Do you love mint tea? Are you planning to bake potatoes? Contemplating bruschetta and tabouli salad? Then you need mint, chives, basil and parsley at your fingertips. If you usually grow petunias on your balcony or deck maybe it’s time grow your own mojitos instead!

Herbs are food enhancers and add natural fresh flavour to everything from drinks to desserts. Plus, adding an herb pot to your patio is easy once you’ve picked your plants.

Start with Basil

Greek columnar basil is an ideal shape for the middle of a patio pot. Unlike other basil varieties this clonal variety stays narrow and will easily reach 45 cm tall.

Basil tip: While most basil dies back and their leaves go bitter after blooming, Greek columnar basil is very slow to bloom and stays green and tasty well into fall.

Add Parsley

Flat-leaved Italian parsley easily fills a whole pot but curled parsley is the tasty and petite cousin. It is a great filler plant so place it next to your columnar basil.

Consider Chives

If there is one herb I can’t be without it is chives. The tidy, grass-like leaves fill out a mixed pot and together with their onion-flavored purple petals they decorate both salads and baked potatoes.

Remember Mint

The hardiest herb to grow everywhere is mint. Mixed into watermelon salad, muddled into cocktails, or steeped into tea, mint is versatile for every part of the meal. Richter’s online catalogue lists over 50 kinds of mint and I order seven types for my garden including mojito mint.

However, most gardeners are afraid mint will take off and run rampant through the garden, as it has a tendency to spread. But in the confines of a pot on your patio, mint stays put. If space is limited, I use Corsican mint because it tumbles over the edge of a mixed-herb pot instead of taking up vertical space.

Gardening may seem old fashioned but growing your own mojito mint cocktail? That’s pretty cool. What are you waiting for?

Get Growing

Get your green thumb dirty this spring with a container garden. Growing your own herbs on the patio is simple and rewarding.

• For ease and visual interest start with a pot at least 14 inches (30 cm) across.
• Buy one basil, two chives and two parsley plants.
• Add a second or even third pot for mint, fennel, dill, rosemary or any other herbs you crave and use.
• Prepare soil by mixing equal parts worm castings with commercial potting mix.
• Toss in a handful of organic all-purpose fertilizer before you place plants.
• Water and enjoy.

What is it about gardening that is good for mental health?

The 19th century French writer Voltaire said that if you take care of your garden, it will take care of you. And research shows that spending time outdoors is one of the best ways to improve mental and physical wellbeing. Gardening is great way to do this.

Being in nature lowers stress. One study showed that people who spent 30 minutes gardening were more positive and their cortisol levels went down more, compared to people who spent the time reading.

Gardening allows you to express your identity and be creative, which is psychologically rewarding in itself. More than that, gardening can provide a kind of sanctuary. It allows people to escape from the stresses and strains of daily life. Gardening needs relatively little mental effort, leaving people free to reflect or to switch off completely. Gardeners sometimes say that working on nature’s time helps keep them sane. The fascination of seeing plants grow, as well as physically engaging in gardening, lets their attention wander into another world.

Gardening can also be a way to feel in touch with the past. Growing familiar flowers or vegetables can often help immigrants feel ‘at home’ in their new country. Filling a space with plants that remind you of a particular place or person can be a great way to express personal history and culture.

What if I don’t have a yard?

For people who do not have a home-gardening space, community gardens have become hugely popular and can bring the same mental health benefits. In addition, garden therapy is becoming more popular and gives patients a greater sense of self-esteem, confidence and productivity. Evidence from research around the world shows benefits for people with depression or psychosis, for recovering addicts, young offenders, cancer sufferers and many more. A key bonus is the chance to socialize and enjoy nature with others.

What are the physical benefits?

Regular doses of green exercise are known to be good for your health. Whether you’ve got green thumbs or are just starting out, gardening is good physical exercise. Depending on how hard you work, you can burn up to 250 calories in half an hour.

How often do I have to garden to see benefits?

