ALDO/SPRING

This Montreal-born shoe empire pretty much has the footwear market cornered, with brands that include Aldo, Little Burgundy, Globo and Call It Spring in more than 55 countries, not to mention private-label manufacturing gigs for nearly every major department store. Sure, its website talks up how its Quebec offices offices are lovely, green places to work, but there’s zero on detoxing supply factory practices or worker rights protection overseas. (It gets 60 per cent of its shoes from China.) Its Spring stores have lots of shoddy plastic shoes that happen to be vegan, but you can smell the air-polluting volatile organic compounds coming off them.

SCORE: N

TIMBERLAND EARTHKEEPER

Timberland’s stylishly rugged Earthkeeper collection is definitely miles ahead of most made-in-China brands.  In the early 2000s, one of its factories there was caught using child labour, but it has since been heralded as a front-runner in producing socially responsible leather shoes. The company also gets top scores from green rankers for cutting its carbon footprint and boosting its recycled content to 97.9 per cent (though whether you should count leather from slaughterhouses as “recycled” is definitely debatable). A typical Earthkeeper shoe is made with recycled-bottle linings and partly recycled outer soles. Its leather is silver-rated for sustainability by the Leather Working Group and doesn’t come from animals raised in newly clear-cut endangered forests.

SCORE: NNN

EL NATURALISTA

From clunky and funky to wedged and sexy, this Spanish company does it all with semi-vegetable-dyed leather, often with recycled or natural rubber and recycled cork soles, as well as water-based glues. Well-constructed women’s footwear is all fairly made at three partly unionized factories, meeting tough EU and OEKO-Tex chemical standards. Vegans looking for sweatshop-free quality Euro-made shoes should check out Novocas, Doc Martens, Good Guys and Vegetarian Shoes at niceshoes.ca. They’re all unfortunately plastic-based, but at least they’re sweatshop-free and meet EU enviro standards. 

SCORE: NNNN

LA CANADIENNE/KAMIK

The last of a dying breed – made-in- Canada footwear! Snow-shovelling vegans will love Kamik for offering up -32°C rated boots with replaceable, recycled-water-bottle liners (all mostly made in Quebec, though 30 per cent of boots are now made in China). Like other vegan boots, they use fossil-fuel-derived materials, but unlike pleather, the durable waterproof synthetic rubber/nylon will keep you warm and dry. If they die, you can mail them back to the company for recycling. La Canadienne’s mostly Montreal-built boots (a few non-waterproof ones are crafted in Italy) are definitely chicer and pricier ($300 to, gulp, $700 a pair). All are sweatshop-free and use “eco-friendly dyes and water-based glues on italian leather,” but there’s no real recycled content or vegan options. 

SCORE: NNNN

OLIBERTÉ/SOLE REBELS

These companies may not be local, but they are two of the only certified fair trade shoemakers on the planet. Both lines are made in Ethiopia with leather from free-range animals raised on traditional farms. (Leather in most shoes is largely a by-products of factory farming.) Sole Rebels is richer in shoes, but we love its quirky fringed Shake It boots for women and unisex vegan Riff high-tops. All are made with recycled tire soles (solerebels.com). Oliberté (pictured) has a bigger boot selection for men and women, made with recycled or natural rubber soles (oliberte.com). Bonus: the brand is easier to find in retail shops, and some models are water-resistant. Neither lines are intended for blizzards but will warm your conscience in the meantime.

SCORE: NNNN

SMIFFY’S

Starts off promisingly enough listing natural castor oil and beeswax on its label. But it degrades quickly from there into lots of petroleum-based ingredients and some ghastly parabens, including butyl and propyl parabens that have been banned from children’s items in Denmark thanks to their endocrine-disrupting potential. Lots of Smiffy’s products come with warnings about not applying to damaged, inflamed or sensitive skin or on eyes or lip area. Really. Made in China. 

SCORE: N

SUPER VALUE MAKEUP KIT 

This made-in-China kit has it all – fake blood, skin, glitter. It also has lots of petrol-derived ingredients, destructively mined talc as well as a few parabens, though they no longer use the butyl and propyl type, which is a slight improvement. Either way, no thanks. 

