November 2009 - Posts
If you were disheartened by the recent City Council decision to not ban the use of pesticides and herbicides, here is some encouraging, healthy news from City Hall.
Today, Ald. Joe Ceci and Ald. Bob Hawkesworth will bring forward a motion to create a food policy for Calgary. The Aldermen are proposing that the city look at models that have been successful in other cities, and develop a policy for Calgary to foster a healthier community and to promote more locally grown, sustainable food.
A comprehensive food policy could consider everything from food production on city owned land, to marketing of regionally grown food, education and nutrition awareness, and food and waste recycling.
Paul Hughes, a local landscaper and the founder and chair of the Calgary Food Policy Council, has been very vocal about excess city land being put to better use, preferably for the use of growing food.
As he has previously pointed out, Calgary has more space than any urban area in North America and most of it isn’t being used well. There are almost 8,000 hectares of usable land in Calgary that Hughes envisions being transformed into edible green spaces by anyone who has the will and a shovel.
In a society where diet is a factor in 60% of diseases, the production, distribution and consumption of healthy food is a critical, core issue for all communities. Everyone, not just provincial and federal legislators, has a stake in food policy.
Dr. Vandana Shiva, the woman who coined the phrase "think globally, act locally," and one of the world’s most dynamic, contemporary thinkers, has said that it is food policy that has created the mess we’re in with unhealthy food production and it is food policy that will turn it around.
Here’s hoping City Council supports the development of an ambitious, forward-thinking food policy. It would be the gift of a healthier, sustainable future for all Calgarians.
Canadians have low expectations that the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit will actually result in…anything. That’s the conclusion drawn by Angus Reid, who released the results of their poll today.
Is it any surprise? Reading news stories on the lead up to the Summit is enough to give you heart palpitations and a serious headache.
Stephen Harper will not attend the Summit. Stephen Harper will attend the Summit. The U.S. carbon targets are too weak. The Canadian targets aren’t much better. But bold targets would “impose draconian impositions on the North American economy.” The Conservatives propose a 20% reduction in carbon emissions below 2006 levels by 2020, while the U.S. proposes a 17% reduction below 2005 levels by 2020. The Liberals release a plan which involves cap-and-trade instead of carbon targets. Meanwhile scientists warn us that any global warming “must be limited to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels in order to avoid disastrous environmental impacts.”
Perhaps clutching their hearts and holding their heads, a few Albertans decided to sit and ask for tough action against climate change. Sit, that is, in Jim Prentice’s office to be exact.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/itzafineday/4128078993/
On Monday this week seven Albertans held a sit-in at Environment Minister Jim Prentice's Calgary office to demand that he agree to stronger climate targets. They were charged with mischief. Yesterday ten Albertans occupied Rona Ambrose's office in asking for the same. Nine were given trespassing tickets seven hours later.
What kind of impact do these acts of civil disobedience carry? As isolated incidents, they simply remind our elected officials that many Canadians aren't pleased with the direction the government is taking on climate change. But these protests aren't isolated incidents; they are happening all over Canada and all across the world.
On Wednesday December 9th there's an event at Hillhurst United Church where you can meet other Calgarians who are concerned about climate change and want to do something about it. It's going to be a family friendly event with activities, speakers and more. For more information visit Alberta Acts on Climate Change on Facebook or follow gapowell on Twitter. If I get more information on the event I'll post it here. Update: More info available at: and
Some hot reading on climate change at the Library:
Global Warming: A Very Short Introduction by Mark Maslin
Fight Global Warming Now: The Handbook for Taking Action in Your Community by Bill McKibben
Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning by George Monbiot
The Weather Makers: How We are Changing the Climate and What it Means for Life on Earth by Tim Flannery
Carbon Shift: How the Twin Crises of Oil Depletion and Climate Change Will Define the Future by Ronald Wright
A few months ago I blogged about the strange subculture of people who eschew shampoo (can you say that three times fast?) in favour of completely natural alternatives. They like to call their movement 'going no 'poo'. Catchy, isn't it?
Shampoo, and other body care products, contain a host of synthetic compounds like sodium lauryl sulfate, and ammonium lauryl sulfate. For the No 'Poo-ers out there, the thought of massaging these ingredients into your scalp, and then washing them down the drain into our drinking water, just isn't appealing.
I'd love to say that it was the environmental reasons that spurred me to ban my bottles of shampoo, but initially it was something much more superficial: the day after using shampoo my hair is limp and greasy. There's good reason for that. Shampooing your hair strips the natural oils off your scalp and alters the pH of your scalp, causing your hair follicles to overcompensate by producing more oil. It's a vicious shampooing circle, which is great for shampoo companies.
