Green Living
19.06.2010
Environment, Green Living, Sustainability
Canadians do not walk the talk when it comes to their commitments to greener living according to findings from the second annual Canadian Green Gap Index released this week by Optimum Public Relations and Summerhill. Facilitated by Leger Marketing, the insight report revealed a continued trend showing Canadians believe they are much 'greener' than the actions they're taking to live a green lifestyle.
The Green Gap Index measures environmental behaviours in six key areas: fuel conservation, home energy conservation, purchase preference for green products, recycling, waste reduction, and food and household goods. The largest gap is still in the area of fuel consumption (over 40%) due to low adoption of alternatives such as public transport, hybrid vehicles and carbon offsets.
"Canadians have the power to transform markets, but they often look to corporations to help them adopt new behaviours or try new products," says Ersilia Serafini, CEO of Summerhill. "Our experience in environmental program delivery shows that the companies who are able to encourage Canadians to take action, experience the long term benefits of customer loyalty and trust, as well as bottom line results."
Another trend that has emerged in 2010 is that Canadians tend to overstate some of their own environmental actions. A demonstration of the newly labeled green pretense, shows 72% of Canadians say they use reusable drinking containers instead of disposable drinking cups, when in fact, the line ups at any coffee shop in Canada would suggest the percentage is much lower.
One reason for this incongruity between Canadians' green assertions and actions could be the perceived lack of leadership from corporate Canada in the area of green living and sustainability Corporate
Canada has a Gap to fill too
While much of corporate Canada has integrated sustainability into overall business through dedicated environmental policies, practices and marketing initiatives, surprisingly, green leadership is not entrenched in the hearts and minds of Canadians. This year's Green Gap Index asked Canadians to identify corporate green leaders in eight different sectors and identify reasons they believed these brands were green. More than three quarters of respondents were unable to identify a green leader or believed one existed.
"Canadians genuinely care about living greener, but they aren't being supported to do more than take small steps," says Nick Cowling, Vice President of Optimum Public Relations. "Many of corporate Canada's environmental platforms do not resonate with them because companies focus more on building corporate reputation versus helping consumers understand how their products and services can help them achieve their green living goals."
The insights generated from the Green Gap Index help Optimum and Summerhill identify communication and engagement strategies that build a bridge between consumers who desire to do more for the planet in their everyday lives but struggle to achieve it and companies who can lead them down a greener path.
The 2010 Canadian Green Gap Index is the second annual index and is a joint initiative between Summerhill and Optimum Public Relations. The two companies have consulted together to build award-winning environmental engagement and communication strategies for Fortune 500 companies, leading NGOs, and public sector organizations.
Green Business News: Thursday, 03 June 2010
07.01.2010
Environment, Green Living, Home
By Marianne White, Canwest News ServiceJanuary 2, 2010
The $300-million, 800-housing units green neighbourhood, located close to the downtown in Quebec City, will feature a thermal heating system using wood waste, green roofs, solar panels, stormwater recuperation and sustainable design.
Photograph by: Canwest News Service, Canwest News Service
QUEBEC — Canada's latest green community development – Cite verte – has drawn inspiration from leading national and international eco-friendly neighbourhoods and is further proof there's more interest in energy-efficient residential projects, supporters say. "There is a trend towards the greening of development, and green neighbourhoods are going to be the way of the future if we want to reduce substantially our environmental footprint," said Mark Hutchinson, director of the Green Buildings Programs for the Canada Green Building Council. The Quebec government is footing $28 million of the $300-million bill for Cite verte – 800 environmentally friendly housing units, located close to Quebec City's downtown. The homes are designed to use 30 per cent less energy than standard residences. The community will feature narrow streets to diminish the use of cars and promote self-service bikes. In addition, a basin will capture and recycle stormwater to irrigate green spaces and there will be green roofs, solar panels and LED street lamps.The starting price for houses in Cite verte is expected to be around $350,000, slightly higher than the market price for standard homes in the area. "We want green projects to become our trademark," said Quebec City Mayor Regis Labeaume at the recent launch of the Cite verte – funded mostly by private investors. The mayor wants to build two other green neighbourhoods in the next 20 years.
