Green Living Show 2019

#GLS19

@greenlivingshow

March 22-24

Metro Convention Centre Toronto

I have been going to the Green Living Show for a few years now and I am always on the look out for new and smart products that will sustain us in the future.

This show really is the one show that is for everyone.  It covers products for moms, kids, families, people with busy lives and busy business people.

The show is very interactive and not only is it about purchasing sustainable products it's about learning about ways you can make choices in your every day life that will have a global impact.

This year there was a large presence of Sustainable clothing made from everything from rubber to water bottles and accessories from leaves even.

 

 There was the Eco Car of the year once again in an eye catching bright green color.

There is an age restricted Canabis section where I got a free 10 minute chair massage event.  There were lots of canabis related products including books.

The thing I am always striving for is to reduce my waste and save money so I was happy to see a store based in Scarborough with a booth at the show that you could purchase recycled jars that you could fill up with things like shampoo and dish soap and they had a bunch of other really cool products that I plan on going back to pick up today.

There are interactive booths like the Electric Car simulator to tai chi and kids play areas.

Green Peace was on hand with this thought provoking display and it's clear that a lot of booths were concerned about plastic in our Oceans.

Don't forget about the food.  That's what I was there for after all.

Besides the Local Sustainable foods that are flavours from around the world and also the attached beverage area there are also lots of products to sample and purchase.

Some things I liked included the Keto coffee and there is great vegan cheese and the La Dee Da ladies created snack products in compostable packages and great sauces.

There are loads of products in Mason Jars which I love because it goes back to the time before plastic products took over the world and our oceans.

This product got my attention because I don't think I have seen it before and because I am an Ox the label got me curious.  I tried the Strawberry Mint flavour.  It would be a fast way to make a great salad dressing for a spinach salad even though this stuff is made for cocktails it's also great for other things.

So that's my quick overview of the show.   I got a bunch of stuff like cleaning products, snacks and a bunch of other things in a swag back but I picked up these 3 things and I plan on going back today for a couple of other things like some bamboo sheets I can't stop thinking about.

Why I picked up these three things.   The Cupanion water bottle is about the size of a regular water bottle with a wide lid easy to clean and everytime you fill it up and scan a card water is provided to someone somewhere else in the world.  That's smart.   The Keto Coffee is a delicious way to get an easy and healthy coffee wherever you can boil water.  I also liked this pumpkin spread that I picked up at the Organic Garage booth, always my favourite place to stop by and get samples.  I am thinking it will make a great chicken dish or spread for bagels.

Well that's it for me... I am planning on gong back for a couple of hours today to pick up a few more things.  Hope to see you there...and look out for these things in stores soon.

www.greenlivingshow.ca

Earth Day reduce, regrow and rethink

 It's EARTH DAY today and it's a great time to think about how we use our resources every day.   Some environmental experts have said that by 2050 there will be shortages of certain foods in the World.

Lately my focus has been Food Waste because I have noticed I have wasted more food than I could afford to for the cost and what the effects on the environment are.  I struggle with this every time I take a bag full of expired food to the garbage or a bag full of plastic containers to the recycle bin.

Donald Trump likes to say that there isn't any truth to Climate Change and it's not cause by people.  But it's hard to see what's happening in the world and not wonder what's happening.  It's now the 22nd of April and we are finally getting normal spring temperatures after an extremely long winter but we almost had an ice storm as crippling as the one in 2013 in Toronto.  Many people lost power from downed trees but it didn't last as long as the last time but just as crippling for the people affected by it.  Around the world the droughts, floods, hurricanes, tsunami's, earthquakes and more are getting more extreme each year and the polar ice caps, the coral reefs and the shore lines are decreasing.  It's really hard to see the big picture when you are just trying to live your life everyday but what kind of world are we leaving for our children?  A life of GMO food and constant environmental disasters that become normal life?

What can we do?   Try and make decisions that will have lasting effects.  If corporations produced less plastic products that never break down and pollute our landfills and oceans maybe they can think about innovative ways to change their products and productions and people have to choose products that have less of an environmental impact if they can.  I know this is challenging because sometimes we don't have a choice on how the products we use are sold in stores.

We can also teach our children about food.  Yesterday I showed my friend's 3 year old daughter how to regrow vegetable scraps in water by letting her help fill the containers of water.  Hopefully she will watch it sprout over the next few weeks and get excited about it.  Even if we don't grow our own food it's important to be mindful of where it comes from and who is producing it.  If you can go to a great Farmer's Market where the farmers are on hand selling their food then that's a great step in supporting the people that make your food.   If you have a balcony or garden and can grown some food then that's a great thing because you will purchase less packaging and will waste less food.

