Searching for Tao, 7573 Kilometres from Home

September 02, 2008 18:09 +0000 | Canada Environment Green Party Politics 14

For those who haven't yet heard, Canada's Green Party is now an official parliamentary party. Blair Wilson, the MP for West Vancouver has defected from the Federal Liberal party to the Green Party of Canada. This move pretty much solidifies the Green Party's right to enter the debates for the upcoming election, and believe me when I tell you that Elizabeth May will rip the other four to shreds.

This election is likely to be a lot more fun than I initially expected.

May 25, 2008 19:07 +0000 | Environment Friends Self Reflection Suburbia 13

Lately, I've come to dread my weekends, which is odd, because I'm so very busy during the week, but nonetheless it's happening. It took me a while to deduce from where this sense of desperation was coming, but it finally donned on me: it's the suburbs.

I don't think that I can accurately explain my discomfort with suburbia. Sure, it's completely wasteful and unsustainable, but my political reaons for hating that way of life are separate. No, it's the... emptiness. Standing in a field of parked cars in blistering heat, surrounded by pickup trucks and SUVs all humming along with their heat-generating A/C units. The acres of big box stores, parking lots and big box stores, all separated by pointless little medians and mock "nature" in the form of a tree in a concrete box or a wood bench facing yet another parking stall. It makes my nerves itch just thinking about it.

I've been out to the suburbs (yes, that includes Kelowna) every weekend without exception for at least 5 weeks now. Obviously, it's not out of a sense of masochism, but rather because I have friends out there. I guess, part of me secretly hoped that they'd all get the hell out of Langley and Surrey before I returned from Toronto and that I wouldn't have to endure a personal hell just to be with them, but it would seem that Fate is a sadist: rather than leave, they've entrenched themselves.

Jeanie and Ruth have moved into a pretty house in White Rock, and Chris and Trish have bought a house out in Langley. Quinn and Michelle seem to like it there and my parents moved to Kelowna because of the lifestyle. The truth is though, I don't begrudge any of them for their choices. They've chosen that life for themselves and barring the inevitable major financial collapse hinging on oil scarcity, they'll probably continue to enjoy it for years to come. I just hate having to go there to see them -- and by hate, I mean hate. The mere thought breeds contempt in my veins, I get bitter just boarding the Skytrain.

It's probably all a mix of the horrible memories I have of that place and my knowledge of the socio-economic-environmental implications of such a lifestyle that does this, but knowing this doesn't make it any better. I miss my friends. I'll continue to see them. But I just need to vent.

I hate it so much.

Edit: 2008-05-28

It's been brought to my attention that this post might be construed as bitterness toward my friends for making me come out to the burbs all the time without them making the same sacrifice for me. Nothing could be further from the truth. Chris Rhodes and Trish especially have made the trip on many occasions and I've appreciated the visit every time. This post was, more than anything, about how much I hate the suburbs.

June 15, 2007 18:05 +0000 | Agriculture Conservatives Energy Environment Nuclear Politics 1

I'll start with the good news because it's quite exciting and I have a picture ;-)

According to Torontoist, there's a guy by the name of Gordon Graff who wants to build a massive vertical farm right in the middle of Toronto. Imagine, instead of trucking in our food from all of the place, we grow it right here, a 20min walk from our homes.

The structure above is designed to feed 35,000 people and would consist of growing areas for everything from potates, to wheat to chickens for meat and eggs. I've been talking about this sort of thing and people have been telling me that I'm crazy... I guess I'm not the only one :-)

For more information (and pictures!) of other designs by other architects around the world, visit Vertical Farm.

And now the bad news.

The Conservative minority government has seen fit to approve a plan to search for a site to permanently store nuclear waste. Note that I used the word "store" and not "dispose" as the article does, since it's important that we remember that you can't dispose of nuclear waste... ever.

This decision is going to live with the next 1000 generations of Canadians and our government is making it sound like we can just put this stuff in a hole and ignore it 'till it goes away. It won't. Not until it leaks into the groundwater and contaminates the biosphere. Sadly though, I'm not surprised.

May 16, 2007 18:39 +0000 | Climate Change Environment 0

"Scientists, now united in agreement, were once the greatest climate change sceptics.", Check out NewScientist's latest special on climate change: a series of myths scientists around the world have debunked:

Because time is running out. We need to be debating how to achieve the drastic cuts in CO2 emissions that are required to reduce our impact on the climate, not wasting time endlessly rehashing a debate that was largely settled half a century ago.

Take a few minutes and take a look if you can: Climate change: A guide for the perplexed.

