Eco-Friendly & Green Living Blog

Disposable dinnerware? On an eco blog? Now you’ve seen it all, right?

Previously only available in Asia and Europe, Japan’s WASARA dinnerware is finally available in North America. Strong and sturdier than its paper counterparts (not to mention far more chic), WASARA’s wares are also biodegradable and completely compostable. (That is, if you have a compost heap.) Plus, they’re made with 100% tree-free sustainable materials: sugar cane fibre, bamboo and reed pulp. Order yours in advance of spring and be pret-a-picnic!

Price: Individual pieces, from $9 US (pack of 12 small plates). Sample pack (one each of all 14 pieces) $18 US.

Available at: www.branchhome.com

Another glowing idea from Duffy London: art that illuminates!

These luminous pieces can brighten any room. The canvas is made from 100% cotton (from sustainable sources); the frame, from FSC-certified wood; and the print is illuminated by long-lasting low-energy fluorescent bulbs. So, while art can be pricey, at least it doesn’t come at a high cost to the environment.

Available at: www.galerie-co.com

Price: $185 (small, 65cm x 65 cm), $595 (large, 90cm x 90cm)

In celebration of its March 2010 release, Potter Style publishing has given us (and by “us” we mean “you”!) three copies of its Eco-Clean Deck of 50 Recipes for Nontoxic Cleaners by Annie B. Bond.

Interested in winning a deck and brewing up your own eco-clean storm? Comment below and share your own home recipe for cleaning – whether it’s cutting old clothes to rags for washing windows or baking soda to scrub the tub, share your innovative – and green – recipes for cleaning, and you might just win a pack of 50 more!

Contest closes March 31, 2010 at 12 a.m. EST. Open to all residents of Canada, except those in Quebec. Not open to any Transcontinental Media employees, their families, or any other persons with whom they reside.

Baby, it’s cold outside, and leave it to Canadians to come up with the steamy stylish eco solution: The Sauna Box. Toronto-based design firm Castor has a created an entirely self-contained sauna made from an unlikely suspect – a recycled shipping container. Powered by the sun and heated by wood, the sauna is custom fit to your site, and comes with all the necessities one should expect: iPod and guitar hook-up, carved stools, a magnetic truck light, a wool toque and a set of bronze antlers

Visit: www.castordesign.ca and check out the product video (to the tune of Broken Social Scene). For more information and pricing, call 416-994-1232.

Pump up the volume on sustainability – Magno’s AM/FM two-tone Wooden Radios are made with love (of the earth!) and a commitment to building sustainable jobs and forestry in Indonesia.

Based out of the small Indonesian village of Kandangan, the man behind Magno, Singgih S. Kartono, builds sustainable industry through carpentry and craft – the radios are made by farm labourers-cum-craftsmen in communities hit hard by declining agriculture.

Kartono fights for forests by raising community awareness (for example, by starting a tree-planting program with the local high school by making his radios with only locally harvested new-growth wood, and replanting every tree used by Magno).

“As a wood consumer, I feel morally responsible for replacing the wood I’ve used,” Kartono says. “Currently, Kandangan has almost no forest land. The population is about 4,000 people. If we were to employ the whole population of Kandangan, we would abolish unemployment but most important, for every [person] we employ, we’d generate more woods through our forest regeneration programs.”

Pairing retro charm with social and environmental sustainability, these radios are playing my tune!

Available at: www.ministryoftheinterior.net

Price: $235 small (5 x 7.5 x 3.75″), $295 medium (7.5 x 7.5 x 4.25″), $352 large (7.5 x 12.25 x 4.25″)

More Information: www.magno-design.com

Eco-friendly stuff from top designer Amy Butler is fabulous but all too often just isn’t available in Canada.

That’s why we were so excited to see these lush, colourful 100% organic cotton blend towels at Bed, Bath and Beyond! They’re supersumptuous, with a lovely velour band to up the richness factor and come in Orange, Turquoise, Lime, Plum (from top).

The bath towel measures 30″ X 54″, the hand towel 16″ x 28″ and the washcloth 13″ x 13″. Machine washable.

Available at: www.bedbathandbeyond.ca

Prices: $18 (bath towel), $13 (hand towel), $8 (washcloth)

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What better time to show your support and buy a work of art produced by the Comite Artisanal Haitien, which represents more than 170 Haitian artisans and groups, than now, in the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake?

This fabulous wall hanging is made from recycled oil drums, and represents the Tree of Life, the classic symbol of the interconnectedness of all life on earth.

It would look equally wonderful indoors or out, measures 24″ in diameter and has a protective coating to prevent rust.

Available at: www.serrv.org

Price: $46 (US)

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Do you have a pretty product you’d like to recommend for this blog? Email me at naturalchic@styleathome.com!

This adorable bin is the ideal storage solution in a kid’s room or play area. At 17″ high and 20″ in diameter, it can be used to store everything from toys to laundry, and the cotton canvas it’s made from is sturdy enough to stand on its own even when empty.

Green factor: The über-cute felt hippo motif is crafted from 100% recycled water bottles (other designs are also available), and the cotton is organic.

Price: $38

Available at: www.saplings.ca

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Do you have a pretty product you’d like to recommend for this blog? Email me at naturalchic@styleathome.com!

Rocky Mountain Soap’s savoury selection of scrubs, suds, soaks and salts are a foamy retreat from stress. With fragrances like Alpine Air, Avalanche, and Forest Fresh and all-natural ingredients from fir needles to horse chestnuts and pumpkin to spinach powder, it’s clear just how much the young family behind Rocky Mountain Soap is inspired by their mountainous Canmore, Alta., surroundings.

The company mantra, “natural matters,” means that every ingredient they use is found in nature – check out a complete list of ingredients and glossary on their website. If you’re still not convinced, owners Cam Baty and Karina Birch invite customer feedback and visits (should you be in the Rocky Mountain neighbourhood). You’re also invited to join the company’s on-property women’s run in April.

Prices: Valentines Gift Pack, $25; Cold & Flu Body Rub, $8; Alpine Air Hand & Body Wash, $14; Pumpkin Soap, $5.

Visit www.rockymountainsoap.com for a list of store locations and retailers.

Introducing a chic, eco-friendly gift that really does keep on giving: Ecojot’s trendy, eco-friendly and socially responsible notebooks. Launched this year, Ecojot’s Buy One, We Give One campaign advocates children’s literacy in developing countries by donating one notebook for every one purchased. They’re distributed directly to schools and students via three foundations –
Ve’ahavta, Free the Children, and the Stephen Leacock Foundation for Children.

The notebooks themselves? Entirely eco-friendly! The funky notebooks, colourfully designed by artist Carolyn Gavin, are made from 100% post-consumer waste, using vegetable-based inks and glues and biodegradable packaging. They’re also made in Canada, and at a biogas-fuelled mill.

Price: $17 (6″x9″ Jumbo Journal, 150 pages); $10 (5″x7″ journal, 80 pages); $5 (3″x4″ notebook, 50 pages).

Available at: Grassroots, Midoco, Write Impressions, The Papery and more; visit www.ecojot.com for a full list of retailers across Canada.