Eco-Freak

Trash talk similar on both sides of Atlantic

This week, the headline on the front page of my local paper read "Rubbish idea" referring to a pending move in the area from weekly to fortnightly garbage collection.
The story has some residents objecting to the move with concerns of odour, rodents and "flytipping"  (illegal garbage dumping).
Last year, I covered a similar story in Vaughan in which residents voiced similar concerns and the underlying accusation was that council was merely looking to save money, despite pointing to environmental benefits of forcing people to re-think the amount of garbage they produce.
In Vaughan, there was an additional caveat — a move to a three-bag limit.
While I think the similarities in the stories about the same subject on different continents is striking, I think it speaks to the fact that no matter where you are, people hate change.
Understandably, having to rethink your routine for taking out the trash is tedious. Dealing with garbage is a chore you dread and adding extra work just makes it unbearable.
However, once it's a part of your routine, you think little of it.
So, while people's opposition to changes in garbage collection makes great newspaper fodder, the story is the same no matter where you go.

You think you've got it bad

As York Region commuters struggle under the weight of rising gas prices, it may bring a little comfort to mention the plight of United Kingdom drivers who pay about twice what you pay for gas due to hefty taxes on petrol.
I was reminded of the situation today as, in lieu of the upcoming long weekend, the traffic cops here in the U.K. mounted a Cam Woolley-style campaign to remind drivers to make sure they don't run out of gas.
It seems that with gas prices rising so rapidly many drivers simply don't realize their pound won't get them as far, resulting in scores of stranded motorists along the motorway.
High gas prices seem to have begotten a shrewder, more resilient kind of driver here. Cars are much smaller with people sacrificing roomier models to get a break at the pump. You're about as likely to spot a SUV here as you are likely to spot Dame Edna perusing the racks at Newmarket's Upper Canada Mall.
And those choosing to go for a larger car don't just suffer at the petrol station, since the government, like here in Ontario, levies a charge against inefficient vehicles.
A recent study showed diesel car sales will overtake petrol within the next three years in the U.K.
I think high gas prices aren't bad because they make people think hard about how they use our resources. The best way to change people's behaviour is to hit them where it hurts, in the pocketbook.
But then again, I gave my car away when I moved here.

Where trees come first .... and stay there

At an environmental symposium at York University last year, one of the presenters talked about the irony in the fact that many new developments are named after a part of the natural landscape that often gets wrecked by the time the developers are done. What is left is a suburban wasteland lined with sad little year-old trees, that often die because they're the wrong kind of species or because the ground has been so compacted, it is hard for them to grow.
But trees are a nuisance for developers. Working around them usually means designing everything (roads, houses, sewers) around the trees and construction disrupts the water table, so the trees sometimes die anyways. So, to maximize efficiency, developers often wipe out everything and start from scratch.
Drive down Major Mackenzie between Bathurst and Dufferin and you'll see what I mean.
The State of Virginia has proposed a law that will demand developers leave a certain percentage of trees standing when they build new subdivisions. Other areas have proposed tree sanctuary areas where trees can exist undisturbed.
It's a great idea and innovative in that it forces developments to be planned not in the way that's easiest for servicing, but in a way that honours what was there before the houses.

David and Goliath not always so cut and dry

I have a new hero.

Last year, Martin Ford, a modest councillor in Aberdeen, Scotland, opposed a $2-billion golf resort proposed by Donald Trump, setting off a sandstorm of controversy and media attention.

The golf course threatened to destroy an environmentally sensitive area of the Scottish coastline and though local reaction was mixed on the development, Mr. Ford made the deciding vote as chairman of the infrastructure committee.

While Donald 'You're Fired' Trump may yet appeal the decision, most reports say he is looking into other locations.

But Mr. Ford isn't my hero just because he opposed the golf course. You see, Mr. Ford's vote was made against the advice of the town's planning committee.

Instead of relying solely on the committee's recommendation, he went into the community and sought out the views of his constituents. He gathered environmental data and weighed the options against the massive economic gain the golf course could have brought to his community. 

But unfortunately not all battles are so clean cut.

The David Dunlap Observatory is a perfect example of how the will of the people isn't always enough to save lands from development interests. It's also a perfect example of a financial Goliath trying to quash local grassroots interests.

After a 70-year history and partnership with the town, the University of Toronto is trying to sell the land in the middle of Richmond Hill to the highest bidder.

And as the town races to lobby the provincial and federal governments for help protecting the land, developers are sniffing around to get a sense of the town's intentions.

And, sadly enough, unlike in Scotland, municipal government in Ontario often doesn't have the power to stop a
planning decision the town and residents don't want.

But the real villain in the battle is the U of T which, in its greed to capitalize on the prime property, has kept the town in the dark on what it is planning for the observatory and surrounding lands.

Indeed, it seems easy to demonize the king of the combover, Trump, as he jets around in his Boeing 727 and flaunts a life of lavish excess to the detriment of the environment.

