Indoor Ecosystems at Home & at School #218

Jenny Rowe:

Very glad that we were there, but it really gave us a chance to think about what we needed, what we wanted to what we wanted to show the rest of the world was possible.

Jan Robinson:

Started to realize that the busier I got, the more my fingers and my hands would crack and peel and that it was really from the chemicals that are used to make textiles.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This is Dr. Lisa Belisle and you are listening to Love Maine radio show number 218, indoor ecosystems at Home and at School, airing for the first time on Sunday, November 22, 2015. Although we think of the term ecosystem as being related to the greater earth, we are actually part of multiple ecosystems. These ecosystems exist wherever we work, live or learn. Today we speak with Jenny Rowe, Head of School at the Friends School of Portland, and Jan Robinson, the owner of ecohome Studio, about the work they are doing to improve our indoor ecosystems. Thank you for joining us.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

longtime resident of Greater Portland, it's been exciting for me to see how the Friends School of Portland has evolved over the past several years. Today I have with me Jenny Rowe, who has been the Head of School of the Friends School of Portland since 2012. A practicing Quaker, Jenny firmly believes that we all have something to teach and something to learn. Jenny and her husband live on Munjoy Hill in Portland. Thanks so much for coming in and

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

talking with me today.

Jenny Rowe:

Thank you. It's great to be here.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So this is an interesting. We've cut your bio down by quite a lot. What it doesn't reflect is the fact that before you came to this area, you've been in a lot of different places pursuing work in the educational field.

Jenny Rowe:

Yeah, that's right. I started teaching back in the early 80s in Putney, Vermont, and I've been in a lot of schools in New England. And then life took me to Central America, to Guatemala for part of a year. And then we made our home in Monteverde, Costa rica, for about 10 years. And that's where my kids went to school. And that was the first experience I had being head of school of a Quaker school.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Your children are 26 and 24.

Jenny Rowe:

Good.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And now what you've told me is one is in the Netherlands and one is at nyu, just started law school. What type of influence did their time in part of a Quaker school, Quaker educational system. What kind of an influence did that have on their growing up?

Jenny Rowe:

It's kind of an interesting mix because Monteverde, Costa Rica, is a very tiny community up on the top of a mountain, just below a beautiful cloud forest. And when we were there, things were still pretty small. It's a very attractive place for people who are interested in birds and travel. When we were there, it was quite a bit smaller. And so the school itself was 90 children. And my kids had about 10 to 15 people in their class. And they knew them extremely well after a number of years, the same kids. And so they had both the experience of being in a very tight knit, very small community, but also the experience of traveling back and forth from New Hampshire for us at that time. And they've really grown to love to travel. My son spent a year in Vietnam. My daughter has worked in Mexico and Costa Rica and Cameroon. And so they're traveling all the time. I think they really think of themselves as citizens of the world.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Isn't that one of the things that you're hoping to do with the Friends School of Portland is really beyond just educating young children to do what one does once you've gotten out of middle school and elementary school. But to be a citizen of the world?

Jenny Rowe:

Yeah, I think we all need to do that in 2015. We're really all part of something so much bigger than our own communities. And our communities really need to extend beyond our Homes and our schools. You don't always know what that's going to look like or how it's going to look. And I think people have to feel very settled and. And care for and understand where they live when they're young. Really, their circles need to be quite small. So that starts in your family and then maybe your first steps into elementary school and feeling that you're a part of more than just your classroom and then to continue outward from there.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So tell me how that intersects with. With being a Quaker and with the Quaker philosophy.

Jenny Rowe:

Well, I think that most of where you can start when you're thinking about Quaker practice is to understand that everybody has kind of the spark of the divine in them. Some Quakers say there's that of God in everybody. And so if you take that and you just expand out with that, what it means is that you understand that people are equal. Equal. You understand that it takes a lot of people in a community to accomplish what needs to be done. You start by assuming that everybody is honest and is willing to work hard to make the world a better place. So. That's what we, you know, that's what we can help kids to understand. It's really adults needing to learn how to do that together and then modeling that for kids. And you can really create quite a nice place where kids have a chance to practice this and take it with them as they go on to their next piece of life.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We interviewed Billy Shore, who was the head of Share Our Strength for, I guess it's National International, but it's about feeding children. And he sent to me several books that were actually written by an educator who has a background as a Quaker. And his first name, I believe, is Parker.

