So I am fresh back from my quick trip to Toronto to catch Green Carpet Series' fashion show An Evening of Sustainable Style. After offsetting my air travel emissions with Native Energy (of course), I set out for a two day trip to Toronto. My Canadian eco-experience began at the Customs desk. The agent asked the usual "why are you visiting Canada" to which I replied "business". He then asked "what kind of business", I said "nonprofit". He then asked what kind of nonprofit, I said environmental. "What sort of environmental stuff", he said. So I explained a little about SSF. Then, for about 10 minutes - really - the agent told me all sort of things that he'd been doing to be more 'sustainable'. He went into some politics, some celebrity stuff, etc. Pretty funny actually.
I chose to stay at the Fairmont Royal York since I had noticed a pretty impressive environmental effort underway at Fairmont Hotels when I stayed at the Empress in Victoria recently. Once again I was very impressed as their environmental efforts go far beyond the usual hotel activities (e.g. not changing the sheets and towels everyday) and their environemtnal committment was actually pretty prominent. I recall from my Victoria stay that they chose to use all LED holiday lights for example.
I had to rush off pretty quicky to the event. I got a chance to speak to Green Carpet Series' Leslie Domenico for a bit before the show and then found some Toronto friends to hang out with. The event was a HUGE success, tons of people, and some great fashions. There was also a big Canadian Celebrity turnout, including hosts Gill Deacon and George Stroumboulopoulis, as well as Sarah Richardson, Kim D'Eon, and more. Most of the designs were pretty typical eco-design (yoga wear, repurposed, active wear, etc.) but a line called Preloved really stood out and was certainly my favorite (picture to left is from a earlier show).
The next day, wanting to make the most of my trip, I went out for a little touring. I paid a visit to Preloved, of course, and another great green lifestyle store called Grassroots. Grassroots recommended a great little place down the street for lunch, Fresh. YUMMIE!!! I had the vegan mushroom burger and an absolutely perfect double chocolate chip cookie.