It Began At EPIC

It was about a year ago that we attended EPIC, Vancouver’s own sustainable living expo.  It was our first time attending and we really didn’t know what to expect.  We were pleasantly surprised by the vast variety of green products, services, and information.  It really sparked my motivation to be a more informed and educated consumer when it came to greening our lives.  It was also a great opportunity to try some great products, this means lots of sampling, and find some great deals as well.  Shopping…what’s not to love!

This year it being held on May 8 – 11, at the new Vancouver Convention Centre.  The ticket prices are $15 at the door or $10 online (adults).  You can get more information about EPIC at their website.  If you get a chance check out the expo!  If anything you can use their website as a great directory of  resource for green companies and services.

If you make it to EPIC 2009 share something that you found interesting there!

§CC

What To Do In The Dark

So did you participate in Earth Hour this past Saturday? We did. Actually it was not difficult and it was not out of our way. What made it easier was that our 3 little kiddies were all tugged into bed by 8pm, though it would have been fun if they were able to stay up.

I went about shutting off all the house lights, except for the kids’ night lights in their rooms. However, I didn’t go as far as unplugging our appliances or TV/VCR. I pulled out our solar-&-crank powered flashlights. I left one by the door for my hubby when he got off of work at 8:30 and I took one with me. I decided to do some writing in bed (something in preparation for Father’s Day). It was amazingly calm in the dark and I was able to think so clearly. When my hubby came home we spent the rest of the time catching up with each other and doing our devotions — it was kind of romantic.

While across the world, I was amazed that even major landmarks went dark: the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing, Sidney Opera House in Australia. You can check out the flickr photos and YouTube videos from the Earth Hour website. I know there’s lots of skepticism out there about how 1 hour can make really any difference at all, but I think it still makes a stand no matter how minuscule it seems.

Closer to home, electricity consumption dropped by 1.1% overall in our province that Saturday evening; with the highest drop in Pemberton at 4.5%. If you’re interested how your community stacked up, check out BC Hydro’s site.

Back at the home front, since March 28th I’m trying to be even more conscientious about my use of unnecessary electricity. Do I really need to turn on all the lights while doing dishes or brushing my teeth? I should really think about what I need to get out of the fridge before I open the fridge door. How about remembering to open up the blinds and curtains in the morning to allow all that natural light in?

So what did you do last Saturday evening?  Share with us how you spent the hour?

≡mar

The Hour With No Power

Recently, we unexpectedly lost our power for a couple hours.  Of course it was timely and happened just as we started making dinner.  We managed to make dinner on a portable gas burner and actually had some fun with the kids without any electricity.  We opened up the blinds and let in the natural light, played with a wind-up radio and had a blast brushing our teeth with flashlights.  It really got me thinking about how wasteful we often are with our power.  We turn on lights and leave them on even when no one is in the room.  Devices are plugged in when we aren’t really using them.  Do we really need to use all that electricity?

We recently received an email about a world-wide event to collectively reduce our carbon footprint, Earth Hour.  Basically, you sign-up and at 8:30pm, Saturday March 28, 2008 , turn off your lights for one hour.  According to the website, there are no hard and fast rules.  You can do anything you want in that hour just as long as the lights are off.  Currently, 1760 cities and towns in 80 countries have already signed up to participate.   Need a reason to participate, here it is right from the organization:

Why Participate?

Earth Hour is a symbolic event. Turning off our lights for an hour won’t stop climate change but it does demonstrate that our individual action is important and adds up to make a big difference. More importantly, it sends a very powerful message to government and world leaders that people want policies and regulations put in place that can achieve meaningful emission reduction to help fight climate change.

We hope you will have an hour to spare to make a global stand to help fight climate change.

