Green Ideas 2010 PT 3: Okay, I got distracted

In 2010 I planned to try a few Green Ideas; so far, during earlier reviews of my progress - or lack thereof - you may have noticed I didn’t do so well.

Yes, I only bought one new clothing item in two years but that was easy. I was once a long distance runner. My closet is full of t-shirts. And I love used jeans.

So, picking out my ‘retired guy’ uniform every morning was a breeze. Easy-shmeasy-lemon-squeezy, as I like to say.

But I didn’t score well with my last 5 Ideas; 40 per cent. If I scored that in high school I wouldn’t be where I am today. I’d likely still be working for the man, not sitting here in a well-worn t-shirt and scruffy jeans with a coffee in my hand.

Green Idea 4 (see side margin for complete list).

I wrote:

Vacation - I will walk to Port Bruce (65 km.) and push my gear in a baby-jogger. I just need one week of good weather.

I didn’t do that. Instead I biked about 4,400 km. to Halifax and back. That was adventure enough for one summer. Maybe I’ll go for the long walk next year. I love the idea.


["I had a promise to fulfill in Halifax": photo GH]

5. re Preserving Food I said:

I will hang onto my used canning gear and put up beans and tomatoes if my 'worthy attempt plot' produces sufficient quantities of produce.

Okay, the garden didn’t work out well. Only a few free sandwiches.

6. Solar Cooker

I will build a solar oven out of recycled materials, including a bulky wool sweater for insulation.

The windows that I set aside for the project were broken (not by me, not on purpose!), so I lost sight of that project.

Birdhouses. Bingo!! I said:

I will attempt to build 3 - 4 dozen birdhouses from rescued lumber, photograph them all and bore readers to death with all the brilliant details.

That mission was easily accomplished. I have birdhouses on the brain, don't I?

8. Haiti Relief (not really a Green Idea, I know, but I wanted to list my plan somewhere).

I will make two financial donations to the Red Cross (for Haiti relief) and work hard to repay my savings account by reducing restaurant meals and increasing meatless meals.

Done. Happily. Even on my 2 week long bike trip I cooked my own meals at the side of the road rather than eat at restaurants, where the smell of hot cheeseburgers is my undoing.

All in all, I didn’t score well in 2010 - but next year is just around the corner.

***

What Green Ideas did you try in 2010 that worked out well?

Maybe I’ll learn something.

Hey, it could happen!

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Green Ideas 2010: Time for a little review

In early 2010 I listed 8 Green Ideas in the right hand margin and said I’d give them a try.

Had I not bought a new straw hat I would have accomplished Goal 1 perfectly.

Dad gummit.

Here’s what I listed next:

2. Victory Garden

2009 was a bad year for my Victory Garden, however...

I will plant a garden in Spring 2010 and call it a 'Worthy Attempt Plot'

All I can say is, I made a somewhat of a worthy attempt - I planted plenty of tomatoes, beans and gourds - but I neglected the garden too often (for two solid weeks in June) and planted the gourds too late, i.e., after I returned from Halifax.

As well, my patch received lots of sunlight in the past but our spruce trees have grown, provide more shade now, so the patch needs to be moved to the sunny side of the yard in order to succeed.

Because my project list is pretty long at the moment I don’t see a garden in the books for next year.

All in all, I’d say I didn’t make a worthy attempt with Green Idea 2.

I did better with number 3.

I.e., the bicycle

I said, “I will ride my used but lovely Miele bicycle on crowded city streets until I bend or break a rim.”

I rode my Miele bike on occasion (I walked here and there more often because it’s more of a racing bike, great for triathlons) but sold it in the summer. I now own a used Raleigh five-speed, perfect for Wortley Village and beyond.

On that positive note, I’ll end for today.

***

Yeah, I flopped on the next Green Idea. That’s why I stopped where I did.

Click here to see the stand-off at the OK Corral.

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Live Small and Prosper Pt 2: The more solar projects the better

The government of Ontario - duly-elected and much-loved - would like its citizens (that includes me, over here in Wortley Village, London) to reduce our reliance on fossil fuel energy sources.

So, it’s facilitating the building of wind turbines and solar panel projects (19 solar arrays are expected to proceed as early as 2011), and offering green-energy producers really good prices for every kilowatt-hour they send to the electrical grid.