Quebec's plan is being billed as one of the most innovative residential projects east of the Rockies. That's because across the country at Victoria's Inner Harbour is Canada's first green community development – the Dockside Green project. Dockside, a mixed-use residential and commercial real-estate development, has won praise across North America for its sustainability initiatives. Dockside most notably creates power from a wood-based biomass gasification system and the recovery of waste heat from municipal sewage. The development is greenhouse-gas neutral and its "micro energy utility" could eventually sell any extra power produced on-site. The community describes itself as a "model for holistic, closed-loop design" that promotes healthy living. "We are doing something similar to Dockside Green," says Jean Morency, head of the real-estate arm of the SSQ insurance company and a promoter of the Quebec City project. The SSQ, which has been working on the Quebec project since 2002, said it was also inspired by green developments in Europe. The Quebec developers travelled to Sweden to see the restoration of Hammarby Sjostad, a thriving green waterfront residential community in Stockholm. "That was a turning point," said Labeaume. Hammarby Sjostad, a community of 15,000, is connected to the downtown core by streetcar, a free ferry and roads made of a type of asphalt that collects stormwater.One feature of the Swedish project will be imported to Quebec: garbage bins and trucks are replaced by a series of colour-coded, vacuum-operated waste chutes. The material is sucked into a network of tunnels and transferred into the appropriate waste, recycling or compost depot. The thermal heating system for the Quebec project – picked up in Austria – will consist of a biomass plant to convert wood waste into clean power to produce heat and hot water.
Hutchinson, of the Canada Green Building Council, said buildings account for 35 per cent of industrialized countries' greenhouse gas emissions. The council has launched a pilot project to create a LEED certification – the gold standard in green building – for neighbourhood developments.Some 24 projects in Quebec, British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta have been studied and will be rated by a third party for their sustainability in order to receive the certification. Victoria's Dockside Green is among them, and Quebec City's Cite verte will also apply for the certification, once the first phase of the project is completed.
It also seems Canadians are willing to pay a premium to live under a green roof. Hutchinson pointed to a survey conducted for his organization last February that suggested that 85 per cent of Canadians claim that certification, like LEED, would play an important role in their home purchase decisions. Eighty-two per cent of respondents said they would be willing to invest more money in a home purchase if it was certified green. "Canadians are definitely interested in how green their house is and to pay more for that house being green if it can be certified," he said. Hutchinson said that green housing continues to frequently be more expensive than standard homes, but stressed prices will eventually go down as demand grows. "It is entirely possible to build a green home at the market rate, depending on how green you want to be. If you want to achieve the highest level of certification, there will no doubt be a premium," he said.
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
05.12.2009
Green Living, Health & Safety
Revealed… the 515 chemicals women put on their bodies every day | Mail Online
By Maureen Rice
Women and beauty products – it’s a love affair that’s been going on for centuries. And no wonder. There’s nothing like a new lipstick or favourite perfume to make us look and feel good. Or so we thought…
In fact, according to a new report, most of our favourite cosmetics are cocktails of industrially produced and potentially dangerous chemicals that could damage our health and, in some cases, rather than delivering on their potent ‘anti-aging’ promise, are causing us to age faster.
Research by Bionsen, a natural deodorant company, found that the average woman’s daily grooming and make-up routine means she ‘hosts’ a staggering 515 different synthetic chemicals on her body every single day.
Many of those are also used in products such as household cleaners, and have been linked to a number of health problems from allergies and skin sensitivity to more serious hormonal disturbances, fertility problems and even cancer.
Parabens, for example, which are designed to preserve the shelf-life of your cosmetics, are one of the most widely used preservatives in the world, and are found in shampoos, hair gels, shaving gels and body lotions. But their use is becoming increasingly controversial – a range of different studies has linked them to serious health problems including breast cancer, as well as fertility issues in men.
Research from the Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine suggests that some parabens we had previously presumed to be safe, such as Methylparaben, may mutate and become toxic when exposed to sunlight, causing premature skin aging and an increased risk of skin cancer.
Methylparabens are found in more than 16,000 products, including moisturisers and toothpastes. Cosmetic producers have always defended their use of parabens on the grounds that they can’t be absorbed into the body.
But many leading researchers disagree, including Dr Barbara Olioso, an independent professional chemist, who says: ‘Research shows that between 20 and 60 per cent of parabens may be absorbed into the body.’
There are a number of laws designed to protect us from dangerous chemicals in cosmetics, but researchers worry that they don’t go far enough. For example, cosmetic manufacturers are required to list their ingredients, but they don’t have to tell us about any impurities found in the raw materials or used in the manufacturing process, so long as they don’t end up in the finished product.
The industry insists that our cosmetics are safe. The Cosmetic Toiletries and Perfumery Association said last night: ‘Stringent laws require all cosmetics to be safe, and each product undergoes a rigorous safety assessment. The number of ingredients in a product, or whether it is natural or man-made, has no bearing on how safe it is.’