§CC

Cheap Green Thrills

I was recently out of the office on a course and was forced to take public transit to get there.  All of these years of carpooling to work made me forget about my old university years of riding the bus everywhere. I would have to say that I have been spoiled or made lazy by the convenience of a vehicle.  Surprisingly, I got to my course a lot faster and cheaper than if I were to drive.  By the time, I factored in gas, parking and the additional time I would have spent on the road, I paid for my lunch out and then some.   My little one had mentioned to me one morning that she wanted to take the bus with me.   I thought about it and figured, why not?  Of course, she didn’t come to my course but we decided to take public transit on the weekend as a day trip.   She loved the idea of riding the Skytrain and Seabus.  It was a cheap trip because the kids were free (under 5) and riding through all zones was the same price.  She was excited to be able to gaze out the window and watch the buildings and scenery go by.  Her favourite part of it all was going into the tunnels.

Anyway, it was a great way for us to spend a day without having to add more to our carbon footprint.  It exposed us to the simplicities that excite a child and it made us realize that entertaining a child doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive.  As well, it saved us the hassle of driving with the kids all day.

Do you have any other tips or suggestions about some cheap and green thrills?

§CC

Happy Snow Day

A belated Merry Christmas to everyone!

We were thrown a little off track with all the white stuff that kept coming down.  There was even a possibility that our Christmas gathering with our extended family would be cancelled — but  is wasn’t. And as the snow kept piling up, it felt like we were perpetually shoveling our driveway to no avail; our kids even picked up the shovel to help. However it wasn’t all work and no play, as we got to build the largest fort ever in our backyard and a snowmenpeople family. Hope you all got to enjoy the fun side of snow too.

We’ll be taking a little break over this Christmas season, but we’ll be back in January. We hope everyone had a warm and blessed Christmas with your family and friends. And with 2009 just around the corner, a safe and wonderful New Year!

≡mar

Goodies Made With Love

December is always a busy time of the year with parties, family gatherings and all the holiday festivities.  This time of year is made that much more special for my family as we get to celebrate birthdays for both my kids.  My mind is always thinking about their birthdays months leading into them because without planning ahead we would be lucky if I got my act together to bake a cake.  Aside from planning all the food and activities, I am constantly in search of goody bag items.  I want to give our guests something useful and practical but don’t want to spend a whole lot of money.  Typically, I end up at the dollar store to fill up the bags.  This year, with some planning ahead I decided to make the loot items myself.  It started with a simple search on the Internet and before I knew it, I had a project list of things that I wanted to make for my kid-lets.  I am so easily distracted!

There are many talented moms out there that have wonderful imaginations and amazing creativity that offer great help in making items.  I can only aspire to be like them so for the time being I use their resources for helping me out with my projects.  I decided to make felt crowns and super hero capes.   It was a pretty big undertaking because of the number of kids that are coming to our party but more so because I am definitely not a great seamstress.  I know how to use the straight stitch and the zigzag on my sewing machine and that’s about it.  I managed to make my way through it and they came out surprisingly great.  I can’t wait to give them to the kids.  There are also a lot of no-sew projects out there as well.  You just need to spend a little time looking for them.  I also have been using the library as a resource for ideas.  One book that I was given is the Ultimate Book of Kid Concoctions that has great formulas from anything from scented water colors made with drink crystals to apple sauce and cinnamon dough.

Anyway, I am hoping to be able to find more time to do this for my kids and myself.  It gets me away from the TV and computer and lets me employ my creative side.

§CC

Hard Working Moms

I have to brag that I got in some “me” time, time without the kids, this past weekend. And though it didn’t include lounging around in my PJs, a spa treatment, or lunch with girlfriends, it was still very mind-replenishing. My dear hubby graciously took care of all 3 kidlets while I went to the Baby Purity Mother’s Conference that I had blogged about previously.

At first I was a bit unsure of the conference only because my sister couldn’t come with me and I really don’t enjoy going to things like this alone. When I arrived, I browsed the several info and vendor booths, like Green Zebra, yoyomama, inBed organics, Better Baby Bums to name a few, and picked up business cards and info sheets. And though one of the guest speakers that I was looking forward to hearing, Christopher Gavigan, had to cancel last minute due to family circumstances, the line-up of speakers that were there was nonetheless interesting and informative. The focus was mainly about chemicals in our everyday things that affect our health and well-being more than we know and the intriguing connection between the gut and allergies in kids. There was a lot of information to take in. Though there was a Q&A period at the end and one of the speakers, Margaret Evans, a RN and life coach, advised us to not feel overwhelmed but rather take one thing out of the conference and work on that, I couldn’t help but still feel like there is so much still for me to do, for me to look into. But that is me: a bit of a worry-wart.

