A new year …

Happy New year everyone!

I know I have been missing in action since the end of our 100-mile challenge, but time, circumstances and health (nasty carpal tunnel) kept me away from you all.

But I’m back and will try to stay focused and in touch as much as I can. With a new year come new inspirations and resolutions. Keeping this blog current and interesting is one of mine.

WHAT ARE YOUR RESOLUTIONS FOR THIS NEW YEAR?

My husband and I decided to sit down and really think these through this year. We wanted to start out the year with resolutions we knew we had a chance of keeping. There is nothing more frustrating than establishing goals knowing that there is a 50/50 chance you won’t be able to achieve them. So, we decided to be generous with ourselves and set them large enough that they would be forgiving, but tight enough that they felt rewarding. So, aside from the continuing efforts to become as green and eco-friendly as possible, here are the 4 resolutions we decided to work on this year:

• Be more active everyday! I know, not very inspiring, but we decided this year that instead of saying things like “We’ll go to the gym 3 times a week” or “We’ll start running every morning”, we were going to be honest with ourselves and set goals that are more fit to our habits. So, we promised ourselves that we would participate in a form of activity or another everyday : Whether it be a 20 minute walk, a trip to the public pool or simply taking 30 minutes to stretch and do sit ups at the house, we were going to do a little something everyday!

• Only drink coffee on the week-ends! That, to us, will most likely be the hardest one. We want to switch to tea and herbal teas for health reasons of course, but also to improve our sleeping patterns. My husband and I both suffer from restless sleep and we have noticed that on those mornings we don’t drink coffee, we sleep better that night. I know some people are more sensitive to stimulants and we may be some of them. Plus tea has so many health benefits such as :

Anti-cancer properties
Immune system boosting properties
Cardiovascular health properties
Reducing risk of strokes
Increasing metabolic rate and helping with burning fat
Antidepressant properties

And those are just a few that I found. So, although we love coffee, and we wouldn’t want to never drink it, we decided to keep it as a week-end treat.

• Try a minimum of one new recipe a week! One of the daily places where you can get stuck into a routine easily is food. Before you know it, you are eating the same 10-20 foods over and over and that just becomes very boring. So we have made it a point to start looking through cook books (when it’s time to grocery shop) and picking a recipe every week for which we will by all the ingredients for and cook! I look forward to sharing new recipes with you!
  

• Figure out what our absolute target weight is and try to stick to it! That will require finding out from reliable sources what that target weight is, what my body mass index and fat ratio are and working on getting myself fitter and healthier. It also will mean buying a scale! (Which I’ve never owned LOL!)

So there you go!

I would love to hear from you and know what your personal goals are for this year so please share!

How to make your own pectin – a true 100 mile challenge!

So, I promised I would be back with my first 100-mile challenge recipes and one of the first ones I wanted to master was a way to thicken my jams without buying the liquid or powdered pectin at the store. I did a little bit of research and found that making pectin is not that much harder (if not easier) than making apple jelly.

I used :

• About 4 pounds of local green sour apples. Cut into pieces : core, seeds, skins and all! (The recipe I found called for unripe Granny Smiths which do not grow in my area so I had to improvise) The trick is to find them freshly picked and not to mature.
• About 2 cup of water for every pound of apples.

Here is the recipe I followed (from www.ichef.com) with tips when reducing the liquid :

1. Place the apples and water in a large stockpot or soup kettle, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes or until apples are tender. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
2. Pour the pulp and juice through a jelly bag or line a large bowl with dampened cheesecloth, pour the pulp and juice through, gather the corners of the cheesecloth, and tie in a knot. Suspend from a cabinet knob or handle and allow to drip into a bowl overnight. (Now here, I used a metal wire strainer because I didn’t have cheese cloth. It worked very well, but let a bit of the pulp through so my pectin was a bit “foggy”.)
3. The next day, measure the apple juice and pour into a large pot. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook until reduced by half. Refrigerate and use within 4 days or pour into containers and freeze for up to 6 months. (Here, stay very close by! I walked away for a second and when it started to boil, it almost overflowed! Be there to quickly reduce the heat for the simmer when it starts boiling.)
4. An easy way to determine reduction is to measure the depth of the liquid in the pan with a plastic ruler before boiling. Re-measure as liquid reduces. No need to pour into measuring cup!

It worked wonders. This recipe made almost 14 ounces of pectin and I have some in the freezer for future recipes during the challenge! Now that I know how easy it is, even after the challenge I don’t think I could go back to store bought synthetic pectin.

Hope you enjoyed! I’ll be back tomorrow with more on the 100-mile jam I made.