My no 'poo recipe is very simple and bare bones: 1 tablespoon baking soda diluted in 1 cup of water. Pour it on your hair and scrub. Rinse with water. For conditioner I use 1 tablespoon of vinegar diluted in a cup of water. (I'm currently using red wine vinegar but most people seem to use apple cider vinegar). Pour it on the ends of your hair, and let it sit for a few minutes before rinsing out. Voila! Easy-peasy, affordable and it leaves my hair healthy and full of body for a few days after washing.
The library has a few different books on making your own skin care and hair care products. Return to Beauty: Old World Recipes for Great Radiant Skin by Narine Nikogosian is a good one, as are these three:
Face Masks, Hair Rinses and Body Lotions by Gill Ferrer-Halls
Natural Beauty Recipe Book: How to Make Your Own Cosmetics and Beauty Products by Gill Farrer-Halls
Organic body care recipes : 175 homemade herbal formulas for glowing skin & a vibrant self by Stephanie L. Tourles
Green cleaning is a subject close to the heart of an EcoMiser. I am trying to focus on ways to save money while doing environmentally friendly things, and changing the way we clean our homes provides ample opportunities to do both. You can replace expensive cleaning products with many natural substitutes that you probably already have in your cupboards. For example a simple vinegar/baking soda mixture will effectively clean and deodorize many kitchen and bathroom surfaces and is a good deal cheaper too! The immediate application of salt to grease stains is remarkably effective, and I can personally attest that salt is also very good at getting red-wine stains out of expensive clothing. Replacing store-bought window cleaners and paper towels with a vinegar/water mixture and newspaper is also a less expensive and more earth friendly option.
Of course if you are interested in this topic, a number of books are available from the library. One of the newer books to hit our shelves is Clean Home, Green Home, by Kimberly Delaney, which not only provides numerous tips on environmentally friendly cleaning, it also shows ways to increase the lifespan of your possessions.
A recent post by a fellow Eco-Action blogger made mention of an up-coming program at the Bowness branch of the Calgary Public Library:
Green Cleaning
Learn how to improve indoor air quality and select green cleaning products.
When: Wednesday, December 2nd
7:00 to 8:30 p.m.
Where: Bowness Library
There are still spaces available for this program. Registration is free to Calgary Public Library members and can be done online, in person at any library location or by telephoning 403-260-2620. Green Calgary (formerly Clean Calgary) will be presenting this program, and if you would like to know more about this fantastic organization (and maybe even lend them some assistance), you can check out that earlier eco-blog I referred to, or visit the Green Calgary website.
New Savings:
Green Cleaning: $20.00
It is difficult to say exactly how much we have saved by using natural cleaning products, but I can say that the application of salt to a wine spill on a new sweater saved us an expensive dry-cleaning bill. I think $20.00 is a very conservative estimate here.
ESTIMATED September ECO-SAVINGS: $57.40 September was a great month for eco-savings, particularly from the bounty of food our garden yielded. Other methods for achieving eco-savings can be found by looking at my earlier EcoMiser posts.
Total savings to date: $271.13
I was in San Francisco recently, and stayed at the Good Hotel—a place that “believes in doing good for the planet” and claims to be “the first hotel with a conscience.” Is this all true? Well, I can’t vouch for the latter, but as to the former, the Good Hotel certainly has made an effort to tread much lighter on the planet than any other hotel I’ve seen. It does far more than just provide a recycling bin in every room (I’ve seen that elsewhere); in the Good Hotel it's obvious that the hotel takes the environment seriously.
Room details include key cards made of recycled cardboard, bed frames of local 100% reclaimed wood, bedspreads made from recycled pop bottles, energy-efficient light bulbs, chandeliers made from empty water bottles and decorative pillows made from old bedspreads. Most bathrooms are equipped with sink positive toilets (which have small sinks for hand washing on the top of the toilet tank—wash your hands with fresh water and the grey water is reused to flush the toilet).
Hotel guests with hybrid vehicles park for free (an enormous bonus in downtown San Francisco) and the hotel also has bicycles available for use by guests wanting a greener method for getting around the city.
Good Hotel aims to do good beyond its own walls. A lobby telephone hooks you up with the nonprofit organization One Brick, which helps match guests up with short term volunteer opportunities. (This detail placed the Good Hotel as one of O magazine's “4 Hotels With an Edge On “Voluntourism.”)
What I like best about the Good Hotel is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. The design, the literature and even the large “be good” painted on the hotel room walls show that the hotel wants its guests to think green, but also to have fun. It's always a little easier being good—and green—if it means more fun.