Jenny Rowe:

Yeah, Parker Palmer.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And I was really struck by the idea that there wasn't some external something that was being imposed upon the notion of what one does. It really is more about being quiet enough to listen to your still small voice and know what it is that resonates more with you.

Jenny Rowe:

Right.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So how does that come through in the work that you do at the Friends School?

Jenny Rowe:

Well, we definitely need to set aside time for reflection for people. We begin every morning just with a faculty. We just sit together in our meeting room for five minutes in silence, and then we kind of get together, think about what the day and the week are going to look like ahead, and then go out from there. So starting with a real quiet, focused place so that we are ready to meet the challenges of the day. And for the students and for the faculty, we have Meeting for Worship It's a silent meeting. On Monday afternoons, we sit together for about 20 or 25 minutes. Sometimes we'll reflect on a question that somebody's asked. And if somebody's moved to say something into the silence, they're welcome to do that. Sometimes it's just a lot of kind of soft fidgets going on when you're sitting in a group of. In a room with a bunch of kids, which is also fine. And many teachers use silence in their classrooms just to get started or things need to come back to. People need to be drawn back to attention. Often people will ask for just, let's just have a little minute of silence before we go on. I think kids grow to be pretty comfortable in quiet.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It's also been important for you to create not only an educational environment and a social environment for the children, but truly create sort of an ecosystem of peace. And initially, your school was located on Mackworth island, which I found very interesting because of its history, the history of Macarth island as being a place where deaf children were educated and there being some controversy there about how they were treated. What was that like when you are located there?

Jenny Rowe:

You know, that happened so early. This was about 10 years ago. And I think the school had a strong impulse to begin. And I think it was only fairly at the last minute that they could actually find a site to use as the school. And at the beginning of the school, I understand that there was quite a bit more back and forth between the students at the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf and the Friends School. There were some classes, classes on signing. There were people on the island who could come and teach classes at our school. And then we opened up our PE classes, often to the children from the school, from the deaf. And I think that was a really wonderful start. When I came in, the population had dropped already so much at the School for the Deaf that the interpreters even weren't on hand to continue that. To continue that relationship. But we did have PE with our. Our kindergarten class, shared PE with some of those children. The site itself was just a great place for children to be outside and roaming the island and learning about the tides and finding their special places, you know, special beaches and special trees. And that was really one of the pieces that we realized we needed to bring with us. When our lease expired on Mackworth, we knew that. That having that connection with nature that meant so much to kids and their families was something that we really had to. We had to move forth with. And so that's what prompted us to buy 21 acres of really beautiful forest in Cumberland, right along Route 1, and then begin designing a building around that.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It's an interesting. It's almost an oxymoron to say that you have a beautiful site right along Route 1.

Jenny Rowe:

It's true.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

But I've noticed over time in watching your school be built that your school is. It is sort of nestled back in

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

the trees, and there is actually a

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

corridor that extends from Falmouth to Yarmouth, where there's still a lot of nature that exists.

Jenny Rowe:

There is. There are patches of wood, and you know that there are neighborhoods that, you know that. That sneak up behind and things off to the side. But the school itself is located off of Route 1, but close enough to Route 1 that the rest of the forest is still. There's no access road that cuts through it. It's a nice block of forest trails, different types of wetland. And so it's a real area of exploration and. And, you know, kids are starting to do studies in the forest there behind the school.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It was also important to you not only to be situated within a natural space, but also create a space within your building that was conducive to healthy living and learning.

