From the Friday, January 11, 2008, Toronto Star, Living Section, page L5, an article about a store that provides environmentally friendly clothing:
Eco Logic
ALL SHADES OF GREEN
Store caters to fashion-conscious shoppers seeking environmentally friendly options
Karin Kobayashi
Special to the Star
Kerry MacMullin, a former model and a vegan since she was 17, never believed in shopping therapy. In fact, MacMullin felt as if she needed therapy after she went shopping.
"Unfortunately, my relationship with fashion became negative. I expected consumers to boycott unethical clothing," admits the environmentalist, who only felt comfortable wearing second-hand clothing." I decided instead of complaining, I would create a solution to the problem."
MacMullin's solution came in the form of her new store, Green is Black, specializing in eco fashion for men and women and featuring only sweatshop-free brands that use hemp, soy, organic cotton and reclaimed materials.
"The idea was to design tthe store I wanted to shop in," says MacMullin who spent hundreds of hours researching ethical and environmentally friendly fashion labels from local designers Passenger Pigeon and Me to We to internationally established brands like Loomstate and Edun.
She paid particular attention to how far the garments would have to travel to get to her store. "A lot of people don't take into account the fossil fuel used for shipping," she says, which is why she carries a lot of brands from Ontario and Quebec.
"I wanted to have as much Eastern Canadian product as possible. You can say something is 'made in Canada' but if you are getting all of your materials from China and outsourcing your sewing, the garment is not ideal," MacMullin says.
She's particularly proud of the reclaimed jewellery and eco labels from Quebec she discovered, including Oom Ethikwear and Okzoo.
"Quebec eco labels are similar to how Quebec films are received," she says." Around the world they are renowned and award-winning but in English Canada they are largely ignored."
The store may seem a little stark but MacMullin's selective and stylish offerings with a price point of $90 make up for the fluorescent lighting in the back. I was ecstatic to discover Green is Black is the only Toronto retailer that carries the Spring 2008 collection of Del Forte Jeans, a U.S. organic denim brand. Even better, MacMullin ordered the must-have style of the season wide-leg, high-waisted jeans that fit like a glove.
The store also carries a selection of shoes including styles from Yellow Port made out of tires and reclaimed leather seating from 18-wheeler trucks. "I didn't want to have a store full of pleather," says MacMulin. "But I do have stock for folks who refuse to wear leather and I look for shoes that are as fabric-based as posssible as opposed to 100 per cent PC-based shoe."
The studded shoes by Mink available at Green is Black are not only a far cry from Birkenstocks but are so chic they were featured in Elle magazine.
Green is Black is open Tuesday to Saturday, 624 Yonge St., greenisblack.ca.
Erin Kobayashi is a Toronto-based writer, ecologicerin@gmail.com.
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Have you signed up for that gym membership yet?
Perhaps you just bought a fresh supply of nicotine patches.
Or maybe you've made that promise to leave work by 5 o'clock every day come January.
It's that time of year again. Whether motivated by guilt or a renewed zest for life, many of us will be making resolutions to change for the better. And New Year's is the perfect time to bring together our passion for making the world a better place with that age-old tradition of making our yearly resolutions.
Let's face it, many resolutions are not, well, completely realistic. (Do you honestly think you'll get back down to that svelte high-school physique by spring?) Fortunately, these five New Year's resolutions are different. They are easy to stick to and can have a truly positive impact on the world.
1. I will become better informed about one global issue that moves me.
From saving the rainforests to opposing unfair trade practices, simply read one book or magazine article on your favourite topic.
Next, spend one hour exploring websites or internet resources relating to this issue. You can then look into whether there are easy action steps you can take to help.
2. I will finally take a serious look into child sponsorship.
Instead of grand plans to shape the entire world, start small and discover how you can change a single life for the better. Click here to learn more about World Vision child sponsorship.
If you're already a child sponsor, resolve to encourage three people to explore child sponsorship. You can explain the difference you have seen it make in the life of your sponsored child and answer any questions that may come up.
3. I will go even greener in my own home and workplace.
As each year goes by, we see the impact of climate change. These changes have the most acute effects on vulnerable individuals in the developing world. You can help in simple ways, like finally replacing all those light bulbs with energy-saving fluorescent bulbs and reducing your weekly garbage to a maximum of two bags.
4. I will express my preference for alternative gifts.
On at least one personal celebration when you expect to receive presents, you can ask people who love you to donate to a charity instead of purchasing a gift you probably don't need.
