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THE CAMP BUZZ IS ON- HOW TO DEAL WITH BUGS THIS SUMMER

Presumably, you’re sending your kids to camp because you want to give them the opportunity to reconnect with nature.  It makes sense then,to pack them away with stuff that protects the nature they’re going to visit.

So where do you start?  Well the first thing that comes to many peoples’minds when they think of camp is the bugs.  So let’s start by addressing them.  There are a few simple tips to minimize bites of all kinds, before we get to creams and potions.

1) Choose light-coloured clothing –  Not only are these much cooler in the sun, but mosquitoes are attracted to dark colours, and much less likely to bite you in lightly coloured clothing.

2) Go for coverage – A light, long-sleeved shirt is not much hotter than a t-shirt, and can drastically reduce the number of bites that kids get.  Light, long pants can offer the same kind of protection, and there’s even the kind that convert to shorts if you’re out of the woods and get too hot.  Socks are important too.  Don’t choose the low kind that leave your ankles bare.  Bites on the joints can be some of the itchiest and most annoying for the kids, so we want to avoid them as much as possible. And finally, a hat is a great way to keep the bugs from burrowing in the kids’ hair and feasting.

3)  Don’t wear anything “stinky” – Send the kids with unscented shampoos, creams and sunscreens, and try to wash their clothes in unscented detergents before they leave.  All of these things attract bugs in droves.

If you still want some kind of a bug repellent, I’d suggest using something without harmful chemicals in it.  This protects both your childrens’ health, and the plants and animals that they’re going to visit.  DEET, while quite effective as a repellent, is a toxic chemical, and should be used sparingly if at all.   The challenge is that there are so many “natural” solutions out there that really don’t work, so are hardly worth the expense and effort.  Repellents containing either eucalyptus and citronella, or both seem to be the most promising.

How about the sun? Again the first strategy is to avoid it first.  Hats and long sleeved clothing are a great start. They even have clothing that contains a high spf, so that you can avoid putting on sunscreen underneath them.  .

Smart camps will schedule activities that keep the kids out of the sun during the 11am -1pm time frame when the suns rays are most harmful.

Just like bug sprays, sunscreens have come under a great deal of scrutiny in the past few years for their chemical content, and the jury is still out on many of the specific ingredients.  We’ll stick to a few guidelines here:

1) You’ll want to avoid parabens, as you would in other skincare

products.

2) Choose something “natural’, without a huge list of chemicals in it.

3) Avoid “nanotechnology”.  We’ll address this later in a separate blog, but essentially it means that the particles are so small that they can be absorbed right into your bloodstream – not a good thing.  Avoid products that say things like “micronized”. Read the rest of this entry »

“Biodegradable” has long been a staple of the green movement.  We know
to look for it on product labels because it’s good,  both in the
packaging and the product, but do we really understand what it means?

For the most part, no.  Unfortunately, it is one of the most commonly
abused greenwash terms, likely because there is no standardized
definition. Generally it means that the product will break down quickly
in nature to naturally occurring components with the help of the
existing bacteria.  But how quick is quickly?

Eco-Logo, the most prevalent environmental certification in Canada
requires that products or packaging be “readily biodegradable”.  They
specify a test for all products that measures how quickly a product
breaks down.  In general they are looking for at least 60-70% breakdown
within 14 days.

This test is going to screen out a lot of products.  Take plastic bags
for example.  Technically they do biodegrade - they break down in nature
– it just takes an estimated 1000 years to do it (we don’t know for sure
since plastic bags have only been around for 50 years…).  I don’t know
about you – but that’s not my idea of biodegradable.

Read the rest of this entry »

Candles have become a staple of the décor of many homes over the lastdecade.  While going green has come to the forefront of things like cleaning and personal care products, you may not have even consideredgoing green with your candles.  You should.  The story isn’t pretty.

Conventional candles aren’t green, and they definitely aren’t healthy.  The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) found that approximately 40% of candles have lead wires in the wicks which ensure that the wick stands up tall.  Unfortunately, lead wicks also mean that the air quality in your house is severely compromised – as much as five times the amount deemed hazardous for children.  Lead poisoning has some serious side effects including hormone disruption and cognitive dysfunction to name a few.

Candles are also typically made of paraffin – most people don’t realize that paraffin is actually a petroleum product.  Burning candles indoors creates some of the same pollutants that come from your tailpipe.  If you see soot build-up around the jar, or on the ceiling above the candle, it’s a good indication of what might also be happening to your lungs.

There is a better way. Candles made from Beeswax burn much cleaner and are therefore better for the planet and for your health.  100% vegetable-based candles are also non-toxic and a good option.  Lead-free is an absolute necessity, so make sure that the wicks are made from cotton and labelled lead-free. Lastly – avoid synthetic scents, they may smell great but most are carcinogenic. Don’t buy candles from the dollar store.  Many will fail all of these tests.