Jenny Rowe:

That's right. So the building itself is really a special place. We came from a, you know, a tried and true cinder block building on Mackworth that was really hard to keep warm. And we're very glad that we were there. But it really gave us a chance to think about what we needed, what we wanted to. What we wanted to show the. The rest of the world was possible. We had a terrific building committee, architects and builder. And really together we. We worked to design first a school that would be great place for kids to learn. But the more we thought about it and the more we learned about passive house design and having people in our community who were experienced in that world, we realized we could design a building that would allow us to. And model what we are, the stewardship that we want to have for the. For the earth. And it's. It's been a really fantastic process. It was a fantastic process to go through. And the school itself is net zero. Has incredibly great insulation and light and space and warmth and actually cool. When this. When school year started, it was quite hot. Some. Some schools were closed because of heat, even in Maine. And we've just. We found it a really comfortable place to be. And it's a simple building. It cost a little bit more to do it this way. But knowing that we could have. Knowing that what we were aiming for from the beginning, you know, really helped us to know. To know how to do this.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

How many children and teachers do you have?

Jenny Rowe:

We have about 100 kids this year and we have about 25 faculty and staff, about nine full time people and a lot of people that come in to do smaller pieces.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So when you were looking to build in Cumberland, how did that. How did you get information from students and parents and teachers and community about what would best suit the needs of all?

Jenny Rowe:

That's a great question. We held some community meetings. We held some parent meetings at the very beginning too, because we could really. We thought we could go in so many different directions. We looked at empty lots in downtown Portland. We looked at schools that had been abandoned and could be renovated. And it was not necessarily something that was easy. There were some parents who felt like it was very. We all would have liked to be closer to, to Portland in order for things not to feel like they could become. We didn't want to become a kind of suburban country day school. We wanted people to be able to continue having. Having projects that they could help with in, in Portland. But you know, we, in the end, we really were limited in what we could find. And so one of the. So parent. Getting together with parents to talk about those decisions and also then helping, helping. They helped us to think about who is it that we are as a school, what's important to us now that we are. At that point we were seven years old and what makes us who we are. And then that connection with the natural world really came through in the meetings that we had. And then we invited larger community into meetings to talk about the early designs of the school and got some feedback there and, and got people excited to kind of join. Join with us to get the building built. So it did start out with a lot of meetings.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, that is an interesting question. And that is if you look at the school as an organism, what is the identity of the organism? Because so many different. It's kind of like the parable of the people touching the elephant and the

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

guy touches the trunk and he says the elephant looks like this.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And the guy touches the tail and he says the elephant looks like this. You have a lot of people touching the organism.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

That is your school.

Jenny Rowe:

That's right.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So what did you.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I know you have this connection with the natural world and the idea of stewardship. What would you consider to be the identity that is commonly accepted?

Jenny Rowe:

Well, I think that students. I think students feel that school is a place that feels both kind of comfortable, like home, but challenging, and that allows them to try different things and to feel safe about that. So I think students picture themselves being outdoors, even if it's just at recess. Our littlest preschoolers go out and kindergartners are out for an hour a day. It doesn't matter what the weather is. On the coldest days, they're out trudging around and finding things and making things. And so that. I think that that's how students often think of themselves when they come to school. They've just got a lot of freedom to explore. Even just on the edge of the swing sets, there are some wonderful patches of partridge berry and ferns, and they're spending a lot of time creating little spaces in that early forest. I think to other people, it's a. It's a place where Quaker values really are brought to life. And I think most of the people who come to the Friends School aren't Quakers and won't be Quakers, but they do talk about the values of simplicity and peace and integrity, community equality, and then that stewardship piece. And it's really about figuring out how to. To take care of your community and how to take care of the world and putting your beliefs into practice. And so it's really a little bit about becoming an activist at your level. And if you see something that needs to be changed, having, being encouraged to have a voice to do that, you're

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

still called the Friends School of Portland. And you've said that you have connections still with projects in Portland. What types of things are you doing within the greater community?

