• Your appliances need a tune-up too; clean all filters and coils.
•  When replacing hard to reach light bulbs, such as exterior porch lights, switch to energy efficient compact florescent bulbs. You won't have to change them for seven years!
• Use your window coverings to help warm or cool your house.
• Wash your clothes using cold water. Many detergents clean just as well in cold water. * Make your home more energy efficient through improved insulation, caulking and weather-stripping. The less energy you use, the less impact you have on the environment.
• Install and use a programmable thermostat. For every 1° C you lower your thermostat you can save 2% on your heating bill. A reduction of 3° C at night and when you are away during the day provides optimal savings and can reduce your GHGs by half a tonne.
• When buying a new appliance, choose an energy-efficient one.

Earth:

• Avoid waste by using reusable cloths and rags instead of paper towels to clean.
• Instead of using chemicals and paper towels to wash your windows, try 125 ml vinegar (1/2 cup) and 1L water (4 cups) and a squeegee.
• If spaced is limited, try growing organic vegetables in containers or window boxes.
• Have a garage sale to help recycle your unwanted items. Someone's trash is another's treasure.
• Donate electronic equipment to specific recycling groups or recycle them. This will help reduce pressure on landfills.
• When buying wooden fencing and garden furniture, consider whether the wood is from a well managed forest. Deforestation is a serious problem in some areas of the world leading to loss of top soil and flooding, amongst other problems.
• When boating, avoid stirring up bottom sediment with propellers. Keep personal watercraft out of shallow areas that are critical habitat for spawning fish, aquatic plants, and aquatic invertebrates.
• Hunters and anglers should use non-lead shot and fishing gear so birds eating spent shot or lost sinkers will not be poisoned.

Air:

• Use potpourri instead of aerosol based sprays. * Buy locally grown produce. It has a lower associated pollution cost from transportation.
• Compost your leaves and brush. Burning them will increase carbon dioxide emissions.
• Buy a push lawn mower. It's good exercise and reduces carbon dioxide emissions.
• Don't blow your leaves - rake them instead. Your ears and your neighbours will thank you, and you will reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
• Make sure your car is properly tuned up and your tires are at the right pressure to ensure optimal fuel efficiency.
• Encourage carpooling when possible! Put a map up in the office to encourage carpooling and make it easier for riders to connect.

Water:

• Use a broom rather than a water hose to clean walkways, driveways and sidewalks.
• Collect and use your rainwater for your lawn and plants. It's free and better for your plants.
• Avoid cleaners containing phosphates. When they get into rivers and lakes they cause algae blooms, robbing the water of oxygen and ultimately killing aquatic life.
• Fix that leaking hose and dripping nozzle. It will help keep your shoes and shirt dry and save water.
• Keep the septic system working smoothly! Pour 250 mL baking soda down any toilet or drain once a week. Baking soda creates a favourable pH environment for optimal bacterial action.
• Install water saving showerheads.
• Don't run the water when you brush teeth, shave, wash dishes, or clean vegetables.

Make your own greeting cards with coloured cards and coloured felt pens. You can also cut up and use last year's holiday cards as this year's gift tags.

Be creative with no wrap options. Hide that large, unwieldy gift somewhere in the house or yard. Give the recipient a card with a series of clues leading to the present.

Wrap gifts in materials that can be reused, such as string bags, baskets, tins, towels, scarves, and handkerchiefs. Why not wrap dad's gift in a tool box?

Parties and decorations

Avoid disposable dishes. Serve guests with reusable plates, cups and utensils or ask them to bring their own.

A live, potted tree can be decorated for the holidays. Plant it in your yard in the spring or donate it to a local school to be enjoyed year round.

Decorative lights should be low wattage. Decorations can be homemade. Decorate with pine cones, real holly, potpourri or other items around the house. Use your imagination!

The bottled water craze may be very fashionable, but it is no healthier than ordinary tap water and according to analysts is 10,000 times more expensive to produce.

This situation is having an alarming affect on the environment as to the resources required to extract the water from the ground, package it and distribute around the globe. In the UK alone this business is worth £2billon.

Once the water has been consumed, the problem of disposing of the plastic bottles is a major issue as they take 1,000 years to biodegrade. These bottles are commonly produced form polyethylene terephthalate, which is derived from crude oil. In America, to meet their demand it requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil a year, enough to fuel 100,000 cars for a year. Throughout the world 2.7 million tons of plastic are used to create plastic water bottles. 154billion litres of bottled water were consumed in 2004 an increase of 57% on five years earlier.

