Hello beautiful people,
This may seem a little bit long, but I think it's worth watching. A friend of mine sent it to me. (Yes, I'm on my little soapbox again! ;)
Hope you enjoy it!
Showing posts with label Environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Environment. Show all posts
Friday, October 12, 2007
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Quandary over a Quagmire
Hello Friends,
I hope you are all well. I have had a somewhat tumultuous couple of weeks and have not been able to devote any time to blogging for a little while, but I've managed to squeeze a little time in now.
Updates:
The provincial Liberals in Quebec won the election, but barely. It was a very close race and I'm sure many people were biting their nails last Monday. The Liberals have formed a minority government, with the new guys, wild card party Action Democratique du Quebec (ADQ), forming the opposition. By the way, I must print a correction to my former post: the ADQ has not clearly and unequivocally stated that theirs is a party of separatists. I apologize for the misinformation. So, the newly formed government in Quebec is tenuous at best, but we'll have to keep watching to see how things unfold in the next little while.
Thank you to everyone for all your support of the WWF and my annual climb up the CN Tower!!! You are all very generous and kind! I promise to make it to the top and make you all proud.
I'm sure you're all wondering what any of that has to do with the title of my post today, and frankly, it has nothing to do with it. However, the reason I was prompted to write today was by a quandary. In fact, a quandary over a potential quagmire.
A friend of mine sent me an email, complete with not just one, but two, YouTube Links (the second one just includes interviews with people on the street) regarding this issue today.
The net of these are that the 'government' has decided to build a landfill in Tiny Township (yes, that really is its name, and yes, it's in Ontario). I know, we all make garbage, we all have to deal with it somehow. However, the quandary arises in this situation when we discover that the purest water on earth (literally) originates from Arteysian wells there. It's one thing to dump garbage in a place where the water is already tainted or the soil has already been contaminated, but the purest water on earth? One of the reasons they want to use this land is because of the unique formulation of clay which results in a super efficient filtering system (that's my paraphrase, not to be quoted) which will, theoretically, help with the breaking down of the garbage etc. eventually. However, it is precisely that filtering system which produces the purest water on earth, and if the filters get all clogged up with garbage, how effective will they be on the water? All indicators are that they will not be effective at all any more.
So what do we think about this? The people in Tiny Township don't want their water tainted, but we keep making more and more garbage and we have to have places to put it don't we? The citizens there have agreed to have a landfill built in their (county?), but they disagree with the location chosen. Should the local residents not be able to have a vote in this type of decision? I clearly don't have all the answers, but it doesn't look to me as though this is your typical 'not in my backyard' situation. I think maybe the government (whichever level it is) should listen to the residents (because the citizens are the people for whom the elected officials work) and try to come up with a solution that doesn't involve polluting the purest water on earth.
I know it's difficult to know where to draw the line. If we accede to this request, then how many local environmental groups will we have given ammunition to? It may open a Pandora's box of sorts that we don't want to have to face. However, just because we want to avoid confrontation doesn't mean that we shouldn't do the right thing. We should not make decisions based on what the results may lead to in other cases; we should make these decisions on the particulars of each case in point.
One of the best things about being Canadian is that we have a fabulous country. I mean geographically, or geophysically. Ours is a beautiful land. We have tonnes of water. Some of it is pure, some of it is not so pure (e.g. Lake Ontario). That doesn't mean that we should deliberately poison some just because we have more and it's the most politically expedient solution.
Rant over for today folks.
Drive safe & car pool when you can peeps,
I hope you are all well. I have had a somewhat tumultuous couple of weeks and have not been able to devote any time to blogging for a little while, but I've managed to squeeze a little time in now.
Updates:
The provincial Liberals in Quebec won the election, but barely. It was a very close race and I'm sure many people were biting their nails last Monday. The Liberals have formed a minority government, with the new guys, wild card party Action Democratique du Quebec (ADQ), forming the opposition. By the way, I must print a correction to my former post: the ADQ has not clearly and unequivocally stated that theirs is a party of separatists. I apologize for the misinformation. So, the newly formed government in Quebec is tenuous at best, but we'll have to keep watching to see how things unfold in the next little while.
Thank you to everyone for all your support of the WWF and my annual climb up the CN Tower!!! You are all very generous and kind! I promise to make it to the top and make you all proud.
I'm sure you're all wondering what any of that has to do with the title of my post today, and frankly, it has nothing to do with it. However, the reason I was prompted to write today was by a quandary. In fact, a quandary over a potential quagmire.
A friend of mine sent me an email, complete with not just one, but two, YouTube Links (the second one just includes interviews with people on the street) regarding this issue today.
The net of these are that the 'government' has decided to build a landfill in Tiny Township (yes, that really is its name, and yes, it's in Ontario). I know, we all make garbage, we all have to deal with it somehow. However, the quandary arises in this situation when we discover that the purest water on earth (literally) originates from Arteysian wells there. It's one thing to dump garbage in a place where the water is already tainted or the soil has already been contaminated, but the purest water on earth? One of the reasons they want to use this land is because of the unique formulation of clay which results in a super efficient filtering system (that's my paraphrase, not to be quoted) which will, theoretically, help with the breaking down of the garbage etc. eventually. However, it is precisely that filtering system which produces the purest water on earth, and if the filters get all clogged up with garbage, how effective will they be on the water? All indicators are that they will not be effective at all any more.
