Heard a brief blurb on tv tonight about ‘Awnuld’ meeting up with Dalton McGuinty yesterday in Toronto. Of course it was one of the incredibly annoying “tune in for ALL the details at 11″ teasers! Uggghh!
I decided to take matters into my own hands and do a little online research! Luckily I didn’t need to search for very long - I found two interesting articles on the CBC website.
As I learned, Schwarzenegger is in Canada for a three-day visit, with stops in Toronto, Ottawa, and Vancouver.
While he is technically here to promote California tourism, it sounds like he has been very eager to chat about environmental matters as well - namely climate change. Apparently he’s becoming a pretty serious ambassador for the cause.
I have to say that I’m honestly VERY impressed with his increased awareness and focus on green issues these days. There’s always been something kinda endearing about his over-the-top confidence in himself and his accomplishments - so now that he’s setting his sights on ‘being the best’ in the climate change world too, I will certainly cheer him on!
Reading some of his quotes, I found myself laughing out loud. After years and years of hilarious impressions and comedy skits, you just can’t HELP but hear an exaggerated version of his voice whenever you read his words! (well ok, maybe it’s just me)
During his speech, Schwarzenegger issued a warning to automakers spreading “doom and gloom” messages over California’s tail-pipe emissions standards, citing a billboard in Michigan that read, “Arnold to Michigan: ‘Drop dead.’ ”
“What I am really saying to them is, ‘Arnold to Michigan: Get off your butts,’ “ Schwarzenegger said to the Ontario audience, whose province’s auto sector has been the No. 1 auto producer in North America for three years running.
[emphasis mine]
Here are a couple other interesting blurbs from the articles:
Earlier Wednesday, Schwarzenegger and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty signed an agreement that includes low-carbon fuel standards for vehicles.
The deal requires cars in Ontario to have 10 per cent fewer emissions by 2020, equivalent to a reduction of 700,000 cars, the province said.
Schwarzenegger said he was “very, very happy” to sign the deal, even though it stopped short of California’s tough new tail-pipe emission standards.
—-
As part of his effort, he is signing agreements with all comers, including British Columbia, to trade carbon credits and share antipollution goals.
Canada is not following his lead on emission cuts but might be a market for California products such as the Tesla electric sports car, a fast, zero-emission, $92,000 US roadster.
The governor himself has one on order. It will be the 18th vehicle in his personal fleet, a greener muscle car for a greener muscle man.
For the full scoop be sure to hit CBC.ca:
Arnie to automakers: ‘Get off your butts’
Schwarzenegger brings climate crusade to Canada
Technorati Tags: arnold schwarzenegger, governator, climate change, global warming, greenhouse gas emissions, greenhouse gases, dalton mcguinty, stephen harper
Written by Bentley on May 31st, 2007 with no comments.
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Dear Springwise newsletter,
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways! Haha!
Ok, enough with the shakespearean shenanaghans…
As some of our regulars likely know by now, I’ve come to TRULY appreciate my weekly Springwise e-Newsletter! For those of you unfamiliar with Springwise, it is really cool website featuring the latest innovations in entrepreneurship.
It is by no means dedicated solely to environmental products/services - but those that are featured do tend to be really interesting!
The product featured in this weeks Eco & Sustainability section, the ‘Greenbottle’, is certainly no exception!
From the Springwise article:
Designed and manufactured in Britain, Greenbottle is a biodegradable milk bottle that uses a smart two-part system to aid recycling. The bottles are composed of a cardboard outer manufactured from pulped, recycled cardboard, which is lined with an inner sleeve of biodegradable plastic made from corn starch. The plastic keeps the cardboard from becoming soggy, and the cardboard makes for easy transport, storage and pouring. Once the bottle is empty, the inner sleeve can be pulled out and will decompose in a landfill within six weeks. The cardboard outer can be put out for recycling with other paper or thrown in with kitchen and garden waste for home composting.
Very cool indeed! I would definitely love to start seeing bottles like that utilized here in Canada.
For some more info be sure to check out the Greenbottle site.