SCORE: N

SNAZAROO FACE PAINTING KIT

Sure, these guys say they’re “non-toxic” and compliant with EU and U.S. FDA toy and cosmetic regs, which means the products, which are made in the UK, should be low in heavy metals like lead. But they’re still full of other crappy petrochemicals, PEGs and dodgy butyl and propyl parabens. Fine print warns they’re not suitable for eyes and lips but image on the box infers otherwise. At least Snazaroo Face Painting Sticks are paraben-free.

SCORE: N

KISS NATURALS FACE PAINT KIT

Finally, a made-in-Canada option. This indie Quebec company offers up all sorts of naturally derived DIY kits. The base is a lotion made with sunflower, soybean, coconut and palm oils. Wish the soybean oil were organic and that they’d drop the controversial palm oil, but the product is non-toxic and nut-free, with paperwork to prove it passes heavy metal and phthalate testing. The paints do contain a little synthetic phenoxyethanol preservative. Available at Treasure Island Toys, through Indigo online and Kissnaturals.com

SCORE: NNN

GLOB

This California-made brand skips the artificial dyes, parabens and iffy talc and instead uses certified organic jojoba oil and (allergy alert) organic almond oil as a base with mineral/veggie pigments and nano-free zinc. More good news: products are mica-free and tested for heavy metals to make sure they’re compliant with Cali standards. They come with a bamboo applicator for convenience. Some Glob face paints, like Kiss Naturals, contain phenoxyethanol. Available at Big Carrot, 100 Mile Child and Herbs & Nutrition. globiton.com

SCORE: NNNN

Get creative in the kitchen by whipping up face paint that can literally be licked off at the end of the night. Mommy magazines say you can make your own by mixing lotion with food colouring, but I’m not wild about the synthetic FD&C food dyes used in store-bought stuff. Truly natural food colouring is hard to come by in Canada, so what’s the alternative? Start with an all-natural face cream (the thicker the better, or thicken with a little arrowroot powder) or you could use (fair trade) cocoa butter as your base. Then mix in DIY blueberry or raspberry juice (mash and strain your berries) or ¼ teaspoon turmeric, cocoa, spirulina, kale or beet juices – the list goes on. For an au-naturel zombie look, try mashed avocado on your face. Yes, some of these will stain, but if you can’t get dirty on Halloween, when can you?

KIDS’ COSTUMES LACED WITH TOXINS

Disconcerting levels of toxins are still sneaking into seasonal costumes, accessories and party supplies despite government crackdowns, according to a new report issued by Healthystuff.org.

The non-profit tested more than 100 items from big-box stores in the U.S., including Walmart and Target. Some 5 per cent contained levels of lead illegal in children’s toys and around 10 per cent had brominated flame retardants. One costume in particular, a toddler Batman “muscle” costume, had levels of lead and phthalates considered illegal in toys.

Healthystuff.org’s research director, Jeff Gearhart, recommends that parents avoid vinyl products, opt for natural fibres and tell retailers to stick to non-toxic supplies.

MUZZLED CANADIAN SCIENCE

While the feds were officially celebrating national Science and Technology Week and trumpeting the Harper government’s leadership on research and innovation, Canada was being castigated around the globe for gagging scientists.

Over 800 scientists from 32 countries signed an open letter to the pm calling for Canadian science funding and freedom to be restored (see quote of the week). The letter, which appeared as an ad in the Ottawa Citizen last week, was drafted by the u.s.-based union of concerned scientists. here are a few numbers that prompted the global scientific community to get on board: 

85% Federal departments that scored a sad C or lower when it comes to openness and protection against political interference for government scientists, according to a recent report by Simon Fraser University and the non-profit Evidence for Democracy. Four, including the Department of Natural Resources, flat out failed.

$2.6 billion Federal cuts to 10 science-based departments between 2013 and 2016. According to the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), 5,064 jobs are also being axed in that time.

90% Federal government scientists who feel they can’t speak freely to media about their work. (Just don’t ask them to talk to you on record about this.)

