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Once Upon a Green Mattress |
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A mattress, rather like a marriage, is a major commitment. But unlike marriages, mattresses aren't meant to last a lifetime. If you toss and turn all night and wake with an aching back, odds are your mattress is worn-out, says the Better Sleep Council (BSC), a non-profit supported by the mattress industry. Indeed, "one out of two respondents" to a BSC poll associated an old mattress with "increased irritability and stress with their romantic partner."
Maybe you don't blame your mattress for your moods (it's an industry study, after all). Still, if your mattress is from five to ten years old and your sleep is disturbed by pain, sneezes, wheezes, coughing, watery eyes and/ or itchy skin, it may be time for a new one.
And now is a good time, as the marketplace is fairly stuffed with mattresses made of natural materials and free of toxic, irritating treatments. Best of all, you can find a natural mattress that suits your preference-and budget-and feels as supportive and comfy as a conventional version, if not more.
Here's what to look for:
Choose all-cotton and/or wool rather than synthetic filling, padding and surfaces. These breathable, absorbent natural materials are far more comfortable than polyester, which is made from petroleum, a non-renewable and costly resource. Certified organic is greenest, of course: It means that the cotton was grown without the nervous-system-attacking pesticides dumped on regular cotton crops. Wool labels "certified organic," "O-wool" (organic) or "Pure Grow," mean that sheep were raised and their wool processed without pesticides, and toxic heavy metals and synthetic chemicals.
Avoid toxic, so-called "protective" treatments. Permanent-press, water- and stain proofing finishes can expose us to chemicals linked to cancer, notably formaldehyde and PFOA (in Teflon- and Scotchgard-type finishes). Synthetic fire retardants are commonly made with PBDEs, linked to nervous system damage and hormone disruption. Fabric treatments can also irritate skin, eyes and respiratory passages.
For fire retardancy, look for mattresses using wool or other, safer alternatives to PBDEs. By law, mattresses must pass the fire retardancy standards of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Wool, naturally fire-retardant, meets these standards. Some natural bedding companies treat cotton fibers with boric acid (sometimes described as a "mineral salt"), which can also be used in homes as a least-toxic pesticide.
If you want an all-cotton, untreated mattress, you may have to provide a doctor's prescription saying that you suffer adverse reactions to fire retardant treatments.
Choose natural latex, sustainably "milked" from rubber trees, rather than petrochemically-derived synthetic latex (styrene butadiene) and polyurethane foam. If you aren't allergic to latex, do test mattresses containing this firm but resilient material, which is resistant to mildew and allergenic dust mites. Stuck on springs? If you gotta have metal, Dux and Lifespring make steel-innerspring mattresses with cotton and natural latex. Lifespring also has organic and wool versions.
Now that you know what to look for, you're ready to shop. Request a Mattress Shopping List at info@greenerpenny.com.
Click on the links below for more info.
Organic cotton
Organic wool
Pure Grow Wool
Formaldehyde
PFOA
PBDEs
To view the Better Sleep Council poll, click here
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Like a migratory bird, I live part of each year in the tropics-in Hawaii, where I was born. Hawaii is the endangered species capital of the U.S., and many of our endemic songbirds, species unique to these islands, have gone extinct due to forest habitat destruction, introduced predators and pests, and disease.
The problem's not unique to Hawaii, of course. Native plants, birds and other wildlife are threatened throughout our country. We can give these species a lifeline by cultivating local indigenous plants, as pictured in this Hawaii nursery.
To learn what to plant for threatened birds in your state, search Audubon's Bird Watch List and the recommended native plants list here.
To find a nursery, like the Hawaiian one pictured here, where you can buy indigenous plants, click here.
Ask about native plant sales and forest restoration and invasive plant removal projects at your local chapters of the Nature Conservancy and Sierra Club. Never, of course, collect native plants in the wild. |
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Daily Pennies |
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Daily Tips 
Good Penny/Bad Penny
Good Penny
True-value products with reliable seals, such as USDA certified organic, BDIH, NSF or NPA, which signify third-party verification that specific health and environmental standards have been met.
Bad Penny
Overpriced products labeled with misleading "organic" and "natural" claims.
Request a top-certified cosmetic picks from: info@greenerpenny.com
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Word of the Week
Summer Solstice
Time to shine a light on murky green cosmetic marketing, especially with some long-awaited new product seals making their debuts.
When we see “organic” on a shampoo or skin care label, we expect pure and safe. Actually, in the absence of certification, “organic” and “natural” are meaningless, unregulated claims, and pricey products bearing them can be as full of irritating and toxic petrochemicals as their cheap drugstore counterparts.
This June, the California Attorney General filed suit against makers of “organic” body care and cleaning products that contain 1, 4-dioxane, which is classified as a carcinogenic chemical in that state. In a similar action, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps and the Organic Consumers Association are suing several companies for making misleading organic and natural claims on products that contain many different toxins. See organicconsumers.org.
What’s a shopper to do? Don’t pay a premium based on empty green claims. Look for seals of certification by independent third parties.
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Green Living Tips |
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read clips from Newsweek, Elle, Shattered  |
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