By Pat Dillon
Madison Magazine
Special To Channel 3000

Being green these days has nothing to do with envy -- unless it's over your neighbor's new solar panels, renewable cork flooring or salvaged front door. It's about living the green life, adopting a sustainable lifestyle and making a commitment to reduce, reuse and recycle.

Greenhouse Painters

Regular oil and latex paints release volatile organic compounds as they dry. These VOCs have been linked to pulmonary problems, and they are known to damage the ozone layer. Many hardware and paint stores now carry low-VOC products, such as Benjamin Moore's Eco Spec, which can be tinted to match your decor. That means you don't have to sacrifice style for cleaner air. Find Eco Spec latex paint at McGovern and Sons Paint. 5906 W. Odana Road; 288-9371.

KITCHEN

Drink From the Sink
Why lug bottled water from the store when you can enjoy it filtered from the tap? For the same amount you would spend on twenty-four half-liter bottles of water every week for a year, you could install a reverse osmosis water filter. It's about $250 up front plus an annual maintenance cost of about $80, but you'll keep a year's worth of plastic bottles out of the landfill. And since Madison recently rescinded its manganese warning, city water is easy to swallow again.

How Do They Do That?
Reverse-osmosis units force water through a semipermeable membrane under pressure, eliminating many disease-causing organisms and most chemical contaminants, such as giardia and cryptosporidium bacteria, viruses, lead, nitrates, disinfection byproducts and radium.

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