Monthly Archives: December 2015

Recycle Your Tree!

We’ve seen the discussions about which is a more environmentally sustainable Christmas tree, artificial or real, but we wanted to find out exactly what happens to real trees when the holidays are over. We connected with Region of Waterloo Waste Management to find out what happens to our trees when they’ve reached the end of […]

Reflections on COP21

The Sustainable Waterloo Region network has some pretty incredible people in it, and that includes the amazing folks on our board of directors. While none of the SWR core team was able to attend COP21, we were represented there by one of our board members, Ian Rowlands. For those of you that may not have […]

Greener Gifting – In Closing

I had so much fun creating a gift-giving blog that highlighted amazing and committed local businesses. Being able to go to all of these places and talk to business owners was eye-opening, and I know it will help me make more conscious decisions when I’m shopping. I hope it was able to spark something in […]

Top 8 Sustainability Stories at University of Waterloo

Green grass

I spent a recent -afternoon on University of Waterloo’s campus meeting with Mat Thijssen, UW’s Sustainability Coordinator. He’s a tall, soft-spoken, and articulate man who respects data as much as he does the environment. He strikes me as exactly the type of sustainability professional you’d expect to see at UW. On the heels of the […]

Greener Gifting – The Working Centre

About On Tuesday, December 8th I attended a Waterloo Region Environment Network event and ran into Jane Snyder, who I recognized from a previous job. She asked about the work that I was doing, and when I told her about this blog series she told me about work she had done creating gift ideas for […]

Greener Gifting – Thrift On Kent

About If you’d like to approach holiday shopping with the intention of giving, charities and non-profits are a great way to do achieve this. At SWR, we had a gift exchange at our holiday party where we were told only to bring items that were either thrifted or that we already owned. I chose to […]

Greener Gifting – Eco-Coffee

Green grass

The aroma of freshly roasted coffee beans fills the air in the old mill building in St Jacobs. Eco-Coffee is a local roaster that provides high quality and ethically sourced coffee. They show their commitment to sustainability through various efforts such as supporting businesses that are certified through the Rainforest Alliance, Certified Fair Trade, and […]

Greener Gifting – Gifted

Green grass

About When looking for holiday gifts, it’s a good sign to find a store named Gifted. Gifted is owned by a lovely woman named Sylvia, who found her passion for “gifty” items through a full time job where part of her job was to source these items. At some point her job changed and this […]