Queen of Green
Interview with Adria Vasil - Ecoholic columnist for NOW Magazine
(Excerpt)
As Adria Vasil reminisces about designing & selling sweatshop-free T-shirts, I'm thinking she might be the Martha Stewart of the eco set - chic, arty & rigorous.
She protests loudly, "Oh no, she's way too uptight. Don't categorize me that way, whatever you do."
Okay, then I'll categorize her as Canada's foremost expert on how to live your life, 24 hours a day, with complete environmental awareness. She does it without the hippie tinge thing that stereotypically accompanies that consciousness.
Her book, Ecoholic, takes the same name as her weekly column in NOW, which answers readers' questions with counsel on how to think about the issue & how to shop organically & locally to solve the problem. It makes eco living seem manageable, a major accomplishment when dealing with a vast set of issues that can be overwhelming.
Vasil says the key is to avoid thinking you can do everything at once.
"Let's face it. You can't achieve environmental purity unless you're Woody Harrelson & you have millions of dollars," she says.
Take things one issue at a time, she advises. Most people can't afford to overhaul their whole house at once, so if you're in the market for a new item, choose organic.
Not that it's always easy.
"The high-end items are a real problem. You can buy an eco-friendly couch made of latex in California, but then you have to ship it thousands of miles in a gas-guzzling truck. Believe it or not, Ikea is not a bad option. They don't use formaldehyde & stopped persistent fire retardants on their couches in 2002."
When NOW launched the Ecoholic column in 2004, even Vasil wasn't sure it would fly. Shortly after it debuted, she wrote an article proclaiming that environmental consciousness was dead, & a quick poll she conducted of activists in the field suggested they were prepared to say the same thing.
Nevertheless, Random House put out feelers a year later, suggesting there might be a book there. Nothing came of it at first.
"A sales guy told me there was no market," she says with a small smile.
But then the publisher came knocking again - loudly - when the world's collective consciousness seemed to turn on a dime.
More like millions of dollars, says Vasil.
"The first & most important factor was the rise in the price of oil in late 2004," she says. "When people have to pay, they'll consider change. I always applaud when the price of gas goes up, because people start making the connections.
"Then," she revs up again, "the tsunami happened, & Hurricane Katrina showed people what happens when storms get freaky. When whole cities are swallowed up in these situations, people start to believe that climate change is a problem."
There was also more science, she says, & it was growing more convincing. Polar bears starving in the Arctic & seals looking for an ice floe to birth their pups on - those images are powerful.
Though she insists that conservation is a money-saving strategy, she insists that people shouldn't be moved purely by financial factors.
"When people complain about the cost of organic food, for example, they have to be made aware that that is the real cost of food. Given what we put on our tables on a daily basis, food is ridiculously cheap in Canada.
"I'm always suspicious when someone promises cheap organics. When organic milk comes cheap in the U.S. you can be sure the cows are being rounded up & kept indoors - because that's the least expensive way of producing milk. Do we really want that?"
Adria Vasil was reading Noam Chomsky at 16 & that same year, she began volunteering at a women's shelter & getting active in the East Timor Alert Network.
She went into journalism because she was tired of sitting on the other side begging to get coverage for the issues that mattered to her, & came to NOW after graduating from Ryerson.
The Ecoholic column was the perfect fusion of her two major interests: corporate practice & the environment. When she began the project she was hurting for ideas, but NOW readers have flooded her inbox with questions, creating a backlog guaranteed to keep her busy for months.
But don't, whatever you do, consider her an eco ideal - she even has a bona fide eco vice: she loves travel, & takes those toxin-spewing planes.
"I really believe that seeing the planet helps drive our love for it & our passion to save it. I wouldn't be who I am without having had the experiences I've had camping through South America. Should we be flying twice weekly for business? No. Should we be flying to Montreal (from Toronto) for a vacation? No, but I still think a carefully chosen vacation - that is, not to a giant, all-inclusive resort that swallows the environment & culture around it - is not to be discounted entirely."
It's typical of Vasil's never-holier-than-anybody way of talking about the issue.