Jenny Rowe:

Last week, our third and fourth graders went and did some stenciling of storm drains in Portland. You've seen this water flows into Casco Bay. So that's something that we've done each year. We've invited people from refugee resettlement organizations to come and speak with our older students in the last several years. And we've had some clothing collection for, well, teens at the teen shelter that was put together by two kindergarteners who collected socks and towels for the teens in the teen shelter. Earlier this year, we've had some of our students go and. And read to people at retirement communities. And we've also been able to host Parenting for Peace events, our speaker series that we've invited educators in the area. And parents are people of all. They don't need to be parents to come. But twice a year, we've either had an event at HannaFord hall at USM or at the school itself to discuss issues that are of importance all the way from gender identity to. To the importance of. Of allowing kids to Be part of nature to, you know, to what? I can't think of anything else but there, you know, many a range of. Of topics that are of interest to the larger group of people in this area.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Having spent time in New Hampshire and Costa Rica and I know you've lived in other places, what was the draw of mean for you?

Jenny Rowe:

It was really the Friend School of Portland. I'd been at the Friend School in Monteverde and as I moved back to New Hampshire I had realized that the school was being. There was a Quaker school that was being established on an island in Maine. And I kind of kept my ears open for that really. We're at this point we're the only Friends school in northern New England. And so when I heard about the position being open, I knew it was something that I wanted to find out more about. And it's really not that far from where I had been living. But it's lovely to be living in a city after many, many years and being part of a. And Portland is just the right size for me. And in some ways I feel like I've come home again. Being at the Friends School,

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

you and I have children in their 20s, so we've both seen how things move along as parents from relative dependence to relative independence. It also affords us as individuals to look at our own lives and see where we've moved and how we've evolved and how we've developed. What have you noticed about your own development as a person?

Jenny Rowe:

Oh, Well, I think that I continue to appreciate the people around me quite a bit. I think I realized that there's such power in community and learning from paying attention to what students are offering have to offer, including parents and especially just trusting and really supporting the faculty to do their best work is pretty much what my life is about. So that I have a great deal of appreciation for the people around me and kind of a. Kind of an extra large sense of responsibility to make things right for them.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

That's a very good answer. I know that it was putting you on the spot a little bit. And it is sometimes I think it is really hard to think about even on the spot. Like, you know, yes, as a person I've evolved just as the students that I'm teaching or in my case the patients that I care for have evolved. But I think that's sort of the bottom line, isn't it? That we're all constantly in evolution, that hopefully none of us are ever in one place and that's where we're going to live and die.

Jenny Rowe:

Forever. And that's one of the great things about being at a school, is that nothing stay, nothing changes, nothing stays the same. There are these core values that you hope to bring with you, but you can change traditions, you can change and just the addition of three new students or the loss of three graduating students just always means things are fresh and in a small school that individuals can make such a difference.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Jenny how can people find out about the work that's being done at the Friends School?

Jenny Rowe:

Well, if you go to the Friends School of Portland's website, you can find out about the building, you can find out about the staff, and you can also find out about admissions, open houses. So you could come and take a look at the school on those days and see the teachers in their classrooms and just get a sense for what things feel like.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We've been speaking with Jenny Rowe, who is the head of school of the Friends School of Portland. She's been doing this since 2012. I really appreciate your coming in and talking to me today. I completely believe that as you do, that we all have something to teach and something to learn. So I think I've learned a lot from you. Thank you.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

This next topic of conversation is one that I find very important and have been writing about as a doctor and actually dealing with as a doctor as well for really my entire medical career. And that is the ecology of the inner home and how it impacts our health. My guest today is an individual who knows something about this both personally and professionally. This is Jan Robinson, who is the owner of Ecohome Studio. Jan has been in the interior design business for 25 years. Originally from South Berwick, she now lives in Gorham with her husband and she has two grown children. Thanks so much for coming in today.

Jan Robinson:

You're welcome. Thanks for having me.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

I'm interested in your own personal story because I think that this dictated really the work that you're doing now with EcoHome. So tell me a little bit about that.

