Waving, Wishing, etc…

The PowerPoint that I created could be used in an in-class presentation or viewed individually.  If viewed on your own (as all of you will because this is an online class) I would recommend that you view the PowerPoint in the regular format, not in a slide show so you can see the notes that I’ve added at the bottom of the screen.  Aside from my final project I already have been and will continue to discuss the issue of green cleaning with friends, family, and co-workers.  I have found several people who are already using some of the methods I’ve discussed in my PowerPoint, such as using vinegar to clean with.  Others have become alarmed by the horrifying facts I’ve shared with them that I’ve uncovered during my research and want to know what they can use instead of conventional cleaners.  I’ve had a few people ask to borrow Strauss’ book and want to know what websites I’ve been viewing so they can learn more on their own.  It is a great feeling to be able to move someone to action based on information that I’ve researched and have shared with them.

Please let me know what you think of my PowerPoint and send me an email in Oncourse if you find a recipe that really works for you.  I’d really like your feedback.  I have enjoyed this assignment tremendously because I really love trial and error approaches to research.  Even though everything I tried did not always work I never gave up.  I wish that they final product could encompass everything that I’ve learned but then it would be so long no one would want to take the time to look at it.  As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I have really appreciated the 8 Ws.  I see them as guidelines or guideposts that kept me mostly on track.  I feel more comfortable using an inquiry model than I might have in the past.  I am proud of my work and hope that you all have enjoyed reading about my progress and will enjoy my PowerPoint as much as I do.  Thanks for everything!

I know that my journey with green cleaning and becoming more green is not over and I feel like I’ve learned a great method for searching for answers and have found some great resources to keep me going.  Life long learning here we come

ps: My PowerPoint is posted in Oncourse, or will be before the night is out.

Personal inquiry experience…

In thinking of how my experiences through this project are similar or dissimilar to that of a child or young adult, I assume I went through the 8Ws just like anyone else would.  While personal inquiry is different for each person having a set of rules to guide you through the process keeps you from searching the internet willy-nilly without any direction.  A child or young adult may not like the idea of an inquiry model and may prefer to do whatever they like whenever they like.  I think appreciating parameters and guidelines given through information inquiry models may come with age (not that I’ve very old, but I do see the value).  While these steps may come more naturally to others I believe that the more you are given the opportunity to use them the more it will become ingrained in your thinking and will spill over into your inquiry for life long learning.

Technology used…

• Concept Map. I used my new love, www.bubbl.us to create my concept map for questioning and organizing my thoughts.  I love this website and it is great for organizing my thoughts.  It appeals to my creative side (you can change the colors of the bubbles which is a huge plus for me!).  I tried to place the image in this post but it was illegible.  I will post it on Oncourse so if you want to see you can download the picture.
• Pathfinder, Social Bookmarks, or Bibliography.  I chose to type out my own bibliography which can be found in the comments under the Wiggling and Weaving post.  I made a list of the most useful websites I found and what I liked about them or used them for.
• Electronic Communication Tool.  I read forums filled with discussions on being green and green cleaning.  The answers to my questions were already posted and I enjoyed reading them.  It’s nice to hear from real people and what works and what doesn’t.  I tried unsuccessfully to find someone to converse with on Ask-an-expert, perhaps my search terms weren’t so great but I did search for quite some time.
• Productivity Tool. I used both a digital camera and Microsoft PowerPoint.  I took pictures of a few of my experiments including before and after shots.

Curriculum Connection…

Heidi suggested a science fair project might be a good way to incorporate green cleaning into the classroom for educational purposes.  I agree!  What better way to teach the scientific method to have students do the experiments at home, take pictures, and show off at the science fair (they may also get extra points with the judges for going green).  Elementary School Science Fairs is a great place to show off your science skills and educate your peers about something you find interesting.  The concept of cleaning something without harsh chemicals may be new to a lot of people, and while I’m sure elementary children are not rushing to their mother’s side to help scrub the tub or wash the dishes there is a lot that can be learned from this.  In addition to this, elementary school teachers could use green cleaners in the class and teach by example.  In my elementary school we washed our desks ourselves on the very last day of school…great idea, cover little kids in chemicals (no gloves were used) and send them home on the bus!  At least with green cleaners there would not be any danger to the kids.

