Do-Good Geeks

Free Geek Vancouver, an organization that refurbishes and dismantles unwanted computer equipment, has become an “e-Steward.” That means if you give your old laptop to these geeks, it won’t be dumped in China, where e-waste is causing untold environmental and health problems. The e-Stewards Initiative is a new certification program that forbids the dumping of toxic e-waste in developing countries, local landfills, and incinerators, as well as the use of prison labour. freegeekvancouver.org ; e-stewards.org

Access Natural Healing, an Eastside walk-in homeopathic clinic, is offering a homeopathic immunization program for children and travellers—the only program of its kind in the province. And if needles give you the heebie jeebies, take heart: these non-toxic vaccinations are administered orally. 101-1416 Commercial Dr., accessnaturalhealing.com

The Gabriola Green Bikes Project (GGBP) aims to put a free bicycle under the bum of every Gabriolan or visitor who wants to use one for an hour, an afternoon, or a weekend. GGBP is modelled after other public bicycle initiatives around North America. The goal is to have 100 bicycles distributed all around the island. They’ll be painted bright green—tires, handlebars and all. gabriolagreenbikes.blogspot.com

RDC Fine Homes has been nominated for two Georgie Awards. A Whistler company known for its rammed earth houses and green building practices, RDC is up for Best Renovation under $100k and Best Renovation $500k–$750k. Last year, the company won Best Renovation over $650k and Best Residential Landscape Renovation. The Canadian Home Builders’ Association of B.C.’s annual Georgie Awards celebrate excellence in homebuilding. rdcfinehomes.com

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Publisher’s Note continued...

Ben Banky Will Be Missed

One of the smartest, jolliest, saltiest, most well-intended people I know was Ben Banky, owner of TallGrass Distribution in Vancouver and recently elected board member of the Canadian Health Food Association. The details of Ben’s death at age 40 last month are searchable on the Internet, but aside from the facts, the circumstances still leave us in awe of what is sometimes called the “great mystery.”

Briefly, a holiday party, which is the essence of gratitude and cheer, became a backdrop for an act that cries out in despair and desperation… a former employee shoots Ben to death and, in doing so, continues what surely is his own private hell.

What came to mind was the senseless shooting of ex-Beatle John Lennon, and that same pang of losing a man who had so much more to contribute to the betterment of our world. (Ben would have liked that I put him in such high company and probably would have given a hearty laugh.)

Our thoughts go to Linda, his wife, Matt, his business partner, and all others who are mourning the loss of Ben and who will feel his absence in the advent of this new year.

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photos:

baby: Meredith, one of the first.

man: Ben Banky

house: One of RDC’s many fine homes.

 

Thanks to Visionary Denis Lang (profiled in August), champion of electric cars, the vehicles can now drive on the streets of Port Coquitlam and Burnaby. Vancouver amended its traffic bylaws in October to allow cars on roads with posted speed limits of 50km/hr, with PoCo and Burnaby quickly following suit. langmotors.ca

Dr. Pushpa Chandra (profiled in March), the naturopath who ran the Everest
Marathon last year to raise money to send girls in Nepal to school, will be the first woman to race the Antarctic 100K. On Dec. 15 Pushpa will run 18–20 hours straight across the interior of Antarctica. drpushpa.com

Romi Chandra (profiled in February; pictured below left), no relation to Pushpa, has received a City of Vancouver 2008 Cultural Harmony Award. Romi was honoured for his work around anti-discrimination, homophobia, racism, social justice, and equality issues. vancouver.ca/multiculturalism/culturalharmony

Romi’s fiancé, Spencer Herber (profiled in February), has become the youngest MLA in the B.C. legislature. Spencer, 27, a Vancouver Parks Board commissioner, took the Vancouver-Burrard seat for the NDP in the provincial by-elections in October. bcndp.ca

Klaus Ferlow (profiled in November ’07) has been awarded an Honorary Master Herbalist Diploma by Burnaby’s Dominion Herbal College. Klaus is being recognized for his lifetime dedication to the cause of herbal medicine. ferlowbotanicals.com, dominionherbal.com

