Adria Vasil Is an Ecoholic. Are You? Corporate Knights, and Green Footsteps!

ADRIA VASIL IS AN ECOHOLIC

Are you addicted to planet Earth? Adria Vasil is. That’s why she wrote Ecoholic: Your Guide to the Most Environmentally Friendly Information, Products and Services in Canada. I’m not Canadian, nor do I live there, but, I would call myself and Ecoholic, so I did derive great pleasure from her book. According to her publisher, Echoholic is “a cheeky and eye-opening guide to all of life’s greenest predicaments.” 

ADRIA VASIL a Toronto resident, a best-selling author a former environmental journalist for Canada’s NOW magazine, and current managing editor for Corporate Knights—an award winning sustainable economy magazine. Vasil has seen the vacillations of the green movement in her almost two-decade career. Now she sees the arc of justice and the arc of green bending together, coalescing into a lasting sustainable movement. However, as she writes:

“The tough part is figuring out what’s green and what’s greenwash. What’s eco-friendly and what’s ozone-deadly. It can be downright dizzying. This is where knowledge comes into play…and if GI Joe was right that knowing is half the battle…” then buying Echoholic and reading it cover to cover should turn us all into finely trained eco-warriors. Or at the very least, make it easier for us to decide what cleaning products to buy.

—Rick Smith, Executive Director, Environmental Defense, reviewed it thusly, “Everything you need to know to make green, non-toxic, Earth-friendly consumer choices – and to be a bang-up planetary citizen – is in this book. Its comprehensiveness is mind-boggling! And that’s why Ecoholic: Your Guide to the Most Environmentally Friendly Information, Products and Services in Canada matters to all of us. Did I mention Vasil is writing an entire Echolic series? So far, there’s Ecoholic Body and Ecoholic Home now, too.

DEEPER DIVE: Ecoholic…, Corporate Knights, NOW Toronto

CORPORATE KNIGHTS

Some of our followers are some of the most interesting people in the climate space, and we at The Climate Daily are so appreciative of them. For example, thanks to Kate Gaertner, we came to know her work, Planting a Seed: Three Simple Steps to Sustainable Living. And thanks to that, we reunited with follower Adria Vasil, who authored the hilarious-yet-incredibly useful Ecoholic series. And it was she who helped us discover Corporate Knights, where she is now managing editor. What is Corporate Knights and why does it matter to us? I know, it sounds like something formed from the mind of a delusional Wall Street executive, right? But it’s not.

Corporate Knights is an award-winning sustainable economy magazine that produces research, rankings, and reports on the world’s most sustainable companies. It’s the media product of Corporate Knights Inc., a leading sustainable-economy media and research B Corp.A “B” or Benefit Corporation is a traditional corporation with modified obligations, committing it to higher standards of purpose, accountability and transparency. Founded in 2002 by Toby A. Heaps, Paul Fengler and Peter Diplaros. It’s committed to advancing an economic system in which both people and the planet can thrive.  

The quarterly magazine has a rough circulation of 126K and is distributed in The Globe and Mail, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. Here’s why Corporate Knights matters to us: Each year, its research division produces global sustainability rankings, research reports and financial product ratings based on corporate sustainability performance. Its flagship ranking is the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World, released each year during the World Economic Forum. 

DEEPER DIVE: Corporate Knights, BCorp

GREEN FOOTSTEPS

A lot of people ask, “What is green living?” According to Climate Champions, GreenFootsteps.com, “Green living is about finding a lifestyle which causes no permanent damage to the planet. It’s about finding sustainable answers to our needs and desires. And it’s about living in harmony and balance with other living inhabitants of our world.”

Greenootsteps is about easy green living, bringing you environmentally sound ideas and tips which don’t break the bank but do genuinely help you to be a bit greener. The website offers simple ideas and projects to try at home which should save you money and help you and one’s family to become both healthier and greener.

Green Footsteps is two things—chock full of information, and very, very busy design. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Just need to pack your patience, because the site is worth it. There are sections for frugal living, energy options and home projects. There’s a green recipe book and a green living blog, too.

And if you don’t believe me, believe Gail from New Zealand. She wrote, “’ve just fallen into your website and wanted to say how great it is!! I’ve got a lot of cheap ideas and when you’re on a tight budget – that’s vital!”Why does Green Footsteps matter to us? This one curious note by the site’s owner: “The ideas presented on this site are intended to help individuals and families to live a greener lifestyle. Many of the issues dealt with here have enormous political implications.

This site does not address these political issues at all (well, barely). It is simply intended for your personal information, to help you to find greener ways of living as things are at the moment.”

DEEPER DIVE: Green Footsteps