You don’t have to be out for hours. Research shows short sessions are just as effective at improving mood. The health benefits of a mental break were the same for some Japanese allotment gardeners whether they went for an hour twice a week, or a shorter time only once a week. Even very short (less than 5 minutes) sessions looking at nature can improve wellbeing and the ability to focus on tasks. So, popping into the garden for a just few minutes can still boost your mood.

You don’t need to be an expert to take up gardening and there are many ways to incorporate it into your life. Gardening can teach you both patience, as you wait for your plants to grow, and gratitude, which you’ll feel when you see the end result of your labours.And what can be more satisfying than that?

Improving the opportunity to cycle, walk, run or take public transit to work or school by changing the built environment is a growing area of research and could significantly influence your daily physical activity. Community design features, such as connected streets, a mix of residential, commercial, educational and employment areas, bike paths, and good public transit can support an active commute; whereas green spaces, waterways, walking paths, trails and recreation facilities can promote physical activity.

Exercise is one of the biggest determinants of health and where you live can have an influence on getting you out the door. With an aging population, staying active and healthy is more important than ever. The 2016 Canadian census showed that, for the first time, there are more adults over the age of 65 years than children under the age of 15.

According to a report on healthy living by Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, building communities that promote being active is important. Approximately 80 per cent of Canadians live in urban areas and the urban sprawl that surrounds most major cities is a big problem that has been linked to sedentary lifestyles, easy access to unhealthy food, more time spent driving, less physical activity and higher rates of obesity.

Studies have shown that people benefit from living near natural areas. The ability to visit a natural area close to home, promotes both healthy living patterns and also contributes to a reduction in stress. In fact, just looking out the window at trees, shrubs, grass, water and other natural features is a proven stress reducer.

City planners and urban developers recognize the importance of green spaces and this is being reflected in formal plans and policies. The Vancouver Healthy Cities Plan has a goal of having all Vancouver residents live within a five minute walk of a park. And, as of 2014, 92.7 per cent of residents lived within 400 metres of a park or green space.

Visiting a natural environment will provide you with a restorative effect that is soothing and calming. While nature lovers have long cited the positive effect of enjoying the outdoors, in the past few years, science has begun to actually measure these effects. Rigorous studies have proven that accessing a natural environment has a positive effect on blood pressure, immune functioning and performance on standardized neurocognitive tests.

Researcher Frances E. Kuo, Associate Professor at the University of Illinois, studies the connections between health and access to nature. She puts it this way:

“Access to nature, whether it is in the form of bona fide natural areas or in bits or views of nature, impacts psychological, as well as social functioning. Greater access to green views and green environments yields better cognitive functioning; more proactive, more effective patterns of life functioning; more self-discipline and more impulse control; greater mental health overall; and greater resilience in response to stressful life events.”

“Less access to nature is linked to exacerbated attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms, more sadness and higher rates of clinical depression. People with less access to nature are more prone to stress and anxiety…”

It is clear that communities with nearby natural areas such as river valleys, grasslands, lakes or even mountains hold a healthy advantage for their residents.

Living close to city parks is also a contributing factor to a healthy community. Parks provide a place for neighbours to congregate and make social connections, an important determinant of wellness. They also promote physical activity in many forms. Playgrounds with swings, climbing equipment and slides encourage children to be active, develop social skills as they meet other kids and gain confidence in their physical abilities. And, with parents watching from the sidelines, social interaction is a possible outcome.

Playgrounds aren’t just for kids anymore. A number of communities in Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver and other cities worldwide, have created outdoor fitness parks. These facilities are provided by local municipalities and are free to anyone. The first generation offered static elements like logs to balance on and bars for pull ups. But they have progressed to more sophisticated equipment that focus on strength, cardio and balance.

A study commissioned by the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association concluded that residents living near outdoor fitness parks felt they “improve health, increase physical activity, and enhance a sense of community in their neighbourhood. Many also appreciated that it was freely accessible.”

According to Marie Beha and Caroline F. Hansen on the blog Sharing.Lab “The rationale for government-funded outdoor gyms has its roots in The Nudge Theory. The main idea behind this concept is that subtle changes in government policy can incentivize people to do things, which are in their own interest, without actually giving them direct orders to do so.”