The more the merrier, I say.


[“Could these line any of our 1000s of corn fields?”: link to photo]

The Ontario projects will reportedly “translate into hundreds of millions in total construction value (think the green economy), and as many as 2,500 Ontario jobs (think green jobs and freshly minted green backs), because at least 60% of the components must be Ontario-sourced” for green-energy producers, e.g., Recurrent Energy from the US, to qualify for the premium return on their dollar. (Aug. 30, London Free Press)

It’s not a bad economic process for Ontarians.

Entice American or European companies to invest in Canada and grow jobs and a green economy in the process.

Why, pretty soon, our children and grand-children might be working for a company that is connected to a sustainable product and is providing 60 - 100% of the components.

Our homegrown pension plans - now knee deep in cow patties - might receive a boost too.

Green economy. Green jobs. A sustainable product.

It might cost us more for hydro now but, in the long-term, it’s a win-win-win situation.

***

Do solar arrays spoil the view or are they the view?

Would you put solar panels on your roof if the price was a bit lower?

Will the price come down as some of the above projects go on line?

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If your tuna tastes like plastic - there’s good reason

You probably know that Health Canada recommends we limit the number of servings per week of tuna and other predatory fish because of mercury levels.

If you didn’t, now you do.

And surely you already know that tuna stocks are in rapid decline because humans have the nasty habit of catching and eating fish in unsustainable amounts, gaining more weight than the average grizzly bear before winter hibernation and buying stretchy pants rather than exercising or cutting back.

But what you might not know is that there is now a third reason to limit the amount of tuna you buy at Wal Mart next time it goes on sale.


["What's this? I'll eat it": tuna photo link]

Tuna may now contain plastic.

“New research suggests small fish that live within the Great Pacific Garbage Patch - a blob of degraded plastic estimated to be larger than the area of Saskatchewan, floating in the middle of the ocean - are actually feeding on the tiny pieces of plastic. (Plastic absorbs toxins like PCB and DDT).

“While there’s concern for the future of these little fish, the concern also extends to humans, because these tiny swimmers are being eaten by commercial fish such as tuna, which are being eaten by us.” (Apr. 1, London Free Press)

Stink. Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water!

My recommendation: Reduce the amount of tuna in a meat-rich diet (and if you normally live in North America, your diet is likely rich in meat) by eating more sustainable food products that contain less plastic.

***

What would you eat instead of tuna, e.g., once or twice per week?

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Young at Heart: Exercise keeps me smiling

I want to include a goal related to exercise in my ‘Green Ideas 2010’ list because it would produce many benefits, some ‘green.’

Admittedly, in my mind fun and fitness go together and I like looking slim and trim and youthfully energetic. Not that I’m there yet - but I like it.

Regular exercise keeps me in shape for hockey and I really like the sport and the many friendships with other men and one woman that go with it.


[“Soccer is for the young at heart!”: link to another photo]

As well, exercise keeps me thinking about how much and what I eat, and several health and environmental benefits are related to my food purchases, the amount of meat I consume, and so on.

So, sometime in the next week I’ll add a goal related to exercise.

Maybe it will have something to do with soccer. I hear it can be fun.

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Green Ideas 2010: Under construction but almost done

I think it's only fair to say I took the easy way out when faced with making new resolutions for 2010 related to green ideas.

The first thing I did (my gosh, a brilliant idea) - and everyone should carefully follow my example - was review my goals for 2009, to not only evaluate how I did (it's only fair), but see if there was any chance I could just continue on doing some of the same things in 2010 and not strain my brain too badly.

The second thing: I added one or two new items in order to strain the brain a bit.

Though the following list is under construction (and in side margin) it now contains a few of my goals for the current year.

1. No New Clothing

For the second year in a row...

I will buy no new clothes

2. Victory Garden

2009 was a bad year for my Victory Garden, however...

I will plant a garden in Spring 2010 and call it a 'Worthy Attempt Plot'

3. Bicycle

I will ride my used but lovely Miele bicycle on crowded city streets until I bend or break a rim


["Birdhouse by unknown maker, on way to Port Bruce": photo GAH]

4. Vacation

I will walk to Port Bruce (65 km.) and push my gear in a baby-jogger. I just need one week of good weather.

