She has risen from a no-name "green living" writer to become the "belle of the eco ball", and Leslie Garrett's writing answers all of your sustainablility questions with informative content, great thought, and loads of entertainment. Read Leslie's bio below.

I never considered myself an environmentalist. In fact, I felt far from it. While I grew up on the shores of Lake Huron and I liked my water clean, my wetlands wet and my fish plentiful and edible, I thought the environmental movement was for people who wanted to chain themselves to old-growth trees or go out in a Greenpeace dinghy to protest whaling practices.

I did, however, focus much of my research and writing on social justice issues. I worked as a volunteer with homeless women and became better informed about issues around poverty and exploitation.
And I became a parent, which changed everything.

Suddenly I was viewing the world through the eyes of a child. It's a place full of miracles -- large and small. From the cocoon that encases a butterfly to the tsunami that erases entire villages. Miracles of creation and destruction.

I became increasingly aware of and concerned about threats to our environment. I also became, increasingly, a consumer -- making purchases for a child that came into the world naked and hungry. It was when buying baby-sized undershirts (it's cold in Canada in January!!) that seemed perplexingly cheap that I determined NOT to participate in a consumer culture that survived on the backs of poorly paid workers and exploited environmental resources. However, I wasn't sure where to start sourcing the products I needed from companies whose values I shared. Indeed, I wasn't even entirely sure what the issues were. Thus, the seed for The Virtuous Consumer was planted. I became convinced that I couldn't be the only person who was seeking this information, yet there were few resources (keep in mind this was a decade ago, before the "green" movement exploded into mainstream culture).

I began researching, writing columns and trying to interest newspapers and magazines in picking it up. Despite considerable experience as an award-winning journalist, I was told repeatedly that "no-one wants this information." I was rejected by, I'm sure, every editor in North America. I kept at it, eventually finding a few publications -- mostly small regional parenting publications -- who liked the column. And then, An Inconvenient Truth was released. Within a month or two of its release, I was being contacted by publications -- national publications -- assigning stories on "living green".  A year or so later, my book proposal for The Virtuous Consumer, was picked up by an agent and immediately accepted by a publisher.

Suddenly, I was the belle of the eco-ball.

These days, I continue to add to my own understanding of environmental issues and spend considerable time writing and speaking about them. I continue to push myself to live "greener" daily. My family and I are currently in "consumer detox" for 30 days -- we're buying nothing except perishable foods. It feels good and forces me to acknowledge how much "stuff" we bring into our homes that we certainly don't need and often don't really want.

I'm delighted with the response to The Virtuous Consumer. I love hearing that people have changed their lifestyles after reading the book and, better still, feel really good about it. I'm glad I can make people laugh in the midst of all this.
I now co-host a radio show on environmental and social issues, am the "green living" correspondent for the A Channel's Morning Show, am products editor for Positively Green, a new eco-living publication dedicated to giving people great  "green" solutions. It's a pleasant change from the rejection I had grown used to a decade ago...

Visit The Virtuous Consumer at http://www.virtuousconsumer.com/