August 2nd - HIATUS

While moving to another city, I'll be putting the blog and the show on hiatus until I can get established pod-casting.
Its been a great way to coerce myself into doing research about sustainability issues that I may not have otherwise done on my own.
Again, no one person can turn their life around over night. There are still many changes I know I can make, and many yet to be discovered.
It's hard to be positive about sustainable alternatives when you see others turn a blind eye to human right abuses, or environmental abuses in favour of cheap candy bars or cheap clothes. We all have little voices that justify seemingly innocent acts, like buying a candy bar, by not connecting it with large scale exploitation, or by whatever allowances we give ourselves. Its true that without legislation preventing unethical business practice, theres always going to be the person who would rather save a buck to get ahead.

We're not as far off from changing the global market as we think. There are already millions of supporters for hundreds of organizations that deal specifically with getting these types of legislation in place! For anyone who feels alone or hopeless in their decision to change their buying habits can find plenty of support, advice, and guidance online and in their own home towns. Its easy to feel alone when the people you see regularly (family, work, friends) are apathetic, but the sustainable movement has reached many corners, and it often does just take a little looking around and meeting new people to find that support, but its out there for sure!

So long story short; I now know a lot more about sustainability and got to share it. Once I get set up I'll probably take the show down to a bi-weekly hour-long set. I hope to be able to go more in depth with each topic that way, and work on increasing the professional quality of the show.

What a great start though. Thanks for reading!

JULY 15th - GREEN WASHING

the SIX SINS of green washing

So I talked alot about the eco-logo requirements for products. Here are some of them:

"The EcoLogo Program addresses these challenges by establishing strict requirements for volatile organic compounds (VOCs), biodegradability and aquatic toxicity. The net environmental benefit will be reduced human health impacts, less potential for smog formation, and reduced toxicity in aquatic media." (LINK)

FOR EXAMPLE:
To be authorized to carry the EcoLogo, paint and varnish removers must:

• * Be effective and safe to use;
• * Be accompanied by detailed instructions for use and disposal;
• * Contain less than 250 mg/l VOCs;
• * Be biodegradable; and
• * Have low aquatic toxicity (LC50 or EC50 no greater than 100 mg/l for fish, algae and microorganisms).
  

Examples of certified products:

• Napier Paint Stripper
• Zebra Pens Example product
  

And these are just handy and cool for people in the woodz:

• Solio Solar Chargers

...AND I MENTIONED THAT I GOT SOAPNUTS!
look what they can do!

July 8th - MAKE UP

My Make Up Ingredients:

Free Beauty Tips .Org
Make up ingredient list

Organic makeup companies:
MEA Cosmetics (Canadian)
The Organic Makeup Company
A List of where to find organic/safe cosmetics and skin care products in Ontario

some main-stream journalism is catching on for the wrong reasons.

More Extensive:
filly . ca
A san-fran newspaper
Cosmetic Ingredient Dictionary
Ten Synthetic Cosmetic Ingredients to Avoid
Research on SLS
Research on Parabens
Triethanolamine

Artist Links:
Canary Mine
Ryan Adams
CAKE
Wassabi Collective
Hawksley Workman
Jonas Bonnetta
Big Rude Jake
Fleet Foxes

JULY 1st - VINEGAR!

I asked members of the show's Facebook group to pass on their tips for green cleaning. There was alot of overlap, and vinegar/baking soda were mentioned a lot. I decided to turn this weeks show into an homage to vinegar in celebration of all the things it can replace!

Finding links for green cleaning was the easiest thing I've ever done. Lots of people out there are looking to save cash (eco-fan or not) and green cleaning does a great job of that. I'm spending the show reading off of the Good Human website because it's list was the most extensive.

THE STARS OF ECO-HOME CLEANING:

• Vinegar!
• Warm Water
• Baking Soda
• Borax
  
• Lemon & Lemon Juice
• Lime & Lime juice
• Salt
• Olive Oil
  

*note that none of these are poisonous (but children should stay away from borax)!
One Person's experience with using vinegar for the first time.