May 05, 2007 02:34 +0000 | Conservatives Environment 0

Absolutely brilliant.

Upset with the audacity of the Conservative government's claims of their newfound eco-concience and specifically, their new "eco-action" site, a Montreal student got behind his keyboard and created a parody version. The parody looks nearly identical to the real thing, but tells the opposite story. It cites sources like the David Suzuki Foundation, CBC and Al Gore in their condemnation of the Conservative's so-called green plan, interspersed with mock articles criticising the ruling party... It's some really nice work.

Check them both out if you have a minute:

ecoaction.gc.ca (The original)
ecofraud.ca (The parody)

April 30, 2007 02:52 +0000 | Consumerism Environment 3

On my way home from a climate conference, I stopped at the Green Living show looking for some food and was struck by a small revelation:

The Green Living Show is exactly like every other consumer show: claims by hundreds of vendors that you to can be a better person if only you would buy their stuff.

I don't know how it happened, but somehow, this child of the anti-globalisation movement, the green push, was transformed into yet another way to sell people stuff they don't need.

When will people learn that we can't consume our way out of this hole we've dug ourselves? Buy this compostable cup; it's "good for the environment", just don't mention that it's made in China and shipped/trucked 6000km to help feel good about drinking from a disposable cup. Or better yet, adjust your investment portfolio to target these "green" companies, ignoring the fact that any company, based on the current economic models, is unsustainable because it has to favour growth over environmental stewardship.

Don't get me wrong, it's nice to see so much interest in doing the Right Thing™, but I just see it all going the wrong way -- it's as if we've learned nothing.

'Course the fact is, we haven't, and that's why we're screwed.

April 25, 2007 13:58 +0000 | Environment Toronto 0

The Mayor has a plan to make Toronto greener. And while he thinks it's ok to install thousands of street furniture that use coal-fired energy to broadcast ads, he also has some good ideas too.

On the list are:

Doubling the size of the tree canopy to 34 per cent, which would at least triple the number of trees the city plants every year from around 60,000 to 175,000.
Cutting water consumption by requiring all homeowners to install a low-flow toilet, which uses 6 litres of water per flush. A conventional toilet uses 13 litres.
Conserving 90 megawatts of electricity by 2012 -- enough to power more than 60,000 homes.
Implementing an annual parking or motor vehicle registration fee to fund retrofits and renewable energy

All important goals, to be sure, but increasing the tree canopy has to have the greatest effect since it will reduce load on the sewer system (water retention in the soil), reduce energy use due to natural cooling in the summer time, and increase air quality... not to mention make Toronto prettier.

Anyway, the Star is doing an online poll on the above options, so if you're interested, you should check out their in-depth article (from which I copied the above items).

April 19, 2007 19:24 +0000 | Environment Riptown 1

I just made a pitch to my office manager to switch the whole office from standard office paper to FSC-certified paper. And we'll probably do it because the costs are the same.

I just did some quick digging today and found that while we were spending roughly $50 for 5000 sheets of paper (10reams @ 500sheets each), we could get the very same quantity of Domtar FSC-certified paper from Staples for $49.96.

Honestly, I don't know why everyone doesn't do this.

April 18, 2007 19:29 +0000 | Energy Environment Liberals Politics 1

Following in Australia's footsteps, Ontario will soon become the first jurisdiction in North America to ban the old, inefficient, incandescent bulbs. It's a good step in the right direction, I just wish someone had thought of it sooner or at the very least introduced sliding taxes on the whole thing instead.

April 11, 2007 15:45 +0000 | Energy Environment Nuclear 0

I found this great article today about the future of energy production and of the country. Written by an economist, it begins with the good & bad about nuclear and then goes on to strongly support sustainable alternatives instead; not because they're better for the environment, but because they will generate more power, for less cost and better the country as a result. It's a good read if you have the time. Here's a snippet:

When asked about the nuclear waste element, one engineer took out a map of Ontario and made a minuscule little dot on it with his sharpened pencil. "You see that?" he said. "That is all the room we need to safely store all of Ontario's nuclear waste for ten generations."

But I'm an economist with a masochistic attraction to complex social conditions. So when I look at a map of Ontario, I don't see the little pencil dot. I see 630,000 MW of wind power (for scale: that's more than 20 times Ontario's current peak consumption) and upwards of 7,500 MW of new hydro, but almost all of it stranded in the northern part of the province, inhabited by First Nations communities living in poverty conditions with few wealth-building prospects. This vast power potential is stranded because there is no transmission grid to get it down to market.
Toby A.A. Heaps, A Green Power Corridor