Gillian Deacon is a well-known journalist. Her recent television appearances include hosting CBC's The Gill Deacon Show and CBC-TV's Code Green – a home renovation competition with an educational twist on greenhouse gases. Gill has also been front and center of such programs as “Discoveries This Week” for the Discovery Science Channel in the U.S., and the award-winning science news magazine at www.discovery.ca for the Discovery Channel in Canada.
Gill is well known for her interest in environmental issues and is the author and editor of Green Tips: How to Save Money and the Planet, a consumer guide for environmentally conscious lifestyle choices, and has also written Green for Life: 200 Simple Eco-Ideas for Every Day. She is also the environmental editor of Green Livingmagazine, and last October she started a monthly column in Chatelaine magazine answering readers' questions about environmental living.
Naturally Savvy Guide, Andrea Donsky: When did you become interested in living a “green” lifestyle?
Gill Deacon: I’ve been a vegetarian for 20 years, which tends to affect my point of view. I started for health reasons. [Over time] that grew into a bigger awareness about some of the issues around meat and meat production. The biggest turning point for me was having kids. I don’t have a moment [where] I can cite when I decided to do things a certain way. My common sense, waste-not-want-not point of view is something I got from my parents. They were war babies and had grown up learning to be frugal, re-using things whenever possible. My mother was taking cans and bottles to the recycling bin depot in the grocery store parking lot long before curbside recycling was introduced. Her common sense approach to not wasting things was how I was raised. My parents always kept the thermostat down in the house because putting on a sweater made more sense than paying for more heat. That sort of logic drives a lot of my environmentalism. The decision to be more proactive about these things happened when I began to have a family. When my son was old enough to start on solid food I remember having recently read something about pesticides. That’s when I began and thinking about what was around the house, what surfaces he was coming into contact with, and how chemicals might affect his little body. [I started] buying organic food and being really mindful of cleaning products. I’m still evolving as a green consumer.
Andrea Donsky: What “green” practices do you live by?
Gill Deacon: I walk or bike everywhere that I possibly can. I teach my kids that we walk to school and, if we’re late, it doesn’t mean we jump in the car. It means we walk faster, or we get a late slip. We don’t have a car right now because we’re waiting for a hybrid to become available and we’ve found that being without a car isn’t too inconvenient. We don’t use a car whenever possible.
I don’t have any toxic chemicals in my house. I figure if I wouldn’t want to eat it, I wouldn’t want to wipe it on my counters, put it on my skin, or have the fumes from it around my house. I believe in the old-fashioned methods of cleaning, using vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, and Borax. That is all the cleaning products I have in my house! I take them to my friend’s houses and try to kindly influence them.
I buy local and/or organic whenever possible, and am teaching my kids about eating seasonally. For instance, we can’t have apples in July since they come from New Zealand. We wait till the fall when our local apples are ready to eat. I do my best to prepare our meals from scratch and will sacrifice other things to make time to cook all our meals with local and organic produce.
Andrea Donsky: Does your family eat and use natural and organic products?
Gill Deacon: Something I learned while researching “Green Tips” was how to prioritize shopping: local organic is best; then local non-organic; then imported organic. Imported non-organic is the lowest priority. I try to live by that. The only issue is that if you want your kids to have a well-versed palate, following these rules means your kids will never taste a pineapple or a mango. So, I try to buy those things occasionally and make them treats. We go to farmers’ markets so I can teach my kids about where their food comes from. I find that my kids really appreciate it when they understand the connection between freshly grown snow peas from the garden and what’s on their plates.
Andrea Donsky: How do you maintain balance in your daily life, in terms of choosing a green vs. a convenient solution?
Gill Deacon: I’ve always been wary of following the pack. I’m an admirer of innovative and creative solutions, and I get a lot of satisfaction when I can find a good solution to a problem that is environmentally responsible. For instance, I was thrilled to find a ceiling fan for my son’s room. It works well to keep his room at the top of the house cool. When I can find that kind of solution, instead of resorting to air conditioning, I feel like I’ve had a great victory. It’s the same feeling I have when I ride across town to a business meeting on my bike. I get a kick [out] of tackling the challenge of getting there without using a car, which would be the easier route. Given that pregnant women are advised not to leave the house most days during the summer due to smog advisories, I want to find a way to get through my day without a car. I’m teaching my kids how to be resourceful where possible, and to think about how to do what they need to do with their bikes. I like taking that extra step to avoid the environmental assault that some modern conveniences can have.
Andrea Donsky: Can you give any advice to someone who wants to start “going green” but doesn’t really know where to begin?
Gill Deacon: My advice would be similar to that of Justin Trudeau when I interviewed him last fall: [don’t] be overwhelmed with everything you think you should do, just pick something to do! My experience is that one thing begets the next. If you start to buy one organic thing for your house, that’s a good start. Then, you might start replacing your cleaning products. Once you become aware of different ways to do things, it usually leads to others. You have to start somewhere. I think a lot of people feel overwhelmed by gloom and doom reports and fears that our children won’t have a planet to inherit from us. They become paralyzed and don’t know where to start. We all have an incredible amount of power to make very significant changes.
