Water Poo-Bits...with a Spark of Hope

The other day, as we were walking downtown a gaggle of tween/teens were walking towards us, just coming out of the Freak's Lunchbox (AWESOME candy store! we were on our way to visit-YES). In stereotypical character, one tween casually dropped his (large) empty box of jelly bellies onto the sidewalk. I was just about to comment, when a man walking behind them picked it up, jogged up to them, tapped the kid on the shoulder and passed him the box saying: "You dropped this". (Freak Lunchbox entrance)

I don't remember where I was reading this, but the example of a cultural mores towards shared responsibility of our cities, towns and the world is where change will happen. In our cities and work we pay people to clean after us, to clean the streets, to pick up the trash on the side of the road, or in the parks, to take out the recycling. Outside our homes there is little sense of personal responsibility. Yet, when something looks unpleasant or when the result of our trash piles up, we become indignant and demand that "the city" take care of things. We have grown in environments where "others" cleaned after us; home (some of us), school (janitors) and work (cleaning staff). 

Although I've bragged up Halifax's awesome, provincially mandated recycling and composting program, it really has felt like the majority of the population feel that recycling and composting has been imposed (which it has) and that given the choice many would just toss their trash "away". Certainly, this is the overall opinion in the smaller, rural areas. Many people continue to burn their trash instead of having it sorted and ready for the bi-weekly pick up (for BOTH compost and recycling). (Old triple recycling, now they have flat, clean tops that easily flip up for the city to empty them! Picture from: Intelligent Travel)

When that man ran up and passed along his trash, I felt such a surge of "YES!". Hope that we are moving towards a time where just throwing your garbage on the ground or out the window is NOT socially acceptable. Especially as the city has triple bins placed every so many feet for garbage, recycling and compost.

So on the same thread, Halifax Harbour has been undergoing some "changes" recently. After millions of taxpayers dollars going to clean up the harbour from years of raw sewage dumping (that's right- raw sewage), for one beautiful year it has been free by means of a new treatment plant. In January this year, this plant mysteriously flooded... and the poo has been free-flowing straight into the harbour ever since. (Actual "floatables" visible in Halifax's Harbour-cbc).

Seriously, we live in Canada, the fact that a Canadian city continues to dump raw sewage directly into our precious ocean is ridiculous. About 80 million litres of waste water flows into the harbour each day. Tourists are already noticing sewage smells, with reports of needing to cover their faces while on a tour in the Harbour Hopper! This morning the Harbour Solutions manager announced that the seven screens that had been keeping the "floatables" from entering our beautiful harbour have been removed. He reports: "It just became impractical to try and continuously clean them and have them running continuously." WTF? So even though Halifax had the money and manpower to build and operate a 54 million treatment plant, cleaning seven screens is "impractical"? So now 80 million litres of water-poo-bits are gracing our delicate ocean each day.

It would seem that many people have just shrugged their shoulders with a: "well that's how it was for centuries before the new plant... I guess we can wait until it's fixed NEXT SPRING". No real public outcry has occured. Actually, other than the cbc news, no huge protests or petitions that I am aware of have been initiated since the plant flooded in January. (Halifax Harbour- ns govern. site).

So, my witness last weekend of the tiny spark of hope has caused the decision to do more than simply rant on this blog... but to write a nice, polite and very Canadian letter to Mr. Kelly- Mayor of Halifax. Mayor Kelly likes to frequently comment on how committed he is to having Halifax be a "sustainable" and environmentally friendly city.... If you'd like to take a step towards helping the change you'd like to see (Ghandi was so smart!), please feel free to join my voice with a letter to Mr. Kelly addressed here, or to his email at kellyp@halifax.ca. 

On a more positive note on "being the change", for months I had been considering how to "eco" up my work place. Unfortunately, larger organizations are exempt from strict provincial recycling-composting rules and my workplace only accepts paper recycling. After a quick check with coworkers I decided to bring in a recycling bag and bring plastics and dry compostables home to add to our recycling. I consulted with the cleaning staff to assure they wouldn't inadvertently remove and dump the new "recycling", created a little sign with pictures on what "lives here" and sent out a few emails to inform my colleagues. I have to admit, it was more challenging than expected... It would seem that many Nova Scotians had no idea that only #1 and #2 plastics were accepted, or that box board was compost... In any case, each week I have saved about a bag full of trash from being thrown in the landfill- WOOT! (My "saved" trash! pre-sorting)

Here are some other easy ways to "green" up your office:

- use staple free staplers, they're cute and simply fold the paper through a tiny hole!

