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▸

Mark your calendars – 2016 isn’t just bound to be the hottest year on record, it’s also cooking up all sorts of (mostly) planet-friendly ideas Goodbye, paleo diet; hello, climatarians and reducetarians The New York Times recently talked up “climatarian” as a top new food term to describe anyone whose prime dietary goal is reversing… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Planet lovers aren’t always an optimistic bunch, but there’s reason to pause and appreciate this year’s many highs on the environmental front. 1. Pope’s planetary revolution The most consciousness-shifting moment of the year: pope Francis’s 40,000-word treatise Laudato Si’: On Care For Our Common Home. He urged the planet’s 1.25 billion Catholics as well as world leaders… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

This is one mother of a week. Not just for the thousands gathering at nearly 2,500 events in over 175 countries this weekend to march, rally, pray, meditate and generally light the way for climate action. Or for the 147 world leaders gathering under one roof in Paris on Monday to talk about tackling the forces of climate change that are… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

I didn’t grow up in a canning family. My mom is an awesome home cook but just didn’t get that canning ‘n preserving gene, even though her dad came from a farm family of 18 – yes, 18 –  kids in Ste. Justine, Quebec, one that no doubt survived on lots of farm-canned goods. Her sister,… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

No matter which way you lean politically, most Canadians care deeply about the environment and are tired of seeing it treated like trash. I’ve talked to conservative greens that are just as fed up with the feds as Green party greens. A strong majority of the country, blue, red, orange or green, wants tougher action on climate… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

It may no longer be patio season in these here parts but on a warm sunny Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, but I did get off my ass and finally stain and seal the sectional my man and I built back when it was still summer.  Now that it’s complete, I figured I’d share a little ‘don’t worry, summer will be back’ inspiration… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

For World Peace Day (September 21) the UN marked the annual event with calls for all warring parties to put down their weapons. Elsewhere, thousands gathered at 1,300 events around the planet to sit in silence and meditate for the cause. And Burger King, Wendy’s and Denny’s? Well, they combined ingredients from five different competing fast food chains in one giant burger for… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

I’m a big-time klutz. My lifelong lack of hand-eye coordination makes me pretty bad at things like baseball, processing physical commands from Zumba instructors and lifting a fork to my mouth without dropping food on my shirt. That last one leads to a lot of defiled clothes, hence this week’s Ecoholic column on stain removers. This is one area where you really need a product… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

It’s amazing what the sight of a big old tree can do for the soul. I love the city but I get twitchy and cranky if there’s no green space in sight. Humans just weren’t built to live on pavement, so we can, unconsciously, get pretty edgy when we’re not getting enough contact with nature, even if… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

My friends invited me and two dozen others to camp out at their cottage for a big 40th birthday bash. After my initial reaction (cottage party on a lake, woot!) came the fear factor (oh crap, what kind of northern Canadian bloodsuckers will be swarming and can I track down any DEET-free protection on time?). Two health stores I popped into had… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

If you’re up on your celebrity gossip, you’ll know Bradley Cooper recently drove to dinner with his ex in a Prius, and Jennifer Lawrence shops at Whole Foods with colourful, reuseable shopping bags. But when the curtain is pulled back, how green is the industry behind the actors? ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Somewhere on a small island in southern Greece I have a cousin, twice removed, that’s a retired Orthodox priest. That’s about as close to organized religion as I’ve ever gotten. That and the occasional church wedding or funeral. Though after reading the Pope’s encyclical on caring for our common home, I’m tempted to find a pew somewhere and give… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Love the outdoors but hate DEET? Good news!  Health Canada has changed its mind about yanking natural bug sprays from shelves – sort of. The feds said again and again that they were going to pull citronella-based insect repellents from the market since “there was a lack for safety data to support continued registration.” Had they found any major… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Back when I was a kid we ate a lot of canned food. Loved me some Chef Boyardee or Zoodles for lunch, maybe a small tin of syrupy fruit for dessert. Seemed delicious at the time. My mom’s a great cook, but this was before much of my family found religion in a health food store… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

For eons, anyone committed to slapping down an artificial lawn needed pretty thick skin to withstand a regular dose of snickering, arched eyebrows and mumbled insults from passersby. Of course, today’s synthetic grasses have come a long way, aesthetically speaking, since the early days of Astro Turf, and with California’s crippling drought as well as a rise in lawn pesticide bans, artificial grass sales are… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

With all the “organic,” “eco-friendly” and “nontoxic” claims hanging in dry cleaner windows you’d think you were taking your dress shirt to Whole Foods to have it laundered with baking soda and organic corn starch. Alas, that ain’t the case. A new scorecord from not-for-profit Toronto Environmental Alliance ranks all sorts of dry cleaning chemicals and let… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Ever wander into a cosmetic aisle crowded with BB, CC and DD creams and wonder WTF does it all mean? I always figured I was the last person on the planet to know what all the abbreviated fuss was about. After a little digging I discovered, surprise, they’re all essentially the same (namely tinted facial moisturizer, often with UV protection). At the… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Unless you daydream of renos or watch way too much HGTV you probably don’t spend much time thinking about your floors. Turns out there’s a lot of dirt lurking underfoot, regardless of whether you’re sweeping daily or not. Check out my tips on avoiding hidden toxins, phoney promises, illegal lumber and more. ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Walk down the bodycare aisle of any drugstore and you’d swear you hit your head and woke up in a fruit stand. No one could really blame you if you accidentally chugged that juicy pomegranate bodywash, acai berry avocado shampoo or strawberry smoothie body buff. It does look delicious. Of course, we know that fruit explosion… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