5. re Preserving Food

I will hang onto my used canning gear and put up beans and tomatoes if my 'worthy attempt plot' produces sufficient quantities of produce

6. Solar Cooker

I will build a solar oven out of recycled materials, including a bulky wool sweater for insulation.


["A GH model behind New Sarum Diner": photo GAH]

7. Birdhouses

I will attempt to build 3 - 4 dozen birdhouses from rescued lumber, photograph them all and bore readers to death with all the brilliant details

8. Haiti Relief

I will make two financial donations to the Red Cross (for Haiti relief) and work hard to repay my savings account by reducing restaurant meals and increasing meatless meals.

So far, so good, but the year is young.

***

I want to add a goal re exercise but will think about how best to frame it and get back.

Do you keep lists of resolutions? Do they help keep you on track?

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Green Ideas 2010: Time to rehash Green Ideas 2009 Part 3

Like I said yesterday, I had several green ideas or goals in 2009 and succeeded admirably in some ways and went belly up in others.

My fifth goal (Preserve Food - I will buy used canning gear and put up (put down, or in?) beans and strawberries) didn’t pan out well because my garden didn’t co-operate - and I blame the weather for that.

I suppose if I had enlarged my garden and chased the squirrels around the neighbourhood early in the morning the garden would have produced more beans and peas.

I did pick up some used, free canning gear from a generous reader and so I am ready for 2010. I bet the squirrels are as well so I’ll add ‘trap a dozen squirrels’ to my 2010 to-do list.

I ran into another snag that was larger than a squirrel while assembling materials for a solar cooker. (Green Idea 6 - I will build a solar oven out of recycled materials, including a bulky wool sweater for insulation).


[“Will a solar cooker heat up my oatmeal?”: photo GAH]

The fellow working on my house reno broke one of the windows I had set aside for the cooker and cut up the plywood I planned to use for the base. So, materials became an issue.

I will think about keeping that task on my 2010 list, but because I may also be increasing the size of my workshop to accommodate a bandsaw and good-sized supply of rescued lumber, I will leave it for a bit.


[“A bigger shop is needed for bigger projects”]

2010 looks like another busy year and - you can count on this - you’ll usually be the first to know what’s going on in the workshop and elsewhere.

***

Do you have great plans for 2010? Let me know.

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Green Ideas 2010: Time to rehash Green Ideas 2009 Part 2

I had several green ideas or goals in 2009 and succeeded admirably in some ways and went belly up in others.

(I rehashed the first two in an earlier post).

For example, my third idea was brilliant (“I will buy a used bicycle suitable for city streets”) - I’m sure you’ll agree - but hinged on the related idea that I would sell my lovely Miele road bike first in order to have cash on hand other than the coffee money my wife gives me on occasion.


Sure, I have a bit of birdhouse money in my pocket but I’ve always used that to keep my motorcycle on the road, and I intend to do the same until I’m 85 years old. Or until I phone Pat from Port Bruce and tell her I can’t remember the way home.


["The Miele road bike - lovely lovely": photos by GAH]

About the Miele. It’s lovely lovely, in mint condition, will last for 30 more years. I really don’t want to part with it.

And though designed more for long rides in the country than getting around town in traffic or on bumpy streets (it has very narrow rims and tires), I found over the summer that I seldom needed the car for errands and used the bicycle quite a number of times without concern. So, I’m going to keep the Miele and watch out for potholes.

(Only one minor incident: While cycling back home through Wortley Village with a bag of nails for the workshop, Ben Groppler, age 4, distracted me by shouting, “Where’s your helmet, Gord?” The kid has no appreciation for straw hats).

About ‘green idea’ number 4 (Vacation - I will walk to Port Bruce (65 km.) and push my gear in a baby-jogger).


I love the idea but like quite a few of my plans to do this or that last summer it got washed out (literally). Finding seven nice days in a row was tough.

But it will be on my list for 2010. (My reading and riding habit have kept my legs in shape for such an adventure).

***

If I can handle a walking trip to Port Bruce, perhaps one to Long Point would be next, with a portion of the trip on old highway 59.