Below are the eco-home tips that The Good Human didn't cover:

• Clothes too destroyed for donation? Cut them up into rags!
  
• Keep old toothbrushes after they're no good for your mouth, they are still good for getting into nooks and crannies in your dishes, or nick knacks.
• Avoid wall-to-wall carpeting at all costs! Once you have it you are doomed to needing a working vacuum cleaner. Not to mentions that all the ways to clean hard surfaces, don't require electricity!
• Cornstarch – Not only is it good for thickening sauces, but also it also absorbs oil and grease.
• Isopropyl Alcohol – Great to use as a disinfectant when added to water, but use sparingly around children.
• Optimize Your Fridge:
• Refrigerators are major energy consumers, but there are ways you can fine-tune your fridge without replacing it. Defrost the freezer regularly, keeping frost levels under 6mm. Keep your fridge full so that less air escapes when you open it - but don't fill it so much that circulation is blocked altogether. Don't keep the fridge cooler than is necessary. Clean the coils behind the fridge and the grill below the doors about four times a year.
• Laundry Tips
• For stains, try soaking fabrics in water mixed with one of the following: Borax, lemon juice, hydrogen peroxide, or white vinegar.
• For fabric softening, add a quarter cup of baking soda to the wash cycle.
• For static cling, add a quarter cup of white vinegar to the wash water.
• To soften water, use a soap-based, rather than detergent-based, cleaner.
• Buy laundry products in containers that are recyclable.
• Still got static cling? Try a ball of aluminum foil in the dryer. It works!
• Indoor Climate Control:
• Curtains and window coverings are your best friend in the summer.
• Clear plastic, and white sheets are your best friend in the winter.
• Use floor length curtains around the bottom of your stairs to keep the top floor from overheating, and the main floor from over cooling.
• Floors:
• Hempseed oil and beeswax are fantastic non-toxic, pure and safe finishing oils that provide clean coatings as well as protect wood grains and painted surfaces. Both can be used for walls, decks, furniture, antiques, and floors. They’re safe to use on your children’s wooden toys, cutting boards, and butchers block countertops!
• Here’s a great recipes to add to your home collection: 1/8 cup hemp oil (olive oil or vegetable oil works just as well); 1 tbsp vinegar; 1 tbsp vodka; and try grading some beeswax into the mix – this will give you sparkling floors!
• BBQ: try creating a paste of baking soda and water for your barbecue or grill, soak the surface overnight and then scrub away the next day with a strong, coarse sponge.
• Hand Soap Recipe:

• Supplies

• 4 oz. bar of natural soap
• Grater
• 1 gallon of distilled water
• 1 big pot
• Hand mixer

Here are the steps, summarized from Suite 101:

1. Grate your bar of soap.
2. Heat the water just enough to steam.
3. Add the grated soap to the water.
4. Take the mixture off of the heat, and let it sit for 15 minutes.
5. Blend the mixture, with a hand mixer if you have one.
6. Let it sit overnight.
7. Make sure the mixture is completely blended. If not, blend again, and let it sit. Then, blend again.
8. Pour it into an olive oil bottle and wash your hands!

Artist Links:
The Gertrudes
Beirut
Wendy McNeill
The Ghost Bees
The Fugitives

Thanks to Stephanein and Erica for their enthusiastic input this week! Lets have a soap-making party!

JUNE 24th - SEAFOOD

Sorry for the total lack of post last week.
Alot has been going on leading up to an important trip this week.
I hope you enjoy the pre-recording and my first podcast!

Bad Seafood links:

• A short Documentary on prawn farming - Environmental Justice Foundation
• Unsustainable fishing harms land mammals too!
  

Sustainable Seafood links:

• Marine Conservation Society (based out of UK)
• Blue Ocean Institute (based out of US) has a great fish-eating guide!
  
• FISH ONLINE has another guide on every digestible variety of seafood, and where it comes from.
• Northern Ontario Aquaculture Association (aka fish farming)
  

Local Fish Links:

• The Fish Shop at Thunder Bay Country Market
• Some info on how Ontario fish populations are managed PDF- MNR
• More from the MNR on sustaining local fish populations.