The idea of green cleaning could also be taught at the high school level, when some teens become aware of others and develop a desire to change the world.  Fuel their fire by showing them a great way to be green (and help out around the house, maybe they won’t notice…but their parents will!).  It would also be a great addition to Home Economics courses.  Now that they know how to make food let’s show them how to clean in an environmentally safe way!

Standards used (as noted in a previous comment to a post):

5.2.6  Write instructions that others can follow in carrying out a procedure.

6.2.3  Select tools, such as cameras and tape recorders, for capturing information.

6.2.8  Analyze and interpret a given set of findings, demonstrating that there may be more than one good way to do so.

All are Science standards.

Wrapping…

I just wanted to update on what I’ve been working on.  Today I tried several green clean methods, some went great others needed some work, but I am not discouraged.  After much consideration I decided to make a PowerPoint presentation as my product for this project.  In my PowerPoint I hope to convey to you the dangers of the toxic chemicals used in convention cleaners, how you can make your own green cleaners, and show you a few experiments that I have conducted using products that I’ve made.  Also, if I can figure out how, I will include a video I found that discusses the dangers of toxic cleaning products and what is currently being done to notify the public.  Since my kitchen sink, bathroom sink, tub and surround tiles are all white the pictures I’ve taken may not show what happened (or didn’t happen, as the case may be), so I will explain what went right or wrong in each picture I include.  I am glad to be wrapping up the experiments and bringing it all together.

Wiggling and Weaving, a combined process

I am using www.bubbl.us again to organize the information I’ve found.  I have come across several interesting websites that give tips on cleaning and what products to use.  It seems that white vinegar and baking soda can be used to clean just about anything and are the key ingredients in most of the recipes I’ve found.  I am grateful to see information coming together after sifting though tons of information.  I did check out the Queen of Clean’s website as suggested by a few of my readers.  I did learn some neat laundry tricks; my favorite tip was concerning what to do with a moldy shower liner: toss it in the washing machine with a couple towels, laundry soap, and a cup of white vinegar, hang to dry.  Nothing I’ve ever done has worked and I always end up throwing them away…never again!  Some of the most useful and practical information I’ve found was in Strauss’ book which has been confirmed by most of the websites I’ve explored.  Everyone seems to be in agreement: traditional cleaners can cause headaches, allergies, cancer, and miscarriages while homemade green cleaners have no ill side effects and clean just as well if not better.  Most of the recipes are similar, sometimes the proportions are slightly varied.  My plan is that if one recipe does not work so well I can go back to a different site and alter the recipe and try again.  I am going to make a few of the recipes I’ve found and try them out, take pictures, tell you how they worked and how to make them yourself.  I’m thinking of forming this into a PowerPoint but I’m not 100% sure yet.  I am very excited to start getting my house in shape!

Webbing

As noted in my last post I made a bubble brainstorm map at www.bubbl.us which I found very helpful.  I plan on using it or something similar to re-organize my thoughts and findings from my research which I plan on attaching as a comment to this post.

I used book, web page, video, and forum resources to find out more about green cleaning.  I wanted to find information about why I should make the switch to green cleaners, why mass-produced household cleaners are so bad, and what I need to make my own green cleaners to replace the ones I get rid of.   Speaking of which, I am also hoping to find out more on how to properly dispose of my old cleaners from my local recycling center.
I have searched the internet using Google and a book that I picked up while grocery shopping as well as talking to people around me to see what they think of green cleaning and if they already do it or would be interested in it.  I know that being green is very trendy right now and that there is a strong push for everyone being more environmentally-friendly so I had no problem finding useful information.  I have done a lot of searching on the internet through google.com searching terms such as “green cleaning,” “green cleaning recipes,” and “household cleaner toxins.”  I have also been reading through the book I mentioned in an earlier post, Household Cleaning: Self-Sufficiency by Rachelle Strauss.  In her introduction she discloses that she first started using homemade green cleaners when she was pregnant because she wanted to have an “organic baby.”  While my husband and I recently received the good news that we are allowed to start trying for a baby in a couple months (our oncologist gave us the go-ahead; chemo is rough on your body and we may not be able to conceive but we can start trying earlier than we were originally told! ), I want to have a toxin-free home if we are able to conceive and, as I’ve mentioned before, I’ve read that a lot of the cleaners we use everyday do have cancer-causing agents which I would love to get out of our house.  In other words (I tend to be wordy), I can relate to the reasons why Strauss decided to go the green route.  I want the best for myself and my husband and our future children and I want cancer to be out of our lives forever.

