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 every time whenever there’s a 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.

I fell in love with Suki Skincare when I tried their Lemongrass cleanser/exfoliant (I don’t even really use an exfoliant regularly, but the smell was so heavenly and my skin was so baby-like, I was smitten). What’s more, Suki products are void of all those scary ingredients (parabens, phthaltes, SLS, petrolatum, and so on), packaged in easily recycled glass containers, and with care given to the environment through all aspects of production, manufacture and distribution. In other words, a company with a conscience. A clean conscience.

So when I learned recently that Suki Kramer is equally smitten with The Virtuous Consumer…well…it made me giddy. According to Kramer, featured in the August 2009 issue of Body+Soul (incidentally one of my favorite reads), my book is on her bedside table, along with the Eco-Chick Guide to Life and The Green Beauty Guide, two equally awesome books.

I’m thrilled to be in such great company and sharing a vision of a greener future (in which my skin glows, courtesy of Suki’s lemongrass cleanser). Nirvana!

A few years ago, our dog, Chloe, suddenly and mysteriously started losing control of her hind-quarters. She would fall over. Or trip on a step. She always looked a bit baffled by this, like she couldn’t quite figure out why her body wasn’t cooperating. We returned to our vet, who was equally baffled. We decided to wait it out and see if it improved.
In the meantime, I shared Chloe’s plight with a dog-loving friend who was increasingly interested in holistic and natural rearing of dogs. She was active on a Web-based “dog” board and had been fielding a lot of questions related to dog behaviour and health issues. The more she dug, the more she became convinced that the culprit (or one of them) was over-vaccination of dogs.
She asked me if the symptoms presented themselves roughly three months after Chloe’s rabies vaccination. Yep. Seemed consistent with other stories she was hearing. She continued to research (did I mention this friend is a PhD candidate? Research is her raison d’être.) and was alarmed by her findings, which she talks about at length in a blog post on her own site.

In the meantime, we’ve discussed vaccinations with our vet and opted out of vaccinating our 20-year-old cat, a decision our vet supports wholeheartedly. But with an eight-week-old puppy and a new kitten, we’ve got some serious thinking to do. For our older dogs, the answer seems clear.

Little girls love jewellery. At least my two girls do. And, well-meaning friends and relatives have kept them well-supplied with bling. But just when we thought the costume jewellery aisles were getting cleaned up – thanks to U.S. legislation restricting lead in jewellery – there’s a new metal showing up in Made In China kids’ products that poses potentially a greater threat to children’s health. Cadmium is a naturally occurring element, appearing in tiny amounts in soil. It’s the amount of cadmium that an investigation by Associated Press found in children’s costume jewellery that has health advocates so alarmed. Indeed, some pieces tested contained 91% cadmium by weight, according to this MSNBC article.

Cadmium builds up for decades in the kidneys, making even small amounts potentially dangerous for growing bodies. It’s also a  known carcinogen. And certainly deserves no place in children’s products.

The products were sold at (surprise, surprise!) Wal-Mart, Claire’s and some dollar stores.

by Fraser Los

I can say with the utmost confidence that some in the media sphere are being hoodwinked by a well organized and well funded attempt to deny what amounts to basic science. If you look to the scientists, and their major associations, they ALL recognize the reality of climate change.

The greenhouse effect (and global warming) is caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and since the industrial revolution, that CO2 concentration has gone from about 260 parts per million to about 387 ppm today. To put that in perspective, scientists have cited 350 ppm as the safe limit of atmospheric CO2 to avoid major warming and possible runaway greenhouse effect – i.e. the planet Venus. This is scary stuff, I’m not going to lie.

Yes, there is plenty of uncertainty in all this – but that is generally about the results of climate change, not the causes. Yes, it is unclear how it will play out on a planetary scale, mainly because it’s complex and unprecedented. But it is not some well-orchestrated fiction created by international scientists, as many in the blogosphere are suggesting.

It’s important to recognize that no major world science organization denies anthropogenic global warming – they ALL recognize it fully – from world meteorological associations to Scientific American to NASA to the Royal Society.

But don’t take my word for it. If you want to decide for yourself, here are two important links:

This is for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is by definition an organization created to determine if there is scientific consensus (they don’t do primary science – they only assess all the science out there being done independently by scientists).

And this is just a really good synopsis of the science of climate change by the Union of Concerned Scientists, which is a non-profit put together by many prominent scientists around the world. They offer a good primer on their site, called Global Warming 101, which basically lays all the science behind the issue.

Fraser Los is the editor-in-chief of thegreenpages.ca

There’s been much sturm-und-drang around Copenhagen – Canada’s role as “fossil”, climategate, peaceful protests that turn out to not be so peaceful…
It’s all getting so tiresome.
Sure, I get that international agreements take time. And I understand, at least at a rudimentary level, the jockeying and semantic manoeuvering that occurs…but honestly, I’m dozing off.
Just DO something already.
I’m heartened by the media coverage because at least climate change is increasingly on everyone’s radar. But the to-ing and fro-ing is just making my neck ache.
So, please. If the world decides our planet is worth saving, wake me up and let me know. Otherwise, just let me snooze.

I’m often incredulous at the gall shown by corporations attempting to green their image. (And yes, I do sometimes answer to the name “Pollyanna”.)
And, in The Virtuous Consumer, I included a feature dubbed “What they hell were they thinking?” to highlight the stupidity shown by some companies in an effort to dupe consumers. And have a giggle or two at their expense.
But the examples here take greenwashing to the max. Read them…and weep.

My uniform is jeans and t-shirts. Dressed thusly (how often does one get to string those two words together. I think I’m channeling Jane Austen), I feel most like…me. I particularly love t-shirts that say something, whether funny, provocative, clever, pithy. Ideally something that gives people pause to stop and think.
Which is why I love my WWF “Hotter Than I Should Be” collector T. And Revenge Is tees. And greenisblack tees.

Other fave?

When I Grow Up I Will…