What can I do?

• Try to eat as much local fish as possible, avoid imported sea food unless you are visiting the coast.
  
• Fish only with a licence! This helps the MNR know exactly how much fishing is going on, and they can make accurate limits and predictions for the following year.
• Ask YOUR favourite sea food restaurant where everything comes from. If they don't know or if it is fished in an unsustainable way, it is best to take caution's side and stay away.
• Eat Bi-valves! Mussels, scallops, oysters, cockles and clams grow like mad, and are almost totally harvested in a sustainable way.
• Read the Good Fish Guide print out a copy and keep it in mind while making your selection.
  

June 8th - CHOCOLATE

Long story short on chocolate:

• It has a long, messy history of slavery, despair, and pain.
• Human/child trafficking in the chocolate industry still happens today. (article)(actual report)
  
• No easily-available chocolate is fair trade. (another article)
  
• If you already buy higher end-chocolate, the price difference for fair trade is very close.
• Cocoa travels a LONG WAY to get to your lips!
  
• Most organic chocolate is fair trade.
• Not all fair-trade chocolate is organic.
  
• Eating less chocolate can help you afford fair-trade.
• You gotta taste Single-origin anything!

Good Chocolate Reads:

• Bitter Chocolate - Carol Off
• The Bittersweet World of Chocolate, Recipes using fair trade chocolate - Troth Wells
• Article on Blossoming chocolate culture in Asia
  

Fair Trade Co-op and Union Chocolate Links:

• The National Confederation of Dominican Cocoa Producers (Wicked photo gallery, if you want to see how cacao is grown!)
• Yachana Foundation
• La Siembra Co-op
  

Organic Chocolate Links:
(All of these, with the exception of SOMA are available at The Bulk Zone, and all health food store in town!)

Dagoba Chocolate
Endangered Species Chocolate
SOMA
Cocoa Camino




WHOA:
Another make-me-sustainable Blog!
Green is Sexy


ARTIST LINKS.......on the way!

June 2nd - Fast Food

Sweet Pea Home Catering (locally made frozen meals)

Artist Links:
Sybris
White Hinterland
Away Ri'o!
Yael Wand
The Gertrudes
KoRn
Maurice Jarre
Peter Nevland

Some more thoughts on growing your own food...and fast!
It takes a lot of work. Its very true that most people don't even have the time to cook for themselves nevermind tend their own garden . I have taken that into account in listing my alternatives. The great thing about the Farmers markets is that about half of it is full of pre-made dishes. For example, I regularly buy these monster cookies full of oats, flax and other healthy grains for breakfast. For lunch, I can pre-buy for the week, all the quesadillas, spring rolls, thai noodles, mini meat pies, and soups that I feel like eating for lunch throughout the week. Depending on what I get, the meals work out to $1.50-3.00 each. Not everyone can afford to even spend that per meal, so on nights that I take the time to make a good dinner I make at least twice what what we're going to eat that night and pre-pack the lunches for later that week. Its not a perfect system. Sometimes you forget to bring food, sleep in and miss the market, or what you want to buy from the market is sold out that week. What does that have to do with sustainable living? Thats the way life goes no matter what you're buying. Long story short; don't have time for good food? Pay someone at the market to do it for you!
The advantage of having the odd house plant that grows your own ingredients, is how little effort goes into them. Of course, you need the initial afternoon mucking around with pots and soil, but after that, its simply a matter of watering, and maybe adding the occasional fertilizer every now and then. Once certain plants are established (like the chili pepper) they just keep on putting out edible goodness as long as you don't take too much. Note the emphasis on not taking too much. The wee little basil plant in a house of bruscetta fanatics could be a good metaphor for resources and luxury-ridden developed nations. We all want bruscetta tonight, and our basil is down to the last 3 leaves. It will take at least four to sate our hunger. uh oh.

So here we are figuring who is going to get bruschetta and who isn't. Suddenly the cost of basil sky rockets and no one in the household can figure out why. So lets all learn how to only take our share using this simple little exercise of growing our favourite herbs in our window sill and seeing if we can keep it alive while still eating it at the same time.