Summer is the perfect time to don your cutesiest sundresses and girliest florals. I, for one, will be wearing almost exclusively floral print and teeny tiny dresses the second the sun comes out.

One way to keep from overdoing the girly-factor is to toughen up an overly pretty look with some boyish accessories. I added a vintage, wide-brimmed hat and some beat-up leather boots to this second-hand floral shift to give the outfit some depth. Think of creating a contrast between feminine and masculine elements.

You will feel like a tougher gal in no time.

Ingredients: 1 bunch kale, chopped 1 bunch fennel 1 head red cabbage, shredded 2 carrots, shredded 1 beet, shredded 2 tbsp hemp seeds 1 to 2 ripe avocados, mashed 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar 2 tbsp lemon juice 1/4 cup olive or hemp oil 1 tbsp garlic 1 tbsp honey Sea salt, to taste Directions: 1. Shred fennel, cabbage, carrots and beet in a food processor with shredding blade, or hand slice into thin strips. 2. In a mixing bowl, toss kale with shredded veggie mixture (don’t mix in the hemp seeds just yet). 3. In a separate bowl, mix together the dressing. 4. Combine dressing with raw veggie mixture. Toss together until everything is well coated. 5. Allow salad to marinate in the fridge for a few minutes, or up to an hour. 6. Mix in hemp seeds just before serving.

P.S.: The longer it marinates, the better this salad tastes.

photographer: Joseph Saraceno | art direction: Pencil

Bamboo Magazine: In visiting your website, one immediately understands your commitment to global responsibility and change. How did you come to embrace these philosophies?
Rachel Wolf: A strong sense of ethics has always been there for me. I think I was born hard-wired with a deep environmental and social philosophy. I was the little girl trying to rescue the spider or ant that another child was harming, and seeking out the solitary child on the playground. I was 16 years old volunteering for recycling duty on Saturday mornings and starting “Eco-Club” in my high school. Someone asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, and I remember saying, “I want to save the world.” I meant it.

So, I chose a career in environmental education, teaching children and adults about the natural world, ecology and habitat preservation. After leaving my career to raise a family, I never lost track of my strong environmental ethics. Environmental responsibility was non-negotiable for me and really shaped the direction we took our business.

BM: Being a mother is obviously a driving force behind your product line. What key principle would you suggest to other parents who want to raise environmentally conscious children?
RW: It’s easier than you can imagine. Are you ready? Go outside. Every single day. That’s it! Don’t try to teach young children about environmental issues. Just get them outside, and let them get to know the earth. Take off your shoes and squish through the mud. Sleep out in your backyard. Go searching for fairies in the woods. Make a snow fort. It doesn’t matter what you do. Just get out there. Our children need time in nature with no agenda, just freedom and fresh air. It can change everything.

photographer: Bjorn Bergman

Is your child’s skin still reeling from winter’s low humidity and the central heating used to counteract it? Try these tips to get it soft and silky in no time.

Load up on olive oil.
When you need to hydrate parched skin, look to olive oil, which instantly soothes itchy skin and rejuvenates hands, elbows and any other area of the body in need of moisture. For a hydration boost, layer it under body moisturizer for an added boost.

Switch up tub time.
Instead of making bath time a 30-minute event, shorten the splashing duration to 15 minutes, and use warm water to reduce the amount of natural body oils lost. Use an organic, eco-friendly baby soap to cleanse your child while adding much-needed moisture to skin.

Steer clear of Vaseline.
Little-known fact: the petroleum-based jelly used in Vaseline is a byproduct of the oil industry and is the leftover residue created during the refinery of crude oil. Furthermore, it gives a false sense of hydration.

Invest in a humidifier.
Running a cool mist humidifier during naps and for the first few hours of the night can have a big effect on skin’s moisture levels and can help soothe dry sinuses, bloody noses and cracked lips.

Let’s hear it for honey.
An old-school treatment for chapped lips, a light application applied before bed can work wonders on this parched and delicate area of skin. Honey also works well to smooth rough patches of skin in need of extra moisture.