Technorati Tags: recycling, greenbottle, biodegradeable, milk cartons, composting, plastic
Written by Bentley on May 30th, 2007 with no comments.
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Caught an interesting article recently about two Indian waste management projects that have been nominated and shortlisted (along with 8 other nominees) for Ashden Awards, also know as the “Green Oscars”.
Apparently Al Gore will be presenting the awards to the winners at the June 21st ceremony, taking place at the Royal Geographical Society in London.
Here is an exerpt:
Biotech from Kerala and SKG Sangha from Karnataka will compete with contenders from Bangladesh, China, Ghana, Lao PDR, Nepal, Peru, Philippines and Tanzania for the five awards and the prize money earmarked to help project expansion and replication in other communities both locally and nation wide.
Biotech has been selected for tackling the problem of dumping food waste in the streets of Kerala through the installation of biogas plants that use the waste to produce gas for cooking and, in some cases, electricity for lighting.
Biotech has built and installed an impressive 12,000 domestic plants (160 of which also use human waste from latrines to avoid contamination of ground water), 220 institutional plants and 17 municipal plants that use waste from markets to power generations.
SKG Sangha has been selected for radically improving the lives of thousands of rural families in Karnataka by supplying them with both dung based biogas plants for cooking and a specially designed unit that turns the slurry from the biogas plant into high quality fertilizer.
The units supplied by SKG Sangha produce fertilizer simply by combing the slurry with straw and leaves and then adding worms which re-digest the mixture to produce vermin-compost.
This vermi-compost improves the yields of family crops and women can earn as much from selling half the vermin-compost they produce as the household earns from selling the crops they grow. Since 1993, SKG Sangha has installed over 43,000 biogas plants in Karnataka alone.
I guess ‘vermi-composting’ and ‘vermin-composting’ are interchangeable terms!
Regardless, both projects sound great, and I really hope the worms go home with some hardware! 
Be sure to check out the full article to learn more about the Ashden Awards and some of the other nominees: Two Indian projects may win ‘Green Oscars’
Technorati Tags: green oscars, ashden awards, al gore, vermicomposting, vermi-composting, vermin-composting, biogas, waste management
Written by Bentley on May 29th, 2007 with no comments.
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On a recent visit to Brady’s Meat & Deli, (located in Waterloo, Ontario), I came across some organic milk products from Harmony Organic. I was instantly drawn to the old-fashioned glass bottles and intrigued enough to buy a few bottles and give it a try. I commonly purchase my milk in the plastic milk bags (which can be rinsed and recycled when empty).
Harmony Organic bottles their milk and each retailer charges a deposit for the bottle to encourage customers to return the bottles for a refund. What a novel idea!!!! No plastic packaging, it brings back a bit of nostalgia for baby boomers, better for the environment and in my opinion it simply tastes better!
On my first visit I purchased 2 bottle of 1 % and 2 bottles of chocolate milk. I was very pleased with both purchases and I found that each product tasted great. I will mention that buying harmony organic is more expensive than buying regularly produced milk. It is approximately double what you would normally pay. The question you need to ask yourself is, “Is it worth it?”. My answer is a resounding yes. The milk is produced organically and locally, it tastes better and simply looks cool!
A few weeks ago I went to buy some of the milk and I couldn’t even get one bottle. The staff at Brady’s mentioned to me that they keep selling out of their Harmony products. The milk is flying off the cooler shelves. Not to be disappointed,
I have set-up a standing order at Brady’s and I replenish my order every Friday.
Harmony Organic - At a Glance
According to the website, “The milk comes to you from cows treated with love and respect”. The goal for the dairy is to minimize stress and maximize comfort in anything they do. Harmony cows are treated as members of the family.
Facts:
* Farm is free of synthetic fertilizers and chemicals (at least 3 years)
* To discourage throw away mentality, use glass bottles for their products
* Products: Full line of fluid milk products, 10% cream and 35% whipping cream
Harmony Organic is located in Bornholm, Ontario, about 57 kms away from my house. Bornholm is Northwest from Waterloo.