At the beginning of April I placed a carrot top in a small bowl of water and now 3 weeks later you can see how much it has sprouted.  It can be planted in earth when the weather is a bit warmer.  I tried to see if I could get avocado seeds to sprout but that hasn't been successful.  I am going to try and see what happens to a sprig of cilantro.  The easiest one to regrow is Green Onion.  There isn't much to do except make sure it has clean water at about the height of the white end of the onion and placed in sunlight it will just regrow and sprout up from the centre.

Tomorrow I have organized an Earth Day event to do the same thing and have my coworkers learn how to regrow certain vegetable bits that would normally get discarded  I will turn the wasted bits into the food waste soup I have been making through the past year and we will also attempt to plant some seed packets into one of the small greenhouse boxes that I picked up from Canadian Tire.  This is new to me so I don't know how well it will do but I wanted to try and plant a seed or start something in our current office before all of us move to a new office in May and hope to have a communal little food area that we tend to that can feed the soups and lessen the waste produced by our office.  The building we are going back to is a Leed certified building so we should consider what we contribute to it.

I am constantly trying to improve my bad habits about what I buy, toss and repurpose and hope that more people be mindful of the impact to our future generations from our daily actions.

Green Living Show Apr 6-8, 2018

The Green Living Show is on this weekend and it's a great show to get away from the cold and dreary weather and bring your friends and family into the bright Metro Convention Centre where the carpets are green and you will find everything from the Best Green Cars to what's new in the Cannabis world.

The Green Car Awards were announced on the Friday morning of the show and the Best Overall car was the Chevy Bolt who were also winners in the previous year.  You can see all the cars that were nominated and even go for a test ride of a couple of cars at the show and there is a simulator too that you can try.

Chevy Bolt

I have been going to the Green Living Show for years and this year it's changed a bit.  There isn't a kids zone this year but there are still products for kids and the whole family and new this year is the addition of an Eco Travel zone and a whole area for Cannabis products from medicinal to Canabis measurement tools and more.

One of the favourite parts of the show for me is of course the food.  The food pavillion is back with the International flavours with local foods and there are local wines, spirits and local coffee roasters Propeller Coffee are also there serving up coffees.

                            

Jose Arato - Pimenton

Nick Lui - Dailo

Some of the foods I sampled were Santo Pecado's  Chicken Tinga Tacos and Pimenton's Pulled pork on a bun and for a sweet snack I had some cinnamon sugar donuts from Wafel Haus.  Dailo's Nick Lui has his Sui Mai  dim sum.  The Samosas are back and there are lots of other foods and drink to sample in the pavillion and around the show floor.   Don't miss sampling some of Seedlip's non alcoholic cocktails.  They are serving up 2 flavours and they are both fantastic.

The great thing about this show besides being for the whole family is that you can shop, eat and learn about how to change the world through environmental changes you can make every day.
Tim Gray the Executive Director of Environmental Defence who are leading change in the Eco World was on hand to announce the Green Car Awards and there are many other speakers and experts that you can listen to and ask questions of.  At the show you can also join the Greenpeace movement to be the change you want to see in the world.

Tim Gray - Environmental Defense

There is loads of great shopping at the show.  I had my eyes on these beautiful Succulents and really wish I could have one of the Growing Towers in my Apartment to grow plants year round.

 There are beautiful water bottles and other types of containers and better and pretty candles and salts and more.

There is a wood section and I really loved this huge wooden sculpture I suppose since it wasn't flat enough to be a table but it would make a statement for sure if you had one.

While I was listening to a booth presenter I was standing beside these colorful stone bracelets and couldn't help but pick one up for Balance with a diffuser on it that you can add essential oils onto.  It was $15 and the one I got was a black and marbled grey.  Perfect for everything I wear since I wear so much black all the time anyway.

 There were lots of interactive booths to check out at the show.

Write your Green Wishes on a leaf and place it on a green wall.  Spin the wheel at the Eat Local booth.  Spin the wheel at Foodland Ontario and answer a question and win a prize.

         

Check out this Green Container House.

 There are a lot of new things like Keto coffee that I tried.  It's a packet that you just mix into hot water and it's like your coffee and milk and the butter to get the Ketogenic effect.  It tasted really good so I could see it being convenient for a lot of busy people.

 There was a no Yolk product I suppose a substitute for eggs and a the beet burger as a hamburger replacement.  Lot's of alternative and food substitutes and even an Organic Pharmacy is at the show to talk about their specific products.

As you can see there are things for everyone's needs or even things you didn't know you needed.

Check out the show at the Metro Convention Centre on until April 8th.
Tickets are

Adult	$14.00 (Online) or $18.00 (At the door)
Student/Seniors (65+)	$12.00 (Online) or $16.00 (At the door)
Children 12 and under	FREE (must be accompanied by an adult)
WWF CN Tower climbers	FREE - register here!

https://www.greenlivingshow.ca/