The squeaking wheel gets the grease they say, and so it goes in the court of public opinion. When it comes to Eco-News and green living, he who has the most sensational opinion seems to get the most airplay, thus shaping the future of things to come. Buzz words are thrown around from both sides of the environmental issue; words like: ‘tree hugger’ and ‘whacko environmentalist’ are pitched from one side, while remarks such as ‘pollutocrat‘ and ‘brown living’ are thrown down the other. But why does everyone have to take a side and gather at an extreme? Is there not a middle ground where most of us normal folks can meet and exist at? In my life, I have found that balance is the key to a healthy life and good conscience:

Wikipedia defines green living or sustainable living this way:

Sustainable living refers to a specific lifestyle that attempts to reduce an individual’s or society’s use of the Earth’s natural resources. Practitioners of sustainable living often attempt to reduce their carbon footprints by altering methods of transportation, energy consumption and diet. Proponents of sustainable and ecological living aim to conduct their lives in manners that are consistent with sustainability, in natural balance and respectful of humanity’s symbiotic relationship with the earth’s natural ecology and cycles. The practice and general philosophy of ecological living is highly interrelated with the overall principles of sustainable development. By minimizing their “ecological footprints” – the extent to which they create an environmental impact – proponents of ecological living hope to preserve the earth for future generations of human beings and other life.

Did you catch the key term in there? “Natural Balance”

I see no room for extremes in this definition. In fact, I see anything but.

Living Green means constantly seeking a balance between relative personal comfort and keeping an ear and eye on the impact one has on the world around him… …respect the world around you in such a manner as to actively preserve your surroundings for future generations.

If you want to live green, you don’t have to give up eating steak and ride a bike to the office everyday. On the other hand, that doesn’t give you license to dump used oil in the street or torch your lawn with improperly mixed pesticides.

Maybe I’m naive, but I just happen to think that most regular folks want to fall in the middle. They’d feel good about being green if someone would just step up and define it for them leaving aside the politicaly charged emotion and squeaky wheel philosophy.

And that is what this site, Balanced Green Living is all about. I will help you find that middle ground that seems more normal than what you have been shoveled thus far. I know you want to do what is right and good for our planet, you just don’t know who to trust. That’s why we’re here:

Balanced Green Living is Eco Friendly for Regular Folks.

Buying paint for the interior of one’s home should be a task not taken lightly. We found this out first hand when purchasing paint for our newborn son’s bedroom. We were very excited to be expecting our first baby and took on the task of “baby-proofing” our home. One of the first rooms that we started with was the beautiful nursery that we had in mind for him. We purchased all of the safety measures needed such as outlet covers, drawer keepers, and knob covers. What we didn’t think of was the idea of needing to still be thinking “safety” in choosing a paint color for his bedroom, and it wasn’t the color we needed to be so worried about. No, sadly it was the paint itself.

In searching through paint colors I began to notice that some companies had claims such as “Low VOC”, “Kid-Friendly” and “Environmentally Friendly”. Now I had never been one to be totally green, but these labels got me thinking about our paint. I looked into it a bit further and found out that interior paints release “Volatile Organic Compounds”, (otherwise known as VOC), into your home. These VOC’s are produced by a concoction of chemicals and components in the paint. Paint itself contains three basic things: pigment for color and hiding powder, a binding agent to hold it to the surface being painted, and a carrier to keep it all in liquid form. Now these three things in and of themselves are not the issue, but the chemicals that are used to perform each basic thing mix together and then release VOC’s into the air we breathe. Once emitted into the air, these compounds can actually stick around for approximately one month to many years after they are applied. The problem with this is that VOC’s can produce a number of health problems and risks. According to the American Lung Association conditions such as lung and breathing problems, eye and skin irritation, headaches, dizziness, memory impairment, and even cancer can occur.

After coming across this information we quickly realized that just popping into Home Depot and grabbing a gallon of our favorite color for our son’s room was not in any way a good idea. Who would want to expose their precious new baby boy to such toxins! We discovered instead that there are many “Eco-Friendly” paint choices made especially with low VOC’s that we could choose from. We also discovered alternative paint choices such as Ecological Paint (a water-based paint) and Milk Paint (a milk-based paint). These alternative paints, especially the Ecological Paint and the Milk Paint, do not contain any carcinogens nor emit any toxins into the air. Now that we are thinking safety first with our paint as well as our household gadgets, we will be choosing an alternative paint for our sweet baby boy’s room. We are not only excited to be bringing our newborn home, but we are overjoyed that we will be bringing him to a toxic free home!