I felt a connection with the 100 or so moms, plus a few dads, there. It was a camaraderie with strangers; moms/parents with the same interest as mine: providing the best we can for our children. I lunched with people I didn’t know and we talked about weaning, formula and stainless steel containers. I met the incredible one-woman force behind Yoyomama, Annemarie Tempelman-Kluit. I chatted with Lisa Frack, Online Parent Organizer for EWG and a blogger for Enviroblog, who was sweet enough to seek me out and offer a follow-up email to a question I posed during the Q&A period. And I introduced myself to Sydney Carlaw, the dynamic person behind Baby Purity. Now, I barely know her. But from the tiniest bit of email correspondence I had with her, and the casual “Hi” and “Thank-you for the conference”, I must say that she is one incredible woman (with most likely an extremely supportive hubby). Most of us, including myself, would love to fulfill our dreams but few of us have the tenacity and patience to follow through. This was her dream and she really made it possible to share it with us.

The conference ended with a ton of giveaways, and though I didn’t end up with one of the fancy gift baskets or the G-diapers or the blender, I came away happy knowing that there are moms out there: like Annemarie, like Lisa and like Sydney, who are working hard to share their knowledge and experience; enabling us to raise our children the best way we can.

By the way, one of topics for next year’s conference is the immunization debate. As for the fee, Sydney is working on reducing the cost by finding more sponsors. Looking forward to next year.

≡mar

Conference Call

We apologize for our little hiatus. We just got back from a wonderful vacation to the more francophone part of our beautiful country. We thoroughly enjoyed Quebec as we got to learn more about Canada’s earlier history and of course, we couldn’t resist and had to sample Quebecois cuisine: poutine, mussels, crepes and smoked meat. Yum! Now that we’ve returned, and somewhat recovered from the jet-lag, we hope to get back into the swing of things.

One thing that I did notice is a conference happening next Saturday that might be of interest. It is put together by Baby Purity, a resource for parents who are interested in more natural and healthier options for their children. The Baby Purity Mother’s Conference is a one day affair held in downtown Vancouver on October 25, 2008 from 9am to 5pm. Topics that will be covered are nutrition for the entire family, healthy first baby foods, and safe household products. What I’m most excited about are the guest speakers: Christopher Gavigan, author of Healthy Child Healthy World, and Lisa Frack from the Environmental Working Group.

I just registered so there still is some spaces available. Cost is $38.99. Sounds a bit pricey, but I figure that lunch is included, I will be in the company of great resourceful and informative speakers, and I’ll come home with a loot bag.

≡mar

Green Away From Home

So you thought being green at home is challenging? Try being on holidays and finding sustainable choices for your getaway without taking the fun out of being away. On a recent holiday, I have to admit we were finding it difficult to try stay on our green path. We were fortunate enough to be staying at a wonderful vacation house that had ample recycling and allowed us the run of the house. Here are some things that we did to minimize our footprint:

• Reused our towels
• Brought our own water bottles to use
• Utilized the dishes and cooking facilities to prepare our meals (this was a cost-saver as well!)
• Took public transit to explore the city
• Took advantage of the green space in the city to have a wonderful picnic
• Walked to attractions that were close enough
• Bought organic and local produce
• Planned multiple destinations and attractions to minimize driving

Although we haven’t turned into full fledged eco-tourists yet we are definitely more conscious of our footprint in whichever city we visit. Plan ahead and check out your destinations to see what options they offer for sustainabilty.

What tips do you have for being greener travelers?

§CC

EPICuriosity

Out of curiosity, our new found interest nudged us to check out EPIC Vancouver, a sustainable living expo held this past weekend. There we met a convention full of green-savvy exhibitors, up and coming eco-products & ideas; sampled yummy organic foods; picked up tips on more greener living; and bought some products to try out. This was a gathering of like minded people, and it spurred us on even more knowing that there are plenty of ecologically sound choices out there that are within our grasps.

A little bit of curiosity can spark wonderful ideas.

≡mar