What Now Harper?

Bill McKibben wrote a very disturbing article in the LA Times. I was so upset I wrote to Prime Minister Harper.

In a nutshell, McKibben points out that the planet’s leading climatologists have issued a dire warning – either seriously get us on the road to reducing carbon dioxide by 2012 or doom our species to a terrible decline. We need to get the parts per million of carbon dioxide down to 350. We’re at 385 right now and growing. We need to go on a serious diet immediately.

Click here for McKibben’s article

Click here for my letter to Harper

Action

This is serious business. As I pointed out in my very first blog installment, we are the generation entrusted to turn this climate problem around. We can either sit around and wait for someone to take action or we take action ourselves and that means dropping our elected officials a line from time to time. I can assure you, the chances of success increase exponentially if we take action.

Please write to Harper, Bush and anyone else in a position to make things happen. Voice your concern about the warnings of the world’s leading climatologists and ask your leaders what they plan to do about it.

They do take our concerns seriously (or should). One email/letter equals 1000 others who feel the same way but don’t bother to write. Here’s how to contact your federal reps:

Government of Canada – MPs

Harper’s Email: pm@pm.gc.ca

U.S. Federal Government


In the News

Sharing the wealth from Ontario farmland
The joys of eating locally.

Most schools 'not turning green'
UK needs to get on the learning curve.

What Now? - Letter to the Prime Minister

Dear Prime Minister Harper,

I was alarmed when I read an article by Bill McKibben in the LA Times, which I copied below. McKibben draws attention to some pretty strong language coming from Jim Hansen, chief climatologist for NASA, and Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Their message: the human community needs to get very serious very soon about reducing the parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere – from the current 385 to 350 – in order to stave off runaway climate change.

In the words of Pachauri: "If there's no action before 2012, that's too late. What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment."

What now?

I take warnings from an international body of scientists very seriously – particularly ones that win Noble Peace Prizes for their work. I have to say, I’m scared. I’m also motivated to take action. I take responsibility for my own carbon footprint and do my bit to reduce it: take transit and ride my bike, eat local and organic produce, compost, turn down the thermostat, plan for a home energy audit and reduce my air travel.

I’m doing my bit and I know I’m not alone. It’s just that right now we’re kind of all waiting for you, our leader, to act in a big way. “This is the defining moment.” I certainly feel that. I want to tell my young niece and nephew when they are older that I was part of world movement that turned the climate crisis around. Such a feat will not be possible without great motivating leaders.

We need someone to step forward and be the leader of our time – as Churchill was during World War II. We need someone to rally the troops - someone to guide us through this critical time. Canada has tremendous potential in renewable energy and green technology which it needs to pursue immediately. Moreover, our country can and should be a leader in helping to transform the world into a sustainable one. We just need aggressive policies that reward sustainable behaviour and punish polluters. We need these policies now.

Now is the time for you to step forward and be one of the most important leaders of all time, someone who rose to the occasion and helped turn this crisis around. What will be your legacy? If Hansen, Pachauri and their colleagues are correct – we either change the course of the climate crisis or we condemn our descendents to a difficult existence. How will you be remembered?

Please do not respond with what you are doing already. I know you are working on the problem, but it is not enough. The mounting evidence demands a swifter and more effective response. My question is: what do you plan to do about it?

Yours respectfully,
Cheryl McNamara
Toronto, ON

Just Ask an Expert

I made a boo boo. Last week I claimed that the installation of geothermal vertical loops makes an absolute mess. What I failed to do was put this ‘mess’ in relation to other types of messes. Does it compare to the mess of the Alberta oil sands? How about coal mining or radioactive waste from a nuclear reactor?

The Best Mess
As I reported in my September 6, 2006 installment, geothermal is a green alternative to heating and cooling your home. Liquid-filled coils run horizontally out or vertically down from your house, tapping into the consistent temperature of about 12.5 C a few feet into the ground. The system draws in this temperature to cool the home in the summer and warm things up in the winter (with the furnace kicking in the rest).

Naturally, installing a vertical loop is going to leave a mess in your yard. However, this is a piece of cake to clean up compared to the waste of our current energy sources - coal and nuclear, which, in the case of the latter, will take hundreds of thousands of years to become benign.

Thanks to Greg Bonser of Village Technologies for gently reminding me that the mess generated from installing geothermal is all but a memory after the clean up. His company retrofits old buildings, helping them to become more energy efficient, and provides alternative energy solutions, such as geothermal.

Geothermal can reduce energy consumption by 25 to 75 percent, and costs between $10,000 and $20,000 depending on your home. Pay back period is between five and 12 years. With vertical loop systems you can expect the higher expense.