Working at a library, I’m always seeing the newest “green” or environmental books. I remember when—pre-Internet—it was next to impossible to find information on environmentally sound products and advice. Now, we all face eco-information overload; in addition to countless excellent websites, there are new books on these topics arriving every week. While I can’t keep up with all of them, here are two recent ones that caught my attention:
live green, Calgary!, a beautiful little book by Calgarian Lauren Maris listing “local programs, products and services to green your life and save you money.” live green, Calgary! is broken down into the following chapters:
1. Home Heating
2. Indoor Water Use
3. Electricity
4. Household Cleaning
5. Yard and Garden
6. Home Building and Renovation
7. Home Décor
8. Transportation
9. Food and Drink
10. Waste and Recycling
11. Children
12. Clothing and Personal Care
13. Entertainment and Recreation
14. Get Greener in the Workplace
15. General Resources for Living Green
Each chapter contains some basic information, listings of local products and services, other resources, and listings of any rebates or other government incentives.
I’m not generally fond of books that just contain lists of information (as useful as they may be) but this one is an exception; not only does it contain local information, but it’s prettier, more readable and far more enjoyable than most. You can check out livegreencalgary.com website for more information on Maris and live green, Calgary!, as well as other green resources.
One more book that caught my eye on the new book shelf is Ecoholic Home by Adria Vasil. Ecoholic Home is another attractive, readable book, packed full of information in its 382 pages and (hooray!) Canadian. With ideas and information to help us green our home lives, this book is a great resource for Canadians who know that positive environmental change often begins at home. The Ecoholic website has information on the book as well as links to Vasil's Now magazine column and other resources.
A few weeks ago, Calgarians gathered in the basement of the Memorial Park Library to listen to one of Canada’s pre-eminent nature writers and naturalists talk about disappearing meadowlarks, burrowing owls and sage grouse.
Amidst the noise of looming pandemics, climate change and other environmental emergencies, the extinction of a few small prairie birds, may not seem like much. But in the eyes of award-winning author, Trevor Herriot, we are in danger of losing something essential to our very understanding of this world.
Grass, Sky, Song: Promise and Peril in the World of Grassland Birds is one of the most powerful environmental books I have read this fall. In it, Herriot weaves personal experience, natural history and bird lore into a sort of book-length prayer for the preservation of the last native grasslands and the birds that call them home. It is a moving testimony to a landscape in flux, and also a profound meditation on wildness and wellness as Herriot tracks the fastest disappearing species of bird while also meditating on farm practices and incidence of cancer on the prairies. The declining number of grassland birds is a testimony not only to the damage we have wrought upon the land, but also to ourselves.
Herriot argues that we need to recreate the prairies as a natural habitat, something that will only occur as a result of collaborative efforts by people who love the land. As someone who has witnessed the transformation of the family farm from grain land to grassland, I know the task is difficult, but not impossible. The elements required – prescribed burns, native grassland restoration, and co-operatives of beef and bison producers and consumers –are now being implemented with success.
Grass, Sky, Song is a book of hope and a striking call to action. Birdsong, as Herriot tells us, is not a lullaby but an admonition and a promise: “replenish the earth and you shall be replenished as well.”
For more information on conservation of prairie grasslands check out Alberta Prairie Conservation Forum.
For as long as humans have been writing, nature has shaped our language and understanding of the world. Yet, for many readers nature writing implies a genre that is pastoral and removed from the true grit of life, penned by Thoreau-loner types or earnest and disheveled figures out wandering the blasted moors. Nothing could be further from the truth.
With the natural world under threat, and climate change reshaping the landscape, nature writing has taken on a new urgency and vitality. Increasingly, it is not about distant lands but rather about the exoticism of the familiar. Today’s nature writers stand witness to the beauty and intricacy of the world and remind us that the natural world is not a place apart but is with us every living moment. We need to pay attention.
This natural world being reshaped before our eyes, is where the action is for writers. But catching up with the action and then wrestling with the meaning of it all is difficult, because the threats are so great and immediate. While significant nature writers such as Wendell Berry and Bill McKibben, have put their writing on hold while they directly address policies that are destroying the environment, other writers like Wade Davis are reminding us that we need to not only observe the world around us, but take action to ensure that it is there for future generations. It is hard to think of a time when a literature of nature is more desperately needed.
In the next Eco-Action blog I will tell you about one of the best nature books I have read this year. It is an eloquent testimony to the power and fragility of the prairie grasslands in our own backyard and will change how you view our landscape.