No matter how confident you are, some things are just awkward to shop for. Take lube, for instance. A lot of us end up tiptoeing into the condom section of the drugstore, furtively snatching a bottle of KY or Astroglide then quickly burying it in our basket before bolting, all without taking the time to read… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Hey gang, Did you catch my spot on CTV’s Canada AM this week talking about alternative ways to keep mosquitos at bay – what works, what doesn’t, what’s healthy, what isn’t? It was a lot to cram into four minutes with a sleepy brain! So I figured I’d clarify a few points here. For one, anything… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

“You never do any columns for guys,” my editor grumbled a few weeks back. I gasped. “Are you saying the frying pan and cleaning cloth guides that we just published are a woman thing?” I prodded loudly, making sure our banter was audible to the whole news room. To be honest, in my house, my… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Do you mind if I sing a little Cher? “If I could turn back time…” (this is me belting it out) I’d, well, I’d wear more sunscreen on my face. I’m pretty sure milky pale Cher loves the stuff and she’s got better skin at 68 then I do at nearly 38. Okay, fine, she… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

There’s something about growing up in Canada that makes us want to just open up the taps and let the water flow free like the wind. I distinctly remember being 11/12 years old and taking 45 MINUTE long showers without a second thought (I probably cycled through a whole small lake in that time!). Maybe… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Are chemicals in our environment connected to the rise in non-genetic causes of breast cancer? For lots of us following environmental toxin news, it seems like a no-brainer, but scientists are still trying to firm up the connections. A recent study by the Silent Spring Institute and Harvard School of Public Health published in the journal Environmental… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

I’ve been writing the Ecoholic column for, oh, a decade now (actually it was just Ecoholic’s 10 year anniversary!) and some questions trickle in again and again in my inbox. Probably one of the most common reader Qs I get is about water filters. I write about them every few years but the thirst for… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

There’s something weirdly hopeful about a good face scrub. Like if you find the right one it might just erase all the mistakes you (and by you I mean I) made popping, picking, sunbathing and generally abusing the delicate skin on our faces. Alas, the miracle has yet to happen for me and after a… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Can you believe May is almost coming to an end? Rain/shine/gloriously torrential downpours/surprise scorchers (is it really 28 degrees in Toronto today?) – I’ve soaked every bloomin’ day of it in. That was NOT that case in April when I was drained of all life force knocked over sideways with a crazy multi-tentacled flu virus… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

This column first appeared in the Mother’s Day issue of Ecoholic in NOW Magazine. Let’s get straight to it… NON-STICK First the good news: Teflon, the most famous of the polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) non-stick coatings, is now being manufactured without the notoriously persistent, suspected human carcinogen PFOA, as the result of U.S. government pressure. However, critics… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Back in the day (as in up until, oh, a year ago), Ecoholic used to be a straight up green advice column. Every week readers wrote in with questions and I’d answer them in Q&A format. We’ve changed things up since then (mixing in product guides, nature notes, greenwash of the week, green finds of… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Some people dream in technicolour, I dream in solar panels. Well, not every night or anything, I’m not a lunatic. I’m still saving for a house clad with shiny blue panels (oh wouldn’t it be awesome to go off-grid and never pay a utility bill again?). In the meantime, I’ve got a little guide here… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

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▸

Most of us get antsy when we think about change. We brace for it like a bad smell coming downwind, cringing and turning our heads, hoping it won’t hit us if our faces are cranked the other way. But it always does. Maybe not the bad smell but change always finds us. The question is,… ◂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▸