You don’t need to give up candles to be green, but you may want to choose to be more strategic in the candles that you choose.  In candles, you pay for what you get – truly green candles that won’t compromise your health are more expensive to manufacture, and hence more expensive to buy.  We think it’s worth it.

Cottaging is one of the great pleasures in life, but as more and more of us head north to enjoy the great outdoors, the stress on the lakes can be more than they can bear. Here are a just a few tips on how you can minimize the impact of your cottage on the lake that you love.

1) Always choose biodegradable – Although there are no universal standards around what biodegradable means, in a nutshell it says that a product will break down into substances that are naturally occurring in a short period of time once it is used. For things like soaps, shampoos and cleaners that you’ll be using up at the cottage, this is critically important. Conventional products can literally take years to break down, which is very harmful to everything in the lake.

2) Think of your septic system – Bacteria are necessary for the effective functioning of your septic – they do the majority of the work breaking down your waste. You can imagine the problems created when you put things like antibacterial soap or toxic chemicals into your septic system which kill off all of the good bacteria. Choosing green products make a big difference when your wastewater goes directly into the environment.

Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever read the warning label on a tube of toothpaste? Are you alarmed that toothpaste even has a warning label? I’ll guess that few people have bothered to read the safe use instructions on the package, including not swallowing the toothpaste and, on some popular brands, “Recommended for adults and children over 12 years.”

Why should we all be concerned about this? Because most people haven’t a clue what’s in toothpaste and digging up a list of ingredients takes more than a little effort.

You might be surprised to discover that conventional toothpaste contains the artificial sweetener Saccharin. Health Canada banned the use of Saccharin in food 30 years ago due to animal studies that linked consumption to an increased risk of bladder cancer. (They are currently rethinking that ban, due to heavy lobbying from the diet-food industry, but many scientists continue to recommend against lifting the ban.)

Read the rest of this entry »

The environmental implications of BP’s spill from the oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico is very concerning on so many levels.  But as I listen to the media create theatre out of bashing the big oil companies, it occurs to me that the real culprits here are you and me.  The problem is that you and I don’t really want to know how oil gets from the ground and into the tanks of our cars, or into the energy plants that produce electricity for our homes and offices and stores and streets.

So long as we are going to consume oil, we are going to have environmental disasters that result from accidental oil spills.  It is a random, yet probabilistic fact.  I don’t believe that anyone intends that these things happen, and maybe more regulation and inspection would help.

My point is that with everything we do with this planet, there is a balance between the consumption of non-renewable resources, economic prosperity, and lifestyle choice.  Be happy with the choices you make, be aware of the consequences those choices make to the planet, and respect with dignity the impact those choices have on the living things around you.

As my First Nations’ brothers and sisters in Canada say “Judge no man before you have walked two moons in his moccasins”.

[written by David Greene]

This year Earth Day marks a couple of milestone birthdays: 40 years since the original US Earth Day in 1970 and 20 years since the first International Earth Day in 1990. Organized as a series of teach-ins by a small group of educators and environmentalists, the 1970 Earth Day was envisioned as a grass-roots response to the environmental crisis of the day, inspired by the impact of and lack of government action in response to an oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara CA. Planners aspired to attract crowds as large and passionate as those protesting the war then being waged in Viet Nam to make themselves heard on the issue of the environment. From their actions, 20 million demonstrators observed the first Earth Day and urged leaders and citizens to make the changes necessary to preserve the health of the planet. Since that time Earth Day has grown to become an international event, marked in 141 different countries in 1990 to where it is today, about to be celebrated by a billion people in over 190 countries and coinciding with the World People’s Conference on Climate Change.

Read the rest of this entry »

Easter, like many other holidays, has become more and more commercial over the years. Gone are the days where time was spent with family enjoying each others company over a big meal. There are, however, many ways to enjoy an eco-friendly Easter. With a little bit of research and some creativity, there are many options to choose from!

Colouring eggs

An age old tradition that kids love! Before you go out and buy a traditional decorating kit, try and use natural dyes. You’d be surprised by your colour options and impressed with the end results. To create the dye, boil the ingredient in water for about 15 minutes. Remember, the longer you boil it, the darker the dye will appear. As for the eggs, boil them in water with a spoonful of vinegar and then let them cool.

Your ingredients could be any of the following:

• Grape juice (for violet or purple)
• Red cabbage or canned blueberries (for blue)
• Spinach (for green)
• Carrot tops, yellow onion skins or paprika (for orange)
• Coffee (for brown)
• Red beets or cranberries (for pink)
• Red onion skins or Pomegranate juice (for red)
• Orange or lemon peels, ground tumeric or cumin (for yellow)

Read the rest of this entry »