Even your floor can kill the environment. It’s an unsettling thought, the idea that furbishing your living room in mahogany over oak, say, or African wenge over Asian bamboo could decimate the rainforests and, by extension, untold numbers of living species. A floor is not just a floor. To be truly green, one must consider not only the floor’s top layer — the surface you put your foot on — but all the other components that go into making and maintaining it: What kind of underlayer cushioning is there? What type of glue is it bound with? What kinds of cleaning products will you use? Are those toxic? And what of the floor made in a factory that employs slave labor, or one whose manufacturing process emits toxic byproduct? In an ideal world, all man-made materials would have zero impact on the environment. We are far from ideal. That said, healthier, more responsible... More >>>