Nelson, B.C. has become Canada’s third GE- (genetically engineered-) free zone. That means farmers in the Nelson area can continue to grow crops and save seed without fear of GE cross-contamination. Powell River went GE-free in 2004, followed by Salt Spring Island in 2005 Take that, Monsanto! gefreebc.org

Green web companies happyfrog and 3rd Whale have joined eco-forces. Going forward as 3rd Whale, the company will combine happyfrog’s directory of values-aligned businesses with 3rd Whale’s mobile phone application, Luna. By using the company’s next generation mobile and web tools, users can add business reviews, blog posts, etc. to help others reduce their eco-footprint. 3rdwhale.com

Emily Jubenvill, a finalist in 3rd Whale’s Greenest Person on the Planet contest, has led a “PodMob” at sushi restaurants in the West End. The PodMob (an initiative to encourage businesses to be sustainable) pledged to bring customers to the eatery that committed the highest percentage of one day’s sales to going green. Sushi Bento Express, 1258 Robson St., took the top spot at 31 per cent. 3rdwhale.com

We Take Issue
Bill C-51 is back. Health Minister Tony Clement plans to reintroduce the controversial legislation tightening labelling and licensing requirements for makers of natural health products, and giving Health Canada the power to seize the property of professionals in the industry without permission from the courts. Lawyer Shawn Buckley’s Natural Health Products Protection Association is fighting against said legislation and seeks three million signatures in support of its Charter of Health Freedom. At press time, 5,889 had been collected. To read the charter or download a petition, visit charterofhealthfreedom.org.

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Flashes from Vancouver's Green Scene

Matt Hill and Stephanie Tait, the two Vancouverites running their buns off to save the planet, left Canada to embark on the U.S. leg of their journey last month. Matt and Steph, featured on the cover of April’s SharedVISION , hit the pavement five months ago and have since pounded their way through a collective 160 marathons through nine provinces to spread the word about their Run for One Planet Campaign. Advocating the idea of small steps to lessen our impact on the environment, Matt and Steph are “connecting with the pavement in order to connect with the people.” runforoneplanet.com

In other “incredible journey” news, a 20-something B.C. couple is driven to break a record—literally. Cloe Whittaker and Tyson Jerry set off from Victoria last month in a van powered by used cooking oil on a 45,000-km road trip throughout Canada and the U.S. The goal is to make it into the record books for making the longest journey by car using alternative fuel. Follow their progress at driventosustain.com.

Owners of electric cars can now drive their Earth-friendly autos on city streets. Vancouver city council voted last month to amend traffic by-laws to allow the cars to travel on roads with speed limits of up to 50 km/h. Previously, electric cars were permitted only on streets with a maximum speed limit of 40 km/h. Council also passed green building codes stating new garages must be built with plug-ins for electric cars. vancouver.ca

If China can do it, so can we—ban plastic bags, that is. Vancouver city council passed a motion last month to ask city staff to look into the feasibility of banning disposable plastic shopping bags. The city will also ask the province to consider passing a provincial ban.
Roughly 1.5 billion plastic bags are put into circulation every year in B.C. metrovancouver.org

Meanwhile, a Vancouver bakery has put its own ban on plastic bags. European Breads Bakery, whose Georgian baguettes and Ukrainian loaves, grace groceries and restaurants all over the Lower Mainland, is the first bakery in Canada to package its breads in biodegradable bags. Otari Kobalia, the bakery’s owner, says even though eco-friendly bags cost more, it’s an “investment to sustain the environment.” europeanbreads.com

The self-proclaimed Green Team is running a Litterless Lunch campaign to encourage moms and dads to pack eco-conscious lunches (by reducing the use of plastic, for instance) for their children. The Green Team is also involved with the Sustainable Schools program (cyh.dreamhosters.com/?page_id=4 ) and Destination Conservation (dcplanet.ca). To join the Green Team, e-mail Jessie at jessierain@shaw.ca.

Forget Facebook. The cool kids are moving over to EcoBuddies, a Vancouver-based children’s social networking site. Kids log in as hamsters, called “Buddies,” and play games and interact with friends while learning about recycling, renewable energy, and other mainstays of green living. To sign your kids up, visit ecobuddies.com.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) schools have formed a national association to advocate for TCM education and research. The Canadian Association of TCM & Acupuncture Colleges, the first of its kind in Canada, will work to develop national standards to ensure the quality of TCM education in colleges across the country.

