Shoppin' for some bio*life

Here's the quandary ...

In spite of it's red-white-and-blue-ness, Shoppers Drug Mart is a Canadian company, one of our largest chains at 1,055 shops. And as such, it's likely that their products end up in most Canadian homes. Personally, I've tried to resist the call of this lumbering siren by shopping at our own very successful, local, small town pharmacy, Yurek's, which has been around since 1963, only one year less than Shoppers. But there are times when I seem to need acres of stuff to choose from to remind me that, in reality, my needs are quite simple.

One enterprise a Super Pharmacy can undertake that an independent cannot is to brand their own product, which is why we have Life Brand and more recently bio*life. And it was the promise of bio*life which drew me back into Shoppers; finally an environmentally sensitive product truly available to the masses, 'cause there is nothing that says "destroying the planet for no good reason" more than clear-cutting ancient growth forest to make toilet paper! Thanks Kimberly-Clark.

But it's kinda weird how I can't find any information about bio*life, no matter what search engine, and even Shoppers own website will not provide any results.

My spidey senses are tingling.

In December I sent an email to Shoppers asking for a bit more information;

Thank you so much for your Bio*Life product line! Up to now, I have been buying my recycled paper products at Whole Foods in Toronto and can now shop more frequently at Shoppers (much more convenient and a better price!)

I have been unable to learn more about your product line - there doesn't seem to be any information on the internet. Could I have some more information about the Bio*Life paper products such as; is the paper from Canada? Is the toilet tissue made in Canada or is the product just assembled / packaged here? Thank you for your help!

to which I received a friendly, informative response;

Hello,

Thank you for writing us and for your interest in our Bio Life products. Regrettably, we are unable to provide detailed manufacturer information on the Bio Life products because it is proprietary information.

Please do not hesitate to contact the Customer Service Call Centre at 1-800-SHOPPERs should you have any further questions or comments or require immediate assistance. Regards,Trevor, Customer Service

Fair enough Trevor, it's none of my business. But I did have further questions, prompted by their constant promotion (thanks for the invitation Shoppers);

Dear Shoppers Drug Mart
It was a very good day when I received a Shopper’s Drug flyer some months ago and saw the announcement of your bio*life products. Suddenly folks had a couple less reasons not to buy green – not only are the prices very good, but most everyone has access to a Shoppers!

My question is this; will Shoppers be eliminating the products from their own brand which compete with the bio*life items? Since bio*life is “tough on dirt, easy on the environment”, what does that say about your Life Brand equivalents?

Shoppers Drug Mart seems genuine in wanting to provide Canadians with healthier products, not just because it is a growing market. And so, it seems to me, now that you have your own environmentally friendly products that you should discontinue what would now be considered your own environmentally unfriendly products, which compete with your own line.I look forward to many more bio*life products! Thank you, Neil Hubert

to which I received a friendly, informative response;

Hello Neil,
Thank you for your E-mail complimenting our Bio Life products. It is always a pleasure to receive such positive feedback from our customers. Our promise is to provide superior customer satisfaction beyond expectation.

At this time, we do not have any current plans to discontinue our other Life Brand household cleaning products, however your comments will be forwarded to our Corporate Brands Department for future consideration.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to share your comment with us and please do not hesitate to contact the Customer Service Call Centre at 1-800-SHOPPERs should you have any additional comments or concerns.

Regards, Angela, Shoppers Drug Mart/Pharmaprix Customer Service

Well Angela, blah, blah, blah - it feels like just another grab for my "green" dollar, a dollar which I was going out of my way to hand over.

