Publications | David Suzuki Foundation

Lower Mainland Wetlands Declaration

2013-05-09T10:45:10Z

Wetlands are key to maintaining the health and livelihood of communities, yet in the Lower Mainland wetland loss continues each year. The Foundation partnered with other environmental non-profits in this Call to Action to stop further wetland loss.

DIY Brown Sugar Body Scrub

2013-05-07T10:53:18Z

This invigorating brown sugar body scrub exfoliates naturally and leaves your skin beautifully moisturized. It's the perfect cure for dry legs and an essential part of any DIY pedicure routine!

INGREDIENTS

1 C brown sugar
1/2 C olive oil (or other carrier oil)
1 tsp vitamin E oil
A few drops of your favorite essential oil

INSTRUCTIONS

Combine brown sugar and olive oil
Add vitamin E
Mix in a few drops of your favourite essential oil (grapefruit or peppermint are favourites in this recipe)

Download the recipe card and whip up a batch for yourself or someone special!

Bhutan pushes the world to higher values

2013-04-15T16:02:16Z

Like millions of people, I was inspired to join the environmental movement by Rachel Carson's 1962 book Silent Spring. The movement has since celebrated victories such as protecting the porcupine caribou's calving grounds from oil wells, stopping dams on the Peace and the Amazon rivers and halting supertanker traffic along B.C.'s coast.

Now, the same battles are erupting again. In fighting to stop environmental degradation, the movement failed to change society's perspective and values. What was really needed was a "paradigm shift."

It's been electrifying to witness recent efforts by the tiny Kingdom of Bhutan to promote such a shift. Last April, the Himalayan nation of 700,000 proposed "a new paradigm of development" at the United Nations. Sixty-eight countries co-signed the resolution, which states that governments and economic growth must work to advance happiness for people and well-being for all life.

I was delighted when Bhutan's leaders asked me to serve on a working group charged with defining happiness and well-being, and developing ways to measure these states and strategies. Bhutan's Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley cited the David Suzuki Foundation's "Declaration of Interdependence" as an inspiration for the proposal. He later mentioned the need for positive stories that show the practicality of putting higher aspirations ahead of economic growth, as Holly Dressel and I outlined in our books, Good News for a Change and More Good News.

Bhutan is a Buddhist country. Its people have a concept of happiness that can be described with words like acceptance, contentedness, satisfaction and harmony. They understand that well-being and happiness depend on a healthy environment. They vow to protect 60 per cent of forest cover and are already carbon-neutral (they generate electricity from hydro). They still have snow leopards, elephants, rhinos, tigers and valleys of rhododendrons the size of trees, and they know their happiness depends on protecting them.

I'm proud to be part of this important initiative and look forward to the work leading up to a presentation to the UN by 2015.

By David Suzuki

Companion planting for a healthy garden

2013-04-15T16:01:46Z

(Credit:Net_Efekt via Flickr)

Planting season is upon us (or nearly so, in most of Canada). Whether you're a seasoned gardener or growing your own food for the first time, companion planting will help you cultivate a healthy, veggie-filled garden. It involves pairing plants that grow well together and distancing those that don't.

Here are a few favourite tried and tested combinations for the spring:

Basil and tomatoes: Planted side by side, basil will improve tomatoes' vigour and flavour. A variety of herbs alongside tomatoes helps deter pests, but be sure to keep dill at a distance. Plant it instead near the brassicas (like cabbage or broccoli), where it will attract predatory wasps to eat garden caterpillars.

Corn, beans and squash: Known as the three sisters, corn, beans and squash have been planted together throughout history. The age-old technique benefits the plants and the soil. Corn provides a natural pole for bean vines to climb. Beans help stabilize the corn plants and provide nitrogen for the following year's corn. Shallow-rooted squash vines become living mulch.

Cucumbers and nasturtium: A good trap crop for aphids, nasturtiums also deter whiteflies and cucumber beetles while attracting both predatory insects and pollinators. They improve the flavour and growth of cucumbers.

