Tools for change

I found this Canadian website (you can tell by the maple leave) that focuses on Tools for Change. I looked particularly at the Topic Resources and there at the first column called Environment. http://www.toolsofchange.com/en/topic-resources/
Seems like there's a lot of initiative out there to reduce waste, improve public transit, remove mercury from old cars, stop the use of pesticides on public land, electric vehicles ...   I have not found an initiative happening especially in Edmonton but I got a story to share. 


Edmonton actually tried to reduce the use of chemicals on parkland. They figured that to apply alternative ways to deal with weeds and insect pests they would have to spend double the current amount on park land maintenance. It has not been said if the city will go ahead with this. Obviously, this money has to come from tax payers but there are always lots of other issues that require this money and Canadians are paranoid about taxes too. Maybe municipal park land one day is handled like provincial and national parks - with user fees. You use it, you pay. You don't use it, you don't pay. Funny enough people complain about the user fees here too. There's a fee for entrance, for camping, for making a fire, for parking ... well, the money to run the parks does not rain from the sky. It's either taxes or user fees. In Germany we have a tax based system more so than user fees. People get used to taxes, the complaints don't last long. I bet almost nobody remembers the time when GST was 16% (now it's 19% - yes, they did that in one raise and it did not kill anybody!)           


Cars - recently I read an article about Manitoba's car insurer. It's a monopoly and the plan is to force people to recycle their old car with legislation. The article pointed out the impact on poorer people who depend on old cheap cars to keep or get a job. It also pointed out that lots of cars build before 1995 were more fuel efficient than new ones and therefore should not be replaced. Last but not least the retired cars need to be recycled and new ones are needed as replacement which puts unnecessary strain on resources, material. The Canadian government, though not forcing it, also advertises their retire your ride campaign where you can trade your pre-1996 car in for money or transit passes. Deadline is March 31, 2011. European countries have done similar things. I believe Germany requires car manufacturers to take their old vehicles back for recycling. Generally, there's nothing wrong with these retire-your-rides initiatives but it would be better if their were more selective - get the polluters off the road independent from the age of the car. 

A poster at the school calls for change

There is this poster hanging in the school I work. I suppose it's only hanging there on the wall and it's not incorporated in the teaching schedule but if it was this would make a difference. Here's the link to where I found it on-line but I also copy the text below: http://syracuseculturalworkers.com/postcard-how-build-global-community

There are other neat posters too on how to go organic, grow organic, end global warming ...   They tell us to be more sensible in what we do, how we treat Earth and each other and how our ways can be changed. Change is hard though because there is a human resistance to change! Roughly speaking, older people are less keen on change than the younger folks. There lies the problem: Most corporations & countries are run by grey-haired persons (none of them having David Suzuki's wisdom). Apart from the fact that they already have a fat bank account and get paid no matter what they do, they do not care much about how life will be when the s*** hits the fan. They optimistically assume it will happen after their time and meanwhile stand to their wrong-doings as being the right thing to do. Consequently we can’t count on these people which makes change even tougher. That leaves younger generations, consumers, activists and the like to install change and kind of force it onto industry and politicians. And now go and define perseverance ... 

http://syracuseculturalworkers.com/catalog/8/how_toposters

How to build global community

Think of no one as "them"
Don't confuse your comfort with your safety
Talk to strangers
Imagine other cultures through their poetry and novels
Listen to music you don't understand*Dance to it
Act Locally
Notice the workings of power & privilege in your culture
Question consumption
Know how your lettuce and coffee are grown: wake up
and smell the exploitation
Look for fair trade and union labels
Help build economies from the bottom up
Acquire few needs
Learn a second(or third) language
Visit people,places, and cultures - not tourist attractions
Learn people's history*Re-define progress
Know physical and political geography
Play games from other cultures*Watch films with subtitles
Know your heritage
Honor everyone's holidays
Look at the moon and imagine someone else,
Somewhere else, looking at it too
Read the UNs Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Understand the global economy in terms of people, land, and water
Know where your bank banks
Never believe you have the right to anyone else's resources
Refuse to wear corporate logos: defy corporate domination
Question military/corporate connections
Don't confuse money with wealth, or time with money
Have a pen/email pal*Honor indigenous cultures
Judge governance by how well it meets all people's needs
Be skeptical about what you read
Eat adventurously*Enjoy vegetables, Beans and grains in your diet
Choose curiosity over certainty
Know where your water comes from and where your wastes go
Pledge allegiance to the earth;question nationalism
Think South, Central, and North- There are many Americans
Assume that many others share your dreams
Know that no one is silent though many are not heard
Work to change this

Some good and bad ideas

I wanted to give you these examples of smart things, the first three taken from Goleman's book Ecological Intelligence:

   

The Paris Metro’s new line uses old technology in a holistic way. The standard technology generates electricity from the friction produced when a train brakes and then uses this energy to boost the same train when it starts or accelerates. On the new line 14 the electricity all the trains make by braking is fed back into the power system so that any train can draw on it, reducing the energy needs of the line by 30%. 