So what do we think about this? The people in Tiny Township don't want their water tainted, but we keep making more and more garbage and we have to have places to put it don't we? The citizens there have agreed to have a landfill built in their (county?), but they disagree with the location chosen. Should the local residents not be able to have a vote in this type of decision? I clearly don't have all the answers, but it doesn't look to me as though this is your typical 'not in my backyard' situation. I think maybe the government (whichever level it is) should listen to the residents (because the citizens are the people for whom the elected officials work) and try to come up with a solution that doesn't involve polluting the purest water on earth.
I know it's difficult to know where to draw the line. If we accede to this request, then how many local environmental groups will we have given ammunition to? It may open a Pandora's box of sorts that we don't want to have to face. However, just because we want to avoid confrontation doesn't mean that we shouldn't do the right thing. We should not make decisions based on what the results may lead to in other cases; we should make these decisions on the particulars of each case in point.
One of the best things about being Canadian is that we have a fabulous country. I mean geographically, or geophysically. Ours is a beautiful land. We have tonnes of water. Some of it is pure, some of it is not so pure (e.g. Lake Ontario). That doesn't mean that we should deliberately poison some just because we have more and it's the most politically expedient solution.
Rant over for today folks.
Drive safe & car pool when you can peeps,
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
I'm Climbing the CN Tower Again
Greetings Good People,
Spring is beginning to spring here in what used to be called "Toronto the Good' and 'Toronto the Clean'. With a high of ten or eleven degrees Celsius yesterday and today, much of the snow and ice is beginning to melt, leaving behind an awful lot of... dirt. This isn't just normal dirt like the kind you used to dig up in your backyard as a kid. This isn't just bits of gravel or sand used by the snow clearing trucks when they're salting the roads. This is dirt of all kinds.
This is dog dirt that people thought they would just leave because it was cold and no one would notice anyway in the snow. It is actual garbage that people didn't bother to throw in a bin . It is cigarette butts, pop cans, fast food packaging, lost gloves, windshield fluid bottles, and probably anything else that you can think of. This is the kind of garbage that makes cities in developing nations smell (I know; I've been there). However, they are developing nations, we live in what is supposed to be one of the richest nations in the world. We have one of the highest standards of living in the world and we're throwing garbage around as if we live in a sty. Clearly I am not impressed with my fellow citizens lately.
This brings me to my point today: with spring springing and garbage polluting our rivers and lakes (and just about everything else in the GTA), it is time once again to start thinking about Earth Week, which happens once a year, and during that week, the World Wildlife Fund in Canada holds their major fundraiser for the year. They challenge people to raise money and climb the stairs in the CN Tower. There are 1776 stairs. This is (strangely enough) not quite as hard as it may sound. It's not easy, but it's doable. Even for me. I've done it probably ten times now. This year the team challenge is on Thursday, April 26th. Here is a link to the website if you'd like more info.
Some of you will be getting personal invitations to sponsor me (because you know me personally and I have your email addresses), however, if any of you who may not know me very well would like to sponsor me, I've included a link below.
It seems that everyone is talking about the environment these days. It has become a very popular topic, especially since Al Gore did his little presentation about it. The WWF has been working to protect wildlife and wild spaces for years. They have been fighting the reduction of wilderness; they have been fighting to protect the coral reefs; they have been working hard to protect spaces in which indigenous plants and animals may continue to exist without fear of extinction. This is not new to them. They've been working on this for years. They are not extremists, like some people believe Greenpeace and PETA are. If you'd like to review their record for yourselves, please visit their website www.wwf.ca.
This is a link to my page if you'd like to sponsor me: Please Sponsor Lesley. I would greatly appreciate any support (including emotional!) you may be able to give.
Drive safe peeps,
Spring is beginning to spring here in what used to be called "Toronto the Good' and 'Toronto the Clean'. With a high of ten or eleven degrees Celsius yesterday and today, much of the snow and ice is beginning to melt, leaving behind an awful lot of... dirt. This isn't just normal dirt like the kind you used to dig up in your backyard as a kid. This isn't just bits of gravel or sand used by the snow clearing trucks when they're salting the roads. This is dirt of all kinds.
This is dog dirt that people thought they would just leave because it was cold and no one would notice anyway in the snow. It is actual garbage that people didn't bother to throw in a bin . It is cigarette butts, pop cans, fast food packaging, lost gloves, windshield fluid bottles, and probably anything else that you can think of. This is the kind of garbage that makes cities in developing nations smell (I know; I've been there). However, they are developing nations, we live in what is supposed to be one of the richest nations in the world. We have one of the highest standards of living in the world and we're throwing garbage around as if we live in a sty. Clearly I am not impressed with my fellow citizens lately.
