What do cut flowers and sweat socks have in common? On the surface, not so much. However, if you follow the trail back to where they were made, they both come with a pretty heavy back story the store clerk doesn’t often sell you on.  The story, whether we’re talking Joe Fresh socks or the… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

After nine full years of doing the Ecoholic column in NOW Magazine, we’ve given it a bit of a facelift! Instead of just sticking to the basic Q&A style every week, we’ll be mixing and matching different elements, like our NOW Test Lab (reviewing and ranking products every week – this time, canned tuna), Nature… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

This week at NOW Magazine, we put out our big green issue – beaming with positive vibes! It’s entitled Sure Signs We’re Winning the Eco War. Here’s my piece on being the change, below. *** The ice caps are still melting, greenhouse gases are still climbing, and crazy, extreme weather is still ravaging too many parts… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

After a lunch time talk I gave at Edmonton’s city hall last month, one woman approached me and asked me if I could spend more time talking about the difference between green/eco-friendly and natural. The terms, she said, were too often used interchangeably, and she’s right. We tend to flip back and forth between the… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

How’d you get your eggs cooked this morning…or your shower nice and hot? Natural gas has always gotten a lot more respect on the green-front than other fossil fuels. We hear again and again that it burns cleaner, choking out less smoggy pollutants than say coal or conventional oil, so when we use it in… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

  To wipe or not to wipe I know, I know, wipes are seriously convenient when you’re on the go, but you probably know it’s definitely more sustainable to go the reusable cloth/wipe/rag route. You wipe junkies will have my head if I tell you to axe them from your life permanently, but can we… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Ever wonder what that smell is on your new clothes? It could be one of countless chemical substances used in the making of shirts, pants, outwear, you name it. Not all the hazardous compounds involved will give off a scent or trigger reactions but they are definitely making the workers who make our clothes and… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Wondering about cell phone safety and whether it’s worth looking for a phone lower in radiation? The answer is complicated…and may surprise you. Check it out the column in Ecoholic. ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

This one’s for all the baby mama, baby daddy and all the other petroleum jelly users out there. Is it safe? Is it sustainable? What should you replace it with? You’ll find the full scoop in the latest Ecoholic column right here.     ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Can someone tell me, when did mascara companies start promising Betty Boop lashes with every stroke? Makeup ads have always pushed jumbo lashes, true, but sometime over the last few years, we’ve started seeing eyelashes on steroids. Like if your lashes don’t look as though they were sliced off the back of a glossy mink… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Ever feel like you’ve got a lot to get off your chest? I did this week so I wrote about hormone disrupting chemicals, not once, but twice (three times if you count this blog). First, in my column covering a conference on hormone disruptors, talking about what the feds are or aren’t doing to protect… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Ecoholic TV: Dry Skin SOS from Adria Vasil on Vimeo. Ecoholic TV is back! Yep, we’re here with more Ecoholic Health Corner and this time I run to my old friend and naturopath Alexandra (aka Alex) Triendl for some extra help tackling winter’s dry skin curse. Got eczema? Psoriasis? Or just plain dry skin? Tune… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

The latest Ecoholic column question came from a handful of readers wondering about what anti-aging products I recommend.  The truth is there’s a lot of BS in this field so you should take the claims on mainstream AND natural lotions and potions with not a grain but a handful of salt. (And no, I don’t… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

If you’ve got 20/20 vision, move along. This blog post ain’t for you. But if you’d be squinting at the screen right now if it weren’t for the skills of your local optician, then welcome! This week’s column question in NOW came from a reader named Steph who wanted some direction on low impact eye… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Besides my column on throwing a zero waste party, a lot of important stuff has happened this past year. I get into the year’s greenest highs and lows in my latest Ecoholic and cover all sorts of stuff like the year’s crazy, not-so-random weather and the rousing victory that put an end to plans for Canada’s largest… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

I’d been dreading going out to the shed to pull out my box of holiday gear this year. I had this sneaking suspicion raccoons had been, to put it bluntly, pooping in there for the last couple weeks (this is what happens with a busted shed door!). And while, yes, they did poop on my… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

This time of year tends to bring out a lot of people’s inner grinches. We start grumbling about Christmas carols/crowded malls/commercialism/in-laws/family fueds/the weather, you name it.  I’m guilty of a little under-the-breath cursing myself (mostly about sweatshop goods and cold winds; I do love a good Bing Crosby carol though, sorry). True, the holidays may… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

I love a good craft show. I don’t care if it’s in a church basement, a community hall or a convention centre. They’re the most charming FU to shoddily made, sweatshop-manufacturing, in my opinion. And the One of a Kind Show is really the mother of all seasonal craft shows. The place is so big,… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

If you’ve been anywhere near a mall or retail store of any kind lately, you know the holiday gift buying season is upon us and quickly escalating in frenzy-factor. My family isn’t big into holiday gift swapping (you should have seen the eye-rolling I got from my siblings when I suggested we at least make each… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Ecoholic Health Corner – Cold & Flu from adria vasil on Vimeo. Feeling crummy and trying to cure what ails you? Check out the latest Ecoholic TV for the scoop on why you should bypass Buckley’s and make a beeline for more sustainable  options. My old pal and naturopathic doctor Alex Triendl shares some her… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

If your fries (or, more precisely, the potatoes cut into fries) were zapped with radiation would you want to know? In this week’s Ecoholic column in NOW I dig up  a lot of dirt on what irradiation does to your food as well as what signs to look for to know whether it’s been zapped.  At this point,… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