Is the clutter in your house cluttering your mind? If so, enter Solutions Organizing’s contest to win a makeover for one room in your home. Deadline for entries is Nov. 15. For entry form and info, visit solutionsorganizing.com .

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Vote Green

Adriane Carr, the Green Party of Canada’s deputy leader, made an appearance at last month’s Frogfile Office Essentials Green Business Expo. The Greens are running Adriane in the federal election (Vancouver Centre riding) Oct. 14. If you support better transit (and oppose the Gateway highway expansion project), affordable housing for the poor, and caps on carbon emissions for industry, vote for Adriane. Meanwhile, Frogfile, Canada’s only green office supply company, reported a 400 per cent increase in sales over the last year. Who says green isn’t hot? votecarr.ca , frogfile.com

We’re glad you agree that Andrea Reimer, our September cover profile, would make a great Vancouver city counsellor. Andrea handily won a slot on the Vision Vancouver slate for the Nov. 15 municipal election. As one reader points out, she brings what’s desperately needed to city hall. See page 5 for Readers’ Letters. andreareimer.ca

Finally, there’s something worthwhile to watch on the boob tube, er, internet. Sustainability Television (STV), an environmental media portal designed in Vancouver, launches sustainabilitytelevision.com this month. STV broadcasts video and print stories about green products and ecological ideas, turning sustainability theory into reality. Got something to contribute? Send your videos, images, and stories to info@sustainabilitytelevision.com.

Fifty low-income families in the Lower Mainland are eating local, healthy food thanks to the B.C. Farmers’ Markets Nutrition and Coupon Project. Now in its second year, the project distributes coupons to low-income families to redeem at farmers’ markets across Metro Vancouver and teaches them the skills needed to prepare healthy meals. The province has provided $750,000 to the B.C. Association of Farmers’ Markets to expand the Nutrition and Coupon Project. bcfarmersmarket.org

The habitat of the mountain caribou is threatened by snowmobiling, says ForestEthics, a non-profit environmental group. Apparently the caribou, a species that’s already endangered courtesy of industrial logging, doesn’t like the noise of Ski-Doos and is being driven out of its habitat. To prevent these critters from being forcibly evicted from their forest homes, write a letter to the B.C. government and voice your concern. Find the details at forestethics.org .

A green-energy guru from Hawaii has taken her show on the road, beginning in Vancouver. Laurel White, a Maui health coach and devoted greenie, is driving her “EcoVan” (a truck made of recycled boat parts and fitted with a hydrogen booster) across North America to educate people on clean/renewable energy solutions. Check Laurel’s progress, or make a donation to the project, at ecovan.org .

We’ve written before about Metro Vancouver’s push to wean us off bottled water, but last month they launched the campaign in earnest. Metro Van is asking us to make a pledge to drink tap water instead of buying single-use bottles of H2O. Metro Vancouver tests our water—rainwater collected in three protected and restricted-access mountain watersheds— more than 25,000 times a year. What’s more, the $600 million Seymour-Capilano water filtration plant (slated to open in 2009), which will purify water from both the Seymour and Capilano reservoirs, will use ultraviolet light to disinfect water and eliminate potential pathogens and bacteria. metrovancouver.org/region/tapwater

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Vancouver’s Emily Jubenvill just might be the greenest person in the world. Emily, 22, is the Canadian winner of the Greenest Person on the Planet contest, launched on Earth Day by SFU prof Boyd Cohen. A self-professed guerrilla gardener, Emily grows her own food, composts the scraps, makes her own cleaners, walks or bikes to her job at a bioenergy company, and coordinates a community garden and a biodiesel co-op. The worldwide winner of the contest will be announced Sept. 16. A pod of beluga whales will be adopted in their name. 3rdwhale.com

David Diamond, artistic director and co-founder of Headlines Theatre (and a SharedVISION Visionary in January), has been awarded the Distinguished Book Award for his book Theatre For Living: The Art and Science of Community-based Dialogue. In it, David documents his unique approach to theatre and how it can be used to effect change on a grassroots level. The award was presented by the American Alliance for Theatre and Education. headlinestheatre.com , aate.com

