to buying paint either by the brand name or by the color, like Benjamin Moore, or blue.

But when it comes to covering your walls and ceiling, there’s a much more important decision you should be making, and that has to do with the chemicals actually used to make the paint itself.

One of the most toxic is actually a group collectively referred to as “volatile organic compounds,” or VOCs.

VOCs are a large group of carbon-based chemicals that easily evaporate at room temperature, which makes them easy to inhale. One of the most common sources of VOCs in our homes is household paint. VOCs are used as solvents, or thinners, that work together with the resins that bind together all the ingredients of the paint and gets them to stick on the wall. In other words, they may improve performance and durability, explains DunnEdwards.com here.

However, the VOCs “off gas”into the air as the paint dries. Most people can smell high levels of some VOCS, though other VOCs have no odor. Odor does not indicate how dangerous the chemicals are, says the Minnesota Department of Health. Regardless of how badly they smell,many VOCs,which can include formaldehyde, acetone, benzene and perchloroethylene, canmake you sick in a variety of ways.

That’s why I’ve pulled together this list of 6 reasons why you should never use paint that contains VOCs again.

1) Worsen symptoms of asthma. If you already suffer from asthma, inhaling air contaminated with VOCs could trigger an asthmatic reaction. Scientists studied 400 toddlers and preschoolers and discovered that children who breathed in fumes from water-based paints and solvents are two to four times more likely to suffer allergies or asthma.

2) Create flu-like symptoms. Even if you don’t get asthma from breathing in paint fumes, you could experience runny nose, itchy eyes, joint pain and other symptoms that strongly resemble the flu.Solvents that evaporate into the air from the paint are inhaled, absorbed into the lungs and then into the blood stream. They can irritate the eyes, nose and throat and make you feel like you’ve contracted the flu.

3) Potentially cause cancer. Many chemicals in the VOC family are considered carcinogenic by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Professional painters have a 20 percent increased risk of contracting a range of cancers, especially lung cancer, says the World Health Organization.

4) Get dizzy and black out. Sometimes the chemicals that off-gas in VOC-laden paint are so overpowering, they cause people to get very dizzy and in extreme cases, black out. This could be particularly dangerous if you were at the top of a ladder, perhaps painting a ceiling, where you were inhaling paint fumes very close to the source.

5) Suffer infertility problems – A study from Sheffield and Manchester University suggested that men regularly exposed to chemicals in paint may be more prone to fertility problems. Painters and decorators are the primary victims. However, the researchers found a 250 percent increase in “risk of sperm motility” among men exposed to the chemicals widely used as solvents in water-based paints, which could give any guy pause about using paints that contain VOCs.

6) Get “painter’s dementia” – In addition to increased likelihood of getting lung cancer, painters can develop a neurological condition brought on by long-term exposure to paint solvents called “painter’s dementia.”

What You Can Use Instead

You could decide to forego paints that contain VOCs because it’s the right thing to do for your painter!

Increasingly, you can buy paint that contains no VOCs online and from stores that specialize in healthy green building supplies. Consumer Reports offers this helpful guide to VOC content to look for when you shop; if you’re a subscriber, you can see how they rate various no- or low-VOC paints that are available in the marketplace.

Most major brands, including Home Depot, Benjamin Moore and Pittsburgh Paints, make a no-VOC option. Just be careful when the paint is mixed, as the base paint could be no-VOC but the color pigment could contain VOCs. You want the entire mixture to be no-VOC.

Water-based paints will have less VOCs in them than oil-based paints. However, there’s no guarantee that just because a paint is water-based that it will be VOC-free. You must explicitly ask for no-VOC paint before you buy.

Regardless of the paint you use, make sure the room or house is well-ventilated while it is being painted. Turn on fans and open windows and doors. If possible, do not sleep in a room that has been freshly painted; especially don’t sleep in or use a room if the paint on the walls isn’t completely dry. If you wake up with a headache or discomfort, do not sleep in the room for a couple of days, until you’re sure it’s fragrance-free.

Related
Feng Shui Paint Color Guide
Heavy Metal Toxicity and Your Health

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

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6 Reasons Why You Should Never Use VOC Paint Again

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Angels of Abundance – Doreen Virtue & Grant Virtue

by Myrna Posted on March 20, 2016

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Angels of Abundance

Heaven’s 11 Messages to Help You Manifest Support, Supply, and Every Form of Abundance

Doreen Virtue & Grant Virtue

Genre: Spirituality

Price: $1.99

Publish Date: May 1, 2014

Publisher: Hay House

Seller: Hay House, Inc.


In their travels around the globe, Doreen Virtue and her son Grant (the best-selling authors of Angel Words ) have met thousands of talented people who dream of being healers, spiritual teachers, or writers, or of opening healing centers or schools. They also long to be able to afford organic food, vitamin supplements, exercise instruction, trips to spiritual power places, and wonderful homes. However, they don’t move forward because they don’t understand how to attract the financial resources that are the basis for how the physical world operates. Doreen and Grant wrote this book to show you how Heaven can give you material and emotional support as you strive to attain your life purpose and manifest everything you desire. Each of the 11 chapters features a message from the Angels of Abundance—the specialty angels who ensure that your Divine mission here on Earth isn’t hampered by lack. Whether you wish to have more money, time, ideas, or opportunities, the Angels of Abundance will hold your hand and help you over the hurdles that have kept you from realizing your dreams—until now!

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Angels of Abundance – Doreen Virtue & Grant Virtue

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