Jan Robinson:

It did. I've always had allergies as a child. I remember having headaches and I always had sinus infections and ear infections and all of that. But as I got older, then I developed asthma. And mostly it was from environmental things, you know, hay fever and that kind of thing, trees, mold, all of that. But when I started building a home in Gorham 18 years ago, I started researching some of the products that you build your house with and what's in them and decided very quickly that that definitely would have some impact on my asthma. And I really wanted to make an effort to have my house be as toxin free as we could afford it to be. So avoiding, you know, particle board, plywood, things that had formaldehyde in them, having solid wood cabinetry, those kinds of things, we put radiant heat in our flooring so that it wasn't blowing the dust around. Those kinds of choices that really have an impact on my asthma. So that was sort of the beginning of my journey with finding out what's in all of those things that we bring into our home in Maine.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It's especially important because we spend so much time inside with the windows shut.

Jan Robinson:

Well, our homes are so tight, we have to super insulate our homes to save energy. And especially new homes today are really, really tight. So all of those toxins just build up inside our homes. And we're living with them, we're breathing them.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You also had experience working as a draper and working in the drapery field.

Jenny Rowe:

Right.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

And this was an early sort of professional understanding that even the fabric that you are handling.

Jan Robinson:

Absolutely. I started my business as a drapery workroom. And I started to realize that the busier I got, the more my fingers and my hands would crack and peel and that it was really from the chemicals that are used to make textiles. I don't know what the math is, but it's a huge amount of chemicals that they use for the dyes and the processing. Especially if you get into anything that's 100% cotton, which is, you know, I've always been somebody who liked natural fibers. I always like to wear cotton. But the truth of the matter is, cotton is one of the most toxic fibers there is and most devastating to our environment. Even organic cotton. But a conventional cotton, they use so many pesticides and herbicides and fungicides and water just to grow it. And then once it's grown, the chemicals they use to process it are just unbelievable. So even if you see some natural cotton or all natural cotton product, I would avoid it. And organic cotton is better. It doesn't have all of those chemicals, but it still uses an awful lot of water to get it to grow. So not the best fiber, really. And that's just the beginning of the chemicals that are used to make the textiles that we live with. It's the dyes, it's just chromium, all of those kinds of things.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So, yeah, it's interesting. As we're talking, I'm thinking about this long background that we have here in Maine as factories, as working in factories. My ancestors worked there. I know lots of Mainers have similar stories. And some of the factories were actually related to the garment industry. Some of them were related to the shoe industry, some were paper. But in each of these, there were processes that were actually damaging to the individuals who were dealing with them really bad.

Jan Robinson:

I grew up in South Berwick. We had a shoe factory. And then the next town over there was a tannery, a leather tannery. And I remember walking to school every morning past this shoe factory and smelling the glues that they used to make the shoes and. And thinking even at a really early age, this can't be good. This just can't be good. And you know, those people were in there, they did have the windows open pretty much all year round, the workers did. But I can't even imagine what some of those people were inhaling and how it's affected or how it affected their health. I mean, they closed down, I don't know, probably in the 80s or late 70s, I can't remember. But all of those things that they inhaled and had to work with day after day, you Got to wonder.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

It's interesting because as you're talking and I'm thinking about your personal, I guess, genetic and health makeup, you are more sensitive to what you are handling in the fabrics. You are also more sensitive to what you are inhaling with your lungs. But not everybody has those sensitivities, so they might be exposing themselves to things that they don't even realize are harming them in the long term.

Jan Robinson:

I agree, and I think I'm very tuned into it. I've always been somebody who really paid attention to what my body is telling me. And so when I say that I'm chemically sensitive, I kind of think everybody is. But some people just don't pay attention to it. For me, when I walk into, I don't want to get sued, but some of these home goods type stores, not home goods, the store, but some like a Walmart, I guess, sue me. My nose and my eyes just burn, just burn. And a lot of it is the products. Well, I know it's the products that they've got in there that they're just dumping by the container full into their stores.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We also don't quite realize that some of the scents that we use to mask chemical smells are actually themselves harmful.