48% Federal scientists who have seen information withheld, causing the public or government to be “misled or misinformed,” according to polling by PIPSC and Environics. 

43% Federal scientists who have been asked to exclude or alter information in government documents for non-scientific reasons.

An excerpt from an open letter signed by more than 800 international scientists urging Harper “to remove excessive and burdensome restrictions and barriers to scientific communication and collaboration faced by Canadian government scientists.” It pointedly references a recent New York Times editorial that called communications restrictions on government scientist “an attempt to guarantee public ignorance.”

ecoholic@nowtoronto.com |@ecoholicnation

It looks like Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA) is getting ready to green-light Bayer’s new neonic pesticide, despite concerns about neonicotinoid links to bee deaths.

The agency says it’s proposing full registration for pesticides containing flupyradifurone from the now notorious neonic family. But its own environmental assessment notes that Bayer’s new concoction “may pose a risk to bees, non-target beneficial arthropods and freshwater and saltwater invertebrates” as well as “birds and small wild mammals when used for soybean seed treatment.”

PMRA notes that it’s planning to minimize the risks to wildlife by including a precautionary label on the pesticide. The Sierra Club of Canada says that’s not good enough.  It’s encouraging canadians to voice their opposition to the new neonic while the PMRA is accepting public comments (until November 1). To send a letter to the PMRA, see sierraclub.ca.

SC JOHNSON, CLOROX COME CLEAN ON FRAGRANCE SECRETS

The multinational behind mega-brands like Glade, Pledge and Windex will be the first big company go public with all of its fragrance ingredients. According to a recent announcement, SC Johnson will un-bottle its former trade secrets on its website and via consumer hotline by early 2015, starting with its air fresheners. 

The move comes on the heels of Clorox announcing it will begin divulging the top fragrance allergens in its products early next year, without fully opening up about all of its scented ingredients. the companies say there are anywhere between 10 and 50 compounds behind their fragrances.  

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"The vast majority of [oil] reserves are unburnable."

Former Bank of Canada governor and current Bank of England governor Mark Carney, sounding an awful lot like a climate activist at a World Bank seminar last week. Carney threw his weight behind the notion that oil company reserves will become “stranded assets” and would have to stay in the ground if we’re to avoid catastrophic climate change. 

ecoholic@nowtoronto.com | @ecoholicnation

NATREL/NEILSON 

Gone are the bucolic days when even conventional dairy farmers let their cows roam free on green pastures. Most Canadian dairies keep cows indoors tied in stalls to make it easier to feed ’em rations high in GMO corn and soy. And while growth hormones are outlawed in Canadian dairies, other hormones are not. Two of the biggest brands on the market are Natrel and Neilson. Neilson is owned by Saputo, which was nailed for buying milk from Canada’s largest dairy, outed last summer for horrific animal cruelty. Saputo says it only resumed buying from the mega-dairy (with 3,500 cows) when animal welfare improvements were documented. Natrel gets its milk via Agropur, Canada’s largest dairy cooperative, which also supplies Sealtest. Both offer better certified organic options. All are ultra-high-heat-pasteurized to last oddly long times. 

SCORE: N

HEWITT’S/Liberté GOAT MILK 

Goat milk hasn’t taken off in North America the way goat cheese has. But it’s got the advantage of being lower in lactose. Hewitt says the goats on its conventional farms are mostly kept in group pens indoors, despite the grazing goat on the label. And like with Hewitt’s and Liberté’s conventional cow products, the goats can be given antibiotics and GMO feed. However, Hewitt’s certified organic goat milk in returnable glass bottles come from goats that get 120 to 150 days of pasturing a year, depending on the weather, and are hand-milked on Amish farms in Ontario.

