You might be surprised to learn how many wonderfully attractive and versatile plants are drought-tolerant. Drought-tolerant plants are ideal for sandy soil, areas with high elevation, hot southern or western exposures, on slopes, in open or windy spots, and near mature trees that absorb a lot of moisture. Remember, though, that these plants need regular watering their first year to get established, after which they will require less attention.
If a wedding is in your future but there’s no heirloom ring in safekeeping, you’ve got another green option: a ring from FTJCo (Fair Trade Jewellery Company). Co-founded in Toronto by Ryan Taylor and Robin Gambhir, FTJCo is the first jeweler in North America to offer fair-mined, fair-trade or recycled gold and platinum rings. Engagement rings start at $1,695; wedding bands cost $595 and up, and the company specializes in bespoke rings. Here are 5 reasons this jewelry is green.
Goldsmiths are the original blue-bin supporters — they’ve been recycling for thousands of years. Rings made from materials that have already been mined are a good green choice because they doesn’t contribute to more deforestation or chemically heavy extraction. Platinum may be reclaimed from the catalytic converter in a car. Gold may come from gold buyers or from the fuses, connectors or processors in laptops. “One of the biggest gold consumers in the world is Intel,” says Taylor. FTJCo buys its raw materials from North American refiners.
FTJCo sources new gold and platinum through Columbia’s Oro Verde initiative (which means green gold). Miners working in the delicate rainforest extract the gold using ancient artisanal techniques — they work by hand and use no machinery. They also mine without cyanide and mercury, which are used by conventional mining companies.
Oro Verde miners receive a guaranteed minimum gold price that doesn’t fluctuate with the markets. They also get a premium to invest in their community. This ensures the miners are fairly paid, work in safe conditions and get tangible incentives for balancing low-impact mining with taking responsibility for the land.
FTJCo’s stones come from one of three sources, none of which fund illegal activities by rebels whose atrocities in Sierra Leone or Angola prompted a UN resolution on conflict diamonds in 2000. New stones are Canadian diamonds, which are mined according to strict environmental standards and benefit northern economies. Secondhand stones come from the diamond market or from customers wishing to re-use a stone.
FTJCo rings are certified by Fairtrade International and the Alliance for Responsible Mining. That’s your guarantee that the metal in the rings supports communities that use artisanal mining techniques and help preserve the Chocó rainforest in Columbia.
For most of Canada, it’s time to give your garden a once-over before you get planting. Here’s my recipe for a great looking lawn & garden:
Over-seed your lawn with fresh grass seed. A key step in spring lawn care involves tackling the bare or weak spots in your lawn with a bag of triple mix, spread about 2 to 3 centimetres thick, raked smooth and topped with a layer of grass seed. Rake that smooth, step on it with flat-soled shoes to get it in firm contact with the soil, and water well. This will thicken those thin spots like nothing else.
Cut back perennials that remain standing from over the winter. Cut them right to the ground. Dig and divide the old ones that are too big for their space or are just not performing as they once did. Divide them and replant around your garden or give away to friends. This works really well with monarda, hosta, day lilies and the like. Leave the division of your peonies until mid September. Spread compost one to two inches thick around perennials and shrubs in planting beds. If your garden soil is made up mostly of heavy clay add one-third sharp sand (not beach sand!) to the compost. Sharp sand, also known as builder’s sand, contains grains of various sizes. Turn the compost under using a garden fork (a fork disturbs the roots of established plants much less than that of a shovel or spade and is easier to push into your existing soil). Using the garden fork or the back of a shovel, slap the mixed soil/compost to get rid of large clods of earth: small ones will not matter. Your newly turned soil should be “open” enough for a garden trowel to easily push through. Green gardener Mark Cullen is a radio and TV personality, author of 18 gardening books and answers thousands of questions at www.markcullen.com.
Item Tested: Blank greeting cards.
Company: Mr. Ellie Pooh
Available: $4/card or 5/$15 US. Buy online or shop locally at the Calgary Zoo, Whole Foods Market in Penticton, B.C. or at select stores in the U.S.