Jan Robinson:

Yeah, yeah. You know, especially with, you know, women's products, perfumes, all of those kinds of things. And then, you know, the products we use in our home, Febreze or any of those, the things that you plug in, those are actually harmful chemicals that you really shouldn't be using. There's lots of other natural things that you can do. You know, boil some cinnamon in a pan, you know, on your stove, or I don't know, rub some lemon all over your counters. There's a lot of other things you can do if you really need to mask scents. But besides Lysol or any of those type of things, and yet this is

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

something that we've been conditioned to expect. The reason that Febreze actually has a scent, my understanding is that when they introduced a scent, free Febreze, which was used to get rid of odors, people didn't think it was doing anything. So they said, we need a scent. And we are actually now asking for this.

Jan Robinson:

Right, right. And baking soda does just as good a job. You know, it's like most people keep baking soda in the refrigerator to absorb some of the bad scents. And it's at least much better than any of those things that you spray. And I mean, my theory is we're exposed to so many things that we don't even know about why not avoid the things that we do? And that's kind of been my approach with my store, is just if I know something's in, if there's formaldehyde and piece of furniture, I'm not gonna buy it.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Well, Jan, tell me about your store and your process. When someone comes to your store, it's called eco home. So they have some expectation that you're doing something that is good for the person, good for the environment. How do people usually find you and what would be the reason for someone to decide to come into your store?

Jan Robinson:

Unfortunately, a lot of people find me by accident still. But people that have chemical sensitive history or asthma. A lot of the people that come in are coming in, they're worried about their children. Maybe they have young kids. And the thought of having their child laying on the sofa breathing formaldehyde or fire retardants is of concern to them. And I'm not. What I have in my store isn't 100% toxin free. And that's the one thing I don't want people to think that it is completely toxin free. It's still there. But what I have in my store is as good as you can get. My cushions and my sofas have no formaldehyde. They use water based adhesives, so there's no formaldehyde. A lot of the adhesives they use is where the formaldehyde is. And some of the plywoods that they use in constructing furniture, some of the furniture you buy in the big box stores are made from particle board, which is really just soaked in formaldehyde. So, you know, my biggest goal with my store is to at least start the conversation and start educating people that there is a lot of harmful chemicals in the things that we bring in our home. The fabrics and fabrics are still difficult to find, that are healthier. There are certain standards. They're beginning to be organizations that monitor and test fabrics. And so I tell people to just look for third party companies that rate these. Like the Ecotex standards is one of them that I can think of. And I have a line of fabrics that have been run through those. And basically what they do is test them for some of the worst, most noxious chemicals and make sure that those aren't in them. Doesn't mean they're chemical free, but they at least there's no formaldehyde in the fabrics or some of them have chromium in them, so they test for those worst chemicals. So my biggest goal with the store, like I said, is to educate people and start the conversation.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So do you carry a full range of furniture and draperies and anything that one would use to actually design the inside of a home?

Jan Robinson:

I do. I do. I have furniture, I have fabrics. I have a local customer workroom that will do any kind of sewing. My furniture is all made in the United States. I have. Most everything I have is made in the United States. I have a lot of local products I'm actually kind of working right now. Haven't nailed the deal yet, but with another local craftsperson who makes lots of really wonderful products for the home to decorate your home with. And to me, that is eco friendly and that you're supporting our local economy and local artisans. But she also uses fabrics that are made in the US and have a lot of recycled content in them. I have lamps that are made out of recycled glass. I have some glassware made out of recycled glass soy candles which burn clean. And they're actually made here in Maine with cotton wicks and no fragrance or light fragrance from essential oils. So there's a lot of different choices you can make. If you like to do things like burn candles, which a lot of people do, which is another big thing. There's the candles that you buy at your big box stores are made from a petroleum based product. So you're burning all kinds of chemicals into your home. And it's just as bad as the Lysol or any of the other types of things that we do to scent our homes. You're really not doing yourself any favor by burning those.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

You started your store four years ago,

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

and your background is not only in interior design, but you also have a business degree.