- take phone notes on scraps of paper... do you really need a post-it?

- recycle your HP printer ink jets. HP is phasing out their pre-paid paper mailing packages, but you can order a large pre-paid box for free from their website. Mine was delivered within a few days. When it's full of ink cartridges just stick to the postage on the top and send off with other purolator mail! So easy. Hp offers recycling in over 50 countries, so check it out :)

- Turn off your computer AND printer at the end of the day.

- Consider setting up a dry recycling... take the work recycling PLUNGE!

Together we CAN be the change :)

Blessings and Happy Friday!!

Shower Filters: Eco-Option or Eco-Much?

After another stab at "hot yoga" (update soon!), I was reminded (while in the shower) of a comment left by Julie regarding using a shower filter. I had never heard of using a filter for your shower and my first reaction was: do we really need it? I'm a firm believer that our society is much much too afraid of "germs", resulting in overuse of antibacterial soaps and cleaners which can be damaging to our health instead of "protective". That being said, I also recognize that exposure to increasing amounts of pollutants has been corrolated with increased instances of respiratory and other illnesses. So, I had to look at the why before considering whether it makes sense.

Shower filtering companies will inform you that installing their product will filter out a whole slew of nasty chemicals, the big one being chlorine, that cascade onto your skin while you enjoy your shower. By reading their websites you could quickly become fearful of all the horrible pollutants you are exposing your skin while you bathe. Take a step back, and we remember that North American public water systems are tested and monitored much

more stringently than say; bottled water. According to the David Suzuki Foundation (along with many other non-biased organizations) tap water in North America has been shown to be safer and healthier than bottled water.

Upon further inspection however, we discover that public water systems are disinfected with chlorine, which according to the Canadian Health Authorities is at a minimal and safe level with virtually no affects to our health. It is known to be extremely effective at eliminating the E.Coli virus in our water supply. The David Suzuki Foundation, on the other hand, has a different perspective. Although tap water is more stringently regulated than bottled water, research is still divided on whether long term exposure to chlorine is "safe". In the past several decades, respiratory illness have increased dramatically. Health Canada estimates that 5,700 people in eight of the largest cities per year die prematurely as a result of air pollution. Canadians are also likely to spend 90% of their days indoors, with indoor air pollution being higher than outside levels. We as a society, are becoming increasingly sensitive to environmental (read VOC's) irritants and longterm studies on daily, synergistic chemical exposure has not been appropriately investigated (A Prescription for a Healthy Canada: Towards a National Environmental Health Strategy; 2007).

Considered in isolation, chlorine is a toxic gas that is a skin and respiratory irritant (brittle hair and dry skin sounding familiar?). It's uses have ranged from disinfectant to weapon of war (think the Nazi gas chambers...). Chlorine may also react with other chemicals or bacteria that may be present in the water supply and has not been found to be effective at eliminating protozoans (unicellular organism, like an amoeba) that can cause inflammation of the intestines. According to David Suzuki, between 1978 and 2001 there were 288 outbreaks of Giardia, Campylobacter, Cryptosporidium, Norwalk-like viruses, Salmonella and hepatitus A (all results of protozoan infection). Also, the federal Canadian government estimates that contaminated drinking water results in 90 deaths 90,000 cases of gastrointestinal infections annually. Finally, chlorine can form with naturally occuring organic compounds in the water; creating trihalomethanes (three of four hydrogen atoms of methane are replaced by halogen atoms). They have been found to be environmental pollutants and many are considered carcinogenic. (Protozoa, isn't it cute?)

We filter the water we drink, but most of us spend on average of 15 minutes a day inhaling and absorbing chlorine through our shower. There are more effective ways to disinfect our public water supplies such as ultraviolet disinfection. For a multitude of reasons (I'm sure political and economical play a part), this process, although relatively simple has not taken off here in Canada. 

