i’m grabbing this info from a great canadian magazine-now, don’t you laugh-Chill, from the beer store. yes. the beer store magazine has some simple and helpful tips on taking care of our little globe. there are a whole 4 pages worth so i’m going to post in installments so as not to overwhelm. here’re today’s room:

in the bathroom:

-limit shower time to less than 10 mins. for kids, make it a game. who can shower faster? my sister and i used to do this. i think we could do 1 1/2 minutes. that’s w/ a 2in1 shampoo.

-turn off water when shaving or brushing your teeth. duh.

-use un-bleached, recycled toilet paper. “if every canadian household made the switch, we’d save 48,000 trees every year.” while the recycled paper is a rougher in use, i find, it’s softer on the conscience. and besides, i don’t think your bottom notices too much. we’re not talking note paper rough.

-this is not simple, but i’ll include it: install low-flow shower heads and toilets.

-try to start upgrading your products to more natural ones. i use kissmyface shaving cream, and my boyfriend LOVES it too. so guys, gals, check it out. it’s a fabulous product, more of a cream that lathers and i find it’s really fantastic for my finicky skin. you can probably find it in any natural food store.

in the kitchen:

- use the green bin! compost AND recycle as much as possible (paper towel can go in the green bin ladies and gents).

-try to buy only (or as much as you can) locally grown, organic produce. “Not only will you be eating fewer pesticides and chemicals, the less travelling your food does to get to your dinner plat means it’s fresher and less carbon will be emitted during transportation.” and remember your reusable grocery bags. toronto’s just passed a bylaw that plastic bags are 5 cents! i’m definitely on board with that.

-”unplug small appliances when they are not in use. up to 40% of your energy bill is wasted on powering plugged in appliances, even when they’re not in use.” so that means you, toaster.

-buy food that comes in  minimal and recyclable packaging.

-go veggie at least once a week. “the UN discovered the meat industry produces more greenhouse gases than all the cars, SUVs, planes, trucks, and boats in the world combined. if every canadian could go meatless just once a week, it would be the equivalent of taking 500,000 cars off the road!” woooooweee. that’s not so tough.i think this could be made fun too, mind you, i suck at cooking meat so i tend to have a primarily veggie diet anyways.

-stop buying bottled water. there are so many alternatives, tap water filter, if you MUST you can buy one of this huge water cooler bottles, or just drink tap water (toronto has some of the best tap water in n. America i believe). there are SO many reasons not to use these disposable bottles. 1 of which is that something like 88% end up in landfill sites rather than the recycling plant. read about the other here, an article i wrote last month about the topic.

well, that’s all for this installment. more rooms to come, so keep your eye balls peeled, and let me know how you progess. and any ideas, things you do, other simple green shtuff. i’m all ears.

have a lovely week