This eye-opening documentary follows an international river conservationist around the globe to map the enormous impact of one of the world’s most polluting industries: fashion. Here’s a snippet from my conversation with RiverBlue director David McIlvride. ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Biking home on my big blue cruiser yesterday, three words bubbled up to my lips from a primordial place deep within that hadn’t felt the warm sun in what felt like years: we survived winter! I almost belted it out at everyone I biked passed but decided smiling got the message across well enough. As the wind… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Nice shirt. How much did that cost you? Thanks to fast fashion chains like H&M, Old Navy, Forever 21 and Walmart, the average American can now afford to buy 64 items of clothing every single year (yes, I said per year). How the hell is that even possible? On HBO’s Last Week Tonight, comedian John Oliver dives into the issue… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Today is Fashion Revolution Day. It’s also the second anniversary of the fatal factory collapse that killed over 1100 garment workers in Bangladesh. Fashion Revolution Day commemorates the event by requesting we flip our clothes inside out and asking “who made my clothes?” Really, it’s a question we should ask every time we go shopping, but having… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

If you’re a super talented crafter then the holiday season is brimming with possibilities. But what about the rest of us? I’m about the furthest person from Martha Stewart on the face of the earth so when I craft, it’s got to be fast, easy, with minimal actual skill needed.  That means you don’t have to know how… ◂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▸

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▸

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 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▸

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▸

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▸

Okay, so the sun may not be shining where I’m sitting a hop, skip from Lake Huron (it’s pouring rain, actually) but it’ll be back soon. This is summer after all, so since my own sunglasses are scratched to s#*@ and people around me keep mentioning cracked or lost shades, figured it was high time… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

First of all, can I just say, who else is giving you sweatshop-free fashion advice and an excerpt of a speech by a world-renowned economist/environmental thinker like Jeff Rubin (author The End of Growth), all on one dense column page? Welcome to the revamped Ecoholic section in NOW! We cover it all, literally. Here’s a… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Now that summer’s officially creeping up on us, I need new sandals in a hurry. I can’t be rockin’ boots in July and the Grecian strappies I got on my “back to the roots” family tour in Greece last year are mostly a pain in the butt – or the arch. So which sandals to… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

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▸

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▸

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▸

Did I mention I used to own my own one-woman sweatshop? Yep, I was, ironically, working in the anti-sweatshop movement by day and sewing a stack full of wide leg pants in my kitchen by night.  I paid myself, well, nothing. After a while of outfitting my friends with poorly sewn clothes I decided to… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

I don’t know about you, but I was always a chewer. Whether I was 5 years old or 15, I always ended up gnawing on my erasers/pencils/necklace charms, you name it, while daydreaming or stressing out in class. Not like some kids who nearly ate the things like apples but, no doubt, enough to take… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

  Criss-crossing the country promoting Ecoholic Body, I’ve gathered up a few postcards from the road. First up: beautiful Nelson, B.C. After stopping by Breakfast Television Edmonton and doing a book signing at the one-and-only Carbon Enviromental Boutique (also in eternally-sunny Edmonton) I headed for a little R’ n’ R in the Kootenay’s (which happens to be… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