Eco-certifications, Eco-labels and Eco-logos in the Food Sector

Yesterday, Metro Vancouver, hosted a sustainability community breakfast on Eco-certifications, Eco-labels and Eco-logos in the Food Sector.

The three speakers included Mike McDermid with Ocean Wise at the Vancouver Aquarium, Brad Reid from Certified Organic Associations of BC, and Lloyd Bernhardt with Ethical Bean Fair Trade Coffee.

All three speakers discussed how eco-labelling and certification have become an integral part of their industry and present a number of challenges and opportunities. While there is much confusion around eco-certification and the ensuring of a reliable standard with consistent monitoring, all of the presenters noted that in the end, it is the consumer who has the greatest power in creating change.

One of these examples came from Mike McDermid with Ocean Wise. Ocean Wise was created in 2005 in Vancouver when 16 restaurants signed on to sell sustainable seafood products. This has now spread across Canada with over 300 restaurants on board. When they first started the program, they approached suppliers directly to see if they would like to sign on to promise sustainable fishing. At that time, none of the suppliers were willing to participate; however, since 2005, the number of suppliers that provide sustainably fished seafood has increased from an average of 47.50% sustainable product to 75.26% sustainable. This has been credited to the pressure of chefs and consumers who have demanded more sustainable goods.

 The power of the consumer is the keystone to sustainable business. One of the reason that business has become so unsustainable is because consumers have demanded the cheapest products without considering the impact of these products on the environment, society, and resources. By creating standards and certification processes, consumers now have a way of determining where their products come from and if they are sustainable. It is this increased demand for environmentally and socially sustainable products which has led industry to become more responsible.

As part of the question and answer portion of the breakfast, one of the participants invited the audience to participate in a 90 day challenge to only consume sustainably certified products. By participating in this challenge, it is hoped that consumers, in considering where their products come from, will realize the value of sustainable goods.

Portia Munson's Artistic Plastic Kitsch

The artist, Portia Munson, has found a way to turn heaps of plastic kitsch and junk into beautiful mounds of stuff that both uplift and mock our contemporary consumer culture.

Her art installations are a contemplation of and comment on our manufactured perceptions of nature. Our culture is defined by the objects we mass-produce, consume, and throw away. Portia collects these objects and assembles them into congested installations, in essence using the refuse of consumer culture that usually ends up in landfills and yard sales as her resources.

 The Pink Project:

Green Piece; Sarcophagus

The Garden

Green Exhibits During Vancouver 2010 Olympics

The Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver are coming to a close. While these games were meant to be the greenest Olympic games in history, the lack of snow forcing officials to helicopter and truck snow up to the mountains for a number of events probably negates that claim. The Tyee released an article on the Greenwashing of these Olympic games stating how these games used 5,600 vehicles, burned 20 million litres of petrol, and carved up nature. See article, Brown Edges to the 'Green Games'.

However, despite all this, there have been some interesting 'green' exhibits around town during the Olympics.

One of these exhibits is located outside of Science World (or what is now Ruski Dom during the Olympics). This exhibit has taken a number of giant globes and decorated them with various sustainability themes including conservation, green building, water and electricity.

Mother Earth and nature

Imagine if we Built Responsible & Recycled Carpet and Roof

Water World & Electricity World

Given the popularity of Rusky Dom during the games, it is certain that a number of people will be viewing these over the course of the Olympics.

Other interesting exhibits during the olympics include CODE Live. At CODE Live 1 at the Great Northern Way Campus, a large factory that was once used to build machinery has been transformed into an exhibition. ECO ART is part of this exhibition and attempts to deal with nature through new technologies. Questions of ecology and issues of the world’s natural depletion of resources have found public visibility through these new persuasive technologies used both as educational and as poetic tools.

'Seed' is one of these exhibits.  'Seed' is a large screen upon which a digital forest can be created through the intersection between wireless technology and the mobile phones of the audience. Visitors have the opportunity to choose the type of tree they want to plant, grow their seeds in public and change the texture and color of each. The interesting intersection between the real and virtual in this exhibit, is that for every tree on screen, a real tree will be planted. 

Caleb Charland - Science and Photography

Caleb Charland is a Maine-based photographer who combines a love of scientific experiments and photography. His artwork combines his scientific curiosity with a constructive approach to making pictures.  By utilizing everyday objects and fundamental forces, Caleb illustrates his own experiences with wonder.


Some examples of his work can be seen below. For more examples, please visit his website. 

Source: PetaPixel

International Development Week 2010

February 6-13 is International Development Week (IDW) in Canada. IDW is an initiative of CIDA which is implemented by the various councils for international cooperation around Canada.

The motto for this year's IDW is "Be Yourself, Be Bold, Be the Change!" As part of this, councils around Canada are profiling youth, ages 15-30, who are doing their part to be active global citizens.

In British Columbia, the BC Council for International Cooperation has profiled eight youth on their website.

To learn about events that are taking place around the province, visit CIDA's website.

Katherine Douglas is one of the individuals who is being profiled for IDW. At only 17, she has had some outstanding accomplishments. 

Urban Agriculture and Eco Districts

Cascadia Green Building Council has just released their most recent edition of Trim Tab.

This edition features articles on urban agriculture and living buildings, eco-districts, and the first living building challenge in Hawaii.

Wave photographs by Clark Little

Happy 2010!

I thought I'd start off my first post of the new year by sharing some amazing photographs by Clark Little.

Clark Little is a surfer and photographer based in Hawaii. In 2007, Clark discovered his ability and passion to capture the extraordinary beauty of the shorebreak. With his shorebreak surfing experience in mind, Clark grabbed a camera, jumped in the ocean, and starting snapping away recording the beauty and power of Hawaiian waves for all to enjoy.

“Clark’s view” is a unique view of the waves from the inside out that most people would only be able to experience safely on land while viewing one of Clark’s photos.

Read more at View from the Vortex on the Sierra Club's website.