After chatting with staff about the spa’s commitment to the environment, I took the opportunity to check out what the facility had to offer first hand. Sorry, I’ve got no pictures for you as (I should have known, of course) the spa has strict rules against phones and cameras on site.

I was quite impressed! While the spa lost a few points for handing out bottled water to guests and two clean towels each, I was very impressed by their floor to ceiling windows for all natural lighting during the day and their dim indoor lighting and bright outdoor solar lighting at night.

Their brochures were all packed to the brim with informatiton on recycled paper, the toilets were all low flush and used greywater, and all of the steam rooms and saunas were run on timers as to not unnecessarily waste energy and electricity.

Everywhere you looked their were bins seperated into waste, paper, plastic, and food (for composting) — all done in very tasteful ways to incorporate it into the theme of the spa.

A lot of the spa was outdoors using nature instead of building facilites — like the hammocks and chair swings — all of which were tethered to trees instead of having a separate building for those who wish to lounge.

An outdoor fireplace stood in the middle of the outdoor pool area instead of a wasteful electric fireplace like I’ve seen in so many other public buildings.

And to top off everything, there were rainwater collection barrels scattered throughout the lot — a great use of all that space! They use the rainwater that’s collected to water the plants. Perfect.

Before this experiment I would have never noticed any of these things, I’m sure — but I’m glad I did. I’m definitely becoming more eco-concious and am certainly aware now that in a facility like that, if there’s no attempt at sustainable development and operation, it could easily be a hugely wasteful place! I was glad to see Le Nordik make such a great effort to not only be as eco-friendly as possible, but to make sure that their clients aware of these efforts, too.

Kudos, Le Nordik!

On a personal note, I highly recommend spending a day at this place — it’s beautiful! And there’s nothing like a steam bath and then a jump in a 4 degree (celcius) water fall to make you feel… alive (and so, socold)!

Going green is a fun process, actually. I’m learning a lot about things that I didn’t even know existed before I started! And, as with this story, sometimes it’s the little things that really blow my mind — like Muichic jewelry! I know I’m new at all this but… they can make ivory out of nuts? Why on earth would we kill animals (elephants, hippos, narwhals, walrus, etc.) for it then?

I wear a lot of jewelry, myself, but I’ll tell you — I don’t wear ivory. Not before this going green experiment and I certainly won’t now after reading about this botanical alternative:

The jewelry, made in Colombia by hand, is made from tagua nuts — specifically the seeds of the tagua palm trees. Doesn’t it look just like real ivory? It’s a great reason to conserve the tropical rainforests of South America for those interested making money as it’s just as sustainable as clear cutting to make room for grazing cattle. And why wouldn’t you take this over real ivory? It’s almost impossible to tell the difference — not to mention a much more reasonable way to acheive the ivory ‘look’ without causing so much destruction and death.

Check out their website right here for more details.

Alright – the laundry experiment has been completed! I washed a load of my clothes with Nature Clean Laundry Detergent and a load of my clothes with a popular orange-bottle’d Mountain Fresh scented brand detergent.  Results?

The other brand – My clothes are clean! No surprise there. I’ve used this brand all my life, so why expect a surprise? My clothes smell like… mountains? I’ve never smelled mountains, but I’m pretty sure they don’t smell like whatever this chemical is… Now, it’s not bad, it’s just clearly a chemical smell.

Nature Clean Laundry Detergent – My clothes are clean! And they smell — like clothes. This might sound odd, but clothes smelling like clothes means that they don’t smell like chemicals — a good thing for a laundry detergent that markets itself as a natural product.

Ingredients: Water, Fatty Polyglycoside (from cornstarch and palm kernel oil), Pure Castile Soap (from soya and canola), Coco-Bentaine (from plant source), Sodium Citrate (salt of citric acid), Cellulose Collides (from cotton and wood), Potassium Sorbate (food grade preservatives)

The detergent doesn’t foam up as much as your standard orange-bottle’d detergent which might fool you into thinking that it’s not very effective (why is it that suds = effective for me? hrmm). But I can assure you, it worked just fine! And, while I do appreciate that it is natural, I’m not quite at the “dark green” level yet — so the big selling point for me? Bulk! It’s available from Topia Greenstop in bulk! You can bring in your own container and fill it up. I’m going to be just like my grandmother; I’ll have countless containers and boxes with masking tape on them labeled ‘laundry detergent’ and ’sugar’ and ‘dried peas’ in my house. I can just see it now.