Another feature of a healthy community is access to pathways which encourage residents to walk, run and cycle. Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver all have extensive cycle networks with designated routes linking outlying communities with the downtown core. Many of these are plowed and sanded in the winter, giving rise to a growing population of hardy, year round commuters. Communities that are situated on or near these networks give residents easy access to cycling for pleasure or commuting purposes, providing a healthy and pollution-free method of getting from one location to another.

The number of Canadians on foot and cycling is increasing. In Vancouver a 2016 survey by the city showed increasing numbers of pedestrians and cyclists with 27 per cent of all trips made on foot and seven per cent made by bike. People are also on the move in Toronto where the number of pedestrians and cyclists is growing. Cycle Toronto reports as many as 34 per cent of all trips are made on bike in some neighbourhoods, mainly mixed-use residential communities close to downtown, with a city-wide increase of 15 to 20 per cent over a decade. Calgary too is reporting an increase in the number of its pathway users. Data was last collected by the city in 2016 over a period of several months with totals as high as 75,957 pedestrian, 34 wheelchair and mobility scooter users, and 29,030 cyclists counted at 90 locations over one six-hour period.

Aside from the obvious health benefits of walking, running and cycling, these forms of transportation contribute to a cleaner environment with no emissions. That in turn encourages more people to get out into the environment.

Whether your community has sidewalks is something that you may overlook but it has an impact on active living. Walking along the side of the road just isn’t an attractive option for people who want to walk. It’s not safe or aesthetically pleasing to amble along the edge of a road with cars speeding by. Neighbourhoods with sidewalks have much more appeal and will have an influence on whether you decide to walk.

And there are a lot of fringe benefits to living in a community with sidewalks. Real Estate studies have shown that communities with sidewalks are more desirable and people are willing to pay more to live there. Sidewalks help improve access to local services and transportation and even help keep crime down by encouraging people to be out and about in the community.

Even the design of front yards can have an influence on the health of the community. Yards where people have flowerbeds and lawns require them to go outside even if it’s just to cut the lawn. This creates a connection with nature which helps with overall mental health. In addition, it gives them an opportunity to socialize with neighbours and pedestrians going by.

So the next time you head out into your neighbourhood, take a look at how it stacks up in terms of health and fitness. If it ticks all the right boxes, you’ve scored a win in community health.

Developers’ thinking around sustainability has expanded to include not just physical health (both ours and that of our planet), but also our social and mental health.

A decade ago, the focus of sustainability was on the materials used in home building. We were learning how to cut down on VOCs (volatile organic compounds), to take responsibility for the air, water and earth; to use energy efficient products that lessen our carbon footprint. These are now part of everyday practices and the tools have greatly expanded and improved.

On the leading edge of the materials game, there are visionary architects exploring the use of timber instead of non-renewables (steel and concrete) as the load-bearing structure for medium-rise buildings. This is a particularly exciting prospect in Canada where wood is abundant and can be locally sourced, further reducing a building’s carbon footprint.

Terrace House, in Vancouver’s Coal Harbour district, is a luxury condominium tower designed by Shigeru Ban Architects that is set to become the world’s tallest hybrid timber/glass structure at 19 storeys.

In Oakville, Ont., Lake & East Tower is a modern 144-unit anodized aluminum tower overlooking Lake Ontario. Winnipeg’s 5468796 Architecture has designed an urban vertical garden into the tower as well as intimate urban interaction for pedestrians. Often, these massive buildings fill an entire footprint but at Lake & East, the public can flow through the spaces and gardens without even entering the building.

Today, more than ever, the truly innovative thinking in home building is driven by a holistic view of wellbeing. The challenges of the inner city — balancing density with affordability and concern for the environment requires innovative, creative solutions. Europe has terrific examples of how to live well with smaller, more efficient personal space and better access to social space. North American cities are coming up with ingenious new ways to use rooflines to harvest daylight, grow gardens and convert dead space into productive communal uses.

