Tag: Eco Speak
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In the Blog
Toronto event: UberSWAP clothing swap
Shameless is excited to be attending this event - look for Julia and Sarah at the Shameless table and come say hi, buy a magazine and check out some merch! PLEASE NOTE: The venue has a few stairs leading to the entrance and is not wheelchair-accessible. Join 100+ stylish scavengers in Leslieville for the next edition of Uber-SWAP, our used & vintage clothing exchange! (Facebook event page here.) Expect a thriftshop-style swap boasting a tempting stash of gently … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Safe cosmetics campaign targets Canadian girls
Many of the popular resources available on cosmetic products and toxic ingredients come from the United States. They include some useful databases and backgrounders, but their conclusions seem at times periphery to us Canadians. Up here, we regulate our cosmetics differently! You may be happy to then know that FemmeToxic, a Montreal-based campaign for safe cosmetics, launched last summer. Its goal: to inform Canadian girls and young women about the chemicals found in cosmetic ingredients. FemmeToxic is … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Eco-beauty resources
Sometimes trying to figure out how to find safe personal care products and what ingredients to avoid can be overwhelming. Depending on where you look, you might even find conflicting information that will only aggravate the headache you’ve developed in the process of your search. Below, I’ve provided a list of helpful resources that break down the details for us in a palatable way. Health Canada’s Consumer Product Safety website on Cosmetics and Personal Care. … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Earth Hour: March 27, 8:30pm
This Saturday, March 27 at 8:30pm (local time), people around the world will be turning off their lights for one hour in support of climate change awareness. But that’s just the beginning. Every hour, Canadians are taking small steps to lessen their impact on the environment. From hanging your clothes to dry to taking transit to work, those small steps add up to huge changes for the better. - Earth Hour 2010 Canada What do you think … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Health risks: Parabens in beauty products
What’s in your make-up kit? And how many of those beauty products do you use in a day? Give or take a few products, my usual morning regime involves body lotion, tinted moisturizer, mascara, hair mold, and sometimes bronzer or eyeliner if I’m feeling so inclined. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of other women, particularly young women, also reach my daily average. What concerns me is that most beauty products contain parabens, a type … READ MORE
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In the Blog
In search of safe beauty products
The living’s green and pretty in Vancouver, again named “the most liveable city in the world.” Just about every cosmetic product comes in a greenwashed or health-friendly option: there’s paraben-free lotion, deodorant without aluminum, and nail polish sans formaldehyde! I’ve spent a year trying to pick safe, personal care products that work, and I’m still confused about which ones I should avoid. Sarah Dickson, the body care buyer at Capers Whole Foods Market in Kitsilano, puts … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Write a Play NOW!
Writers and aspiring playwrights take note: NOW!, the by-youth for-youth sustainability organization, is hosting a national playwriting competition for youth. From the NOW! newsletter: Are you an innovator passionate about the environment? Do you want a challenge? Do you love writing? Enter the Act NOW! National Playwriting Competition! Who? Dreamers and change-makers (Ages 14-26, divided into junior and senior categories) What? The Act NOW! Playwriting Competition! Write a short play on sustainability. When? … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Muppets Spreading the Eco Word
Kermit the Frog may be famous for singing “It’s Not Easy Being Green”, but in this fun little video from back in the ’80s, Kermit explains how simple it is to be ‘green’… in the eco-friendly sense. Check out Kermit and Fozzie chillin’ and talkin’ about the importance of respecting our world’s water. There is no embed code to add the video into this post, so click here to watch it on the GreenTV website. And how … READ MORE
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In the Blog
An Environmental (& Cost) Question. Period.