"Environmentalism can't be furthered by an elite club that knows the secret handshake & won't let you in if you're not doing the 150 different things you need to do to enter the club.
"I take a more welcoming approach."
Queen of Green: Interview with Adria Vasil
Conducted by Susan G. Cole
NOW Magazine
Apr.07
Showing posts with label the home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the home. Show all posts
9/01/2008
8/24/2008
Sniffing out radioactive gases in your kitchen & basement
Q: I heard that radioactive radon gas could be coming from my granite counters as well as my basement. Should I worry?
A: Last time we were fretting about this odourless, tasteless vapour en masse, you were probably rockin’ an A-ha/Tears for Fears mixed tape. But as quick as you can say jumpin’ Jack Flash, radon gas is back, and it’s freaking out homeowners continent-wide, especially those installing fancy stone slabs in their kitchens and bathrooms.
What the hell is radon anyway? It’s a gas that comes from decaying uranium in the soil and rock under your feet. Yep, uranium isn’t just found in massive deposits in northern Saskatchewan; it’s scattered pretty much everywhere, just in smaller quantities. Outside, not a big deal, but trapped in your house? Well, it depends.
We all have a little gas floating around the recesses of our homes, especially the basement (it seeps up through cracks in concrete, basement drains and piping gaps). It’s just that some of us have more than others. And when we start bringing great hunks of rock into our pads to tart up our counters, we’re potentially carting in even more radiation.
One physics prof at Rice University in Houston found that all 55 granite slabs he sampled had higher-than-background levels of radiation. Most were still considered “safe,” but a few were 100 times above background! The worst offenders included striated granites from Brazil and Namibia.
But there are a whopping 1,600 varieties of granite on the market from 64 different countries. Even if 85 per cent are safe, as the Marble Institute of America points out, what about the rest? The only way to know whether your counters are hot is to get them tested. (FYI, the Marble Institute is supposedly setting up a testing protocol as we speak. Renovators should start pressing their suppliers for certified proof that their slab isn’t hot.)
If I found high levels, personally, I’d rip it out. Better safe than sorry. Still, in a well-ventilated kitchen, you’re generally exposed to less radon and radiation than many basement dwellers.
Since last year, when Health Canada finally boosted its safety standards to bring them closer to the U.S.’s (yes, they’re still ahead of us on this one), more homes have fallen into HC’s “action needed” zone (200 Bq/m³ vs. 150 in the U.S.). According to Mr. Radon himself, Bob Wood (one of the province’s only certified radon home inspectors and mitigation experts), one in eight of the GTA homes his company has tested exceeds those levels (see mr-radon.ca). No way to know if your home is gassy but to test it.
The biggest problem is that the gas decays and produces solid radioactive particles called “radon daughters” – or, since women’s libbers cleaned up the dictionary, “radon progeny.” Inhale these and they embed themselves in your lung tissue. When these devilish offspring in turn start decaying, they emit a little radiation into your lungs.
Just last week, Danish researchers released a study linking homes high in radon to acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children. Radon is also the second-biggest cause of lung cancer, next to sucking on nicotine, with radon killing over 22,000 every year in North America.
And if you’re a pack-a-dayer living in a radon-heavy basement apartment with poor ventilation? Let’s just say you might want to take out some life insurance. You know, for the sake of the family. Or try something less morbid, like, I don’t know, maybe quitting smoking? Easier still, reduce your radon exposure.
First of all, if you’ve bought one of those home radon testing kits (from Zellers or Mr. Radon) and found radon below the action level, there are a couple DIY remedies you can take on. Open windows whenever you can. Seal cracks in the foundation or at wall/slab joints. Seal raw cement floors with low-VOC epoxy paint. Track down openings around pipes and cables.
The Radiation Safety Institute of Canada also says you should make sure there’s water in the floor drain at all times and that any sump is covered and vented to the outside.
But really, if you turn up a readings of 200 (or even 150, if you follow the U.S. standard), you’ll need to call in a pro for remediation. Depressurizing the soil under your house and venting it to the outside should set you back $2,000. Renters stuck with high levels and cheap landlords can call the Board of Health on their ass.
