Blog

Category: Environment

Eben Weiss visits Vancouver

by Danielle
Environment + Reference + Sports + Travel + Vancouver / April 22, 2012

We had the pleasure of meeting Eben Weiss (aka BikeSnob USA) last week while he was in Vancouver for his book tour. By 'we' I mean my boyfriend and myself. I had to do it cause it's my job. The BF on the other hand took time off work to tag along for fun. Not that I minded this particular working day because we rode bikes all day and it's our fave thing to do!

For those of you who don't know who Eben Weiss is, he writes the emencely popular blog bikesnousa and wrote a couple of books.

 

 

We had met him at his hotel where we all biked over the Caffé Musette for a nice cup of coffee and some snacks while we waited for legendary Amy Walker and her crew to get suited and booted for their Eben interview for bicycle.com.

Essentially they ride around town showing people riding in
real-life situations - on the streets, trails and bike routes of our city from the back of a Yuba Mundo cargo bike. It looks pretty tricky to handle but these two had the down packed.

After a couple hours of riding around beautiful Vancouver (oh and the weather was awesome btw!) we were starved so stopped for few tacos at Taqueria before heading over to Bike Dr. for the group ride.

We ended the night at Chapters where Eben answered questions from the crowd and signed stock. We talked about everything from biking and rainbows to religion and salmoning. (Grab the book, you'll know what I mean after reading it)

Following morning Eben graced our local TV waves at BT. Here's the link.

I'm pleading to get Eben up to Toronto.
I'll keep you all posted on if and when that happens.

Happy riding!

---

Bike to Work Week 2011: May 30 – June 5

by Danielle
Environment + Events + Health & Wellness / May 27, 2011

Next week is Bike to Work Week. I’m thinking of riding in to work. Again this is only a ‘thought’. And by looking outside the rain is making me not want to. Should this matter? Should I just put on the rain gear and join the other active people in town who want to either start (or continue) getting in shape or who want to stop driving their car since gas prices are at such a high cost? Dunno. I’ll let you know if I did in my next post.

I was in Toronto last week on a media meeting trip with Crystal. While walking around town we noticed these bike rental stations. Maybe we should implement the same here in Vancouver. Wonder if it will take? It’s a pretty cool and inexpensive idea. For $4 you can rent one for 24 hours.

Are you riding to work for Bike to Work Week? Or are you thinking about jumping on the wagon? Let us know! Here’s a few bike books to get you motivated if you need a bit of a push just like me.
I Love My Bike, Bike Snob, Bike Journal, Magnetic Poetry Bike Lover, Fixed and Custom Road Bike.

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

Plastiki to air on National Geographic Canada on Earth Day

by Danielle
Environment / April 15, 2011

With Earth Day on April 22, I thought it fitting to share with you an intriguing book by David Mayer de Rothschild. PLASTIKI recounts a voyage that took de Rothschild and a five-person crew 10,000 miles from the U.S. to Australia, sailing through rarely traveled, dangerous waters, risking their lives to call attention to our fragile oceans. Their exploration included urgent study of ocean pollution, island nations threatened by rising seas, damaged coral reefs, and the acidifying ocean itself and their discoveries are a call to action.

---

Lonely Planet Comes To The Aid Of Stranded Traveler’s With Free City Guide iPhone Apps

by Crystal
Environment + News + Travel + Vancouver / February 02, 2011

Lonely Planet is once again coming to the aid of travelers stranded across Canada and the US do to snowstorms! For 72 hours Lonely Planet is offering 14 of it's iPhone City Guide apps for free.

“We recognize that travelers are stuck all over the country due to these recent storms and will need access to our content”, said John Boris, Lonely Planet’s Managing Director. “Thus, we made all our USand CanadianiPhoneCityGuide apps free so that regardless of whether they are stuck in a blizzard or on the beach, they can easily download the practical information and recommendations we provide straight onto their phone”. 

The 14 guides will be free in the iTunes App Store from 5pmPST on Tuesday, February 1^st to 5pmPST Friday, February 4^th 2011.

 

The cities available are:

·         San Francisco

·         New York City

·         Boston

·         Washington DC

·         Chicago

·         Seattle

·         New Orleans

·         Vancouver

·         Las Vegas

·         Miami

·         Toronto

·         Los Angeles

·         Montreal

·         Fort Myers & Sanibel

 

Lonely Planet has a history of helping stranded travelers, having offered their EuropeaniPhoneCityGuide apps free during the eruption of Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull and again during the Christmas snowstorms. This is the first time they’ve offered their US or Canadian city guides for free.