Ok, wow that was a lot of information. Ultimately, I think this one depends on your situation specifically and although information is key (and important to know during times of voting and water regulation processes), stepping back is essential. Knowing your water chemical levels will help you make informed, non-hysterical choices. What are the chlorine levels like in your water? Do you live in an area that has frequent water boil advisories? In Vernon we had water boil advisories twice sometimes three times a year due to water run off from the mountains. Do you have environmental sensitivities, respiratory illnesses or sensitive skin? (me and "flat stanley" on our dock in Vernon- check out the beautiful, freezing, glacier Kal Lake! It was turquoise and clear all the time).

If you have high levels of chlorine (check with your municipal water system to see what levels are considered "safe" or maximum for your area), suffer from respiratory illnesses/sensitives than perhaps a shower filter may benefit your health and could lessen the amount of chemicals you are exposed to each day. If I had to choose, a VOC-free shower curtain would be my first step in the "eco" shower journey. Shower filters are expensive, ranging anywhere from 50$ to 200$. Filter replacements typically cost 50-100$ every 6 months. Also, most shower filtration devices use carbon and as a result should not be considered disinfectants. Finally, recycling the filters would be tricky as I'm pretty sure Preserve wouldn't accept them as part of their Take Back the Filter program.

This was a fantastic journey and I've learned so much about chlorine and our public water supply! I know that currently I can't justify a shower filter (we don't have high levels of chlorine or any environmental sensitivities) but it does solidify my resolve to either have a well-system in my "big girl" house (someday) or install a shower-filter. :)

Blessings!

Unravelling one of my Stories

Sundays seem like nice days for happy, fun posts. Especially since I seem to need more coffee on Sunday mornings (perhaps it was the wine last night... lol).

I was reading Mel's blog; From Clutter to Shine, and found this tiny banner: Isn't it cute? I had decided early on that this blog was for sharing and learning and so I've avoided the little banners (which I think are fun) just because I'm a little too lazy to add them. But this one fits so well with what I've begun to notice as I've been blogging and it relates to being "eco" and a yogi/ni. Here is the "Small is Beautiful" manifesto:

We believe stories are valuable, no matter how many people read them.
We believe following your passion is more important that watching your site meter.
We believe in the handmade, the first try, the small start, and the good effort.
We believe that small is beautiful.

Won’t you join our revolution?

Yes Yes! When I first began this blog, it was to share my thoughts and passion for yoga and the environment. Soon I began connecting with other yogi/ni's, eco-minded folk and started feeling a little bit of pressure to be "more". More green (did you know that some people use cloth TP???), more "yogic", more followers.... EEK! The competition-feeling in the yoga-sphere is very familiar, since I have my own "stories" that need unpacking (as Brook called them on her blog "Yoga, the Mind and Culture"- love that! Very Charles de Lint) especially those that have "yoga" as the heroine/antigonista. Sometimes I feel twinges while reading other blogs about how the beginners in the class were distracting and so forth. I guess, as a wobbly non-gumby I assume that the more advanced-asana students are also equally advanced in their spiritual growth (sensing a little bit of peevishness there?)

(Our Yoga at the park on Thursday evening- Warriors!!)

I was unprepared for these competitive feelings while reading the eco-blogs, all fabulous but a little overwhelming. I have learned so much, but I know myself well enough to recognize that I'm not quite ready for a "no-poo" shampoo (although if I could JUST get past that first week!) and that Andrew would not want to get rid of his beautiful, energy sucking fishtanks.

So this little banner represents my affirmation and journey towards ahimsa and peace with myself and toward others.

On that note; Bohemian Mom had this fun idea for bloggy-connections: Interviews! I was honoured to be sent interesting and fantastic questions and you should check out her ridiculously awesome interview, complete with a Guardian Jason. Ok; here goes!

1.)  If you could open a yoga studio anywhere in the world, at no cost to you, where would it be?

I thought about this a lot... at first I thought, "I should say in a really low SES urban area, or in a women's shelter..." then I recognized the "yoga-competitiveness" and realized I was being self-serving. Also, I should clarify that I am still just a student yogini, although I have been considering getting my certification. If I were an instructor, truly I would love to open a studio overlooking the Atlantic ocean, with huge beautiful windows and a nice flat outside surface to have classes while we could hear the surf and the seagulls. Heaven.