In industry and commerce, there has been a major swing away from bottled water dispensers to the plumbed in Water Coolers options. The option to use the water we are already paying for is one of many reasons for the switch over, besides health and safety issues, storing of the empty and full bottles, the lifting of 18ltrs of water onto the dispense stand and monthly accounts checking on full and empty bottles. Plumbed in water coolers do not experience these problems and offer pure filtered water at all times, without running out. No more waiting for the delivery lorry with all its gas emissions to replace the empty bottles. In recent times the alarm bells have been ringing as to the toxins found in the plastic bottles plus the scare of bacteria build up insides the full bottles that are left standing around offices and on their stands, in full sunlight.

There is a myth that bottled water is better for you than tap water and tap water in most cases is pure and sterile in the UK. Unlike bottled water, it is monitored daily and comes out fresh from the tap. Bottled water could be months old and is not treated to kill bacteria. The danger is that drinking from a bottle and then leaving it open or in the sun could encourage bacterial growth.

By Kat Tancock

source:  CanadianLiving.com 

As I write this, it's a balmy early spring day in Toronto...or, at least, it feels like it. But it's wintertime -- one of the warmest winters anyone can remember, at the beginning of what climatologists are predicting will be the warmest year on record.

Whether 2007's unseasonably warm winter across most of the country -- not to mention storm after storm pounding the West Coast -- is a direct result of global warming is difficult to prove, but the fact that climate change is both a reality and a threat is moving into common acceptance. And Canadians care -- a January 2007 poll by the Globe and Mail and CTV showed that 26 per cent of Canadians consider the environment the top issue facing the country, and 62 per cent were willing to accept slower economic growth as a trade-off for reducing global warming.

But what are we actually doing to help preserve the planet for future generations? Quite a bit, in fact. Here's a rundown of eight great things Canadians have done for the environment, plus suggestions for how we can achieve even more.

What could be better:
The rest of the country now has the opportunity to learn from Toronto's and Halifax's experiences with their programs and to implement their own curbside organics pickup programs. Contact your municipality and suggest that they follow suit. Even better -- compost in your own backyard. Less waste pickup means less fuel used for transport, and you'll end up with your own free compost as well.

2. Developing green energy
What's good:
Many regions of the country have been working on their own green energy programs. In Alberta, EPCOR customers can choose to get some or all of their power through renewable sources such as wind and solar, while Nova Scotia Power is supporting wind-power projects and researching tidal power. And to top it all off, the Canadian federal government recently announced it will invest $1.5 billion in alternative energy technologies.

What could be better:
CBC reports that thousands of Canadians die annually as a result of air pollution, so it's sad that Canada still gets so much of its electricity from pollution-heavy coal-burning power plants. For human health, if for no other reason, we need to focus on phasing in less-polluting technologies. To start with, the country could follow the lead of B.C., whose premier, Gordon Campbell, announced in his February 14, 2007, throne speech that no greenhouse gas emissions will be allowed from any coal-powered projects in the province.

3. From reusing to Freecycling
What's good:
One person's trash really is another's treasure. Giving away items you no longer need rather than sending them to the dump is the ultimate in eco-friendliness, and you're helping other people save money, too. The Internet has made passing on your treasures easy, with the birth of such groups as Craigslist and Freecycle, whose more than 200,000 Canadian members use e-mail lists to share their wealth and keep useful items out of the landfill.

What could be better:
Giving things away is great, but not buying them in the first place is even better for the environment -- and your bank account. Make like a froogle and cut back on your consumption by reducing your purchases and limiting the amount of packaging you use (for instance, bring a reusable bag when you go shopping instead of always taking one from the store).

4. Saving the Great Bear Rainforest
What's good:
The temperate rainforest of Canada's West Coast is one of the most endangered forest types on the planet, according to the Raincoast Conservation Society. One B.C. region, called the Great Bear Rainforest, is home to a wealth of species, from 1,500-year-old trees to the Kermode or "Spirit" bear, an all-white subspecies of black bear that is found only on the central B.C. coast. Within the last year, environmental and First Nations groups and the logging industry, along with the provincial and federal governments, have been negotiating agreements -- including more than $100 million in funding -- to preserve the region.

What could be better:
Yes, it's true -- sometimes we need the resources that come from our forests. But other times, it's completely unnecessary to use virgin paper. By reusing and recycling our own waste paper and buying recycled or non-tree paper products whenever possible (hemp is a good option, and recycled toilet paper, tissues and paper towel are all available in Canada), we can have our wood and our old-growth forests, too.

By Adria Vasil

Source: Canadian Living 

You know the basics of being a good green citizen: Screw in some compact fluorescent bulbs, lower the temperature on your thermostat. But if you're thinking of renovating, here are 10 ways to turn your home into an earth-friendly paradise.

2. Jazz up your home with gorgeous eco-friendly floors made with bamboo, cork or wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. If you're hooked on carpeting, look into lines with high recycled content by Milliken, Interface or Beaulieu, but note that pollutants have been found to lodge themselves into carpet fibres with time. Make sure to vacuum often.

