Feel Good Guru

Yes, I’ll admit it. I’m a tree hugger. I’m almost 42 and I still climb trees – I’ve been called “Monkey Girl” more than a few times – and yes, I hug them if I’m invited. I’ve been known to cry at the sight of a magnificent old redwood being ripped from her roots. And ever since I can remember, I’ve fantasized of living in a tree house.

So when I finally make it to Costa Rica, land of forest, jungle, woods, thickets, groves, parkland, trees – and tree-hugging howler monkeys, I will stay at the Costa Rica Tree House Lodge nestled inside a wildlife refuge on the southern Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. (more…)

Already cursing winter? Not gonna make it to spring? Need a distraction of the South Pacific kind?

Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort is just the place to get you through the long winter ahead of soakers and frostbite. Go to the website and daydream of your oceanfront cottage complete with thatched roof and sultry breezes. Imagine a poolside “bobo” massage, a traditional healing practice done with rich tropical oils and percussive, long strokes to stimulate circulation and release tension. Fantasize of diving in the clear, warm waters of Savusavu and seeing the largest variety of fish and coral anywhere in the world…Or stop dreaming, get out your credit card and just book! (more…)

One of my favorite places on the planet is Christina Lake in Southern British Columbia. It’s Canada’s warmest fresh water lake, and, therefore, a favorite for recreation in the summer. With only about 1500 year-round residents, winter at the lake is pristine and still. Some of the humans I admire most in the world live here, making annual visits a welcomed ritual.

My partner, Ron, recently purchased a tiny piece of land on a residential cul-de-sac just a block from the lake. He bought it strictly as an investment, simply to take some green away from the volatile stock market and place it in something perceived of as more secure – land. (more…)

Now that the colors of autumn are fading, the sky’s about to turn slate gray for months and holiday madness is about to get silly on us, why not escape to a Green Territory in the middle of the aqualluring Caribbean Sea and ponder peace?

Fly away to Maho Bay…on the island of St. John, the least populated of the US Virgin Islands.

Airy eco-tent cottages, 114 of them, are tucked away in the lush foliage and joined, spider web-like to each other by an extensive elevated network of stairs and boardwalks, sensitively built with the environment in mind.  (more…)

My friends at VegNews get invited to a lot of parties, restaurant openings, book launches and charity benefits. Lucky for me, they can’t keep up. So when founding (and award winning) publisher and editor extraordinaire, Joe Connelly, called and asked if I’d like to attend a book launch for local Venice designer with a conscience, Kelly LaPlante, I pulled out my best recycled outfit, grabbed singer/songwriter girlfriend Kathy Leonardo and hit the happening green scene.

The publication is Kelly’s first, a coffee-table book called “Ecologique: the style of (more…)

I dream of owning a little piece of land somewhere clean and quiet where ten years from now it’ll still be clean and quiet. When the noise pollution in urban life gets to be intollerable and the air quality sinks to lung-choking levels, I want to be able to escape to this little piece of pristine property and still see deer and the occasional bear fishing at the riverfront. I don’t necessarily want to set up my old North Face tent when I visit my little garden of eden, but I’d love a low-impact dwelling that is sustainable and perhaps portable. (more…)

I haven’t bought a pair of Simple shoes yet, but the next time I need some, I’ll consider these little beauties from the “nice little shoe company” speaking to me from their personalized product stand at Whole Foods (yes, some Whole Foods locations now have a shoe section!). Simple wants to educate me on the eco-ness of their sneaks, and does so with an element of cheeky fun that I appreciate in a world doomed to implode unless we all decide green is fun:) These guys got sole – used bicycle tires sole. And hemp. And organic cotton, water-based glues, bamboo, jute and cork. (more…)

Yesterday, we took my friend, a flight attendant who was in from Calgary on a layover, to Melrose for some shopping. I’m a huge fan of vintage and used clothing stores, of which there are plenty up there. In a store called Slow, we stumbled upon this jewellery called Recycled Dead “recycled taxidermy brought back to life as nature’s accessory.”

Just so happened the young guy behind the counter is the designer. He says he gets most of his feathers, tails, etc., from native reserves. I’m still weighing in on my (more…)

The future of motorbiking is here. Brammo Motorsports has come out with the Enertia, an electric commuter bike I can get excited about. Not because I want to ride a motorbike to the market necessarily, but because I am hopeful the technology for a long-range zero-carbon machine is being worked out before our eyes.

This little inner-city beauty puts out zero emissions, no noise, speeds exceeding 50mph and a 40 mile range on a single 3-hour charge. “At roughly $.32 a fill-up and under one cent a mile,” says the website, “it is positioned to be the compelling green alternative for the new urban consumer.” (more…)

“You will never look at a billboard the same way again.”

The guys and girls at Relan in Minneapolis have reinvented the billboard, upcycling it into a unique, one-of-a-kind handmade handbag line.

They take a used billboard about the size of a tennis court, already water and tear-resistant and manufactured to withstand weather of all kinds; then they clean it, press it, cut it up and repurpose it into funky purses, market bags, wallets, totes, (more…)

There’s a good article today in the Toronto Star describing the benefits of greening your roof in the city. Aside from beautifying your own little rooftop world, in a city like Toronto, with temperature extremes from minus 40 to plus 40, a green roof can provide welcomed insulation from the elements. Also, when a heavy storm hits a city’s concrete and hard surfaces, water runoff, including sewage, can be drained right into the lakes. Green roofs help absorb storm runoff and prevent excessive water pollution.

A good resource for getting started on your own green roof is Green Roofs for healthy cities at greenroofs.org.