The author of Hope For Wildlife: True Stories of Animal Rescue, the best-selling Nova Scotian book of the past two weeks, will be in Mahone Bay this coming weekend for a signing, reading, and discussion. Ray MacLeod will be accompanied by Nicole Payne, a staff member of the Hope for Wildlife Society (www.hopeforwildlife.org), the organization on whose work the book is based.

MacLeod & Payne will be at P’lovers, Mahone Bay, on Sunday June 19th from 2:00-3:30.

From Nimbus Publishing of Halifax, the book includes 14 stories of wildlife taken under the wing of the Hope for Wildlife Society over its 13 year history. It also features colour photographs from society founder Hope Swinimer’s personal collection of shots taken by staff and visitors.

The book has been listed for the past two weeks by The Chronicle-Herald as the most popular local publication. In the first three weeks of its release, it sold out three times at Dartmouth’s largest book store and is either signed out or on hold at all 20 Halifax municipal libraries.

MacLeod is a freelance writer and life-long outdoorsman. He is also a retired teacher and former journalist who won a Hilroy Fellowship, Canada’s top award for outstanding educational innovation, for use of journalism in the classroom. He lives in Waverley.

For more background, see:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Books/1246873.html

Contact: Jane Smith | E-mail: junglejanesmith@gmail.com | Tel: 902-624-1421

Laura provided the following green tips for Halloween for parents and families that are fun, hip and sensitive to Mother Earth…

1. Decorate your pumpkin with vegetables. Use a carrot for the nose, green peppers or small cauliflower halves for ears…corn silk or other vegetables for hair. Afterwards, compost the vegetables along with your unused pumpkin parts.
2. Serving cold beverages? Tickle your guests by using On the Rocks – Granite Ice Cube Drink Chillers (available at Uncommongoods.com) instead of ice cubes. They won’t dilute your drinks, make for great conversation and come in sets of six.
3. Treat bags can be anything. P’lover’s bamboo shopping bags are great…and so are pillowcases (great for big trick or treaters!)
4. Use white pillow cases for making small ghost decorations. Place a balloon or ball on lamp base, (unplugged please.) Then drape a white pillow case over it. You might use twine or rope to give your ghost a belt. Make a scary face if you wish with fabric scraps.
5. Serve those Halloween and harvest treats in recycled glass or bamboo servers. You can create a wonderful “eye ball salad” using one of P’lovers olive servers. Just alternate large pitted black or green olives with small mozzarella balls that you have given eyeballs using slices of pimento stuffed olives. Spooktacular!
6. Give fun, useful and hip treats instead of candy. Stickers, recycled erasers, bamboo pencils and our chubby “tree” crayons make great surprises. Beautiful shells, polished rocks and other natural surprises are loved by children!
7. Decorate oranges with food coloring markers to make tiny jack o ‘lanterns.
8. Stay in the neighborhood. Rather than driving the kids, walk to your destination and celebrate with your neighbors.
9. Light your barbeque, fireplace or outdoor fire pit with Holy Smokes™ fire starters made from recycled church candles.
10. Give golfers on your trick or treat list golf tees made from corn. It’s a hole in one for Mother Earth!
11. If you are hosting a party, avoid disposable items such as napkins, drink stirrers, plates, etc. Better yet-have guests bring a glass or goblet from home and supply items to decorate the glass with for a personalized holiday party favor. Check out our eco-friendly line of hemp napkins, plates and serve ware.
12. Planning ahead can cut down on the number of trips you make to the store. Make a list before you go and shopping on-line saves time and gas!
13. Buy local. Purchase locally produced pumpkins, gourds, cornstalks and other natural decorations from local farmers markets. Host a neighborhood contest for the most “naturally” decorated home!

During this event, we’ll be showing never-before-seen in public footage of David Suzuki talking about his personal journey and the book that transformed him from scientist to environmentalist.

Here are the DSF Book Club titles for the next 3 months:

November
Less is More, Embracing Simplicity for a Healthy Planet, a Caring Economy and Lasting Happiness by Cecile Andrews and Wanda Urbanska

December
Climate Cover-up, The Crusade to Deny Global Warming by Jim Hoggan

January
Not Just a Pretty Face, The Ugly Side of the Beauty Industry by Stacy Malkan

Click to view in PDF Format

Three Potent Steps to a Sane Economy

Amidst today’s uncertainties, is an historic opportunity to secure our lives and the lives of those we love. First we have to recognize the common cause of the financial and ecological crises – that human activity is touching planetary limits.

