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▸

Spend a lot of time face time with your yoga mat? So many mats splash the words “eco” and “biodegradable” in their marketing but are they telling the truth? Long story short, too many eco mats claiming to be green are totally stretching their credibility (some puns can’t be avoided, sorry). It’s pretty astounding how many companies… ◂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▸

Have you ever blinked and missed a few weeks of your digital life? Somewhere between January and now, well, I fell off the blog train. Did I hit my head on the way down and find nirvana, lined, inexplicably, with chocolate and cough syrup? No, but I did get to spend some time with a… ◂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▸

Got something crawling on your scalp and it ain’t just a bad feeling? Well, have no fear Ecoholic is here with a breakdown of all your options, both toxic and non…and yes, you can get a grip on the situation without resorting to nasty pesticides banned from lawns but allowed on heads. Plus you’ll get a… ◂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▸

All it took was one beak trimming scene at a hatchery in the movie Baraka to turn me off eating chickens two decades ago. Now 20 years later, I realize the egg business isn’t all it’s cracked up to be either. Vegetarians still eat eggs, since technically they’re not eating meat, but in doing my guide to eggs in the last issue of… ◂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▸

 Maude Barlow is an incredible women. She’s one of this country’s greatest warriors fighting for social justice and the planet. I got a chance to interview her about her latest book, Blue Future. We talked for quite a while so a lot of what she said couldn’t fit in my Ecoholic column in NOW Mag… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Wedged up in the dark corners of my kitchen, I have colonies multiplying. Not armies of ants or mice, but some sort of offshoot ancient culture of microscopic “mothers.” At least I’m trying to make what’s called mother, I think. Deciphering the code of food-preservation-speak is actually the hard part. Inviting bacteria to ferment and… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Ever wonder what all those seals on health store shampoos and lotions really mean? In honour of national organic week, I offer up a guide to five organic bodycare seals. And news flash, some changes have just hit the USDA organic seal. This one’s long considered tops for bodycare since, unlike other seals, it’s only… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