Our newsletter is also available on our website in English and French
December 2008
Online boutique open for the holidays!
Message to Members
There is lots of news this month at La Maison Verte. First off, we are proud to announce that our brand new online boutique is now open for business (visit www.cooplamaisonverte.com to see)! We’ve carefully selected some of our most popular products for the boutique’s first phase and will be adding new items on a regular basis. Help us spread the word!
SHOP ONLINE AND WIN:
Make an online purchase from December 15, 2008 to January 15, 2009, and your name will be entered in a contest for a 100% rebate on your ENTIRE ORDER!!! That’s right, you will receive your entire order absolutely FREE, courtesy of La Maison Verte!
The online store wouldn’t have been possible without the help of: Valérie Michaud (translation, revision), Anne Fournier, Pauline Riousset, Filipa Esteves, Jeanne Guerbet, Sabrina Perreault, Anne-Andree Richard, Joanne Deshaies, Reine Djuidje, Geneviève Mathieu, Isabelle Berthelot, and Geneviève Léger (translation), Johanne Bouthillier (revision), as well as photo help from Franco Boreiro, Riccardo Cellere and Kurt Houghton, design help from Natasha Geerts and CSS work by Nova Lee Fortier. And a big thanks to our programmer Raj Ramtuhol, and coordinators Jason Hughes and Aimée van Drimmelen for putting it all together.
LA MAISON VERTE WINS AWARD!
On November 10th 2008, the first day of the “Semaine de la Culture Entrepreneuriale,” Co-op La Maison Verte received the Prix Inspiration 2008 from the Corporation de Dévélopment Economic Communautaire (CDEC) CDN/NDG, designating it as the borough’s most inspiring social economy business for 2008. We are flattered to receive such a prestigious award and look forward to maintaining our reputation in the coming years.
MEMBERSHIP ADVISORY: Spousal Membership a “no no”
Many of our members share one membership card between two spouses. Our bylaws state that only the person who signs the form and pays the $10 is considered a member, and thus eligible to receive discounts. We realise we’ve been lenient on enforcing this rule, so we’re giving you until January 1, 2009 to get a new membership, or upgrade your membership to “family” status (for the same price) where up to four people can be signed on to the same card. For more information, visit the “Membership” section of our website.
HOLIDAY HOURS:
Dec. 24: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Dec. 25: CLOSED
Dec. 26: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Dec. 31: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Jan. 1: CLOSED
Jan. 2: CLOSED
We wish you Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year!
Thanks this month to: Anne Laure Buisine, Franco Boriero (translation); Johanne Bouthillier (revision).
New Products
Visit the store and you fill find a large selection of new products and old favourites for the holidays, including:
- Journals, notebooks and photo albums made from recycled books and record covers.
- Delicious hand made soaps & bath bombs.
- Windup radios & flashlights (no batteries required!)
- Organic cotton & hemp bath mats, dishtowels and napkins.
- Local hand made reusable shopping bags & totes
- Fair Trade hammocks (standard and chair style)
- All natural locally made & designed clothing
- Organic and fair trade chocolate, coffee & tea
- Gift Certificates for the fussy one in the family
Member Specials
Receive 15% off of Druide’s 250ml bottles of all-natural and luxurious liquid soaps in Vivifying, Relaxing and Soothing scents.
If you haven’t yet tried the 100% biodegradable G-diaper, now’s your chance. Members receive 15% off all G-diaper products for December.
And don’t forget that when you purchase two delicious products from Soins Corporels L’Herbier you receive a third FREE, and get entered in a draw to win a $100 gift basket!
Eco Logic
Obituary: Environmental pioneer de Laet
By Catherine Solyom (This article was originally published in the Montreal Gazette Sunday, November 16)
After a lifelong quest to meld science and conscience, environmental pioneer and grassroots activist Christian de Laet died Thursday at the age of 81.
Born in Belgium 12 years before the Second World War broke out, de Laet made Montreal his home in 1949, where the young mathematician first landed a job with Alcan.
But he spent the better part of his life travelling across the country and around the world, from the Canadian prairies to Papua New Guinea, trying to understand the global environment and humans' place within it.
At a time when few thought of natural resources as anything but commodities ready to be exploited, de Laet was already talking about the "sustainability of civilization" to anyone who would listen.
Many of them did.
"It's a great loss - he was a very dear person to so many people," said Sylvie Van Brabant, a filmmaker currently working on a documentary about de Laet and other environmental pioneers around the world.
"He had great wit and a sense of humour. He was a genius who worked in so many places and with so many people across the globe." After a decade in the private sector, de Laet's public career took off in 1964, when he was elected the first secretary-general of the Canadian Council of Resources and Environment Ministers.
He spent nine years criss-crossing the country trying to forge a consensus on resource management and raising Canadian awareness of environmental concerns along the way.
As early as 1966, he was able to put a figure on how much Canadians were losing to water, air and soil pollution every year - $494 each.
"He really pioneered the environmental movement in Canada by getting all the provincial and federal ministers to work together," said Wayne Kines, co-founder of the World Media Institute in Ottawa, who has worked with de Laet on and off for 30 years.
It was with the CCREM that de Laet attended the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm - considered a turning point in the development of environmental politics - making his mark on a global scale.
Over the next decade, he would be at the forefront of the new science of sustainable development, attending conferences and fulfilling assignments for a wide range of public and private agencies, from Argentina to Zaire.
In Papua New Guinea, for example, he was asked to prepare the environmental sector for coming independence from Australia in 1975.
In 1977, de Laet was invited by Commonwealth Secretary-General Shridath Ramphal to become his science adviser.
Ramphal said of de Laet's work at the time that it was always characterized by "originality, wit and creativity." Perhaps de Laet's most lasting legacy will be the creation of Development Alternatives, a non-governmental organization he co-founded in India in 1983.
Having started with one employee on a project to find a way to build bricks that wouldn't involve cutting down trees for fuel to bake them with, the agency now employs hundreds around the world and is considered a model of grassroots development.
De Laet remained active in many endeavours until he was hospitalized with pneumonia about a month ago, including on the film shoot for Van Brabant's documentary called La dernière planète.
A public celebration of de Laet's life took place on Sunday, November 30.
--
Christian de Laet was a member of La Maison Verte, and a regular visitor to the store for several years. His stories and quirky sense of humour stay in our hearts. He will be missed.
Eco Logic is a place for members to write or suggest articles about environment or community-related subjects of all kinds. Email your ideas to newsletter@cooplamaisonverte.com
5785, Sherbrooke street West, Metro Vendome + bus #105 - call us! 514-489-8000