New Living Health urges communities to consider alternatives when building or rebuilding.

Whenever building (or rebuilding after a storm) it is important to consider and use smart, healthy, and green materials. Although it may sometimes seem easier to build with conventional building materials, in the long run it is better for your health and the environment to choose products that are made sustainably and without any toxic chemicals.

When rebuilding take a list with questions about these aspects of your new home to your builder and ask about:

• flooring
• cabinetry
• painting
• carpeting
• windows
• exterior woods

Learn which building materials…

• Do not contain VOCs (volatile organic compounds)
• Do not emanate RADON or other radioactive materials
• Do not contain LEAD
• Do not allow MOLD to grow
• Do not provide an environment for bacterial and viral infections to grow and be passed from human to human