Greg is also looking into air source heat pumps, which according to him is “approaching the low end of geothermal heat pump efficiencies without having to drill an energy well.” Air source heat pumps, like geothermal, rely on electricity but are highly efficient. With the rising cost of gas, they may also be a more affordable alternative to heating homes.

First thing first
Make sure your home is as energy efficient as possible. If you live in an older home like me, see about getting an energy audit and prepare for the retrofits, which average about $5,000 per household. The feds will give you a rebate depending on the effectiveness of your retrofits.

According to Greg: “Making the building more efficient is always the best option. We strongly encourage our clients to do so, and are not so interested in doing equipment installs before people improve the efficiency of the building. More work and less profit for us, but a better job for the client, so that makes it more worth while for me.”

Other Notes
The other Greg – Greg Labbe of GreenSaver, which performs energy audits on homes – reviewed my May 1st blog installment and made the following comments and recommendations:

Insuladd - the non-toxic paint additive that claims to act as insulation and reduce energy bills by 20%. This, according to Greg, can be compared to claims made by sleazy traveling salesmen promoting snake oil.

Retrofoam, the foam insulation that claims to have an R-value of up to 23.7 at 2x6 studs. Says Greg: “This foam cannot be installed in a cavity deeper than 2” or the water content of the foam will cause many problems with the finishes inside the house. I hope they were not claiming they can insulate 2x6 cavities?” – Ah, yeah they were.

Pella, the ‘state of the art’ energy efficient windows? - “Pella had the corner in the 70’s on double pane windows and always used nice wood, but the windows installed in the last 10 years were dogged by supper sticky messy caulking oozing out over time and making a mess of the windows. Frankly, they are not the most high performance window on the market. For top of the line windows look for Europeans triple pane windows or locally look to fiberglass (glass is dimensionally stable over temperature and humidity ranges) with Thermotech Windows or wood at Loewen or Marvin Windows & Doors.”

The Moral of this Story
The moral of this story is to ask an expert when it comes to product recommendations. When you have an energy audit, just ask the auditor for advice on the best products out there to assist with your retrofits and alternative energy needs.

Action

McGuinty: Stop building dangerous nuclear power
If you live in Ontario, and have a big problem with nuclear, please sign this Greenpeace petition.

In the News

Gas Prices Send Surge of Riders to Mass Transit
Take that Hillary and John! The only time people will get out of their cars and into buses is when the price of gas becomes cost prohibitive.

Dell develops an ecological bamboo computer

Polar bears threatened: U.S.

Notes from the Green Living Show

If you missed the Green Living Show in Toronto, this blog is for you! Jane and I defied the TTC strike, mounted our bikes and cycled and cycled and cycled to get to the show at the Exhibition Grounds. Our determination paid off. In addition to our organic snack sampling, we encountered the following….

Home Energy

I picked up a little flyer on energy audits. To find out about getting an energy audit, visit http://www.ecoaction.gcca/. For information on financial incentives through the Ontario Home Energy Audit/Retrofit Programs, visit http://www.energy.gov.on.ca/. We would be getting an energy audit right now if it weren’t for the surprise rewiring job we just had done. Not to mention the roofing reno too (sigh).

Greener Solutions - My friend Jason Eano of Greener Solutions showed us around the little kiosk he helped build which housed green companies associated with his organization. We had an illuminating chat with Ron of Caledon Geothermal (a distributor of Next Energy Geothermal). Geothermal is best when you live near a lake or pond because installing the geothermal loop is a breeze. Unfortunately for urbanites like us, vertical loop installation is the only option and it’s the most expensive. You have to drill pretty deep – and it creates an absolute mess.

Insuladd – This non-toxic paint additive acts as insulation. The claim is that it reduces utility bills by over 20%. Just sprinkle some of this in your paint and see if it makes a difference.

Insulation - There’s fabulous spray-in insulation that fills every nook and cranny, and doesn’t break down or settle. Retrofoam has a R-value of up to 23.7 at 2x6 studs. R-value is an indication of its insulating effectiveness. Its rating is very good for a product that contains no hazardous ingredients and prevents mold growth to boot.

Windows – Jane and I salivated at the Pella display. Nice windows. Not only are they state of the art in energy efficiency, the wood in the frame is from managed forests. Of course, they’re expensive but well worth the investment. We were told that to replace the five large front windows of our house would cost about $5,000.

Home Décor

Rugs - Finally, an alternative to IKEA! Jane and I love rugs. W Studio Ltd., located at 146 Dupont Street in Toronto, sells attractive eco-friendly rugs (with vegetable dye to boot).