Ecoholic: Sniffing out radioactive gases in your kitchen & basement
Adria Vasil
NOW July 30-August 6, 2008 VOL 27 NO 48
Got a question? Send your green queries to ecoholic@nowtoronto.com
A: Last time we were fretting about this odourless, tasteless vapour en masse, you were probably rockin’ an A-ha/Tears for Fears mixed tape. But as quick as you can say jumpin’ Jack Flash, radon gas is back, and it’s freaking out homeowners continent-wide, especially those installing fancy stone slabs in their kitchens and bathrooms.
What the hell is radon anyway? It’s a gas that comes from decaying uranium in the soil and rock under your feet. Yep, uranium isn’t just found in massive deposits in northern Saskatchewan; it’s scattered pretty much everywhere, just in smaller quantities. Outside, not a big deal, but trapped in your house? Well, it depends.
We all have a little gas floating around the recesses of our homes, especially the basement (it seeps up through cracks in concrete, basement drains and piping gaps). It’s just that some of us have more than others. And when we start bringing great hunks of rock into our pads to tart up our counters, we’re potentially carting in even more radiation.
One physics prof at Rice University in Houston found that all 55 granite slabs he sampled had higher-than-background levels of radiation. Most were still considered “safe,” but a few were 100 times above background! The worst offenders included striated granites from Brazil and Namibia.
But there are a whopping 1,600 varieties of granite on the market from 64 different countries. Even if 85 per cent are safe, as the Marble Institute of America points out, what about the rest? The only way to know whether your counters are hot is to get them tested. (FYI, the Marble Institute is supposedly setting up a testing protocol as we speak. Renovators should start pressing their suppliers for certified proof that their slab isn’t hot.)
If I found high levels, personally, I’d rip it out. Better safe than sorry. Still, in a well-ventilated kitchen, you’re generally exposed to less radon and radiation than many basement dwellers.
Since last year, when Health Canada finally boosted its safety standards to bring them closer to the U.S.’s (yes, they’re still ahead of us on this one), more homes have fallen into HC’s “action needed” zone (200 Bq/m³ vs. 150 in the U.S.). According to Mr. Radon himself, Bob Wood (one of the province’s only certified radon home inspectors and mitigation experts), one in eight of the GTA homes his company has tested exceeds those levels (see mr-radon.ca). No way to know if your home is gassy but to test it.
The biggest problem is that the gas decays and produces solid radioactive particles called “radon daughters” – or, since women’s libbers cleaned up the dictionary, “radon progeny.” Inhale these and they embed themselves in your lung tissue. When these devilish offspring in turn start decaying, they emit a little radiation into your lungs.
Just last week, Danish researchers released a study linking homes high in radon to acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children. Radon is also the second-biggest cause of lung cancer, next to sucking on nicotine, with radon killing over 22,000 every year in North America.
And if you’re a pack-a-dayer living in a radon-heavy basement apartment with poor ventilation? Let’s just say you might want to take out some life insurance. You know, for the sake of the family. Or try something less morbid, like, I don’t know, maybe quitting smoking? Easier still, reduce your radon exposure.
First of all, if you’ve bought one of those home radon testing kits (from Zellers or Mr. Radon) and found radon below the action level, there are a couple DIY remedies you can take on. Open windows whenever you can. Seal cracks in the foundation or at wall/slab joints. Seal raw cement floors with low-VOC epoxy paint. Track down openings around pipes and cables.
The Radiation Safety Institute of Canada also says you should make sure there’s water in the floor drain at all times and that any sump is covered and vented to the outside.
But really, if you turn up a readings of 200 (or even 150, if you follow the U.S. standard), you’ll need to call in a pro for remediation. Depressurizing the soil under your house and venting it to the outside should set you back $2,000. Renters stuck with high levels and cheap landlords can call the Board of Health on their ass.
Ecoholic: Sniffing out radioactive gases in your kitchen & basement
Adria Vasil
NOW July 30-August 6, 2008 VOL 27 NO 48
Got a question? Send your green queries to ecoholic@nowtoronto.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