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Forward-looking developers, such as the architects of Calgary’s N3 Condo and my own company’s GROW multi-family project in Calgary’s Bankview neighbourhood, are embracing the resource sharing economy — offering incentives to car-share rather than using up valuable space for parking; making bicycles an integral part of the landscape rather than an afterthought. The outcome is improved opportunities to move our bodies and greater affordability. Not having parking at N3 allowed developers to reduce the price of condominiums by about $50,000 per unit.

Integral to embracing a lesscar-centric, more pedestrian friendly core, is mixed-use development. In its simplest form, mixed-use is a residential building with shops on the ground level, but with broad potential to blend compatible businesses and utilities of all kinds. There is even the possibility of mixing light industrial space with community recreation space as in the Amager Bakke Waste-to-Energy Plant in Copenhagen, which features a 31,000-square-metre ski slope on its roof.

It’s all part of the innovative design that is shaping our cities for the better health of us all.

Before creating your personal fitness oasis, ask yourself what you and your family will be using the space for and create a place where you can do what you love to do. Most people aren’t training to do a treadmill contest, they want to be fit for life or they want sport-specific training. Think of how you need to develop your own strength, cardio and flexibility.

Basements and garages often make for the default home gym, because well, why not. But if there are few windows in the basement, or the garage feels more like a place you should be changing oil than changing your life, you may not get the results you desire. Try to select a space with the most natural light possible. Light helps create an open, inviting space, key to creating an energizing environment.

Modern LED systems can provide options for different colour lighting to go with the mood of your routine.

Build from the foundation up. Flooring is the No. 1 place to spend your money and virgin rubber tiles are best. At $12-$15 a square-foot they aren’t cheap, but virgin rubber mats are durable, slip-resistant, won’t absorb moisture and don’t off-gas like recycled rubber mats will. Wood, cork, laminate, carpet, tile and linoleum all have drawbacks, from strength and durability to comfort and performance.

No matter how big, or small, your space is, try to maintain its openness. People feel compelled to fill a room with cardio machines and weight racks, but allowing yourself room to move will provide more benefit from functional exercises, no matter the equipment. After all, exercise is about movement. Less clutter also leaves more floor space for mat exercises, yoga and meditation.

A great exercise room will have ample ceiling height, even in spaces as small as 150 square-feet. If your ceiling is too low, rethink the location: eight feet should be a minimum ceiling height. The walls connecting your floor and ceiling provide myriad opportunities to inspire. Blues and greens that calm and reds that energize are choices to consider. Large mirrors or even a glass wall connecting your gym to another part of house can make your space feel enormous.

Built-in entertainment systems for motivational music and a flat-panel video screen can be key pieces of the home gym. Personal training tutorials are abundant on the internet to guide you through hundreds of different workouts, or you can tune in a cooking show or the hockey game while you get your cardio on. Where free weights will take up space, modern cable machines can be built into walls and largely hidden from view. A unique space-saving option can be seen in a compact fitness kiosk we created for Hilton Hotel guest suites called Five Feet To Fitness. It’s got everything you need for a great workout in a tight space.

Cardio machines will eat floor space, so think carefully about what you need and what you will use. Treadmills are for runners, and spin bikes work for cyclists. A cycle trainer sets up and stores easily and allows you to ride the bike you love training indoors. You can track your watts and RPM on a flat panel while riding a virtual Tour de France.

Do you love to swim? If a swim spa is in your budget, a $20,000 to $40,000 investment can make an all-weather pool the piece-de-resistance on any home fitness journey. A swim spa generates a current to swim against and doubles as a hot tub to relax after you put in the heavy miles.

Lastly, take a deep breath and think about the smells around you. There are ways to create ambient scents with hypo allergenic diffusers that can stimulate or relax while cutting through sweaty gym odours.

1. Indoor plants improve air quality

Plants spruce up a room’s décor and they can improve the air quality inside your home. Sonalie Figuerias of greenqueen.com says, “One of your best resources for ridding your home of harmful toxins like formaldehyde, benzene and carbon monoxide are plants such as the bamboo palm, the philodendron and the rubber plant.”