How do you cut out and replace synthetic additives in your food?

Our adventures are going 100 mile...

Hello and good morning to all!

In the process of getting back into the swing of things, one thing we have been working hard on is rescheduling our 100 mile challenge diet. Having to put it on hold because of medical issues, we are now in full swing again and preparing for it.

Our new dates will be September 15th to November 15, 2009.

Why those dates?

1. We will be out of the country for 2 weeks early September and bringing the 100-mile challenge with us 100% would be a little hard. Plus, we will be staying with friends and we wouldn't want to impose. (Although we are looking forward to trying to find local delicacies while we are out and about over there.)
2. The growing season being a whole month late here because of the horrible weather we got June and July, so we are expecting to have nice fresh produce well into October and a farmers market full of good 100-mile stuff!
3. We will have time to do a lot of the canning. We do tons of preserves and such come late summer and early fall and those will keep us well fed and supplied in November when we become dependent on our reserves for the rest of the challenge.

So we are completely committed again and getting more and more ready for it…

I’ll be back later this week to share with a few 100-mile preserves recipes and tips so I hope you’ll check back in!

What local foods have you been enjoying this summer?

Attitude Eco-Friendly Fabric Softener – Product Review

Hello.

So, following my post on the hidden dangers of dryer sheets from a few weeks ago, we went looking for an eco-friendly alternative in a fabric softener. I was a bit overwhelmed by the number of options that were presented to me, until suddenly I caught a little glimpse of a print on one of the bottles :

“Driven by an ideal : To live and consume responsibly. Our future depends on the choices we make today”

Bio Spectra is a Montreal company that believes in fighting global warming, responsible consumption and good quality, eco-friendly products. Their ATTITUDE line of cleaning products is based on their “CO2neutral” approach which is quite interesting :

“What is ATTITUDE® doing?

ATTITUDE® not only offers quality products that are third-party certified eco-friendly, but also contributes actively in the fight against global warming by offering Carbone Neutral products: products that have GHG emissions equal to ZERO. Thus, by using ATTITUDE® products, you are reducing your personal environmental footprints.

The carbon neutral approach can be translated into three big steps:

• Calculating GHG emissions based on the life-cycle analysis;
• Reducing general emissions;
• Compensating for emissions that cannot be avoided.

The carbon neutral approach quantifies the whole company’s emissions and not only the emissions associated with the production of ATTITUDE® products. The report is a great tool to identify weak areas where emissions are at their highest. Thereafter, these areas are analyzed to determine the most effective ways to reduce the emission rates. We believe that it is possible to reduce our carbon footprint, all the while reducing operational costs, and believe that all self-respecting businesses should adhere to a similar model.”

The product I will be reviewing today is their Ylang-Ylang & Tangerine Fabric Softener. (It also comes in Lavender & Grapefruit). First a few facts : This product is certified EcoLogoM (an Environment Canada program), CO2 Neutral, natural, eco-friendly and biodegradable. It comes in HE formula (of course) so it is specifically designed for high-efficiency machines.

The ingredients are water, essential oils and soy based surfactants. That’s IT! The product is vegan (free of animal tallow derivatives), non-carcinogenic, hypoallergenic, non-tested on animals and free of artificial dyes and fragrances.

We’ve been using it for a week now and it has proven itself wonderful on both clothes that went in the dryer and clothes that were hung to dry. The fragrance is barely noticeable once the clothes have dried. All that is left is a very mild and pleasant smell. I found that 1/3 of a cap is more than enough more a normal sized load which leads me to believe that the bottle will last me way beyond the 52 loads it advertises. And at 7$ a bottle, it is a steal and can make your laundry cycle completely safe for you and your family.

They sell everywhere in North America, many countries in Europe and over in Japan so I really hope all of you will get your hands on these products because they are well worth a try! I’m looking forward to trying their entire line!

What are some of your favorite eco-friendly brands?

Green Living: Improving Health Today and Tomorrow

I’m very honored today to have a guest blogger, Mr. Bill Hawthorne, who represents maacenter.org, a leading web resource for asbestos exposure and mesothelioma cancer information. This organization is dedicated to increasing awareness of the terrible health consequences of asbestos exposure through the distribution of the best informational materials and public outreach efforts.

Green Living: Improving Health Today and Tomorrow

Much attention has been paid in recent years to what seems to be a growing environmental conscience in the United States. Going green used to be considered expensive and a luxury for those who could afford the trend. Now it appears that we are learning that not only is adopting more environmentally conscious attitudes good for our economic situation, but also our….health? Yes, if we dig a bit deeper we can see that dirty industries and backwards policy is actually harming the health of the earth for our children and the health of her inhabitants today.