We know and love YouTube, but Go Green Tube? Check it out: it’s just like YouTube, but instead of inexplicably popular homemade music vids like “Chocolate Rain,” you’ll see the latest and greatest uploads with a green bent. Highlights include a pre-teen Severn Cullis-Suzuki delivering an impassioned speech at the UN Earth Summit in 1992. What’s more, the site has partnered with carbonfund.org to offset one pound of CO2 for every video watched. gogreentube.com

Kelowna, well known for its wineries and vacation resorts, is installing solar-powered LED lights at city hall and in several public parks and bus stations. Kelowna receives more than 2,000 hours of sunshine a year, making it an ideal fit for the lighting system, which was developed by B.C.’s Carmanah Technologies. The LEDs (light emitting diodes) have a lifespan of 10 years. kelowna.ca , carmanah.com

Google Maps have long helped us get from point A to point B in our cars, and now they’re helping us hoof it, too. Google Maps added a “Get Directions” option for pedestrians in July, which lays out the shortest and flattest routes to your favourite destinations. The program is still in the beta stage, so be prepared to receive messages like, “This route may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths.” google.ca/maps

“Continuing education” usually brings to mind things like foreign language courses and learning to use Photoshop. Until now. Next month, Vancouver School Board Continuing Education will launch a Spirituality Program, aimed at introducing students to their “higher selves.” Courses include “In the Dervish Tekke: Inside a Sufi Learning Community,” “Wisdom of Kabbalah,” “Christian Spirituality and Mysticism,” and “A Course in Miracles.” For more info, schedules, and fees, visit continuinged.ca.

Brock Tully, author, speaker, and co-founder of the non-profit organization KindActs (and featured in SV in February 2000), is hopping on his bike this month for a nine-month, 18,000-km tour around southern B.C. and the western United States—all in the name of spreading goodwill. Brock, who also cycled for kindness back in 2000, will be speaking at schools, colleges, clubs, city halls, etc., in an effort to promote kindness as a powerful tool for change. See him off Sept. 8 at the West End Community Centre, 870 Denman St., time TBA. brocktully.com , kindacts.net

Rachel McAdams is so much more than just a pretty face. The Ontario-born star of Mean Girls and The Notebook is also a dedicated greenie. Check out her website-slash-blog, which she created with two of her buds, called “Green Is Sexy.” On it, you’ll find sexy tips for living greener, sexy sustainability projects, and other sexy folks with a passion for the planet. Hot stuff! greenissexy.org

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Andrea Reimer, executive director of the Wilderness Committee (and a SharedVISION Visionary last December), is seeking a Vision Vancouver nomination for city council. The former Green Party school trustee has some “Big Ideas” for Vancouver: to make it the “Greenest City on Earth,” a “City of Compassion and Opportunity,” and a “City of Strong Communities.” Visit Andrea’s recently launched campaign website at andreareimer.ca .

The Camp Moomba Yogathon & Blissfest raised more than $100,000 to send children with HIV/AIDS to summer camp. The July 12 event, held on a gorgeous, sunny day at UBC’s Thunderbird Stadium, attracted 1,400 people. Participants in the yogathon hit their mats to do 108 minutes of sun salutations, forward folds, and downward facing dogs for a noble cause. campmoombayogathon.com

Port Coquitlam residents are kicking their banana peels and eggshells to the curb—at the request of the city. PoCo became the first city in Metro Vancouver to allow kitchen scraps in its curbside green waste collection program, in an attempt to divert organic waste from landfills. The waste is then composted or turned into energy. city.port-coquitlam.bc.ca

The NDP wants the Campbell government to axe the gas tax. If you’re one of the, oh, 60 or so per cent of British Columbians who agree, a petition awaits your e-signature at letsaxethetax.bcndp.ca . NDP leader Carole James says the tax, implemented July 1, puts the burden on ordinary people while letting big polluters off the hook.