3. There's no point in renovating if you're going to let all that heated or air-conditioned air escape from every nook and cranny of your home, especially when draftproofing your home properly will mean your power bills will decrease by at least 20 per cent. Pull out a caulking gun and weatherstrips and seal up doors, windows, electrical sockets and baseboards. Boost the insulation in your attic, crawlspaces, basement and walls. Look into getting an energy audit from a pro to help identify leaks.

4. Furnace more than 20 years old? You'll actually save yourself some cash in the long run if you buy a new Energy Star model, since they're about 20 to 30 per cent more efficient than your old beater -- especially considering about 60 per cent of your home's hydro bills go to running these things. If you've got a dirty oil furnace, it's time to switch to cleaner natural gas. And don't forget to clean or change your furnace filter monthly in colder months.

5. Ditch old crumbly couches, mattresses and pillows filled with dangerous fire retardants in favour of PBDE-free stuff (Ikea's been PBDE-free since 2002).

6. Trade in your old power-leaching appliances in favour of a new Energy Star models. A certified fridge, for instance, uses 40 per cent less energy than regular ones sold in 2001 -- a good thing considering 20 per cent of your energy bills go to keeping your milk cold and your ice frozen.

7. Sure, they let in nice light, but windows can leak about 25 per cent of your home's heat in winter and let in about 40 per cent of summer's suffocating temps. Keep your house comfy with a set of new low-E Energy Star windows and skylights. While you're shopping, get some good cellular blinds for extra window insulation.

8. It may pretty up your pad but that fresh coat of paint is also filling your home with polluting volatile organic compounds. Make sure to use low-VOC paints, available at major paint retailers like Benjamin Moore.

9. Keeping your showers steamy and your dishes clean swallows up a lot of hot water. In fact, a quarter of your power bill goes to heating up all that H2O. Why not tap into the warmth of the sun's rays and get a solar hot water heater? For a few grand you can get a good vacuum-tube model that's really efficient at harnessing those solar rays, even in the depths of Canadian winters. If your budget's tight, tankless hot-water heaters are a super-efficient option and will cost you about a grand.

10. Renovations draining your wallet? Stop in at one of the 50 Habitat for Humanity Re-Stores across the country. They're like thrift shops for building supplies full of secondhand, donated or discontinued lumber, sinks, doors, windows, chandeliers, tiles, mantles, even nails, hooks and knobs for about half the retail price. You'll save a couple bucks and help keep bulky building supplies out of the landfill at the same time. Plus, all the money you spend goes to building homes for the less fortunate. Happy renovating!

The modern, environmentally friendly and durable alternative to hardwood is bamboo flooring. Being a grass, as opposed to timber, gives bamboo the edge as not only a building product (being strong and at the same time flexible), but also as a sustainable resource: wood takes approximately 15-20 years to reach maturity, whereas the non-harmful harvesting of bamboo takes a mere 3 to 5 years. Bamboo has traditionally been the material of choice in most of Asia, and it is only recently that its benefits and environmental properties have begun to be used more fully in the west.

Due to its flexibility as a material, bamboo flooring has a broad appeal that can be manipulated to a suit a variety of styles. Its range of applications varies from period homes to offices, designer hotels and bars.

As well as being environmentally sound, bamboo flooring is competitively priced and easy to fit. Ease of fitting is always a worry for the prospective purchaser, with bamboo flooring the process has been simplified by the formulation of three different methods:

1) Floating floor: this involves gluing the tongue and groove joints of the bamboo flooring together over an underlay.

2) Secret Nailing: the bamboo floor is ‘secretly’ nailed to down to a wood sub-floor.

3) Gluing down: literally gluing the bamboo floor to a sub-floor.

Each of these methods has its own benefits. More information can be found at the Bamboo Flooring Company - http://www.bambooflooringcompany.com

One concern that has arisen with the implementation of bamboo flooring is regarding the use of Urea Formaldehyde, which is used as a binder or adhesive in the manufacture of bamboo flooring. Using the present technology, its use is unavoidable. However, reputable bamboo flooring suppliers with firm environmental principles, make every effort to ensure that its use conforms to the rigid E-1 European Standards. It is important to stress that exposure to any dangerous chemicals in bamboo flooring is negligible. 

The benefits of choosing bamboo flooring are chiefly to found in the warm, comforting ambience it creates. Bamboo flooring immediately draws attention and recognition to a room, giving it character and focus. With its hard wearing properties, environmental benefits and natural beauty, bamboo flooring is the flooring of choice for generations to come.

by: Chris Elliott

A Local company, proud to be Carbon Neutral, is Harbour Air, North America's first Carbon Neutral Airline.

By supporting tree planting businesses can help to create valuable woodland that will grow to sequester (absorb and store) CO2 pollution and in so doing, help with the fight against climate change.

