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'll take one please!

For those of you that have read some of my previous posts, you know I just LOVE my chocolate. Actually, it's a bit of an obsessive relationship. I always think about it and I try so hard to refrain from giving in, but at the end of the day the temptation just overwhelms me and I have to have a piece. To all those who empathize with my delicious obsession you'll be happy to hear that today, Cadbury announced that its oh-so-yummy Dairy Milk chocolate will receive Fair Trade Certification. Cadbury's British and Irish markets will be the first to receive certification by Summer 2009, and hopefully soon after, so will Canada.

I've always been a big fan of Cadbury's Dairy Milk, and I especially love the bars I buy at Heathrow airport. For some reason, the bars across the pond so rich and delicious! Now I can buy them with a good conscious that the cocoa farmers in Ghana are being treated fairly. I can't wait until Canadian Cadbury bars will also be Fair Trade Certified.

What's you're favourite chocolate? Do you try to buy Fair Trade chocolate?

Pound the pavement for your cause!

It's that time of year when spring feels like it's just around the corner, and for me, I feel a strong urge it to get back into my running. I try my best to run regularly in the winter, but it just isn't the same, so come spring I'm out the four times a week - rain or shine. In anticipation of the upcoming Green Living Show here in Toronto (it takes place at the end of April), I was browsing around their site and came across information for the Earth Run.

This April, the Green Living Show will host Toronto's first ever Earth Run on Sunday April 26 at the Exhibition Place. Signing up for this race will help you kill two birds with one stone - it's the perfect opportunity for you to help raise funds for local environmental initiatives and for you to get fit just in time for summer. The run is a mellow 5 kilomotres long, so now if the perfect time for you to get outside and get training.

There are also Earth Runs in Vancouver and Ottawa, as well as the United States and Spain, for those of you outside of Toronto.

For more info, or to sign up for the race, visit www.earthrun.com.

Have you been spending more time outdoors in anticipation of spring? How do you plan to get back in shape after the long, cold winter?

What are your acts of green?

I've seen many ads with the handsome George Stroumboulopoulos, always talking about this One Million Acts of Green. I've been dying to know how I can get in on the George action ... errrr ... I mean, GREEN action.

Here's what's worth knowing about this great campaing:

It was launched last year with the intention of mobilizing Canadians to perform at least one act of green, as each act can make a difference. Whether you walk to work once a week, change your regular lightbulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs or vow to only buy local fruits and vegetables - or decide to undertake all those acts – your actions will make a huge difference.

Once you undertake your One Million Acts of Green mission, you simply visit green.cbc.ca to register your act. A green calculator on the website will calculate the impact your act has on the environment. And, all your "acts" will be saved on the site, so you can keep track of the difference you've made.

For instance, if your green act is to do your laundry in cold water, you'll see that of the 154,000 participants that have made this change, and as a result, have saved a total of 1.8 million kg of green house gasses. All that from just doing your laundry in cold water. I hope you're tempted to make the change!

As of this morning, we've surpassed our goal of one million acts of green by over 67,000 – and the numbers continue to grow.

What are your acts of green? Why did you decide to make a green resolution? Share your answers with me and Green Living Blog readers and you could win a copy of the GAIAM DVD Simple Steps to a Greener Home. This DVD will help you turn your home into an eco-friendly haven. Environmental lifestyle expert Danny Seo will help you go green - in style!

Need some great tips and ideas on how to go green? Check out our guide to greener living!

Ginseng, a bitter-tasting cure-all

Most of us have heard of ginseng. Perhaps you associate it with Eastern medicine, or maybe you have some ginseng tea bags in your cupboard. Whatever you connection with ginseng, its healing powers cannot be denied.

In the article "Change of Pace," featured in last month's Walrus magazine, the author thoroughly explains that ginseng is used for the treatment of "fatigue, stress, diabetes, headaches, dizziness, colds, influenza, high blood pressure, low blood pressure, thinning hair, failing memory, tumours, diminished libido, allergies, inflammation, poor appetite, a logy immune system, various circulatory issues, and/or generalized feelings of dispiritedness."

It was in the same article that I learned that Ontario is the largest producer of American ginseng, making local ginseng, ginseng capsules and powders readily available.

Around 1716, a Jesuit priest began the mass production of ginseng in Canada. Hearing of the popularity and abundance of the root in China, he figured that French Canada's environment (similar to that of Northern China's) would grow the root. After three months of searching, he found the root growing close to Montreal, Quebec. After his discovery, Canada began exporting American ginseng to China, where the root was, and still is, in high demand.

Ginseng is commonly used as a tea, powder, capsules or pure extracts. Many people also add whole or ginseng extract to their cooking - meat, soups, stews and desserts!

