P’lovers the Environmental Store (Port Perry)

Have I told you about my Tim Horton’s boycott?

Like many Canadians, this (American) institution has been part of my life for years. Many a road trip has been kicked off by a large double - double and a walnut crunch. Heck, 13 years ago when I got married, my wife and I lived in different cities. At 4:30 a.m. every Monday morning, it was always “Tim” who rode shotgun on the 3+ hour drive on the 401 to get me home to Toronto.

No more, I’m afraid.

Thanks to my friends at the Creemore Coffee Company and a new Cuisinart coffeemaker (from Tweed & Hickory, in Port Perry), I make fabulous fair-trade, organic coffee every morning at home. Great home brewed coffee plus my (Roughrider Green) Planetary Designs travel mug and I’m ready to hit the road.

Then there is the garbage issue and this really gets me.

With the hundreds of millions of dollars that pour into Tim Horton’s every year, why can’t they make even a token effort to reduce waste?

When I bring my travel mug into the restaurant, they prepare my coffee in a throwaway paper cup (using a plastic stir-stick or straw) before they pour it into my stainless steel mug. THEN they try and give me another clean paper cup so I can “roll up the rim”. When I refuse the paper cup, they either try to push it on me or look at me as if I’m a freak.

The ecological footprint of this one single transaction is massive. Multiple that by tens of thousands like it every day.

Imagine if Canada’s largest coffee chain made a real commitment to a greener planet. Imagine organic, fair-trade coffee and tea on the menu. Imagine aggressively promoting the reduction of waste and encouraging customers to “lug-a-mug”. Imagine replacing all the paper cups with compostable cups, and using only ancient forest-friendly napkins and paper products. Imagine sourcing products and materials through local suppliers.

What a difference that would make.

Interestingly enough, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of fabulous, independent coffee shops across the country that satisfy many, if not all, of these criteria.

Two such shops right here in Port Perry are working hard to provide a greener alternative — Queen Beans Coffee House (next to P’lovers in Queen Street Commons) and For the Love of Jo. (BTW, around the corner from P’lovers in Halifax, there is a great coffee shop called “Steve-erinos”. I felt at home!!)

Catch ya’ later, Tim!

-Steve

My family and I are moving to a new home very soon! And with every new home, comes decorating and all that jazz. New hopes, new excitements, newly renewed goals and what have you.

As I go room by room, preparing for a larger home, there is a lot of items I NEED to get. And as we are hitting that stage in our lives, I am trying to make healthier investments in our home.

I have a few rooms that need work and thus have a long shopping list.

Of course, I sit on my stool here at the store, crunching the numbers associated with many of our products here at P’lovers.

Would you like a gander at my shopping list for inspiration for your own home?

The amount of research I have done is borderline ridiculous.

So lets take a look at the bathroom and baby’s bedroom and after months of research the choices I have made.

Bathroom

Hemp Shower Curtain:

I have been shocked to discover that along with matresses, our shower curtains are one of the WORST offenders of emitting toxins into our home. And not those ‘theoritical’ toxins. BIG TIME. The Canadian government is ACTUALLY exploring a ban on PVC vinyl shower curtains. Ikea phased them out 11 years ago and Japan well on the way in their process to ban ready use of PVC.

This has frugal me shaking in my boots. I can’t rationalize myself to keep within my extremely meager budget on this one. Its honestly frightening. I have spent many a minute now recalling all the times I opened a new vinyl shower curtain with its funky pattern and the ensuing dizziness, headache and annoying smell. HELLLOOOOOOOO…earth to self: THAT WAS IT POISONING ME!!! SERIOUSLY! Again, the price tag on the BEAUTIFUL hemp curtain  we have on inventory is certainly looking sweeter and sweeter the more I plug along looking for a different options. To me, its looking like the only option I am willing to select, considering the accessible market choices.

