Last Saturday, a band of eight fearless Sylvane team members took their passion for better air to the stairs – 1,012 of them!
For years, the American Lung Association has hosted stair climbs in some of the tallest buildings across the country. The Fight for Air Climb event raises donations and awareness to benefit those suffering from lung diseases like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and lung cancer.
Georgia’s Climb took place at One Ninety One Peachtree Tower, the 4th tallest building in Atlanta. Over 400 climbers (including firefighters wearing full fire gear) hustled their way up 45 flights of stairs to honor loved ones and strangers alike struggling with lung disease.
What is an Air Quality Evangelist? This term goes to certain bloggers or writers who demonstrate a clear knowledge about and appreciation for indoor air quality. Their sites may focus on green living, energy efficiency, allergies – anything! Like the guidance on our site, the information they offer can help you better understand how your actions impact the air you breathe.
It’s time for another roundup of Air Quality Evangelists!
Go Green America TV
Go Green America TV (GGATV) is an upcoming series about getting started on an eco-friendly lifestyle. Until the series launches in May, host Jeff Davis (also known as the Go Green Guy) offers online news and tips about staying green.
Winning Post: The Go Green Guy breaks down NASA’s findings about house plants that improve indoor air – which chemicals were tested, what health concerns they pose, and the top 21 plants that help clean the air around you.
You know breathing clean air benefits your lungs and heart. But what about your waistline?
More and more researchers are uncovering links between obesity and long-term exposure to toxins, chemicals, and compounds.
A recent hypothesis suggests that rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the environment might be contributing to the obesity epidemic in our country. The idea is that breathing too much CO2 causes our blood to become more acidic, which triggers neurons that regulate appetite, sleep, and metabolism to fire more rapidly. As a result, we could be eating more, sleeping less, and gaining more weight.
Since its inception in 1970, Earth day has marked a time for festivals, rallies, and celebrations focused on the awareness of environmental issues that impact our planet’s health. People across the globe gather to plant trees or pledge energy conservation goals.
But what if you can’t find the time? You care about the Earth, and you’d like to do something to promote its well-being.
One of the best ways you can celebrate Earth Day is to inspect your indoor environment for ways you could improve energy efficiency, eco-friendly behavior, and indoor air quality.
You may be asking: how does my behavior indoors impact the health of our planet? While the air you breathe in your home can be drastically different than the air you’re exposed to outside, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) consistently ranks indoor air pollution as one of the top five environmental risks to public health.
For those of you planning to dye Easter eggs this weekend, you may be concerned about what kind of dye to use. While most conventional dyes are labeled non-toxic, many FDA-approved dyes are made with toxins like coal, tar, and other petroleum-based products. This can be an issue for those of us with sensitivities or parents who prefer to raise their children in an eco-friendly home.
Instead of buying store-bought chemical dyes this year, make your own Easter egg dyes using fresh produce. This natural dyeing method protects your children from chemical exposure, and you probably have many of these ingredients lying around your house.
Last month, we announced the launch of our new Air Quality Evangelist program. The goal of this project is to celebrate other blogs and websites that appreciate good air quality and provide insight on how you can improve yours.
Now it’s time to announce this month’s Air Quality Evangelists!
SafeMama
Kathy Scoleri is a web designer, author, and mother of two boys. When she was expecting her first child in 2007 – and spending hours researching Bisphenol-A, hormone mimicking chemicals, and toy recalls – she knew she couldn’t be the only parent scouring the web for this information. So she created SafeMama to keep it all in one place.
Winning Post: There are many choices you can make to Keep Toxic Chemicals Out Of Your Home. In this article, SafeMama hits some major points – from losing the shoes while inside to using HEPA-filtered vacuums.
It’s springtime, and you know what that means: yellow-covered everything. Especially here in Atlanta, where pollen counts are breaking records and a sick yellow tinge coats the city streets. For allergy-sufferers, this is devastating. So we wanted to give you something to smile about.
Send us a picture of your pollen-covered car, and you’ll be entered to win a free $50 Visa gift card!
That should cover a few good car washes to rinse away that nasty pollen.
Post your photo on our Facebook page, tweet us a link, or email it to us at contest@sylvane.com. On April 6th, the most pollen-soaked car will win a $50 Visa gift card!
Show us how desperately your car needs a good cleaning. Send us your photo today!
And remember to keep those windows rolled up and wash your clothes when you get inside. That pollen settles quickly on our cars, but there are steps you can take to keep it out of your home.
The beginning of spring is the one time of year that I get super jazzed about cleaning, so I always make sure to take it seriously. I leave no blind un-dusted and no pillow cover un-washed. Dust, dirt and allergens don’t stand a chance in my home.
This spring, you owe it to yourself to enjoy a clean that’s more than dirt-deep. I’m talking allergen-deep. Dust mite-deep. Get down to the nitty gritty and really tackle what’s lurking in your home’s air. With the help of these 10 spring cleaning tips, you can do it without making yourself crazy.
1. Make a schedule. If you have a basement, start there – this room usually has the worst air quality. The next day, tackle germs and bacteria in the bathroom. Move onto the living room on day three, and so on. Even if you live in a 600 square foot apartment like mine, this method helps you stay focused on the task at hand and avoid becoming overwhelmed with the amount of work ahead of you.
2. Ditch the store-bought cleaners for a vapor steam cleaner. Typical household cleaners often contain harsh toxic chemicals that can aggravate allergies and ultimately cause health complications. Steam cleaners use pure vapor steam to naturally disinfect and deodorize counter tops, windows, appliances, and upholstery.