2. Take your shoes off!

One of the quickest and most effective changes you can make to impact the cleanliness of your home is to stop bringing the outside in with you. “Don’t wear shoes in the house, since most household dirt, pesticides and lead come in on your shoes,” says Anjali Shah, a health coach from Michigan. “Go barefoot or wear slippers inside.”

3. Make eco-friendly cleaning supplies

Natural cleansers already in your pantry go a long way to scrubbing your surfaces and leaving your home free of toxins. Use vinegar instead of bleach and try baking soda to scrub tiles and hydrogen peroxide to attack stains. “My No. 1 way to get chemicals out of the house is to make my own cleaning supplies,” says Becky Striepe, of craftingagreenworld.com. “We have a ton of DIY cleaning recipes that use all-natural ingredients to get you started. They’re effective, affordable and safer than store-bought cleaners.”

4. Shop smart, buy green cleaners

The most common piece of advice from our experts was to start making smarter, greener purchasing decisions. If you don’t make your own eco-friendly cleaning products, you can support brands that offer a green cleaning solution right off the shelf. “Mainstream products usually have nasty ingredients, so the best approach is to buy from green companies with strong reputations,” says Rona Fried, of sustainablebusiness.com. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the switch to green, Lindsay Gallimore, of Calgary-based mamanloupsden.com says: “Start small with what already needs to be replaced at home. For example, when it’s time to buy a new bottle of shampoo, figure out how you can make the best choice. (I like solid shampoo bars!) Every time you find something new on your shopping list, spend a bit of extra time making sure the item — no matter how big or small — respects your goals for a toxin-free home.”

5. Stay away from antiseptic or antibacterial products

Germs are not our No. 1 enemy … creating antibiotic-resistant bacteria with the over-proliferation of antibacterial products is! Diane MacEachern, author of Big Green Purse, says, “My No. 1 tip would be to stop worrying about germs so much. Our obsession with germs has driven us to use all kinds of ‘antiseptic’ cleansers that, instead of making us healthier, may actually be weakening our ability to fight germs. Skip commercial cleansers that say they are antiseptic or antibacterial. Look for ingredients like triclosan on the list, which is an antibacterial agent, and don’t buy them, if that’s what the product contains. You can clean up pretty much everything in your house with hot soapy water and a sponge.”

6. Green your bedroom

We spend a third of our life sleeping, so it’s important to make sure the room you’re catching your ZZZ’s in is detoxified as much as possible. “To rid your bedroom of environmental toxins and harmful VOCs, choose a natural mattress, ensure paint is low-VOC and choose natural furniture that doesn’t off-gas into the future,” says Andrea Bertoli, a vegan chef in San Francisco and the force behind greenlivingideas.com. “Remove all scented candles, scented plug-ins and sprays that are adding chemicals into the air.”

7. Don’t introduce toxins into your home

Your battle against insects may be bringing toxins into your home. Greg Seaman, of Vancouver-based eartheasy.com says, “Many pest control products are more harmful than the pests. The simplest, most effective, safest and least expensive solution is diatomaceous earth (DE). DE is broad spectrum, so all household insect issues (even bedbugs) can be easily controlled.”

And don’t forget about the potential hazards of chemicals in your furniture or building materials. Anna Hackman, of green-talk.com raised this issue, saying, “Furniture, closet systems, and cabinetry can be made of particleboard which could emit formaldehyde. Inquire from the store or company if the product was made with glues that contain a low-emitting or no added-formaldehyde product.”

Follow these tips and you will be well on your way to creating a healthy and clean home that is safe for you, your family, and your pets.

The air inside our homes is 2-5 times more polluted than the air outside, even in the middle of the city. Why? A little history…

The study of indoor air quality (IAQ) began in the 1970s. It started by accident. Early researchers into smog and ozone depletion set out to measure the impacts of car exhaust and spewing refineries. What they found was that a significant percentage of chemicals in the atmosphere weren’t from the obvious culprits — burning fumes and smoke — but were instead seeping invisibly out of our buildings; out of our vinyl siding, our paints, our shingles. This caused them to take a look inside.