Do you know where 59 is, or why I would select it as a route?

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Green Ideas 2010: Time to rehash Green Ideas 2009

2009 was definitely a busy year for me.

I tried my hand at gardening, helped finish a major house renovation, built dozens of chairs and birdhouses from rescued lumber and sewed holes up tight on several pairs of socks.

Because I was so busy on the above I had mixed results on the ‘green ideas’ I was going to try during the year (see right hand margin).


On the first idea, I did pretty darn good.

I.e., 1. No New Clothing - I will buy no new clothes until Jan. 1, 2010.

Though I bought a new straw hat in June or July, I shortly thereafter realized I’d made a gaffe, put it in the closet and purchased a used straw hat at an antique/flea market store in Fenelon Falls.


["How could I not buy the used straw hat?": photos GAH]

I purchased a couple of used hockey sweaters and pairs of used jeans at Value Village in 2009, but no other ‘new’ clothes.

Over the course of the year I learned that most clothing lasts a long, long time and only a few articles of clothing had to be taken out of circulation. Because I darned socks to get more wear and turned ratty T-shirts into ratty rags for the workshop, just two or three pairs of undies hit the trash bin.

(I know some people think that men will wear underwear until there’s nothing left but the elastic. However, since I play two hockey games per week, that doesn’t happen with me. My team-mates would razz me to death if too many holes appeared where cotton used to be.)

Taking into account that my wife purchased four new T-shirts and one sweater for me at Christmas, I think I’m ready to declare that I will add one more year to my pledge and purchase no new clothes in 2010.

Green Idea 2 (I will plant a Victory Garden in Spring 2009) was accomplished but there were few victories with my tomato, bean, onion or pea plants.

Squirrels dug up my beans and peas as quickly as I could plant them (I trapped a few squirrels but not the craftiest one of all), Ollie trampled the onions, and the tomatoes, though lovely, didn’t get enough hours of sunshine and provided only half the crop I’ve grown used to enjoying over the last few years.

In 2010, I’ll plant a garden again but perhaps I’d call it something other than a Victory garden.

Something more realistic is in order. (A Worthy Attempt Garden comes to mind).

***

How did the other green ideas fare? I’ll get back to the list soon.

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Letters Part 2: High-speed rail a positive cash drain?

In an earlier post, I shared this brilliant thought:

“I lean toward investment in high-speed rail along the Windsor - Quebec City corridor (at least) in order to get people and freight out of cars (usually with a lone occupant) and large trucks (usually the size of a small nation), but, I believe timing is everything.”


I then asked this riveting question:

“And when is the best time for Ontarians to invest in high-speed rail, I ask?”

Here’s my answer:

It’s the same time you invest in planting a tree -- 40 years ago.

Now, it’s clearly understandable why, 40 years ago, tree planting efforts were not made to insure healthy numbers today or a sustainable supply.


["What a beaut!": photo link]

One, we had lots of trees in Canada. (We actually had so many we couldn’t see the forest).

Two, more money could be made cutting them down.

For some of the same reasons we don’t have high-speed rail now and it will be a fight to have it in the near future.

One, we have lots of relatively cheap fuel in Canada - at this moment, and the next one (which is as far ahead as we usually think or plan).

Two, governments at all levels have accommodated the automobile and highway systems for decades. When we wake up in the morning our legs now take us to the driveway, not the bicycle, bus stop or train station.

If one thinks with the long-term in mind, high-speed rail is a sound investment (think of it as a mortgage) and could be supported at present by such things as gasoline taxes, road tolls and car licensing fees.

Sure, we’ll complain about taxes and fees until fuel is $3 - 4 per liter and until we wish we could get to Toronto more conveniently -- but our grandchildren will thank us.

Now, let’s go plant a shade tree.

***

Would you support some gas tax going toward high-speed rail?

Road tolls? Higher licensing fees for your SUV?

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Why fly to Hawaii? Beauty is outside your back door

Every week The London Free Press tries to inform travellers and stoke their holiday dreams (as do other newspapers and countless magazines as well).


["From the backyard": photos GAH]

Surely editors and publishers know the good of any article expressing concern re growing greenhouse gas emissions and excessive lifestyles near the front of the paper is undone by the constant barrage of headlines, articles and eye candy photographs that praise the virtues and blessings of travel to far-off places in the travel section.


