Andrea's Everything Eco Exploration

Here's a really good article about a family who only produces one quart of garbage in a year. At the bottom there's some quick tips on how to start your journey to waste-freedom! http://www.mnn.com/leaderboard/stories/this-family-produces-1-quart-of-waste-in-a-year

This past long weekend me and some friends went to Elbow falls for a day hike. We followed the river down as far as we could go, and I picked up any trash I found along the way. Most of what I picked up were single use bottled water, and beer cans. Beautiful Elbow falls. This is a bag I filled with various water bottles. 6 single use and one Nalgene bottle. Beautiful Rocky Mountain scenery. Too bad it was marred with the remnants of past hikers' garbage. A few things I pulled out of the river On the way I also found 5 doggy bags in various states of decomposition. People just leave the dog bags out in the woods because they didn't want to carry it all the way back. If that's the case why pick it up in the first place? Dog poop biodegrades. Plastic doesn't. So please, take it all the way to a garbage or don't even bother. What I pulled out of my back pack at the end of the day. 9 beverage containers, an insole (we also found a moose light fl

So call me crazy, but I like to eat Dandelion greens. Steamed and then mixed with lemon juice and olive oil = yum! Plus it's really good for you too.  The leaves are high in vitamins A and C as well as calcium and give you more iron than spinach. Just be sure to never harvest them in areas sprayed with chemicals. Your back yard is probably the safest bet. So here's my step by step guide on harvesting preparing and cooking your dandelions: The easiest way for harvesting I've found is to insert a strong knife around the roots and try to sever the roots, leaving the clump of dandelion plant intact for easy handling. This is also handy of you want to harvest the roots too. They can be dried and made into tea which can act as a diuretic and has detox properties.  Once you've collected sufficient dandelion greens (They shrink a lot so be sure to get 2-3 times more than you think you'll need) you can start to clean them. When I harvest them I do a preliminary scr

It's been a while since I posted but I've been pretty busy. Training week with Recycling Council of Alberta was busy and informative. We partner with Alberta Used Oil Recycling (AUOMA) and Alberta Recycling (ARMA) for education events across the province, and partner with the Beverage Container Management Board (BCMB) for some research projects across the province. So the week was full of meetings and tours of various facilities. And it was pretty eye opening. The craziest tour was of GEEP facility (Global Electric Electronic Processing) where their state of the art machinery allows them to accept any type of electronic device, ranging from computers, tvs to keyboards and toasters. It was crazy to see the immensity of the amount of 'waste' they receive. They even get brand new TVs and motor bikes that weren't sold and they have to destroy them. It definitely says something about consumerism. We're just lucky that recycling is economically viable for most product

We need food to survive, and here in North America we have no shortage of it. But not all food is created equal. Often times it is cultivated, produced or packaged in unsustainable ways. Be it the monoculture of modern agriculture, deforestation for cattle production, or the over fishing of the oceans, there is usually always something wrong with the food we are eating. A lot of it is beyond our control, but we can take actions to reduce the impact these malpractices have on our environments. Since globalization has taken hold, a lot of our food comes from halfway across the world. This makes it really hard to know how our food was caught or grown. But there are resources out there to help us make informed decisions. Here is a list of sustainable seafood options from  David Suziki Foundation http://www.davidsuzuki.org/what-you-can-do/food-and-our-planet/suzukis-top-10-sustainable-seafood-picks/ As well here is an image of the dirty dozen foods you should really buy organic. Con

It's May 3rd today, and it's my 22nd birthday! I'm quite happy because it is sunny and warm outside and I was able to plant some basil seeds in a big pot. I bought some green leafy vegs as well and am asking for some garden supplies for my birthday from my parents. I am so excited to start the venture of growing my own food. My mom has an amazing garden in their back yard and working in it every summer has got me spoiled. Once I get my own place I am decking the backyard out into a glorious garden paradise. But we all gotta start somewhere, so this year I will be doing rectangle railing pots for a select few herbs and spinach plants. I also plan on planting our used green onion that has been hanging out with the cellery in a water glass on the window sill. It's roots-or rhysomes-  have been growing after two weeks and I think he'll be able to be transplanted outside soon. I'll never have to buy green onions ever again! I bought lettuce with roots still at

This past weekend was a GASAN event called global litter pick up. It yielded great results, inspiring people across north America to go out and clean up their favorite natural areas and remove the litter. I picked up a bunch of litter on my vacation, anytime I went walking in a natural area and saw litter I picked it up. It really feels good to know you put an end to that weary piece of litter's winding journey. And with enough people taking the effort to take back our natural places from the carelessness of others, a big difference can be made.  We need a culture shift, a mass education on the effects of our this disposable direction. Here is what me and my boyfriend collected from the side of highway 1 in BC last week. 9 bottles of antifreeze/car oil/winshield fluid, two paint cans. one trailer strap. one arbage can. 1 egg carton, 2 4l milk jugs ( probably old pee jugs) 15 recyclable beverage containers, one sexy calendar, 2 dirty diapers, 5 coffee cups and a mandarin