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)!

Today while in Chelsea, Quebec on a top secret mission, I’m scheduled to visit the nice folks at Le Nordik Nature Spa and sit down and chat about their promise to act responsibly towards the environment through ‘eco-friendly actions’.

Here are some of their eco commitments:

• Recuperation of all recyclable material for reuse
• Recycling of paper, plastic and other materials
• Recycling of waste water to be reused in flushing systems
• Energy and electricity management with timers and software systems
• Recuperation of rain water to be used for watering the plants
• Printing on recycled paper for certain documents
• Use of renewable energy

And soon they’ve promised that they will be composting of plant and natural based waste and using geothermy throughout each of their buildings.

I’m hoping to talk to them about what motivated them to make this commitment to the environment and sustainable development as well as, of course, checking out what their facilities look like! I’ve never been there and I’m glad that’s about to change. And maybe we’ll become great friends! I could really use some good friends with a spa, heh. I’m looking forward to meeting you and chatting about your top notch eco-friendly spa, Le Nordik!

I’ll be trying out mobile blogging on location again so stay tuned for pictures and tidbits from my sit down with Le Nordik!

As I’m sure plenty of you reading know by now, SIGG bottles manufactured before August 2008 have recently been found to contain Bisphenol-A (BPA) in their liners. I know it’s bad, but… what exactly is BPA?

Turns out that BPA is a chemical used in the manufacture of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins and is part of a group of molecules known as ‘endocrine disruptors’.

Endocrine disruptors are defined by the National Institute of Health as

“…naturally occurring compounds or man-made chemicals that may interfere with the production or activity of hormones of the endocrine system leading to adverse health effects. Many of these chemicals have been linked with developmental, reproductive, neural, immune, and other problems in wildlife and laboratory animals. Some scientists think these chemicals also are adversely affecting human health in similar ways resulting in declined fertility and increased incidences or progression of some diseases including endometriosis and cancers.”

Eeep! Way to let us all down, SIGG! And I was so proud of you recently, too. Look into your reusable bottles before you buy them, folks!

[via]

I was really surprised to find out that they really are all the rage.

When I think of Miami, I think of 5-star resorts, yachts, beaches with scantily clad men and women, and fake tans. I definitely don’t think of Miami as a hugely environmentally concious place, but maybe that’s me believing in stereotypes.

Apparently zen lifestyles are all the rage – and that includes being kind to each other, 100% natural products, organic foods and materials, and cruelty-free products. Spas like Uhma Spa, Emena, or Mandarin Oriental Miami are all eco-chic urban santuaries.

Mandarin Oriental Miami’s spa plant a tree in the nearby Everglades National Park for every single time that they perform an “Herbal Thai Compress Ritual” on a client. What a great idea!

Now that’s a fad I can get behind.

I stumbled on to pictures of cob houses on TreeHugger this morning and now I can’t stop reading up on them!

I’ve decided now that someday I will have one of these. Imagine that — from not-so-green to wanting to live in a cob house in no time at all. Now that’s progress.

Cob houses, for those who don’t know, have nothing to do with corn. Sure, you might have known that, but when I first started reading about them I figured there had to be some corn cobs in there somewhere. Where else have you heard the word cob? Cob is actually a building material made from clay, sand, straw, water, and earth — very similar to adobe. It’s fireproof, resistant to seismic activity and – best of all – quite inexpensive. This one here, for example (see photo) was build for under $3000!

The houses I’ve found online are absolutely beautiful! (Check out my favourites here, here, and here.)

I’m definitely becoming a fan of sustainable, natural development. Not just because it looks beautiful, but because I really admire the hard work, time, and enthusiasm one needs to use the environment around them to build something so worthwhile!

So why eat organic foods anyway? Why are they better than your average grocery store fare? Well, for one, organic foods are foods that aren’t covered in chemicals such as insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers. I, for example, am violently allergic to a lot of preservatives and a lot of these spray chemicals trigger the same reaction: sore stomach, headache, nausea, blurred vision, cold sweat… I could go on. And it can be a bad scene for those who aren’t even allergic to any chemicals, too!

Plenty of EPA-approved pesticides were approved a long time ago –before research linked these chemicals to cancer and other debilitating diseases. Currently the EPA considers 60% of all herbicides, a whopping 90% of all fungicides and 30% of all insecticides to be potentially carcinogenic.

Taste is an individual matter, but many gourmet chefs are choosing to use organic foods in the recipes, due to the superior flavour and quality of these products. A growing number of consumers — including yours truly as part of my attempt to go green — are also claiming that organic food tastes better.