SCORE: NN

ROLLING MEADOW

This new kid on the block is making a splash with its grassy branding. The “100% grass-fed” claims are a bit of a stretch since about half its farmers are mid-transition, still supplementing with oats, barley and non-GMO soy. The other half have shifted to 100 per cent grass-fed (or hay, depending on the season). RM doesn’t follow organic standards to a T, but it does outlaw the administering of any antibiotics and hormones to its cows, and their pasture grazing period is half the year, weather permitting. Great, since grass-fed cows are said to emit less methane, though there’s heated debate about this. Since it lacks the third-party monitoring of certified organics (helps keep costs down, says the ceo), it would be nice to see it at least get SPCA- or Local Food Plus-certified.

SCORE: NNNN

ORGANIC MEADOW

This national brand that once supplied PC Organics is actually a co-op of 66 small family-run, certified-organic Ontario farms, producing 80 per cent of all the organic milk in this province. It doesn’t make a big deal about it, but like all organic dairies, its cows get to pasture (up to 22 hours a day) half the year, and get plenty of outdoor time in winter, too. They do get some grains, but nearly all its farmers grow their own certified organic, GMO-free winter feed (oats, peas, barley, soy and whole plant corn silage, as well as hay). The company also offers yogurt, kefir, cheese and lactose-free options.

SCORE: NNNNN

HARMONY ORGANIC

A pioneer of the local, certified-organic movement, Harmony has chosen to stay small and close to home. It buys from 14 Ontario family farms with average herds of 50 cows that get to graze roughly 180 days a year on pasture and go outside daily year round. Any grains fed are certified organic and GMO-free, and mostly grown on the farms. What’s nice about Harmony is that all the milk with its name on the label actually comes from its own farms, whereas most organic milk, like regular milk, is pooled, then divided for sale on the market. Harmony offers milk in cartons, bags and old-fashioned glass bottles that get sanitized and reused a good dozen times.

SCORE: NNNNN

October is generally awash in pink, with everything from bathroom tissue and blenders to kitty litter and petrochemical-laced lipstick promising to donate as little as a dime per product to breast cancer awareness and research. All that pinkwash makes Today Causemetics’s arrival onto the scene so damn refreshing. This all-natural, non-toxic body care line was dreamt up by the Canadian Breast Cancer Support Fund as a way to raise money for women living with breast cancer who are struggling financially. The fund teamed with a dozen green beauty brands (Consonant, Pure + Simple, Ella’s and Sappho, among others) to create the Today line of creams, soaps, deodorants, perfumes, lip gloss and more. For each product sold, a good $4 to $10 goes to women who quite literally can’t afford to be sick. as the funds says, you can go green, get beautiful and give back. causemetics.ca

Fracking for the cure?

It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month and pinkwashing has reached new depths with global oil and gas drillers Baker Hughes painting 1,000 of its drill bits pink to commemorate the occasion. Says the company, “The pink bits serve as a reminder of the importance of supporting research, treatment, screening and education to help find cures.”

For the second year in a row the company is donating $100,000 to the Texas-based Susan G. Komen foundation. Ecowatch.com has launched a petition asking the foundation to end its relationship with the Baker Hughes, pointing out that “at least 25 per cent of the more than 700 chemicals used in fracking are linked to cancer.”

HALF OF PLANET’S WILDLIFE WIPED OUT

WWF’s most recent Living Planet report doesn’t mince words. In less than two human generations, the world’s mammals, birds, amphibians and fish have been decimated by 52 per cent, all since 1970. Habitat loss, hunting and fishing are the main causes, with climate change adding to the pressure. WWF says we need to halt priority habitat loss, expand protected areas and redirect financial flows to “value nature” asap. 

LEGO DUMPS SHELL PARTNERSHIP

After a Greenpeace video connecting toy manufacturer Lego to Shell’s Arctic oil drilling went viral, the Danish toy giant announced it’s ending its 40-year marketing partnership with Shell. Under the current arrangement, if you fill your tank with 30 litres of gas or more at a Shell station, you can score a free Lego toy. The deal isn’t being cancelled per se but won’t be renewed, according to the toy maker. For its part, Shell has been drawing up the paperwork to resume drilling in the Arctic in 2015, but says it hasn’t decided whether it will actually move forward with those plans.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

“Our government is making significant progress on addressing climate change.” 