Bath Mat

One of the first things I purchased once we committed to the new home! Mmmm….an OhsoSoft Bamboo bathmat in Straw. LOVELY. Easy to wash and maintain and insanely soft.

Noting beyond my small bathroom shopping list, P’lovers carries a WHOLE selection of bathroom textiles, soaps etc.

Childs Bedroom

Yikes. Don’t get me started. This is a terrible terribly difficult shopping list for me. I have spent countless hours on this one alone, prior to the baby being born all the way to him now approaching two years old.

Mattress Options

Sigh. Besides our shower curtains, our mattresses are the most toxic offenders to our health. Honestly,  we spend SO much time in our beds, and here they are quite literally poisoning us..this upsets me tremendously. Especially now that we are transitioning our son from being a baby to being a kid and moving him into his own room.

Looking at the healthy mattress choices on the market…unfortunately, as much as I want to give myself over, I can’t feasibly find a mattress within our budget within the current market selection available to us in the Region.

So I am left improvising and creating the healthiest bed for my son.

We decided a barrier is what we needed. A good quality barrier between his skin, airways and the toxic chemicals added to standard mattress fibres. (notably the fire retardant material)

I have put on special order, a twin sized wool pile Snugsleep mattress overlay.

It is carded wool that has been shorn from the sheep and rewoven into a mesh. Its machine washable and provides wicking, a soft surface and a natural fibre barrier. Wool is also a natural flame retardant and acceptable within Canadian product laws as an alternative to the terrible chemicals proven to poison us.

I do believe the child will have to wrestle ME out of HIS bed. I can hardly wait till it arrives.

Bedding

Next I have eyed the Snugsleep Wool Duvet. Available in all sizes including a twin, I believe this will be our ethical and safe choice for a blanket for him. Not too hot for warmer months and just warm enough for cold days. Although….we have just begun carrying bamboo filled duvets which has me wrestling with my choices.

Paired with a Bamboo Duvet cover, he’ll have a nice cozy healthy within budget that will allow me to sleep without nightmares.

Neglecting of course to mention all of the adult bedroom options including kapok and buckwheat pillows.

So thankfully, two rooms in which a lot of time is spent; two rooms which could be the most toxic in our home are safely under control and within my budget.

Note: for more in depth exploration of a Healthy Home, please be sure to take a look at the P’lovers extensive collection of books that cover all aspects of this topic.

-Colleen

Recently at a staff meeting we were discussing greenwashing. It got me thinking…and that can be a dangerous thing; Jude thinking.

It brought me to this point on a dull Monday morning, what exactly is greenwashing and who is guilty of practising it?

Greenwashing, the act of painting a ‘green facade’ on something to prevent us from seeing what is underneath. It allows companies and corporations to portray themselves as environmentally conscious and responsible. It is put in place to fool us, to pull the wool (or organic cotton) over our eyes.

And I hate to admit; but it works, it works because we get tired of thinking all the time and trying so hard to sort out what is good and what is not, what we can consume and what we can’t, what we can wear, what we can’t, what we can clean with and what will cause us irreversible damage. I am here to help…

How are we able to tell if a green company’s promises are true?

• -the claims are vague and are not backed up with facts. “natural” “environmentally friendly” “good for the planet”
• -the product is billed as having ‘NO environmental impact’, this is pretty much impossible.
• -the company might just state that by purchasing their product you are ’saving the earth’.
• -the claims are not verified by a third party.
• -the green products represent a very miniscule portion of the comany’s business.
• -the company does not respond to enquiries regarding their green-ness.

So, basically we come back to Buyer Beware! We have to be aware of what we are buying, we must pay due diligence before we put our money down on the counter.

Last week a young man entered the store and approached the counter to purchase an Efforts Hemp T Shirt. Before he completed the transaction he asked some important questions about the product: where it was made and how it was transported to P’Lovers and he then asked to see the company’s website. I was pleased to answer his questions and told him it was great to have customers who care, who have that need to know what they are buying and from whom. He left the store with T Shirt in hand (he refused a bag!) and I was left with a good feeling, he went the extra mile as I did as well.