In order to achieve a balanced relationship with the Earth, we need to picture a new order in our hearts and in our minds. Then, each time we buy food, pump gas or have a conversation with a friend, we can advance long-term well-being.

Two different types of economic activity are identified below, followed by three potent steps we can take toward a sane economy. Together they provide a foundation for imagining what can be. As enough minds ripen the images, change happens.

Please pass these details around.

Two types of economic activity:

“Economics” is a somewhat mysterious word for “mutual provision.” While, individually, we have limited ability to provide for our needs, we produce abundance in societies. Each person gets good at certain tasks and we trade with each other.

There are two types of economic activity. One type requires continual inputs of non-renewable resources and produces problematic waste. Transportation systems and disposable consumer goods are examples. The other type consists largely of human creativity and good-will, like education and most health care at the preventative level. While there are almost no physical limits to the amount of education and preventative care that we can have, there are serious limits associated with resource intensive industries.

For the things that we do need from the resource intensive line, the first two of the following steps can reduce our impacts on the Earth dramatically. All together, these three steps can usher in a long period of ecological stability.

Three potent steps:

1) Shift the imagination and creativity that presently goes into designing for obsolescence and use it, instead, to design goods that are durable and easily repaired.

2) Instead of using our persuasive communication abilities to encourage people to throw things away and to buy new stuff, we could use those same talents to reclaim an appreciation for durable and familiar products.

3) Finally, if we search for personal fulfillment in what we can do with our lives, such as learning, love, laughter, friendship, art, music, dance, sport, service, and the like, rather than by accumulating and consuming material goods, we could have more real satisfaction while minimizing resource exploitation and waste.

While such steps would do wonders for securing the future, they would be disastrous for a growth-based economy. We either have to increase the size of the Earth, or reorganize mutual provision so that we can all share in the necessary work and revel in the new security.

There are many ways to reorganize mutual provision to serve a mature (post growth) civilization, but it is getting harder and harder to stretch the Earth. Do we want to grow until we drop, or develop the economics of sustainability? It is a Question of Direction.

Civilizations don’t change direction easily. They must either suffer catastrophe, or exercise an extraordinary redirection of will. By launching a public discussion about which direction offers the better future, millions will come to imagine the options. Together we can then make a major contribution toward redirecting society’s will.

Help make it happen.

“There is a tradition in some societies, whenever decisions are being made, to consider the interests of the next seven generations. For the modern world to do the same would mark our passage to maturity.”

More about the Question of Direction and how we can cooperate to have the answer heard can be found at: www.SustainWellBeing.net.

Note the introduction at “The Challenge and the Goal.”

Every now and then we come across something someone else has written that we think is fabulous – like this “Our New Year ABC’s a.k.a. Alphabet of Avoidance” created by Borden Communcations & Design. We are grateful to them for their permission to share it with you.

May we all take heed!

Cheers – P’lovers

It’s that time again. The New Year. Maybe you’ve already considered resolutions, maybe you’ve already abandoned them. I personally believe that we should simply try our best every single day (see, it sounds so positive and do-gooder-like and relieves me of the feelings of failure and guilt when I default!).

We live in an odd world. We know that plastic bags, disposable water bottles, cleaning chemicals and auto emissions are bad for our environment, and bad for us. Yet, we still drive cars, forget our reusable bags, buy water at the gym and spray toxic stuff onto our mirrors to try and clean them. We are trying to knock it off, but these things take time. A steady pace is great…as long as it’s in the right direction.

2009 is the year of the right direction, and to start you off on the right foot (with a lighter footprint), we present below our Alphabet of Avoidance. So, Avoid now Because you Can…but remember, our ABCs are only the basics (some letters could have had the limelight to themselves, but we chose to treat all letters with equal importance!).

Antiperspirant
Do sweat the small stuff…that’s how we can change the world. You may even perspire as you go through this list of things to avoid! And, before you next roll on, check your deodorant (and other personal care products) at The Skin Deep Database for safety. If it’s on you, it’s in you.

Batteries
Powering up all the gadgets in our lives with conventional batteries then dumping them in landfills creates a toxic mess. Instead, try rechargeables, and take a look at wind powered, solar powered or hand crank eco-gadgets coming on the market with great force.