How Does Environmental Policy Affect Public Health?

There are two levels of health consequences associated with dirty industry, both direct and indirect. The direct consequences are examples like increased asthma rates in areas with high smog indices. Chlorofluorocarbon release into the atmosphere has shown to decrease the filter of direct sunlight on the planet, resulting in more concentrated ultraviolet light reaching the surface of the earth. Perhaps it is no surprise then that in countries with depleted atmospheric gas, skin cancer rates are among the highest in the world.

The indirect health consequences are harder to see immediately, but closer examination reveals that these are, in fact, perhaps the most hazardous. Bi-products of dirty and backwards industries, such as coal and oil processing, include cancer causing substances like asbestos and benzene. A U.K. study conducted in 2002 indicated that coal and oil industry workers are at a much higher risk of developing mesothelioma (associated with asbestos exposure) and leukemia (traced to benzene and heavy-metal exposure). Dr. David Sugarbaker among many other doctors who specialize in this area understand that these are substances that can be directly traced to antiquated pre-regulation equipment in industries whose environmental hazards are even more inherent.

Can we really afford to continue on the path we were on before? Investment in clean industry means not a healthier planet for our children and grandchildren, but also a healthier place for us to live today.

--June 8, 2009 Written by Bill Hawthorne with the maacenter

Cooking from scratch : How to make the perfect organic muffins at home

Good morning. How are you all doing? I hope you are well.

One thing I’ve found that has help in our “going green” project is cooking and baking more from scratch. The reality of going organic with your food is that pre-packaged organic things can be quite costly. But organic base ingredients barely cost a few pennies more sometimes so I decided to do my own recipes more and more.

Now, like most of you, I just don’t have time to sit there night after night and pull out the recipe books. So it was about finding recipes that were easy, quick and flexible so that it could feel like I was making something new all the time with only changing a few ingredients. Well after months of experimenting with muffin recipes, I finally refined my own basic muffin recipe that you can then add whatever you want to and they will always turn out great!

Recipe :

Preheat oven at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

• 1 1/2 cups stone ground organic flour
• 1/2 cup organic whole wheat flour
• 2/3 cup organic raw sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon organic sea salt
• 1 organic egg
• 2 organic egg whites
• 1/2 cup apple sauce (or sometimes I put pumpkin purée)
• 1/4 cup organic canola oil
• OPTIONAL : 1/8 cup organic maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons toasted wheat germ

In a bowl, you whisk together all the WET ingredients (eggs, egg whites, apple sauce or pumpkin purée, oil, syrup (if you choose to use it) and vanilla.

In a larger bowl, you stir together the flours, sugar, spices, fruits and nuts you choose to add, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Then pour in the wet mixture, stir together until it’s all smooth and pour into muffin tins (about ¾ of the way up). Depending on how much fruit and such you add, and the size of your tins, you’ll make between 12 and 16 muffins.

No matter what the ingredients, bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

Flavours :

From here on out, you can put whatever you want in it! I don’t even count the amount per say. Sometimes the muffins will be breadier, sometimes more full-of-fruits, but they always end up being yummy!

Here are some of my favourite combinations :

• Banana, nut with allspice
• Carrots and raisins with cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice
• Cranberries and orange zest
• Lemon zest and poppy seeds
• Fresh field berries
• Apples and spices
• Dates and walnuts
• Etc…

TRY THEM ALL and create your own! The great thing about this recipe is that for the initial 20$ of ingredients, you’ll have weeks of fresh muffins on hand and you can always just make them with what you have laying around in the fridge or pantry!

Hope this can help making your homemade life a bit easier and fun!

What are some of your favourite recipes?

Dryer sheets and fabric softeners : Big hazards come in sweet smelling packages

Good morning.

One of our missions while trying to transform our household into a green haven for our family was to replace products as we ran out of them. We figured that throwing away boxes and bottles full of products away was wasteful and it would make it easier on the wallet to go one item at a time instead of suddenly needing to replace everything in our home.

One of the things that have taken forever at getting to the bottom of has been our box of dryer sheets. Why? Because we hang so much to dry that we use them very rarely and when we absolutely MUST use the dryer, we cut them in 2, sometimes 3 parts. So a little box of 70 dryer sheets has been lasting us going on a year now.

When I pulled one out to realize there was only left in there this morning, I jumped for joy at the idea of finally switching to eco-friendly, non-toxic, biodegradable fabric softener.

Then my curiosity got tickled and I decided to look at how bad for the environment dryer sheets really were. I was very shocked and quite scared by the info I found. Not because of the dangers for the environment, but because of danger to us!