Since the bio*life toilet paper carries the Ecologo and yet, oddly, bio*life and/or Life brand is not listed on the Ecologo website, in February I contacted Ecologo, our federal program which "is a tool to find, understand, and trust genuinely “green” products";

Good morning.
I’ve been on your EcoLogo website for a couple of days attempting to answer my own questions but find I cannot find the information I am looking for, so must ask for your help. I recently purchased Shoppers Drug Mart bio*life bathroom tissue. The package features your EcoLogo and claims to be made from “100% post consumer paper deflected from landfill”. When I asked for confirmation of this from Shoppers, they responded with “Regrettably, we are unable to provide detailed manufacturer information on the Bio Life products because it is proprietary information”. I now find that they are not listed on your website under Certified Green Products or Participating Companies. Can you please confirm that they are entitled to display the EcoLogo and are satisfying your certification requirements? Thank you for your time, Regards Neil Hubert

This time I received no response at all - not even a ping-back indicating they'd received my inquiry. So I sent it again and on April 15th I received this response;

Neil

Thank you for the email, I had not received your previous attempt and apologize for the seemingly lack of response. We are currently looking into the Bio-life brand and will let you know if it is a misuse or not upon further investigation.
Best,
Sales & Marketing Coordinator TerraChoice Environmental Marketing

While all of this was going on, something very nice happened; I received a Canadian Tire flyer with an ad for Cascades Enviro toilet paper.

Now, I'm familiar with Cascades, and their Enviro line from having purchased it at Whole Foods in Toronto. Not only is Cascades a Canadian company, they are proud of their environmental achievements and there is endless chat and stats to be found on their corporate website, and their simplegreenaction sub-site.

Their products carry several certification logos and a facts chart listing;
100% recycled content, majority post-consumer
0% Virgin fibre
0% chlorine bleaching
80% water saved
100% hypoallergenic
and even the packaging is made of recycled material.

And though I'm no fan of Canadian Tire, thanks largely to the thugs our local store is staffed with, I am very pleased they are offering this Cascade product, and at a very good price of $5.99 for 24 double rolls. I've also seen it at A&P supermarkets.
Cascades also make other 100% recycled paper products such as paper towel, facial tissue, napkins and copy/printer paper.

So, our excuses not to make healthier environmental choices are sinking away, like squares of toilet paper flushed down the crapper, pardon the product tie-in.

Now if only Yurek's would stock Cascades Enviro and our local stationer would stock their 100% recycled paper .... next emails

Un-canny

Early in Thom Hartman’s fascinating Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, Thom hypothesizes that if on Monday we humans discovered how to preserve food (drying, salting etc.), then on Tuesday we discovered conquering. Thom’s theory is that once we learned how to store food to consume at a later date, rather than immediately eating what we harvested or killed, we then felt the need to accumulate as much as possible, by whatever means.

Ah, the dawn of pillaging.

Jump ahead thousands of years and we’re now so removed from our food that most of what we eat has been “stored” by someone else. This is not only because we no longer grow our own food; we’re also accustomed to eating whatever we want, whenever we have the hankering. Waiting for a food to “come into season” before purchasing simply isn’t good for food business. The reality is most people don't think twice about buying fresh summer fruit in the winter months - I'm just now attempting to be more diligent, making a shift in my consciousness.

It’s a tough habit to undo, our habit of convenience, especially when you want something sunny in the depths of winter. Some might call it devolution but I think of it more as righting a wrong.

And so, Robin and I have gradually un-canned our lives, one food at a time until we've found ourselves with three remaining, canned items; Utopia organic tomato paste, Heinz brown beans and Ontario Natural organic tomatoes.

Facing the realization that we likely can’t shake our dependence on these last three, I’ve contacted the manufacturers to inquire as to the safety of their canning procedures …..

Thomas Canning, the canners of our Utopia Organic Tomato Paste, though quick to let me know where we could find their product locally (I had asked that as well), would not speak to their processes.

Heinz, whom I expected would not respond at all, were quick to explain “BPA is a necessary component of the coating of cans to ensure adequate package integrity”, “it has been used safely for over 60 years” and “we regularly request updates on the research analysis of this component”. Not surprising but fair.