This award-winning fair trade company is named Mr. Ellie Pooh after the main, er, ingredient in its 100% recycled handmade paper products: fibre from elephant dung. The other half of the fibre in their cards, memo pads, scrapbooks/albums, gift boxes, card stock, printer paper and business cards comes from post-consumer recycled paper. How does dung become paper? The poop is washed away leaving raw cellulose. This vegetation is sterilized to kill bacteria and combined with post-consumer paper. The pulp mixture is screened, pressed and hung to dry, just like any homemade paper.
Wildlife conservation
The company’s is making dung-based paper to fund elephant conservation in Sri Lanka, where people are cutting down trees to farm, encroaching on elephant habitat and killing the animals that raid crops for food. Owner Karl Wald hopes the injection of jobs into the local economy will help the Sri Lankan people look at animals as an asset, not a threat.
Community support
Instead of shooting elephants, Sri Lankans are earning money to protect them and their habitat. The company trains local people in rural areas and pays fair wages to have them make paper and embellish the goods.
Intact eco-system
The poop comes largely from elephant orphanages. That leaves wild poop in the wild where it belongs, as a natural fertilizer needed for the land.
Beautiful papers
The blank greeting cards come in several designs and colours, with matching envelope and an insert decorated with mama and baby elephant butts. The Poo Happens collection is currently on sale. Despite their raw ingredients, don’t be expecting a stinky mess: The handmade cards look like art paper: flecked with pulp, full of character and with a surface that feels almost like felt — and a back story that’s tough to beat.
No virgin wood
The paper contains 100% recycled content, uses 44% less energy, produces 38% less greenhouse gas emissions, 41% less particulate emissions, 50% less wastewater and 49% less solid waste than paper made with virgin wood.
Chemical free
Made using natural vegetable-based binding agents (alum and rosin) and coloured with water-soluble salt dyes, the papers are bleach- and acid-free and about as organic as paper gets!
Transportation emissions Shipping products from Sri Lanka to North America is a long haul.
The paper products save trees, wildlife and jobs. The cards are nontoxic, useful, recycled, recyclable, gorgeous and fun. Sorry, can’t seem to find much to quibble with.
Item Tested: 12 double rolls of Cascades Enviro Ultra bathroom tissue ($7 to 9)
Company: Cascades
Available: At retailers such as Sobeys Quebec, Thrifty, Buy-Low Foods, Walmart Canada, Jean Coutu, Familiprix, Proxim.
Cascades has been making environmentally friendly paper products since 1964, so we weren’t surprised they were at the Green Living Show boasting that their recycled Enviro Ultra toilet paper, is as soft as cottony brands that are extremely hard on the planet. According to Greenpeace (check out their Guide to Ancient Forest Friendly Tissue), if every Canadian household swapped one roll of regular toilet paper cut from ancient forests for a roll of recycled, we’d save 47,962 trees per year. My family describes our current brand as “sandpaper” (I insist on 100 per cent post-consumer recycled — and yes, it’s a little rough). Could this new brand help wean the world off flushing ancient forests down the toilet?
Recycled content
Each roll contains at least 60 per cent recycled fibres, which is 60 per cent more than national brands.
Huge rolls
Each double-size roll is considerably fluffier than our current brand (see photo). Available in 4 or 12 double-roll packs.
Smart packaging
You know the Nutrition Facts label on food? This has an Environmental Facts box announcing that the wrapper contains minimum 51 per cent recycled plastic. It’s #4 plastic, which is recyclable in some areas (but not mine).
Healthy manufacturing
The product is 100 per cent hypoallergenic, whitened without chlorine bleach and biodegradable, so it’s safe for septic and sewer systems. Manufacturing uses 80 per cent less water than the North American paper industry average.
Ultra soft
The product name is completely accurate — it’s plush and gentle against the skin, yet strong enough to, well, get the job done. The company claims its microquilting technology makes the difference in softness.
Availability
Would like to see this product more widely available outside Quebec. I live in Ontario, so I can only find these at Walmart: we live in the city and all their stores are in the suburbs.
Light green
I applaud Cascades for reaching out to consumers who might up-green to this option because it’s so soft. But their Enviro Premium line is made from 100% recycled (mostly post-consumer), so it seems like a step back for a company who’s saved millions of trees and produces the official paper of Earth Day.
You can go greener for bathroom tissue, but not greener AND softer. I’ll stick with the 100% recycled stuff, but keep a few rolls on hand for guests: My late mom always complained about our so-called “cheap” toilet paper!