I can assure the consumer at P’Lovers that we pay close attention so that you don’t have to, but if you have any questions or curiousity about the origin or ingredients in our products, please ask, we love to chat and share our knowledge.

-Jude

Editors Note: Check out the Six Sins of Green Washing by TerraChoice for further exploration of this topic!

We also encourage customers to help educate us by referring us to resources and sharing thoughts on our products!

Woot!  Spring makes me wanna pppAArty. Brings out the ol’ college girl in me I think. Makes one lust for lazy sunny days on a patio, sunning in the backyard or strolling the shops. Port Perry is definitely bustling the past few days of sun and warmth.

We’ve propped the door at P’lovers. In wafts the customer from the street…..as well as the smoke.
BLECH.

And so sadly, with Spring comes the stink…of cigarettes.

And the butts.

Speaking of butts….there’s a certain restaurant gracing our lovely Port Perry waterfront. Whilst out for our evening walk the other night, I saw a sight that made me want to vomit. Seriously!

The ground on the other side of the patio ‘fence’ was COVERED, I mean INCHES COVERED in stanky butts. INCHES.  As though the sky had fallen and brought down a hellfire of wiggly little cigarettes worms.  It is truly repulsing…and borderline fascinating….perhaps we can make it a tourist attraction…..cause it’s definitely a sight to behold..

As the smoker tosses their butt to the ground, I IMPLORE them: SEE that you are littering.

Contrary to unfounded beliefs of the littering smoker or the marketing cig companies: cigarette filters ARE not biodegradable. It is hypothesized that it will take 12 years for a butt to break down.

So where are they going then? How are we not swimming in a sea of butts as we wade the sidewalks? (except for the exceptional ‘feast’ for the eyes outside our local watering hole)

They get swept up, they roll down the hill and into the lake. They blow in the wind to the grassy patches.

Where subsequently, my young child playing for his first summer in the park, thinks it’s something fun to either nibble upon or roll in his fingers.

Or if having landed in the lake, the fishes (what fishes are alive in our beloved lake) think it’s the edible kind of yummy worm to nibble upon.

Or all of the toxins that the smoker made the conscious decision to introduce into their body, as the hopefully informed adult they are: letches into the ground, into the water…affecting the rest of us, who have made the educated and conscious decision to not include cigarettes in our lives and family.

Smoke responsibly, take control of your litter.

-Colleen 

Some resources:

ButtsOut Canada

CigaretteLitter.org

Green-wash (green’wash’, -wôsh’) – verb: the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.

Simply that..that’s ALL I gotta say. Reflect on that for a bit.

“Six Sins of Greenwashing” A Study of Environmental Marketing in North American Markets (TerraChoice Environmental Marketing, November 2007)

-Colleen

Editor’s Note: Definitely take a few moments to read the TerraChoice study - it will be time well spent.  Then let us know what you think.  Is this even an issue?  Are there examples of greenwashing that drive you crazy?  What do you think of, say, Hybrid SUVs?  Ethanol gas?  Wal-Mart’s “we are so green” commercials?  We’d love to hear from you!

Personal Reflection
Ever see that Young and the Restless storyline featuring a scandel with poisonness dangerous chemicals in a face cream being sold from Jabbot Cosmetics? And someone died and was horribly disfigured etc etc.

Perhaps this isn’t too far from the truth in real life!

I came across a fantastic resource a few months ago: The Cosmetics Database c/o Skin Deep. I think its worth a gander. Skin Deep provides the skinny on MANY, MANY products and their ingredients. I’ve shared below the press release signaling Skin Deep’s re-launch.

A comprehensive resource in listing ingredients that are often hard to find on purpose, for many of our once beloved products. It’s getting harder and harder these days to tell what’s what and manufacturers are hinging on that.

-Colleen

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