Ingredients: 1 bunch wild arugula or mixed greens 1 beet 1 pear 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, candied (see instructions below) 1/2 cup dried black mission figs, sliced 2 tbsp crumbled goat cheese (optional) Candied Pumpkin Seeds: 2 cups pumpkin seeds 1 tbsp ground ginger 1/4 cup maple syrup 1/2 tsp fine sea salt Dressing: 4 lemons, juiced 2 tbsp honey 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/4 tsp sea salt Freshly ground black pepper Directions: Preheat oven to 200°F (95°C) 1. Candied Pumpkin Seeds: Mix all ingredients together, place on a baking tray, and lightly roast in oven for 10 to 15 minutes. 2. Dressing: With sharp paring knife, cut away the ends and outer peel of the lemons, along with the seeds, leaving some of the white pith. Cut the lemons in halves or quarters, and add to blender with honey. Blend on high speed for about a minute to break up. With the blender running on medium speed, slowly pour in the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 3. Beet Salad: Steam beet, and allow it to cool. Cut into heart-shaped slices, or shave on a mandolin. Cut pear into shavings with a peeler. 4. In a large mixing bowl, gently toss the greens, beet and pear with enough dressing to generously coat. Divide among serving plates, and sprinkle with candied pumpkin seeds, dried figs and goat cheese.

Beets are loaded with phytonutrients (plant nutrients) and help to protect cells from free radicals. The figs add fibre and iron, while the goat cheese adds calcium and a delicious, rich flavour.

photographer: Joseph Saraceno | art direction: Pencil

Bamboo Magazine: Melanie, you have a love for makeup. What prompted you to make an eco-conscious line of cosmetics, skincare and
baby products?
Melanie Cruickshank: I absolutely do love makeup. I’m a die-hard [makeup] junkie through and through. That being said, I have become very conscious of the harsh chemicals in products. In all honesty, there is no need for them. They simply are just cheap fillers. I have no problem paying for high-quality products that I use on my face and lips, knowing they aren’t going to contribute to possible ill health down the road. My customers feel the same way. They’re hungry for products like mine. Many natural ingredients, such as shea butter, vitamin E and jojoba have been around a long time and work beautifully in products.

BM: DaLish is all about the five-minute face and dual usage of products. What makeup tip would you give our readers to look great in a
moment’s notice?
MC: I do love a five-minute face, and that’s what DaLish is known for. My best tip would be the [DaLish] lip/cheek balms. They come in a variety of colours and can be used for both lips and cheeks. It’s one convenient, small oval tube that works perfectly. I’ve always got at least one in every bag I own. Simply apply to lips, dab on cheeks bones, blend, and you’re ready to go with a dewy look. Two minutes. How’s that not sexy?

image by Nolan Bryant

Spring has sprung, and it’s finally time to sport bright colours and prints. Flowers have been blooming all over the runways for the past few seasons, and they are more vivid than ever this spring. Channel the mixed print trend with a little bit of floral-on-floral. Try a brightly coloured floral dress, or a skirt paired with a more monochromatic floral blazer or jacket. Experiment with colour variations.

This spring, it’s definitely time to stop and smell the flowers.

photographer: Jason Mousseau

How? Rent, swap, share and lend.

Have you heard of collaborative consumption? People have always been sharing and collaborating; think of libraries and carpooling, and, more recently, community gardens and bike sharing.

But technological innovation and the proximity of urban life have taken sharing to the next level—welcome to the sharing economy.

Instead of buying brand new things that cost a lot and sit idle for most of their life cycle, people are figuring out how to get more mileage out of their stuff by sharing. The idea is to cut out the middlemen, like expensive rental companies or hotels, and to buy less stuff. Social sharing websites are making it possible, linking people’s needs to each other and group-regulating through ratings.

CollaborativeConsumption.com has a great list of social sharing sites of all varieties.

You know about movie rentals, but do you that you can now rent textbooks, art and fashion (clothing and accessories)? You can also swap used books, baby goods and toys, DVDs and games. Check out Apple’s recycling program and get a gift card for returning old products. Neighbours can lend and borrow goods like tools and yard equipment, as well as skills and errands. And entire sites are devoted to general rentals, swaps and free stuff. Even culture can be shared: you can find free courses, movies, audio books, ebooks, language lessons and textbooks at Open Culture.

To get around town, you may have heard of car sharing systems like Zipcar, but travel sharing has expanded to ride sharing, taxi sharing, and even parking spot sharing/rental. Peer-to-Peer car rental has emerged; you can now rent out your own car by the hour or week. People are also sharing spaces, including storage spaces, offices and workshops, and apartments and couches to crash on while traveling. Even peer-to-peer banking exists, where money can be borrowed and lent. And some sites, like Shareable, even help people figure out how to set up their own sharing systems.