According to World-Wire.com, this is a list of some of the chemicals found in commercial fabric softeners and dryer sheets :

• Benzyl acetate: Linked to pancreatic cancer
• Benzyl Alcohol: Upper respiratory tract irritant
• Ethanol: On the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Hazardous Waste list and can cause central nervous system disorders
• A-Terpineol: Can cause respiratory problems, including fatal edema, and central nervous system damage
• Ethyl Acetate: A narcotic on the EPA's Hazardous Waste list
• Camphor: Causes central nervous system disorders
• Chloroform: Neurotoxic, anesthetic and carcinogenic
• Linalool: A narcotic that causes central nervous system disorders
• Pentane: A chemical known to be harmful if inhaled

So needless to say, the last dryer sheet went in the trash and I went searching for alternatives.

Fabric Softeners :

Natural health food stores, and even many big grocery stores, will sell natural fabric softeners that are non-toxic and made from plant-based products. They are often times only a few dollars more and will make your clothes just as soft and static free.

Home recipes :

Again, from World-Wire.com here are a few ideas on home recipes to help make your clothes soft and static free without the use of chemicals :

Add a quarter cup of baking soda to wash cycle to soften fabric
Add a quarter cup of white vinegar to rinse to soften fabric and eliminate cling

Reusable natural dryer sheets :

My final suggestion is to check out a great product I found while doing this research. I came across a site for a Canadian company called Static Eliminator that produces a chemical free, hypoallergenic, long lasting and safe reusable dryer sheet that seems just fantastic!


“How does it work?

The technology behind the Static Eliminator Re-Usable Dryer Sheets is a true innovation for the way you do laundry... The weave of the Static Eliminator Re-Usable Dryer Sheets gives them their static fighting power - instead of coating your laundry with harmful chemicals, these unique, re-usable dryer sheets "conduct" the static out of your laundry load. The Static Eliminator removes static and softens fabrics while remaining chemical free and maintaining your dryer warranty.”

So I hope I could inspire you to look for safer alternatives to your traditional dryer solutions. We all want a safer, healthier home and sometimes little differences can have a huge impact!

Happy greening!


What are some of your favorite home recipes for household chores?

Painting our new home : Choosing non-toxic paints

Good morning.

We are only a month away from moving to our new home now and my husband and I went shopping for paint colors yesterday. One of the things we had promised ourselves with our new home was that we were going to paint with eco-friendly, non toxic and VOC (Volatile organic compound)-free paints. So off we went to find such a marvel!

I had done a bit of research on them before, especially after posting about plants and the way they can help purify the air we breathe indoors, and was shocked by the amount of negative impact one can of traditional paint could have on your health and environment.

According to Eartheasy.com, there are many benefits to using non-toxic paints :

• Health : Reduced toxins benefit everyone, including those with allergies and chemical sensitivities.
• Environment : Reduces landfill, groundwater and ozone depleting contaminants.
• Effective : Low-VOC products perform well in terms of coverage, scrubability and hideability (covering flaws on previous coats).
• Water-Based : Easy cleanup with soap and warm water.
• Little or No Hazardous Fumes : Low odor during application; no odor once cured. No off-gassing. Painted areas can be occupied sooner, with no odor complaints.
• Not Deemed Hazardous Waste : Cleanup and disposal greatly simplified.

Their section on non-toxic paints is WELL WORTH A LOOK and offers a great and extensive list of Natural, Zero-VOC and Low-VOC options. The natural paints even included soy and milk protein based paints. I thought that was simply wonderful! Until I tried finding such brands here in Quebec and hitting my head to a wall. The only one that was anywhere near me was Benjamin Moore and up here, they are so expensive, I couldn’t even imagine buying gallons over gallons. Plus they are in the low-VOC category and I wanted VOC-Free.

So back to square one, my husband and I headed to Home Depot and SURPRISE! We found one!


C.I.L. Dulux, a long standing paint manufacturer from Canada, has come out with their own line of 100% acrylic, VOC and solvent free paints that are eco-friendly and practically odor free. It also comes in eggshell and semi-gloss finishes. The best part is that, any color in their color swatches that is white-based (symbol W/B) can be made from this paint. Now, I understand that adding color pigments may compromise a bit of the “pureness” of the paint, but the solvents and VOCs will still not be there.

So I was pretty happy and cannot wait to start decorating our new home! I will keep you posted on the progress when the time comes.

Have you looked around for ways of reducing harmful materials in your home? Please share!

Rethinking recycling – When you move, donate goods and share resources!

Good morning to you all.