They also say that any chemicals are present in safe doses that can’t harm us. While that may be true, there is some disagreement over what constitutes a ‘safe’ level – for young people and children, or sensitive adults, these levels may not be so safe at all.
And even if the relatively small amounts in individual products don’t hurt us, there is growing concern over the number of products women use daily, and the cumulative effect of so many chemicals being used all over our bodies every day, for many years.
As Charlotte Smith, spokesperson for Bionsen, says: ‘Women have never been more image-conscious and their beauty regimes have changed over the years, from a simple “wash & go” attitude, to daily fake-tan applications, regular manicures, false lashes and hair extensions.
‘Lots of the high-tech, new generation cosmetics and beauty “wonder” treatments naturally contain more chemicals to achieve even better results, which, of course, means women apply more chemicals than ever before.’
If you want to protect yourself from chemical overload, reduce your overall cosmetics usage; switch to natural or organic products, and read the labels on your beauty and grooming products with care.
- The Women’s Environmental network has more detailed information and advice about ingredients contained in beauty products: www.wen.org. uk; The Cosmetics Database, a website which gives a ‘hazard rating’ for products: cosmeticsdatabase.com. Or read Skin Deep: The Essential Guide To What’s In The Toiletries And Cosmetics You Use (Rodale), by Pat Thomas.
05.12.2009
Environment, Green Living
… finds new life for packaging waste
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. That’s the idea behind a new upcycling initiative rolling out across Canada.
TerraCycle, Inc. has launched the first-ever Canadian Upcycling Program.
Upcycling turns used, valueless materials into new products with aesthetic value.
The New Jersey company has churned out a range of upcycled items, such as pencils made of newspapers and kites woven from cookie wrappers.
Its Upcycling Program, which has been running successfully in the United States and the United Kingdom since the early ‘90s, pays organizations for collecting specific trash that can be turned into new products.
With Kraft Canada Inc. as a partner, the company is now opening up the program to Canadian schools, community groups, charities and other non-profits.
Organizations receive two cents for every piece of specific Kraft packaging that they collect and return to TerraCycle.
Kool-Aid Jammers and Del Monte drink pouches will be sewn into tote bags, handbags and other items.
TerraCycle will also transform Mr. Christie cookie and cracker wrappings into umbrellas, shower curtains, placemats and other items. The technology uses heat and pressure to fuse the wrappers into a waterproof fabric.
But it’s not the technology that’s new, rather the idea, according to George W. Chevalier III, TerraCycle’s senior publicist.
Chevalier said that, while regular recycling is based on material, upcycling focuses on how the garbage’s shape and form can be used in its new life.
A theme often runs throughout the upcycling process.
“For the snacks, obviously the original products are for children, so it follows that the upcycled products should be for children as well,” he said.
TerraCycle has also played around with an office theme, turning electronic waste into wastepaper baskets.
So far, the program has produced at least 102 products from a collected 1,241,920,204 units of waste.
Chevalier said that there’s an educational component to the program as well because it gets children thinking about waste diversion and recycling.
“They can say, ‘ok, I’m carrying this lunchbox to school that was made out of my garbage,’ which makes it much more tangible to them,” he said.
Bags made from drink containers could be available in Canadian stores by mid-2010, although Chevalier said that production timelines depend on how much waste it has to work with.
TerraCycle’s upcycled products may be charting new territory, but not many other companies are likely to follow that lead, according to Don Dewees, a University of Toronto professor of economics and law, who specializes in recycling.
“The idea of finding higher value uses for things is great,” Dewees said, but he added that “there will be few cases where a large volume consumer good can be upcycled by a large fraction of buyers into something more valuable to them.”
For Kraft Canada Inc. at least, the program does make sense.
Jonathan Ingram, the company’s director of environmental sustainability, said that dealing with its packaging at end-of-life has been “one of our biggest challenges.”
Kraft items under the Upcycling Program contain multiple layers to protect the shelf life and food safety of products.
“But because they’re multi-layered, they’re not recyclable in the current municipal streams,” Ingram said.
He said that until advances in technology can provide other solutions, “this program helps bridge us to that point.”
Organizations can sign on to the program at TerraCycle’s website.
- Erika Beauchesne, Web reporter
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18.11.2009
Green Living, Green Tips, Home
During the holiday season, waste disposal increases tremendously causing billions of pounds of extra waste to be deposited in landfills. Furthermore, travellers will be logging millions of miles and creating tons of greenhouse gas emissions as they commute to spend time with loved ones over the holiday season.