Peas and spinach: Avoid having spinach go to seed too quickly by planting it in the afternoon shadow of trellised peas.

Catwalk with a conscience

2013-04-15T16:01:24Z

(Credit: ENACTUS SFU)

Many Canadian cities promote events with giant nylon banners hung from lampposts. Often, these banners end up in the local landfill. But in 2008, Simon Fraser University students began teaming up with B.C. Lower Mainland high school students to transform the banners into reusable bags.

This year, SFU took the initiative a step further, joining forces with Kwantlen Polytechnic University's John Casablancas Institute to help aspiring young designers turn the banners into coats, dresses and purses for the Beyond the Bag Eco-Fashion Showcase. Half the proceeds from ticket sales were donated to the David Suzuki Foundation.

Repurposing banner fabric keeps hundreds of kilograms of nylon out of landfills, saves manufacturers and cities thousands in disposal costs and teaches sustainability principles to budding business owners. In addition to banner nylon, participants were allowed to use only recyclable materials for decoration
and assembly.

Senior (Grade 12) winner Olivia Bickerstaff scored an internship with guest judge Katherine Soucie, CEO of Sans Soucie, a zero-waste company that makes clothing from textile industrial waste. Grade 11 student Erin Wong won the junior prize--shadowing Soucie for a day. Tovah Paglaro, David Suzuki's Queen of Green, and Shannon Oehlschlager, engineering technician at Vancouver-based Arc'teryx Equipment Inc. and co-founder of Artemis Design Collective, were also judges.

SFU mentors are all members of Enactus, a global organization encouraging entrepreneurship that emphasizes social, environmental and economic needs.

Join Canada's 30x30 Nature Challenge

2013-04-15T16:00:54Z

(Credit: Jode Roberts)

Want to get healthier, happier and smarter, just by spending time in the places you love most? This May, join our 30 × 30 Nature Challenge! For the second year, we'll be helping Canadians get outside in nature for 30 minutes a day for 30 days.

Countless studies show that being regularly immersed in a natural setting, like a park, ravine or forest, can lower blood pressure, anxiety and stress levels and boost immunity. "Green time" also reduces feelings of anger and depression, while increasing energy, creativity and even generosity.

Sign up for the challenge at 30×30.davidsuzuki.org/join. Throughout May, you'll receive helpful tips and inspiring stories, as well as opportunities to win great prizes.

How can you add a daily dose of nature? Eat lunch in a nearby park, take your meetings outside or skip the gym and take a jog or walk outside. We at the Foundation will embrace the challenge alongside you.

Research shows 80 per cent greenhouse gas reduction is doable

2013-04-15T16:00:28Z

(Credit: Steven Vance via Flickr)

Two new research reports by the Trottier Energy Futures Project (TEFP), a partnership between the Foundation, the Canadian Academy of Engineering and the Trottier Family Foundation, show that it's realistic for Canada to cut its energy-related greenhouse gas emissions 80 per cent by 2050.

Eighty per cent is a key milestone, the minimum target for industrialized countries to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
One report, titled Low-Carbon Energy Futures: A Review of National Scenarios, looked at common features in greenhouse gas-reduction scenarios for eight countries, including Canada. It concluded that the 80 per cent target would be doable and transformative, requiring a clean-energy boom on a par with the increase in fossil fuel consumption that followed the Second World War.

The second report, An Inventory of Low-Carbon Energy for Canada, found that Canada has a large enough supply of carbon-free energy to meet the 80 per cent target. The challenge will be to integrate those sources in an affordable and resilient new energy supply system.

"With this research in hand, we can make the case that a low-carbon future is possible, and that it's actually a prosperous future," says managing director Ralph Torrie. The team is producing a set of detailed scenarios that will allow Canadians to envision such a low-carbon energy future.

Download the new reports at trottierenergyfutures.ca.