(When will 'the environment' get its own section? Sorry, I digress).


Oh, who wouldn’t want to lick their lips, say yummy, yummy and fly off to Hawaii, Greece, Germany, New York, Bonneville Salt Flats, Australia, Egypt, Florida, Moscow, the Caribbean or Vancouver (for the Olympics - and stay in the floating hotel from Norway. Yummy)? -- all mentioned in Saturday’s version of the LFP @ ease section.


I suppose, long gone are the days of sitting around the radio and sharing a bottle of cold root beer.

But can people no longer step outside their own door, see the beauty close and hand and be content with less travel?

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The Complete Idiot’s Guide to The Politics of Oil Pt 1

“OUR INABILITY TO CONSERVE 1% PROVES SOMETHING"

We’re not all complete idiots in North America but many of us are.

There are times when I am a complete idiot and times I’m not, and I’d say the same about 99 per cent of the people I know or meet or who have a North American address that forces them to get into their SUV and drive somewhere to buy even a loaf of bread, pound of bacon and bag of cheese.

I don’t have a degree in math but I know 99 per cent is pretty darn high. If my marks had been in that range during my stay at university I’d be performing brain surgery before lunch at a world-class hospital and eating lunch in Paris before the dirty towels had hit the hamper. Unless, of course, my brain informed me that to fly all the way to France for frogs’ legs was not a good use of limited natural resources - and I actually cared enough about the environment and my grandchildren to just walk home and heat up some leftover soup (i.e., something I’m doing right now, as a matter of fact).


["I could live on my wife's soup": photo GAH]

That many of us are often complete idiots came to mind while reading the following passage from the book entitled The Complete Idiot’s Guide to The Politics of Oil:


[Link to photo source]

The U.S. Geological Survey concluded that the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve in Alaska (the exploration of which - for oil - became a keystone in George W. Bush’s energy plan) likely holds about 3.2 billion barrels of economically recoverable oil - less than what the nation uses in six months.

Production would be spread over 50 years of the field’s lifetime and would likely peak at 150 million barrels per year in 2027 - amounting to only 1.5 per cent of projected U.S. consumption that year.

Given that current U.S. demand for oil - which is more than 7.1 billion barrels per year - is increasing about 2 per cent annually, the coastal plain would contribute less than 1 per cent of the oil we are projected to consume over the next 50 years.

-- from the Natural Resources Defense Council’s “Energy Policy for the Twenty-first Century”


[Link to photo source]

After reading the passage I thought, Can we not conserve our spending or driving or overall energy use by a measly 1 per cent?

Is there not one government leader in high places who would move public education in that direction in order to preserve one of the most pristine, natural, beautiful areas in the entire universe?

What does the use and abuse of Alaska (one of surely hundreds of similar misadventures) say about North Americans?

Oh, I believe I’ve answered that last question.

***

Stay tuned for The Complete Idiot’s Guide to The Politics of Oil Pt 2.

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Newspaper Clippings: Hang your clothes outside all winter, I say

And if anybody complains, fire off a frozen puck in their direction.

That’s my advice, at any rate, to those people across America who are facing a rising tide of housing associations who oppose the practice of hanging laundry on clotheslines.

I’m not joking about the fact there are still North Americans who oppose seeing clothes on clotheslines because they find it unsightly.


(I’m not joking either about the frozen pucks. Let ‘em rip).

One fellow in Pennsylvania “said he was fined $100 by the (housing) association for putting up a clothesline in a common area.”

There are many benefits related to clotheslines as long as you remember to duck on your way to the garden shed.

Fresh air, exercise, hydro savings (not as much as Carin suggests in the article, in my opinion, unless you’re doing tonnes of laundry), lower GHG emissions etc.

So, hang your laundry all winter if you like, and keep a bucket of pucks and an old hockey stick nearby, in case you notice someone wagging their finger.

***

A frozen puck - too drastic a measure?

Is a nerf ball okay?

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Would we miss KFC if it grilled its last chicken tomorrow?