Click here to browse the World Vision Gift Catalogue.
5. I will start to change the world one person at a time.
Simply invite a neighbour in for coffee (fair-trade coffee, of course). Or host a casual dinner party for friends who need a boost. Or simply smile at just one stranger every day.
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Friday, December 21, 2007 4:20 PM PT
Climate Change: A Senate minority report lists 400 reputable scientists who think the only melting ice we should really fear was in the cocktail glasses of attendees at the recent global warming conference in Bali.
Related Topics: Global Warming
In the wake of the Dec. 3-14 conference, where delegates worked to draft a successor to the failed Kyoto Protocol on global warming, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., ranking member on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has released a report that lists scientists who challenge both Al Gore's assertion that the debate is over and the Bali conclusion that the planet is in imminent danger.
Many of the 400 scientists have taken part in the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose climate change reports tout consensus but which critics charge are heavily edited to support pre-defined conclusions.
Among the IPCC's warming "deniers" is atmospheric scientist Hendrik Tennekes, former research director at the Netherlands' Royal National Meteorological Institute.
"I find the Doomsday picture Al Gore is painting — a six-meter sea level rise, 15 times the IPCC number — entirely without merit," he said. "I protest vigorously the idea that the climate reacts like a home heating system to a changed setting of the thermostat: Just turn the dial, and the desired temperature will soon be reached."
Physicist John W. Brosnahan, who develops remote-sensing tools for clients like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, says: "Of course I believe in global warming, and in global cooling — all part of the natural climate changes that the Earth has experienced for billions of years, caused primarily by cyclical variations in solar output."
Brosnahan says he has "not seen any sort of definitive, scientific link to man-made carbon dioxide as the root cause of global warming, only incomplete computer models that suggest that this might be the case." Those models, he says, leave out too many variables.
Indeed, a study in the Royal Meteorological Society's International Journal of Climatology looked at 22 computer models used by the IPCC. Most of the models couldn't even predict the past.
Predictably, after a quick review of the report, Gore spokeswoman Kalee Kreider said 25 to 30 of the scientists may have received funding from Exxon Mobil, though she didn't name which scientists she thinks were bribed to distort the truth. Wise move.
This is not like Al Gore getting 75 hours of free airtime on NBC, a unit of General Electric, which stands to make wads of cash on things like solar panels and wind turbines. Or Gore being involved with a company that sells carbon offsets.
Heartland Institute senior fellow James Taylor has noted that more than 600 scientists at the Bali gathering could have debunked Gore's warming theories, but the U.N. "censored" them.
By the way, Gore and his statist friends in Europe repeatedly have criticized the U.S. for its "failure to act" on warming. But new data show the U.S. in 2006 slashed output of greenhouse gases by 1.3%, while Europe's output continued to grow. So who's failing to act?
Here an idea: How about NBC hosting 75 hours of debate between some of Inhofe's 400 scientists and any one of Gore's choosing, including himself? Afraid of some inconvenient truths, Al?
]]>From The End of Poverty by Jeffrey D. Sachs, page 367, Jeffrey Sachs, as part of his chapter, "Our Generation's Challenge", includes a section on 'Our Next Steps', such as:
(1) Commit to Ending Poverty; (2) Adopt a Plan of Action; (3) Raise the Voice of the Poor; (4)
Redeem the Role of the United States in the World; (5) Rescue the IMF and the World Bank; (6) Strengthen the United Nations; (7) Harness Global Science; (8) Promote Sustainable Development; (9) Make a Personal Commitment.
Here's is the section on making a personal commitment:
Make a Personal Commitment In the end, however, it comes back to us, an individuals. Individuals, working in unison, form and shape societies. Social commitments are commitments of individuals. Great social forces, Robert Kennedy powerfully reminded us, are the mere accumulation of individual actions. His words are more powerful today than ever:
"Let no one be discouraged by the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills - against misery and ignorance, injustice and violence ... Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation ...
It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
Let the future say of our generation that we sent forth mighty currents of hope, and that we worked together to heal the world.
From the Saturday, November 24, 2007, Toronto Star, New in Homes section, pages H, and H16, an article about green housing construction:
ECO-CONSTRUCTION
Lowrise bar hits new heights
Environmentalists argue there's still a long way to go, but a pair of subdivisions are on new turf for green building
Tracy Hanes
Toronto Star
The green building bar for lowrise subdivisions has just been raised.
Rodeo Fine Homes, a small custom builder, and Monarch, a division of the world's largest building company, have thrown down the green gauntlet with two projects in the GTA that they claim will represent firsts in Canada.
