Renowned botanist Diana Beresford-Kroeger, the “Jane Goodall of trees,” says that to save the living planet and the human race, we have to save the trees ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Climate scientists say we need to go further, faster, but social scientists say we won’t get there unless we heal divisions ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

How automakers can clean up the dirty minerals that power them in the global race to electrify cars ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

A lot of leafy promises were made this past decade. Declarations were signed. Celebratory headlines were written. The world’s chainsaws, you could be forgiven for presuming, were going to let up in unison by 2020 when hundreds of deforestation-free pledges would finally kick in. Continue Reading… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

We come in contact with them every day of our lives. Wedged into wallets, they chronicle the highs and lows of our retail therapy, our mid-afternoon mocha binges and the daily tab for being human in a consumer economy. Turns out common thermal receipts also deliver a dose of estrogen-mimicking chemicals, which is thrusting the… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Remember the sea turtle with a straw fused up its nose? The viral image that broke your heart and made you swear off straws? There’s more. On February 4, the UK’s RSPCA released the latest round of disturbing photos of wildlife – maimed seals, ducks, deer, even cats – ensnared in plastic bags, bottles and other… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

In a riot of clamouring bottles and backfiring brakes, a week’s worth of your trash gets trucked off to be recycled. It’s all very comforting to those of us who brag that we recycle everything – unless, like half the planet, your town was selling your discards to China. After years of buying over 50… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Six months into Donald Trump’s dizzying presidency, Naomi Klein’s back with a new book to shed some light on the real shell game at work. I chat with her about Trump, Trudeau and the fate of the planet – and why the world needs utopic thinking more than ever. ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

  Look around the room you’re in right now. Ninety percent of absolutely everything that surrounds you came by ship. What’s the big deal? Isn’t that better than coming by carbon-spewing planes? You’ll rethink that after seeing the documentary Freightened, screening this weekend at the Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival. I wrote a short piece on it with… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Now that a growing chorus of birds are belting out interpretive covers of “Let the sunshine in” and spring is officially making its budding presence known, I figured it’s about time I should do the same. I’ve been laying low here in blogland since my dad passed away on Valentine’s Day. It was an emotional winter for my family. Letting go, saying… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

This is one mother of a week. Not just for the thousands gathering at nearly 2,500 events in over 175 countries this weekend to march, rally, pray, meditate and generally light the way for climate action. Or for the 147 world leaders gathering under one roof in Paris on Monday to talk about tackling the forces of climate change that are… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

For World Peace Day (September 21) the UN marked the annual event with calls for all warring parties to put down their weapons. Elsewhere, thousands gathered at 1,300 events around the planet to sit in silence and meditate for the cause. And Burger King, Wendy’s and Denny’s? Well, they combined ingredients from five different competing fast food chains in one giant burger for… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Somewhere on a small island in southern Greece I have a cousin, twice removed, that’s a retired Orthodox priest. That’s about as close to organized religion as I’ve ever gotten. That and the occasional church wedding or funeral. Though after reading the Pope’s encyclical on caring for our common home, I’m tempted to find a pew somewhere and give… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Looking for a little post-Earth Day inspiration? One, if you’re in Toronto, line up to go see the documentary How to Change the World, on the early days of Greenpeace, led by the charismatic journalist-turned-activist, the late, great Bob Hunter. It blew me away so I did something I don’t normally do, I wrote a film review. The film… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Hey gang! Hope you had an awesome Earth Day! I figured there is no better day/week/month to launch my newly revamped website. It merges ecoholic.ca, ecoholicnation.com and adriavasil.com all in one cozy little corner of the web. There’s tons of stuff crammed under one green roof. Under Columns, you can follow the weekly Ecoholic column that I’ve been writing for… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

Journalists probably shouldn’t cry during interviews but I came very close to balling my eyes out when I was interviewing Inuit activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Sheila Watt-Cloutier. She was passing through Toronto to promote her new book, The Right to Be Cold, and I jumped at the opportunity to have a leisurely meal with her at… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

I’ll admit I was pretty giddy about interviewing the godfather of Canadian environmentalism. I’d met David Suzuki briefly in passing once and the man officially endorsed my first book, Ecoholic, but we’d never sat down and just talked. When I finally got the chance to do so while he was in Toronto for his final cross-Canada… ◂ReadPreviousNext Post▸

When I heard that no-holds barred lefty thinker Naomi Klein was putting out a book on climate change, I thought “damn right, sister.” Like I said in my book review in NOW Magazine, no matter what subject this woman tackles she has a way of skewering the shit out of whoever she finds screwing with… ◂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▸

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▸

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▸