Corn
Go corn-free…I don’t mean corn-on-the-cob or organic stuff, I mean corn-fed meat, corn-sweetened juice and pop, corn-oiled salad dressings, crackers and cereals with corn, corn syrups, corn solids, corn starches and more! Corn is in nearly every food that comes from a restaurant or a package (and it’s not considered a vegetable!), so this is a difficult one, but you won’t believe how avoiding this will change your life. Watch King Corn or read What to Eat.

Disposables
Replace buying paper napkins with a set of cloth, buy a set of stainless steel chopsticks instead of wood ones in a paper sleeve, buy a Laptop Lunch instead of tin foil, plastic bags and plastic cutlery, ditch the plastic water bottles for a tried, tested and true Klean Kanteen. The possibilities are endless.

Eco-Bullying
Screaming with arms flailing at someone who asks for their grocery items to be double plastic bagged is an eco-sin also… rather, promote eco-awareness with charm…awareness leads to more of us wanting and willing to do our part. Plus, charm gets you further with all anyways.

Fragrance
If it stinks, it stinks. Perfumes and anything with the ingredient “fragrance” can contain parabens, phthalates and other synthetic compounds that experts label as harmful to our bodies (and our water when washed away). As for air fresheners – open the windows, that’s the freshest!

Gift Wrap
According to the Use Less Stuff Report, wrapping paper and shopping bags alone account for about 4 million tons of trash annually in the US. Not to mention, it’s harmful during production, only used for moments and is not even recyclable! You can be lazy and cheap and use being “eco” as an excuse, or try using RuMe…a gift and gift wrap!

Hoarding
We all have WAY too much stuff. If you have it and don’t use it, donate it, swap it or sell it. If you don’t have it and don’t need it, don’t buy it. Less stuff is good, good stuff is better, better stuff is enjoyable. Don’t hoard…savour or share!

Idling
Any time you stop for more than 10 seconds (except in traffic) usually is worth turning off your engine. Idling gets us nowhere. Quickly.

Junkmail
Think even of the term! Of course you need to get rid of it. And, the industry standard is a 2% response rate which means 98% of the resources making junk mail are wasted! Get on board the Red Dot Campaign for more details on stopping your unaddressed mail today (no cost to you, big savings for everyone).

Kitchen Crap
Seriously, do you need a separate appliance for each item you cook or bake? How many times do you actually use these items, and where do they end up “resting”? And an electric can opener? It’s easier to open a can manually than it is typing 100 words…especially on a blackberry. SIMPLIFY!

Laundry Dryer Sheets
Nearly every chemical that touches the skin finds its way into our body. As a result, wearing toxic chemicals (basically what you are doing when using fabric softeners/dryer sheets) is actually quite similar to eating them. As bad as our screening processes are in this country, I’m going to assume that such products could never be approved as safe food.

Mobile Phone Mayhem
Just in Canada alone, there are over 9 million mobiles replaced every year. That is way too many annoying ring tones. If you must replace (watch the Story of Stuff before you answer ) check out the Charitable Recycling Program.

Nail Polish
When I used to sit feeling pampered at the spa, I wouldn’t have been quite as relaxed knowing I was absorbing something similar to automotive paint into my body. My daughter and I now will pick out colours from safer (and even local) lines, but I prefer to be safest and have her skip it! Watch those removers too!

Oil
It’s your paraffin candles (try beeswax), it’s your petroleum jelly (try beeswax again) and it’s way too many other household items. It’s a possible human carcinogen that’s banned in other countries but still found in our personal care products. Avoid anything with paraffin or petrochemicals…I know those start with “p”, but it’s just a spin off of oil.

Plastic Produce Bags
It is really fantastic that you’re bringing your own bags for grocery shopping, but what about produce and bulk? Try Credo Bags – made in Canada…put local produce into local reusable bags. Now that makes sense.

Quasi-eco stuff a.k.a. greenwashed products
With too many “green”, “eco”, “organic” products to even choose from, simply learn to be an informed and active label reader. Understand and know what you are buying, where it came from and why you need it. If you can’t understand any of that criteria, don’t buy or buy into it. Check out the greenwashing index or the 6 sins of greenwashing.

Running Water
Turn the tap off while you brush your teeth…do you flush the toilet the whole time you are sitting down? Challenge yourself to a shorter shower, use less while washing dishes, don’t fill anything up higher than you need to, including your kettle.