Metro Vancouver says it’s time to wean ourselves off the bottle—the disposable plastic water bottle, that is. “Our water is the best in North America and all you have to do is turn on the tap,” says Metro Vancouver director Tim Stevenson. A 20 per cent reduction of bottled water purchases by 2010 is one of the targets of the city’s new Sustainability Framework. Read all about the framework, which outlines the city’s vision and implementation of everything from reducing garbage to increasing actively farmed land, at metrovancouver.org .

Packing the kids off to camp is a longstanding (and for some parents, much-anticipated) summer tradition. But if you want your brood to learn more than just how to make a lanyard, send them to a FUN camp. FUN (Friends Uniting for Nature) Camps is a series of week-long environmental leadership day camps for kids ages 11 to 15. Happy-camper activities include learning how to fix a bike, building a solar-powered car, and planting an herb garden. Cost: $185/week (scholarships available); at UBC’s Point Grey Campus, till month’s end. funcamps.ca

The Co-operative Auto Network is adding 20 low-emission cars to its car-sharing organization, thanks to Metro Vancouver. Replacing 35 existing city-owned vehicles, the CAN cars will be used by city employees for work-related travel needs during business hours. On evenings and weekends, the cars will be made available to CAN members. More than 4,000 drivers are part of the B.C.-based CAN network. cooperativeauto.net

Four B.C. teens have been honoured with Youth in Motion’s Top 20 Under 20 awards. Each year YIM, a not-for-profit focusing on developing life skills of young people, recognizes outstanding youth across Canada in the areas of science, volunteerism, social justice, and more. Congratulations to Natalya Alonso, 17, of Salt Spring Island; and Cassandra Fong, Sean Husband, and Jacqueline Ng, all 17, from Vancouver. They’ll attend a week-long conference in Toronto, receive a $2,000 bursary, and—new this year—have the honour of being mentored by Order of Canada recipients. youth-in-motion.ca

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Spencer Herbert will seek the NDP nomination for the new riding of Vancouver–West End in the next provincial election. Spencer, a Parks Board commissioner (and a SharedVISION Visionary in February), has gained quite the reputation for speaking out on issues including the erosion of green space, protection of the environment, and the importance of community centres. Among his top priorities: housing and homelessness, and climate change and the environment. vancouver.ca/parks/board/commissioners.htm

New amendments made last month to Bill C-51 state that natural health products (NHPs) will not be lumped in with pharmaceutical drugs, thanks to a vigorous campaign launched by the NHP industry. Before the new amendments, Bill C-51, introduced in April, would have allowed the federal government to designate any herbal or homeopathic remedy as a prescription drug. As we go to press, the bill is still being debated in Second Reading in the House of Commons. Stay tuned.

If you haven’t already spent your $100 carbon tax rebate on a tank of gas, consider using it to reduce your dependence on fossil fuels. Greenyourcampbellcash.ca, a new website launched by The Tyee (thetyee.ca), showcases climate action projects across the province that will happily divest you of those 100 smackers. You can also vote for your favourite project, or submit your own by July 15.

A group of buddies in Victoria is pooling its carbon tax rebates. Money raised will go to “random acts of rebate” in the community, including installing clotheslines, distributing energy-efficient light bulbs, and funding car-share co-op memberships and organic food hampers for families in need. Join the Great Rebate Ecochallenge at thegreatrebateecochallenge.blogspot.com.

A grocery store in the tiny village of Sointula, on Malcolm Island, has kiboshed plastic bags. The Sointula Co-operative Store Association stopped providing the landfill-cloggers to customers June 1. Sointula, home to fewer than 1,000 people, has a long history of independent thought, an emphasis on self-reliance, and a strong sense of community. The Sointula Co-op is the oldest operating co-operative in Canada; it turns 100 next year. island.net/~sointula In its annual Profit 100 ranking, Profit magazine has named Sequel Naturals as the country’s eighth most successful growth company for this year. Sequel, which started out in a North Vancouver basement in 2001, has grown by 3,729 per cent (yep, the comma is where it should be) over the past five years. sequelnaturals.com; profit100.com

A new online community is spreading the word on what really works in natural medicine. Mamaherb.com allows you to post your experiences with natural treatments, further your knowledge about them, and give advice to other members seeking help. Hot tip: Got parasites in your gut? Take powdered papaya seeds! Brown is the new green—at least when it comes to your lawn. The City’s lawn-sprinkling regulations kicked in June 1, which means you can only water your grass from 4 am to 9 am, and from 7 pm to 10 pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays (even-numbered addresses) and Thursdays and Sundays (odd-numbered addresses). Find water-saving tips at metrovancouver.org or call 604-432-6200.

