An op-ed piece written by Marilyn:
I had an exaggeration of my awakening with my dad’s health crisis. His immune system had become so weak. He literally felt like he had a few weeks to live. He listened to my comments about using nontoxic house hold cleaners, nontoxic topical cosmetics, organic food, using non-toxic materials on the remodel in his house, escaping the extreme mold in his house from the humid climate and the accumulated mold in his air-conditioning unit. My dad would listen and say he’s switching his consuming habits, but the toxic cleaners and bug repellants never vacated the premises. He would buy the “less expensive cosmetics, cleaners, food, etc. or else say that the healthy products weren’t available in his neighborhood. When he moved from North Carolina to northern Washington State, he really wanted to be able to move into a toxic-free healthy house, but they do not exist for the average consumer. He is considered building one. For an 85 year old man with tenuous health, however, waiting a year or more for plans, permits, bidding and construction, can be too long, not to mention the overwhelming challenge of explaining green building to a conventional contractor. My heart cries that my father cannot immediately occupy a healthy “green” nontoxic residential unit. The bottom line is- it’s a shame that prefab green residential units are not a common available option for the general consumer now. My dream is that in the not too far off future a consumer could call someplace like Sears, order their unit with their internet electronic banking card, and have it shipped to the desired address for immediate occupancy.