We all know we have more than enough stuff to go around. New tools can now help us be savvy and get the most out of our stuff by connecting to each other.

Spring is a great season to learn the art of collaborative consumption and social sharing, and to tap into the benefits of the sharing economy.

“I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for getting involved in the punk scene in Edmonton,” says Cameron. ”Like a lot of kids who ended up in that scene, I think that it was the first place I felt like I found a community that was building something I believed in, something positive and outside of what we saw as a broken system.”

For Cameron, music became a gateway. He discovered a knack for DIY organizing, and he started up a promotions company and record label.

Fast forward to present day and Cameron is still loud and outspoken, somewhat perfect traits for the National Director of the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition. After graduating from Montreal’s Concordia University, Cameron became increasingly involved in social justice work. He worked as an independent journalist, followed by a position as Editor at Dominion magazine. He then took a position with Climate Justice Montreal, and, in 2009, he started with the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition.

When most Canadian 20-somethings look a few years down the road, they envision themselves finishing a post-secondary education, finding a career, buying a home, and maybe having a few kids. But, Cameron notes, now is the tipping point for this generation’s future.

“I think we’re at a time when thinking about that ‘traditional’ future is getting harder and harder,” says Cameron. “Climate change isn’t simply an environmental crisis. It is inherently linked to the current economic crisis being felt around the globe.”

Canadian youth are facing the rising costs of post-secondary education, but, after school, they also face increased costs of living and housing, and the highest unemployment rate any group in Canada. It’s no wonder that disgruntled youth are emerging.

“A lot of things like careers and homes are out of reach for our generation. Because of that, we’re seeing a rising discontentment with the status quo, and that rebel energy is creating some amazing things,” says Cameron. He likes to draw attention to innovative, small-scale business co-ops, as well as to growing political movements, like the hundreds of thousands of students and youth taking on tuition in hikes in Quebec.

“Simply relying on the government doesn’t work,” notes Cameron. “No major social change has ever happened simply because of the government. JFK may have signed the civil rights act, but he was forced to by a people’s movement. Slavery may have been abolished by the Emancipation Proclamation, but it was only drafted because a social movement forced it to be, by creating a moral crisis.”

So, if the government is out, who will save our souls?

“What lies on our generation’s shoulders,” says Cameron, “is the responsibility to (to steal a line from Ghandi) ‘become the change that we want, and need, to see in the world.’ Not simply as individuals, but as a movement and as a generation.”

Cameron notes that we need more individuals to recognize the issues, and that we need more from those who are already informed and involved. He strongly believes that “the collective imagination, the vision and ideals of our generation, can solve this crisis.”

“We all just need to decide to solve it,” he notes. “To build a movement that can create the political will to do it, and to create the community-based solutions that show the just and sustainable world that we want to live in.”

I, of course, had to ask Cameron about whether the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition has any plans to get involved in sustainable fashion. Unfortunately, it is not yet part of their objective.

“I wish that we could work on other things at times,” he notes. “But the problem with a changing climate is that, without addressing this issue and the root causes of it, we’re re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. To deal with climate change, we first need to take on the most destructive force on the planet: the fossil fuel industry.”

Though fashion does have a way of popping its stylish head into every corner it can. I leave you with photos from Cameron’s trip to Durban, where the Canadian Youth Delegation produced a set of mock “negotiators uniforms” that showed the true “sponsors” of Canada’s climate policy. (Think a Nascar driver’s uniform, emblazoned with corporate logos they are beholden to promote at every race.)

images courtesy of Canadian Youth Delegation

Q: Hi Sheri,

With the warm weather already here, my skin’s oil production seems to be going into overdrive, as usual. I have tried everything in an attempt to control the shine and get rid of it, but nothing seems to work. I’m stressing out that major breakouts are not far off. What can I do to remedy this once and for all?

