Columnists

After seeing the new Sherlock Holmes movie tonight, my partner and my folks and I stepped out of the theatre into a snow globe. Or so it appeared — it was a total whiteout.

With only about 55 kilometres to travel, it’s usually an easy trip, but since we had to creep along at less than half the speed limit, and since it was somewhat easier to see without any lights on at all, just watching the ghost of the guard rail along the edge of the St. Lawrence River, the drive took a little longer than usual.

Big storms like tonight’s are a good reminder of the power of nature. The storm was scary, but as the big white flakes settled lightly upon everything, they made everything beautiful.

Today my dad and my aunt and I got up early to do the
Christmas Bird Count. This is an initiative of the Audubon Society that’s coordinated by Bird Studies Canada north of the border.

While it was freezing rain, and thus rather slippery out, we braved the weather in the Frontenac Arch region to track down as many little chirpers as possible. By going out bird watching for several hours, we were adding puzzle pieces to the entire picture of bird health in North America. This is nothing new — the bird count’s being going on since 1900 when people began to notice changes in bird populations. It’s great to be able to help experts see the trends in bird populations across North America.

In spite of the drizzle keeping most birds hidden in the treetops or huddled among the bushes, we saw some of the usual suspects around my parents’ house, such as the common mergansers, chickadees, a white-breasted nuthatch, but there was also a silhouette a shady high-fliers, a bald eagle early in the day and a raven. My dad even spotted a “v” formation of 17 snow geese.

Some people make the bird count a little easier by topping up their bird feeders the day before and doing the first part of the Christmas bird count out the kitchen window, and I don’t blame them, especially on days like today.

Even if you’ve missed the bird count, it’s worth keeping a log of the birds that visit your area from year to year, to get your own idea of the health of local bird populations (not to mention a few priceless photos). You can spot the birds, but you can also listen for them to identify them. Here’s a site of bird calls to help you figure out who’s who.

Have you seen any interesting birds at your feeder this year?

I love eating locally — not just the idea of it, but the flavours of unusual varieties, like the Cippolini onions from Pfennings Farms in Baden, Ont. and potatoes called “cranberry reds” from Kawartha Farms. While local produce offerings may be slimming down at this time of year, I know many of them can still take centre stage at my family’s Christmas dinner.

Let’s talk turkey. I am a wholehearted convert to a locally raised bird. Not only is a smaller bird operation more sustainable, healthier and a great source of jobs on the rural landscape, those turkeys are delicious. (And I’m actually glad not to have my turkey injected with butter, thank you!) For Thanksgiving, my mom ordered a turkey from Wendy Banks, local food distributor in the Frontenac Arch region. If you would like to try a local bird, your neighbourhood butcher shop might have some unfrozen turkey for sale, as might specialty grocery stores.

When it comes to veggies for Christmas dinner, it’s hard to beat mashed potatoes made with local spuds. (No really, they’re hard to beat, but put some elbow grease into it and you’ll get there!) Here are a few of my favourite Homemakers holiday recipes made with home-grown foods.
- Here is Andrew Chase’s favourite turkey recipe. (Andrew is Homemakers’ food editor.)
- If you have a little time before the meal, go for Carrot Souffle with Parsley Sauce. It’s delish, so make sure you save a full serving for yourself!
- Yes, rutabaga can be mouthwatering. Try Maple-Glazed Rutabaga and Parsnips.
- You could have the usual stuffing. Or you could go all-out and have Bacon, Celery Root and Rye Bread stuffing!
- You could have pumpkin pie for dessert, or you could have Squash Custard with Ginger Caramel. Mmm!

Have a local wine with your Christmas dinner and you’ll have one a truly green Christmas!

What are your favourite holiday dishes?

We’re five days away from Christmas, when many people around the world will join in the annual ritual of giving and receiving. I’m predicting that economic conditions have danced with the crafter movement to create a surge of hand-made gifts this year.

I’m not very good at making things, aside from little songs, so I love to receive a hand-made photo scrapbook, hand-made cards, all things hand-knit… and pretty much anything made with love. But there’s one class of stuff that no one wants under the tree: upcycled handicrafts.

The definition of upcycling isn’t yet set in stone, but it strikes me as: using materials pretty much as-is to construct or adorn new materials.

Whether it’s a picture frame decorated with used dental flossers, a doll’s head making an appearance on a toilet paper cosy or an old sock repurposed into a fruit protector, some things, as documented on Regretsy, are just not meant to be reused.