By far the best, most comprehensive response came from Ontario Natural / Ontario Natural Food Co-Op. I’m somewhat biased towards this organization as they are quite transparent in their concern for the health of all of us, and of the earth. They provided a fairly comprehensive, 3 page discussion of BPA, specifically with regards to its use in cans. It stated that though the highest levels of BPA were detected in cans of peas (with an average of 23 ug per can) and there was no detectable BPA found in cans of palm hearts, asparagus, peppers or tomatoes, there was in those of artichokes, mixed vegetables, corn, mushrooms and, yep, beans.
Drat.
And since I’m no gambler, as when I was a smoker kicking the habit, I’m watching our cans of brown beans dwindle, like the last few cigarettes in my last pack.

And yes, home made baked beans are in my future. Anyone care to share grandma's recipe?

BPA / #7 plastic - confusing, possibly bad news

Like Teflon, Polycarbonate plastic pops up in the news fairly often.

The typical pattern consists of a warning, often alarming, posted by an environmental group (Greenpeace, Environmental Working Group etc.) followed quickly by a denial from The Society of the Plastics Industry (S.P.I.), usually drawing on historical data from previous case studies.

Back and forth, the unending war between those groups apparently most concerned about health and those apparently most concerned about wealth. Add the fact that the plastic is hard to recycle (it's #7 in the PIC, plastic identification code) and my spidey-sense tells me something's up.

No one seems to disagree with what this plastic does; it leaches BPA, bisphenol A, into whatever the bottle contains, which is typically water or formula as food-grade polycarbonate seems most often utilized in water and baby bottles. The disagreement stems from what amount is considered to be an acceptable, tolerable level.

Because BPA mimics estrogen in our bodies, it is considered to be an endocrine disruptor.

And that's not good ...


From The Hormone Foundation,
"via a network of glands and organs that produce, store and secrete certain hormones ... the endocrine system works with the nervous system, reproductive system, kidneys, gut, liver and fat to maintain and control;
* body energy levels
* reproduction
* growth and development
* internal balance of body systems (homeostasis)
* responses to surroundings, stress and injury

Not a system you'd want to obstruct, especially given the prevalence of related diseases.

So while they duke it out, deciding if 100 micro-thingeys is acceptable, but 101 maybe isn't, I figure I'm better safe than sorry, so goodbye water bottle. I'm still looking for the best substitute, which hopefully isn't a donkey bladder. Glass is heavy and I'm clumsy so I might go with stainless steel and select a SIGG bottle with a safe lining.


Unfortunately, now I'm hearing more and more about the presence of BPA in canned food, due to the epoxy resin lining. Again, we know it's there but the one hand says it's poisoning and the other hand says it's better than botulism.

Seemingly, fewer and fewer folks are continuing to use the old Nalgene bottles (especially since companies such as M.E.C. have stopped selling them), but everyone has a can opener. For all I know there's a correlation between the amount of canned food one consumes and the incidence of certain diseases - yikes!

As diligent as we are about eating non-packaged, minimally processed foods, like most people in similar climates there are periods of time when we're can-opening, not peeling, while preparing portions of our meals.

Not including my emergency kit which is heavy with cylinders of beans and soups, we generally eat three foods out of cans; baked beans, organic tomato paste and organic tomatos. And as much as I'm inclined to pat myself on the back and think oh goody for me, we eat very little canned food, it occurs to me that highly acidic food like, say, tomoto products, could pose a higher risk of jeopardizing the integrity of a can's lining. And what of temperature levels? My canned food is stored in the kitchen yet perhaps it should be kept in a cooler place. I suddenly have many questions for the canning industry.


While I'm at it, I should also explore the validity of Eden Organics claim that they don't line their cans with epoxy resin, presumably making them safer.


And what of the people who produce that little bit of canned food I regularly eat? I don't know enough about any of these companies, so I guess I'll contact these three (Heinz, Utopia and Ontario Natural) and ask them to respond to my fears of contamination; as when visiting the doctor, we have to be our own health care advocates.

