Great Green Idea: Green Furnishing: Pure Paint: Green Finishes for Inside the Home

Pure Paint: Green Finishes for Inside the Home

A freshly painted room creates beauty and lifts the spirit. Some people equate the smell of fresh paint with brand new beginnings, as in a new home. But unless the home has been painted with green paint, the air quality that results can pose real health hazards. According to the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), products such as paints and stains are second only to automobiles in producing poor air quality. Some may argue that using green finishes in the home, such as paint, is really going too far in the mission to be eco friendly. But this issue actually goes beyond just going green.

Regular finishing products, such as paints and stains, produce what is known as volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. These emissions are carbon compounds which, after they evaporate, react with sunlight in the room. This reaction helps to form a photochemical smog. Formaldehyde is one such VOC that is found in paint, and is a known carcinogenic. Volatile organic compound emissions can be concentrated up to a thousand times as high indoors than outside when a room is being painted. Basically, paint has three components; pigment, binder and the carrier. Paint which is not eco friendly contains dozens of dangerous chemicals within all of these components.

Whether a person alleges to live green or not, this information should be troubling. It has been proven that these chemicals can cause very serious health problems. The emissions coming from paint can cause respiratory problems, eye irritation and skin conditions. People who have been exposed to VOC's have also experienced muscle weakness, nausea and headaches. In addition, many of the components of paint are known links to cancer. In this light, using green finishes has less to do with being eco friendly as it does with the serious health concerns that these chemicals can cause.

The health benefits of using eco-friendly paint outweigh the risk to overall health by using conventional paint. The risk of asthma and other allergic reactions along with skin and eye irritation is also reduced. Many people have these symptoms and yet are not aware they are a direct result of the paint on the walls of their home. Once study concluded that schools that had green finishes in their buildings produce students with test scores 20% higher that schools that did not. Also, eco friendly hospitals tend to discharge their patients about two days earlier; while shoppers spend more money and stay longer in green shopping centers.

Green finishes, such as paint, have environmental benefits as well. Eco-friendly paint is made from materials such as clay, lime wash and milk. It is available in a wide range of colors and finishes; just as traditional paint; and is less expensive in most areas of the country. It does not contain harmful chemicals that endanger health and hurt the ecosystem when disposed of. This overwhelmingly positive effect that green paint has on the environment is included among the reasons it is becoming more preferred in homes, businesses and municipalities.