2.)  Do you remember your very first yoga class / introduction to yoga? 

Most definitely. My "intro" to yoga was from my friend Margaret in undergrad, 

she demo'd downward dog in my living room and I thought she was crazy. Haha. Afterwards, while living in Montreal I bought a Sean Corne dvd and began practicing in my tiny bedroom. Finally, my first "real" class was at the YMCA on Peel Street. The instructor's name was Jim, he was from the UK, not bendy and was dreamy. My friend and I would drink Starbucks then go to his class and drool a little bit. Out of all the studios and instructors that I have tried over the past four years, my favourites have been at the Y. I guess I've always found classes to be more open, friendly and less pressured. Plus, as a student it made more economical sense to pay 10$ a week for unlimited yoga than 16+$ per class. (beautiful leaves at Point Plesant Park).

3.)  What's your favourite eco-kitchen product?

Hmm. Well Andrew's favourite eco-kitchen product (if we had one) would be a handmedown cast iron frying pan that we found in my grand-mère's attic (I'm reading the questions aloud to him as I go along lol). This is a difficult question, as we have a tiny kitchen and my cooking skills are somewhat lax. I do love my bamboo cutting boards (one for meat and one for veggies) and I'm a fan of the microcloth that I got in BC. It really does pick up everything! I also love "Attitude" cleaning products, they don't have any sketchy chemicals hidden away in their ingredients (like Ecover does; see SLS and "parfum" read: hidden chemicals), they are Canadian and they work! Also, if this counts, I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Lioli Pog-Sac produce/grain bags. Seriously, they are fantastical. So, I guess no favourites?? lol.

4.)  If you were invited to teach an eco-class to children, how would you introduce them to living green?

Wow. These are tough (but good!) questions. It would depend on their ages. I work with preschoolers and could probably think up a fun "lesson plan" for 3-5 year olds on eco-living. School aged kids though... they are somewhat more of a mystery. Younger children are usually much more concrete and visual, so a trip to the local landfill or dump should be an interesting learning experience of the fact that our garbage never "goes away". I would say that one of the major hurdles we have today as a society is the re:thinking on how we consume and our societal mores around pollution and waste. A huge component of teaching a class of school-aged children would be to encourage school programs that they organized, managed or had input. I love the idea of children having "real food" sit-ins and taking ownership of how their actions impact the environment. Having student run school gardens, compost/recycling systems, lunch planning and carbon reduction would create a sense of ownership, pride and responsibility for a planet that is just as much theirs.

5.) What would your favourite dinner consist of?

My favourite dinner- you mean supper? I get so confused as we grew up with "dinner" and "supper" for "lunch" and "dinner"... Must be the Acadian-french culture. In any case, as a compromise to decrease Andrew's confusion, we now use "lunch" and "supper" lol. My favourite supper would be lobster chowder, made by my parents. Mmmmm. So yummy and fantastically comforting. I shared the recipe here, and some thoughts on the "eco-ability" on lobster here. Since dad is a lobster fisherman, fresh lobster is a must (I grew up spoiled) and just between us; "tinkers" or baby lobsters (not from my father!) are the best. (Our "chair" poses at sunset).

Phew! That was a blast! If anyone else would like to be interviewed, please just leave your email address with "interview me!" in the comments below and I will email you 5 personalized questions :) Here are the "rules";

* leave me a comment with your email address saying: “interview me”
* I will e-mail you five questions of my choice
* you can then answer the questions on your blog {with a link back to my blog}
* you should also post these rules, along with an offer to interview anyone else who emails you, wanting to be interviewed
* anyone who asks to be interviewed should be sent 5 questions to answer on their blog
* it would be nice if the questions were individualized for each blogger

Happy Blessed Sun-Day!

Cornicopia and Us.

This post is part of Fight Back Friday's hosted by Food Renegade! Please check out all the other fantastic posts!
Corn. Anyone who has read Omnivore's dilemma is very well aware that corn has become completely pervasive in our diets. It's in everything from bacon, soda pop and salt. Why should this concern us, ecoyogin/ni's? The answer is such a huge question, so I will generally review some major environmental and health concerns surrounding the issue of corn so that we can make informed decisions about where our food comes from.