Where Can You Buy Harmony Organic Milk?
I buy my milk at Brady’s in Waterloo, at Phillip and Albert street. This is a great store and I highly recommend that you pay them a visit (I will be writing about Brady’s in the next few days).
Other places:
Eating Well Organically - 104 King Street South - Waterloo - (519) 883-0734
Fieldgate Organics - Weber Street Waterloo Farmers Market - Waterloo -
Full Circle - 3 Charles Street West - Kitchener - (519) 744-5331
Natural Food Market - 75 Bridgeport Road East - Waterloo - (519) 884-1811
Olde Kitchen Cupboard - 710 Belmont Avenue - Kitchener - (519) 745-7765
Pfenning\’s Organics - 1760 Erb Road West - St. Agatha - (519) 725-4282
Pfenning\’s Organics and More - Home Delivery - 1760 Erb Road West - St. Agatha - 519-725-4282
* Cattle are fed organic feed (at least 12 months)
Technorati Tags: local produce, Harmony Organic Milk, buying local, Brady’s Meats & Deli, organic milk, green business
Written by steve on May 29th, 2007 with 2 comments.
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I am on a quest to change my food buying habits and switch to locally grown goods as much as possible. I have been on this gradual quest for the last few years but have decided recently to kick my efforts up a few notches. A big part of my initiative will be to increase awareness about all of the great locally-owned businesses that are available in the Waterloo Region. I hope that I will be able to motivate many of our readers to change their buying habits and support local businesses. If you know of any local businesses that should appear on our website, send me an email and I will do my best to review and write about them
In the past few weeks I have been touring our region and visiting a few local grocery/specialty food stores. A few of the stores that I visit regularly are:
* Brady’s Meat & Deli
* City Cafe Bakery
* St. Jacobs Farmer’s Market
* Hilltop Acres Poultry (St. Jacob’s Market)
Over the next few days I will write about each business and provide a brief summary about what they do, what their know for and how you can find them.
I hope that my posts on buying local will motivate you to start buying local!
Technorati Tags: local produce, buying local, farmer’s markets, organic produce, artisan food, St. Jacobs Farmer’s Market
Written by steve on May 29th, 2007 with no comments.
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*Disclaimer - This image is not the dog we rescued!
I just came back from lunch with my staff (beautiful day to have lunch on the patio) and we noticed a dog (a terrier) in the back of a station wagon. The weather in Waterloo is about 27 degrees Celsius (80.6 Fahrenheit) and sunny. Inside an actual car it can reach well above 40 degrees (104 Fahrenheit). Hot weather equals no pets in the car (unattended).
As we walked by the parked car the terrier jumped up and was panting like he had just finished a marathon. He was clearly in distress and was trying to find any sort of shade or shelter from the sun. I felt horrible as I watched this dog melting in the heat of the afternoon sun. Mike and I looked at the dog and instantly put a plan into action. We thought about breaking the window but feared legal ramifications, so instead we headed to the police station (less than a 100 metres from our office and less than 300 metres from the parked car). As we approached the station, a police officer was heading out on patrol and we stopped him to explain the situation. He assured us that we would go over to the car and wait for the people to return.
Mike and I followed him to the car and chatted with him further. He explained that the dog is warm but fine. He said that the dog would be okay and that he would wait for a few minutes. We decided to head back to the office and felt confident that he would take care of the situation. Before we entered our office building we turned back to find the police officer gone and the car with the dog still there. “Are you kidding me?!” I can’t believe that the officer just left the dog there. At this point we were extremely frustrated and decided to call our local humane society (what we should have done in the first place). Within five minutes the humane society arrived and agreed with our opinion that the dog was in distress and needed to be removed from the vehicle.
The Waterloo Public Library is located directly across the street from the parking lot and we had a hunch that the person who owned the car was visiting the library. Our hunch was right, the person was inside the library. We had the librarian make an announcement regarding the license plate and sure enough the owner appeared. 40 minutes later, the dog was rescued! I wish that we could have freed the dog sooner! According to the humane society officer, the car was reading 40 degrees Cecilius and it only takes 15 minutes under those conditions for brain damage to occur. Once the owner appeared, he became rude and belligerent to the enforcement officer. I wish that he had the authority to remove the dog permanently. Some people should not have pets!