Rodeo's is the 34-house EcoLogic enclave in Newmarket and it aims to be the first all-LEED Platinum lowrise development. Monarch's is called Evergreen, a 196-unit LEED-H project on a former Scarborough brownfield.
Rodeo calls EcoLogic the "greenest housing development in Canada," while Monarch calls Evergreen "Canada's largest lowrise green residential community."
Both projects have also been developed in partnership - Rodeo with the Town of Newmarket and Monarch with the Toronto Economic Development Corporation (TEDCO) - as leading edge examples of green building for other builders and municipalities to follow.
And while such claims are often derided as more image than substance, at least one leader of a prominent eco-conscious group has some nice things to say about these "green" housing projects - even if it's somewhat qualified.
"On the whole, (developments like these) are good, but we get into quibbles," says Chris Winter, executive director of the Conservation Council of Ontario - a province-wide association of groups and individuals dedicated to a healthy environment.
"One major issue is if you're talking about climate change an energy efficiency as priorities, the housing industry is still building sprawl, putting houses where you have to drive to get a bag of milk. They haven't got the full concept yet."
Residents of Rodeo and Monarch's new subdivisions are unlikely to go on foot for much of their shopping, but both projects score better than most new lowrise sub-divisions in terms of transportation. A bus route passes the entrance of the EcoLogic development and major recreation facilities and green space are close by. Evergreen will be a fairly easy walk from the Scarborough GO station, a bus to the subway and within an existing neighbourhood.
So while some will argue that the green bar must be raised further still, there can be some agreement that these projects are part of a new era, a change in direction.
"The whole green industry is new and everyone is trying to stake out their turf," says Vincent Santamaura of RN Design, lead architect the EcoLogic project. "What is green anyway? What brand is the market going to recognize? For us, it's a whole new journey."
"There is too much information, too many programs and it is creating a tremendous amount of confusion," says Brad Carr, Monarch Corp's senior vice-president, low-rise. "But that doesn't discount the need to push the envelope," he says.
Santamaura adds that one of the key challenges will be convincing homebuyers that by spending a little more upfront for a LEED house, they are buying a portion of all the energy they are going to use over 20 years at current prices.
"You're pre-buying energy at today's dollar . . . that's a fundamental concept that's hard to get through everyone's head," Santamaura says.
He says over the 70-year life cycle of a building, the capital cost - the purchase price - typically represents only 5 per cent of what it will cost to operate the building.
"But people don't spend 70 years in a home - they are going to have to see that in 10 years they will have added value to their home," Santamaura says.
Lenard Hart, a consultant on EcoLogic and co-creator of the Energy Starfor Houses in Ontario program during his former job as business development manager for the EnerQuality Corp., says LEED offers better choices for consumers.
"For me, this LEED platinum project is so far beyond anything I have ever been involved with, R2000 or Energy Star, but it feels like we are truly beginning to transform the way homes are built," he says.
"LEED looks at more than just insulation levels and furnace efficiency. It changes the way you build, promotes recycling on site, soil erosion controls, recycled materials, advanced framing and many other environmental advances that other programs do not cover."
He says while public education is important, the EcoLogic site "is such a leadership project that we are really appealing to an elite segment of very green consumers who are already quite well informed."
One hurdle is distribution of the materials needed for LEED homes.
"The products are out there, but it's the channels and pricing that are the challenge," Hart says. "We had to develope new channels. Builders have a fairly small circle of suppliers and we went to them first and made them part of the process, but asked them to bring in what we needed. That's part of the social transformation."
EdoLogic project hopes to achieve LEED platinum status by reducing household water draw by 25 per cent and reducing water discharge (effluent and storm water runoff), solid waste, greenhouse gas production and energy consumption by 60 per cent over conventionally built homes.
The site was part of the 36-hectare Stickwood-Walker farm, purchased by the Town of Newmarket in January 2003. The town developed a land-use plan that included the Magna Centre recreation complex, green space and heritage reserves and 160 residential lots, says Jason Unger, assistant director of planning.
Of the 160 lots, Menkes bought 124 for $16.1 million in August 2005: the town set two lots aside for Habitat for Humanity homes and slated another 34 lots for an environmentally progressive subdivision, based on public consultantion. Menkes offered to buy the 34 lots for $3.7 million if a suitable environmental developer did not come forward.
