Saturday, November 22
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LIVING GREEN
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plants

How to Choose Indoor Plants to Clean the Air

I have been faithfully reading your advice on making my house greener and improving my children's lives but I have come to two road blocks.
The first is we are renovating our kitchen but did not order green choices. I looked up plants to put in my house to get rid of the air pollutants but have found that all are toxic to animals and children which does not work for me since I have 2 cats and two young children. What would you suggest I do?
Second, while packing up everything in my cabinets I came to realize that under my kitchen sink I had about 20 bottles of harmful cleaning supplies. I no longer want these in my house but I don't know what to do with them. I can't just throw them away into a landfill and I don't want to continue using them in my house.
Again what do you suggest I do?


In terms of your kitchen renovation, if it’s still ongoing I wonder if there’s any place you could decamp to until it’s complete? Plants can certainly help with airborne toxins, but a safer solution would be to remove yourselves (or at least your small children) and stay with family or friends until they’ve had time to settle and off-gas.

I’m not sure exactly which toxic plants you bought, or if there’s any chance the store would exchange them for non-toxic versions, but we include the following list of indoor plants that are safe for both animals and children in our book. They help filter the air by converting carbon dioxide to oxygen and, apparently, even remove some of the chemicals.

Aleo vera – formaldehyde
elephant ear philodendron – formaldehyde
English ivy – benzene
ficus – formaldehyde
golden pothos – carbon monoxide, benzene, formaldehyde
peace lily – benzene, trichloroethylene
spider plant – carbon monoxide






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Two down-to-earth experts answer your questions about raising children toxin-free... read more.
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Alexandra Zissu

Alexandra Zissu

Alexandra Zissu is a co-author of The Complete Organic Pregnancy... read full bio.
Deirdre Dolan

Deirdre Dolan

Deirdre Dolan is a co-author of The Complete Organic Pregnancy... read full bio.
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