Working as an intern with the Field Museum's Keller Science Action Center this summer, I had the great opportunity to help with the Chicago Climate Action Toolkit. The Toolkit is a project that's taken many years to come together, starting with Field Museum anthropological research into many Chicago communities. Building off of the interests of community members and organizations, action plans were implemented, and following guides provide inspiration and opportunities for other people to continue the work with their own communities. Find out more about the toolkit here.
After working with the toolkit for much of the summer, leading educational programs, connecting with community organizations, and editing toolkit tools for wider uses, I launched into a new project. Partnering with the Chicago Coalition for Household Workers and the Latino Union, we worked to create a guide that would help people think about the environmental, labor, and social issues involved with cleaning. Helping people make healthy, safe, and sustainable decisions everyday can also mean giving them the tools to make their own inexpensive cleaners. Find the Green Cleaning Guide here or read our introductory text here:
"Cleaning your home is a part of everyday life, whether you do it yourself or hire someone to do it for you. And if you are the person being hired, you may even do a double shift by not only cleaning your own but also someone else’s home. This guide gives valuable information for everyone involved in creating a healthy home. Green cleaning not only keeps homes and workplaces healthier, but reduces the number of toxins we put into our wider environment and reduces how much our consumer spending contributes to climate change.
After working with the toolkit for much of the summer, leading educational programs, connecting with community organizations, and editing toolkit tools for wider uses, I launched into a new project. Partnering with the Chicago Coalition for Household Workers and the Latino Union, we worked to create a guide that would help people think about the environmental, labor, and social issues involved with cleaning. Helping people make healthy, safe, and sustainable decisions everyday can also mean giving them the tools to make their own inexpensive cleaners. Find the Green Cleaning Guide here or read our introductory text here:"Cleaning your home is a part of everyday life, whether you do it yourself or hire someone to do it for you. And if you are the person being hired, you may even do a double shift by not only cleaning your own but also someone else’s home. This guide gives valuable information for everyone involved in creating a healthy home. Green cleaning not only keeps homes and workplaces healthier, but reduces the number of toxins we put into our wider environment and reduces how much our consumer spending contributes to climate change.
Sustainability, or “going green,” includes more than reducing our carbon footprint. It extends into doing things in ways that maintain the health and safety of people in the places where they live and work. When we talk about green cleaning it includes reducing carbon footprint, reducing exposure to toxins, and approaching cleaning work in ways that avoid injury or otherwise improve well being. This guide introduces ideas for making these sorts of improvements in how we do green cleaning. Perhaps unique to this type of guide, it also offers advice on how to talk about green cleaning so you can get family, roommates, employers, or employees on board with making these mutually beneficial improvements to the environments you share."
As a continuation of this whole conversation, and in recognition of the gendered and unequal conditions many house cleaners face, local Pilsen community center Casa Michoacan is partnering with the UIC Latino Cultural Center and the Latino Union to explore green cleaning next Saturday. Want to come? Check out the Facebook event here.
Want to find out more about the work of the Chicago Coalition of Domestic Workers? They're opening a Worker's Center in Albany Park to Domestic Workers next week March 8th on International Women's Day, with a Grand Opening Event from 10:30-1pm at 3416 W. Bryn Mawr. Want to find more tools? Check out the whole Chicago Climate Action Toolkit here, to find information about retrofitting your home, eating better, discussing climate change with others, or enjoying nature for better overall wellness.
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