Hey, I’m sure there are great ways to upcycle. All I’m saying is, in this case, it may be better to give upcycled items to a true fan: oneself.

Prove me wrong! Do you have a great idea for a gift made with reused materials?

No doubt it’s tough to stare down emissions targets in the midst of a global recession. With so many individual interests squaring off against global interests in the carbon-reduction game, it’s surprising that delegates to the UN Climate Change Conference have been able to hammer out any sort of a framework. But they have.

The proposed Copenhagen Accord seeks to limit increases in world temperature (compared to “pre-industrial times”) to 2 degrees C “to avert impacts such as floods, heat waves, species extinctions and rising ocean levels.” The Accord also sets out carbon emission reductions worldwide by 50 per cent by 2050.

It sounds like, in the final hours of the negotiations, various parties are coming in with a hose and watering down the language, such as leaving the timeframe the Accord must be finalized by open-ended. As the minutes tick by toward day’s end, I hope that the thousands of determined individuals at the conference can keep the Accord meaningful.

Our biodiversity and our security depend on action, and I think our sense of hope for the future does as well. It all depends on whether we’re prepared to make sacrifices and endure change today that will lead to a much healthier tomorrow. Or, that is, whether our leaders are prepared to sign on the dotted line and make those changes.

What do you think: Is it better to have a watered-down agreement than no agreement at all? Or should we hold out for a more ambitious Accord?

As Christmas approaches, I really look forward to that time at the end of the day, when all of my work is done and I can take some time to wrap some gifts. Sometimes I can find a holiday movie on TV, or I’ll turn on some music, and I’ll set down on the living room floor with my stamps and ink pads, kraft paper, bits of ribbon and start wrapping.

While I usually buy a few gift bags and some tissue paper (I found some at Indigo printed on recycled paper this year!), I find I can wrap most of my gifts with materials I’ve saved over the year. (So yes, if you gave me a gift in a bag, you may see that bag again one day.) My family has always been a bit thrifty this way, and I’m sure we’re not the only ones.

Here are a few ways you can wrap gifts a little greener (and save some money too):

- Cut the front flap from holiday cards and use them as gift cards. (You can even cut shapes out of the card and use it for a tag)
- Use kraft paper, an uncoated paper that’s often made with recycled paper. It’s sold in big rolls in post offices and office supply stores. I love to decorate kraft paper with stamps — but that’s because I can’t draw!
- Wrap gifts in newsprint and add some pretty ribbon (perhaps a piece you’ve saved from another gift!). If you don’t like the look of newspaper, use it to hide your gift, but top with a layer of tissue paper, or even decorated plain paper.
- Reuse gift bags. We get some gift bags at Homemakers that have labels and stickers on them, but I collect these and paste decorative paper over the label.
- Make a reusable shopping bag your gift bag. Even plain organic cotton bags and string bags can look nice paired with some pretty ribbon! Another reuseable container: plant pots!
- Save boxes from the recycling bin. Depending on the gift, it could be funny to receive a lovely pair of slippers inside a cereal box!
- Use novel packaging. Two years ago I received a small carpet for my sailboat. It was rolled up and shoved into a tall boot; the mating boot was shoved onto the top, and the two were sealed with tape and a lot of ribbon. Needless to say it was good for a laugh! (And I gave the boots back.)
Greener gift wrapping

And here’s a cute video showing how to use a paper bag to wrap a gift! (Sorry, I can’t embed it here at the moment.)

How do you wrap green (and save a little money)?

I wrote about great green gift ideas the other day, but I thought I should offer a few ideas for those truly last-minute gifts.

Better than that ill-fitting shirt or a box of stale chocolates, why not try a donation with lasting effect, such as to help plant trees, create wetlands, restock a river with fish or campaign against a strip mine?

But which charity should you choose? You could go with closest to home — I’d recommend your recipient’s home, and with a focus on what they love about it. Perhaps it’s a gift to a local tree-planting group, a trails organization, watershed protection charity or land trust. Your money could make the difference in rejuvinating or protecting an area your friend or family member holds dear.

Or you could go with some organizations that make a difference on the global scale, from WWF’s work on climate change to the Suzuki Foundation’s achievements in environmental education to the Nature Conservancy’s efforts to conserve habitat.

If you don’t know what that might be, have a look at the list of groups at Canadahelps.org. They make donating easy, and you can even let your recipient choose the charity!

What meaningful gifts would you like to give… or get?

The white stuff is coming down like crazy across Canada — Alberta is in a deep freeze and northern Ontario is buried under several feet of snow. It’s the time of year when you hear a unique sound in neighbourhoods everywhere: the scraping and smacking of shovels and the hum of snowblowers.