As I have mentioned before, my husband and I are on the verge of moving to a new apartment. When looking for our new place, we came to the understanding that we would have to sacrifice space for location in order to be happier and greener :

• Moving to a better built and more recent building meant less energy wasted through unsealed windows and outdated heating.
• Closer to work and our community garden meant less of the car being driven.
• Walking distance from the farmer’s market and our favourite local stores for food and fun meant the same.

But in this process, we lost 160 sq.ft and no longer have a basement storage unit. (Not that I’m complaining because we have now an underground parking spot so no need for de-snowing and idling the car in winter.)

So, we decided this would be the perfect time to really reassess what we were actually going to move and what we were getting rid of. Hard and long process, but a satisfying one to say the least! So I thought, since we are probably not the only ones doing massive spring cleanings or getting ready to move, I would share some ideas on items you may not have thought of donating but that are great to share and give away.

Toys and clothes :

That is an easy one! Everyone knows that they have local clothes banks and toy drives. No surprise there, but still, a reminder is always good. Toys can also be donated to daycares, children’s hospitals and shelters.

Bedding, towels, wash cloths :

You can donate all kinds of linens to homeless shelters and women’s shelters around your city. Towels and blankets can also be donated to local animal shelters to be used as beds in the cages.

Dishes, utensils and cookware :

Soup kitchens and shelters always have a need for extra dishes and things to cook with. Or, you could simply ask a friend if they need them! I’ve made so many starter kits for friends, I lose count. It’s always a great way to share.

Pet supplies :

Animal shelters need everything from litter boxes to food dishes, food, leashes, bedding, toys, carriers… if you use to have a pet (or like us, have pets that have outgrown their first litter boxes and carriers), then take them to your local shelter. You can also donate old hamster, bird, rabbit cages or aquariums to local grade schools to use in classrooms.

Books and magazines :

Local public libraries, high schools, grade schools, clinics, hospitals (long care units can use the books) and even local detention centers and prisons, will gladly accept donation of reading materials.

Shampoos, conditioners, soaps and other toiletries :

We all have in our home leftover bottles of shampoo, body washes, soaps, etc. that we have gotten on a whim and not used fully. Places like women’s shelters, were women and their families come in with very little in their possession, need things like that to help out.

So as you are going through your old things, please think of how they can be reused.

I hope you have a great day!


What do you share and donate in your community?

How to make your conventional electric hot water heater more efficient – Insulate it!

Good morning everyone.

Very soon, my husband and I will be moving to a nicer, more recent apartment building (having outgrown the “college” setting we are currently residing in) and I will be, for the first time, paying all my utilities, including hot water. That one is very new to me since I’ve always lived in buildings where the hot water tanks were in the basement, gas heated, and I never had to worry about them.

But as of July 1st, we will have access to our electric water tank in our apartment and will have our own separate counter. Not only do we see this as a great way to start really paying attention to how much we use, but it will be a great start to us finding ways to making the adjustments and changes in order to make our conventional water heater as efficient as possible.

According to Natural Resources Canada and the Office of Energy Efficiency :

Storage tank water heaters are by far the most common type used in Canada. These systems heat and store water in a tank so that hot water is available to the home at any time. As hot water is drawn from the top of the tank, cold water enters the bottom of the tank and is heated. The heating source can be electricity, gas or oil.

More efficient storage tank water heaters can perform as much as 40 percent better than conventional models. An energy-efficient model will typically have one or more of the following features:

• extra tank insulation for better heat retention and less standby loss (loss of heat through the walls of the tank)
• a better heat exchanger to transfer more heat from the energy source to the water
• factory-installed heat traps, which allow water to flow into the tank but prevent unwanted flow of hot water out of the tank

So if you are shopping for a new water tank and cannot afford green power like solar panels for water heating, look for the more efficiently rated ones.

But if you are like me, renting and don’t have a say really over the tank that you have or not able to get a new tank, that doesn’t mean you can’t do anything about it!

Our tip is to go to a place like Home Depot or Lowes and buy a hot water heater blanket. Now be sure you take all your measurements because not all water heaters are the same! But these places will sell most conventional sizes for under 30$.

The U.S. Department of Energy has posted a very comprehensive guide to installing an insulation blanket that I plan on using to make sure our tank is well fitted. According to them, “adding insulation to it can reduce standby heat losses by 25%–45%. This will save you around 4%–9% in water heating costs.” Not too bad for a 30$ investment. And less water heating means a lesser carbon footprint which is once again the ultimate goal.

Hope this was useful!

What ways do you use to save on your energy bill?