KFC is promoting the crap out of its grilled and fried chicken (5,000 US stores to soon give it away for free) but a restaurant analyst (Larry) recently said KFC’s latest performance report was disappointing.

I thought, will we miss it when it’s gone?

The majority of the bones in my body (82%, incl. the little ones inside my inner ear) say NO.

Reasons we won’t miss it:

There will still be 3,489,842,909 fast food joints out there. KFC could disappear at noon and we wouldn’t even burp at its passing


["One that got away": photo GAH]

There are 4 billion other distractions to occupy our frazzled brains. E.g., where are my car keys?

Many people are too busy making their own sandwiches to care. They’re thinking of saving money instead

Of all the reasons (yes, there are likely others), I like the last one best.

Tuna on whole wheat is not only healthier but it’s always nice to learn a new skill.

***

Do you know how to make a healthy sandwich?

What’s for lunch?

KFC who?

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The lifespan of my stretchy jeans has been surprising

Everyone needs at least one pair of stretchy jeans.

I bought mine several years ago at Value Village, not knowing they were stretchy jeans at the time, and I think had I known, I might have scoffed at the idea.

“I don’t need to accommodate a bulging waist. I’ll keep in good shape by exercising various muscle groups 12 times per week.”

Yeah, I’m so mature.


["Can you spot the elastic?": photo GAH]

However, once I discovered I owned a pair of stretchy jeans I used them regularly, and for special occasions, especially during Thanksgiving and Christmas Day meals.

The jeans have held up surprisingly well (and have helped me keep my pledge to not buy new clothes until 2010; see Green Ideas 2009, way down side margin). I think they’re closing in on 10 - 15 years old, and since I feel like I’m only 40 - 45 years old, have help knock 20 years off my age.

Not bad for an old pair of Mustangs.

***

re Green Ideas 2009. Due to a brain cramp I bought a new straw hat in June. Once I realized what I had done I put it away, and purchased a used straw hat from Venezuela - found at a flea market in Fenelon Falls.

Used and sexy lookin’. Yeah, like my jeans.

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What’s normal weather? “There isn’t a normal anymore”

“I think they have to get used to the fact there isn’t a ‘normal’ (anymore).”

The speaker, D. Harford, head of the Adaption to Climate Change Team in Vancouver, was referring to governments and citizens as ‘they’ consider Canadian weather patterns and preparedness levels for volatile conditions (as reported in the Sept. 10 issue of The London Free Press).

The statement was made as a national research group headed by Gordon McBean, a London Nobel Prize-winner, was reporting that “Canada should establish a national climate action centre to help plan for, and respond to, increasingly volatile weather” - and the words ‘there isn’t a normal’ caught my attention.


[Photo GAH]

The national research group’s report presents enough hurdles to governments and citizens to last a lifetime.

I.E., “the report calls for closer collaboration among governments and individuals to design communities better able to withstand weather calamities. It also calls for a national system that can alert people to weather hazards.”

Collaboration? A national system?

It could happen, over time, much time.

But it might take us longer still to accept a new normal related to weather, one that includes increased weather volatility, an unravelling of predictable weather patterns, a climate that seems to be in conflict with our ideas concerning how it should behave.

Too long have we lived with the belief we can do as we wish to the environment, often for the sake of a booming economy and a larger-than-needed lifestyle.

Normal is now out the window and gone. Change is now the new normal.

***

No time like the present to make the transition to The Small Economy.

Live small and prosper.

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$10,000 Rebate for Eco-cars - only good for the short-term

I can understand why Premier McGuinty is promoting the electric car with a 25 per cent rebate (though because of our urban lifestyle the Zenn car might have been a better product to boost).

It would certainly smell like a win-win-win situation to an Ontario political leader, would it not?

First, because our province’s manufacturing sector is taking a nose-dive - especially the automotive industry - promoting a car (“pick a car, any car”) smells like a winning move.

Second, by promoting a car that at first glance sounds like a green machine, Mr. McGuinty may feel he’s on the right side of the save-the-planet debate.

(That debate is still going on isn’t it, even during the recession?)

And thirdly, what politician wouldn’t want to appear generous to a fault in the midst of economic toil and trouble?


["You want mustard on that?"]

