Be environment-wise

It's World Environment Day today, the first day of Environment Week, and there are probably a million different actions we can do to help the cause. It all begins, of course, with being mindful of how the way we live affects our planet. What we eat, what we wear, how we keep ourselves clean, how we travel, the work we do, how we entertain ourselves -- in short, everything we do during an ordinary day can have a greater or lesser impact on our environment, and most particularly on our climate. Just by breathing we are creating greenhouse gases! Never mind driving, cooking, heating or cooling our homes, etc...

Just because a certain world leader chooses to ignore the fact that we are experiencing global climate change doesn't mean that the rest of us can afford to follow suit. That's part of the reason I've been moodling here for almost seven years -- to offer my readers all sorts of simple suggestions about things we can all do to live more lightly on the planet. Some of my "Simple Suggestions" are obvious, others are whimsical -- how can flying a kite improve our planet's well-being, you might ask? The way I look at it, anything we do that gets us to appreciate our environment, to entertain ourselves and use personal energy instead of the worldwide web or the electrical grid, and takes few resources is a step in the right direction. A certain filthy rich world leader has already fallen behind ordinary citizens like us who are truly taking the lead for our planet's sake. We understand that, as Richard Rohr is fond of saying, there is enough for everyone's need, but not everyone's greed.

Rather than re-list ideas I've already listed before, you're invited to review my Simple Suggestions page, revisit your environmental footprint by clicking here (I'm happy to see that our family's footprint has gotten smaller since a year ago), or find a website with other ideas that work for you (let me know if you find a good one!) And maybe step outside, breathe deeply and appreciate the abundance and goodness of our sister, Mother Earth, and consider what else we can do to return her many favours. Let's let our gratitude lead us to action for our earth's sake and leave the climate deniers in the dust. They'll have no choice but to catch up eventually!

And now, I'm going to pick some mint and make a cup of backyard tea to toast the health of our environment!

Simple Suggestion #264... Set yourself an Eco-challenge (or join one)

With Spring upon us and Earth Day just behind us, it's past time to wake up our ecological awareness after a winter of hibernation, or at least that's how I'm feeling these days. Not that I ever give up on trying to reduce my ecological footprint or on saving the planet further problems, just that when the weather improves and nature revives herself in this hemisphere, it's a good time to revisit all the things we can do to live in harmony with her all year round.

The people at Kindspring.org have come up with a 21-day Eco-Footprint Challenge that began on Earth Day.

So far, I'm impressed with their daily schemes for reducing my personal impact on our planet. Though most of the resources they reference come from U.S. based websites, their ideas are definitely applicable to North Americans in general. All world citizens can give a thought to our use of light, to using less energy for the heating or cooling of our homes, to eating in-season food that comes from closer to home, and to supporting local conservation projects (the topics addressed thus far). And for those who like to write, or to share and compare results, there's the option to post stories and read about the efforts of others when it comes to responding to different suggestions and tasks.

It's not hard to join/sign up for Kindspring's daily email that explains each challenge, but even those who don't have time to bother with an online program can make improvements just by say, being more aware of our use of the earth's resources each day. Can we use less water? Walk or bike instead of driving? Have a vegetarian meal? Remember those reusable bags, water bottles, or coffee mugs? Maybe revisit our ecological footprint and see if it's gotten any smaller?

What eco-challenge will you set for yourself today?

Looking for more Simple Suggestions? Click here.

An excellent place to shop

It's almost time to go into very rainy Banff (I may have to find an umbrella or just sit in a coffee shoppe), but first I want to tell you about Wednesday. I was fortunate enough to have it off, but as usual, many errands suddenly appeared, one of which was taking my daughter's forgotten lunch to school. That provided me with an opportunity to stop on my way home at a marvelous little store that sells a lot of excellent necessities. What's not to love about a place that helps consumers to reduce their ecological and social impact on the planet and its inhabitants? My mission, besides taking a few pictures for my moodlings, was to pick up some fair trade chocolate bars and chocolate chips.

Earth's General Store (EGS) has been in operation for twenty years, which is an excellent run for an environmental establishment in a province with a far-less-than-stellar environmental track record. The proprietor is so environmentally aware, he doesn't even spend energy to light up his signs -- they're simply painted. When I first discovered EGS several years ago, it was situated above a music store on Whyte Avenue, but it made a newsworthy, environmentally-conscious move in 2010, when many people-powered vehicles were employed to carry store merchandise 13 blocks to the new, disabled-accessible location. Some folks carried stuff via transit, too, if I recall correctly. The new location is bright, spacious and colourful.

The store's owner, Michael Kalmanovitch, has long been an advocate for sensible consumerism. He keeps a blog for EGS that provides information about the products he sells, and he's responsible for the Activist Agenda, a weekly newsletter that encourages activism for many different causes. His customers are encouraged to ride their bikes to get to the store, and to bring their own recycled bags and containers for purchasing product. Those who do are given special tokens that they can donate towards assisting charities like the Candora Society of Edmonton and others further afield. Michael's desire that we all consume less, consume wisely, consume locally, consume fairly, and love lots more is taken seriously by many of his patrons. I wonder -- does he keep a running tally of charity monies that EGS has donated through its token program? I'd bet it's a rather impressive sum already.

Just to give you an idea of some of the things you'll find in EGS:

Lovely, certified organic produce, some of it local this time of year...

(peaches from BC, not Chile).

"100 Mile" foods... (don't you love the fast food sticker?)...

an impressive bulk food section with many vegetarian and vegan options

(don't forget to bring your own recycled plastic bags)...

organic baked goods from local small business owners...

all sorts of organic personal care products

that even the David Suzuki Foundation would be proud of... 

environmentally-friendly cookware, underwear, 

diapers, menstrual products, towels...

everything you need to be a successful composter

(including red wiggler worms, if you so desire),

and plenty of knowledge -- books about

everything we can do to aid the enviroment, on loan.

If you've yet to discover Earth's General Store, I'd highly recommend a visit. To my mind, it's difficult to find businesses these days that aren't just pretending to be green. EGS is green in the truest sense! While some of its items might seem pricey, keep in mind that they cost what the larger chains would be charging if they were treating their suppliers and their employees fairly, or if they factored in the true costs associated with the production of the item (organic cotton and fair trade chocolate are not cheap if the labourers are being treated with dignity). We all need to support businesses like EGS for the sake of life on our planet. If you know of other environmentally-aware business people, I'd love to hear about them.