When we were kids, Marc was always trying to find a way to dodge household chores. On one particular day, Marc was trying his best to get out of cleaning the bathroom, and started to notice the warning signs on all of the bottles of cleaning products.
Marc's attack on toxic cleaning products
Feeling triumphant, Marc yelled "Toxins can stunt my growth!" and quickly announced he couldn't clean the bathroom because of the harmful ingredients in our cleaning supplies.
Although it was an attempt to avoid chores, Marc backed up his refusal by showing us all the signs and symbols — Danger! Hazardous! Caution! — on the bottles during a thorough search through our bathroom cabinets.
Natural cleaning products in Grandma's bathroom
Marc couldn't shake what he saw on the bottles, and headed to our grandmother Mimi's house to hunt through her bathroom cupboards. Instead of bottles warning "corrosive," "poisonous if swallowed," and "flammable," however, all he found in Mimi's cupboards was lemon juice, borax, baking soda and vinegar.
These tried-and-true combinations, plus a little elbow grease, were all Mimi needed to keep her house – and the water supply – sparkling clean.
All his research helped Marc develop a winning Grade 8 science project. It also led us to examine the ecological footprint of the Kielburger household.
A lifestyle of greener choices
We were harming the planet because we'd never stopped to think about the consequences of our everyday actions. For a time, Marc even became a vegetarian to lessen his own personal footprint. His eating habits weren't necessarily cleaning up our house, but they were cleaning up the environment by avoiding all the by-products that come from eating meat.
Page 1 of 2 – Discover more green living tips, plus resources on page 2.