In comparison, U of T is a massive bureaucratic machine, subject to the rulings of a large governing
body.  There is really no public face to blame for the dishonourable way it is dealing with the observatory, which creates even more of a grey area, as money generated by a sale of the land could be used for worthy academic pursuits and research.

The fate of the observatory is far from settled and Richmond Hill Mayor Dave Barrow seems primed to put up a worthy fight.

U of T seems to have an eye on the prize, no matter what the damage to the town, though one might hope it could learn a lesson from Mr. Trump and use its immense resources to find another way.

Carbon offsetting upsetting to some

If you love to travel but are troubled by the impact it may have on the environment, you can ease you conscience by spending a little “green”.

Companies such as Toronto-based Zerofootprint will plant trees for you to offset the impact of flying or driving or for an event, provided you have the cash.
Politicians can make their campaigns carbon neutral by buying carbon-offset credits. 
And you can even buy carbon offset credits through your airline to assuage some of your environmental guilt.

But some environmentalists say carbon offsets do very little except lull people into a false-sense of security.

“Carbon offsetting is part of the problem, not part of the answer. It’s a pretense that we can go on with things as usual when what we need is an energy revolution,” said Wales Greenpeace network developer Malcolm Carroll.

Environmentalists say companies that plant trees do very little because once the tree dies, say, in 50 years time, all the carbon that was stored in it would be released into the atmosphere at a time when the situation will likely be more dire than it is now.

Futhermore, many of the companies offering offsets don’t guarantee the trees will be allowed to grow for any length of time, which means they could be cut down before they have a chance to do any good.
For this reason, many rock groups such as The Rolling Stones, Coldplay and The Sex Pistols have abandoned carbon-offset schemes for their tours when they were shown to be less than effective.

But abandoning the idea of carbon-offsets may not be the answer, since doing something is almost always better than doing nothing. What should be abandoned is the idea you can shell out a couple bucks and rid yourself of your obligation to the planet.

The idea there is one catch-all solution to the environmental crisis is ludicrous; the battle to stop climate change should be waged on many fronts. Those choosing the offsetting route should bear in mind they still need to curb fossil fuel consumption, produce less waste and generally consume less.

David Suzuki has posted a handy guide to help you judge whether or not a carbon offsetting company is effective to help you make sure the company you’ve chosen is legit.

An Inconvenient Ruling

A London High Court judge has ruled there are nine inconvenient untruths in Al Gore’s documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.
While the movie will still be shown in schools across the UK, the court ruled it will now be accompanied by a note explaining some of Mr. Gore’s conclusions are not scientifically proven.
Last winter, I visited some students in Richmond Hill who had watched the film.
They were enthusiastic and charged about doing something about climate change.
However, there were some gaps in their understanding of the science of global warming. For example, they had the distinct impression the catastrophic
effects of climate change were going to happen much sooner than science predicts.
I’ve also spoke with students at an environmental film fest who refer to the movie, The Day After Tomorrow, as an environmental movie.
Students need to be taught to differentiate between Hollywood and science and to realize the effects of climate change will never be as dramatic as they are in post-environmental-apocalypse sci-fi films, such as The Day After Tomorrow.
While it is important to educate students about climate change, it’s also important to give a hopeful message. Ultimately the aim of An Inconvenient Truth is to energize people to take action on the issue and work to reverse the effects of climate change.
While some of Mr. Gore’s conclusions could not be scientifically proven, it is important to realize his reference to the disappearing snows of Kilimanjaro and the evaporation of Lake Chad is merely to point out a correlation and, in science, correlation doesn’t equal causation.
While Hurricane Katrina can’t be definitively linked to climate change, he’s merely pointing to it as an example of extreme weather that may occur if his climate change thesis is correct.
Like any documentary or news story, An Inconvenient Truth lays out the evidence and it’s up to a viewer or a reader to decide what's right.
When showing any documentary to students, we need to encourage them to not blindly accept what they are being shown, but to challenge it and ask questions in order to decide for themselves what to believe.

York Region Who's Who

What has long toes, lives underground and can live for up to 30 years? The "elusive" Jefferson salamander.
These tiny amphibians were named after the great American president after they were first found on the grounds of Jefferson College in the 1800s in Pennsylvania.
They've also been found in the Jefferson Forest in Oak Ridges, although it's just a coincidence they have the same name.
In Canada, the species was first discovered in 1976.  While data confirms that it exists in locals from Oak Ridges to the Lake Erie shoreline, the salamanders' secretive nature makes population estimates difficult. Jefferson salamanders are burrowers and have well-developed lungs suited for this purpose.
Nocturnal by nature, they usually can't be spotted during the day, unless they're out looking for love during the spring mating season.
Breeding occurs in early spring, after the snow in the area has melted.
Because they are so hard to find, field researchers have a hard time proving they exist in a given area.
As part of the Bayview Avenue extension project, special amphibian roadway crossings were built to allow salamanders and other amphibians to move. Other areas have done the same since it is so important to the salamanders' survival that they have a safe way to move around.
The Jefferson salamander is a nationally threatened species with only 13 known populations in Canada, although they are being found in areas where they were previously not known to have existed.
It is the most sensitive of all amphibian and reptile species to development impacts, including farming, housing and roads.
Because they need both a pond for breeding and a forest to live in, they are vulnerable to habitat destruction and fluctuations in water levels.
Some researchers believe the salamander provides important clues about the state of Ontario’s ecosystems. In fact, they can even help identify other species that could be next on the threatened list.       
Biologists call this an indicator species. Its presence signifies the environment is suitable for a large number of organisms that require an uncontaminated, undisturbed mixed forest region.