Catina,
Stratford, Ontario

A: Hi Catina, I’m going to tell you to do a few things that are going to sound unconventional and counterintuitive. First, I want you to embrace your oiliness and stop fighting it. Believe me, all of the mattifying lotion in the world is only going to give you an extremely short and temporary fix, and overzealous cleansing is only going to make it worse. Second, I want you to consider yourself lucky to have this skin type. Have you ever complained to someone with dry skin about your overabundance of oil? Ever get the feeling that they want to hit you? Well, they do. Why, you ask? Because all they see is moisture, and anti-aging, and glowing, vibrant skin, while they have to deal with flaky, dry skin that likely doesn’t seem all that youthful anymore. And, to be honest, it is a lot more difficult to “cure” dry skin. I also think it’s important for us to address the causes of oily skin. It’s pretty safe to say that overactive sebaceous glands are the result of both genetics and hormonal fluctuations. While there’s not much to be done about genetics, if your skin is really giving you a lot of trouble, I would recommend checking out the book, The Hormone Diet by Dr. Natasha Turner, ND. It’s a wealth of knowledge about all that our hormones do, and it’s really quite fascinating to learn how external and internal factors can affect the balance inside our bodies that we often take for granted (or don’t even notice). Now, back to you and your skin. I, too, used to wrestle with oily skin, back in the ‘90’s when it was all about looking super matte and powdery. There were even times when I took a certain cosmetic company’s advice and rubbed loose powder all over my face in a circular motion. I think it was called a powder wash, and, looking back, I think I must have looked insane. I scrubbed my face raw with foaming and gritty cleansers, and used “toners” that had nothing to do with toning. There was no product for oily skin that I didn’t try. And, for some odd reason (insert sarcasm here), my skin just became more and more problematic and oily, not to mention the irritation and redness associated with using a gajillion products every day. You see, I didn’t understand the benefits of my skin’s natural oils. I didn’t know that they offered extra protection when out in the sun and wind, and that my skin probably wouldn’t age as quickly. And I certainly didn’t expect them to make me feel more attractive by providing a “glow.” Thankfully, I finally learned that not all oils are bad, and that some are actually good for oily skin. This is where skincare becomes very important, and, like hormones, it is a very delicate balance. When it comes to taking care of our skin, we often get excited by all of the products available to us and want to use them all. Or, we find the whole thing totally overwhelming and ignore it. Neither of these scenarios is appropriate. Overuse of products, especially those geared toward oiliness and acne-prone skin, often remove too much natural oil and cause your body to produce even more. This is not a fun cycle, and you need to address it with simple yet effective skincare. Here’s what I recommend: Cleansing: You don’t want to over-cleanse, ever. You want to find cleansers that break down the oil and makeup and pollution, but that still leave your skin soft and supple. This is where cream cleansers for sensitive skin come in handy. Use them at night before bed, and, in the morning, use a moisture-rich soap and/or natural cleansing grains to detoxify and gently exfoliate without irritation. I have found that natural cleansing grains are the perfect product for removing surface debris like dead skin cells from my face, keeping pores clear. And my skin has never been softer. Bamboo Recommends: Pretty Facial Cleansing Grains C $21.95 Pretty Creamy Facial Bars C $12 Toning: There is no need to use a harsh toner loaded with alcohol and other drying agents. Again, they can just make the problem worse. Instead, try a natural spray toner or floral water. Carry it around with you to keep your skin fresh and rejuvenated throughout the day. Bamboo Recommends: Pretty Facial Tonics C $16 Moisturizing: Again, this may sound counter-intuitive, but listen up: use facial oil. Yes, oil. Natural oils help to balance sebum production by mimicking skin’s own oil, and they also tend to make you look like you just had a facial. Avoid the skin-clogging petrochemicals that also have the potential to cause irritation. Apply natural oils morning and night. In the dryer winter months, it’s even safe to use a moisturizer overtop of your oil. Bamboo Recommends: Pretty Serums (facial oils) C $20-39 Pretty Pure Radiance Day Cream C $29.95 Treatments: I like to use a good clay masque every week to help keep my skin clear. Natural clay treatments detoxify the skin by drawing out impurities, and they soothe inflammation and stimulate circulation, leaving skin fresh and glowing. I also recommend carrying facial blotting papers, especially during the humid summer months when oil production ramps up. Blotting papers are saviors. Bamboo Recommends: “Pretty” Beauty Muds C $22 “Tatcha” Japanese Blotting Papers C $16 So, there you have it: a very simple skincare regime that is effective and feels good to use. A few last words: Drink lots of water, eat your leafy greens, embrace a balanced diet, get enough sleep, don’t go to bed with makeup on, exercise, and try to limit stress. Sounds complicated, but it’s really not. Once you begin to treat your skin how it should be treated, you’ll find that it (and you) will be a lot happier for it.