In addition to the environmental benefits of absorbing atmospheric carbon as they grow and mature, woodland provides a rich and important habitat valued by wildlife and people alike.

By using a simple carbon calculator you can obtain an idea of how much carbon dioxide you, your family, your business are responsible for producing each year. Using data sources you can calculate how many trees you need to plant to offset or balance your carbon dioxide production. Your lifestyle can then be said to be carbon neutral or balanced.

Visit GuideMeGreen for various companies that can neutralize your carbon contribution.

About The Author

The list of goods certified Fairtrade is growing daily as is the range of products available. The co-op changed all their own brand chocolate to Fairtrade a few years ago and now all the other big supermarkets are beginning to move into the Fairtrade market. Nestle have just released a Fairtrade brand. There has been huge controversy over this as many people are asking how a company that is subject to a boycott can pertain to have Fairtrade and therefore ethical principles?

Why buy Fairtrade?

Millions of small farmers around the world cannot get enough money to feed their families, send their children to school or invest just a few pounds into their farm. This is because people want to buy the cheapest goods possible and don’t think about the people that working in poor condition and often receive less than £1 per day in wages.

Buying products that display the Fairtrade logo ensures that the producers of products such as tea, coffee and chocolate receive a decent income. Rather than being hit by the ever-changing price of their product on the world market, or being fleeced by a middleman who takes a chunky share of the profits, producers in a Fair Trade scheme are guaranteed a decent, stable price for their produce.

By buying Fair trade products that buy direct from farmers at better prices, consumers are improving the lives of producers all over the world. In Ethiopia, farmers can often get more then twice the price for their fair trade coffee then those that sell it on the open market. This extra money enables the farmers to educate their children and to break the cycle of poverty.

Many people struggle to find a reason not to support Fairtrade. Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers. Fair trade is not about charity, it is about settling the imbalance which exists.

How do I know its Fairtrade?

Look for the Fairtrade Mark when you shop and make the choice to support small farmers and workers in the developing world, and encourage your workplace to switch to Fairtrade tea and coffee.

About The Author

Bag it. Send your kids out to collect their candy with reusable buckets, canvas bags or pillowcases.

Redecorate. Keep Halloween decorations from year to year so you don't need to buy new ones each season.

Recycle. Once Halloween is over, recycle your pumpkins, the straw you used to build scarecrows and any other organic material by composting it. The compost can be used as fertilizer for your garden.

Teach your children. Urge your children to dispose of their candy wrappers in their bags or in trash cans rather than on the street.

Keep it simple. When you're buying treats to give out, choose items that come in a minimum amount of packaging. Some people skip the candy altogether in favor of useable treats like pencils, pens, funky erasers and even nickels!

Reuse bags. Recycle your plastic shopping bags by using them to fill up with leaves or other materials then tie a rope at the end to use as a ghost head for a Halloween decoration.

These tips were provided by Earth Share Web site.

CAUTION: Only use tested recipes. Random mixing of chemicals can create dangerous results. Some chemicals, such as chlorine bleach and ammonia, produce a toxic gas when mixed together. Label all your cleaning supplies and never put them in old food containers.

Source: The Township of Langley, BC

For tips on how to keep you garden green, but also reduce the use of pesticides, check out Environment Canada’s Web site The Green Solutions for tips on:

• Lawn Care
• Lawn Disorders
• Roses and Other Flowers
• Healthy Trees and Shrubs
• Insect and Animal Pests

In our travels along the highway between the BC Ferries Swartz Bay Ferry terminal and downtown Victoria, we had seen the Nickel Brothers house moving company (www.nickelbros.com).

A quick look through their 'recycled' homes for sale in Vancouver area, Victoria, Nanaimo, Seattle, Everett and Port Townsend, reveals some absolutely stunning homes.

Though a number of the case studies show the transport of homes to relatively remote locations, we haven't pursued this alternative ourselves since high bank waterfront property (upwards of 100') and a long, narrow, steep, winding driveway would make it impossible to get a house up onto our property, I'm sure!

Sustainable development has multiple objectives. In planning for development, there must be deliberate consideration of how to maintain the quality of the environment, human well-being, and economic security. The Brundtland Commission, in Our Common Future, and subsequently Agenda 21 set out recommendations for developed and developing nations regarding sustainable development strategies concerning clean air and water, water supply, energy, land use, housing, waste treatment, transportation, and health care. The same advice applies locally. Just as the economic development of a country is linked to its environment and citizens, a community takes into account this interconnectedness in planning for the future. Both face the same set of challenges.

In Canada, the concept of sustainable development has been integrated into federal legislation and into amendments to the Auditor General Act in 1995, which established the office of the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development. Departments are required to prepare sustainable development strategies and to table them in Parliament. The strategies set out goals, objectives, and specific commitments and are an important tool by which the federal government can advance sustainable development.