Green Building

GreenBuild Article in WoMag
...more coming soon

Alliance For A Healthy Tomorrow

A major goal of the REC is to reduce the number and prevalence of toxic materials in our surroundings. As scientific evidence increasingly links chronic diseases, cancers, and neurological damage to man-made materials that have been introduced into our environment, we know that minimizing exposure to these materials will keep many of us from getting sick. The REC  has worked towards this goal on several fronts for most of this decade.

We have the potential to make great progress this year: legislation to make Massachusetts a safer and healthier place to live and work. REC has teamed up with about 140 organizations around the state in a coalition called Alliance for a Healthy Tomorrow (AHT). AHT’s mission is to make it our state’s public policy to embrace the use of safe and healthy materials and reduce the use of toxic ones wherever possible. The toxic materials AHT is focusing on are common in household products and find their way into our bodies through offgassing into the air, leaching into water, or shredding into the dust in our homes. AHT maintains that it is an issue of true democracy for us to have a voice in what we drink, breathe, and touch.  
Safer Alternatives to Toxic Chemicals Bill
 (S2841) is AHT's top legislative priority in 2008.  This legislation would create a comprehensive but flexible program to replace toxic chemicals with safer alternatives in consumer products and industrial use. It targets some of the worst toxic chemicals in wide use in our state; all of them are currently replaceable with feasible safer alternatives.

AHT achieved a big victory when the Safer Alternatives Bill passed the Massachusetts Senate unanimously on January 29th, 2008.   Both of the State Senators who represent Worcester and surrounding towns, Harriette Chandler and Edward Augustus, were very helpful in making this happen.  If the bill does not pass the House of Representatives by the end of this month (July, 2008) the progress will be lost and AHT will have to start all over next year.   Some business groups, including the chemical industry, are working hard to stop this bill from passing. In order to counter this, lots and lots of real people, whose lives are endangered by the toxic chemicals all around us, need to contact our state representatives and urge them to make sure this bill passes.  Experience shows that legislators really do respond when large numbers of their constituents show that they care about an issue.

Here is what you can do:  call your state representative and ask him or her to urge Speaker DiMasi to bring the Safer Alternatives Bill up for a vote by the House.  Most of the representatives have already pledged to vote for the bill if it comes to the floor. 

If you're not sure who your state representative is and how to contact him or her, see www.wheredoivotema.com.

For more information on the bill and how you can help, click here.

PERC Free Dry-Cleaning

There has been a lot of buzz lately about the adverse effects that dry cleaning solvents used by most dry cleaners can have on your health. There are dry cleaners available, however, that are healthier for you and your family. One of these healthy cleaners is ZOOTS.

ZOOTS dry cleaning process is different from the industry norm because they do not use perchloroethylene ("perc"), the primary cleaning solvent used by over 85% of dry cleaners. 

The EPA has identified perc as a probable carcinogen and a hazardous air pollutant. It has been linked to many serious health problems including several types of cancer and birth defects.

Perc-free cleaning is healthier for you and your family and safer for the environment.

• ZOOTS uses a non-toxic, odorless cleaning process that has been thoroughly tested and proven to cause no short or long term health risks.
• Their cleaning agent is 100% biodegradable so it's completely safe for the environment.
• Their perc-free cleaning process is gentler on your clothes and leaves them without that "dry cleaning" smell.