Conscientious
consumption

Guidebook to good, green local businesses
makes shopping ethically easier

by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Tim Stremos

Age: 25

His thing: Co-proprietor of Conscience Verte

Bio: This free-wheelin’ Ville Emard stud landed in Montreal 18 months ago by way of Amsterdam, NL, where for three years he’d been doing his own variation of the backpacker thing. Originally from Windsor, Ontario, Tim met his current love interest business partner Lyse-Anne Marquis within a few weeks of his arrival, while attending naturopathy school, and after moving in together a few short weeks later, vowed to think up some business enterprise they could pursue “that would fit within our belief systems. I was doing this slimeball telephone work at the time which I just couldn’t bear anymore, it was evil work, man, evil. I had to stop.” Earlier this week, the couple’s noble enterprise was unleashed on the public by way of Conscience Verte, “a combination guide and book of rebates for conscientious businesses in the Montreal area.”

How “green” must a business be to make it into the pages of Conscience Verte? “It’s not only about companies that are green, it’s also about organizations, people, companies that are making positive actions in our community—be that environmentally, through nutrition, general health, personal development, whatever. We’ve found all these things tend to be inter-related. You know, the person who is looking for organic products might also be looking for a yoga studio or a bike shop or an ethical mutual fund investor, so Conscience Verte not only offers rebates, but also functions as a local guide to these places.”

Is there anything in Conscience Verte that anyone might actually want, or is it mostly, like, a “Buy one bag of coloured hippie beads and get 50 per cent off your next purchase of a two-gallon tank of patchouli oil” type thing? “No, it’s a lot more exciting than that. We’ve got massage studios, naturopaths, all sorts of things. Like, almost every yoga studio in the book is offering one week for free—no strings attached—there’s buy-one-get-one-free deals at restaurants, there’s clothing stores offering 50 per cent off the second item. There’s a lot of good stuff in there.”

How do they know they’re not dealing with BP-type companies, spending zillions promoting green PR campaigns while actually doing very little towards encouraging a “green planet”? “Well, the way we can know best is not to work with huge companies like BP. We’re strictly interested in small Montreal-area business. I mean, it’s not like we’re going into the back rooms of businesses and digging through their old receipts and stuff, but we do the best we can.”

Has there ever been even one business that was prepared to advertise in Conscience Verte who Tim and Lyse-Anne actually rejected? Yes. “We’ve said no to one clothing store and one restaurant. They both sort of told us the same thing, which was pretty much, ‘Sure, great, this will be a great new market for us to screw.’ Not like that exactly, but that was the sentiment. So we just couldn’t do it with them.”

What a Conscience Verte rebate/guide book will cost you: $20. Go to www.conscienceverte.ca or pick one up at any of the 120 participating businesses.

Last book read: How to Know Higher Worlds, by Rudolf Steiner.

Musical preferences: Radio Canada, Eliza Moore

Words of wisdom: “There’s strength in unity.”

Comments: dimwit@hdot.net