Straws
I understand that drinking straws can prevent lemon seeds from being swallowed (why they were invented), however, do you really need that plastic thing in your drink, and then does it need to get tossed in our landfill? There’s a reason that straws are not allowed at the zoo you know. If you need a straw, try stainless steel, glass or compostable, which are at least better than the nasty plastic ones.

Take Out
Exactly. Take out the take out. Bring a litterless lunch from home, or enjoy dinner from your kitchen…just visualize all of the styrofoam, foil, cardboard, paper and plastic you’ll avoid. If you are going to let a restaurant cook for you, just take your own containers when picking it all up.

Utility Charges
Not completely avoidable of course, but when you see those office buildings all lit up at night, are there really that many people in there working? Be an influencer and get your workplace to turn off more. And, make sure you unplug as much as you can at home when not in use, even your cell phone charger sucks electricity when plugged in, whether you are charging or not.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s)
You can’t see them, but they’re all around us. They aren’t listed as ingredients on our purchases and are most well-known for contributing to indoor pollution. Again, if it stinks, it stinks. Think new car smell, paint, carpet, furnishings, vinyl shower curtain, even the new Twister game mat. Evil.

Wool
Not just because I personally despise wearing it! Making conventional wool typically involves pesticides, formaldehyde, polyester, foams, dioxins and other yuckiness (wonder why it’s so irritatingly itchy???) Organic wool comes from way happier sheep without the “yuckiness” so try it if you like the fiber!

X-Rated Household Cleaners
So, the labels on conventional household cleaners have skulls and crossbones displayed right up front and are sold in the grocery store and pharmacy. Seriously???!!? Get it out. Try an Eco-Me Home Kit as the easiest (and proven effective) solution.

Yellow Snow
This was my husband’s contribution to the list when I was stuck on the letter “y”. Yes, avoid yellow snow, and as you do, know that until all your neighbours, and their neighbours, and their neighbours (and so on), stop using toxic ice/snow melt and garden pesticides, you’ll want to avoid all snow as a refreshment.

Zapping Your Lunch
When I was young my mother made sure I wasn’t standing in front of the working microwave. It might be true that it drains less energy than an oven, but it can’t be good to nuke and zap stuff in the micro, especially in plastic containers, if we weren’t supposed to stand in front of the unit. Bring a cold lunch, or something warm in an insulated stainless container. This saves time too when you are hungry!

You made it through the entire alphabet (or you just scrolled down to the end, and I can appreciate you even wanting the conclusion, I know, this was a LONG rant).

Whatever your current eco-sins are, don’t beat yourself up or feel overwhelmed – instead, pat yourself on the back for even giving a sh*t, and making it through our Alphabet of Avoidance.

Reversing long-standing behaviours and routines is one of the most challenging things to do. And we’re in the process of doing it – let’s just keep going, and bring others along…whether it’s doing a little or doing a lot, the best way to affect change is to let others see you doing it. It will result in safer environments for our children and for us. And, that is the point! Move into the new year with a new plan. Simple avoidance.

Lisa Borden is an eco-advocate and mother of three, whose business is a direct reflection of her commitment to better, more responsible living. She is a dedicated workaholic, admitting that it takes a lot of time and effort to change the world, especially in her non-preachy, fun, engaging and inspiring ways. Lisa consults, writes, engages the media, runs private workshops, and enjoys speaking to large and small groups. Her full-service marketing firm, Borden Communications + Design Inc. is based in Toronto and takes great pride in being an ethical business providing exceptional ideas. You can sign up for Lisa’s rants and raves at www.bordencom.com or reach her directly at lisa@bordencom.com.

© Lisa Borden 2009

Recycling glass saves energy, water, raw materials, mining waste from extracting raw materials, inert materials going to the landfill, and reduces air pollution.

Recycling two glass bottles saves enough energy to boil 5 cups of tea or power a 100W light bulb for 4 hours. For every tonne of glass that is made from recycled rather than virgin glass:

• 1.2 tonnes of raw materials are preserved
• 50% less energy is used
• 20% less air pollution is created
• 50% less water is used
• 10 gallons of oil are saved

Producing a tonne of glass from raw materials produces 384 lbs. of mining waste.

Glass never wears out and can be recycled forever.