The one thing that I was concerned about while searching was weeding through propaganda to find true, factual information.  I’ve found various statistics on how much air pollution can be inside one’s home, all the way from 2 times worse than outdoors to 100 times worse, depending on the site.  The point I’ve gathered from this is that air quality can be quite poor inside most houses, the percentage is less important but the concept that it needs to be addressed is what’s critical.

I have also been reading through a few forums on www.treehugger.com around green living and green cleaning and I keep reading the same things whether it’s in a book or on the web: vinegar, baking soda, and borax.  I can’t wait to get started.  These are probably products people have used for hundreds of years (or reasonable facsimiles) and must work, at least I am hoping they work!

I have so many green questions and so many things I want to learn and attempt to replace that I’ve gotten a bit carried away.  I keep thinking, “I wonder if I can make my own shampoo and body wash,” and “I wonder if I’ll notice a difference in my energy level once we’re using green cleaners on a regular basis.”  While I know I can’t get too carried away for this project I have decided to boil it all down to this: I really want to give green cleaning a chance and I want to know more about what is in regular (toxic) cleaners that could be affecting my health.  I hope to find enough inspiration and to be scared to death to bring toxic cleaners in my home that I’ll stick to cleaning green and actually keeping a clean house.

I’d like to find some videos of green experts discussing the health benefits to using non-toxic green cleaners so I can share them with you and be able to click back to them anytime I need a refresher on why I’m doing this.

I have been feeling very overwhelmed by this project, probably because I have a desire to change so much at once and do not have the time to change everything and report back on…also, I am quite busy during the week with work and class that I only find time to do my homework on the weekends which leaves me feeling rushed.  In spite of all this I am excited to start finding some solid information and trying out a few homemade products of my own but I do feel a bit lost.  I keep trying to remember everything I need to include, information-wise, for the assignment requirements that I sometimes lose my focus.  I will be glad to be finished with this assignment but I am grateful for the experience and the forced focus it is giving.  We procrastinators need some deadlines once in awhile.

I hope to turn this information into a mental backpack that I will carry around with me, always adding useful information and taking from it practical ways to improve my home without endangering our lives.
Now that I’ve gathered together the facts about conventional cleaners and am armed with green cleaning knowledge I plan to purchase items for making my own products at home and seeing how well they work.

Wondering…

I have been using www.bubbl.us to brainstorm some ideas for this project.  I was able to do a “print screen” and capture the image of my  bubble map and inserted it in a word document; feel free to check it out.  It contains questions such as:

~What are green cleaners?

*why can I find them?

*can I make them self?

-where can I find recipes?

-is it more expensive than regular cleaners?

~What are toxic cleaners?

*what are the dangers?

*how can I dispose of the toxic cleaners I already have?

-is it free or will have have to pay for this?

-are they too dangerous to pour down the drain?

I definitely want to find out which, if any, cleaners are safe to pour down the drain and which will need to be handled differently.  I also want to attempt to make some cleaners on my own and see how well they work as well as how much they cost.  I have already looked at green cleaners in the store and they come in smaller bottles (less packaging) and cost more (usually at least a dollar more).  I am thinking it is probably cheaper to make them yourself but I am going to find out.  I also want to know what cleaners work for which jobs and how often am I supposed to clean _____?  As I said before, I’m not much of a cleaner and am sort of starting from scratch on how often things should be cleaned.  I am very interested in green laundry soaps, dish soaps, and general cleaners.  I want to know how to get rid of mold and mildew without using bleach (I HATE bleach!).  Bleach is one cleaner I cannot wait to be rid of.  I have tons of questions running around my head and I try to log into my bubbl.us account whenever I think of something…just writing this post I’ve added several questions that aren’t on my bubble map, at least they are here so they are not lost.  I hope this project does not get too big for me!