BOTTOM LINE: Please Do Not Leave Your Pets in the Car!
If you see a distressed animal, make the call. You can call the operator to get the number of the humane society or even the police (although if in waterloo I would call humane society first, they took our call more serious than the police did). I encourage you to actively help rescue distressed animals. An animal locked in the car has has no choice in the situation and is forced to swelter in the heat!
I am happy that our efforts saved the dog from any further suffering.
Sorry to vent EcoSherpa readers, I needed a way to release some frustration and spread the word about the dangers of leaving animals in parked cars.
Written by steve on May 23rd, 2007 with 9 comments.
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I just received the latest Springwise newsletter this morning and found an interesting article I thought I’d mention here.
MA-based Seahorse Power has developed an interesting garbage can - one with a build in solar-powered trash compactor. Appropriately enough they’ve called it the “BigBelly”.
According to the Springwise article, a single BigBelly can hold up to five times as much garbage as a regular non-compacting bin, thus reducing the number of pick-ups (and thus fuel consumption etc) considerably.
Here is a blurb from the Seahorse ‘About Us’ page:
Our flagship product, the BigBelly Cordless Compaction System™, delivers distributed trash compaction to the points of collection, thereby reducing the frequency of collections required and the costs (and associated carbon dioxide and pollution emissions from truck traffic) related to solid waste removal efforts.
The solar-powered, cordless design of the BigBelly Cordless Compaction System ™ allows the units to be deployed virtually anywhere, eliminating the costly trenching/wiring required for conventional plug-in compaction technology. This self-powered capability provides clients with great flexibility to locate units where trash collection is a challenge, thus dramatically improving service levels, reducing or eliminating unsightly overflowing trash bins, and reducing collection trips.
The BigBelly Cordless Compaction System™:
- Saves time, fuel, and truck costs
- Demonstrates a commitment to communities and the environment
- Incorporates clean, solar energy into operations
- Aligns with “green” goals, and anti-litter campaigns
- Provides unique PR and sponsorship opportunities
Aside from gaining attention (and use) in various cities across the U.S., the BigBelly has even been featured on the Discovery channel’s “Beyond Tomorrow” TV show. Be sure to check out this CLIP to see the BB in action.
Technorati Tags: trash, garbage, trash compactor, trash compaction, garbage compactor, garbage can, BigBelly, Seahorse Power, solar power, solar panels
Written by Bentley on May 23rd, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Interesting & Notable and Waste Management.
Buying local is a topic that I have wanted to write about for so many months and is something that I am extremely passionate about. For the last 3 years I have adopted a regular routine of waking up early on a Saturday morning to visit the St. Jacobs Farmer’s Market (about 10 minutes from my house). The Farmer’s Market is a wonderful place to get the best seasonal produce, locals meats, baked good and other artisan goodies (jams, breads, olive oils, etc).
My routine usually starts with me waking up at 6:30 am, grabbing a coffee on route to the market and by the time I arrive my coffee has been consumed and my hands are free to start loading fresh veggies and fruits. During the winter months it can be difficult to find fresh, local produce, other than root vegetables. Many of the outside vendors hibernate for the winter and reappear once spring arrives. Regardless of the season, you will find me at the market.
Usually when I arrive at 7 am, there are only a handful of people to contend with and I have ample room to wander around and do my shopping for the week. If you arrive too late (10 am or later) in the summer, it is like playing the video game Frogger, dodging strollers, dogs and hundreds of people. The earlier you can arrive the better!
When I am at the market I selectively target the vendors to shop from. For the market rookies it could take a few visits to find the best vendors (hint - look for the line-ups). Increasingly, less and less farmers are actually coming to the farmer’s markets across Ontario and many market operators are forced to allow wholesalers or third-party retailers to open up stands. The St. Jacobs Farmer’s Markets has a combination of both farmers and retailers.
