(NC)—If everyone in Canada wrapped just three gifts in reused paper or gift bags, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 hockey rinks.* That’s a lot of paper! When wrapping your gifts this holiday season, consider making your own recycled or reusable wrapping paper.

“From old scarves to baskets, there are many common items around the house that make great wrapping for your gifts, all it takes is a little imagination ,” says Mary Desjardins, Executive Director, TD Friends of the Environment Foundation. “Not only will Mother Nature thank you, but your loved ones will appreciate the originality and your effort.”

TD Friends of the Environment Foundation (TD FEF) offers the following ideas for making your own gift wrapping this year:

• Recycle artwork—Save your child’s colourful paintings and drawings throughout the year and turn them into holiday gift wrap for grandparents and other family members.

• Photos—Make your presents picture perfect by pasting photos of family and friends on old shoe boxes or reusable bags.

• Wallpaper & newspaper—Leftover wallpaper is easy to work with, is durable and adds a pop to presents. Add some ribbon or beads for a finished look. Do you have a friend or relative who is always telling jokes? Use the comics section of your newspaper for wrapping.

• Fabric—Pick some of your most colourful scarves, festive tea towels or old clothing and get to work. Perfect for wine, any boxed item or clothing, fabric creates a beautiful and simple way to wrap presents. Secure ends with a safety pin, button or knot, and top with a bow or sprig of holly or pine for a seasonal touch. Your fabric wrapping can either be part of your gift (like a tea towel) or be used to wrap presents year after year.

www.newscanada.com

You may have noticed that things look a little different around here! The Raising Spaces team has been itching to update our online look and is pleased to roll out our new site.

We apologize if you’ve been searching for something during the transition. Please bear with us as we continue to make the updates and changes necessary to raise our new site. In the meantime, here are some quick links.

To find our Green Building Professionals Directory ‘Green Pros’ go to http://greenpros.ca

For our online store, see http://shop.raisingspaces.com

4 Dramatic Action Pathways

You shut the lights off when you leave the room, waste not a drop of water while brushing your teeth, and bundle every last scrap of recyclable material into blue bags. You’re the epitome of ‘environmental citizen’ and yet somehow these daily eco actions sometimes seem insignificant. Become an eco hero this season with four renovation strategies that will dramatically reduce the impact your home has on your family and the planet.

When it comes to renovating, the choices we make weigh heavily on the scales of sustainability. With conscious choices about what you put inside your home, you’ll be blown away by the difference it makes.

Detoxify

You’ve checked the label of your favourite lotion so you’re in touch with only the most nourishing and benign ingredients. Next up is to take a close look at what you put on the skin of your home – its walls. Conventional paints can contaminate your home’s air with chemicals that take a toll on your family’s health over time. Even paints marketed as ‘low VOC’ may not be as green as they claim to be especially after colorant is added. A VOC is a volatile organic compound, a substance released into the air that can have an impact on your health. Continue Reading →

As you may well be aware, Raising Spaces has recently relocated. Our order desk is now conveniently situated within Mexx Lighting.

Imagine your green dream home, take in our sample racks of gorgeous green possibilities, place your order, and make it happen!

We’d love to show you our new digs, so come on by to say hi and scope out the store! When you do, here’s what to look for.

This weekend marks the NetZero Home tour.  Last year a couple friends and I went on an exciting bike tour to see the different styles and design elements of each gorgeous home.  This weekend, Raising Spaces will be showcasing some fantastic products and materials at 7615 111 st.  The Belgravia Homes, as seen in the Raising Spaces “Building the Ultimate Green Effect Homes” will also be a part of the tour, so if you missed the construction tour, now’s the chance to check out sustainable home building at its finest.  Click Here for details on tour information.

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There’s more to the 3Rs than Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.  It’s time to go a step further and really embark on a new phase of the environmental Industrial Revolution.  With Spring around the corner, it may be time to start thinking of household upgrades and renovations.  The times, they are a changing… for the better!  This year, don’t settle for the basics, go for quality products that will extend the life of your home and tell a story of environmental triumph.