GENERAL TIPS
1) Card giving – choose Tree-free ones; these are made from
- kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus, is a plant in the Malvaceae family. Hibiscus cannabinus is in the genus Hibiscus and is probably native to southern Asia, though its exact natural origin is unknown. The name also applies to the fibre obtained from this plant. Kenaf is one of the allied fibres of jute (a source for burlap) and shows similar characteristics. Other names include Bimli, Ambary, Ambari Hemp, Deccan Hemp, and Bimlipatum Jute)
- Hemp
- other tree-free resources
- Another likely choice is cards made from 100% post-consumer recycled waste content
- Alternately, send an e-card. There are lots of sites to choose from, many of them are free of charge
- Get creative, make your own from cards you’ve received over the past year
2) Don’t buy wrapping paper
- Give old materials new life – wrapping paper you’ve saved from past gifts, magazines, maps, calendars, pieces of fabric that may be turned into table napkins
- Place gifts in reusable bags or boxes
- Recycle packaging from gifts, sort out what may be picked up by your city’s recycle bin service, or what may be dropped of at the nearest hazardous waste depot if the item is not appropriate for blue-bin pick-up or will not breakdown in landfill
3) Green Gifts – give gifts from the heart
- Instead of splurging on commercial goods, consider giving the gift of your time or talent to loved ones – offer to make dinner, walk the dog, feed the cat, help with gardening chores or home repairs
- Gift Certificates or pre-loaded gift cards from a favourite department store
- Let them purchase what they truly want, saves on having to return that “not what I really wanted” gift, you’ll be leaving a smaller carbon footprint and save on time wasted in line-ups
- Make a donation in honour of a loved one to a cause that addresses an issue you, your friends or family members care about or support
- Give gift memberships
4) Avoid toys made with PVC plastic
- Vinyl Chloride is a chemical used in the making of PVC and is a known human carcinogen. Also, additives such as lead and cadmium are sometimes added to PVC to keep it from breaking down. These additives are especially dangerous in children’s toys. PVC is also the least recycled plastic.
5) ENTERTAINING
- Host a Zero Waste Holiday Party – have guests bring their own cups plates, cutlery if you don’t own enough. Recycle bottles and cans, compost food scraps
- Avoid paper and plastic dinnerware and cups
- If you must use disposable, invest in bio-degradable options such as those made from renewable resources, e.g. Biopolymers (corn starch and cotton seeds)
- Have recycling plan in place – bins at your party for guests to easily dispose of glass, aluminum, paper and plastic
- Use fabric tablecloths and napkins. Most stores that sell dinnerware will carry these items. Rule of thumb – good quality ones will last longer
- Add organic & local foods to your holiday feast
- Create a menu of locally grown or farmed foods or choose items that travelled the least distance to get to your plate
- Encourage guests to carpool or use public or mass transit
- Don’t serve bottled water, serve filtered tap water instead
6) Lighting – light up your holidays using 90% less energy with LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs. Search for programs that will allow you to trade in your old lights for a discount coupon towards the purchase of new LED lights
7) Decorations – make your own, shop at a flea market for serving dishes , decorative vases or hold a holiday swap with friends
Tree – find a tree that can be planted afterwards; use a tree that’s already in a planter indoors, e.g. a tall ficus
9) Fireplace – when using your fireplace, turn the thermostat down
10) Shopping – carry your own tote, lots of choices available. If you do this enough times, it becomes a green habit.
11) INDOOR AIR QUALITY
- Regular candles can be made of paraffin (a by-product of petroleum refining) or gel (a mixture of resin and mineral oil, another by-product of petroleum). When burned they release toxic VOCs into the air we breath; this is especially harmful in an enclosed environment which is most certain as we move indoors for winter
- Scent-free candles made from stearin (now produced almost exclusively from palm waxes) vegetable (e.g. Soy, bayberry or carnauba) or beeswax are your best choices. If you must have them scented, check label to see if natural essential oils were used for fragrance
- Organic and local health food stores sometimes carry these items
- Brand – Scents Alive by Vegewax Candleworx Ltd
- Log burning – green options are now becoming available such as
- fireplace starter logs made from recycled coffee grounds
- PINE MOUNTAIN® LOGS –
- 66% LESS Creosote and Particulate Accumulation build-up in your chimney
- 78% LESS Carbon Monoxide
- 80% LESS Combustion Residue
- Green fuel for chafing dishes and fondue pots – e.g. ethanol fuel made from sugarcane rather than toxic diethylene glycol and methyl alcohols
- Get a pesticide-free holiday tree
- Clean up with environmentally-preferable cleaning products. Green products can be purchased almost anywhere
- Best choices – 3rd party verified certification such as EcoLogo, EPA, Green Seal