The first issue is obviously how the farming and processing of corn affects our environment. Due to early political and food company pressures after the second World War, farmers in North America were encouraged to switch from polycultures (many different crops) to monocultures of corn. Subsidies from the government were set up so that eventually the farmer has no choice but to continue growing a product that costs more to grow than it's worth (please refer to "Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan for more indepth analysis of the US's windy political road to corn-dom).

Pesticides and herbicides were one of the main culprits for this change. With their discovery, farmers and corporations alike were dancing on their tippy toes with the thought of increased yield, increased revenue. Massive monocultures replaced the diverse polycultures and were sprayed, sucked nutrients out of the earth and were sprayed some more. After 40 years of damaging the soil, yields began to decrease; the soil just cannot sustain such massive drains on it's nutrients. According to the David Suzuki Foundation, a third of crops are still lost to pests and weeds... which is on par with crop yields prior to the petroleum based pesticide "revolution".

These just aren't your regular corn though. These corn are "upgraded", "improved" or more realistically; mutants. Genetically Engineered Organisms (GMO) are a huge topic of debate and rightly so. In waltzes Monsanto, the largest seed corporation in the world. Haven't heard of them? They had a close hand with creating aspertame, saccharin and with the help of DOW; Agent Orange (which led to the discovery of many of the pesticides and herbicides it touts today). Monsanto owns anywhere from 70 to 100% of the worlds GMO's, and how convenient that they also produce Roundup, the most commonly used weed killer in Canada, which goes nicely with their Roundup Ready GMO crops. Corn and soy make up a huge part of their revenue, to the point that you can only be sure your corn/soy are not GMO if they are organic (as North America does not have any legislation to label GMO products for the consumer). (Ecoholic, 2006).

Monsanto encourages monocultures, and their seeds are "terminator" seeds and cannot be saved for the following year, assuring their continued income from farmers who have already depleted their soils from Roundup and monoculture production. Fears of cross-contamination between farms have already yielded legal results, with a farmer in Manitoba being SUED (successfully in a manner) by Monsanto for growing plants that were blown in from a neighbouring farm. Monsanto has successfully patented their seeds, making the first step in the ownership of life and food. They've been somewhat quietly lobbying to have legal ownership over whatever product their seeds are found... including animals that eat them. For an interesting documentary, please check out "The World According to Monsanto"; it's broken into ten parts on Youtube.

Of course the most tragic result of GMO plants (and thus ultimately Monsanto's reign) has been the farmer suicides in India. Farmers are encouraged to buy GMO seeds with the promise that they will yield superior results, switch to monocultures and suddenly are required to buy the GMO compatible pesticide/herbicides. Within a short period of time, crop yields and low prices result in huge debts. A suicide disaster is occurring as a result, with farmers no longer being able to support themselves or their families. Please read Vandana Shiva's "Stolen Harvest" for a passionate and indepth look into the human tragedy occuring in India.

Corn has become so cheap due to the monocultures pushed across the world, that it has replaced many other more expensive products out there. This decreases the health of the animals that eat it, the variety of nutrients provided in our diet and our true choice as eaters. Here is a quick rundown of where corn can be found:

Meat: cows, pigs, chickens... they've all been fed corn. This has resulted in sick animals, as their digestive systems have no evolved to process corn (especially cows). Subsequently, these animals are also fed antibiotics and chemicals to keep them "healthy" for us to eat.

Processed foods: all contain High Fructose Corn Syrup. This cheaper version of processed sugar is chemically formulated from the same building blocks... with one important distinction: a higher level of fructose. Fructose is not as readily processed by our bodies and has been linked to increased levels of obesity and diabetes. However, the beverage companies continue to fund research that states otherwise... 

Iodized Salt: HFCS has been used to keep salt from clumping.

Take a look in your pantry to see just how many food products contain corn ingredients. Here are a few names corn can mask as: modified and unmodified starch, glucose syrup and maltodextrin, crystalline fructose and ascorbic acid, lecithin and dextrose, lactic acid and lysine, maltose and HFCS, MSG and polyols, caramel colour and xanthum gum. Our bacon that we caved and bought last week had a corn-type ingredient, corn is often used as a cheap preservative.