There are many myths about environmental products.  Truth is, these products have come a long way, and many have been around for decades, hiding in the shadows of products that have been devastating our ecosystems, adding to the ever-flowing landfills, and making us sick.  Waste from renovations accounts for as much as one third of the 20 million tonnes of Canadian landfill waste.

Flooring is a very expensive piece of renovation.  Flooring can provide many different functions, especially when it comes to natural materials.

Linoleum was first developed in 1860.  It is made completely of renewable resources (jute, rosin, wood flour, cork flour, limestone and linseed oil).  My absolute favorite feature of linoleum, is that the linseed oil in the material has anti-microbial features!  This means that it has the ability to kill bacteria!  Amazing performance for floors!  The brand we sell in the store is called “Marmoleum”.  If you’re looking for flooring that lasts, this is the stuff.  While shopping for linoleum, avoid the PVC (poly-vinyl chloride) poser.

Continue Reading →

Eco-Chic Home: Rethink, Reuse & Remake Your Way to Sustainable Style by Emily Anderson (2010). Seattle, WA: Skipstone.

When you look at some of the objects around your home or some of the items you have bought on impulse, even the packaging that contained something useful, do you see it as junk or as something useful? Emily Anderson tends to see these items as useful, making magazine filing boxes from cereal boxes, covering an ugly two drawer filing cabinet with cloth to make a sweet end table, transforming CD jewel cases into a lamp, or even sewing pillowcases into a dry cleaning bag that you can ask your dry cleaner to use rather than giving you more plastic drape.

Eco-Chic Home moves from room to room within the home, repurposing and restyling. Each of the projects includes simple, crafty instructions and most, except maybe for drying time on some of them, would take a weekend to accomplish. Continue Reading →

Raising Spaces Last Minute Green Holiday Guide

Feel like you’re destined to be a last-minute Christmas elf again this year? “Luckily, there’s still a swath of options for you to give sustainably and party consciously,” says Andrea Jones, co-owner of newly opened eco-retailer Raising Spaces.

“It’s an overwhelming time of year, especially if you’re the kind of person whose calendar takes you by surprise.” jokes Jones. City street light and mall décor appears seconds after Halloween, staff Christmas parties kick in early-November, and before you know it, the two-weeks till Christmas countdown is upon you. It’s no shocker that holiday-stress levels have you reaching for the spiked nog a little too often!

So what can you do if it’s December 12 and you’re woefully behind the seasonal times? Jones shares the goods on eco friendly gift giving options, festive planet-friendly decorating tips, and low-impact holiday hosting/party-hopping ideas, all to save you time and simplify your holiday experience.

Last-minute Thoughtful Gifts Are Possible

Eco Store Offerings – A visit to three local eco shops can take care of your entire gift list! Between Raising Spaces Retail Store & Green Design Loft, Earth’s General Store & Carbon Environmental Boutique, you’ll have no shortage of health and planet friendly gift choices. Jones’ picks are below:

Continue Reading →

Ever since I was a young lass I’ve cringed at the idea of waste and landfills. To this day if you show me a product born from the scrap material of another time and place, you’re sure to win my heart. Add the eco features of ‘Canadian-made’ and ‘Produces renewable energy’ and you can’t go wrong!

Made from recycled pop cans, Cansolair’s solar heater is a unique product out of Newfoundland that blows extra solar heat into your home on less energy than a refrigerator lightbulb! With heating season on the horizon, I’d say the Cansolair solution sure beats plugging in an electric space heater and paying for dirty grid energy.

If you can get past the initial purchase of the unit for roughly $2500, have it shipped to your home, and installed, Cansolair estimates that the energy savings will pay you back in eight years or less! The company has also calculated that through the use of their solar heating panel you’ll prevent 13,000 LBS of emissions from being released, depending on where you live and the electrical grid you rely on of course.

Visit Cansolair’s web site to find a dealer in your area.

Resources

http://dailyhomerenotips.com/2008/10/24/solar-air-space-heating-part-1-another-type-of-solar-energy/

Send your kids back to class this year with eco sense! With the guidance of this instructable, you and your youngster can create a one of a kind lunchbag. Be creative and incorporate other durable and unique materials like fair trade foil coffee bags and other packaging from your recycling bin! While you’re at it, bone up on money and Earth-saving tips and tricks for packing garbage-free lunches!