This isn’t a gripe against snow blowers. While I’m sure that, someday, we’ll have electric snowblowers rather than the gas-powered variety, I don’t begrudge anyone with a lane to clear the power of a snow-throwing machine.

While I leave the snow-blowing to the city crews, this weekend I was out annoying my neighbours with that scraping and smacking. Because the temperature hovered above freezing, I really wanted to get the ice off of my driveway and sidewalk while it was softened up, so I was out peeling and scraping it away inch by inch. If anyone was trying to nap, I’m sure my efforts were not appreciated. I was actually enjoying the cold, enjoying the physical work in the brisk air.

When I’d cleared off the slippy stuff as much as possible, I thought about what I should do to keep the road grippy for passersby. While it’s common to use salt, and while it seems like a harmless, natural substance, it is actually very harmful to plants and waterways. We know from damage to our cars just how corrosive salt is, and you may have noticed damage to trees along roadways, or irritation on pets’ paws as well. Cities with drainage into lakes and rivers can really stress the waterways with all the salt going onto roads and sidewalks, as shown in this explanation from Minnesota. While cities are looking for effective alternatives to salt, and putting themselves on a salt diet, homeowners can do a few things to help.

This winter I’m trying a couple of commercial “eco friendly” ice melting / traction products to use instead of salt. Ecos Ice Melt does a good job of breaking up slippery ice patches, and EcoTraction provides good grip underfoot, as an alternate to sand. Don’t forget that the sun is on your side: anything dark applied to ice, from sand to ashes, will heat up in the sun, will to melt holes in the ice around it.

How do you deal with ice and snow around your home?

I’m trying to make sure that most of the gifts I give this year are “green.” To me, that means thinking about where they’re made (Canada is best, North America second best), what they’re made of (recycled materials? sustainable materials? recyclable materials?) and who makes them (co-operatives? artisans? small businesses?).

The December/January issue of Homemakers features a story called “Good Gifts” written by Bonnie Schiedel; I think this story exemplifies Homemakers in that it’s items that are healthy and/or healthy for the planet that were developed by Canadians; most of the items are also made in Canada. From fruit jackets to reuseable produce bags to fab jewelry made with old jewelry, our roundup of gifts should leave both the giver and the recipient feeling great.

I’ve come across some other terrific green gifts since working on that story with Bonnie. I’ll add to this list, and welcome you to comment to add to the list too. (Note that there may be a delay before you see your comment, since I have to approve some comments.)

- A squirrel-proof bird feeder (I got one last year, it’s great!)
- A donation in your recipient’s name to a local land trust or other environmental charity
- At Kilakitu, you can buy “Kenyan Cowboy” shirts, made with recycled shirts from clothing markets in Nairobi.
- Organic beauty products, particularly those containing soothing ingredients such as shea butter, olive oil and avocado
- A luxurious rain-style low-flow showerhead
- Beautiful, sustainably made baskets from Ten Thousand Villages
- A hand-made wood or bamboo cutting board (these are often made from choice shop scraps. Choose one made with maple or another hardwood).
I’ll add more green gift ideas in the coming days!

There’s something exciting about a $50 bill (although it now longer features the Snowy Owl). And even more so about a Sir Robert Borden’s $100 bill. It’s paper full of potential. I don’t get the same kind of excitement when holding my debit card. And yet I’m prepared to forego crisp bills with beautiful designs and beautiful coins that commemorate events. I think I’d prefer digital cash.

Quick to transfer across accounts and accessible via internet from computers and smart phones, digital money is just more efficient. If you’re paid electronically you’re paid faster, without concern that your cheque got lost in the mail. (I’m amazed that cheques, essentially a piece of paper promising to pay, are still used so much!) Analog money, on the other hand, takes a lot of energy and other resources to make, transport and protect, and hey, it can even carry viruses, according to this article.

I think the missing link is a system we can use to transfer sums to each other easily. It’s no problem to send cash now — I often use Interac money transfers to send money to friends, since you only need an email address to do so. But for small purchases and people you don’t know, we need a way to transfer money.

I’m betting that, before long, we’ll use our phones for this. I’ll just enter an amount into my phone, hold it up to your phone, and “bip!” you’ll have five bucks. Ditto for paying for a public transit fare, a parking meter, a vending machine purchase and so on. And if I lose my phone, or it’s stolen, I don’t lose my money — it’s safe behind a password-protected connection to my bank.

What do you think, could you do without paper (and metal) money?