Itching to start a community garden? Then grab a copy of the Growing Gardens manual and get planting. Created by UBC Urban Geography students in co-operation with Society Promoting Environmental Conservation (SPEC) and the City, the manual contains everything you need to know about starting a neighbourhood patch of green. The City hopes to see more than 2,000 community gardens created by 2010 (oh, wait—hasn’t that number been copyrighted? We could be in trouble…). Get a copy at SPEC (2150 Maple St.), the library, or download from spec.bc.ca.

West Vancouver’s Park Royal Shopping Centre has made a pledge to go green. The centre, which houses Whole Foods Market, is promoting initiatives including consumer education on sustainability through a speaker series, the replacement of conventional light bulbs with LEDs, and water and waste reduction plans. sustainableparkroyal.com

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News from Vancouver's Green Scene

Allan Christian, creator and owner of Aphrodite’s Organic Café and Pie Shop, died April 29 after a lengthy battle with cancer. Allan will be remembered for his compassion, generosity, entrepreneurial spirit—and of course his delectable pies. If you’d like to make a donation to charity in Allan’s memory, his favourite organizations were The Alta Lake School (whistlerwaldorf.com), The Gallery Singers (gallerysingers.ca), and Glen Valley Organic Farm (gvofc.org).

June is Bike Month. That means you and your two-wheeler can partake in more than 50 fabulous events throughout the Lower Mainland. Experience the Sapperton Street Festival, the Car-Free Festivals (now in six neighbourhoods including Commercial Drive, Kitsilano, and the West End), giant Critical Mass group rides, and even—who knew bikes were into film?—a Bike Movie Night. best.bc.ca

A private member’s bill calling for the mandatory labelling of genetically engineered foods was defeated last month in the House of Commons by a vote of 101 to 156. The defeat of Bill C-517 effectively protects the economic interests of GE companies like Monsanto over the rights of Canadians who want to know what’s in their food. “This vote ignores public opinion polls, which have consistently shown between 80 and 95 per cent of Canadians want mandatory labelling of GE foods,” says Josh Brandon, agriculture campaigner with Greenpeace.

We’ve always known that Vancouver is a walker’s paradise—but now it’s official. Our fair city has been named the 2008 Best Walking City in Canada by the Canadian Federation of Podiatric Medicine because of, among other things, its natural beauty, extensive parks, and the City’s initiatives to widen sidewalks and create neighbourhood traffic calming in an effort to coax people out of their cars. Nanaimo came in third, after Fredericton. podiatryinfocanada.ca

World Oceans Day is June 8, and Living Oceans Society, Canada’s biggest marine environmental organization, asks you to do your part to save the seas. Go to PNCIMAwatch.ca and add your name to the declaration urging the Canadian government to provide funding and support for a marine planning process before we exhaust our oceans health (get your name in before June 8). To make buying sustainable seafood easy, download a SeaChoice wallet card at seachoice.org. Info: livingoceans.org

Health Action Network Society has been honoured by the Burnaby Now as the Best Community Services Organization for 2008. HANS, a non-profit representing consumer interests in the area of natural health, is one of Canada’s longest-running consumer health networks. The society educates consumers through public events and through its Health Action magazine and HANS e-News. hans.org

Cellphone need recharging? Take it for a power walk! Reseachers at SFU have developed a device that converts energy generated from walking into electrical energy you can use to juice your gadgets. Called a biomechanical energy harvester, the knee-mounted generator can potentially be used to power medical devices such as pacemakers and prosthetic limbs. Word has it a prototype may be available within 14 months. sfu.ca (search biomechanical energy harvester)

COPE park commissioner Spencer Herbert wants fallen trees made into art and furniture—not firewood. “Rather than seeing beautiful wood go up in smoke where it produces climate-damaging greenhouse gases, I believe we’ll instead see an increase in wonderful one-of-a-kind art pieces,” he says. Herbert is asking Park Board staff to develop a website that lets woodworkers find out how to access wood from fallen trees. Every year 1,100 diseased and dead trees fall or are removed from Vancouver boulevards and parks. cope.bc.ca

If eco-guilt has you hoarding old CDs, DVDs, and broken appliances because you think they can’t be recycled, Happy Stan will happily take them off your hands. In fact, Happy Stan’s Recycling Services has an extensive list of stuff they accept, including car batteries and computer mice. To peruse the entire list, visit happystan.com.