FiberMark is a manufacturer of papers, packaging, and lots of related things. It has a paper mill in Brattleboro, Vermont.  where they switched from fuel oil to used cooking oils to power the factory’s turbines, drying papers, and heating the plant. This change reduced their fuel oil’s use by 75%, reduced emissions of sulphur dioxide & nitrous oxide, both cause of acid rain, and improved the air quality in the plant.

   

Goleman also wrote about plans for a plant to be located in South Bronx. The plant was designed to use recycled paper harvested from offices' recycling as its pulp stock, not that from trees. “There’s more paper fibre per acre in NYC than you can get from an acre in the Amazonas, “ says Jonathan Rose, who helped draw up the plans. “It’s in the recycling bin or the garbage.” Paper plants use huge amounts of water, so the site was chosen to be close to a sewage plant, the paper would be made using cleansed sewage water rather than devouring fresh water.  Before, NYC’s newspaper received their paper by truck from Maine or Canada. This journey will be avoided. “Why do we have pollution?” Rose asks. “Pollution is a sign of incomplete consumption – something being wasted. ..”       

In a recent paper I found a report on Urbee, a new car designed around energy use, minimising the use of fuel to help preserve nature. It's expected to use 1 gallon on 200 mi or 1.18 litre on 100 km. Great but there's a problem: design. What does it help to have a super fuel efficient car when it's so ugly nobody would want to buy it? Oh, there's another problem: With oil corporations controlling politics (at least in North America) how are you going to produce and market this car? 

There's still plenty of "un-smart" things though: The state of Washington considered launching a tax on everything "environmental" making life more costly for those who care about nature and live accordingly. How retarded!              

We were given a baby bedtime lotion by Johnson & Johnson. It claims that thanks to the release of "NaturalCalm" essences baby will fall asleep better. This NaturalCalm nonsense is a "patent pending blend of gentle and soothing aromas". Reading the ingredients list I could not figure out though where those come from. Apart from water, mineral oil and glycerine there's not an ingredient on the list that I understand. But it's got parfum in it, which could be anything. As a matter of fact the lotion smells so strongly I can't bear it. That's not for my baby.         

Plastering the world in concrete and calling it liveable

We went to see Rutherford House the other day, it was home to Alberta's first premier, Alexander Rutherford. It has been decorated the way it was in 1915 - but only the interior. Photos show that it used to stand right in the middle of a field, overlooking the river. Back then Rutherford who initiated the University of Alberta knew  that the campus would be built around the house but I doubt he ever could have imagined that 100 years later his house stands right in the middle of Edmonton, surrounded by 25 km of concrete in any direction, tendency to further expand. 
Edmontonians like to ask people like me (I'm obviously not local with my accent) how I like the city and I always hesitate and say, well, it's not quite the right place for me. I think they don't like the answer. They are somewhat provincial here. My 19-year-old colleague can't imagine ever living any where else. Really? A friend just told me about a list of the most liveable cities in the world, featuring Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary as well as several Australian cities in the Top 10, New York in 57th place and as best European city Helsinki. Amongst other facts "low density, little strain on infrastructure" was one of the aspects they looked at (traffic pulled NY down obviously ). Right, that's like saying "there's not much strain on our public transit system because we don't have any!" The UN index for the quality of living is such a scam to me as well. It lists the USA, Australia and Canada on top of the list or very close to the top. It does not say though that you need a car to survive and that you breathe a lot of dirty air, that your cosmetics are full of toxins, your foods full of drugs and chemicals, ... you get my point. Those indexes are too shallow. No consideration for environmental aspects.

Imagine cycling was safe any where in the city

Last year Peace Officers cracked down on cyclists riding their bikes on sidewalks along White Avenue, a very busy road in Edmonton. I shook my head and write to our mayor, also in connection with the jaywalking, and get an interesting reply. Mayor Stephen Mandel told me the roads here were too narrow to accommodate cyclists as well as cars. I suspect he does not know the width of European streets! Those streets still fit cyclists and the cyclists don’t even get run over by inconsiderate drivers. The fact that Edmonton has a city cycling map has two meanings to me. Yes, it’s nice to help cyclists get around. But no, it’s nonsense to tell cyclists where to go, which roads to stay off and to expect them to be polite enough to adhere to the maps. Imagine we’d do the same for drivers; channel them all onto the same route while keeping them off other routes so that different forms of transportation receive priority. In Europe we call that for example pedestrian zone, bike lane and bus lane. In Edinburgh, Scotland, one major road in the city centre is completely closed for cars and used as bus hub instead. In London, UK you pay to drive in the city centre and it’s not little money. But a price tag is totally fine when “education” & similar soft measures have failed.  Call it, learning the hard way. Those who wait longer to change for the better might get hit even harder ... one fine day.   

Not much appreciation left

Clothing prices are meant to rise by 10% this year, apparently due to higher costs for cotton (now nearly $2 per pound) and higher labour costs. So what? Clothing has been cheap for a long time. It's time to become more expensive, especially when it benefits the workers in the sweat shops or the cotton fields. That has not been said though in the media. The price for cotton has doubled but still does not seem 'high' to me. But we have gotten used to buying clothes for little money (unless you still have your brand name addiction but then the price is due to marketing expenses and the high salary of corporation managers) and we don't feel too bad about it. Just listen closely to friends and colleagues about the 'deals' they got. I remember the days where my mum sewed and knitted my clothes, a demonstration of part of the effort that goes into producing clothes. Made with love, priceless! It's completely different from just taking a piece of the rack in the next store, wearing it a couple of times and replacing it with something new.    