Walking. Score!

My office is a 52 and my home is an 83.
A new website allows you to find out how walkable a neighbourhood is.
You simply type in an address and interweb magic calculates how far you have to walk to get basic goods and services.
It gives you a score from 1 to 100 based on how walkable your neighbourhood is and lists the stores, libraries and parks that are nearby.
The site has hosted about 1 million searches in its first month and has generated interest from environmentalists, real estate agents and urban planners.
But while walkscore.com will tell you what stores are nearby, it doesn't tell you if you have to go through one of these to get to the store.

To me making neighbourhoods more walkable means thinking about how to make spaces friendly to forms of transit other than cars.
As Caroline Grech found out last week, you notice more details about your environment, when you're not speeding through, talking on a cell phone or blasting the radio.
You're more connected to your environment instead of being isolated in your car, plotting your revenge on the SUV that just cut you off.
Running mundane errands such as getting groceries, going to the post office and drug store become more about the journey than the destination.
A recent study found people who went to school and worked in buildings that took advantage of passive solar design (south facing windows, sunrooms) were not only happier, but more productive.
I think ditching your car is similar. Once you try it, you'll start to notice all the benefits. It's just a matter of getting out of that four-wheeled mentality.

Another battle in Kirby's war

And so it continues.
The Environment Ministry has ordered the owner of a contaminated site in Georgina to produce a report to assess the amount of contamination on the property and recommendations to prevent ground and surface water from migrating off-site.
For years, area residents have lobbied the government to get the site cleaned up.
In the 1970s, a man named Earle Kirby battled the owners of the Thane smelter and, eventually, had it shut down.
But Thane left a legacy of devastation.
Members of Save the Maskinonge invite anyone who cares to take the time, to tour the site and see the extent of the pollution.
I went with them last year and Debbie Gordon and Roland Peacock showed me where little bits of wire were still strewn throughout the site.
They showed me the grey ash mingled with soil where hardly any living thing was growing.
They showed me where the polluted dross was inching into the adjacent wetland — a wetland that is connected to Lake Simcoe.
The Environment Ministry says it is up to the owner of the property to clean up the site.
Having declared bankruptcy a number of years ago, the owner says he can't afford to clean up his mess.
But since the contamination happened right under their noses, with the Environment Ministry making routine visits to see if it was up to code, Save the Maskinonge believes the ministry should fund the cleanup if the owner can't.
The Thane smelter got some attention during the last provincial election as Premier Dalton McGuinty vowed to get the site cleaned up.
It's four years later and nothing has happened.
That is until last week, when the ministry moved the process forward slightly by asking for a report from the embattled owner of the property.
Ms Gordon once called the Thane smelter a hot potato. No one wants it, they just keep passing it around.
Now, the potato has been volleyed back to the owner of the site, Howard Sniatowski, where it will sit, likely, until the eve of the next provincial election.

Some take dim view of new bulbs

Last weekend, in an effort to "green" my apartment, I installed some new compact fluorescent bulbs.
CFL spirals cost slightly more than regular bulbs but they use about one-third of the energy standard incandescent bulbs do to provide the same amount of light. They also last up to 10 times longer.
The federal government has plans to phase out the use of old, inefficient incandescent bulbs by 2012, as a way to save energy and combat greenhouse gas emissions and Wal-mart aims to sell 100 million of them in the next year.
But how do they compare to regular bulbs?
They provide the same amount of light and fit into regular light sockets, but since they are slightly longer than regular bulbs, I found that some of my light fixtures won't fit over them.
I also found a slight hum when the lights are on and they seem to flicker and don't really work well with the dimmers with which most of my lights are fitted.
While I do enjoy the minimalist-jail-cell-chic look I now have going in my room with my new bulbs, I suspect not everyone would appreciate it.
A quick look online found a lot of people have the same complaint. A blogger name Seth Godin asked for people to write to him explaining why they love CFLs over regular bulbs.
The blog noted disadvantages, but I also found some benefits CFLs have over regular bulbs, such as the fact you can grab a CFL with your bare hand and not get burned as they don't get hot. This means there is less wasted energy and the bulbs are more kid-friendly because it's harder to set your home on fire with them.
While I'm not suggesting we abandon CFL's, I do think manufacturers should warn consumers the new bulbs aren't exactly the same size and may not work with dimmers. Maybe then I could have purchased LED lights or some other equally efficient light source.
While I'm not adverse to change, I do think if we want consumers to make greener choices, we need to give people options that are commensurate with what we already have.