My preference is to support the local farmer! I want to buy from the person who grew the product not from the guy who bought if off the back of a transport truck. The next time you are visiting a farmer’s market, have a look around and see if you can identify the true growers/farmers. I have about 4 or 5 vendors that I buy my vegetables and fruits from and about 5 vendors that I buy my meat and breads from. The vendors I go to put out consistently great products and are small independent farmers/butchers with locations around my community.
Being that I once thought about being a professional chef, I have a great appreciation for quality ingredients and with careful searching, a local farmer’s market can be a great source of wonderful local treasures.
What’s in Season Now?
When I was at the market last week I noticed Asparagus and Rhubarb were making their debut appearances. I couldn’t resist buying a few bunches of Ontario asparagus. There is nothing like field fresh asparagus grilled on the BBQ with a little extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper. I will be buying more this saturday….I can’t get enough!
In another month or so, fresh Ontario strawberries will be available and I can hardly wait. You can’t even compare a farm fresh berry to an imported one that has traveled thousands of miles and ripened on the truck. I have a few berry plants that I started last year, but they will only produce enough for a snack. There will be many trips to the market, that is for sure!
If you are ever in the Waterloo Region, be sure to schedule a trip to the St. Jacobs Farmer’s Market, you will be glad you did.
This post has encouraged me to start writing about the other local shops that I visit. Be sure to check back for my upcoming “Eating Local” posts.
I believe the key to change is awareness! The next time you are at the grocery store, read the display signs to see where your food is coming from. If you have the choice to buy local, you should make the switch! Buy quality, reduce your footprint and support your community!
Technorati Tags: local produce, buying local, farmer’s markets, organic produce, artisan food, St. Jacobs Farmer’s Market
Written by steve on May 18th, 2007 with 1 comment.
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When I bought my house last year I discovered two rain barrels in my back yard, one fully functional, the other with a massive split in the bottom. During the growing season last year I found the non-leaky rain barrel quite useful as we had a watering ban for most of the summer. I created a 22′ x 25′ vegetable garden last year and I was constantly watering my plants with the collected rain water. As Bentley mentioned in a post last month, we went to the rain barrel give-a-way in Waterloo and each purchased a new barrel. So now I have two functioning barrels and one with a cracked bottom.
For the last year I was trying to come up with a plan to use or get rid of my broken rain barrel. I thought of trying to patch the crack, convert the barrel into garden planter or even make it a garbage can. During a recent visit to my house, Bentley mentioned that I should convert the barrel into a composter. What a fantastic idea! Why didn’t I think of that? Thanks Bentley!
This afternoon I put a plan into action and converted the barrel into my new composter. I had created a wooden composter out of scrap lumber last year, but I haven’t been 100% happy with it. My new rain barrel composter conversion (that’s a mouth full) is a better solution.
Cutting the Top
The first thing I did was cut the plastic framework on the top part of the barrel. I cut the top to allow me to freely add compost materials and be able to turn the compost over with a shovel.
Cutting the Bottom
The second step was to cut the bottom of barrel to allow all of the compost to reach the ground. I want the compost to pool in a hole that I dug rather than stay at the bottom of the plastic barrel.
Digging a hole
The next thing I did was dig a hole for the composter to sit in. I decided to dig down 16 inches deep. I may decide to dig down a bit deeper tomorrow. I will chat with Bentley to see what he suggests.
Adding Stuff to the Composter
After prepping the composter I headed inside to find some goodies to add to the composter. I found some carrots and a cucumber that were ready for composter heaven. I also found some cardboard in my recycling box that was wet from last nights rainfall. I now have a decent base to get things rolling in my composter. All I need now is a handful of worms. I am sure Bentley will be able to help me get started.
It feels good to convert/reuse the rain barrel into something that I will use everyday. All it took was a shovel, a cordless saw and 30 minutes of my time.
Technorati Tags: rain barrel conversion, worm composting, composting, compost bin, reusing materials, worm compost, worm castings, vermicomposting
Written by steve on May 18th, 2007 with no comments.
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