A green map quest (Day 355)…

February 18, 2008

stockholm

I just discovered this wicked green map of Toronto, which not only unfolds to show you all the parks, ravines and bike paths in the city, but also lists every green-minded hotel, eco-friendly dry cleaner, vegetarian restaurant, community garden, farmer’s market and even all the different recycling organizations in town. It’s an amazing resource, perfect for anyone who wants to explore the city in as green a way as possible.

Turns out, it was created by this company called Green Map — they’ve done other great work, too, like the super-stylish Stockholm Green Map, a Beijing Green Map (perhaps with a list of not-so-smoggy areas?), and my personal favourite, a Compost Map of Manhattan.

You can even poke around and meet the mapmakers in your city, or become one yourself.

So as today’s change, I’m going to try to green my tours — of Toronto, when people visit me, but also of other cities when I visit them. Because while organized eco-tourism is all fine and dandy, sometimes it’s nice to just go off on your own, map in hand, and figure stuff out for yourself.

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Posted by Vanessa Farquharson

Goods 4 Girls

February 17, 2008

Have any of you seen those new ads by Tampax and Always, the ones where they promote an initiative to give menstrual products to young girls in Africa? Well, I don’t know about you, but the first thing I thought when I saw that was, “Um, nice try, Procter & Gamble, but you’re kinda missing the bigger picture.” I mean, it’s great that they want to help girls out with this difficult time of the month and make sure they stay in school, but is the best way to do that with bleached wads of cotton and disposable plastic? It made me fret, I must say.

But then, my crunchiest friend dropped me a note saying she saw the same ads and decided to do more than just fret about it — she actually started an initiative of her own called Goods 4 Girls (you can see the little poster for it in my sidebar to the right, just click on the image and it’ll take you there). It helps get new cloth menstrual pads, whether handmade or store-bought, to young women in Uganda, who can then reuse them rather than throw them out. It’s such an amazing idea, and I truly admire Deanna for putting so much effort into get it up and running.

So as part of my monthly green giving, I’m going to donate some reusable cloth pads to Goods 4 Girls — and you should, too!

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Posted by Vanessa Farquharson

Is recycled wallpaper so much to ask for? (Day 354)…

February 17, 2008

wallpaper

A lot of people hate wallpaper, and I can understand why. It’s a pain in the butt to apply, it can start to peel, bubble and warp over time, and stripping it down when you get sick of it takes an entire day’s worth of steaming and scraping, steaming and scraping.

But I don’t care — I want it. I’ve already committed to buying low-VOC paints, but there are so many cute little rooms in my new house, I’m bent on doing at least one of them up with wallpaper. The one above, which I noticed over at AT, is a hand-painted version from de Gournay, but I’m not sure how eco-friendly it is (plus it probably costs a million bucks per meter).

After some online poking around, I’ve determined that getting recycled wallpaper is not going to be easy, unless I order these weird 3D modular tiles, which are a bit too ’60s, even for a retro-lover like me, or go to the UK for something like this (much prettier and there are some funky recycled flax paper options, but they mostly do wall decals).

Another idea might be to go with something like these animal cutouts made from leftover wallpaper samples, or I could just do a half-and-half brand like Graham & Brown, which at least has some eco-friendly business practices and insists that 50% of their paper is recycled.

Of course, then there’s the issue of the glue, which could be a major problem, seeing as my Coccoina probably won’t cut it.

Ach! Anyone got any tips?

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Posted by Vanessa Farquharson

Snowpants, not snow ON pants (Day 353)…

February 16, 2008

tucked

For some reason, the City of Toronto decided to not plow residential streets this winter until it got ridiculous, which is driving a lot of homeowners crazy. I mean, it’s one thing having to be responsible for your own patch of sidewalk, but the road itself? Come, now.

Of course, add to this the fact that we’ve had more snow this year than in the past two years combined, with another huge dump expected tomorrow, and, well, you’ve got one messy city. All it takes is a walk to the end of the street and you’re covered up to the knees — maybe even your tushie if you fall as often as I do — in slush, salt and dirt.

Which is why, for my Simple Saturday change, I’m making sure no matter what pants I’m wearing, no matter how dorky it looks, that I tuck the bottoms into my boots. This also applies for when I’m riding my bike — pants, or at least my right pant leg, will get wedged into a sock or held together with a reflective band so the chain grease doesn’t get all over it.

This means I’ll have to wash my pantaloons less often, and will thus be conserving water and detergent.

Bon weekend, everyone!

Photo courtesy of Zeke Optimo on Flickr

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Posted by Vanessa Farquharson

Pff, air — that is so overrated (Day 352)…

February 15, 2008

hepa filter

I love Apartment Therapy, mostly because they love me. No, just kidding, I actually love them because they’re like this friend who’s earthy and stylish without being annoying and using stupid terms like “eco-chic” all time.

Anyway, their Re-Nest team recently posted about air purifiers, and it’s a subject I’m pretty torn about. On one hand, as an allergy sufferer, I understand the desire for clean air and nostrils that don’t itch all the time; but on the other hand, it just seems like yet another big plastic thing that sucks up electricity and claims to clean something you can’t actually see.

As well, I’ve noticed that while doing this green challenge, my allergies have improved significantly. I’m not sure if it’s the houseplants I bought, the beeswax candles I’m using, the various all-natural, fragrance-free products or what — but it’s become very clear to me that there are ways to purify indoor air that are preventative rather than… er… reactionary? Is that the right word? My brain’s asleep today.

Anyway, if I were to wager a guess, I’d say it’s the fragrances moreso than the dust or dander or whatever that gets to me most because my nose starts going crazy now whenever I use someone else’s lavender-scented soap (and I mean fake purple lavender, not the essential oil) or “Spring breeze” scented laundry detergent or whatever.

So while I’m tempted to plug my humidifier back in and invest in a big HEPA-filtered air purifier, I’ll be going the more environmentally friendly route instead and simply making my indoor air clean by opening a window every now and then and opting for products that are fragrance-free or hypoallergenic whenever possible.

Image from AT

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Posted by Vanessa Farquharson

Meet the next Al Gore

February 14, 2008

Obviously I’m not a big fan of Sunlight, preferring to use natural laundry detergents like Ecover or soap nuts. But I do think this green awards campaign of theirs, Eco-Action Kids, is kinda cute. In the 6 – 7 age category, I voted for Manuel, for this reason alone: “When I go to the toilet, I do not flush just for a small pee. It’s better to flush only after two pees.” Word up, Manuel. Word up.

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Posted by Vanessa Farquharson

Lemon loving for my love seat (Day 351)…

February 14, 2008

As some of you might remember, I bought this wicked-hideous love seat a little while ago from a U-Haul dealer, which I’ve put in my new office to go with the retro theme. The arm rests needed polishing but I didn’t want to get any neurotoxic crap like Pledge and couldn’t really buy any new product without running into plastic, so I looked on the World Wide Interwebs for a good homemade recipe.

This site had some pretty cool suggestions, so in the end, I decided to whip up a concoction of lemon juice, jojoba oil and a splash of white vinegar, then took a dish rag and gave it a rub.

I’m not sure it did very much. Here’s the before photo:

before

(Excuse my feet). And here’s the after photo:

after

I don’t know. I mean, I guess it looks cleaner — and there was definitely a lot of dirt that came off on the rag — but it’s not exactly shining. Maybe I should put more oil? Or use olive oil instead? But apparently that can go rancid in the summer or something.

Well, either way, it’s still better than spraying it with petroleum.

————-

P.S. Happy stinkin’ Valentines Day. Remember, coconut oil before K-Y!

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Posted by Vanessa Farquharson

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