Fingers crossed - I'm not ready to start baking my own beans.

bobbin' in my noggin'

A few things I'm working on ...




Toothpaste
- why can't I swallow it (there's actually a warning on the tube) and should my sensitivity toothpaste have additional whitening agents? They all seem to, but don't they cancel each other out?
- the C.D.A. crest - it's the dental industry's badge of honour, but is it reliable (or is this another "Heart Check" program)


Recycling
- why the residents of a neighbouring Township can recycle more than we can in St. Thomas, and what I think we can do about it


Packaging
- Germans can undress in the supermarket - maybe we should too



BPA / #7 Plastic
- more bad news, and something possibly worse (for us Canadians at least)


bio*life @ Shopper's
- I trust Environment Canada's EcoLogo, but can I trust those who display it?


Eckart Tolle and Oprah
- we've joined the world's biggest classroom for a 10 part webinar beginning March 3

Our Hoop House
- this time next year, we could be eating "green" greens from our own backyard

Our $500 Facelift - Part 2 - Feeling Good

House paint can be pretty nasty, and the toxicity is largely due to the presence of V.O.C.s (volatile organic compounds) releasing chemicals into our air, impacting our health and increasing smog.

This is why, simply put, paint is stinky.

Most surface coating manufacturers now have low V.O.C. “green” collections, while some, such as Safecoat in the U.S., make nothing but low or no V.O.C. coatings.

Environment Canada’s Environmental Choice Program slaps an Eco-Logo on products which meet strict requirements including ceilings on the levels of V.O.C., making it a bit easier when shopping. It gets complicated for me when I have to put my money where my mouth is. Many paint companies, particularly those selling to the eco market, seem to consider “safe” or “healthy” products to mean “exclusive” and therefore charge premium prices.
It can be tough to keep your integrity without being fleeced. Realistically, how much extra am I willing to pay for something that should be the norm?

There are three outlets for paint in St. Thomas. I wasn’t going to bother with hardware stores because I am trying to learn from my mistakes and, therefore, thought we should be establishing a relationship with a company that was going to do more than sell us paint one day, and a steel brush with which to remove it the next.

Our first stop was PARA Paints; I was armed with room measurements and a criteria document from Environment Canada.

As soon as we uttered “green”, we were escorted to a collection called “Boomerang”.

A clever concept offered by many paint manufacturers, this is a recycled product made from re-tinted leftover paint. Available in a limited, but not unattractive palette, it wasn’t what we were looking for, but something to check off my “this company should be like this” list.

If Boomerang was within our colour scheme, at $15 per 4L can, this collection would have saved us roughly 65% on paint costs. It would also satisfy my minimal toxin requirement as all latex interior paints stocked by PARA are low V.O.C., with plans in the future to make them even lower.
At 90g/l for Boomerang, and 83g/l for all other PARA collections, the V.O.C. count is well within government 50g to 150g parameters (the variance is due to finish texture, from flat at 50g to gloss at 150g).

In addition to the $$$ savings, the recycling concept would have meant a substantial “green” plus - as Boomerang appears to be the only recycled paint made in Canada, it’s our water table that old paint is being diverted from.

Interestingly, in the blurb you can click to above, Laurentide Inc. claims "the V.O.C. content of Boomerang® brand water-based paints (90 g per litre) is significantly lower than Environment Canada’s 2008 standard, 250 g per litre for recycled paint" when in fact the maximum allowable amount is 150g. So, still very good but a little over zealous.

Since PARA doesn’t produce a special low V.O.C. collection, the bottom line for us was we were able to choose any colour and pay regular prices. I also like the fact that PARA has been 100% Canadian since it’s beginnings in 1915.

Check, Check, Check – we were sold and my checklist was mostly complete.

