Scatter rugs, pointy corners, small toy pieces and lit ranges come to mind when thinking household hazards. A growing movement, however, is looking toward your shelves - the Lysol, Clorox, Joy, the Ajax. In the bathroom, the Softsoap, Glade, Colgate, Listerine. The stacks of paints and chemicals in the garage. Your appliances, light bulbs, and cars.

The EPA's "Every Day is Earth Day" page suggests replacing incandescents with long-lasting bulbs, composting instead of burning household debris and yard waste, storing chemicals safely out of reach, considering a hybrid and reducing driving time, utilizing town toxins disposal and recycling, purchasing Energy Star appliances, planting trees, and reading labels carefully on household products. The EPA's Total Exposure Assessment Methodology (TEAM) tested levels of a dozen common organic pollutants and found them to be five times higher inside homes than outside, in both rural and industrial areas.

"There are 80,000 household products in the country, and only 10 percent have been tested for safety," says Tedd Saunders, a recipient of numerous environmental awards who, as Executive Vice President of Environmental Affairs, runs the Saunders Hotel Group with his father Roger and his three brothers.

It’s true. There are no laws regulating cleaning products to list ingredients, or to test. A 2004 British Medical Association study report links common cleaners and body-care products, which contain Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)s, phosphorous, chlorine, formaldehyde and bleach, to dramatic increases in many diseases, including an over 100 percent increase in asthma deaths in young children, over the last 20 years.

Chlorine (also "sodium hypochlorite" or "hypochlorite"), often used in small, poorly-ventilated areas, is harmful to the lungs. “Volatilization” of chlorine products also occurs during laundry or dishwasher cycles, releasing fumes into the air. In paper goods, it’s even deadlier, causing the formation of carcinogenic dioxins in the body. Dry cleaning? The EPA’s Indoor Air Quality fact sheet states that perchloroethylene causes cancer in animals, and low levels permeate homes that store dry-cleaned items.

Many people feel these effects are minimal, but in fact, they are cumulative, weakening our immune systems. The EPA cites over 11,420 deaths a year from indoor air pollution alone. Manufacturing processes also leach toxins into food and water, and create waste, destroying fish, animals and plant life.

What to do? You can make your own cleaners with baking soda, white vinegar and other harmless yet effective ingredients, or easily buy them at supermarkets, health stores, or online. Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods and most supermarkets have natural cleaners as well as unbleached coffee filters and paper goods.

“If every home in America changed one incandescent lightbulb to a CFL, it could shut down a nuclear power plant,” says Jessica Lerner of Newton, who operates "Green on the Inside: Creating Healthy Habitats and Sustainable Lifestyles” (greenontheinside@gmail.com). Lerner, who holds a masters' degree in Environmental Studies from Brown University, says earth-friendly changes are also good for one’s wallet. “You may only need one organic household cleaner for many tasks, or you end up spending less money because you're buying less.”

Jennifer Kaplan, who is producing and directing the documentary film “A Lighter Footprint” (www.alighterfooprintfilm.com), composts, walks and bikes, and uses canvas, never a plastic bag from any store. Kaplan purchased a front-loading washing machine which uses much less water, and insulated her hot water pipes. She uses a rain barrel to water her garden, and air-dries her dishwasher dishes.

Kaplan belongs to Newton’s Green Decade (www.greendecade.org), where VP Dan Ruben pulled out his Franklin Planner. “I’ve reduced my electricity use by 37 percent, oil use by 40 percent, and driving by 71 percent,” he read. Ruben never uses A/C, and puts both reflectors on his heaters to push heat toward the middle, and pans of water to help warm rooms. He had a home energy audit, and purchases renewable energy credits from the Mass. Energy Consumers Alliance. Ruben makes his own cleaners. An avid composter, he only uses one small bag of garbage every six months. “I recycle everything I can and often don't buy things with wrappers; I use handkerchiefs, and no disposables,” he said. Even in Newton, he grows much of his own vegetables.

"Hotels bridge the gap between the business and the home environment," says Tedd Saunders. "What we've done is to bring eco-tourism out of the jungle and into the urban setting." SHG’s Lenox and Comfort Inn & Suites/Airport in Revere are considered two of the leading hotels in the environmental movement. "We're trying to not only green our facilities, but to create a ripple effect," said Saunders, who noted that tourism is the world's largest industry.

The hotels’ features include longlife bulbs, EnergyStar equipment, low-energy windows, auto-shut off HVAC for uninhabited rooms, “Green-seal” paints and materials, natural air fresheners, unbleached toilet paper, low-flow toilets, faucets and showerheads, no-chlorine laundry system, non-perc Zoots dry cleaning, bamboo and reclaimed wood flooring, Tom’s and Aveda amenities and toothbrushes and razors with recycled Stonyfield yogurt container handles. A “Vendormiser” minimizes motor use; ambient air rather than water cools the ice machines. An eco- television channel and Union for Concerned Scientists’ environmental book is in every guest room. Guests receive an eco-chic weekend package with Charlie Cards, a green map and environmental magazine. SHG uses compressed natural gas-run vans, and has offset all their electricity use through credits that help build wind turbines in the coal-oriented Midwest.

Saunders also not only talks, he walks - in Loomstate organic cotton jeans. He drives a Prius, and his home, with new windows, insulation, nontoxic paint and Seventh Generation and Ecover cleaners, reflects his hotel innovations. There wasn't an aha moment, he says. Although his mother, Nina, was a Holocaust survivor who taught the family to value everything, "it's not born out of the tragedy of the Holocaust but rather, to appreciate what you have, make the most of it, and not waste.” A Brookline native, Saunders sits on numerous, mainly environmental-related boards.

"As we are a third-generation business," he says, "there's a commitment to legacy, not just quarterly returns. We not only feel that it's the right thing to do, but we believe that everything doesn't have to pay back in the first year to make sense."