Street gardens are hot—and gorgeous to boot, so why not transform that boring old boulevard or traffic circle into a venue bursting with flowers? Metro Vancouver even gives you its blessing to plant on its property. If it sounds too good to be true, check out city.vancouver.bc.ca/greenstreets , then grab that trowel.

Unplug your kids from their iPods and computers this summer by signing them up for Catching the Spirit. A summer program run by youth, for youth, Catching the Spirit invites 12- to 18-year-olds to get involved, make friends, and have a blast while exploring and caring for Metro Vancouver Regional Parks in their community. They can sign up as either participants or peer leaders. Cost: free! Registration deadline: June 13. Details: catchingthespirit.com

Step aside, eBay: EcoSeek is here to give you a sustainable run for your moolah. EcoSeek’s auctions not only cater exclusively to green products; the organization donates a portion of listing fees to the charity of your choice (selectable when creating an auction) and $1 to the charity of the buyers’ choice each time they complete a sale. ecoseek.net/auctions

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Correction: Mabu cloths (EnVision, May, pg. 6) are not available at Wrasma Marketing, but through savings-naturally.com.

 

Philanthropist Carol Newell will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 11th Annual PEAK Awards Gala May 13. Carol, heiress to the Newell Rubbermaid fortune and founder of Endswell Foundation and Renewal Partners (and SharedVISION’s February cover girl!), has given tens of millions of dollars to companies committed to social justice and environmental sustainability. womeninfinance.ca; endswell.org; renewalpartners.com

Dag Falck, organic program manager at Nature’s Path Foods, received the Canadian Health Food Association’s Organics Achievement Award last month. Nature’s Path, based in B.C., is North America’s largest organic breakfast cereals manufacturer. Dag and other luminaries in the Canadian natural health and organic industry were honoured last month by the CHFA for their outstanding contributions to the sector. chfa.ca; naturespath.com

Vancity wants your business to go green—and will help you get there. Canada’s biggest credit union became the first bank in North America to go carbon neutral last month thanks to a rigorous emissions-reduction program. Now, Vancity has announced it will pay for 25 small- to medium-sized businesses to participate in Ecotrust Canada’s Climate Smart Workgroups, launched last year in partnership with the David Suzuki Foundation and the Pembina Institute, to help organizations reduce their CO2 emissions. ecotrustcan.org; vancity.ca

Students at Vancouver’s York House School took top honours in the Rogers Phones-for-Food High School Challenge last month. York House beat out four other schools to collect the most old cellphones for recycling—and thus diverting them from the landfill. Proceeds from sales to the remanufacturing industry go to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society. As for the kids, they were awarded $3,000 for their graduating class’s commencement activities. rogers.ca; think-food.com

Metro Vancouver is eager to hear your trash talk. The City is seeking input on two waste management plans, one for the region’s yearly 3.6 million tonnes of solid waste, and the other for the 440 billion litres of sewage we produce per annum. Fire off your comments by May 23 to icentre@metrovancouver.org, or post to Metro Vancouver, Public Involvement Division, 4330 Kingsway, Burnaby, B.C., V5H 4G8. metrovancouver.org

Help on greening your home is now just a click away, thanks to the B.C. Real Estate Association. The organization has launched its online Green Tool Kit to educate both consumers and real estate professionals on the benefits of greener homes. The site also provides suggestions for homeowners on how to make sustainable renovations, and offers links to juicy rebates and incentives. greentoolkit.ca

Call the landlord! Happy Building, a new business in town, aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in apartment buildings by giving owners greater control over energy consumption. Happy Building’s wireless thermostat, designed to heat parts of a building based on occupancy instead of heating the whole building at once, eliminates unnecessary energy use, the company claims, by 30 to 40 per cent. happybuilding.com 

We’ve ditched plastic bags in favour of more sustainable options, yet those spontaneous stops at the supermarket ensure a few still creep into our homes. You can’t relegate them to the Blue Box, but you can take them to London Drugs and other stores for recycling. To find a participating retailer near you, visit myplasticbags.ca (click on “Stores Collecting Bags”).

