did you help fulfill a dream this christmas?

We sure wish we had known about the DreamBank. It's the ultimate gift registry where you can give and receive the perfect gift and do good at the same time.

Instead of giving or receiving gifts that, although appreciated, may not really be wanted, you post a dream gift on the site and friends and family contribute to your dream.

It's a win-win as you get what you really want, friends and family can avoid wasted hours shopping, you help spare the planet some of the nasty side effects of manufacturing and packaging unused gifts and your gift automatically generates funds that are given to important social causes.

Check it out at dreambank.org

tea vs. coffee...sand vs. salt

As many of us prepare for - or are already knee-deep - in the first major snowstorm of the season, we rely on snowplows and salt trucks to keep our streets safe. But the debate over the best way to keep roads clear without damaging the environment rages on, just like the Arctic winds.

Since even Vancouverites will need some help this winter, Business Week has a good report on the pros and cons of salt and sand. In essence, this answer is this: neither one is a perfect solution.

Sand requires repeated application and extensive cleanup. Salt can hurt the environment by ending up in streams and rivers, killing fish and plants.

Salt is twice as expensive as sand, but sand needs to be plowed up immediately after a storm and can plug storm drains. Sand also creates particulates and dust, which can cause air-quality problems.

But salt is corrosive and damages trees and cars (not to mention my faux-leather boots), and can pollute groundwater.

The article notes that here in Canada, there was a huge public outcry in 2001 over how salt was affecting the environment, particularly the water supply. Our environment agency even considered listing road salt as a toxic substance.

Toronto devised a way to reduce the use of salt by pre-wetting it before applying it to roads, a process that melts ice and snow much faster, and the results have been dramatic: the city decreased its annual salt usage by almost 37,000 tons.

Like everything we do, there are ways to improve, and science to help us along. In the meantime, you can personally take steps to reduce salt AND sand use at home, and use alternatives like EcoTraction to melt snow and ice.

thaw thighs the green way

Great tip of the day from our friends over at ideal bite on thawing food.

The Bite
Make no boneless legs about it, next time you thaw something from the freezer, stick it in the fridge the night before. Or, if you're crunched for time, immerse it in water or zap it in the microwave - either way, you'll cut(let) H2O waste from running them under the tap.

The Benefits
-(Drum)sticking it to water waste. Regular faucets use 3-5 gallons per minute, so thawing out that chicken breast can drain a tank fast.
-More money for giblets. You can save about $25 per year on your water bill by adopting this tip.
-Getting a leg up on energy waste. If you normally run your frozen foods under hot water, you'll save a little power and money on water heating by sticking them in the fridge or immersing them in H2O instead.

Wanna Try?
Three options: 1) Stick food in the fridge the night before (sometimes longer for meat - about a day for every 5 pounds); 2) immerse it in water (in the sink or a bowl) for about an hour; or 3) get acquainted with the defrost feature on your microwave.

new brunswickers LED-ing by example

Almost 50 New Brunswick communities enthusiastically signed up for discounted seasonal LEDs through Lights Across the Province / La Province s'illumine.

1,989 strings of LEDs (69,615 individual lights) were distributed by The New Brunswick Provincial Capital Commission and its partners The Home Depot, Credit Unions of New Brunswick, the Caisses populaires acadiennes, NB Power (who handed them out), and Rogers Communications.

The commission's goal was both beautification and energy conservation.

Peter Corbyn of GreenNexxus calculates the total green house gas emission savings at about 19 tonnes, or the weight of 12 cars. Incredibly, the total energy cost will be approximately $49.60, instead of $5,300 for lighting incandescents.

Read more about the project here.

toronto to recycle plastic bags and polystyrene

Happily, the City of Toronto has added certain kinds of plastic bags and Styrofoam containers that it had always rejected before; the new additions can go to the curb beginning next Tuesday.

Plastic retail and grocery bags can go in, same goes for the hard, white foam packaging, cups, takeout containers, and egg cartons.

But packing peanuts, and anything made from hard plastic, like plates, glass, cutlery, clear egg cartons, plastic models and CD and DVD cases cannot.

Confused? You can find the new rules at www.toronto.ca

the $4 trillion question


Today in Metro, David Suzuki and Dr. Faisal Moola explain why the money being handed out to failing companies should be put toward saving the planet instead.

Just think what you could do with $4.1 trillion!

That’s how much the U.S. and 17 Western European countries are spending to bail out financial institutions involved in an economic crisis that began in the U.S. and soon reverberated around the world. (The final amount will likely be a lot more. It’s difficult to fathom such a large number, but consider that one trillion seconds is about 32,000 years!) To top it off, most of the details are secret; we don’t really know what the money is being used for — although it probably hasn’t stopped your retirement savings funds from plummeting.

The effect on people in developing nations is even worse. Most of them didn’t have savings to begin with, and now the economic crisis, coupled with the effects of the climate crisis — including drought and food shortages — is causing more of our human family to suffer from extreme poverty and joblessness.


Read more...

give a goat this year

We have a little contest running round here whereby each time someone says the word "christmas" they put $1 in a pot.

So far, we've said it enough to buy a goat from Oxfam, which will be purchased in the region where it is needed. Talk about a real gift this Chr...er, yuletide. We're saving for a donkey ;)

smart cookies say, why buy new?

When you can barter, trade or get it free! Smart Cookies - a group of women who formed a money group and now have a show on the W Network - offer up fabulous ways to live without sacrifice in today's Metro.

Tips on bartering your skills and scouring craiglists for swaps are in here, so practice the three Rs and read on...