Julia Schopick from The Keeper, Inc. was awesome enough to leave us a comment in a recent Shameless Women post to let us know that they’ve put together a page on their site to show the average environmental and financial cost of using tampons. “It gives a terrific visual representation of the amount of WASTE that is created by ONE WOMAN’S disposable menstrual products in one month, one year, 10 years, and 40 years (the menstruating … READ MORE
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In the Blog
For your eco-flow days
It looks like someone’s cycles are in sync! First (thanks for the alert Cate!) gURL.com posts an historical overview of menstrual products. Then Grist posts about our contemporary options from an environmental perspective. The two-part series contains irreverent product reviews from staffers. They test both outerwear and innerwear. I appreciate that they report on the bunching factor. Um, and Anna? You’ll be glad to see they assess each product’s odor as well. It’s awesome how 300 years later, … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Our dirty little mugs
Debate is brewing about whether or not coffee cups, plastic bags and water bottles should be banned. The coffee cup purveyors don’t think you could handle it. “…the possibility of a ban or restrictions raises questions about whether consumers can break their reliance on non-recyclable coffee cups and disposable takeout containers.” - from the Globe and Mail The optimistic viewpoint would say that yes, humans of all stripes, even the spoiled ones, can waste less and … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Vegas in a bottle!
Let’s face it - water is so dull. But vitaminwater, with its kaleidoscopic pinks, peaches and violets, is like Vegas in a bottle! - NYU’s science line on “Is vitaminwater good for you?” I’m in over my head here. I saw someone drinking a bottle of smartwater, and I couldn’t figure out what it was. So I Googled the company’s website. Now I’m just thirsty. Glaceau AKA Coca-Cola, purveyor of these hip and trendy bottled drinks, claims to … READ MORE
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In the Blog
clean pores, dirty ocean?
I just came across a rather alarming discovery, in Alan Weisman’s book The World Without Us. We all know that plastics break down slowly in the environment and are hazardous for sea animals, who swallow undigestible chunks of our garbage and either choke to death or die slowly of intestinal obstructions. Well, as it turns out, one source of nearly-microscopic plastic is coming from, you guessed it, women’s beauty products. You know those facial … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Hooray for Hillside!
Yesterday I was at The Hillside Music Festival, “a celebration of music and community” that happens annually at Guelph Lake conservation area on an “island” connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway. Hillside is a not-for-profit corporation, administered by a board of directors, a small year-round staff, and more than 1,000 volunteers, and it is unlike other music festivals because it doesn’t focus on corporate advertising in order to sustain itself. And speaking … READ MORE
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In the Blog
How much would you pay for a basic human right?
What if you lived by the largest body of fresh water in the world but could no longer afford to use it? In Liz Miller’s video documentary, The Waterfront, residents of Highland Park, a struggling community on the shores of Lake Michigan are shown looking with distress at water bills totalling between 3 and 9,000 dollars. One woman sits on a porch with her children and grandchildren and explains that on a fixed pension she will be … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Zero Emission No Noise
I’m taking a break from videogames this week (though, like the weeds in Animal Crossing, they’ll be back). Turning instead to something ‘wired’ but entirely different… With all of the noise about Ontario becoming a have-not province, and the apparent collapse of the Canadian auto manufacturing sector, it would be nice if there was some sort of significant innovation in this major market, with international appeal, with which Canada could become a global leader. Oh wait. … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Ideas for a Living City - Student Shorts Competition on the TTC
Ideas for a Living City - Student Shorts Competition on the TTC Submission DEADLINE: MAY 15 2008 If you are a post-secondary student, or have just graduated, you can show your short film on the TTC this July - to over a million people a day. We are looking for silent 1-minute shorts that take a creative peak at a greener future for the city. Ideas for a Living City challenges post-secondary students to take an imaginative leap … READ MORE
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In the Blog
is earth hour a hypocrite?
This article from the National Post forwarded to me by Stacey May made me snort-laugh: At 8:15 p.m. on Saturday, [Toronto] Mayor David Miller got in a car and drove from City Hall to a Shoppers Drug Mart on Eglinton Avenue West. He bought a card for the bar mitzvah of a family friend. Then he got back in the car, driven by his press secretary, Don Wanagas, and went to the bar mitzvah. The Mayor did … READ MORE
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In the Blog
a pretty corny contribution
For my Film Friday this week, I’m offering not a review or a critique, but a Shameless Exclusive. A friend directed me to this short video made by New York artist and musician Jessica Segall. It’s a history of corn told in shadow-puppetry - a fine mix of art, history, politics, oh and just a little sci-fi. (Of course, if you think about it, lots of food-politics stuff is way more Twilight … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Cycling Awareness Test
A great example of when the right answer isn’t. Also, it’s funny. … READ MORE
