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Sophia Vartanian - Modern Farmer magazine

A New Magazine For Modern Farmer Types

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This new international magazine with a Vancouver connection is for anyone interested in where their food comes from.

Sophia Vartanian - Modern Farmer magazine

 

NEW NOW NEXT | While magazine publishers everywhere are getting out of print, Vancouver billionaire philanthropist Frank Guistra is jumping in. Last month, Modern Farmer, a new quarterly magazine on farming, which comes in both print and digital versions, launched in the U.S. with Guistra’s name listed prominently on the masthead as equity partner. Guistra is betting on the public growing ever more inquisitive about where their food comes from, how it’s produced, and how they can participate in the modern farmer movement. And he is counting on the talent and international connections of editor-in-chief Ann Marie Gardner, who made a name for herself as a writer and producer at Monocle and New York Times T: Travel, two stylish magazines known for nailing the zeitgeist. Read more

H&M’s New Fashion Recycling Program

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First is was M&S. Now it’s H&M. Major retailers are helping to make recycling the next big thing in fashion.

Joanna Lumley Goes Shwopping

 

PERK ALERT | Shopping + Swapping = Shwopping. Last spring, major British retailer Marks & Spencer joined forces with Oxfam to offer their clientele a place to drop off old clothing inside M&S stores—and they coined the term “shwopping” to describe the idea of giving away a piece of used clothing whenever you buy a new one.

Approximately 500,000 tonnes of clothing winds up in landfills every year, and M&S is hoping to help reduce this amount by donating the worn clothing they receive to Oxfam so the charity can reuse, recycle or resell it.

This winter, H&M began a similar initiative, only their recycling program offers participants a monetary incentive. Here’s how it works: Read more

The Awesome Baggu

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Why I’m replacing my cache of nonwoven polypropylene shopping bags with ripstop models from Baggu.
  Baggu Bags

 

BUY RIGHT | It was cleanup month around here so I tackled the buildup of shopping bags that had threatened to devour my closet. I don’t know how it happened, but over the past two years I’d managed to accumulate around 50 reusable polyester and nonwoven polypropylene “billboard shoppers” (so called because they often display a company logo) in every size imaginable. These shoppers are awkward and bulky even when folded and gang-bagged, and they easily turn into an unwieldy space-stealing mess when stashed in the back of a car or cupboard.

To add insult to injury, nonwoven polypropylene bags are no better for the environment than those disposable plastic bags they’ve come to replace. Read more

Using Products at 1/2 Strength Makes Sense

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Using everyday products at 1/2 strength is often more than enough.

 

WASTE NOT | It all started with my first highlights. My stylist swung me around to the mirror for the reveal, and I basked in the glow of my glorious, glittering bangs, confident I would gleam forever in a radiant halo. Then he pulled me back to earth with a thump: “You’re going to have to stop washing your hair so much.” My wise stylist explained that daily washing strips the hair of colour and leaves it dull and dry.

I’d spent big bucks on my hair and was determined to protect my investment, so I cut down on the number of times I washed, and I revisited everything I thought I knew about shampoo. Instead of Shampoo, Rinse, Repeat, it became Shampoo, Rinse for me, all the way. Then one day it occurred to me—not only was my hair looking just as good or better, my shampoo budget had been cut in half. Read more

Hydrotherapy

Spa Like A Finn At Scandinave In Whistler

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The eco-conscious Scandinave Spa at Whistler focuses on traditional treatments instead of gimmicks—and it costs less, too.

HydrotherapyBACK TO BASICS | Say goodbye to spa therapies that only go skin deep. Thermo- therapy and hydrotherapy, practised throughout Europe, are showing up across the country. These therapies use extreme heat and profuse sweating to flush out deeply lodged toxins, relax muscles and improve heart health. Read more

A No-Fail Way To Get Kids To Turn Off Lights

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There is a NO-FAIL way to get your kids (or anyone else in your house) to douse the lights when they leave a room.

 

WASTE NOT Desperate times call for desperate measures, and the times were desperate around my house. After what seemed like eons of continual nagging by me and my husband, our children, lovely individuals all, continued to leave the lights on when they exited their rooms, or any of the other spaces in our home they frequented with regularity.

“Turn off the light when you leave a room” is one of our basic house rules, along with “Do not take hour-long showers” and “Avoid drinks in disposable containers” if at all possible. But where wasting water and steering clear of junk plastic seemed to click with my tribe, remembering to douse the lights remained an issue. Read more