What is GMO?

Purple Tomato's are in our local grocery stores.  

My eco friends this week I have been researching about GMO. I had always been against it but I did not do my full research, just the thought of cloning our food makes me think it’s not a good idea. What is GMO? Genetically modified organisms – plants or animals created through the gene splicing techniques of Corn, soya, sugar beets and canola are the crops locally being GMO in Canada. The scary fact is that GMO ingredients have made their way into most of the processed foods in Canadian grocery shelves. Having said that I will re-thing my purchases at the grocery store. The safety of GMO foods is unproven that is why policies requiring mandatory labelling is being demanded by those who are aware. In Canada we do not have any law stating to have GMO labels so Canadians are not aware of the foods they choose contains GMO ingredients. Unlike Europe there is a law against GMO foods all together.
biotechnology. Also known as GE foods, foods created by merging DNA from different species. The brief history behind GMO is that the FDA in 1994 approved the first GMO crop with the Flavr Savr tomato since then it has been widely used in North America.
    
 "These concerns among farmers and informed groups of consumers does not translate to the average consumer. They are too far removed from the concerns of the farming community," says Andreas Boecker, an associate professor at the University of Guelph whose research includes studying consumer acceptance of GM foods.

My eco friends there is a movement happening against GMO I hope you can inform your friends and families on it and join to stop or at least we deserve to know. Food is our basic necessity of life we need food to keep us nourish not to make us sick or worst kill us.  

Online Labeling Petition

Please Sign the Petition

Bring Mandatory GMO Labeling To Canada

 

http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/Bring_Mandatory_GMO_Labeling_To_Canada/

 

Ideas on how to reuse everyday products

 

Every day use product eco-friendly alternative. Why recycle when you can reuse. This week I will give you my eco friends some great ideas on how you can reuse some every day products. Recycling is a great eco-friendly practice but it’s better to use less plastic because millions of plastic each year ends up in the landfilled. True fact: Canadians produce more garbage than anyone else, the conference board calling Canada an “environmental laggard”. I did some further research to back up this information and let you all be aware of how wasteful we are. According to Statistics Canada, we Canadians produce about 21 million tons of trash annually, about 690 kilograms per person. I hope you are as shock as I was because the number is very high. Canadians buy so many disposable products when it comes to reuse we are the worst. This brings me to giving you my eco-friends some tips on how you can reuse some everyday products. Many items found around the house can be used in different purposes.

 

 

I have learned a great trick from my grandparents on folding the grocery plastic bag into a triangle shape. I do not how to explain it so please take a look at the picture. Its time consuming but you can do it as you are watching TV. It’s an easy way of carrying it to the grocery and it does not take up any space. Also, glass jars are a great item to reuse for storing food. So ones the jam jar is empty just clean it and keep it to use for any purpose. Old clothes can be reused as rags or donated. Packaging such as foil can and egg cartons can be donated to schools where they can use in art and craft projects. Being eco-friendly is not just about recycling it’s about making an impact on our everyday life and making eco choices. The was just some ideas on how you can reuse some everyday products. I am sure you got the idea.

 

 

Recycle old clothes - Don’t let fashion go to waste.

This weekend shopping with my cousin I came across a great topic for this week’s blog. As we walked into H&M I saw a garment collecting box. I immediately took a picture and did some research. I am very happy to be blogging about one of my favourite store being environmentally responsible as an organization. “Don’t let fashion go to waste” “long live fashion!” claiming that 95% of the textiles and clothes that end up in the landfills can be reused again.  They are welcoming clothes of any brand, in any quality and any condition. You can take your unwanted cloths to any H & M location and get a voucher for each bag you hand in. The voucher can be redeemed on your next purchase.  As you may already know H&M is a worldwide known brand they are moving forward to the new trend of making the organization environmental responsible by being the ambassador of reducing the impact of waste that comes from the fashion industry.

 

H&M are not the only major brand ambassador of the recycle clothing conscious. The GAP was the first to start out with this trend in 2010. Their marketing campaign “Recycle Your Blues” is very successful collecting more the 360,000 pairs of jeans in just 2010 combining 1,000 participating stores. Any participant received 30% off on any new premium jean.  while the insulation generated by the campaign was donated to nearly 700 homes in underserved communities and to special housing projects such as the post-Hurricane Katrina rebuilding effort. My eco-friends this is another way of helping our environment and humanity; not a difficult way shop at these stores.

I will be adding a list of the top 20 socially responsible corporation.

Solar Charger

My eco-friends this week is all about solar powered technology. Don’t you hate when your cellphone runs out of battery and you are nowhere by an outlet plug? Well I can say “story of my life” I have found a solution. I bought a phone solar charger. I got the Bamboo solar charger retail price at $35.00 from the Pacific Mall also known as the Asian Mall. You can find many interesting things there they always have the latest in technology.  So far the Bamboo is living up to the hype. The best thing is that it’s not just solar; you can plug it to your computer and charge. Then you have your charger on the go. Living in Canada we don’t get a strong sun light as we have a long winter but summer is right around the corner. I hope to use the solar aspect all summer. Simply the look of the Bamboo is eco-friendly the exterior is made out of bamboo that is where the name comes from an additional goodwill toward humanity.   It’s good for all smart phones and tablets boosting the battery up to 40%, any device with a B.Y.O USB cable. Before you buy any solar charger make sure you do your research not all live up to the hype. This product is ideal for the outdoor lovers so my eco friends enjoy it and stay eco.