And it coincided with the energy crisis, when everyone was newly motivated to make homes better insulated. Layers of fibreglass and plastic vapour barriers were coming into common use. Homes were getting tightly sealed to keep out cold air and drafts. Whereas older homes were allowing a complete resupply of new air every hour, the new homes were taking five hours to complete the exchange.

Combine that with the fact our furniture was being made from synthetic foams, our walls were being covered with paints with toxic VOCs, our cabinets, floors and walls were being made from particle boards containing urea-formaldehyde glues and our cleaning products were no longer vinegar, water and baking soda, but newly concocted chemicals.

And then 30 years went by. We continued without a substantial change of course. Over the decades, people have been hit with a rash of home and environmental illnesses, known generally assick building syndrome.

“Baby bottles. Deodorants. A favourite overstuffed sofa. These items, so familiar and apparently harmless, are now sources of pollution at least as serious as the more industrial-grade varieties described above,” say Dr. Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie, in their book, Slow Death By Rubber Duck. Their research studies chemicals found in our bloodstreams and links them back to household exposures.

In the past decade, we’ve started taking the issue more seriously. The paint industry has begun to regulate VOC content. The use of formaldehyde in particle-board products is declining and there is an increasing array of healthier options available to the educated consumer, ranging from household cleaners to furniture and even mattresses.

There are naturally occurring air quality problems as well. Radon gas is a byproduct of uranium breakdown and the second leading cause of lung cancer, after smoking. This invisible, odourless gas seeps up from below our homes. Thoroughly studied in Europe, a recent study at the University of Calgary by Dr. Aaron Goodarzi found at least 1 in 8 homes in and around Calgary have elevated radon levels. Radon affects homes in every part of the country.

“The way the house is constructed has most of the influence,” says U of C Prof. Gerald Osborn, who is in the early stages of testing the implications of underground geological input. “New houses tend to have more radon than old houses because they’re constructed better, so they’re tighter. The radon that comes in the bottom can’t get out the top.”

Testing for radon is not that pricey and remediation methods are available. Near 100 per cent reduction of the gas is possible with advanced methods, but findings show that even simple measures like running fans to increase airflow will significantly decrease radon levels. This is sure to be true for other chemicals in your air, as well.

We’re making progress, but we aren’t out of the woods. Spend a few minutes watching TV and you’re sure to see ads for memory foam beds, fragranced dryer sheets or chemical cleaners. Some things are slow to change, and many industries have little to no accountability for concerns of health and wellness. But awareness is increasing. Following the growth of the organic food movement, people are seeking out clean, natural alternatives.

Will sitting on your couch ever be as fresh and invigorating as sitting next to a waterfall? Not likely. But there are ways to get it closer. And for those of us always looking to improve our health, feel better and live longer, it’s something to start getting serious about.

Our first offering looks at how walking can create a fit community. As a bonus article, we are raising questions about what goes into the clothing you wear and what’s the impact on your health and the environment.

Brock Campbell lives a short walk to Calgary’s trendiest entertainment strip on 17th Avenue SW, a few blocks from the grocery store and food shops, his yoga studio, gym and 2K from work at a downtown office tower. He walks everywhere.

“I like living in an urban environment and I really enjoy not relying on a vehicle to get everything I need,” says Campbell, 27, an oil and gas engineer. “To get the essentials by foot is something that I really value. It’s a lifestyle.”

And that lifestyle is crucial to Campbell’s health. He lives in a fit community.

“We’re really talking about walking when talking about healthy neighbourhoods,” says Beverly Sandalack, associate dean at the University of Calgary’s faculty of environmental design. “If a neighbourhood isn’t allowing people to walk, we’re doing something wrong.”

Sandalack and colleagues have been researching healthy neighbourhoods, analyzing street patterns and amenities, then correlating their research with personal health indicators, such as waist size, to determine whether our neighbourhoods are making us sick, or letting us live full lives.