The implications of corn and soy are much more than just food, they involve human rights, environmental impacts and health. Choosing local and organic, checking into the practices of your local farmers, sending them emails requesting information regarding their use of GMO's and sprays; these changes in how we view food and the system will help support a more sustainable and healthy future.

Blessings

Showers; Sans Doomsday Devices

Yoga, for me, makes me sweat. A lot. As my only form of real exercise... I should hope so. When an irate doctor asked me what form of exercise I got, and my answer was yoga, her answer was: "no I mean REAL exercise". My answer was: "It is REAL exercise". Dr: "Well, does it even make your heart rate increase?" .... lol "It sure does, I even SWEAT". Sigh, some family doctors are interesting. (pretty purple flowers at our cottage that I like).

In any case, a shower is important, at least the following morning or... eww, if I don't shower prior to morning yoga... (ack!). Taking a nice, cleansing shower after an invigorating practice, with Green Beaver eco-body wash and shampoo, breathing in the wonderful particles of Polyvinyl Chloride...Mmmmm. PVC yummy goodness wafting up into the steam being breathed in from the shower curtain. The majority of people have a shower curtain liner and have spent at least 10 minutes a day breathing in the wonderful chemical treatment of polyvinyl chloride.

Polyvinyl chloride or PVC is the third most common polymer used and according to Wiki, will amass to 40 million tonnes in 7 years... The most common way to make PVC is via suspension polymerization.

 

Here's a quick run-down for non-chemies like moi:

Ingredients needed: monomer vinylchloride, water, chemical additive soup mix

Supplies: polymerization reactor and polymerization initator or "Doomsday mixing device".

Instructions: mix ingredients into "doomsday devices", continuously mixing with water addition to cool resulting "doomsday" product. Degass (inappropriate giggle), pass through centrifuge to remove access water and blow dry with giant hair dryer. Tah Dah! PVC created by a hugely energy intensive process. (wiki)

PVC requires plasticizers, phthalates to keep the the plastic soft and flexible. Able to move and fold like a shower curtain. These phthalates have been found to mimic human hormones and react with fish and amphibian biochemistry. Depending on the type of phthalate, risks range from cancer, birth defects to hormone disruption. Also, other nasty chemicals like fungicide are often added to shower curtains to help prevent mildew growth (as if that would ever work anyway). That new shower curtain smell (similar to new car, new rug or new couch smell) is the doomsday chemicals evaporating and "off gassing" into the air and being inhaled into your lungs and bloodstream. (hemp field in Manitoba)

According to the David Suzuki Foundation, as many as 100 harmful chemicals are released into the air from a PVC shower curtain and vinyl plastic waste accounts for 1.23 million tonnes in the U.S. alone (and remember, plastic lives forever!)

Okidoki, after detoxifying and cleansing my body with yoga, filling my lungs with hormone disrupting doomsday chemicals is not really the way I want to complete my experience. So what are the alternatives out there and do they really work?

1. Hemp Shower Curtains:

These are ALL the rage and you'll see them touted as THE most eco-friendly option. All industrial hemp grown in Canada is GMO-free. Hemp has also been found to be resistent to mildew and is a strong, sturdy fiber (Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance). It is also pest resistent and requires little to no pesticides to grow and has been found to reduce 

pests in other crops when grown in rotation. Check out the Ontario Hemp Alliance for more information on the eco-benefits of hemp.

These shower curtains are beautiful, but pricey and cost on average 80-100$ per curtain... Currently in Halifax P'lovers carries hemp shower curtains and they are around 95$. I definitely cannot afford one of those. Also, I have read that despite claims, they will grow mold and require frequent cleaning. Since we use coin laundry, filling an industrial washing machine and paying another 1.50$ to wash my shower curtain just isn't practical. If you do have the money- please make sure to check where the hemp was grown (Dream Designs shown here is made in Canada and is 89$ on the site).

2. Bamboo Shower Curtains:

Now these are paraded as similar in values as hemp; supposedly "sustainably" grown (but we know that a TON of chemicals goes into changing bamboo into a cloth fiber) and mildew resistent. Same issues apply here; the high cost and need for frequent machine washes with the added greenwashing "sustainable" aspect.

