Earth Week speaker reveals the truth about household products

The amount of cleaning products in the average cabinet illustrates that we are a society focused on cleanliness. But the ingredients in those products may not be as helpful as they seem. As a part of the SUNY Fredonia Earth Week Environmental Film Series, Andrew Nisker, screened his documentary, Chemerical, and spoke on the issues behind these products.  

 The documentary focuses on one, average family and asks them to go chemical free. The Goode's are an average family; they have three children, one teenage son, one teenage daughter and one younger son. The boys are involved with school sports and the family also owns dogs, which keeps the parents busy trying to maintain a clean household. 

Upon being asked to be chemical free, the Goode's worry that these toxic free products won't get the job done. In the beginning of the film, it is difficult for them to give up their usual products. But after learning about the chemicals that are in their products through specialists, they realize how dangerous these products are to the environment and their own health. 

The Goode's house undergoes an air quality test. After the test is conducted through different parts of the home, they find out that there are dangerous levels of toxicity in their home, and their daily products are a large factor in this. 

Throughout the film, Nisker explains that, "we are a nation obsessed with clean houses and clean bodies." And in order to maintain this cleanliness, the chemical companies have created short cuts for consumers. But the Goode's quickly find out that using simple ingredients such as baking soda, plant-based soaps, vinegar and lemon, are simpler, cheaper and safer solutions. 

The Goode's begin to make their own detergents, soaps and cosmetics. They find that their weekly shopping bills are about a quarter of what they generally spend. They also comment that they feel healthier and better about the products they are now using. 

In the film, the mother Markia Goode, comments that she always thought she was doing what was good for her family by buying these chemical products. She had thought that it was good for her home and her family and upon learning what was really in these products, is shocked that she had been using them for so long. 

At the end of the film, the family says that they will never go back to using their usual products and they have made this chemical-free change for good. 

After the film screening, Nisker discussed that this film was made in 2009. "Sadly, we are still living in a world where people don't know about simple solutions," he said. 

Nisker created his first environmental film entitled Garbage! in 2007. He has held environmental and film making workshops and currently teaches part-time at OCAD University in downtown Toronto. 

The film Chemerical can be streamed on line for free.