I mean, doesn’t it make sense to you that foods grown naturally in well-balanced soils and ripened by the big, happy summer sun will be healthier and tastier than products raised on a diet of smelly, wildlife and bug-killing chemicals? Then they’re sprayed with preservatives that allow them to sit for months in storage (I could make a really easy movie star joke here, but I’ll leave that one along). What are these chemicals and preservatives doing to your insides? Do you think it’s possible that they’re strong enough to kill pests, make plants grow faster/bigger, and last for weeks on a shelf without having a negative affect on your insides? I don’t know first hand, but I’m sceptical at best.

Try organic food for yourself and see what you think — is it tastier? Does it smell better? Check out the ‘Organic Recipe Friday’ section and try out some of the recipes. I guarantee you’ll find some that you love!

Drop me a line and let me know!

In case you haven’t been following the news, there is significant worry behind declines in the bee population, which spawned other problems like bee theft.

Now, as if that weren’t scary enough, we have to worry about new reports from Reuters that huge colonies of bee-eating Asian Hornets are spreading like wildfire through southwestern France!

These hornets are said to be able to wipe out an entire beehive in 48 hours — eep! And since the bee population is already under significant stress right now, that’s a much greater threat.

Let’s get together, folks. There are plenty of calls to action in the Twittersphere and we all know that social networking can be great for working together to get things done. Häagen-Dazs has been working to save bees for a long time now as they recognize that a whopping 1/3 of the world’s food supply is dependant on bees.

They currently have a 7-Day Go Natural Challenge going on that is not only delicious, but extremely helpful — and you could win a year supply of Häagen-Dazs! (I don’t think they know what they’re getting into, I can eat a lot of HD in a YEAR, heh).

Spread the word!

Eating this for the first time I was absolutely convinced that it was store bought. After my third slice I worked up the courage to ask for the recipe and believe it or not, it’s made from all kinds of natural organic goodness!

Thanks Kait!

Click here for the recipe!

Forget pesticides! It’s not hard to have a beautiful pesticide-free lawn, all you need is a bit of time and a little elbow grease.

• Did you know that grass actually grows best when certain kinds of organisms are present? Forget shooing them off (she says politely, knowing full well that pesticides do much more than shoo…), let them play! Earthworms eat and recycle (heh, poop) plant material that releases nutrients into the roots of the grass helping it grow! (via)
• Mow your lawn at the high end of its range — that way the roots have a chance to really develop. Deeper root systems can tolerate drought, heat, shade, disease, and pests much better. (via)
• Leave the grass clippings on your lawn! I know, I know — you don’t like how it looks, right? But trust me, it adds plant nutrients and organic matter to your soil. Researchers have estimated that grasscycling reduces fertilizer need by 25%! Saves you money and effort and keeps grass clippings out of landfills too. (via here and here)
• Don’t overwater — I mean, not only is it a huge waste of water (this is a personal pet peeve of mine) but overwatering helps weeds grow, causes oxygen starvation of grass roots, and makes your lawn’s roots shallow. Eep! Here’s a hint: If the top two inches of your lawn are dry, then it’s time to water. If not, leave it alone! (via)

According to the University of California’s integrated pest management program, “A vigorously growing turf resists pest damage and weed invasion.” So keep it growing healthy and strong and you shouldn’t have any need for pesticides!

Putting pesicides on your lawn is bad because… pesticides are bad, right? I’ve known this for a long time because I remember seeing a ‘Keep off the Lawn!” pesticides warning on a neighbours lawn and asking my mother about it. All she could tell me, really, was that pesticides were poison. I remember being quite confused as to how pesticides could hurt me but not the plants/grass. Well, here’s some interesting little bit sized facts about lawn pesticides:

• Children who live in homes where lawn pesticides are used are twice as likely to develop brain cancer than children with pesticide-free yards. (via)
• People who work with pesticides (including pesticides used on lawns and in gardens) have an increased risk of fertility problems, such as an increase in spontaneous abortion and miscarriage as well as increased risk of having a baby with birth defects (such as cleft lip and palate, spina bifida, limb anomalies). (via)
• Workers exposed over a long period to pesticides have shown problems with information (ie. confusion) and have increased risk of developing Parkinson’s Disease.(via)
• In the womb and into early infancy is linked to increased risks of some cancers (particularly leukemia, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and neuroblastoma) and birth defects. (via)

So if all these terrible things are possible with pesticide use, why on earth do people use them? Is having a healthy lawn worth all the poison and risk?

Stay tuned to BambiGoesGreen for tips on how to keep your lawn healthy and happy naturally!