With spring just a week away, many of us are already suffering through the usual line-up of aggravating allergy symptoms. An allergy air purifier may be the answer you need to finally be able to enjoy the season again. But if you’ve done any amount of research on air purifiers designed for allergies, you know that your options are endless. It’s often difficult to sift through your choices and figure out which model will be the best for your needs.
We want to help you with your choice. That’s why we’ve created a cheat sheet of sorts to help you easily identify our tried and true models, those that are a hit with customers and industry insiders alike. Read on for a peek at our top allergy air purifiers for the season.
Best Overall Allergy Air Purifier
Consistently ranked a best buy and Sylvane’s Air Purifier Category Winner, the IQAir HealthPro Plus Air Purifier is a workhorse machine designed to remove 99% of all allergen particles from your indoor air. Using HyperHEPA filtration, the HealthPro Plus removes even more irritating particles than standard HEPA filters while a 5-pound gas and odor filter absorbs odors and chemical fumes that may aggravate asthma and chemical sensitivities. Upgraded control features, a large coverage area, and a mobile design round it out as our pick for best overall.
When it comes to creating a safe and healthy indoor environment, the more you know, the better. However, sometimes online research can lead to an overwhelming amount of options.
That’s why we created the Air Quality Evangelist project!
Each month, we will scour the web for the best blogs and websites you can confidently add to your list of air treatment resources. These sites may focus on allergies, asthma, green living, air quality, anything – most importantly, they have a deep appreciation for breathing clean and healthy air. At the end of the month, we will choose our top picks and name a few Air Quality Evangelists.
An Air Quality Evangelist is someone who appreciates the importance of healthy indoor air and celebrates products and lifestyle choices that can help improve the quality of the air you breathe. Air Quality Evangelist blogs are invited to sport the Air Quality Evangelist badge so you can spot them easily.
Whether it’s a dozen roses to show a loved one how much we care, or an all-black outfit to show our couple friends how much we couldn’t care less, we can all go a little crazy around Valentine’s Day. Before you hit the mall to hunt down that perfect gift for your special someone (or yourself!), check out a few Valentine’s Day staples you might want to avoid this year.
Teddy Bears With Lead
In 2010, Target pulled some Valentine’s Day bears from their shelves after investigations found the vinyl letters depicting cute messages like “XOXO” and “I Love U” contained well over federal limits for lead. Lead exposure can damage the nervous system and other organs, and can be especially harmful to children.
Let’s face it – no matter which team you’re cheering for, we’re all interested in one thing this Sunday: commercials!
Vicks is an official sponsor of the NFL. Their NyQuil/DayQuil ads depicting professional football coaches, players, and fans make an obvious statement about the power of their medication to put even the most restless people to sleep in an instant.
We all know how important it is to get proper amounts of rest. But with changes in the weather and post-holiday stress, it can be hard to get enough sleep this time of year. Our sinuses can have a hard time keeping up, and taking medication every night can be exhausting.
Did you know that Vicks makes another product that can help you sleep better?
Humidifiers are invaluable tools that can help boost your indoor comfort, soothe your baby’s delicate respiratory system, and even reduce heating costs during the cold winter months. But did you know that humidifiers also have another important purpose? They can help you—and your little ones—stay healthy during flu season. With the 2011-2012 flu season peaking this month, read on to learn 4 reasons you should be using a humidifier right now.
Humidifiers may stop the spread of flu germs.
A 2009 study conducted by the National Academy of Sciences found that flu germs survive and spread more easily in dry air conditions. These results suggest that boosting your indoor humidity level makes it less likely for flu germs to survive and transmit to those around you. Aim to maintain a humidity level of between 45 and 50% to curb the spread of germs. An inexpensive hygrometer can help you stay on top of humidity measurement.
You can’t smell it, you can’t taste it, and you can’t see it—but you may have a serious air quality problem on your hands.
Radon, a cancer-causing gas that can reach toxic levels in your home, is responsible for approximately 21,000 lung cancer deaths in the U.S. each year. Many victims never even picked up a cigarette. And even more frightening is the idea that at this moment, you may not even know you have a problem. That’s why it’s so important to test your home for radon. January is National Radon Action Month and there’s never been a better time to find out if you’re at risk.
Radon is formed when the chemical element uranium naturally decays in soil, rock, and water. As it breaks down, tiny radioactive particles are released into the air. These particles enter and become trapped in your lungs as you breathe, increasing your risk of developing lung cancer.
Last Saturday, a band of eight fearless Sylvane team members took their passion for better air to the stairs – 1,012 of them!
Georgia’s Climb took place at One Ninety One Peachtree Tower, the 4th tallest building in Atlanta. Over 400 climbers (including firefighters wearing full fire gear) hustled their way up 45 flights of stairs to honor loved ones and strangers alike struggling with lung disease.
What is an Air Quality Evangelist? This term goes to certain bloggers or writers who demonstrate a clear knowledge about and appreciation for indoor air quality. Their sites may focus on green living, energy efficiency, allergies – anything! Like the guidance on our site, the information they offer can help you better understand how your actions impact the air you breathe.
You know breathing clean air benefits your lungs and heart. But what about your waistline?
Since its inception in 1970, Earth day has marked a time for festivals, rallies, and celebrations focused on the awareness of environmental issues that impact our planet’s health. People across the globe gather to plant trees or pledge energy conservation goals.
That should cover a few good car washes to rinse away that nasty pollen.
The beginning of spring is the one time of year that I get super jazzed about cleaning, so I always make sure to take it seriously. I leave no blind un-dusted and no pillow cover un-washed. Dust, dirt and allergens don’t stand a chance in my home.