Watching Part 2-Standards

The following are standards from Standards for the 21st-Century Learner In Action from AASL:

Standard 1: Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge.

Standard 2: Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge.

My hope is to come up with meaningful questions that will lead me to interesting answers about which I will think critically and draw conclusions from to form my own opinions on green cleaning.  I also hope that my observations and experiments will convince me to rid my house of toxic chemical cleaners and permanently switch to green/eco-friendly cleaners.

Watching…

My idea for green cleaning came about over time and from a few different situations in my life.  I wish I had done more research about green cleaning last year, but later is better than never!  My husband was diagnosed with colorectal cancer last year and had a compromised immune system due to chemotherapy.  I was feeling overwhelmed with school, working full-time, and caring for him that I did not keep our house as clean as it should have been.  Luckily he did not suffer too terribly from a dusty house. One reason why I want to give green cleaning a fair chance is to help keep him healthy and help to prevent either of us getting cancer in the future (he has no family history of this type of cancer so it could have been caused environmentally).

I have always hated the smell of bleach and feel sick after using air fresheners but it did not really click until recently that I should have listened to my inner self about these issues.  I sometimes watch a show on BBC America called “How Clean is Your House?” starring two vivacious woman wearing feathered gloves and pearl necklaces cleaning the filthiest houses on their hands and knees.  I’ve often thought, “If they can do it, so can I,” but I had never really tried.  Actually, I had pretty much given up completely.  I know that some cleaners cannot be mixed because they give off toxic fumes but I was not sure which ones and most cleaners stink.  But lets get real, I was just too lazy to do anything about it.

My husband has been “encouraging” me to clean up around the house to which I usually reply, “Your legs aren’t broken…”  I want to keep the house clean, picked up, and smelling nice so that we’re not embarrassed to have guests over but I did not know where to start.  We moved into our house in October of 2008 and it has some interesting characteristics that need to be scoured and scrapped but I do not know how to clean a lot of the places in my house.  I hope through this project I can get some answers and can get excited about cleaning my house.

I’ve been reading a book that I picked up a few weeks ago at Sam’s Club, Household Cleaning by Rachelle Strauss, which is part of her “Self-Sufficiency” series.  This book is a treasure trove of answers on green cleaning as well as the dangers of commercial cleaners.  I look forward to exploring this book and the internet in search of best practices in green cleaning!

Project 1 Topic Ideas

When reading the guidelines for this assignment I immediately thought of several topics that are of interest to me that I could blog about.  The following is a list of topics I’ve thought about discussing here:

• Mushroom Hunting-I have recently been very interesting in mushroom hunting, although I do not eat mushrooms.  I like the idea of mushroom hunting and want to learn more about it.  Unfortunately, this time of year is not a good time for mushroom hunting.
• Invitro Fertilization-Because of Radiation Therapy my husband had in the spring of 2009 we may not be able to have children on our own and I would like to learn more about this process in case we find out my husband is sterile.
• Green Cleaning/House Cleaning-I am not the tidiest of people, much to my husband’s dismay.  I feel ill-prepared for home maintenance and would like to learn more about what cleaners do what jobs around the house.  Are there green alternatives to harsh chemicals and toxins that work well?  How do I know it’s working?
• Renaissance Festivals, How to Start Your Own-I am very interested in owning a large acreage some day and building my own Ren. Fest.  I would like to know what the process is for buying land and having it properly coded for this purpose, how to make contacts for vendors to set up shop, how to become part of the Ren. Fest tour with an allotted annual time frame for operation, etc.

After much consideration I have decided to go with a Green Cleaning Experiment.  I want find resources that give recipes for green household cleaners, how they work, why they work, etc.  I want to document my findings on here and through photographs of me making the products with before and after photos of how well the cleaners cleaned my house.  I am very excited about this project and I’m sure my husband will be as well!