I mean, if I was King of All I Survey, I’d want to look generous at all times, and in this day and age, sharing a big bag of Oreos with my serfs... sorry, my loyal followers... in The Village just wouldn’t cut it.

Growth, green, generous. Win-win-win.

Right?

In my opinion, and that’s the one that counts around here (Right?), I think the rebate, worth up to $3 billion, is a short-sighted venture.

More to follow.

***

Your thoughts, so far?

E.G., Would you replace your Civic with a Volt?

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New life in an old auto town spells hope for the future

Seven long and hard years ago Quebec lost its GM plant and the town of Boisbriand took a major hit.

1, 500 people - the last of what was once a workforce of 4,700 - were instantly unemployed.

Though more scenarios like this may occur in the future the subsequent, gradual revival of Boisbriand - minus the car industry - spells hope for other car-reliant towns who may think that without the car they have nothing.

Q: What did Boisbriand do?

A: It transformed the GM land into an eco-friendly neighbourhood.

During the time the town was suffering from the loss of GM tax revenue, a developer bought the site, decontaminated the land (thanks for the memories and toxic trail, GM) and started turning it into a residential, commercial and business city - now certified green.

As well, “developers are going to great lengths to make it pedestrian-friendly. They’re also taking steps to reduce erosion, collect rainwater for irrigation and make homes more energy efficient.”

And when it is complete “the city can expect to generate a lot more tax revenue than before.”

So, there will be life in some cities after the automobile, and it will likely be a better life.

Read full story, Life After GM, at -

http://www.ottawasun.com/money/2009/07/02/10005401.html

***

Oshawa and Windsor should take note. Blaze a new trail. Eco-friendly is the future.

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Green Ideas 2009: My garden needs one more final victory

If memory serves, I came up with the plan to turn sod and plant my next Victory Garden way back in the fall of 2008 [see right margin for complete list of my brilliant ideas].

Not because my genes supplied me with a green thumb or Puritan work ethic but because gardening relates to ‘eat local’ and a cluster of other earth-friendly benefits.

I may also have been eating a cucumber sandwich at the time and thought, “I can grow my own for Pete’s sake. How hard is that?”

Not too hard, really. I turned soil with my hybrid garden fork, added compost, planted cherry tomatoes, Big Red tomatoes, Brussel sprouts, peas, Spanish onions and green beans - all quite handily.


["The hybrid fork: Fork from Austria, used handle from Fenelon Falls": photo GAH]

But then came a very wicked gray squirrel to my wee patch and the sprouts disappeared. So did most of the beans - twice.


["At present, the last of my beans": GAH]

In the last two weeks I’ve trapped three squirrels but not the wicked gray. His turn, however, will come. I guarantee it. And in the meantime I’ve planted more beans. (I’ll check a gardening center for Brussel sprouts soon).

Two pieces of information for the faint of heart:


First, I use a humane trap and release the squirrels in a park two miles from my garden. One beat me back home, I think - and I was driving my Civic at the time.

Second, I found a Brunswick stew recipe that includes squirrel meat. Seventy of the little beggars in fact.

The sound of it will seem unusual for Canadians I admit, but early North Americans and present-day Brits would be quite familiar with the taste.

What will become of that wicked gray squirrel? Time will tell.

***

Brunswick stew now usually contains beef, pork or chicken because meat is so plentiful.

I think, not forever. As we choose more food close to home, squirrel meat will make a comeback.

Do you agree?

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Paul McCartney promotes ‘meatless Mondays’: Give peas a chance

I've always liked The Beatles. The voice of Paul McCartney is one of the reasons why.

He recently made the news with his latest message - to go meatless on Mondays.

Why eat less meat?

Less methane would be produced.

Less stress on the environment.

Fewer factory farms.

Less consumption in all areas related to basic needs (e.g. food, clothing, shelter) and transportation, communication and recreation would benefit Mother Earth and future generations.


McCartney also points out that we eat to excess and we’d be doing our bodies a favour if we consumed less meat.

He says, “You’re all running down to the gym to try and work it off so just have a meat-free Monday.”

I’ve always liked The Beatles and I like that message too. Maybe we could give beans and peas more room on our plates.

Live small and prosper.

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Does another musician you enjoy have a positive message to share re the environment?

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