Has anyone else been sick for most of the winter? We’ve had the flu run through our home twice. (But I still strongly believe in vaccination. Sorry, Jenny McCarthy.) This means I’ve been a slacker about blogging, and meanwhile, the world has kept turning. Let’s catch up with it, shall we?

New Year’s always means decor trend predictions. My predictions? People are hungry for meaning and security as we navigate the most turbulent economy in 80 years, and this means we’ll want our homes to reflect our deepest values. We’ll still be eager for style and beauty, but less impressed by fashion, and our luxuries will be smaller, more sentimental, more likely to be handmade. “Democratic decorating”, supporting emerging designers on Etsy (like Keith Moore’s bamboo clocks – mmmmm) and at local craft fairs, idiosyncratic mixing of styles and periods, and choosing the most Earth-friendly products will be as important as ever. We’ll still want our homes to be serene, abundant havens, and as a reaction to consumerism, many people will want to declutter and simplify.

Sadly, Domino magazine is no longer here to champion that vision of modern, eclectic, sustainable design; legions of decor bloggers are carrying that torch now.

I’ve been waiting to write about this story for months now. As reported on pages 40-41 of Green Living Online’s Fall 2008 edition, Canada’s Building Codes get only failing-to-poor grades on energy efficiency and sustainability issues, with Alberta failing with the second-lowest grade at 42% (after Nunavut at 40%). No province scored higher than a C. The report itself has not been released by Environmental Defence Canada to date, and I wonder now if it will be. Since it was drafted, parliament has been prorogued and reassembled, Obama has taken office as President, the North American economy has gone from having foreclosure jitters to a full-blown recession, and Environmental Defence appear to have concentrated their resources on the Alberta’s Tar/Oilsands and bisphenol A stories. Meanwhile, this page linking to their May 2008 Green Building Benchmarks seems to be the one to watch for further news on this front: http://environmentaldefence.ca/greencodes/index.php

Alberta’s building codes may not be green enough, but local business in Edmonton is getting greener all the time. The past couple of months have seen local mainstream media coverage of local & organic foodies d’Lish, green home decor & gift destination Carbon Environmental Boutique, and brand new eco-spa/salon The Beauty Parlour. The inexhaustible Jessie Radies (of Keep Edmonton Original and the Blue Pear) is starting to organize a local organic food co-op. E-SAGE hosted a series of fascinating talks by local economies expert Michael H. Shuman, available for download on their website, and are creating a sustainable business directory.

We’ve also seen prominent coverage of the CMHC’s NetZero demonstration homes, though unfortunately CBC emphasized how unaffordable green building is, instead of contextualizing net-zero as being part of a broad continuum of options. As inspiring as the NetZero homes and this LEED-Platinum reno of a 1915 Craftsman bungalow are, you don’t need to go to that extreme to make your home greener. But you knew that, right?

Reports of Compact Fluorescent Lamps causing migraines and skin rashes got a wide airing in late January. I’m still recommending them, for all the reasons I always did, plus one more: I’m skeptical of these claims. The idea that compact fluorescents cause migraines dates from the days before manufacturers switched to electronic ballasts for them, when once in a while you’d find one that flickered a bit – and the well-documented problem of the flickering of their non-compact relatives acting as a migraine trigger in some susceptible individuals. Newer bulbs don’t flicker. As for the skin rashes, it seems unlikely that they are UV burns as claimed, since the spirals are made of UV-blocking glass – and the bulbs I prefer (Philips Marathon in Soft White, and Ikea’s, which both have excellent colour rendition) have the spirals enclosed in frosted Edison-style glass bulbs to diffuse the light. I’m glad that it’s being investigated, though — it’ll be easier to discuss this once we have actual data instead of just anecdotes.

Furthermore, the UK recommendation now is to stay more than 30 cm from bare CFLs. How many bulbs in your house are naked, instead of hidden behind a shade or a frosted Edison-style bulb? How many are 12 inches or less away from you? There aren’t any that answer that description in my home, and chances are there aren’t any in your home either, so there’s no need to panic and change them all back.

Besides, have you seen the new LED LACK pendant lamps at Ikea? In another five-to-ten years we’ll probably be able to replace our burnt-out CFLs with even-more-efficient LED bulbs and this whole discussion will become moot. These ones have the nicest LED light I’ve seen yet, without that extreme blue tinge you so often see. If only they were bright enough to provide task lighting.

