reening everything in your home when pregnant can leave you feeling safe at a vulnerable time. But eventually you’ll have to go outside – and, sadly, most destinations won’t be as green as your home.

Run-of-the-mill offices (we’re talking cubicle farms, not hospitals, factories, or say, nail salons) are notoriously ungreen. The air – likely recirculated – is filled with a heady cocktail of probable carcinogens, neurotoxins, lung irritants, and the like, thanks to flame retardants in electronic equipment, fumes from toners, ink cartridges, and office supplies, industrial cleaning product residues, pesticides sprayed to combat rodents and roaches, and off-gassing chemicals from paint jobs and particleboard furniture. Ick.

Don’t panic or feel like you have to quit your job. Even in a work environment, employees can make – or at least ask for – changes.

Office Supplies

• Speak with a manager in charge of purchasing and tell them you’re interested in having the company use green cleaning products, supplies, pesticides, and the like. If they’re not responsive, see if your coworkers are. There is strength in numbers.

• If you know the office is about to paint or buy new computers, or furniture, speak up en masse. Suggest no or low VOC paints, computer manufacturers that restrict their suppliers’ use of the most toxic chemical flame retardants (like Dell), and solid wood or metal furniture. 

• Ask that large machines like photocopiers be kept in well-ventilated rooms away from workers.

• Suggest that the supply closet be stocked with VOC-free glues and permanent markers, plus water-based correction fluids. The questionable chemicals in conventional versions can be absorbed through skin as well as inhaled.

Small Changes You Can Personally Make

• On a personal level, keep plants – nature’s air filters – on your desk.

• Open windows (if possible) for ventilation and go for walks for fresh air.

• Always wash your hands after typing and before eating if said walk leads you to lunch.

Lunch Time

Speaking of lunch, it can be a challenge trying to find a healthy meal, but a little bit of planning and deliberating will keep you from reaching for a quick fix of packaged food. 

• Always have things like organic dried fruit, cereal, nuts, and granola in your desk to graze on.

• Packing your lunch obviously gives you the greatest control over your food (carry anything you bring from home – organic yogurts, chicken, hummus, hard-boiled eggs – in glass instead of plastic to cut down on potentially leaching chemicals, particularly if it’s going to be heated up).

• Eating well outside of the office? Keep your eyes peeled for organic options in the neighborhood, and suggest them if you’re going out with friends. These days most restaurants have at least a few organic or greener items on their menus, so ask questions and find out if there’s any hormone-and-antibiotic-free chicken or local low- or no-sprayed veggies. 

• If you eat in your company cafeteria and the pickings are slim, suggest that they offer at minimum a few organic fruits and vegetables, or choose the least contaminated non-organic. (They are: asparagus, avocados, bananas, broccoli, cauliflower, corn, kiwis, mangoes, onions, papaya, peas, and pineapple – if that seems hard to remember, keep a list in your wallet.)

• And finally, use a reusable bottle to transport your beverage of choice to avoid potential leaching (and save the earth while you’re at it!). An old-school glass jam jar will do, or lighter metal versions can be found from SIGG or Klean Kanteen.