Federal environment minister Leona Aglukkaq responds to Environment commissioner Julie Gelfand’s report, which called federal action on greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions “slow,” “uncoordinated” and “unsatisfactory.” The commish singled out the feds’ failure to regulate the oil and gas sector, whose emissions have grown by 27 tonnes since 2012, and noted current federal efforts to address GHGs will have “little effect” in meeting our 2020 greenhouse gas reduction targets.

ecoholic@nowtoronto.com | @ecoholicnation

Legions of men and women have sworn off bottled scents, partly because the conventional varieties are concoctions heavy in hormone-disrupting ingredients. But what if you still crave an aroma pick-me-up? Evoke the Elements Within is a new, locally made perfume line created by Marilyn Denis’s eco expert Candice Batista. The essential oil blends are inspired by aromatherapy and Chinese medicine, with each plant-based fragrance designed to stimulate certain emotional states. A spritz of the Earth blend, with juniper and organic ylang ylang, for instance, promises to defuse worry and evoke a sense of peace. Pretty cool. Plus these lovely bottles in recycled packaging make great gifts. $55 evoketheelements.com

REITMANS

Cheap but not so cheerful, this Canadian chain has been criticized for manufacturing in Bangladesh and failing to contribute to the trust fund set up for victims of the Rana Plaza collapse. Western chains are also failing to chip in for repairs to 1,106 bangladeshi factories just revealed to have safety problems. Besides using pesticide-intensive cotton, some of Reitman’s leggings are primarily made of nondescript rayon – not great when non-profit org Canopy says 70 million trees are cut every year for fabrics like rayon, viscose and modal, taking down Indonesian rainforests and the Canadian boreal.  

SCORE: N

AMERICAN APPAREL

Yes, its ads are grating, and founder Dov Charney seems to be back after being turfed early this year following a string of alleged sexual harassment lawsuits. But AA is one of the only large clothing chains weaving, cutting and sewing its own clothing in the US of A in factories employing decently paid workers with solid benefits. Its Winter Leggings would be ideal if the company made them with some organic cotton or recycled fibres rather than conventional cotton. Just side-step their plasticy leggings made entirely from fossil-fuel-based, energy-intensive nylon. 

SCORE: NN

NOMADS/MAHADEVI 

These two BC-based neo-hippy designers have all kinds of eclectic options to take you from summer festivals to fall protests to toasty yoga studios. Both Nomads (pictured) and Mahadevi use a combination of hemp, soy, rayon from bamboo and organic cotton (starting from $45/$55). And both manufacture “ethically” offshore in China, though MahaDevi still has a few Canadian-made options. Nomadshempwear.com, Mahadevidesign.com

SCORE: NNN

LILIKOI/VOILÀ

Both of these brands feature colourful Canadian-made options out of bamboo and certified organic cotton blends. BCer Lilikoi (pictured) offers a variety of bright solids as well as fun patterns silk-screened with water-based inks. Fifteen per cent of profits from the Honey Bee print ($44) goes to Pollinator Partnership. Voilà’s Metis designer, Andréanne Dandeneau, keeps Canadian legs particularly cozy in winter with Toronto-woven, winnipeg-sewn organic fair trade bamboo fleece available in a few rich warm hues, as well as Haida prints ($89). Yes, it takes chems to dissolve fast-growing bamboo into rayon (true for all rayon), but I’d much rather support these conscientious Canadians than questionable mall options. lilikoiclothing.com, voilaandreanne.com

SCORE: NNNN

MIIK/FIG

What I love about Toronto-based MIIK (pictured) is that it uses certified organic bamboo processed in a closed loop without dumping chems, and the fibres are milled, dyed (in navy, grey or black) and sewn right here in the GTA. Super-durable with control-top options, leggings, like Voilà’s, are OEKO-Tex certified – no dodgy chems on the surface ($69, miik.ca). Plus it’s signed onto canopy’s forest-friendly fashion pledge. Fig mills, dyes (in black/navy) and sews its warmer, certified organic cotton leggings close by in Montreal, keeping its carbon footprint down ($80, figclothing.com; not all lines are organic). 

SCORE: NNNNN