While the press widely reported the CFL anecdotes, the ever-reliable-and-inspiring WorldChanging noted that US media almost completely ignored the latest climate science predictions regarding business-as-usual global warming. Of course, science reporting in general is abysmal, but ignorance of the newest climate data has criminal consequences:

“That means ultimate sea level rise of 250 feet, with the best current projection being 5 feet by 2100, rising thereafter 10 to 20 inches a decade (or more) for centuries.”

Wow. Nova Scotia becomes a chain of small islands, most of the world’s major cities are gradually (or not so gradually) swallowed by the ocean, economic & social implications enough to keep anyone awake at night. Maybe Jon Stewart should go after the media’s willful ignorance of climate science next?

Finally, the planting of an organic vegetable garden at the White House has everyone thinking about starting seeds and dreaming of spring: let me leave you with inspiration from a less famous Victory Garden.

An inventive Denver Water billboard says it all. <via treehugger>

I’ve decided that once in awhile, I’ll post a roundup of links to some interesting – and often overlooked – articles from ecoblogosphere. To inaugurate the feature, here are some key articles that I’ve bookmarked, shared on Facebook, tweeted about, or dugg in the past few weeks:

Buying Local

November is “Shop Local First” Month here in Edmonton. Keep Edmonton Original have a great directory of locally-owned businesses on their website. Let’s not stop at the end of November!

Speaking of buying local, the release of Halifax chef Craig Flinn’s cookbook Fresh and Local and the opening of Edmonton’s Wildflower Grill sparked this newspaper article explaining what Canadian Cuisine is. (Full disclosure: I went to high school with Craig, and I try to eat at Chives whenever I get home to Nova Scotia.)

Plastic Safety

Is polypropylene (#5 plastic) not so food-safe after all? Well, it’s definitely going to be a pain for researchers in the biological and medical sciences, like my former colleagues. I can say from long experience that polypro labware is ubiquitous, and replacing it with glass is usually next to impossible for technical or budgetary reasons. Further research on human health effects of the compounds that leach from polypropylene is needed before we can reach conclusions, but, this story just might be the next bisphenol-A scandal.

Meanwhile, the scandal that began in China over the contamination of formula and other dairy products with melamine by unscrupulous manufacturers got me wondering about the safety of those indestructable melamine plates. Luckily, Janelle from Healthy Child Healthy World had the same thought. Be sure to also read the very informative comments by Jennifer from The Smart Mama, to help put it all into perspective.

The Green Economy and Green Building

President-Elect (!!!) Obama says we need to change more than lightbulbs <via ecogeek>. Some experts say his policies will be nothing but good news for green building. Meanwhile the green building community is wondering how a protracted recession will affect progress and affect Obama’s plans, Mr. Gore is writing profound editorials, and Van Jones and Thomas Friedman are promoting their books about how a green economy could get the US (and the world) out of this mess. Even Gwynne Dyer has joined the climate change book club. (I just gave the Dyer book to hubby for his birthday, looking forward to reviewing it for you!)

Locally, at least, green building is moving forward. Local realtors specializing in sustainable homes are excited by announcements about several ecovillages, like the one to be created by CarbonBusters, in planning stages around Edmonton. The Riverdale NetZero duplex project is completed and open to the public every Saturday for inspirational self-guided tours. There are no shortage of local projects who are boasting of low-VOC finishes, rapidly renewable materials, and energy-efficient appliances in their marketing materials.

However, Environmental Defence still think we have a long way to go: according to “A Green Building Report Card” on pages 40-41 of Green Living Online’s Fall 08 edition, released in early September, the Alberta Building Code gets an F. None of the provinces get better than a C, but still, only Nunavut got a lower percentage score than Alberta. The report card the article refers to has not actually been released to date; I can’t wait to read it once it is.

Green Living

Online tool Walk Score now allows Canadians to gauge how pedestrian-friendly their neighborhood is (although it’s reliant on Google Map’s listings of local amenities, and its algorithm doesn’t take into account things like narrow streets and the existance of sidewalks in some newer neighborhoods).

Even though Alberta is protected from the worst of the bad economic news, that pesky recession probably has you, like me, thinking about a little green belt-tightening.

Here’s an inspiring checklist of 100 ways you can save the environment. If your personality, like mine, has you second-guessing how best to do some of the little things on the list, you’ll be as pleased as I was that the New Scientist’s writers have taken the time to put those nagging questions to rest.

On a personal note…

This huge fire (across the street from my home, on the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend!) reminded me just what Thanksgiving is really about… and what’s really important. Now I’m planning to ask myself, as I declutter and simplify: would I save it if the house was burning?