Calgary has been Canada’s fastest growing big city over the past two decades. It recently surpassed Ottawa as the country’s fourth largest urban municipality. But this growth has evolved around car culture, urban sprawl and thousands of homes continually built on the city’s perimeter. Those suburban neighbourhoods are characterized by their curved streets and cul-de-sacs that look interesting on Google Earth, but serve to trap occupants in their homes or vehicles. At 825 square kilometres, Calgary sprawls farther and wider than Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal with far fewer people. Big homes and large suburban lots can be attractive, but requiring a vehicle for every trip to the corner store, long work commutes and getting kids to school doesn’t make for a healthy lifestyle.

At its simplest, U of C researchers have found that people tend to be fitter and weigh less when they live in neighbourhoods with grid-patterned streets that are within a 15-minute walk of amenities such as grocery stores, transit stops, schools and work places. People in those neighbourhoods walk for transportation and to public transit. They walk for errands and to socialize at local coffee shops and eateries. Researchers found that both urban and suburban residents tend to walk about the same amount for leisure, but it’s those trips with a purpose that lead to better health and fitness.

Inactive people are almost twice as likely as active people to suffer from cardiovascular disease, stroke, hypertension, colon cancer, breast cancer, diabetes, depression and obesity. And with only one in five adults getting the recommended 150 minutes of moderate physical activity a week, we need to use every means possible to keep people moving.

“Your neighbourhood can enable or restrict the amount of physical activity you undertake, even for highly motivated people,” says Gavin McCormack, associate professor at Calgary’s Cummings School of Medicine. “Neighbourhoods that have many destinations, well-connected pedestrian networks, sidewalks, transit stops and pathways and cycleways encourage higher levels of physical activity.”

While there are many factors in play when people choose where to live — including affordability — urban planners say cities need to offer more choices that promote a lifestyle that is better for your body and the environment. Choosing a home has to be about more than the number of bedrooms and bathrooms inside.

Katherine Moore, a 39-year-old yoga instructor and competitive runner, lives in the heart of Vancouver, Canada’s most walkable city. According to walkscore.com, Moore’s Yaletown neighbourhood scores a near-perfect 99 on its rating scale, falling into the Walker’s Paradise category.

“I chose my apartment so I can walk to work, I can walk everywhere. I’d rather pay a little more in rent and I don’t need a car and I can stay active,” says Moore, who estimates she walks about 30K a week, on top of run training of about 100K. “I can’t think of my life without walking or running. I’m always active. There’s no other way of life.”

Calgary has pockets of walk friendly neighbourhoods, but it rates poorly on walkscore.com, sitting 10th in a list of major Canadian cities, well behind Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, the country’s most populous and most walkable cities. But developers and city planners have turned their sights toward increasing urban density and urban walkability. Calgary’s pedestrian strategy says, “As we invest in turning spaces into places, walking becomes a means of experiencing more and more of the city. This will in turn have economic, health, social and environmental benefits that far exceed the costs.”

In September, the city is hosting Walk21, an international conference where 600 experts and delegates will share ways to incorporate walking into everyday life. Calgary has been pedalling ahead with a new cycle track program that makes some car drivers cranky, but has also seen cycling trips to the city core increase by 39 percent in just one year.

While Calgary’s boundaries never seem to end, it also has acres of inner city land that is ripe for walkable development. East Village, just blocks from the city’s office tower core, has been rising up from an urban jungle and will soon be home to more than 11,000 new inner city residents. Many of the new high-rise buildings have no parking, but they do have bike lockers and unimpeded connections to riverfront cycle and walking paths. The 3,900 new condo and rental units are supported by 400,000 square feet of retail space, and are just blocks from the new $191 million National Music Centre, the $245 million public library due to open in 2018, and potentially a new hockey arena on the city’s east side.

Zoe Duncan spent a year living in East Village as its resident ambassador. For a year she told stories and blogged about life in East Village in exchange for a rent-free apartment.

“When I moved to East Village, I didn’t expect it to be much of a lifestyle change because I was moving from a fairly walkable neighbourhood in Kensington,” says Duncan, 28, a book editor. “But there is a big difference living right next to the pathway system. It made it that much easier to walk or get out on my bike. I’m not sure people even realize the impact on their general happiness by getting out of their cars. It changes the whole rest of the day.”