3. EVA plastic shower curtains:

Ethylene vinyl acetate, or EVA, is a form of plastic that has little to no odor which is the result of less off-gassing of harmful chemicals such as phthalates. Although still a plastic, this shower curtain is easy to clean with a quick scrub, won't release the above mentioned chemicals and is CHEAP (think 2-7$). This was my stop-gap until I can figure out how to justify saving 100$ for a shower curtain. However, these "eco" options are still plastic, will still last forever and have a long scary, sludge spewing life before they grace my zen bathroom space. (our EVA shower curtain, had to sit waaay back on the counter to get far enough away to take the picture. Our bathroom is TINY).

4. No shower curtain liner...

Ok- I need a liner. I am sure, however there are others that are less type A than myself and will be fine (as they should) without one. I admire your strength.

So next steps for eco-fying my shower include: taking shorter showers, placing a little bucket to keep me company and save some plant-water and find the perfect "eco" shampoo. I am on a mission.

Blessings!

Escape to Nature

Happy Victoria Day everyone! After a ridiculously long and work-stress week, Andrew and I blew the Haligonian popsicle stand and headed for the country. Three hours of driving later on Saturday and we had arrived at my parents cottage in Yarmouth County. Deep breath, fresh air, birds, water, tweet tweets (or Peawinkers as dad calls them) and... SWARMS of black flies. Despite the black flies preventing most outdoor activities, it was so wonderful to be away from cement and buildings for a few days. (View from the front deck. Squint to see the anti-goose fence my dad built along the shore. Part of it is "reclaimed" badminton netting! Go Eco-Dad!).

These "city-panic attacks" also occurred regularly when I lived in Montreal. After three months or so I'd start to feel claustrophobic, all the sounds and noise would annoy the heck out of me. I guess, although I love the city, I will always be that mud trompin', four wheeler driving country girl at heart. (A red-bellied woodpecker that was enjoying the bird feed and bugs around the cottage. We also get some 2 feet large pilated woodpeckers! They have been known to make a LOT of noise on the side of the cottage).

A few of the birds we managed to capture on film. The first is a tree swallow perched on their new summer home. Tree swallows are extremely graceful and love to munch on flies, a very natural option for fly control. They prefer houses without perches. The next picture is of a male purple finch, mowing down on niger seed- Yum! Niger seed is an easy way to attrack beautiful, colourful finches. My favourite being the American Goldfinch.

Growing up my parents have given me a love of birds. There were always binoculars to be found, pictures taken of new birds and the Birds of Atlantic Canada book has been well worn. On Saturday and Sunday Andrew and I saw; junco's, redbreasted nuthatch, chickadees, american goldfinches, purple finches, blue jays, the woodpecker, robins, tree swallows, ruby-throated hummingbirds (my parents have about four feeders) and morning doves. If our balcony didn't have an awesome* netting we'd have birdfeeders at the apartment too! (Our friend "stripey". Dad has a theory that chipmunks don't cause the same amount of damage as squirrels.. so they tend to fair better around the cottage! lol).

Finally one of the very friendly squirrels that had been chewing little holes into dad's shed. He wasn't very pleased about that, but let us feed this one.

The weekend has done it's trick- I am ready to face the exhaust spewing city for another month or so, and was able to ground myself after such a long, difficult week. Soon soon I will be back with a post on "eco" shower options :)

Blessings!

Yoga Mat Flakes... Not the Cereal Kind

With the new spring-summer weather moving into the Northern Hemisphere (Autumn for those Aussie readers!) I have felt a renewed sense of "yogarific-ness" in my system. The later sunsets, the warmer weather all makes me want to drag my mat out somewhere, anywhere really, and practice. Unfortunately, the closest place for outdoors yoga is the Halifax Commons, which Andrew firmly informs me is too public for his non-exibitionist yogi self. That's ok, someday he will cave!! lol. (Andrew and I last summer at the commons!)

In any case, more yoga means looking at my mat more often. Last Friday I noticed a tiny speck of green on my pants during practice. 

No. No way! Not again! Yes- my "new" eco-rubber mat from LotusWear is flaking and wearing away after one year of use. As many of you know, I have had some terrible luck with yoga mats over the past few years, with my first two "eco" (TPE) Lulu mats flaking within months I thought my sticky, sturdy rubber mat would have avoided the whole issue. Although I have noticed the wear patterns, mostly where my hands "rest" during downward dog, I had been in 

denial until an actual piece of green rubber migrated to live on my pants last Friday. So, I just need to accept that I will eventually have to buy yet ANOTHER mat. Not very eco of moi. Sigh.