So, looking for a great, natural alternative to the strong-smelling, chemical-filled laundry detergent you currently use? Try this stuff out! … and be sure to let me know what you think.

I wonder, does Kermit struggle with recycling too?

So, as most of you already know, I spent most of the day at Topia Greenstop yesterday and got a chance to watch the goings-on. There were lots of regular customers and, despite my previous misconceptions, a lot of them were people just like me — aware that eco-friendly alternatives exist to many mainstream products but aren’t necessarily ‘dark green’ or even know what that means — but they’re exploring their options. Many of them, though regulars, still had plenty of questions about various products and I was glad to hear that the staff was really knowledgeable and super helpful. I learned a lot by just listening to the interactions with the customers. Maybe next time I’ll have some questions of my own. The fact that no questions came to mind made me realize something — don’t feel like I know enough to even formulate a proper question. The whole thing reminds me of high school math, you know? When math teachers ask “well if you didn’t understand, why didn’t you ask more questions?” My answer now is the same as it was then: I didn’t know the answer, but I definitely didn’t even know the question.

Are there any of you out there that are like me? Does talk of organics, biodegradables, composts, natural foods, recycling, etc. make your head spin? Tell me about it. Let’s figure out what kind of information you’d like to see on the site. I’m all ears!

Thanks to all who came out to Topia Greenstop yesterday to say hello and offer up some tips and trick and gave me some amazing ideas for the site!

I’ve got a long list of things I’m excited to research and report back about now. We’ll have to do this meet and greet thing again very soon!

I also had a sample (okay, several) of Topia’s newest addition to the Real Cafe: homemade frozen yogurt! Let me tell you, it’s delicious. If you’re in the Ottawa area, be sure to stop by the station (1621 Woodward at Clyde) and try some for yourself. Tell them Bambi sent you!

Okay, maybe not like this... think less outer-spacey and more plant-a-pretty-tree-ish.

…in three easy steps? I wish!

So, I bet you’re all wondering — what’s Bambi’s top secret project? What does this crazy lady have up her sleeve? Where’d I put the lid to the peanut butter? (Okay, maybe it’s only me who’s wondering that.) Well here it is, folks.

A little while ago I heard about this neat-o little gas station located in the west end of Ottawa called Topia Greenstop and Real Cafe.  I didn’t even know that this place existed – which really isn’t that out of the ordinary for a gas station, especially for this non-drivin’, bus-takin’ gal. This isn’t your ordinary gas station, however — here you can get all natural BioDiesel and ethanol blends of fuel. And not only is it a gas station, it’s a cafe too! The Real Cafe sells organic food — and not just your run-of-the-mill organic food, but really delicious looking wraps, natural cola and soft drinks, and organic coffee. In doing a bit of research, I’ve also discovered that the building was created with environmentally friendly materials too.  The cabinets are made of recycled straw board and the counter tops are made of chemical-free and renewable poured concrete. This super unique gas station is Canada’s first renewable energy stop. How cool is that?

Now, to preface this (for those who don’t know me), I am not an organic food kinda gal. If I’ve ever eaten it, it was by mistake. It’s not that I refuse to eat organic food, or that I hate the planet, or some other crazy reason like that. It’s just that I’m used to eating the foods I grew up with. I walk right past the organics section to grab the apples that I already know and love.  Plus — what about price? Organic food sounds more expensive, but to be fair, I don’t think I’ve ever really compared. It doesn’t even cross my mind, most times. And another thing — I think I may avoid organic foods based on their names “whole grain” and “free range” and “chemical-free”… while the idea of me avoiding food that says these things on it is hilarious to me, I think my fear is that I’ll look like one of those people — the people that are snooty about everything that they put into their body… but hey, are they wrong? You’ve only got one body. Shouldn’t I be more choosey about what kinds of crazy things I stuff down my gullet? Ding! Idea!

Oooh! Oooh! What’s the idea? Oh the suspense is killing me! (Click me!)

Hi! I’m Bambi. I’m a guinea pig in my own experiment.

Hypothesis:

With a little knowledge, some practice, and some guidance, a girl like me can become eco-friendly and learn to love it.

It’ll be an adventure in unfamiliar territory, but that’s what makes it fun, right?