But Rodeo responded to the town's request for proposals and in January 2006, bought the 34 lots for $3.2 million with the condition that the developer had to achieve the stringent water use, waste reduction and energy-saving goals set by the town.
Two model homes, which should be completed next spring, will be learning vehicles for trades and building inspectors about LEED. Prices have not yet been determined for the detached homes.
Santamaura says a company like Rodeo is perfectly suited to tackle such a project. For one, it is a small, custom home builder that has had experience "tinkering" with new products that custom homeowners want. As well, a small builder can easily educate staff and quickly make changes.
Santamaura says that in three decades of green building, "it has taken 15 years for us to understand the building envelope, then 15 years working on mechanical systems and HRVs (heat recovery ventilators) and knowing how to design them for the right type of space. The final step is LED lighting, which we are just understanding now.
"For all us diehard advocates (of green building) we've been quietly trying to apply them for years and it's really great to be able to put all the stuff we've learned into a development," says Santamaura, who started his green building career in the 1970s, designing a super-insulated custom home for a Newmarket client.
The $100-million Evergreen development in the Midland and St. Clair Aves. area, to consist of 196 brick old Ontario-style singles, semis and townshouses, will be built to LEED-H, or basic, certification. All homes will meet Energy Star standards, construction waste will be reduced significantly and rainwater collectors will recycle runoff. The homes are to be ready for first occupancy in late 2008.
The goal is to demonstrate a green residential community can be economically viable and marketable, Carr says.
Monarch had owned five hectares of the site since the late 1990s and the City of Toronto oowned much of the land surrounding it. Carr says it was virtually impossible to get approvals as a result, but then the land reverted to TEDCO, the city's principal redevelopment corporation.
TEDCO operates at arm's length from the city, its sole shareholder, and has a mandate to pursue opportunities with a variety of public- and private-sector partners to restore derelict and vacant lands. It agreed to sell five hectares to Monarch, with the condition it build an innovative green community, makring the first time TEDCO has worked with a residential builder.
TEDCO CEO Jeffrey Steiner says fair market value was received for the land and TEDCO did its due diligence by obtaining two value appraisals and testing the market by tendering other lands nearby by confirming prices.
He says as the two properties were intermingled, it made sense to sell to Monarch and to share services such as roads, storm water management ponds and more. These economy-of-scale savings will be reinvested in the green aspects of the development.
Carr says Monarch is striving for basic LEED certification, not silver, gold or platinum, because the builder feels it is more effective to "reduce energy use by 15 per cent on thousands of homes," rather than achieving more dramatic reducctions on a small number.
He says it's important that Evergreen not be a "one-off" but something that's economically viable and repeatable" that could be built without government subsidies.
"LEED is very paper-driven and is a prove-to-me auditable process," Steiner says. "It's not just about how you build, but what you put in and about leaving the smallest possible footprint."
Steiner says the Evergreen site will triple the number of LEED lowrise homes in North America and the projet's results and know-how will be shared with the housing industry, including the GTA's BILD (Building Industry and Land Development Association).
Carr says part of the mandate was to keep the homes affordable. He says that's why, for example, the homes will use conventional natural gas heating, cutting energy consumption with efficient two-stage furnaces and extra insulation.
Priced from the mid $300,000s to $500,000s, Carr admitsthat "clearly not everyone can afford that, but in the City of Toronto, unfortunately that's where affordability is."
The Conservation Council of Ontario's Winter says there will be a market for the EcoLogic and Evergreen homes, as a recent poll shows homeowners are investing their own money in conservation practices. Some of them will want turn-key energy-efficient houses and "LEED is a very reputable standard and it's doing a tremendous job putting forth standards the building industry can work with."
He says one of the difficulties in bringing LEED standards to entire develpments is that it will require changes to planning standards that have been around for 50 years.
]]>From the Spring & Summer 2007 issue of Green Living, pages 31-33, is an article about three businessmen who have made green investments in the future. Here is an excerpt from page 32 about one of the three, Stephen Bronfman.
INVESTING IN THE FUTURE
These successful, strong-minded individuals prove that green is the way to go
by Meredith Dault
Stephen R. Bronfman
Carrying on his family's tradition, Stephen R. Bronfman's philanthropic endeavours are varied in scope, but they have one thing in common: his interests tend to be focused on the environment. From investing in experimental, forward-thinking technologies - things like large-scale organic farming, wind farms and hydrogen fuel cells - to lending his support to community projects with an emphasis on environmental education, Bronfman is a multi-disciplinary, progressive thinker with an eye on both the local and the international.