Jan Robinson:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So you're kind of bringing together the art and the business of all of this.

Jenny Rowe:

Yes.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Have you found that the economic environment is more favorable for the work that you're doing these days?

Jan Robinson:

It is, yeah. It was a little bit difficult when I first started. 2012 was really sort of the end of the Great Recession. But each year I'm seeing people, especially this year, people are really getting into, you know, remodeling and renovating. And I'm seeing a lot more building happening and it's been good. So

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

you also, in your own home, have done some work with solar panels and other things that are sort of looking at the environment in a bigger way.

Jan Robinson:

Yes, I'm very fortunate. My husband has a plumbing and heating business. So we have added solar panels that heat our hot water, which is really great. In the summer, we don't have to run our furnace at all for hot water for our 20 somethings that take 45 minute showers. And we have, we installed some heat pumps, mini splits. We have two in our house now, one on the first floor and one in the basement in my son's man cave. And you know, the benefit of that has been huge because we always had to run a dehumidifier in the basement to keep it from smelling musty. Because mold is another one of my big triggers and those consume a lot of energy. And with the mini split running, we didn't have to run it at all and barely saw a blip on our electric bill. So those are very, very efficient. And in the mornings, like this morning, it was very cold when I came down for my breakfast and turned on my little mini split and it heats the first floor. I don't have to run the furnace. So yeah, we've really made an effort to have an energy efficient home as well as the products that we brought in not have toxic products.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

So I'm sure that I should know this. But what is a mini split?

Jan Robinson:

They're not the most attractive thing aesthetically. When my husband brought it in, I said, oh no, that does not please the designer. But they are installed on an outside wall and they run off electricity and they provide both heating and air conditioning and very, very efficiently. So it's, they're. I think my husband's installing them over and over and over right now. Everybody wants them.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Why are they called mini splits?

Jan Robinson:

I have no idea.

Jenny Rowe:

Well, we'll have to get your husband

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

on the show so he can explain

Jenny Rowe:

this further for us.

Jan Robinson:

But they're efficient and that's very efficient. So, you know, when I look at being eco friendly, I look at a lot of different things. I think it's great to be as energy efficient as you can, but I also think it's great to work toward using it, recycling and reusing and keeping the toxins out of our house. There's just so many facets of living sustainably that I think are important.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Your children are now 22 and 25, so they've been with you throughout this entire interior design business that you've been working on. What types of lessons do you think they've come away with?

Jan Robinson:

Well, they used to call me the Nazi recycler, but so they're pretty good at recycling, you know, cans or whatever products in the house. My son actually works for my husband. He's the air conditioning specialist. He's kind of the guy that installs those mini splits. So, you know, for him, he's, he's very knowledgeable about energy efficiency and I think both of my kids are very eco conscious and my daughter just bought her first house at 22 years old. I think is pretty amazing. But you know, I think she's making very thoughtful choices as far as what she's doing with her own home. Now.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Are you finding that when you go out into the community to talk about things like this that people are more receptive than they once were?

Jan Robinson:

Much more so than I expected actually. That's been one of the most surprising things with this business. When I first started this journey and shopping for the products that I wanted to bring into my store and I would talk to salespeople and for the vendors that I buy from and they would say things like people don't care about whether it's eco friendly or not. And I would reply, well, they do in Maine. I think people in Maine really appreciate the beautiful environment that we live in and want to keep it as beautiful as it is. And like you said, we do spend a lot of time indoors in the winter. So you know, we want to be able to have good air to breathe. So yeah, I've been very surprised at how receptive people are to making smarter choices.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Is it also getting more cost effective to buy eco friendly and body friendly products?

