The Salon Movement

Moving Salons Forward Sustainably

Green Resources

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We are large supporters and contributors to the green initiatives in health, beauty and non-toxic body care. When we saw a market in desperate need for positive change, we made the necessary moves to bring Green Circle Salons and Davines to the west coast of Canada in a big way. By creating The Salon Movement, we sought to become a resource for other salons and businesses looking to go green and provide unwavering support. By choosing to foster our passion for the environment and hair, we’re striving to bring more awareness to people and prove that it’s worth it. Now we know that focusing on hair and body isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. So instead, we wanted to write this blog post to showcase other green initiatives we believe are important and necessary. A green initiative is defined as being a movement with the goal of offsetting Greenhouse gases. Below is a comprehensive list of resources that are a great place to start when wanting to go more “green.”

Documentaries:

Cowspirary – This documentary has stirred up a lot of controversy surrounding the link between meat consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. “The impact of livestock production on the planet is too often underestimated and overlooked.” The power of the livestock industry and the pull they have is enormous. This doc sheds light on an area no one wants to talk in-depth about.

Chasing Ice – The shrinking of the world’s ice caps is very real and visible evidence of climate change. James Balong, an environmental photographer, showcases the intense shrinkage taking place in “Chasing Ice”.

Blogs:

The Green Market Oracle – This comprehensive blog centres around the “convergence of sustainable capitalism and the global environment”. It’s run by Richard Matthews, a consultant, eco-entrepreneur, sustainable investor and writer. With a full list of resources and discussion about serious green-related issues, we highly recommend taking a look.

Ecochick – This cute and quirky blog focuses on food, travel, fashion, style and life for green-conscious women. The “ecochick is a consumer who’s tired of ‘environmentally friendly’ really meaning ‘expensive, inconvenient and ugly’. It’s time to make living green mainstream, fun, fresh and cool.” This is a great blog for moms and women interested in how they can make their lives more eco-friendly.

Businesses:

Organic Ocean – This small west coast company aims at providing consumers and local chefs sustainably-harvested seafood. With the world’s seafood levels at an all-time low, companies like these are integral to supporting our oceans ecosystems.

 

Contact us for more information on green initiatives in Victoria and what we’re doing to make a difference. → http://thesalonmovement.com/.

 

Zero-Waste Lifestyle

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After seeing a Facebook video of a young woman who has been living entirely waste-free for five years, we were inspired to write this post. The small amount of waste she accumulated fit into a small mason jar consisting mostly of receipts, clothing tags, and straws. This small amount of trash pales in comparison to the amount the average Canadian creates everyday.  “In 2009, Canada produced 777 kilograms of garbage per citizen. Across 17 countries studied, the average was only 578 kg produced.” Even for those of us who religiously recycle and try to reduce waste as much as possible, that kind of lifestyle is still seen as the holy grail. Although incredibly difficult in some aspects, the ethics and value behind it are inspiring. The first question you may have is what exactly is a waste-free lifestyle? It’s a green movement aimed at sending nothing to a landfill. It relies upon the “R’s,” – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Reducing what we need, reusing as much as possible, recycling when needed, and composting everything else. Landfills are a huge current problem that most people tend to forget about or overlook. It’s easy for most of us to avoid the truth and turn a blind eye because finding a solution requires effort. Most of us know that producing a ton of garbage is bad for the environment but just how bad is unknown to most of us. By living in a disposable society, the landfills we contribute to are very toxic by nature. “They produce tons of greenhouse gases, are not aerated for proper decomposition of natural materials which then release high levels of methane, unnatural chemicals leach into the soil which can run off into the ocean, groundwater, and soil.”

Plastic is especially dangerous to the ocean, marine life, and our health. It will never actually disappear completely and is filled with toxic substances. The root of this issue lies in the number of products sold to us that are completely unnecessary. You don’t NEED a separate brush, sponge, soap, spray for every tiny separate thing. A great example of this is using natural cleaning products such as vinegar or castile soap for many household chores. You might be thinking but I recycle all the time, how is this different than being waste-free? Recycling is awesome but in reality, most things aren’t fully recyclable. Due to difficulty in separating raw materials, lots of recycled goods end up being discarded anyway.

Taking small steps to reduce your footprint is an excellent start that can benefit the environment and your own life. Contact us for more questions about a waste-free lifestyle and how you can get started recycling in more areas of your life. → http://thesalonmovement.com/.