"I guess I've always been an outdoors person," says Bronfman, when asked what first sparked his interest in environmental causes. In his twenties, his mother introduced him to David Suzuki, a man Bronfman says had always fascinated him. Joining the board of the David Suzuki Foundation a few years later was, says Bronfman, "my first exposure to serious issues."
He now serves as president of the Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation and the Stephen R. Bronfman Foundation, both of which support projects that bring together community development and urban conservation. One of his most recent endeavors is C-VERT, a Montreal-based education and leadership project that sees young people devising environmental strategies for their neighbourhoods - everything from recycling programs to bike-route plans - while meeting with environmental leaders, learning lessons Bronfman describes as being "empowering tools for life." He is also the man behind the Trans Canada Trail Discovery Program, a series of over 2,000 educational panels along the trail route that teach users about their natural surroundings.
His interest in green technology has led to the current retrofitting of the historic Bronfman mansion in Westmount, Que. The renovations, which will include the installation of solar panels, as well as geothermal system and ground-water collection, with cisterns used for toilets and irrigation, is expected to be completed in a few years. "It's an experimental house," says Bronfman, clearly excited about the undertaking, which, he says, "has never been done on this scale. It's a great learning process."
Bronfman, who says he's not a scientist but merely a "creative guy," says it's possible to do business and think forward." Ultimately, he's investing in the wellness of future generations with his work. "It would be nice if people could enjoy some of the beauties of this world that we've always enjoyed. It's something that brings great joy to me."
]]>From a 2007 issue of a newsletter by the David Suzuki Foundation comes an article about the bee disappearances:
ASK A SCIENTIST
Dr. Faisal Moola
What's the buzz on the disappearing bees?
Colony collapse disorder is a plague that has hit bee colonies through the U.S. Although no instances of CCD have been confirmed in Canada, several recent reports of suspicious losses have been reported in Ontario and Saskatchewan.
The symptoms of CCD are mysterious and bizarre. They include the sudden disappearance of the adult bees in an affected colony, but with no corpses remaining in the hive. Honey and pollen stores remain intact. The surviving workforce is too small for colony maintenance and the remaining bees seem reluctant to feed on either stored honey or pollen. Surviving colonies don't raid those that have been affected by CCD. Such robbing behaviour is typical among healthy colonies.
Scientists think that the root cause of the plague may be stress resulting from the industrial management and transportation of domesticated bee colonies that are used for agricultural pollination purposes. Parasitic mites and other pathogens, as well as pesticides, have also been suggested as possible factors.
Bees, as well as many other insects, provide a critical ecological service called pollination, which is the process by which most plants (including almost a third of agricultural crops) reproduce. Pollinators are also economically important globally because about a third of the food we eat - such as apples, peaches, chocolate, almonds, coffee and berries - are dependent on animal pollinators.
]]>Today, the 17th of November, 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change met in Valencia, Spain, to adopt and approve the fourth and final report that makes up Climate Change 2007.
The draft report (without final copy editing) is found at http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr_spm.pdf. The IPCC site is http://www.ipcc.ch/.
Are the governments of the United States, Canada and Australia unaware of the human and environmental and financial consequences of dealing with increasing climate change losses? No.
Each country has scientists and researchers who have been involved for many years in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007 report, which includes scientific research, and information on adapation and mitigation. The report is easily available online to anyone, even politicians, in full or in a shorter policy version, to anyone who can type IPCC in Google.
So why are the leaders allowing themselves to be led by the nose - by multinationals, their lawyers and lobbyists, trade agreements favouring corporations, corporate contributions to election campaigns, insteading of leading the campaign to slow global warming?
The U.S., Canada, and Australia are three of the largest historic polluters and have a moral obligation, being wealthy, developed nations, to clean up the mess they have caused in the past, without any strings being attached to poorer and less developed nations, who did not create the historic mess.
Forget the next election, gentlemen, your own self-interest or those of your political parties or corporate pals or their lobbyists, needless spending on needless wars instead of the environment, or whatever useless and lame excuse is stopping action. The costs of not doing anything will far outweigh the worth of anything we are spending money on now and they will continue to increase.
The writer of the Global Issues section of the Toronto Star, called the three heads of state the Three Climate Stooges.
Leaders, you have all the information you need to act now. Get out of Iraq (US) and Afghanistan (Canada), don't start a needless war on Iran (US), and the billions saved can be used to solve not only climate change issues, but poverty and other humanitarian issues at home and in the world.
Anything less is not a joke, but a crime against humanity.
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