Where to dispose of CFLs, cell phones and batteries properly - a follow-up

As a follow-up to a comment posted on my previous blog topic, Heating through light : Another reason for using CFLs in your home, I decided to take a few minutes this morning and do a quick search on where we can dispose of certain products such as compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), cell phones and batteries.

CFLs :

For all of us in Canada and the US, Home Depot is one of the easiest ways to dispose of CFLs. If you are like me, there are at least 3 Home Depots within a 10 mile radius from your house so drop off is easy. You can grab a disposal bag and bring it home with you, store your used bulbs and take them back. Another big name store to take back CFLs is IKEA. They were actually ne of the first company to offer a take-back program.

Rechargeable batteries and cell phones :

One of the greatest sites I found while surfing the net this morning was the RBRC - Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation that has a wonderful search engine where you put in your postal code or ZIP and they will give you a list of businesses and drop off points with the distance from your house and directions through Yahoo maps.

One place that seemed to come back a lot in the United States is Radio Shack. Again, very widely spread, they are an easy drop off points in most towns and cities. Staples is another common store in most every area that will take back your used products.

In Canada, Canadian Tire stores take back rechargeable batteries nation wide and some take back old cellies. Our equivalent to Radio Shack, The Source, supports the same programs as in the US. I’ve also gotten hits on various other home hardware stores and Sears here in Canada.

Do check out the RBRC site! It is worth having a good list of drop points to not dispose of them in the trash.

Car batteries :

I know that here in Canada, Canadian Tire recycles them. Your best bet is to call your local car parts place and ask them if they recycle. Many of them will and it will prevent them from ending up in landfills.

Regular one-time-use batteries :

As much as I would like to believe that people have stopped using these, the average person still buys dollar store discount batteries and most of these end up in the trash! They cannot be recycled unfortunately, but here in Canada, Future Shop/Best Buys have drop boxes and takes them in for proper disposal. I would think that Best Buy in the states would do the same, but I wasn’t able to find a reliable source. They do take in rechargeable ones, but that is as far as I was able to find.

In most cities, if you call the sanitation department, you may be able to find out where to take your non-rechargeable batteries. But the best advice from me would be :

DON’T USE THEM ANYMORE!

On a final note, I did find a company in the United States called Battery Solutions that sells iRecycle kits in various sizes. They come with the safety containers for storage and pre-paid postage for sending your batteries and other things for disposal. They accept :

• Household batteries, both rechargeable and non-rechargeable, such as D-cell, C-cell, AA, AAA, 9-volt, and button cells
• Rechargeable battery packs from: Cell phones, cameras, laptop computers, power tools, etc.
• Handheld electronics: Cell phones, iPods, PDAs, pagers, etc.
• Any other dry-cell batteries.

So I hope that this provided a good follow-up to my previous post that suggested using CFLs in your home to keep cooler this summer.

How easily can you reach a recycling or disposal drop-off point in your area?

Heating through light : Another reason for using CFLs in your home

Good morning everyone.

With the warmer weather approaching, the time to think about a greener and energy efficient summer is upon us. That is right; it is time to find alternative ways of cooling our homes that won’t leave an insane carbon footprint on the world. So while I was reading back issues of Green Living magazine, I found an article by Mary Teresa Bitti that was published last summer entitled “Cool it : 7 ways to chill without warming the planet” that had a lot of good ideas like :

• Getting rid of the air conditioning units (or if simply cannot live without them, go for Energy Star rated ones)
• Using ceiling and floor fans that use up a fraction of the energy to run.
• Closing windows drapes and blinds during the warmer days and opening them up at night.
• Create patterns of cross-ventilation by strategically opening and closing specific windows to create “wind paths” in your home.
• Make sure your insulation in your attic and basement doesn’t have any gaps and holes so that the cool air stays inside your home.
• Add natural shade to your yard and home by planting trees or by not removing too much of the natural canopy that will provide your home with cooling shade.

All great ideas! But you are probably thinking “there are only 6 tips there!” That is because I wanted to talk more in depth about one of them that surprised me and intrigued me more than the others :

• Replace all you incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs)!

Did you know that more than 90% of the electricity used to power a traditional bulb is lost through heat?

According to Natural Resources Canada, only 4 to 6 % of the energy used to power a traditional bulb goes towards producing visible light. Which means everyone of your old traditional bulbs that is glowing is not only using up a lot of energy, creating more waste buy having a shorter life span, but is also heating your home when you are desperately trying to keep it cool! CFLs produce 75% less heat when lit up.

So as an extra green step to a cooler home this summer, if you hadn’t already made the switch, replace your old traditional bulbs with CFLs.

Thank for reading!

What will you do to lower your carbon footprint this summer?