Now that you've had your dose of Canadian history, and hopefully learned a thing or two about ginseng, I'll leave you to mull over its healing powers. But before you rush out and buy some ginseng root or extract to get you through those long days, be sure to talk to a naturopath, medical doctor or other professional – ginseng can interfere with other drugs or herbs, so it's best to have some guidance before taking it.

For more on ginseng, read The Scoop on Ginseng.

Do you use ginseng? In what form? How would you describe the taste? Does it help cure your ailments? Please share your answers!

I was recently flipping through a magazine when I came across an ad for the Toyota Earth Day Scholarship Program. I guess the image was compelling enough for me to visit the website when I got home. Toyota Canada Inc. and Earth Day Canada have come together to encourage today's youth to take an active interest in the environment by rewarding Canadian high school students who take part in environmental community service and display academic excellence.

The Toyota Earth Day Scholarship program is offered to those who are entering their first year of full-time, post-secondary education and will award $5000 to 15 students. One national winner will be selected from the 15 winners and will also be given a laptop.

What a great way to encourage youth to raise awareness about environmental issues!

Hurry! Applications are due on January 31, 2009.

Read about how you can help the environment.

Last Thursday at about 10 p.m. we lost power at our house. Thinking nothing of it, we snuggled up in our blankets and promptly fell asleep. At about 3a.m., I woke up to my poor dog being sick. Our house was freezing!! I had to put on a head lamp to find my doggy's sick pile and clean it up. Pour Scout was shivering so we all climbed back into bed together and were all nice and toasty from each other's body heat.

I couldn't belive it when we awoke at 6 a.m. and the power still wasn't back. FREEZING! FREEZING! FREEZING! Good thing we have a battery operated radio and was able to flip it on a hear that there was a huge blackout in the west end of Toronto. Luckily power had been restored at my dad's house, so we went over to get warm (and raid his fridge - there's always much better food over there!).

This little bump in everyone's daily routine got most people in the west end of Toronto thinking about emergency preparedness. Though at our house we were equipped with headlamps, candles and a battery operated radio, that was about it. We had no water in the house and no wood for our fireplace. Though we had spare food, we had no extra fuel for our camping stove to cook it. Had this blackout lasted longer or was city wide, we would have been in some serious trouble.

Since then we've bought a few jugs of water, a wind up flashlight, spare food for the dog, a slow-burning candle and some reserve fuel for the camping stove.

Oh, and on a green note, think how much electricity and water the west end of Toronto conserved over that clost to 24 hour period.

Have you been affected by a long blackout? How did you fare?

Are you prepared in case of an emergency? What's in your emergency kit? What should I add to mine?

Good day Green Living Blog readers, and a happy New Year to you all! As I was leisurely flipping through Saturday's Globe and Mail today (a day late, as per usual) I saw that the Style section mentioned some green changes to the design world that we should all be on the lookout for this year. Here are a few of them (more...)

It's going to be a quick one today. I read in today's Globe and Mail (find the article here) that a major bottled-water company will be voluntarily implementing a 25-cent deposit on half-litre bottles in parts of Canada (B.C., Ontario and the Maritime provinces). According to the article, this secret company is responding to all the people who complain of those who litter and do not recycle the plastic bottles. This deposit will add a whopping $6 to a pack of 24 water bottles. I hope that's enough to make people stop buying bottled water in areas where the tap water is perfectly drinkable.

I must admit, I'm curious to see which "major" company is introducing the deposit.

Check out my previous post on bottles water here and here

Read more:
• 10 ways to conserve water in your home

To all of those who live in and around the Greater Toronto Area should take a trip to Woodbridge this coming weekend to check out the 4th annual Green Home Show. The event will showcase the most innovative tools in home energy saving available today. The list includes solar, wind, green electricity, water, recyclables, and bed and bath products.

The show will be held this coming weekend, Saturday September 27 and Sunday September 28 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It takes place at Kortright at the Living City Campus at 9550 Pine Valley Drive in Woodbridge, Ontario. Admission for adults is $8, for student and seniors is $5 and kids under 15 get in for free.

The lucky attendees can get a tour of the Archetype Sustainable House (seen at the left) where they will be able to check out the latest energy devices in action – how cool is that? They're also welcome to participate in any of the seminars (visit www.kortright.org/ghs for info on the seminars) and are invited to take a hike on the Energy Trail where they will encounter wind turbines, grid connected photovoltaics and an energy self-sufficient cottage with a wood stove and a composting! There is also a kid's program that will educate your tots on all things energy related. Sounds like it's going to be an action-packed show!

For more information, visit www.kortright.org/ghs.

Also, don't forget to make a comment here, on Tuesday's blog post, to leave your best green cleaning tip. The person who shares the best green cleaning tip will win a copy of Green This! Greening Your Cleaning, by Deirdre Imus (I spoke about this book in a past post. Check out the book here). Simply leave a reply below! You have one week to leave you tip on this post, and I’ll announce the winner next Tuesday.