Then we were shown something called an “Enviro-Kit”, by Dynamic Paint Products in Mississauga. It consisted of the usual roller, roller brush, edger brush and tray, but the difference was that the tray was 100% recycled plastic and the edger brush had a replaceable head.

Final check.

So, PARA provided affordable, low V.O.C. paint in the colours we wanted with recycled supplies all backed with, quite honestly, superlative service and advice.

Our next big job is the basement floor with its on-going saga, and our weeny woony loo, it’s wallpaper torn off and the toilet still not cooperating.
I thought I was ready to start planning that, before our neighbour Laura showed me a magazine from Australia which featured a toilet with a sink in the top which directly collects the grey water for flushing …
Hmmm …

Our $500 Facelift - Part 1 - Looking Good

Astrologically speaking, 2 Cancers living together equals some serious pressure on the crab shell to satisfy a wide range of nesting needs.

Add to that the fact my wish list is quite different from Robins; he wants to stay ahead of structural weaknesses and has some clear ideas about landscaping, whereas I want the building to be extremely energy efficient with the ability to function off-grid if necessary.

Our wee home has brought us both more than halfway to our goals, for which we are very grateful. But prior to mapping out further depletion of our nestegg, we agreed it was time to inject some colour into our surroundings. After 8 months of living in the house, experiencing dark days and bright full mooned nights, it seemed the calming, austere palette wasn’t working for us.

It was time to paint.
And paint we did, from the inside front door foyer, through the living room, down the hall to the bedroom, the office, kitchen and dining/sun room.

One full week, five rooms, seven colours … (and two feedings from friends and family)

From the front door, a turquoise called Wasaga Beach runs from the foyer, folding around two sides of the living room where it meets a wall of Vermillion.

These three walls are balanced with a warm grey covering the north-south expanse, the longest in the house. We had applied a beautiful, lemony yellow on this wall but found it too intense, even for us.


The arches in the closest, foyer and hallway are now fully three dimensional, popped out or sunken with contrast, and the ultrawhite woodwork and ceilings now appears pristine.

The warm grey continues south, now appearing sepia tinted, backing a gallery, which once was a hallway pass through.

The bedroom is three sides Victory Garden green, inspired by and matching perfectly a felt-like throw we recently brought home from Ikea.




The remaining fourth wall, the only in the room without a door or window, is coated with a different, warmer and greener grey.












The kitchen, once oak cupboards and pastel walls trimmed with wallpaper, is now backed in deep Balsamic with celery-like Spring Fling cupboards.




Continuing our favour of 3 walls one colour–1 wall another, we’ve applied the purple brown to 3 and covered 1 in the green.







The 10.5 ‘ x 8.5’ dining room was cool and soft, and quite bright even in the evening. Too bright for me but the sun's warmth provides much of the heat.





With the three outside walls being 80% window, I wanted to see more depth in the room, more character and warmth.






Now, the room boasts five sides of Victory Garden green, as we’ve painted the ceiling as well. The horizontal blinds are gone, replaced with Roman blinds in cream and red plaid, lined very well to prevent drafts and block blinding afternoon sun.






Its cosy and fresh, like sitting beneath a weeping willow with green arching up the solid, trunk-like wall, blocking the sky, branching down occasionally to interrupt the 180 degree window view to the outside. Some see Christmas, but we see Lodge.


My office, which is also the spare room, is study-like with three grey walls and one of green balancing the wood of the shelving, floor and furniture.




Robin’s work looks brilliant throughout the house, newly framed with these strong colours, debunking the myth the paintings show best on neutral walls, and I’ve re-set all our blinds flush within the window frames, patching the holes from where they were mounted on the outside top.



As tricky and stressful as it was to choose colours and colour combinations, to patch and tape and sometimes work freehand edging one colour to another, to disassemble the kitchen and paint cupboards, replacing hardware, as hard as that all was, the big worry for me was finding the right source for paint.

Of course, I’d done my research; Part 2 - Feeling Good