Accidental ecologist Felicity Stone proves it’s not spendy being green.

Kate Moss in vingage Chloe Jeans

At Velveteen Vintage The Prices Are Right

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Until the end of February, bag vintage clothes at great prices—and do something great for entrepreneurial teens at the same time.

Kate Moss in vingage Chloe Jeans

 

Free spirits have always scoured thrift stores for distinctive apparel, but it took one in particular to make used clothing fashionable: Kate Moss. Moss, whose perfume line includes scents called Vintage and Vintage Muse, has appeared in recycled items from jeans to jackets and boots to ballgowns.

One of the newest and most economical Vancouver sources for retro and good-quality consignment clothes for men and women is Velveteen Vintage. Every item in the store is less than $20 and most are $5. Read more

Spilled Wine - Dreamstime

The Natural Way To Remove Wine Stains

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When that splash of red wine lands where it shouldn’t, this fresh, natural product will remove every trace.

Spilled Wine - Dreamstime

 

Murphy’s Law should have a corollary along the lines of, Anything that stains is more likely to spill—and that especially applies to wine. Read more

Batteries - iStock

Yes You Can! Recharge Your Alkaline Batteries

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Don’t even think about recycling: used AA and AAA disposable batteries can now be given new life.

Batteries - iStockIf you’re like me, you probably have a bunch of dead AA and AAA batteries rattling around in a drawer—possibly scattered among several drawers. You can’t throw them in the trash or even in the blue box. And even though since July 1 all household batteries (alkaline and rechargeable) can be recycled at almost 1,500 collection locations across B.C., you still have to take them there. Read more

Go Green And Go Home Awesome Salvage Sale

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At this one-day warehouse sale, architectural salvage is beautiful, sustainable and cheap.

In Vancouver recycling is part of daily life. Reusing, on the other hand, doesn’t always come so naturally, particularly when it comes to old buildings. The Vancouver Heritage Foundation is aiming to change that, pointing out that reusing an old building is a literally huge form of recycling, the greenest building materials are both renewable (like wood) and used, and old house parts are often better made and higher quality than comparable new ones. Read more

Icebreaker Bliss Hood

Icebreaker TouchLab In Vancouver

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Made from nature’s perfect fibre, Icebreaker wool clothing is so versatile and long-wearing that you don’t need to buy a lot.

Icebreaker Bliss HoodGerman designer Dieter Rams, former head designer at Braun, is known not only for the stylish yet practical appliances he conceived but also for his 10 principles of good design (Good design is innovative, makes a product useful, is aesthetic, makes a product understandable, is unobtrusive, is honest, is long-lasting, is thorough down to the last detail, is environmentally friendly and is as little design as possible).

All of these apply toNew Zealand Icebreaker clothing, now available at the company’s first Vancouver TouchLab store, which opened last week. The garments are made of an ingenious merino wool fabric that is easy care, lightweight and quick drying like synthetics but also breathable, odour resistant and biodegradable. Unlike cotton, it does not hold moisture. Read more

Easy Vegan, Simple Recipes For Healthy Eating

The Vegans Are Coming: What To Serve

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How to better serve the new wave of vegans coming soon to your table.

Easy Vegan, Simple Recipes For Healthy EatingThis year you may find more vegans among your dinner guests. Last summer the United Nations advised that diets heavy in meat and dairy products are not sustainable, and animal-based agriculture harms ecosystems even more than the use of fossil fuels.

Yikes! A lacto-ovo vegetarian all my adult life, even I find the prospect of cutting eggs and dairy as well as meat from my menu daunting. Although some recipes in the cookbooks I use regularly are vegan, most call for some kind of eggs or dairy: cheese, egg noodles, yogurt, cream. Read more

Live, Potted Christmas Tree - Clinton Hussey

Super Sources For Eco- Friendly Christmas Trees

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A symbol of life after winter, the greenest tree is real, fresh, local and even organic.

Live, Potted Christmas Tree - Clinton HusseyLast year in an effort to simplify my life, I looked into buying an artificial Christmas tree, preferably one that came predecorated and opened and shut like an umbrella: I could pop it up before Christmas, then collapse and store it till next year. Then I discovered that the whole point of a Christmas tree is to bring evergreen trees or branches indoors as reminder that winter will eventually end and the world will turn green again.

Real Christmas trees are green in more than colour as they are a renewable crop and often grown on land unsuitable for growing much else. And like any crop, there are different shades of green.

3 Ways To Get A Real Green Christmas Tree Read more

Gift-Wrap That’s Easy, Quick And Reusable

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Forget gift paper and ribbon, traditional Japanese wrapping cloth is easy, quick and reusable.

WASTE NOT | The first Christmas morning my husband spent with my family was a culture shock. Before we opened our presents, my mother handed each of us a knife, which we used to carefully slit the adhesive tape instead of ripping the paper off in the mad frenzy my husband was used to. When all the presents had been opened, my mother collected and folded the paper to save until the following year. We would no more have thought of throwing it out than tossing the Christmas ornaments after dismantling the tree. Read more

Beautiful, Rich Compost

Nutrient-Rich Compost Is Free & Simple To Make

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Nutrient-rich compost is easy to make at home, plus it’s absolutely free.

Beautiful, Rich CompostIn the fall, I envy people who have red, gold and brown leaves carpeting their yards. Seeing them bagged at the curb makes me even more frustrated. With mainly conifers in my garden, I would love a convenient source of leaves to use as weed-suppressing mulch. Dried leaves are also wonderful for composting.

The best deal on earth, literally, may be compost. You throw in garbage and get back rich, black humus to use in the garden. And it’s not just for country folk and gardening fanatics anymore. A friend of mine just bought a compost bin for the roof deck of her downtown penthouse. Read more

Clothes line with colourful pegs

Why You Need A Clothesline In Your Life

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Save your clothes, cash and the environment with an indoor or outdoor clothesline.

Clothes line with colourful pegsWhat is it with us? We can’t wait to air our dirty laundry in public but scorn hanging clean laundry outdoors to dry. Years ago I lived in the heart of Montreal’s Latin Quarter yet had a clothesline running from my back balcony to a post on the lane—and so did everyone else. Here in Vancouver, I can’t remember the last time I saw laundry flapping in the wind. A 2007 StatsCan Environment Survey shows the percentage of B.C. residents drying clothes on a line or rack at just 54 percent; in P.E.I. it was 75 percent. Read more