Well, what is an eco-warrior to do? I can't just throw out my old mats. With the millions of yoga practitioners out there being 

encouraged to buy many different types of mats that are engineered to fall apart within a few years, our landfills are being inundated with old, used PVC mats are releasing dioxin, hydrocholric acid and other toxins into the atmosphere. My mats are TPE (thermoplastic elastomers- which are still made with a type of plastic) and require intense heat and processing to break down (which they will break down into smaller versions of their synthetic selves... so not able to integrate with our Earth). In a landfill, buried in plastic bags and hidden from the sun and oxygen, they most certainly will not degrade at any appreciable rate and are not compatible with a regular compost bin or our municipal compost system. (Green: Lotus Wear flakes, Purple: Andrew's hand-me-down TPE lulu flaking mat. He especially likes the small purple decorations on his pants after every practice!)

What to do? Well my first step is to buy a better, longer lasting rubber mat that I won't have to replace for at least a decade. 

Here are some fun ideas for what I could do with our old yoga mats:

1. Send to a yoga mat recycling program like "Recycle Your Mat". This company accepts ALL yoga mats of any shape or type. According to their site, in 2008 more than 50% of the mats collected were upcycled into other products; which is better than recycling, as that process degrades the plastic with each cycle. 30% of mats were donated to local community programs!

2. Jade has a 3R program was well. Students can drop off their used and unwanted mats to participating studios who, with Jade's help will find local resources to reuse or donate the mats (this I find a bit iffy- how would Jade yoga know what programs are in Halifax NS?). In any case, all beyond repair will be recycled into Jade's new "encore" mat which will be made of recycled rubber (ouuu!).

3. Make Yoga Mat Flip Flops! This awesome suggestion is thanks to Ms. Moniker, who left it in the Urban Garden comments! This option looks like fun, especially getting together a group of friends and trying it out all at once! I guess I wonder about how long the hot glue gun would last... but then I'm pretty rough on my summer flip flops (or thongs in Australia and BC!). Thank you very much Ms. Moniker for your fantastic tip! :)

(picture- wiki-how website)

4. Use your mat as: Kitchen drawer liners, garden kneeling guards, baseball bases, grips to open jars... (all from Jade Yoga's 25 ways to reuse your mat)

5. Use your mat as a beach or park "towel". This one I did do while living in BC with TPE mat #1. It was a fantastic option.

6. Donate to a local women's transition shelter, homeless shelter or family center. Just because you are "done" with your mat doesn't mean that it's life as a yoga mat has ended. I especially like this option, as I feel I'm spreading the gift of yoga. With my first ever mat (along with two Lulu tops that were in perfect condition but didn't "grow" with the rest of me after my move) was donated to a women's transition house in Vernon BC.

7. Donate your mats to a local school or up and coming Yogi/ni teacher who may be struggling to get started on her/his teaching career. While a friend of mine was trying to figure out how to finance some mats for her new career, I went to BreathingSpace studio and found out that they were just going to toss a half dozen mats! They were a little dingy, but with a good clean easily made do for those new students that didn't have a mat.

8. Use your mats as your "Guerrilla Yoga" (or outside yoga- the first just sounds so... rebel! lol) mats. Since all current "eco" mats available today are susceptible to damage by the sun, using them for outside practice is not the best idea. Keeping your old mats as your fun, exhilirating, guerrilla yoga mats, continuing their existence by sharing your outside yogic adventures, will assure that your new eco-mat lasts longer. (Andrew's solution to the zipper on his lulu hand me down yoga mat bag breaking... I really like the rustic stick+elastic look).

This last option is what Andrew and I have decided to do as we both love practicing yoga outside. Although recycling is a tempting "easy way out" process, I truly prefer finding local upcycle or reuses of yoga mats. This reduces on carbon emissions needed to mail your mat via post, by-passes the amount of energy needed to break down and reformulate the mats into another product and my favourite- extends the gift of yoga into another's life.

Blessings!