Our Green Home is an on and offline resource guide focused on helping homeowners make environmentally responsible, healthy  choices in renovating, decorating, managing and enjoying their homes.  In addition to providing information, tips and resources dealing with the physical aspects of our homes, the Green Grocery Guide presents a methodology based evaluation of products that we regularly purchase or consume.

No longer can we think of our homes as merely shelter.  The choices we make affect global warming, indoor and outdoor air quality, water use and pollution and the well-being of societies far away but connected to us by the supply chain of the products we buy.

Our homes are also connected to our environment through normal, everyday use. Air blows in through the windows; electricity, produced from coal, nuclear, wind, hydroelectric or solar, zips in through the wires; natural gas comes in through underground pipes; water is pumped in from wells and lakes; and we carry in fruits, vegetables, other foods and personal care and cleaning products. Going out of our homes, waste water is sent to septic systems and treatment facilities that is eventually released back into the environment.

From an ecological perspective, we look at the materials used to construct our homes, where these materials come from and how they are processed, as well as look at the things that come into and go out of our homes, to find ways of living sustainably within our ecosystem. Indeed, our homes are part of the ecosystem. If we look, we can see where our homes intersect the environment. For instance, they are often made of natural materials, such as wood, stone (concrete), clay (brick), tar (shingles), metals (wires and pipes), and sand (glass), in addition to synthetic materials such as plastics and paints which also have ingredients from the natural environment.

This is where our homes and environment meet, and where we can make choices that are easier on our environment and beneficial to ourselves and our communities. A green planet starts with a green home.

In Our Green Home, we encourage a wider understanding of these relationships, helping readers to consider the environmental and social impacts of their decisions by clarifying the basis of the claims and labels associated with the products, practices and services that we bring into our homes. This homeowners’ resource guide Our Green Home makes the links between our homes, our environment and our quality of life.

Our Green Home is distributed three times a year in the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star to 100,000 selected Toronto households in mature neighbourhoods and also at City of Toronto and other environment themed events.  Current and past articles and the continually expanding Green Grocery Guide are available 24/7 at OurGreenHome.ca.