Green Calgary's Blog

Green Calgary has a new Executive Director we'd love for you to meet! Nirmala Naidoo is an award winning, veteran journalist who’s worked for Canadian, British, and American television networks. In 2016, she was considering a news position in Beijing, China, when something caused her passion for the environment to soar. She was told that if she moved to Beijing, her children would have to wear masks everyday due to pollution. She immediately thought, “How can I knowingly put my children into that situation?” Then she equally thought, “How can I knowingly live on this side of the planet, and NOT do anything to protect the environment?” After leaving journalism, Nirmala went on to be a senior manager at the Alberta Climate Change Office before becoming Executive Director at Green Calgary. As Nirmala writes: My parents taught me that education is power and education is freedom. For decades, Green Calgary has done exactly that: empowering people through knowledge, to help us und

We've discussed conscious consumerism on our blog before, such as with our 2017 article Top 10 Ways to be an Ethical Shopper , but when it comes down to it, the crux of being a conscious consumer is just thinking about your purchases before you make them. Here are the five steps to consider before you make the buy: Step 1: Do You Need It? Before anything else, you need to determine if your purchase is even necessary. Of course, we all need new things once in a while, and we don't want to totally give up on gift giving (to others and to ourselves), but sometimes our purchases are really not necessary and we all need to learn to recognize that. Step 2: Is There an Alternative? Okay, so you need something, whether that's a gift, some new clothes, or whatever else. Now, it's worth considering whether there are any alternatives to that thing that doesn't mean buying something. Can you reuse or fix something you already have? Can you borrow it from someone inste

Every year, I try to be well-prepared for the holidays. I know people who are very prepared - they have a schedule and everything goes smoothly. That never seems to be me, though. Between a packed social calendar, trying to make it to friends' Christmas parties, a work celebration, and family events, on top of a hectic schedule of shopping, baking, making travel plans, and more, I never seem to have time to put much into holiday decorations! To be really green, I should probably make my own and reuse them for years, but I've never really had the time for that, either! Here are some holiday decorations that you can make/put up that are easy AND pretty green, too! 1. Make a Gourd Display: I haven't tried this one yet, it was just an idea I had when I sat down to make this list, so maybe it needs some refinements, but why not get a mix of a bunch of different gourds and squashes and make a little display of them? Sort of like decorative gourds for harvest, but then you

It's November, which means that holiday parties are just around the corner. You may have even begun planning them already! But whatever phase of planning your in, we have some ideas for you on how to plan this holiday season with sustainability in mind! 1) Conceptualize. Party planning begins way back in the concept phase. Make yourself a list of things you need to have at the party, things you want to have, and things you don't want to have. Once you have this list in front of you, you can see where your priorities lie and start shifting things around. This lets you make a master "to do" list quite easily. It's right in this phase where you can start the groundwork of making your part sustainable. 2) Research. Now that you have your master "to do" list, you can look at how each step can be handled in the most sustainable way. If you have food on your list, you can start to ask: what kind of food, where do I get it, what do I do with the lefto

It's Calgary in the middle of the Fall - that means snow, temperatures that whip up and down like a yo-yo, and the looming threat of Winter that will come soon but who-knows-when. Calgarians have it tough when it comes to cleaning and winterizing our homes - it's easy to do things too early or too late. For me, the outside of the house is already winterized - meaning that the garden has been harvested (the last of the tomatoes went into this tomato ginger soup some of you might recognize from our Meatless Monday posts) and all the pots and equipment has been washed and stacked. But what can I do inside to clean and prep for winter? Here are five ideas that you might not have gotten to yet! 1 Reorganize Storage: This is a great time to reorganize storage space. You can switch out summer clothing for winter clothing, and while you're at it declutter these spaces. Charities and thrift stores will be looking for donations around this time to prepare for the holidays,