Jan Robinson:

Most definitely. I think there's a lot more available now. Just what I'm seeing in the furniture industry, I think most us made furniture now is moving toward removing the formaldehyde from any of the products that they use to construct the furniture with. A lot more of them are offering textiles that are made out of recycled products and a lot more of them. If you go on their websites, any of the big retail manufacturers, they are paying more attention to how they handle sustainability within their manufacturing plants and their recycling, repurposing, being more efficient with their heat. A lot of them are installing solar heat and so I think there's a lot more products available. And there's also, I think what you're going to find is probably in another four or five years you're going to start seeing the manufacturers labeling as we do with our foods, what's in the furniture. Because there's a huge push in Washington to do so and I think a lot of the manufacturers are going to probably jump the gun before they're forced to.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We've been talking about some of the shorter term health impacts like asthma and allergies. We also know that there are longer term potentially impacts reproductive issues. You mentioned people wanting to have healthy furniture for their children to lie on, we know that some of these toxins have been linked to cancers, primary cancers in children, primary and secondary cancers in children and adults. So this is a longer term initiative and one that we need to pay attention to.

Jan Robinson:

Absolutely. And I really think that people need to develop a voice about it. I think if it's demanded, I think as consumers, if we start demanding, we want to know what we're exposing our children to and ourselves to, and we want to know what's in these products that we're bringing in our homes. I think it's really, really important. And I think, you know, the Natural Resources Council of Maine is doing a lot in that end and there's many, many other organizations that are trying to bring that to the forefront. But I think, you know, if consumers demand it, it'll happen. It's just a lot more of the home fur are being brought back to being manufactured here in the United States because consumers are demanding it. We don't want the stuff that's being created over here from overseas. So I think it's a matter of if people know that there's some nasty stuff in our home furnishings and start asking, contact your legislators or counselors or whatever. Just have a voice and educate yourselves

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

honestly, in the name of compassion, for whomever might be creating furniture that has formaldehyde in it, even in other parts of the world. I mean, it's not any better for people who are working in those factories than it once was for people who are creating that same sort of furniture here.

Jan Robinson:

No, it's not. In fact, I had a conversation with a sales rep not long ago who used to rep a line of case goods, which is wood products. And he went to the factory in Vietnam where they were being manufactured. And he said they were spraying the finishes on these tables and whatnot with no masks, nothing to help them breathe in an big open space. And the factory had little, almost like a ditch running down aisles where the overspray would go into those ditches, run out into the streets and into the rivers. That's the other thing is when people are buying products, ask where they're made because you know that that's, that's just. It may be overseas, it may be that far away from us, but eventually it's. It's one big ocean and it will impact us.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Jan, for people who are interested in finding out more about ecohome, where can they find you?

Jan Robinson:

They can find me online. My website is ecohomestudio.com and they can call me stop in 334 Forest Avenue in Portland in the old Pier 1 building. For those of us who've been here

Jenny Rowe:

for a while

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

and I remember Pier 1, I'm glad to know that you've taken over that space because I enjoyed that store and I'm sure that you're filling it appropriately.

Jan Robinson:

And I hear that all the time. People say, oh, I miss the old Pier 1. So yeah, it's a good space to be in.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

Any final thoughts?

Jenny Rowe:

I guess I would just ask people,

Jan Robinson:

please ask where your product, what you're buying, where it's made and how it's made. Just ask that question. If the salesperson doesn't know the answer, don't buy it. Don't bring it in your home.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

We've been speaking with Jan Robinson from ecohome Studio. I really appreciate all the thoughtfulness that you have put into the work that you're doing, and I appreciate the time you've taken to come in and speak with us today.

Jenny Rowe:

Thanks so much.

Dr. Lisa Belisle:

been listening to LoveMain radio show number 218, indoor eco ecosystems at Home and at School. Our guests have included Jenny Rowe and Jan Robinson. We love to hear from you, so please let us know what you think of lovemain Radio. We welcome your suggestions for future shows. Also let our sponsors know that you have heard about them here. We are privileged that they enable us to bring Lovemain radio to you each week. This is Dr. Lisa Belisle. I hope that you have enjoyed our Indoor Ecosystems at Home and at School show. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your day. May you have a bountiful life.

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