Purifying your home with plants - Volatile organic compounds and how plants can help!

So in an effort to help with making my home a better and safer place, I've decided to join 2 of my greatest passions (Horticulture and Green living) and write about plants and their ability to purify your living space.

According to studies conducted by NASA and the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) in the early 70s and 80s, researchers found more than 300 VOCs (volatile organic compounds) that we breathe in everyday. The scary part is that these VOCs were found outdoors and indoors. Not only have these toxins been known to cause allergic reactions, but they can also be linked to illnesses such as cancer.

I had already started looking into in-home toxins and their sources when I wrote one of my first blogs about PVC shower curtains. But after attending an expo where someone was passing out flyers about the top purifying plants to have in your home (which I will get into later), I decided to do more research on how they do it and how to make them work for me. Here are a few things I found out.

Let’s start with sources of VOCs in your homes and how to already take a step towards lowering your exposure. According to the EPA, main sources for these compounds are everyday household products such as paints and solvents, wood preservatives, aerosols, cleansers and disinfectants, bug sprays and air fresheners, stored containers of fuels, automotive products in your garages, hobby supplies such as glues and dry-cleaned clothing to name a few. If you are like me, venturing to be green, you have long since given up toxic cleaning products under your sink and you choose to hand wash and air dry your finer garments. But all of us have painted walls, varnished furniture and some super glue somewhere in case of breaks. We can't exactly start ripping apart our home, so what can we do?

Plants are a great way to help balance everything out. Now all plants can contribute to cleaner air in a home by the simple photosynthetic act of absorbing CO2 and releasing oxygen. But certain plants are actually also particularly good at absorbing some of the most common VOCs like :

• Formaldehyde - found mostly in plywood and press wood products, glues, paints, etc.
• Benzene - found in solvents and paints.
• Ammonia - found in many cleaning products.
• Trichloroethylene - found in solvents.
• Pentachlorophenol (PCPs) - found in wood preservatives and some disinfectants.
• Carbon monoxide - naturally produced by the human body, but found in excess due to wood and gas burning stoves and fireplaces, car exhaust (when starting your car with the garage door closed), furnaces, water heaters, generators.

So what are these super plants? According to Gilles Pelletier, indoor horticulturist, (whom I’ve already quoted in my post on home made bug repellants) here are his top plants to have in your home :

• Ficus – To help with neutralizing formaldehyde.
• English Ivy – Very efficient at removing benzene from the air.
• Palms – Many of the dwarf palms have the ability of removing both ammonia and formaldehyde from your in home air. Recommended for kitchens and bathrooms.
• Ferns – Great for most VOCs.
• Chrysanthemums - Are great for trapping trichloroethylene. A must for any freshly painted room.
• Spider Plants – a great purifier for removing formaldehyde and carbon monoxide.
• Philodendrons – Great for removing trichloroethylene and PCPs.
• Pothos – The super plant! Can remove 90% of excess carbon monoxide in 24 hours.

Now keep in mind that having one or 2 plants for your home will not be enough. While doing research on this, I found multiple sources that recommend an average of 15 to 20 plants in order to have a clean and healthy home. If you are like me, that isn’t much… I have plants on almost every elevated surface of my home (so the cats won’t eat them!). But if this seems like a lot, than concentrate on a few good ones and take the habit of airing out your home. But on a side note : Studies have shown that people that have lots of house plants in their everyday environment are more relaxed and productive, so maybe having lots of plants would be a great way to improve not only your air quality, but your quality of life in general!

Hope this was informative and I look forward to reading your thoughts and comments.

What plants to you generally keep in your home?

Getting rid of bugs in your house plants the natural way

So last week-end, we were at a plant expo and we met a really nice guy who is an interior horticulturist with a green side. His name is Gilles Pelletier and his business is “how to make the most of your urban space” when it comes to plants and urban gardens spaces.

One of his little impromptu information sessions was about natural home made solutions to take care or bugs, fungus and mildew in your house plants. Here are a few of the products and recipes that he suggested :

Garlic :
Insecticide - Takes care of mites and aphids.
Mix 1 tablespoon garlic juice and 1 teaspoon rubbing alcohol with 3 litres (12 cups) of water.
Spray immediately.

Baking soda :
Fungicide and bactericide : Takes care of anthracnose, oidium and mildew.
Mix 4 tablespoons of baking soda and 4 tablespoons of dishwashing soap in 4 litres (16 cups) of water.
Spray every 7 days for 3 weeks.

Potato starch :
Insecticide and fungicide : Takes care of mites, aphids, thrips, and white fly.
Mix 4 tablespoons of starch and 2 or 3 drops of dishwashing soap in 1 litre (4 cups) of water.
Spray. Rinse after a few days to remove the residue.