---

10 Green Architecture and Design Books

by Dan
Architecture + Design & Typography + Environment / April 22, 2010

To continue our Earth Day theme today, here's a list of 10 new and recent books for architects and designers about sustainable building and design: 

1. 1000 New Eco Designs and Where to Find Them by Rebecca Proctor
2. Designing Sustainable Packaging: A guide to eco-friendly packaging design by Scott Boylston
3. Earth Architecture by Ronald Rael (paperback coming soon!)
4. Ecodesign: The Sourcebook by Alastair Fuad-Luke
5. The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture by Alanna Stang and Christopher Hawthorne
6. Green Roof: A Case Study by Christian Werthmann
7. The Hybrid House:Designing With Sun, Wind, Water, and Earth by Catherine Wanek
8. LEED Materials: A Resource Guide to Green Building by Ari Meisel
9. Off the Grid Homes: Case Studies for Sustainable Living by Lori Ryker
10. Prefab Green by Michelle Kaufmann and Catherine Remick

---

10 Books for a Greener Life

by Dan
Environment / April 22, 2010

If you are looking for ways to be more environmentally-friendly, here are 10 books that will help you to green your home, your kitchen and your life:

1. 1001 Ways to Save the Earth by Joanna Yarrow
2. Anna Getty's Easy Green Organic by Anna Getty
3. Cool Cuisine: Taking the Bite Out of Global Warming by Laura Stec and Eugene Cordero
4. Eco-Chic Home: Rethink, Reuse & Remake Your Way to Sustainable Style by Emily Anderson
5. Go Green: How to Build an Earth-Friendly Community by Nancy H. Taylor
6. Green by Design: Creating a Home for Sustainable Living by Angela Dean
7. It's Easy Being Green: A Handbook for Earth-Friendly Living by Crissy Trask
8. New Green Home Solutions: Renewable Household Energy and Sustainable Living by Dave Bonta and Stephen Snyder
9. Squeaky Green: A Method Guide to Greening Up Your Cleaning Up by Adam Lowry and Eric Ryan
10. Your Eco-Friendly Home: Buying, Building, or Remodeling Green by Sid Davis

Happy Earth Day!!

---

Happy Earth Day World!!

by Danielle
Environment + Food & Drink / April 21, 2010

 

Here's an excerpt from ANNA GETTY'S GREEN ORGANIC: COOK WELL, EAT WELL, LIVE WELL, the ultimate guide to anything and everything that is good for our earth.

Enjoy!!

 

 

Zucchini and Sweet Potato Bread with Pumpkin Seeds and Dried Cherries
Makes one 9-BY-5-inch loaf
crumble topping
1⁄4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons cold
unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

zucchini and sweet potato bread
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1⁄4 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground
cinnamon
1 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup grated zucchini (about 1 1⁄2 small zucchini)
1 cup grated garnet yam (about 1⁄2 large garnet yam)
3⁄4 cup pumpkin seeds
3⁄4 cup dried cherries

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan.
2. To make the topping, mix together the flour, brown sugar, and pumpkin seeds. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Set aside.
3. To make the bread, in a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking
powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
4. In a large bowl, beat together the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Mix in the zucchini and yam. Add the flour mixture, pumpkin seeds, and dried
cherries and stir well. Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the batter.
5. Bake the bread for 1 1/2 hours, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the bread comes out clean.
6. Let the zucchini bread cool in the pan before removing it from the pan
to serve.

---

Natural Houses

by Dan
Architecture + Environment / March 17, 2010

For architects Arthur Andersson and Chris Wise, the fundamental elements that give buildings meaning are found in nature and Natural Houses: The Residential Architecture of Andersson-Wise presents seven exquisitely crafted homes by this Austin, Texas-based firm.

Filling everyday activities with poetry and awe, their designs address both pragmatic needs and the psychological yearning for refuge and contemplation, centering and escape, joy and comfort. 

Here's a sneak preview of the work featured in the book:

---

Unchopping a Tree

by Dan
Art & Photography + Environment / January 12, 2010

Lewis Blackwell's beautiful book The Life and Love of Trees has been receiving a lot of media attention recently, not least from Ellen Degeneres. But if you need reminding why trees are important, take a couple of minutes to watch this stunning film by artist and architect Maya Lin for the What Is Missing Foundation:

Maya Lin - Unchopping a Tree from What is Missing? Foundation on Vimeo.

(via Kottke)

---

Talking about The Life and Love of Trees with Ellen

by Siobhan
Animals & Nature + Art & Photography + Environment + Excerpts / January 05, 2010

In case you missed it over the holidays, here's Lewis Blackwell's interview with Ellen about two of his passions - trees and photography - which he has married in his truly gorgeous book, The Life and Love of Trees.

The book really is stunning - everyone who picks it up seems to have the same reaction as Ellen.

If you haven't seen it yet, have a look at's an  are few images from the book posted on the this slideshow of images from the book posted on the website for O, The Oprah Magazine.

---

Page 1 of 3 pages  1 2 3 >