Friday, October 19, 2007

Eco Friendly Bedroom


You can see platform beds in home decor magazines, in interior design plans and even in prototypes developed for green housing. The rooms containing a platform bed are usually flushed with light, open and immaculate, and at the same time very chic and very attractive. Did you know that it could be the start of an Eco Friendly Bedroom as well?

Platform Beds are extremely popular right now. The simple, clean lines in this style of furniture work well with minimalist decor preferences and styles influenced by artists and architects from contemporary Japanese to Art Deco. The size and depth of this clean, balanced architectural and graphic style makes the platform bed ideal for efficient use of space and as a graphical element to highlight any room as a whole.

Okay, you say, how is a platform bed a green piece of furniture? Think about the use of materials: the platform bed design requires fewer trees, so big planks of wood are not required and are instead replaced by a minimum number of slats (not even always of wood). Like many modern beds, the platform bed requires less expenditure and bulk in the mattress department, too. It only needs an innerspring or futon mattress. And all of this can contribute to conservation of a very important resource, your finances too!

And when you extend your efforts to match your green concerns, you can use a natural-fill, untreated mattress. As you may know, traditional box spring mattresses are potent, with their petroleum-based polyester, polyurethane, nylon, formaldehyde, perfluorooctanoic acid, and other compounds and gases.

You can insist on an FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) Certified frame, one which, when possible, uses only wood culled from responsibly-managed forests. These are mostly solid, not pieced together with glues and compounds that also emit VOCs like formaldehyde, as well.

And once you add only untreated, organic cotton bedding (foregoing the bleaches and dyes and subsequent carcinogens); natural, organic pillow stuffing; and surround the piece with only natural (hemp or other) area rugs resting on FSC-certified wood floors, you have a platform bed and bedroom furniture that not only is more sleek in style but will contribute the health of you and your family. You'll be contributing to the global community.

This is a great start towards making a difference in the battle against global warming and creating a more pollution free atmosphere. It's a way of insuring a brighter future for our children and cleaner air for everyone to breathe right now. All of which should help you to get a better nights sleep.

Food for thought

Here are a series of photo that where sent to me the other day. It is poignant statement about what we eat, how much it costs and what it looks like. If you look closely you can see that most of the expense in the richer families is for non-nutritional heavily packaged food and soft drinks.


What The World Eats


Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide

Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07
Favorite foods: fried potatoes with onions, bacon and herring,
fried noodles with eggs and cheese, pizza, vanilla pudding




United States: The Revis family of North Carolina

Food expenditure for one week: $341.98
Favorite foods: spaghetti, potatoes, sesame chicken



Japan: The Ukita family of Kodaira City

Food expenditure for one week: 37,699 Yen or $317.25
Favorite foods: sashimi, fruit, cake, potato chips



Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily

Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11
Favorite foods: fish, pasta with ragu, hot dogs, frozen fish sticks



Great Britain: The Bainton family of Cllingbourne Ducis

Food expenditure for one week: 155.54 British Pounds or $253.15
Favorite foods: avocado, mayonnaise sandwich, prawn cocktail,
chocolate fudge cake with cream




Kuwait: The Al Haggan family of Kuwait City
Food expenditure for one week: 63.63 dinar or $221.45
Family recipe: Chicken biryani with basmati rice



Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca
Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09
Favorite foods: pizza, crab, pasta, chicken



China: The Dong family of Beijing

Food expenditure for one week: 1,233.76 Yuan or $155.06
Favorite foods: fried shredded pork with sweet and sour sauce



Poland: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna

Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27
Family recipe: Pig's knuckles with carrots, celery and parsnips



United States: The Caven family of California

Food expenditure for one week: $159.18
Favorite foods: beef stew, berry yogurt sundae, clam chowder, ice cream



Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo

Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53
Family recipe: Okra and mutton



Mongolia: The Batsuuri family of Ulaanbaatar
Food expenditure for one week: 41,985.85 togrogs or $40.02
Family recipe: Mutton dumplings



Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo

Food expenditure for one week: $31.55
Family recipe: Potato soup with cabbage



Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village

Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03
Family recipe: Mushroom, cheese and pork



Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp

Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23
Favorite foods: soup with fresh sheep meat