If you’ve ever met a hemp enthusiast, you’re probably already schooled in the plant’s superpower uses in clothing, snack bars and hacky sacks. But in his newly released book – Hemp Bound: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Agricultural Revolution –  comedic investigative journalist and solar-powered goat herder Doug Fine shows just how deep… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Hey gang, My big piece on mindful corporations in Corporate Knights Magazine is out! Here’s a little teaser. SAN FRANCISCO – Executives from Google, Facebook and Instagram are all taking turns on a hotel conference room stage sharing business insights with an audience of 2,000. They’re not, as you might expect, clicking through slide shows about user… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Once spring hits full swing so does wedding season. If you’re already engaged, well, congratulations! When’s the big date? You planning on sealing the deal with a wedding band? Have I got the column for you. In the latest Ecoholic, we dig deep, real deep, like belly-of-the-earth-mining-conditions-deep to, er, extract the truth about which rings… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

It’s National Asbestos Awareness Week. Do you know where your asbestos is? Canada’s asbestos mines may finally be shuttered, but people are still finding the cancerous fibres tucked into all sorts of hidden corners of their homes. If your house was built before the 1980s/90s, it could contain asbestos in a dizzying number of spots. All fine… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

As a good Canadian girl, I do love the sight of big, fluffy snow flakes but please, god, let me not see another flake again for at least 7-8 months! Now that spring is officially here it’s time to dust off your bikes, if you haven’t already. It’s the perfect Goldy Locks time to ride,… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

My grandfather Nick was what you’d call a Black Sea Greek. In fact, he was a Greek born and raised in Crimea, from another messy time in history – the years leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917. My family fled after my great-grandfather was shot for being on the losing side. By the… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

My family pops a lot of supplements. We could probably each start a mini health store with the vitamins cramming our cupboards and counters. And like a lot of North Americans, most of us are taking fish oil. Fish oil has grown to be a billion dollar business on this continent. The question is, which… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

I often kid that I’m an old woman trapped in a young woman’s body. I was almost the last person on Facebook (just ahead of my mom), only got a cellphone (the retro flip kind) in 2011 and have trouble maintaining an up-to-date blog (ahem). But all it took was a smartphone upgrade to catapult… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Everyone washes their hands (we hope) – the question is what are you washing with? Bar soap is a good way to avoid plastic packaging and unrecyclable pumps (click here for my bar soap guide) but considering the popularity of liquid hand soaps, they deserve their own special guide. So voila! In this issue of… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Ever since my early bowl-cut days, my skin would flare at the oddest triggers. Chocolate, tomato juice, oranges, hot showers, they all left me scratching if I had too much of a good thing – a real downer when everyone else gets chocolate bunnies come Easter and you get those weird white ones. Now it… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Dry gusts of forced air, wool sweaters and adverse reactions to mayoral politics aren’t the only thing driving up winter itching. New research published in the journal Pediatrics has tied a chemical used in baby wipes to some cases of acute contact dermatitis in kids, but the problem runs a lot deeper than headlines let… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

We’re only ankle deep into the new year and if you listen closely you can hear resolutions straining, cracking, and, wait for it, shattering left, right and centre.  All it took was a snotty cold to knock me off track with my resolution. Lying in my bed the morning of Jan 1, my vow was… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Maybe it’s the defiant Montrealer in me, but I really don’t mind a -30 day as long as the sun is beaming down from its blue sky perch. Of course, it helps if you’re tucked warmly inside. Okay, maybe that doesn’t count as a true love of the cold, but I’ll take icy blue skies… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

It’s the first morning of the new year and I’m lying in bed shaking off the bubbly cobwebs of last night’s impromptu kitchen-party countdown. Every year right about now I join the chorus of North Americans committing to some sort of personal betterment. I’ve tried more winter cycling (sorry, I gave up below -10°C) and… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

I’m a huge fan of Slow Death by Rubber Duck, the bestselling book by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie, so when Rick called me up and asked me if he could interview me for his next tome on toxins, I was pretty pumped. We met in a sunny east end Toronto park and chatted about… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

My family stopped exchanging Christmas gifts a good 15 years ago. My sister, in med school at the time, told us she just didn’t have time to shop for us (pshaw, what an excuse!). And just like that, the whole card castle crumbled and we gave up the whole swapping tradition ever since.  Instead, we… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

With the festive season in full swing, most of us are, let’s just say, enjoying holiday spirits a little more enthusiastically. Whether you’re sharing a hostess gift or stocking your wine rack for your own celebrations, be sure to check out the Ecoholic wine guide, with a ranking of five of the most popular along… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

I got to have dinner with Canadian activist extraordinaire Tzeporah Berman when I was hosting Earth Day’s Beyond Green Youth Summit that she was speaking at. I have to say I love this woman. She’s a power house for change and the new green economy. (I definitely recommend putting her bio “This Crazy Time” on… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Hey peeps, this is prime example of a week that blends and stirs together different living, breathing elements of sustainability in action. You’ll find my guide to greener sweaters, made lovingly, without sweatshop labour and with greener, more sustainable fibres. You’ll also find my Q&A with a prominent thinker on the new green economy –… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

I’m a farmers’ market ho. I feel like I hit up different veggie stands nearly every day of the week thanks to the explosion of local farmers markets in this town. Of course, all my trolipping around (or should I say turniping) will soon be coming to an abrupt end by month’s end. Every year… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

It’s getting mighty crisp out there. Right about now you may be realizing the coat on your back just won’t cut it much longer. First question to ask yourself is, do you really need a new coat or do you just want it? Second question: can you get it second hand by trolling vintage stores,… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