Cleaning

Cleaning products are often toxic and unnecessary. Jane and I have been using micro-fiber to clean our place. We picked up three fiber mitts called Enjo, created by an Austrian textile expert. The result? The product is ok. We much prefer our micro-fiber cloths that we picked up from the Carrot Common, our local eco-friendly store.

We were not impressed with President’s Choice for its ‘Green’ floor cleaning products. Check out this statement on the product label (the italics are mine): “This high performance cleaning putty will not release toxic chemicals into our rivers and lake. By using less environmentally harmful ingredients, we are helping to support a safer, cleaner environment.” No toxins or less environmentally harmful ingredients? Which one? Jane calls this double speak and I agree. How about no toxins period (including no harmful ingredients). We’ll stick to our micro-fiber.

Recycling

Irecycle – These guys encourage buildings and communities to connect and collectively arrange Irecycle to pick up unwanted computers, office equipment and cell phones. Don’t just recycle your e-waste, get others to do so too!

U Box It – Is your basement a thicket of forgotten whatnots piled in an unsightly heap? Ours is. Hence, it was with great love that I approached the representative at U Box It, a company that provides clients with a big yellow box to dispose their junk – and then finds homes for said junk. All your stuff is sorted and recycled. The price is $130 for removal.

Toronto’s new bin program may finance a program to pick up unwanted stuff for recycling for free. We are to keep posted on new developments.

Composting Toilets - Using fresh water to flush away human waste is a terrible use of this vulnerable resource. Sun-Mar was on hand to showcase its composting toilet. They use a BioDrum which eliminates the dreaded odor that people fear when it comes to water-less toilets. The toilets are ideal for cottages and remote areas of course. There could come a day when they are installed in urban homes.

Travel

Jane fell head over heels in love with the Smart Scooter. Her amour was fueled in large part by the fact we rode our bikes all over god’s creation to get to the show (#$%@ transit strike). Despite her rekindled love for the motor, there is a hitch…. The energy is only as green as its source. In Toronto one would power up the battery using coal and nuclear (green thumb’s down). The scooter also gets up to 35 kilometers per hour – too slow for cars and a frustration to cyclists since they both have to keep to the right. Upside: they’re awfully cute, come in an assortment of snappy colours and may be a serious alternative when fuel gets really expensive. Personally, I’m all about people power and am still a devotee of my bike.

Stuff

I am not a big fan of buying stuff for stuff’s sake. But if you must, why not go green? At work I use a promotional company called TPS (The Promotional Specialists) for our hats. TPS has embraced green in a big way: organic and bamboo hats, biodegradable pens, etc. Jane and I snafooed two biodegradable pens from their kiosk. I’ve attached the pen to my recycled note pad to jot down all my writer-thoughts.

In the News

European Commission Sues to Force Italy to Take Out the Garbage
Southern Italy doesn’t know what to do with its garbage.

Canadian schools sent brochures, DVDs from climate change skeptics
Climate change skeptics are alive and kicking and trying to get at your kids.

Bad News and Good Options

Some Good News
Jane and I cycled our little hearts out (public transit strike be damned) to take in the Green Living Show this past weekend. We collected fabulous information, which I will share with you below.

Bad News
The news is full of crisis lately. Topping the list of bad news stories is the food crisis. Many claim that the thirst for biofuels is driving up costs. The root causes of this calamitous problem are many, of course. It doesn’t help when rich nations subsidize their farmers and burden poor countries with crippling debt. Added to all this is the price of fossil fuel, which is going through the roof. Agribusiness depends on the latter for pesticides and fertilizers, and transporting food. World oil production has not increased in two years while demand from countries like China and India most certainly has.

In the April 24th issue of the Toronto Star, Jeff Rubin, Chief Economist at CIBC World Markets, is quoted as saying: "Whether we have already seen the peak in world oil production remains to be seen, but it is increasingly clear that the outlook for oil supply signals a period of unprecedented scarcity." Fasten your seatbelts. We’re in for a very bumpy ride.

ACTION - According to AVVAZ, 100 million people face starvation and food riots. To sign AVVAZ’s petition, click here: World Leaders: Stop The Food Crisis.

While you’re at it, ask your federal reps to forgive crippling debt to the poorest countries, which only aggravates the food crisis. Food aid alone is not enough.

Back to Good News – or Good Options from the Green Living Show
As you know, the more local our food the better for our health (fresh food contains more nutrients) and the environment.

