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Mary Cordaro
President and Founder
H3Environmental

SESSION DESCRIPTION

Sustainable Interiors

Invisible hazards are hard to fathom, but the gases and particulates that float in the air around us pose measurable threats to human and environmental health. Though most discussion of green building emphasizes energy and construction materials above all, it’s essential to consider indoor air quality when planning an environmentally responsible project.

Interior design decisions can determine a household’s health, from the paint on the walls to the stuffing in the cushions. Many chemical treatments and synthetic materials go into making interiors resistant to stain, mold, fire, and even wrinkles, but most of those convenience-enhancing compounds - such as formaldehyde, phthalates and pesticides - damage the body while they’re in the house, and the earth once they’ve been relegated to a landfill.

In this session our speakers will reveal entrenched interior design strategies that keep toxic products in use, and the solutions they’ve devised to create more healthful environments that still maintain high aesthetic standards.

SPEAKER BIO

Mary Cordaro is the president and Founder of H3Environmental, Corp. specializing in The Mary Cordaro Collection of healthy bedroom products, consulting on healthy, green home building and remodeling, diagnosing and solving ‘sick building syndrome’, and education. Applicable to both the diagnosis of and solutions for the existing ‘sick home’, as well as the building and remodeling of new homes, Cordaro’s integrated approach is unique. She synthesizes the fields of Bau-Biologie, Building Science, and green building with an overlay of the low consumption, ecological lifestyle. In short, this practical integration addresses the indoor environmental concerns associated with both human as well as planetary health. Mary has applied her extensive experience and knowledge of healthy materials to developing her own line of healthy, organic mattresses and bedding.

Cordaro has been working in the field of healthy, ecological building since 1989 having started by extensively researching to correct problems in her own home. She then decided to use this knowledge to help her clients, many of whom, like herself, are either sensitive to conventional building and interior materials, or concerned about the manufacturing, use and disposal of materials and their effect on human and planetary health. For the past 18 years Cordaro has been directing a team of specialists who work together to test for and abate contaminants in the home, including electromagnetic fields, mold and chemicals. Cordaro also specifies building materials and systems for healthy indoor air quality and low electromagnetic fields. She and her team consult with homeowners and tenants, as well as architects, contractors, designers, health practitioners and medical doctors.

Using over one and a half decades of experience and her academic and professional background in adult learning and instructional design, Cordaro lectures and teaches around the country. She is also currently developing an educational curriculum, which will offer the average homeowner protocols and procedures on environmental home maintenance, do-it-yourself testing and solutions for common home contaminants, as well as the use of healthier, ecological interior and building materials.