The University District is another inner city project by West Campus Development Trust that will see a brand new self-contained development of 200 acres surrounding the Alberta Children’s Hospital. The community is designed to serve the University of Calgary with a mix of duplexes and townhomes, apartment towers up to 16 storeys and all of the retail, commercial and professional services required for 12,000 people. There are five community parks in the plan, all connected to the university and hospital by walking and bike paths.

“We need more conversation around walkability and fit communities, and we need to get developers to the table,” says McCormack. “The way we’ve been building communities for the last half century has been having a negative impact on our health and we need to change that.

“We need to allow people a choice to live a healthy lifestyle, provide opportunities for physical activity and healthy living.”

To learn more about Walk Score, click here: https://www.redfin.com/how-walk-score-works

As we learned from the BPA/phthalate water bottle issue, things can change fast. Almost overnight people were ditching what they thought were healthy plastic bottles and stocking up with stainless or glass.

Clothing is a new can of worms. From formaldehyde used in no-iron garments, to carcinogenic flame-retardant chemicals used on polyesters and baby clothing, to an array of questionable dyes, to PFCs used in water- and stain-proofing, there are many things to watch out for.

Why aren’t we more concerned? The most obvious reason is that we are delving into human processes that aren’t well publicized.

“As difficult as it might be to believe, mainstream manufacturers and regulatory authorities appear unaware of the high permeability of skin, or else simply choose to ignore this as a critical concern,” writes Dr. Samuel Epstein, cancer prevention researcher at the University of Illinois and author of many books, including Toxic Beauty: How Cosmetics and Personal-Care Products Endanger Your Health… and What You Can Do About It.

Skin is much more absorbent than we think. Some argue it is more permeable and less selective than our intestines. Different substances absorb at different rates, but given that levels of thousands of chemicals, including flame-retardants and PFCs are found in the bloodstreams of virtually all humans, it’s time to start taking the issue seriously. For many of these chemicals, safe levels have not been determined. Common sense dictates that the closer our levels are to zero, the better off we are.

So how do we protect ourselves?

Fortunately, we have options. Icebreaker founder Jeremy Moon saw the need for something different and created a line of products centred around merino wool.

“There was nothing natural on the market, only synthetics made of petrochemicals such as polyester or polypropylene. We wanted to offer a natural choice to outdoor enthusiasts. There had to be a better choice for your skin than plastic.,” he says. “To do this, we turned to nature for answers.”

Merino wool is a natural fibre that many say feels and performs better than synthetics. Other natural materials are out there. Organic cottons are super comfortable, but less popular for athletic wear and companies such as Gramicci have been pushing forward initiatives to develop performance hemp clothing.

As enthusiasts, we still crave performance and that’s why synthetics are so popular. They are light, keep you dry, keep you cool, keep you warm. The switch to merino and natural fibres for our base layers and our casual wear is easy, but what about the gear? Waxed canvas isn’t going to cut it.

There’s good news on that front too. In response to the urging of scientists that the use of compounds such as PFCs be drastically cut back, industry players are stepping up to the challenge. While most companies use textiles from other sources (Gore-tex, etc.), the design team at Columbia has been hard at work in their lab and has recently released their revolutionary new Outdry fabric. This lightweight, 2-layer material is free of PFCs, in the coating and the membrane. Their Outdry Extreme Eco jacket was recently released. It is dye-free and the lining is made from 21 recycled plastic bottles.

Speaking with the designers, they were proud to see the direction the industry is heading. “As much as it’s great to feel all warm and fuzzy working on a project like this, it’s also a business decision,” says Columbia designer Scott Trepanier. Though it hasn’t hit mainstream conversation yet, the rumblings are out there: people are starting to think about healthier and more environmentally responsible options and they need to stay ahead of the trend.

So what’s in my shirt? The bad news is that it’s not always easy to know. And there are ingredients, treatments, sprays and dyes that go into clothing that are detrimental to our health. The good news is that things are changing. People are asking for change and companies are starting to deliver. Will the future be safe and pure and healthy? Unlikely. Nothing is ever perfect. Our health and performance is the goal, so it’s always best to make an educated choice, one that works today and for the long-term.