TaxFreeCigarettes

Vasil is the author of Ecoholic: when you are addicted to the planet and a regular columnist for Now magazine, the culture and issues oriented, free entertainment weekly in Toronto. We all worry about global warming. We all want to help the environment. But how do we start? By reading Ecoholic. In her introduction, Vasil states, “The tough part is that figuring out what’s green and what’s ‘greenwash,’ what’s eco-friendly and what’s ozone-deadly can be downright dizzying.” The great news is Vasil has done the work for us. Vasil’s wonderful,clear, exhaustively researched and, most importantly, extremely helpful book is just what every confused and concerned consumer needs. Our conversation about plastic bottles continues and Vasil explains that it is not just the oil that makes bottled water so insidiously dangerous. Maybe we justify using bottled water because the bottles are recyclable. But to produce the 1.5 million tonnes of “virgin plastic” the bottles start from, “all sorts of nasty benzene and ethylene oxide, are emitted during the manufacturing process.” Ecoholic is upbeat, as is Vasil. There is no guilt trip here, no doom or gloom. “The last thing I want people to do is get overwhelmed,” Vasil says. “I want people to be motivated to take action and being overwhelmed doesn’t help that.” Just the facts, ma’am as Joe Friday used to say on Dragnet. And, that is what Vasil provides — each fact more fascinating than the one before. Startling, motivating, necessary facts, which make clear the impact of each consumer action we take. Vasil also provides alternatives by naming products, companies and sources for environmentally friendly and non-toxic goods. She includes websites and contact information. Since Vasil is a Canadian writer and since she has clearly done her research, the information covers communities and products across Canada. Now here is a fact that instantly motivated me to take action. Though I don’t own a dog, I love to walk dogs in my neighbourhood. “If you’re walking your dog three times daily, and he’s got an active digestive system and lives to be, say 16, that’s 17,520 bags worth! Now doesn’t it seem silly to put perfectly biodegradable dog poop into a bag that takes over 100 years to break down?” Vasil names a company that produces biodegradable and compostable bags that take only 40 days to break down. (Cats owners take note; you too can use these bags when you empty the litter box.) The table of contents reveals how comprehensive the book is, with more than 300 pages of data, suggestions and product information. The book begins by looking at health and cosmetic products. Vasil makes clear the confusing labels and demystifies what she calls “greenwashing,” the use of misleading terms, such as organic to make a product look harmless. Chapters cover topics ranging from What Not to Wear, Food for Thought, Kid Stuff, Where the Heart Is (about the home), Big Issues and more. Just when I thought that the impact on one’s health was reason enough to stop people from smoking, I ran into this information in Ecoholic. If you smoke a pack a day, 26 trees are destroyed every year, to bring you that pack of cigarettes. “One tree is axed and bleached for every 300 cigarettes rolled in paper. That’s one tree every two weeks if you smoke a pack a day.” 555 Belomorkanal Bond Camel Chesterfield Dallas Davidoff Dunhill Epique Esse Gauloises Karelia Kent L&M Lucky Strike Magna Marlboro Marlboro Mild Seven Monte Carlo More Pall Mall Parliament Peter I R1 Rothmans Russian Style Salem Sobranie Sovereign Viceroy Virginia Slims Vogue West Winston

This entry was posted on Monday, August 20th, 2007 at 5:05 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.