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.

My house is actually full of candles in beautiful glass jars. I’ve always loved candlelight. But after reading about how toxic some candles can be (here and here and here), I’ve decided to switch to soy, non-toxic, clean burning candles.

There are a variety of candles that fit the bill out there, but the ones I’ve ordered are called Pure Malie Candles. Out of all the reviews online, these candles seemed to have the most positive feedback. And they come in delightful scents, too: Pikake, Plumeria, Coconut Vanilla, Koke’e, Organic Mango Nectar.

The candles are made from clean-burning waxes and are petroleum-free with 100% cotton wicks.

I’m anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new Coconut Vanilla candle and will definitely let you know how it works out!

I wish you could smell things through the internet. Their website is quite pretty though and I can almost taste/smell the fruit in the banner!

Yummy sustainability

We know by now that Brad Pitt is crazy about sustainable living and being green friendly, with his deep involvement in rebuilding New Orleans’ lower 9th Ward with his Make It Right foundation and his work on the green hotel project in Dubai.

Well now the hunky actor is involved in a green project in Aviles, Spain that’s looking to boost environmental sustainability. Brad Pitt apparently went to visit the site recently and is excited to support the project.

“Brad is interested in supporting the project, both in cultural and architectural aspects” said the mayor of Avilés, Pilar Varela. “He is interested in building with innovation, novelty, and especially sustainability.”

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I spend a good portion of my work day monitoring Twitter for trends and conversations and virtually shaking hands with companies from all over the world — it’s a great way to share ideas and learn new things. Well recently, I’ve noticed a new green trend: broadcasting energy consumption on Twitter.

The University of Mississippi is about to jump on this bandwagon with Facebook and Twitter updates detailing several of its main buildings’ energy use. The purpose? To alter behaviour to reduce electricity consumption and carbon emissions. Included in the details will be consumption from lighting, temperature controls, and appliances. All this will be done with the help of a smart grid company called SmartSynch. Neat! Good for them to be so open and public (and accountable) for that kind of information.

I’d love to see this become a very popular trend.

Speaking of Twitter, are you following me? I don’t know why you wouldn’t. It’s the cool thing to do, of course. And for those of you who’d like a feed of the site, follow the site’s feed here!

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Well, folks, I’m on vacation!

Yesterday was spent traveling (for many, many hours) from here to here — to visit my grandparents and other members of my dad’s side of the family in Haileybury, Ontario. Let me tell you, the scenery here is breathtaking.

Today I’m going hiking at Devil’s Rock Trail (see photo). Devil’s Rock is a granite escarpment dated to be 2,200 million years old! It’s face is 600 feet, rising 300 feet above Lake Temiskaming.

Apparently this beautiful cliff has some terrible scars from the early 20th century when minning tunnels were blasted into the sides of the cliff during the silver rush era. Since then the rock has been preserved as a historical landmark and is a popular site for tourists, rock climbers, and… Hardy Boys enthusiasts!

Though it’s not an especially eco point of interest, I’d definitely say it’s a point of interest: Leslie McFarlane, who was a Canadian journalist and ghostwriter for many of the Hardy Boys books under the pseudonym Franklin W. Dixon — was born and raised in this small town. The Devil’s Rock is featured in many of the Hardy Boys books. Maybe that’s what it takes to keep this beautiful landmark standing.

I’ll report back later with some on-the-spot pictures of the Devil’s Rock and its plant and wildlife from up close and personal!

Note from the road on my mobile phone:

Did you know that right now you can get an extra 250 Scene points for buying select green back to school products right now? It’s true!

Purchasing green products from Chapters right now banks 250 points per product!

And you can use those Scene points to see great movies at Cineplex theatres! How awesome are free movies on a student’s budget?

Excellent!

Check out the Scene website and Chapters for more info.

I’ve been passing this around to every student and every teacher I know:

In this video, called The Lazy Greenover, Brita shows some of the fruits of their partnership with Nalgene to create FilterForGood — a campaign to reduce bottled water waste.

I’m sure some of my readers are students or at least know students — listen up! You could win one of five $10,000 Eco-Challenge grants just by submitting a proposal letting FilterForGood know how you would make your campus more sustainable.

Check out the website for more information!

I know, I know — the title makes it sound a little alarmist. Like your garbage can will become a ticking time bomb or the garbage bags will transform into monsters at the curb… but that’s definitely not what I mean. (But that would make oatmeal pretty cool, wouldn’t it?)

The Daily Green has posted an article discussing 12 Surprising Uses for Leftover Oatmeal — and it really is surprising!

My favourites include:

• Odor absorbtion – put a container in your fridge! Line your ashtrays (yes, really – ha!)
• 1 cup of milk, 2 cups of uncooked oatmeal and a tablespoon of honey in a luke warm bath apparently works to moisturize and rejuvenate your skin! (And you’d look like my breakfast.)
• Non-toxic crafting clay!

Check out the website for more cool oatmeal uses.

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!