A Cleaner and Greener Home

Subject Area

This activity has been designed for the Personal Life Management (NMT 3G1) curriculum. It forms part of core unit 3 “Home Care and Maintenance,” exploring content item 4 on page 11 of Personal Life Management Curriculum Guideline: Intermediate and Senior Divisions, 1985.

Learning Outcomes

Teaching, learning and evaluation will focus on the student’s ability to:

• Identify environmentally friendly home cleaning products and hazardous commercial products;
  
• Explore the possibilities for using environmentally friendly cleaners;
  
• Explain the practical uses of a particular environmental cleaner;
  
• Suggest an environmentally friendly solution to specific cleaning problems.

Classroom Development

1. Initiate the activity by identifying environmentally friendly cleaning products for the class by means of a display of examples/ packages including: baking soda, vinegar, borax, ammonia, pure soap, washing soda, and others.
   
2. Next, have students complete a worksheet using a variety of resources. One third of the class might do one section of the home such as the kitchen. When they are finished, direct students to share their results.

Timing
Allow one 70 min period for students to complete this activity. Additional time would be required for extension activities.

Resources

Chapter 6 in Blueprint for a Green Planet provides an excellent overview of this topic. Note “The Cost of Cleanliness” diagram on page 94, and the “Positive Action” summary on page 96.

Books

Cock, Jacklyn & Eddie Koch. Going green : people, politics and the environment in South Africa. Cape Town: Oxford University Press, 1991.
Elston, Suzanne. Women & the environment. Toronto: Ontario Advisory Council On Women's Issues, 1990.
Environment Canada. What we can do for our environment: hundreds of things to do now. Ottawa: Environment Canada, 1990.
Lamb, Marjorie. 2 minutes a day to a greener planet. Toronto: Harper Collins, 1990.
Makower, Joel. The Green Commuter. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Penguin Books, 1993.
Naar, Jon. Design for a livable planet: how you can help clean up the environment. New York: Perennial Library, 1990.
Skurka, Norma. Design for a limited planet: living with natural energy. New York : McGraw-Hill, 1976.
Blueprint for a Green Planet, page 97.
The Canadian Green Consumer Guide, pages 48-55.
The Green Consumer, pages 113-127.
Hints for a Healthy Planet, pages 71-80
H is for ecoHome
Home and Family Guide, pages 24-25.
What to Eat?, pages 128-129. (for hazard symbol meanings)

Video

Your Green Home, part II, Water.

Pamphlets

Cleaner &Greener (416) 923-2918

Cross-Disciplinary Links

Science-Environmental Science, grade 10 or 12.

Extension Activities

Students might investigate the availability of environmentally friendly commercial cleaning products.
Students might investigate the proper disposal methods for hazardous products.

A Cleaner Greener Home Worksheet

Examples of Environmentally Friendly Products

1. Water
2. Pure soap (flakes or liquid)
   
3. Salt
4. Vinegar
   
5. Baking soda
6. Newspaper
   
7. Washing
8. Vegetable oil
   
9. Borax
10. Lemon juice/oil

A Cleaner Greener Home Worksheet

Environmentally Unfriendly Products

Many commercial cleaners are “hazardous” products. They pollute the environment and some may harm the user. Find the symbol that matches each of the definitions below.

• Flammable - can ignite or burst into flame easily. For example. dry cleaning fluids such as benzene
  
• Toxic - can be poisonous or cause death. For example: bleach.
  
• Corrosive - can eat or wear away many materials and human flesh For example: drain cleaners.
  
• Reactive - can produce deadly vapours or create an explosion. For example: bleach mixed with ammonia.

Environmentally Friendly Products

On the front of this page circle the commercial cleaning products that are hazardous.
List examples of environmentally friendly products below.

How to Minimize Pollution from Cleaners

1. Use natural products.
   
2. Use moderate amounts.
   
3. Avoid excessive, non recyclable packaging.
   
4. Read labels carefully, noting hazard symbols, ingredients, directions.