Sustainable Living

INTRODUCTION
 
Peel away the layers and one thing most Canadians have in common is a roof over our heads (the pelting snow that whacks us in January kind of necessitates that). Now, whether that shelter takes the form of a tiny apartment on the 20th floor of a drafty old building, a 5,000-square-foot McMansion in the burbs or a remote wooden cabin with bears for neighbours, we all know we can do a little more to green up this country. In fact, we have to. Canadian households are responsible for a whopping 46% of the nation's total climate-cooking emissions (ha, and you thought your a/c cranking could go unnoticed). A large chunk of those greenhouse gases comes from obvious sources like the car you have parked outside, the fuel in your furnace and the electricity you pull from the wall, but a surprising percentage of emissions comes buried in all the things we buy (from flatscreen TVs to imported lettuce). No matter where those greenhouse gases come from, one thing's clear: we're getting more and more bloated with every passing decade.
 
But here in Ecoholicland, we like our eggs sunny side up. Which means we should take a moment to commend ourselves for the fact that a whopping 90% of us have already made some moves to ease our impact. We're changing our light bulbs, buying low-flow shower heads and turning down the thermostat in record numbers. And all this stuff makes especially good sense when times are tight and our wallets are a little slimmer. Keeping our bank accounts and the planet green are zen-ly one and the same. Just ask your grandparents: saving energy, saving resources—hell, saving rubber bands—saves you money. And if we're smart about where we put our cash and we make sure that what we bring into our kitchens, bathrooms, bedrooms and basements is truly earth-friendly, we can all help guarantee that our address on the third rock from the sun stays peachy green.
 
We just have to remember that we can't buy our way out of this mess. Putting organic curtains on the credit card isn't what's going to save the planet from ourselves. Of course, if you have to make a purchase, then, yes, put your money on the most environmentally sound option you can—and make sure that it's really as earth-friendly as it claims to be. That's what Ecoholic Home is all about, really—helping you make those choices. But at the end of the day, you and everyone in your household will be the biggest superheroes if you make "reduce" and "reuse" your two favourite words, and along the way turn your gassy, energy-gulping home into a lean, green, planet-rescuing sanctuary. Hell, I'll even sew you a big lime-coloured cape if you do.