Mustard powder :
Insecticide : Takes care of mites, aphids and scales.
Mix 1 teaspoon mustard powder and a few drops of dishwashing soap with 1 litre (4 cups) of water.
Spray.

Cinnamon :
Fungicide : Takes care of mildew and crown rot.
Mix 1 teaspoon of cinnamon powder in 1 litre (4 cups) of water and let stand until the cinnamon looks like a softer pace at the bottom of the container.
Spray the leaves and water the soil.

Hope this was useful at helping with our little indoor visitors.


What do you use to help control insects indoors?

Your refrigerator : A few ways to make it more energy efficient

Good morning everyone! I was reading a little bit about home appliances and decided to share a few thoughts with you.


If you are like me, you want to be on top of your energy consumption and buy all Energy Star rated appliances, but it’s not always so easy. Everybody’s budget is different and even though we do eventually plan on changing all of them, we have been going at it one at a time. We started by the washer-dryer because to us, that was the first one to come in. With all the water wasted in conventional washing machine, which was a no brainer.

Thinking of which one to buy next is my inspiration for this blog.

Did you know…

That according to Natural Resources Canada’s Office of Energy Efficiency, the average refrigerator sold in Canada used up 487 kWh?

Now here was the surprising part : Most models that are sold with the Energy Star label only cut the energy consumption by an average of 10%.

After reading this, I started thinking that although 10% less is 10% less, there had to be ways to make my existing fridge more efficient itself.

Here are a few tips I found in a book titled 365 gestes pour sauver la Terre (365 things you can do to save the Earth) by Philippe Bourseiller that will help me, and hopefully you, cut down on energy use :

• Don’t position your fridge near a heat source like a the stove or a radiator.
• Do not position your fridge in the light of a south facing window.
• Don’t put in the fridge foods that are still hot. Let them cool down to room temperature before placing them in the fridge.
• Do not overheat your kitchen. Keep the ambient temperature a few degrees lower than the rest of the house. Cooking and baking will easily make up the difference anyway.

I hope these little hints will help in making your kitchen a bit more energy friendly!

What steps do you take to make your appliances work better and more efficiently?

Mmmm... I love the smell of PVC in the morning!

So when my husband and I redecorated the bathroom. We had promised ourselves that we were done with plastic shower curtains. They are hard to clean, get stained and just didn't fit our aesthetic anymore. So we bought a beautiful cotton, retro, paisley dream of a curtain and loved it from the beginning... But it was only meant to be an outside curtain, was not waterproof, so we bought a dollar store liner.

Without thinking about it, we waited, as with every other plastic shower curtain we had bought in the past, for the horrible smell of brand new liner to go away and finally it did and all was well. That is, until I stumbled onto a Los Angeles Times article from last June that made my hair stand on end.

Turns out that a study done by the Center for Health, Environment and Justice on 5 different unopened polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic shower curtains bought at major department stores found that they all contained high concentrations of toxic volatile organic compounds that have been linked to many health issues including liver damage, central nervous system damage, respiratory and reproductive system damage and cancer. According to this study, one of the curtains tested released as many as 108 of these dangerous compound and they stayed in the ambient air, lingering, for several months.

If you are interested in getting more facts, please go and download this fact sheet from www.besafenet.com

Now what are our alternatives?

Well after this, the first thing we did was to go in search of a cloth liner. Having read online about organic cotton curtains and all, we started wondering how waterproof they would be. We wanted to be eco-friendly, but still wanted our shower liner to be functional.

We ended up finding this great this great Hotel Fabric Shower Liner for only 10$. But it was made from polyester and my first reaction was "That's not eco-friendly?" Or is it???

According to an article on Digital Journal.com, turns out that polyester is not as contrary to a green life as one may think. Although polyester in its production uses more energy than cotton because of the transformation the materials have to go through, once the product is made, it uses a fraction of the energy for the upkeep.

Lets say we take cotton (taking for granted that at this point, we have picked a fabric made from organic cotton that has not been heavily spread with pesticides through out its growing cycle) : Clothes and products made from cotton will need to be washed at higher temperature water, will need to be tumbled dried for longer, will often need to be ironed, and will have a shorter life span than a polyester blend. Most polyblends are made to wash in cold water and can be hung to dry, drying in less time, do not wrinkle, and in such cases as a shower curtain, will last forever.

Now don't get me wrong : I LOVE natural fabrics. But in trying to make my home a greener place but keep it efficient and simple, I think this may be a nice alternative.

Hope this was enjoyable for you guys and keep aware!