Green wedding show
February 12, 2008
A wedding is one of the most important events in many people’s lives. Why not integrate your green principles into the big day? Let the Eco Wedding & Lifestyle Show - Canada’s first green wedding convention - inspire you to create a stylish and sustainable wedding. On March 1 and 2 at the Design Exchange in Toronto, check out wedding and lifestyle vendors with a commitment to the environment.
The greener way
February 12, 2008
The TTC is leading the way in hybrid transit vehicle use in Canada. The commission put its first wave of new-generation energy-smart buses on the road in December. The buses are diesel-electric hybrids, using energy captured during braking to power part of their ride. Although BC Transit, Edmonton and Ottawa have committed for some units, the TTC believes it’s the first transit company in Canada undertaking to create hybrids in its fleet.
Toss more? Pay more under new garbage plan
February 8, 2008
Toronto’s ambitious new garbage plan, which includes a pay-as-you-throw garbage levy, takes effect this year. Under the new system, households that generate more garbage will pay more (up to $190 a year) and those that toss less will be rewarded with a small rebate.
The green goods
February 7, 2008
Cool green stuff we stumbled across this week
Lipstick tainted with lead. Deodorant loaded with aluminum. Moisturizer preserved with formaldehyde. In Canada and the U.S., a lack of regulation allows virtually any ingredient to be used in personal care products. Even the beauty industry can be ugly. Check out the Green Guide to Style’s top 6 eco-beauty products for girls to eliminate your daily regimen of its toxic tally.
Green event listings
February 7, 2008
Green events for the week of Feb. 7 - Feb. 14
Can Music Save The Environment? Panel discussion on environmental practices in the music industry with Jennifer Larry and others plus a performance by Barzin. Thursday, February 7, 7-9 pm. Free. Hart House, 7 Hart House Circle. www.harthousemusic.com.
The Neglect of Place as a Determinant of Health U of T Centre for Environment lecture by scientist Rick Glazier. Thursday, February 7, 4 pm. Free. Health Sciences Bldg Rm 106, 155 College. 416.978.3475.
Say it with organic flowers
February 5, 2008
This Valentine’s Day, express your love for the planet with a gift of organically grown and fairly traded flowers for the sweetheart in your life. Conventionally cultivated commercial flowers produced in countries such as Colombia and Ecuador, from which Canada sources most of its imported blooms, are sprayed with highly toxic pesticides, fungicides and fumigants - 20% of which are banned in North America for being extremely carcinogenic. Talk about tainted love.
An inspired ride
February 4, 2008
After announcing their Greening Toronto - Ideas for a Living City contest a few months ago, the Onestop TTC network is ready to showcase eight environmentally themed videos by local students. The assignment was to make a video inspired by an ecologically sustainable Toronto.
The trouble with Teflon
February 1, 2008
The ease of cooking with Teflon pans is familiar to anyone who’s ventured into the kitchen, but few of us have considered their potential health effects. At high temperatures, Teflon cookware emits at least six gases - including two carcinogens. Once released, these gases can hang around the environment forever, cause illness in humans and even kill birds.
Stop junk mail with a red dot
February 1, 2008
How often do you arrive home to find your mailbox stuffed with flyers – flyers that you usually toss straight into the recycling box? Recycling them seems like a good thing to do, until you consider how much energy goes into the production and distribution of all that brightly-coloured glossy mail, not to mention the energy required to recycle it. Thankfully, a Vancouver businesswoman has found an alternative.
