Edmonton’s Carbon Environmental Boutique

In the heart of historic downtown Edmonton, Alberta,
Carbon Environmental Boutique is combining environmental ethics with a keen business sense.

Owners Allison MacLean and Marc Nipp view the Boutique as more than a retail store. Their mission is threefold: “To showcase and support environmental manufacturing, to encourage and fortify ethical business practices and to advocate and promote non-toxic living.”

After plenty of research on the subject of household toxins and other concerns, MacLean and Nipp recognized that pollution was not just an external “planetary” issue. They found that toxins were present within their own home, and within common consumer products they purchased everyday for themselves and their children. It was an eye-opener.

So, the husband and wife team began the process towards healthier, mindful living. Their new awareness became the basis for Carbon Environmental Boutique’s product screening process.

Before opening their new store, they became, as Maclean describes it, “inside out environmentalists.” By focusing on their own environments – their bodies and their homes – they actively affected their external environment with the consumer choices they made. What they chose to buy and not to buy affected the world around them by decreasing demand for harmful products. Through these small, everyday choices, the couple felt empowered to help others to do the same, and an environmental boutique was born.

For more information on the store, visit www.carbonboutique.com.