Today’s spotlight is on Etsy shop owner and local Ottawa eco-crafter rikrak. Hat’s off to you, rikrak – you make some beautiful stuff!

A lot of rikrak’s items on Etsy are made from repurposed vintage fabrics and recycled cotton. In the online store you’ll find wallets, Christmas crafts, coasters, and plenty of original art made from all kinds of cool repurposed patterns old and new. I’m a huge fan of vintage patterns and am definitely considering this piece right here. Love the print! It reminds me (in a good way, of course) of a dress my grandmother used to wear from the early 70’s. Of course, it like *is* from the early 70’s. Isn’t repurposing grand?

The designs are absolutely beautiful and unique!

With 6 pages of comments from happy customers and a spot in the June issue of Redbook, I can enthusiastically recommend you check out rikrak’s store right here.

And be sure to let me know what your favourite piece is!

I’ve recently been quite curious about how global warming is affecting the rest of the world. I know that in Ottawa, we’ve had some pretty odd weather these past few years. This year was full of extremes: Extreme rain, extreme heat, extreme humidity… Certainly a noticable difference in weather patterns as time goes on. I’m no meterologist, but I definitely notice when Chicago has it’s coolest July 8th in 118 years, North Dakota has it’s first snowfall in June in 60 years, a summer of record low temperatures right here in Canada, and a likely-to-be-accurate prediction of a green Christmas.

Well, here’s a video featuring some Greenlanders talking about how they’ve been affected by climate change this year. Some of what they say is sadly what I’ve come to expect but some affects are quite surprising to me.

Have something to add? Let me know in the comments!

I’m all about saving water. Why wouldn’t I be? To date, though, I had not been able to find an eco shower head that didn’t dramatically reduce the quality of my shower — ie. the precious, precious water pressure.

This shower head — the Oxygenics’ Storm — I will tell you, is absolutely amazing. I can’t tell you how much it’s saving me exactly as I’ve not had it long enough, but I will tell you that it’s probably significant.

One thing I enjoy, though I’m not sure it’s a selling point for everyone, is the sound of this shower head. It really does sound like a rain storm! It’s loud, but I like it. And it feels great – which is the important part.

Check it out!

I’d like to add that I’m in absolutely no way affiliated with these guys and am not getting a cut for mentioning them by any means (heh, but hey – Oxygenics, I’m spreading the word, show me some love?). I just wanted to blog about how awesome my showerhead is and well, it just so happens it’s quite eco friendly and fits perfectly on this site!

Know of some other energy-saving shower heads? Tell me all about them in the comments!

According to The Daily Mail;

Tesco is sending 5,000 tons of leftover meat a year to be burned to generate electricity for homes, it emerged yesterday.
The supermarket disposes of enough meat that has passed its sell-by date to power 600 homes for a year through the National Grid.

Other major supermarkets plan to follow suit. But animal rights campaigners yesterday said many homeowners would be ‘horrified’ to learn that their electricity was generated by the ‘macabre’ recycling scheme.

Tesco has hailed the scheme as part of a ‘green’ drive which had enabled it to stop sending any of the waste it produces to environmentally damaging landfill sites.

You know, I read this article and wasn’t really sure what to think. On one hand, where would this meat go otherwise? Would it just be burried or worse — incinerated with no purpose but to destroy it? What a waste, both of the animal’s live and of fuel. I think that’s where I might stand on the issue — why not? It’s just going to go to waste otherwise. But I think there’s also a bigger issue to consider here: why are there 5,000 tons of meat leftover every year? As an ex-butcher, I can tell you that that’s a significant amount. Maybe they should be cutting back on production and trying to pinpoint demand a bit better.

But I think, overall, that using the excess meat as fuel – while a bit macabre indeed – isn’t a terrible use for it. But maybe I’m missing something? Do let me know in the comments, I’d love to hear from you.

For the rest of the article, check out The Daily Mail (UK).

Last week I wrote about how to make your own baby wipes at home. Jodi, a regular reader, wrote in and had this to say:

My concern with the addition of vinegar or sanitizer is if baby has diaper rash it could burn, also, would you put vinegar or sanitizer on your privates? And have you ever run out of toilet paper and had to use paper towel (It has happened to everyone…lol) its scratchy, even wet. If you use the solution (minus the vinegar) and a wash cloth it works wonderfully.

In hindsight, I agree — won’t vinegar sting? And sanitizer, while better smelling, will likely sting too. So what’s our solution, folks? What can we use that will clean and moisturize at the same time (within a budget, of course). Jodi says wash cloth, but I know many of you don’t want to go that route — so what do we do?

I would really love your ideas and input! Leave a comment!

Recently, I got this comment:

Hey lady,

So I’ve been following Bambigoesgreen.com everyday and as much as things interest me a lot, do you have anything more simple? With the monkey (read: baby girl) I don’t really have time to make my own paper (though I want to! lol) or money for a hybrid but I’d love to do little things. I bring my own bags when possible, but what does that really save? I heard that recycling one glass spaghetti sauce jar saves enough energy to power a tv for 3 hours, is that true?

Is there anyway you could do a day with a simple little tip and how it influences the world? Something everyone can do. I never used to care until Baby… Now Im one of those, leave-a-better-planet parents…. lol

Thanks!
Jodi

P.S. Im making strawberry soup this weekend

Thanks for the comment Jodi! So many good points! For starters, yes – I will start posting some simple tips everyday! That’s a great idea as I’m sure you’re not alone! As for the spaghetti sauce jar, let me look into it — I’m interested in hearing the facts on that as well! Thanks for the readership and comments, be sure to keep in touch!

I’m off to learn about the magic of spaghetti jars — wouldn’t that be something? I can’t wait to find out.

Back by popular demand — Intervale Green in the Bronx!

Saturday’s on BambiGoesGreen will bring more information/pictures/details about the stories that you the reader loved most during the week.

This week’s Saturday Recap features this video of Intervale Green. The Intervale Green complex, on Intervale Avenue between Freeman Street and Louis Niñe Boulevard, an infamous strip of South Bronx urban blight, is a new, green, low-income housing development. The building, developed by the Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation, or Whedco, a Bronx nonprofit group, opened to qualified low-income residents in February, and has filled about a third of its 128 apartments. Designed with a large, glass-windowed lobby, two green roofs and a sculpture-filled courtyard, the development, tasteful, sparkling and eco-friendly, could give many cookie-cutter luxury buildings a run for their money.

Reader Shirah from the University of Vermont wrote to me:

“It is wonderful to hear of green building projects in the cities, where it is the most visible to thousands of people every day. I think it’s quite clever that there is a green roof on it, as a visual reminder of it’s mission and goals. As cities grow more and populated, it is essential that we look to ways to create green housing that will be sustainable for our future. Here at the University of Vermont, (http://learn.uvm.edu/igs ) we realize that creating a more sustainable world is more obtainable when it becomes accessible and is encountered in a day to day basis.”

Thanks for the comment and information, Shirah!

Have your say! Drop me a comment any time and I may feature you on a Saturday Recap!