Industry can police itself, right?

More bold-faced lies from the Cons during the May election campaign…

Sigh… environmental laggards indeed…

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

@OttawaDaddy pointed this out on Twitter this morning. I too am amazed at how few people used the Environment Canada radar site to see the storms approaching after receiving Twitter warning & retweets!

Check it out. Easy to use, folks.

This is what it showed this morning. The basics are: orange and red – bad. Purple – head for the hills!

Even simpler, just look at the sky. This is what I saw as the storm rolled in.

Sorta gives a clue about what’s coming, eh?

@OttawaDaddy suggests that everyone should follow @ww_ottawa for weather warnings. Have separate Tweetdeck column. and re-tweet warnings… and I couldn’t agree more.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

This week, I am profiling a blog that is all about living and consuming while being sustainably-minded.

The Mindful Merchant, always has some good insights on how to turn just thinking about our environment into actions that might mitigate our environmental impacts. Acting sustainably is a tough thing to argue against no matter where on the political spectrum you plop your behind.

Take this recent article on alternatives to rock salt, for example (for those readers in warmer climes, rock salt is used on driving and walking surfaces to melt ice in order to make surfaces less slippery and much safer.) Clearly, The Mindful One has done loads of research on this post, as is the norm for her.

Another post from last summer is one I have periodically directed folks toward when questions of product labeling arise. Even I, as someone who works in the environment field (loosely speaking), did not know that the label or term “non-toxic” was an industry devised-marketing word and means diddly squat. I really thought that Health Canada or Industry Canada or someone monitored this stuff!

Go on over and visit the Mindful Merchant sometime… you might just learn something!

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

While the rest of the planet is pleading countries like Canada to take a stand on GHG emissions, the Harperites are settling into their environmentally Neanderthal form.

Since I am somewhat lacking on the creative front at the present time, I quote a commenter on the cbc.ca site. What this dude is saying pretty much sums up how I and many Canadians, feel at the moment. Where is the paper bag?

For the first time in my life, I am embarrassed to be Canadian. I am embarrassed by my government and their flat-earth politics that cater to the oil industry.

And not just in terms of their backwardness regarding the pollution of our air and water. I am embarrassed at their policy of squandering our valuable oil reserves.

Other countries retain the ability to ensure that their reserves are extracted in a responsible manner that benefits the current and future citizens of their country. Our industry lapdogs sell it off to the highest investing foreign investor to extract as quickly as they wish. The foreign company gets the profits, we get one, maybe two, generations of wages.

I am embarrassed of what this country is becoming as our apathy permits the conservative lapdogs to sell out our reputation and non-renewable riches.

I tell my kids we live in the greatest country on earth. But, even at 7 years old, my son is already starting to question the flat-earth attitude. I guess the next thing to tell him is that, sometimes, the selfish greed of a few that don’t give a damn about future generations can rule the day.

Yeah. And how long can we put up with this?

I know Iggy et al haven’t been exactly inspiring, but can’t someone, ANYONE step up to the plate?

PLEASE?

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Once again, Canada is a world freakin’ leader when it comes to environmental policies.

ESPECIALLY  those policies that may help keep Halifax’s Citadel Hill from becoming Citadel Island.

NOT!

And this moron is our ENVIRONMENT Minister?

The Conservative government has promised to cut Canada’s emissions by 20 per cent below 2006 levels by the year 2020. Prentice said he’s optimistic that despite these delays, Canada will still meet that target.

Woo-hoo! We rock.

We used to, anyways. Now we just suck.

I’m ashamed.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

There is a piece in the Citizen this morning that notes the long-term effects of this strike.

This is something that I have talked about before given my own personal situation. There will be a lingering bitterness that the City will have to overcome – if overcoming it is even possible.

Mayor Larry O’Brien has said that because of the strike, Ottawa’s public transit will likely take years to recover, and Councillor Alex Cullen, chairman of city council’s transit committee, agrees. He says the strike by 2,300 drivers, mechanics, dispatchers and others, will leave a “troublesome” legacy. Mr. Cullen laments the fact that OC Transpo was enjoying some of its best ridership numbers when the strike occurred.

“Given our last experience and the experiences of other jurisdictions, we can expect that ridership will drop once the buses start running,” he says. “It may take a year to win back riders, but there will be damage and it will take a while to get back on track.”

He says students and people with low incomes will return to their buses because they simply have no other choice. But the city’s challenge will be to get back people who have alternatives but chose to ride the bus.

“It will take some considerable effort by OC Transpo and city council to win back those riders. It may be that in the spring, the buses will not be packed and it may also be that within a year, we will find ourselves reaching record levels again,” Mr. Cullen says.

The emphasis above in mine.  And that is the important point. There are folks who simply have no choice but to dutifully (and likely grumpily) board the buses once they are running again.  And then there are those like me – a committed environmentalist – a strong believer in public transit – and someone who really did enjoy the downtime aspect of the trips to and from work. If someone like me is having serious second thoughts about returning to OC Transpo, then what are the fence-sitters going to do?

It will take much, much longer than a year to win back riders. Guaranteed.

Check out the new double-deckers in the background – wonder if they’ll ever be used?

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Southern Ontario may indeed be hit with a big snow “event”, but at least it ain’t this:

THAT is some storm!

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Interesting piece in Scientific American on how we waste water. Everything from the washing of dishes and cars to the production of biofuels is outlined here as some of the top water wasters.

But this is my favourite one:

10. Wasting Water by Getting “Wasted”
As refreshing and cooling as that beer may taste, it’s likely to leave you less hydrated than you were before you started. Alcohol is a diuretic, which means it increases the frequency of urination (but you knew that already). Alcohol suppresses an antidiuretic hormone called vasopressin that tells our kidneys to reabsorb and conserve water. The more you drink, the more the hormone level falls, and thus the more water you lose. Severe dehydration is a big reason why after a hard night out, you end up with a hangover the next day.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario