If you need more signs that the movement against plastic is gaining traction, look no further than last month’s World Petrochemical Conference. Some of the planet’s largest plastic chemical manufacturers gather in Texas every year to discuss advances in technology and industry trends. Last year’s WPC theme was about “cresting the wave” and prospering in… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

A lot of leafy promises were made this past decade. Declarations were signed. Celebratory headlines were written. The world’s chainsaws, you could be forgiven for presuming, were going to let up in unison by 2020 when hundreds of deforestation-free pledges would finally kick in. Continue Reading… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

We come in contact with them every day of our lives. Wedged into wallets, they chronicle the highs and lows of our retail therapy, our mid-afternoon mocha binges and the daily tab for being human in a consumer economy. Turns out common thermal receipts also deliver a dose of estrogen-mimicking chemicals, which is thrusting the… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Remember the sea turtle with a straw fused up its nose? The viral image that broke your heart and made you swear off straws? There’s more. On February 4, the UK’s RSPCA released the latest round of disturbing photos of wildlife – maimed seals, ducks, deer, even cats – ensnared in plastic bags, bottles and other… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

At a bustling restaurant in downtown Toronto, rumour has it Silicon Valley’s hottest innovation is here somewhere. Not the latest smartphone wedged to a diner’s ear two tables over, but a heaving burger, served up with pickles and special sauce, according the specials board. So, what does this burger do that makes Bill Gates and… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

In a riot of clamouring bottles and backfiring brakes, a week’s worth of your trash gets trucked off to be recycled. It’s all very comforting to those of us who brag that we recycle everything – unless, like half the planet, your town was selling your discards to China. After years of buying over 50… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

By all historical accounts, I should really be a grocer. Both my dad’s dad and my mom’s maternal grandparents owned grocery stores in Montreal back in the day. One in the French Canadian neighbourhood of Rosemont, one a Greek import “emporium”, as my aunt Babs proudly calls it, on lower St. Laurent. That was before… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

You may have noticed my Ecoholic feed has been a little sleepy over the summer. Well, after 15 amazing years of writing for NOW Magazine every week, including 13 years of doing the Ecoholic column, I took the summer mostly off to reboot, play, meditate in the mountains of Guatemala, free my dad’s ashes in the… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Six months into Donald Trump’s dizzying presidency, Naomi Klein’s back with a new book to shed some light on the real shell game at work. I chat with her about Trump, Trudeau and the fate of the planet – and why the world needs utopic thinking more than ever. ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Bursting buds, sweetly singing birds. After a long, dark winter, this is when we’re all supposed to stop, take a deep breath and smell the roses…or the magnolias, since the roses aren’t technically in bloom yet. Thing is, it’s really difficult to smell the subtle scent of magnolia trees while sprinting full speed to catch a… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

I didn’t intend to make this Earth Day issue entirely about lists and lists of amazing women using their skills and their platforms to make this world a better place. But, hot damn, there are so many women kicking butt in all corners and fields of the green movement. I actually started looking into the status of women… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Vertical hydroponic towers, Black Out Bulbs, vegan cashew brie…here’s a sampler of some of the businesses I’ll be scoping at GLS this weekend. PS I’ll be there too, speaking Saturday April 8 at 12:30 on the Detox Your Life panel. To win tickets, hop on my… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

This eye-opening documentary follows an international river conservationist around the globe to map the enormous impact of one of the world’s most polluting industries: fashion. Here’s a snippet from my conversation with RiverBlue director David McIlvride. ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Unlike store-bought nut milk, the homemade stuff tastes like dreams. And it’s got no wasteful packaging, no weird fillers, no carrageenan and… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Scrolling through the constant barrage of bad news in our feeds, most of us tend to react one of two ways: curse a lot more than usual or look for an escape hatch. Surely, there’s got to be an island out there without TVs or Wifi… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

  Look around the room you’re in right now. Ninety percent of absolutely everything that surrounds you came by ship. What’s the big deal? Isn’t that better than coming by carbon-spewing planes? You’ll rethink that after seeing the documentary Freightened, screening this weekend at the Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival. I wrote a short piece on it with… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Down a gravel driveway, beside an old glass greenhouse and three plastic-sheathed hoop houses bursting with tomatoes and cucumbers, sits a large faded wooden barn. Inside, a handful of farm workers amble in one night a week to debrief, or, more accurately, de-stress. “We do a yoga night Tuesday nights,” says Bethany Klapwyk from under… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Wherever you first meet Tiffany Pratt – on Instagram, on TV, in the pages of this book or in person – you know a burst of magic has just entered your life. It’s as if you cracked a window and a luminescent gust of glitter blew in on a warm wind then your fairy god-BFF… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

We’ve all had plenty of foods die a slow death in our fridge. But it’s not just us. Up to half the food we produce in the West is trashed on fields, in store dumpsters and household bins. Time for some fresh tricks, tips and apps to help us get a grip. FOODFUL.LY How many times have… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

What do your gym shorts, cat food and oil tankers have in common? They’re all making a mess of the planet’s life-sustaining oceans. Here’s how you can do your part at the grocery store, in your laundry room and when tweeting your MP to prevent rampant overfishing, oil spills, microplastics and climate change. ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Now that a growing chorus of birds are belting out interpretive covers of “Let the sunshine in” and spring is officially making its budding presence known, I figured it’s about time I should do the same. I’ve been laying low here in blogland since my dad passed away on Valentine’s Day. It was an emotional winter for my family. Letting go, saying… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