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Oprah has turned the world onto Eckhart Tolle, the Vancouver-based author and spiritual teacher. Oprah, always the star-maker, picked Eckhart’s latest book, A New Earth, for her book club; Tolle has also joined her for a free 10-week internet seminar. In the three years since A New Earth came out it has sold a half-million copies. Now with the “Power of Oprah,” Penguin, the publisher, is printing a million copies a week to meet demand. eckharttolle.com

Women with breast cancer can now navigate their way through the disease on the internet. Created by the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (BC/Yukon Region), the new website offers an interactive online navigation map that allows women to equip themselves, in the privacy of their own homes, with the tools to make informed decisions about how to proceed through their journey with breast cancer. Each stage is accompanied by short videos of survivors talking about their experiences and offering advice. breastcancernavigationmap.com

Betty Krawczyk has been named “one of the 150 people who have shaped B.C.’s story” by Victoria’s Royal B.C. Museum. Krawczyk, the 79-year-old environmental crusader who did 10 months’ hard time for protesting highway construction on West Van’s Eagleridge Bluffs, is also running for mayor of Vancouver under the Work Less Party banner. bettysearlyedition.blogspot.com

Vancouver Film Studios is the first facility of its kind in Canada to go carbon neutral. After a year of planning and preparation, VFS now boasts, among other initiatives, energy-efficient light replacement programs for offices, reduced temperatures in vacant stages, LCD screens (in place of plasma screens), and a composting program for kitchen scraps. To achieve carbon neutral status, VFS corporate practices underwent rigorous analysis by Go Neutral Now Consulting. vancouverfilmstudios.com; goneutralnow.com

Derek Gent is the new executive director of the Vancity Community Foundation. Gent was an investment manager at Vancity Capital for the past seven years. Before that, he was the first manager of social responsibility and community at Coast Capital Savings. Gent steps into his new role April 1.

Vancouver-based neurologist Dr. John Stewart is donating part of his pay to build healthy communities in Africa. By signing up for Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief’s Third Annual World Health Day Challenge, Dr. Stewart pledged to donate a portion of his income to support development work in rural African communities. Dr. Stewart is one of 25 doctors and health practitioners in Canada who’ve risen to the Challenge. World Health Day is April 7. cpar.ca

A new store in Kits invites you to indulge in some feel-good spending. The recently opened The Bright Side is Canada’s first “Genuine Neighbourhood Shoppe” (a store that originated in New England) and it carries exclusively the “Life is Good” brand of organic cotton clothing, sustainable housewares, non-toxic, recyclable doggie toys, and much more. Visit 3036 W. Broadway, lifeisgoodvancouver.com .

Tickets are on sale for the brand-new Pemberton (music) Festival July 25-27. Headliners include Nine Inch Nails, Jay-Z, Coldplay, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, but what we really love about this fest is its commitment to being green: cars arriving with four or more people will park for free, Pemberton Valley-grown food will be served throughout the 360-acre festival site, and a farmers’ market, where local growers can sell their goods directly to concertgoers, is in the works. pembertonfestival.com

Vancouverites yearning for simpler times and greener transportation will get the best of both worlds when they hop a streetcar to get between Granville Island and Second Avenue. As part of the preparations for the 2010 Winter Games, the City has approved the replacement of rail tracks between Granville Island and the future Olympic Village SkyTrain station. The City is also hoping to develop a Downtown Streetcar Demonstration Project, using modern streetcar equipment, for the Games. vancouver.ca/streetcar

Want to be Power Smart? Then let BC Hydro light the way towards cutting energy use in your home. Till April 30, Hydro is offering in-store discounts on compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) and ENERGY STAR light fixtures. To find participating retailers, see bchydro.com/powersmart/cfl/cfl8605.html .

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