Good Choice Initiative

Hi! My name's Noelle and I would consider myself an eco-citizen. I've spent most of my childhood living abroad in countries like Argentina and India, but Ottawa is and always has been home. Only a one hour drive away, our family cottage in La Pêche, Quebec is where I spent most of the day outside, swimming in the lake. Today, it is where I disconnect from the city and reconnect with nature. With a degree in Geography from Queen’s University, I’m passionate about sustainability and community development. I've studied tropical ecology in Costa Rica and benefited from an internship in environmental education in Honduras, working alongside local NGOs on conservation and environmental education projects. On the island of Utila, I learned to scuba dive and fell (more) in love with the ocean. My dream is to one day see a whale shark in its natural habitat... I even got a bamboo tattoo of this gentle giant in Thailand as a daily reminder of this personal lifetime goal. I...

As a new snowstorm is upon us, the thought of settling down into a coffee shop for a warm beverage to escape the cold can be comforting. Over the last few weeks, I have been exploring several coffee places across the city, with a particular interest in their 'bring your own mug/cup' policy (for research, you know). Below is the list of all the places that I found accept customers bringing their own, some of which even provide a discount or incentive for doing so. Not only can you feel good about bringing your own mug instead of using a takeaway for your coffee, but you can be rewarded for your efforts to be more sustainable! Read on to find out which coffee places recognize consumers that do their part for the environment... 1. Bridgehead Several locations across Ottawa. One of the original local coffee shops that serves Fairtrade coffee, they accept any mug (travel or ceramic) and give a $0.27 discount per drink purchase. I love this place because they serve delici...

Welcome to 2020! It's a new decade, and with it comes a whole new set of resolutions - and expectations - to live better. In the past, I've set ambitious resolutions to meditate daily or to stop eating dairy in the hopes that I could be motivated to change my ways. Knowing myself, these expectations were in fact unrealistic and I was inevitably disappointed when I couldn't stick to them. So, now I'm trying another approach - one where I set realistic goals considering my habits and I stick to them. I am committed to living by my values of minimizing my impact on the environment, supporting local businesses and doing my best to buy products from abroad that are sourced ethically and sustainably. As long as I live by my values, I can only win...right? Right 😉 For those of you who are making sustainability part of your New Year's resolutions, I've come up with a list of 5 tips that you can easily implement into your daily habits ( it may take some ti...