This brings me to my point today: with spring springing and garbage polluting our rivers and lakes (and just about everything else in the GTA), it is time once again to start thinking about Earth Week, which happens once a year, and during that week, the World Wildlife Fund in Canada holds their major fundraiser for the year. They challenge people to raise money and climb the stairs in the CN Tower. There are 1776 stairs. This is (strangely enough) not quite as hard as it may sound. It's not easy, but it's doable. Even for me. I've done it probably ten times now. This year the team challenge is on Thursday, April 26th. Here is a link to the website if you'd like more info.
Some of you will be getting personal invitations to sponsor me (because you know me personally and I have your email addresses), however, if any of you who may not know me very well would like to sponsor me, I've included a link below.
It seems that everyone is talking about the environment these days. It has become a very popular topic, especially since Al Gore did his little presentation about it. The WWF has been working to protect wildlife and wild spaces for years. They have been fighting the reduction of wilderness; they have been fighting to protect the coral reefs; they have been working hard to protect spaces in which indigenous plants and animals may continue to exist without fear of extinction. This is not new to them. They've been working on this for years. They are not extremists, like some people believe Greenpeace and PETA are. If you'd like to review their record for yourselves, please visit their website www.wwf.ca.
This is a link to my page if you'd like to sponsor me: Please Sponsor Lesley. I would greatly appreciate any support (including emotional!) you may be able to give.
Drive safe peeps,
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
The Weather Outside is Frightful
Hello Beautiful People,
I don't know how many of you are in southern Ontario, but just to inform those of you who aren't, it's freakin' cold here now. It has officially become winter. This happened practically overnight! It was 17 degrees last (ummm Tuesday / Wednesday?), then BLAM! Highs of 0, lows of -6. Factor in the windchill and it feels like -13! What the hell? All of a sudden I need to get my winter tires on!
As many of you know, southern Ontario is not the only place in the country where unseasonal weather has been occurring. Vancouver (and the lower mainland), for instance, had floods (so bad that they had a boil water advisory for 12 days), then they had freezing rain and snow (this all happened while it was warm in Toronto). The east coast went through similar unseasonably warm weather, but theirs was more wet than Toronto's and I believe it's been kind of slushy of late.
You're probably all saying, so what? If we want the weather, we can go to the weather network's page (and you are correct). My point today is simply to highlight the following:
1 - I don't like winter in Toronto (it's way too cold for me)
2 - Our climate is changing
Ignoring the first point (because there isn't really anything we can do about that except move), I'll move to the second. I think it should be pretty clear to even the most staunch hold-outs by now that our climate is changing. Regardless of why, they must be able to look at the empirical evidence and and recognize the facts in the same way as everyone else. Our climate is warming. Nay-sayers like to say that this has happened before (the average temperatures in the world have risen a degree or two), but not to this degree, not since the industrial revolution and not at such a great rate of increase.
It is harder for us (the environmentalists among us) to clearly point to all of the reasons for this, and it's not worth anyone's time to try to 'hold anyone (country, company, industry, etc.) responsible'. Our responsibilites as stewards of the earth are to figure out what is happening and how we can best survive without using up all of the world's natural, renewable resources. We need to find reasonable, efficient methods of powering our world or we will run out and the earth will be spent. It's as simple as that.
Thus ends my rant for today. Have fun in the snow if you've got any. I will be driving with my seat-heater turned on today.
Drive safe peeps,
I don't know how many of you are in southern Ontario, but just to inform those of you who aren't, it's freakin' cold here now. It has officially become winter. This happened practically overnight! It was 17 degrees last (ummm Tuesday / Wednesday?), then BLAM! Highs of 0, lows of -6. Factor in the windchill and it feels like -13! What the hell? All of a sudden I need to get my winter tires on!
As many of you know, southern Ontario is not the only place in the country where unseasonal weather has been occurring. Vancouver (and the lower mainland), for instance, had floods (so bad that they had a boil water advisory for 12 days), then they had freezing rain and snow (this all happened while it was warm in Toronto). The east coast went through similar unseasonably warm weather, but theirs was more wet than Toronto's and I believe it's been kind of slushy of late.
You're probably all saying, so what? If we want the weather, we can go to the weather network's page (and you are correct). My point today is simply to highlight the following:
1 - I don't like winter in Toronto (it's way too cold for me)
2 - Our climate is changing
Ignoring the first point (because there isn't really anything we can do about that except move), I'll move to the second. I think it should be pretty clear to even the most staunch hold-outs by now that our climate is changing. Regardless of why, they must be able to look at the empirical evidence and and recognize the facts in the same way as everyone else. Our climate is warming. Nay-sayers like to say that this has happened before (the average temperatures in the world have risen a degree or two), but not to this degree, not since the industrial revolution and not at such a great rate of increase.
It is harder for us (the environmentalists among us) to clearly point to all of the reasons for this, and it's not worth anyone's time to try to 'hold anyone (country, company, industry, etc.) responsible'. Our responsibilites as stewards of the earth are to figure out what is happening and how we can best survive without using up all of the world's natural, renewable resources. We need to find reasonable, efficient methods of powering our world or we will run out and the earth will be spent. It's as simple as that.
Thus ends my rant for today. Have fun in the snow if you've got any. I will be driving with my seat-heater turned on today.
Drive safe peeps,
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