Front Door Organics - Jane and I met the lovely ladies who run Front Door Organics, a Toronto business that delivers local and organic food to the front doors of its customers (winter produce comes from our southern neighbours). Prices range from $35-$40 per week. They even deliver dairy products! Jane and I want to get back into this. It will make out quest for local organic much easier.

Ed Begley Jr. – We took in a presentation by the famous eco-warrior/actor who spoke about going green. He was preaching to the converted of course, which was fine because it was a little like attending a sermon. We all know this stuff but it’s nice to be reminded among like-minded individuals. He told us about his white backyard fence that is made from recycled plastic. He wanted to support the recycling industry and to his delight realized he doesn’t need to paint his fence - ever. The other benefit to a fence made from recycled plastic is that it is not pressure treated wood, which contains chromium, copper and arsenic (!) (the latter was recently banned). Among many scary things, this poison leeches into the ground water. Click here for more information. Thanks to Greg Labbe of GreenSaver for letting me know about the toxic fences. If you do get a recycled plastic fence, make sure you know what type of plastic was used. No sense in having some awful plastic chemical leech into your soil.

The Greener Side – In an attempt to keep the garden honest (or as honest as possible), The Greener Side – a Toronto-based company - offers landscaping and gardening services. We’ve invited Chris MacLuckie to check out our yard this Friday. He and his team are more than happy to work within our budget and help green greenies like us make smart choices as we build our little Eden.

Evergreen Brick Works – If you want to garden there’s lots to learn. Toronto’s Evergreen Brick Works offers workshops and events, including an upcoming appearance by David Suzuki.

More great services and tips from the Green Living Show in the next blog issue.

In the News

Clinton, McCain pump for a gas tax holiday
Oh, Hilary. I was on the fence, but this does it. My vote is with Obama (if I could vote).

Commons votes to boost biofuel use
Does the Canadian government not get it? It would be better to invest in improved public transit.

Best Defense for the Garden – Your Brain

It’s official. Ontario is banning the use of cosmetic pesticides. Premier McGuinty made the announcement yesterday, his Earth Day gift to the province. It’s particularly encouraging to us folks who want to grow organic veggies in our backyards. How can a garden be truly organic when your neighbour is spraying the nasty stuff on his prize tomatoes?

The problem with pesticides is that the poison magnifies as it works its way up the food chain, disrupting the ecosystem. Insects become more resistant to the pesticides every year. And pesticides are a petroleum product - another reason we don’t like them.

Like many, Jane and I are busily preparing our toxic-free garden. We’re really just learning as we go. Last year, we discovered that soil makes a big difference in the quality of the vegetables. Go figure, eh. In the fall, we spruced up the garden patch with a proper cocktail of manure, topsoil and compost. We also used straw as mulch to help with water retention. We’re now mixing in more compost and top soil, and will sprinkle in some fertilizer that we bought from Grassroots.

This weekend or the next, we will till the soil – no more than six inches. We don’t want to cut up earthworms which are very important players in the garden – aerating and fertilizing being high on the list.

Then we will plant seeds. Jane and I came up with an assortment of our favourite veggies. I’m in the process of charting out where to place the seeds. We must be careful. Some veggies are very unhappy if they grow near a particular type of vegetable. The potato and spinach, for example, silently endure one another. The tension is terrible. Others, such as tomato and basil, are great chums. They flourish in once another’s company. A companion veggie may repel insects that want to feast on the other. It’s a matter of knowing what plants work best together to prevent insects from feasting on your vegetables. Who needs pesticides? A brain works much better.

So with our copy of The Organic Gardener’s Home Reference, we are charting out a veggie map on what goes where, complete with sun images to indicate which ones like sun the most. We’re very accommodating. We don’t like unhappy drooping vegetables.

Other tips: marigolds repel many pests so plant them in and around the garden. Rose bushes indicate the health of the soil. If the roses are looking unhappy, the soil needs some work.

In the News

While folks celebrated Earth Day, some news was far from celebratory. Economist Lord Stern realized that the problem of climate change is much worse than he originally estimated, and scientists announced evidence of methane stores in Siberia thawing and releasing into the atmosphere.

As if in response, Michael Pollen wonders ‘why bother’ in this week’s New York Times Magazine. He concludes that we can’t wait around for politicians or companies to change our lifestyles. It’s up to us. No one exemplifies this more than Wangari Maathai who started the Green Belt Movement in Kenya. I just saw a documentary featuring her at the Toronto Hot Docs Festival - Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai. She argues, and backs it up with experience, that it is only when the people take action and stay on course that they make a difference and affect government change. If you’re ever feeling depressed or wonder ‘why bother’, I recommend that you google Wangari Maathai and let her inspire you.

