With Earth Day approaching quickly I have lots going on here at the Green Living Blog. For starters, I want to announce the winners of the Origins Organics prize pack and the Mom, Will This Chicken Give Me Man Boobs? books. Congratulations to (more...)

Great green beauty products!

Looking great comes at a price these days, and we know this the more we hear about how many harmful chemicals it takes to look good - harmful to us, and the environment. When searching the shelves, look for products with natural ingredients (I always consider whether I wouldn't mind putting the product in my mouth - don't actually try that). Also, it might be worth considering making your own beauty products. Have any of you ever tried doing that? I remember that my sister once made me beautiful grapefruit lip balm. Also, Adria Vasil of Ecoholic fame recommends visiting Make Your Cosmetics for recipes.

Way back in August I wrote about Origins Organics, a great line of green products I had come across. I had fallen in love with their lovely Body Pampering Massage Oil. All of Origins Organics products are free of many of the leading environmental and health offenders, such as parabens (an estrogenic chemical found in most cosmetics), phthalates (a hormone disrupter now slowly being phased out of certain products), petroleum (derived from crude oil), mineral oil (which is a petroleum byproduct) and DEA (which is suspected to increase the risk of cancer and is commonly found in beauty products).

I have great news for those of you who love looking great with a conscience. I have a Origins Organics beauty basket to give away to one lucky Green Living Blog Subscriber. One lucky winner will get:

• Origins Organics Foaming Face Wash

• Origins Organics Nourishing Face Lotion

• Origins Organics Cleansing Body Bar

Just leave a comment here telling me your best recipe for a homemade beauty product. Don't forget, you also have to be a subscriber to win! I'll announce the winner on Tuesday, April 21.

Also, two lucky winners will be walking away with a copy of the book Mom, Will This Chicken Give Me Man Boobs?, by Robyn Harding (I blogged about it here!). It's a great, funny read that most of you can relate to. I'll pick the two winners at random and will announce it here next Tuesday as well.

Congrats to (more...)

I thought it was spring! I was a bit shocked to wake up this morning to snow. My dog and I had a nice, early-morning walk in the park and we were both slipping and sliding around, totally unprepared for the weather. I guess Mother Nature is giving us one more taste of winter so we appreciate the spring that much more. I promise I will!

I have two great books to giveaway to a lucky Green Living blog subscriber. One of you will receive True Green @ Work: 100 ways you can make the environment your business AND Sara Snow's Fresh Living: The Essential Room-by-Room Guide to a Greener, Healthier Family and Home.

All you have to do is subscribe to me blog and you'll be eligible to win. I'll pick a subscriber at random on Tuesday April 14, so look out for your name!

Cherish winter sports!

Here we are wishing winter away, and there's breaking news reports that we here Canada will have less and less time to enjoy our winter and all those wonderful things that come with it - like skiing, skating, hiking, snowshoeing and other winter sports.

I woke up to the CBC yesterday explaining that the impact global warming will have on Canadian winters could be detrimental. Someone from the David Suzuki Foundation was quoted in the Globe and Mail saying that our ski season could be cut in half towards the end of the century. It certainly is a scary thought that my (imaginary) baby's baby's baby's won't enjoy the snowshoeing or downhill skiing that I have.

On a more positive note, Earth Hour proved to be a huge success this year. About 80 countries, and close to 4,000 cities, participated in this awareness-raising cause. It would be great if this event could take place more than once a year so it could make more of a difference. I know people are catching on, and I can only imagine how much better next year's response will be.

A Good Catch, by Jill Lambert

I have two books to giveaway. If you're a subscriber (or become a subscriber) to my Green Living blog you are automatically eligible to win a copy of Jill Lambert's A Good Catch. This book is a guide on how to choose properly when shopping for seafood. With concern over the amount of seafood our ocean’s can produce, endangered species, and fish that are inhumanely caught, it’s important that eating sustainable seafood becomes a priority. This book helps to explain why, what the most responsible choices are, what sort of questions to ask at your local fish market and how to cook all sorts of seafood. Lambert’s book includes 70 recipes from celebrity chefs across Canada – including a couple recipes from Canadian Living’s very own test kitchen.

Just subscribe to my blog and you could win. I'll randomly select two subscribers and announce the winners here on Monday, April 6.

I want to thank you all for giving me such sound advice about starting my little garden. You all obviously know a great deal about gardening - far more than I do. What I would give to walk around your vegetable patch, selecting things for a fresh summer salad! Without further ado, the winner of Marjorie Hariss' Ecological Gardening is (more...)

Yay. Spring is here!

Happy spring to you all! I couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief this morning when I remembered that today is the first day of spring. That thought alone got me out of bed and out the door in an unusually chipper manner. I hope the change of season has freshened your outlook too.

Now, the moment I know you all have been waiting for. The winner of the FilterForGood Prize Pack is (more...)

This is going to be a big post - complete with a contest!!! Read on for details.

With the holidays around the corner, I've decided that on a weekly basis I'll give you some green gift ideas. So, starting today I will pass on some ideas, and continue to do so every Friday until Christmas. Can you believe we're just a month away? Today's theme is (more...)

It's hard to buy organic food when you're trying to live on a budget. It's even harder when concern about the presence of pesticides in your food is always in the back of your mind. According to Cindy Burke, author of To Buy or Not To Buy Organic, if you opt for the organic version of 12 certain fruits and vegetables you can eliminate you and your family's exposure to harmful pesticides by 50 per cent.

Burke also warns that washing fruits and vegetables does not limit the amount of pesticides you ingest. Apparently when a food has been sprayed, pesticides are apt to find their way deep into that fruit or veggie.

Are you wondering what Burke's list of 12 fruits and veggies are? Here's the list of fruits and veggies that Burke recommends buying only if organic. (more...)

Yesterday, I attended a book launch for A Good Catch, by Jill Lambert at Seafood Oyster Bed and Grill in Toronto.

The origin and method of catch of the seafood that graces our dinner tables is becoming more of a concern as we become more aware that stocks are depleting. However, it can be hard to become a conscience consumer all of a sudden. In her book, Lambert helps to make the transition easier by explaining what the best and most responsible choices are. The book also features (more...)