Not like the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz…but as in lowering your face’s carbon footprint. Confused? Don’t be.
It’s as simple as giving up your facial wash for a bar of soap. The old-fashioned bar of soap is oft overlooked or unfairly branded as drying to skin or, perhaps, just not “scientific” enough to tend to our face’s foes – aging, sun damage, blemishes.
Truth is, it’s just as easy to offer up science’s latest marvels in a bar than in a bottle.
What’s more, soap comes a lot less packaging and is lighter…so less GHGs released in shipping.
My fave? Kama soap, which comes in lots of good smells, including Ylang Ylang with Vitamin E. It’s cheap, lasts a long time and my skin feels awesome.

Keep Kitty Out of Houseplants

Our new kitten, Bill, has taken to using my houseplants as his litter box. I’ve taken various bits of advice: cover them with aluminum foil (waste of foil…and none too effective), add in some hot sauce around the edge where he stands (nope, has just decided he’s a spicy kinda kitty).
But…eureka! The answer was lying in a nearby woods.
Pinecones are the perfect deterrent. Uncomfortable to walk on, eco-friendly and aesthetically pleasing.
Thanks again Mother Nature!

I giggled self-consciously through most of Audi’s lauded or lambasted (depending on which media you follow) Green Police Superbowl ad. Of course, it’s intended to poke fun at the eco-fascism that many enviros are accustomed to being accused of. And it does make the point that much of the simple things we do are…well…harmful.

And it’s intended to be over the top. To show that being hip and green can start as simply as choosing a more fuel-efficient car. So why the nervous tittering from me? Well…I’m more like the Green Police than I’d like to admit.

I’ve been known to retrieve recyclables out of the garbage and demand to know who put them there. I’ve occasionally interrogated my six-year-old about whether she composted her banana peel or threw it away. I lecture my children about the perils of climate change when they whine about riding bikes instead of driving to school. In short, I’m (occasionally) a vitriolic eco-shrew. My daughter put it best the other day when she asked why she couldn’t just not care “and be happy like everyone else.”

Point taken, if grudgingly  If my green policing is making us all miserable (and I suspect it is, including me), then perhaps it’s time to take a page out of Audi’s playbook and have some fun. I can still compost. And recycle. And ride my bike. But I don’t need to issue citations and deliver lectures at every transgression. Note to self: The world has enough hot air. What it needs is a cool head.

As owner of a new puppy, along with two new rescue cats…and someone whose elderly dog developed problems following a rabies vaccine, it’s certainly top of mind these days. You can read my original post here.

I asked my friend Helen, who is involved with border collie rescue, natural rearing and is a dedicated researcher of all things dog, to respond further. Here’s what she says:
Veterinary medicine was indeed developed for the protection of humans, not animals, and as rabies is the only deadly disease that both animals and humans can contract, rabies vaccination is mandatory by law. However, studies have shown that a single rabies vaccine provides immunity for life and repeated vaccinations do not increase immunity. Furthermore, animals who receive multiple rabies vaccines are at risk of developing not only potentially serious or even fatal health issues, they can develop dangerous behaviour problems as well. In other words, if animals (particularly dogs) receive multiple rabies shots they can in fact become more dangerous to humans, making the process of repeated vaccinations counterproductive.

Vets are noticing health and behaviour problems arising after the administration rabies vaccines at such an alarming rate that there is now a major research study going on at the University of Wisconsin veterinary school working toward proving that a single rabies vaccine will last at least 7 years (www.therabieschallengefund.org). The hope is to change the law and reduce the risk to our pets, and to ourselves, from over-vaccination. The study is just entering its third year, which is the limit of current laws. Fortunately many regions (including London) are accepting titers (blood tests that demonstrate the presence of anti-bodies) in lieu of vaccines while we wait for the law to be updated.

Raj Patel spoke today on CBC Radio’s The Current about his new book, The Value of Nothing,in which he proposes – and finds ample evidence to support – that our culture of cheap stuff is costing us plenty. Just not at the cash register. He asserts that we are, in fact, paying for the cheap burger at the drive-thru or the great deal on the t-shirt. In some cases, it’s developing countries who are stuck with the cost, in the form of environmental degradation, poverty from low wages and health costs. But in many way, we’re also paying the price. Through our own subsidized health-care costs (from eating crappy food and breathing crappy air) and social assistance from helping support minimum wage workers (think Wal-Mart. Think McDonald’s).

It can’t get much clearer that our present way of doing things – buying up mass quantities of cheap food and cheap stuff – isn’t making us happier or healthier. As Michael Pollan reported on Oprah, it used to be that health care costs were low and food costs were, relatively speaking, high. Now it’s the opposite. So while we don’t pay a lot upfront for food, we certainly pay down the road, in terms of treating illnesses like heart disease and diabetes, which have skyrocketed since the advent of cheap food.

I offer up an easy suggestion in The Virtuous Consumer. When you consider buying something, I proposed, ask yourself a few questions:
•what is the item made from?
•how was it made?
•who made it?
•how far was it transported to me?
•how long – and how often – will I use it?
•and what will I do with it when I’m done?

The answers aren’t readily apparent, but simply asking the questions will alter the way you shop…for the better.