Earth Day and Cuba Notes

Earth Day! – April 22
Mark on your calendars. Click here to find an interesting Earth Day event near you!

One simple action is to help Doug Hart in his campaign to get Canadian Tire to sell recycled Toilet Paper. Here’s his message:

“According to Greenpeace, if each household in Canada replaced 1 roll of toilet paper cut from ancient forests with 1 roll of recycled toilet paper, we could save 47,962 trees in a year.

I noticed Canadian Tire sells wall high piles of toilet paper, none of it recycled. After more than a month of emails to them, asking “why do you not sell re-cycled toilet paper,” I have no real reply, only policy gobble de gook, how they have green policies, and care about their customers feedback, and thank you for my email.

I thought perhaps some of your good readers might also send them an email, with this simple question to customerservice@canadiantire.ca asking, “Why do you not sell recycled toilet paper?” Maybe if enough of us do it, they will respond.”

Let’s bombard Canadian Tire with “Why do you not sell recycled toilet paper?” messages and see how they respond.

Cuba Notes
Jane surprised me with a vacation to Cuba for my birthday. While the purpose of the trip was to collapse on a beach, which we did wholeheartedly, I was curious to know how Cubans were doing on the sustainability front.

Cuba is of interest to anyone who wants sustainable practices. With the collapse of its major trade partner - the Soviet Union - in the early 1990s, Cuba had to also contend with (and still does) a tightened trade embargo from the U.S. With limited fossil fuel and food, Cuba went from industrial agriculture to organic farming in about four years flat.

With a little help from Venezuela in recent years, Cuba has some cars back on the road but it continues to produce most of its own food - something it didn’t do during the heyday of the so called ‘green’ revolution. During that time, monocultural state farms dominated Cuban agriculture. The crops, such as sugar, were traded to places like the USSR. Cuban received most of their food from abroad.

To be blunt, aside from a trip to Havana and information from the tour guide, I did very little probing on the organic front – given that I spent most of my time on a beach and had trouble even communicating the word ‘vegetarian’ to the wait staff (the so-called vegetarian corner in the buffet was laced with beef and bacon).

So my observations are of an eco-conscious western tourist confined to an all-inclusive resort. You can only imagine the dichotomies with which I was faced, which in a nutshell was: all-out food and booze fest in a land of rations and conservation.

At the resort, conservation measures were folded into every day life in this strange community of rapacious Canadians. Key cards were used to turn on lights, forcing people to turn them off before they left. All lights were compact fluorescents (however outdoor lights were left on). All toilets were dual flush (while beach showers were left running). Electrical cars buzzed up and down the extensive grounds (carrying bloated guests from the buffet to the beach). The food was for the most part local (with great quantities of it left on plates to be tossed). I often wondered what the Cubans, who survive on $15 Canadian a month, thought of us.

As for the flight (the night flight revealed only a few lights, hardly defining the towns below), Jane and I will offset our carbon output through Planetair’s carbon trading scheme. Our money will go towards investments in renewable energy. We will continue to eat all our food on our plates, not stuff ourselves, turn off lights, and walk whenever we can.

In the News

Pressure mounts on farming powers amid food crisis
This is a highly serious matter that calls to question biofuels and shines a light on the population crisis.

A Drought in Australia, a Global Shortage of Rice
And then there’s the effect of global warming on food production.

Earth Hour times Many

Hey - Earth Hour was a blast. I hope you all had a chance to celebrate. As with my group, many turned out lights, lit candles and peaked their heads through the blinds to see which neighbours turned out the lights and which didn’t. Earth Hour was part of my birthday celebrations with family and friends. What a perfect way to celebrate a new year for me.

So how did we do? According to the World Wildlife Fund, energy consumption in Toronto fell by 8.7 percent. In that one hour, BC and Ontario alone saved 1025 MW of energy. That’s 20.5 million lights! That’s equivalent to taking 12,525 cars off the road. That’s just one hour! That’s you and me and hundreds of thousands of others working together for a common purpose.

The purpose of Earth Hour of course is to raise consciousness of our energy consumption. What are we doing to conserve energy? Are we doing enough? Where does our energy come from? Nuclear? Coal? Hydro? Renewable energy? Are we investing in a company like Bullfrog Power where our utility costs go toward wind and low impact Hydro? Does our utility company offer such an option?

Let’s think of Earth Hour as Earth Hours. Reduce the load on the biosphere and reduce your utility bill too. Click here for tips on how to do so if you're not doing so already.

In the News

Ontario Solar Thermal Heating Incentive Program

B.C. projects benefit environment, bottom line