A tiny skinny colleague of mine has three sons. Her husband is just as tiny with 135 lbs. Her oldest son though is 15 and weighs well 200 lbs. 200 Pounds?! He drinks a gallon of milk in no time. They eat meat every day and buy 8 dozen eggs at a time because for breakfast she cooks a dozen. She goes shopping about 4 times per week. Obviously, they don't eat organic because it would be unaffordable. Still, I just could not believe it. First of all, a child of 200 lbs deserves a diet of fruit and veggies or so. Second, book you holidays on a farm and learn what it takes to produce all those eggs, all that meat, all the other things you eat (wheat for the bread). I think you will eat with a bit more brain! I believe supermarkets have made the availability of food too convenient - too convenient for people to actually appreciate what goes down their throat. Obesity here we come. This colleague likes 'Hot Dog day' at school because for one day per month she does not need to prepare lunches for the kids. Yeah right, but why did they not make it 'salad day'? I don't mind a hot dog once  in a while but I am not fat and eat  mostly vegetarian. For these kids I think it sends the wrong message though. Half the girls in grade 5 and 6 in my school are already overweight - at that age?! The last thing they need is another hot dog.



                           

My favourite festival in Edmonton

The Silver Skate Festival is happening this weekend in Edmonton. I volunteered last year and this year with the race registration. It is my favourite festival because it hosts a variety of activities such as speed skate races, a winter triathlon (skate, ski, run) for individuals and teams, including families, a snow sculpture competition, ice slides, horse sleight rides, figure skating demonstrations, evening entertainment with music and fires, ...and you can try curling, skating, skiing, snow shoeing, as well as sledge hockey - all for free. The festival gets the kind of people out that aren't "scared" of the winter cold and that are active and open to try things. Unfortunately, too many of the participants and spectators still arrive by car instead of taking the free shuttle service but at least they are not couch potatoes. David Suzuki writes in his last column entry in the Epoch Times about how adults have to set an example for children. We can't expect the next generation to be better than us if we tell them to exercise good behaviour while showing them bad behaviour. He compares living a healthy, active life to caring about the environment. Both should be the norm and not a "special activity". If only people did not come up with a large quantity of excuses to justify why they act in a destructive, ignorant, careless way. 




           

Get ready for Beyond Petroleum Day!

Don't fill up your tank on February 19!

Beyond Petroleum Day was initiated last year after the big BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Activist Jeff Birmingham, a former Albertan, is the driving force behind this worldwide one-year-event. You may have noticed that this day abbreviates to BP day, which is not coincidence! The day aims to boycott the oil and gas industry and make people think about renewable energy sources instead. The Facebook page is actually quite interesting, reporting on issues of the oil & gas industry, such as when an oil company gets fined, and alternatives to gas and oil.

I think it is great opportunity to have such a day, especially to have it thanks to the initiative of an ordinary person. Since it's new I doubt many people will participate. You know how many people still drive on car-free day and how many have an appliance switched on during Earth hour and how many shop on buy-nothing-day. More than one, SIGH! I wished that the oil companies would cooperate and close their gas stations for Beyond Petroleum day. They are not going to lose out because people will just fill up another day but such an action would probably make more people aware of this day to start with. Personally, I'm once more glad not to own a car so I don't even have to think about filling it up, or digging it out of the snow, or scratching ice of the windows, for that matter.

We are in the Water for Life Decade

Yes, that came to me as a surprise as well. I had not noticed although it started already back in 2005! That means we are more than half way through this decade. I found out thanks to a talk that will be held at the Royal Alberta Museum by Robert Sandford. He has written several books on water issues and is considered a Canadian water issues expert. All of the following links are from organisations or projects that he is somehow involved in. And as great as all these initiatives are I am somewhat disappointed that I had not heard of any of them before. So how successful will they be, I wonder? 


The water for life decade is a program of the United Nations and deals with lots of water related issues such as scarcity, financing, quality, access, water in cities .... http://un.org/waterforlifedecade/background.html   In 2010 the UN also started a Decade for deserts and the fight against desertification. 2011 is the year of forests and March 22 is World Water Day.


These websites are especially for Canadians with information on the fresh water situation in Canada, how they are approached by politicians and how we can change our own behaviour to save water.  
http://www.flowcanada.org/

http://www.goblue.org 


One or the other corporation has set up a grant program and support network for community initiatives and organisations like Evergreen and Tide. Some aim specifically at water related issues, others help with the protection of our environment in general:
http://www.unilever.ca/sustainability/Environmental_sustainability/Community_partnerships/

http://bluewater.rbc.com/index.php


Then there's the scientific side to the issues: 

http://www.wwcrc.ca/  
The Western Watersheds Climate Research Collaborative is a non-profit organization established in association with the University of Lethbridge. The mission of this collaborative is to establish a broad scientific basis for understanding and
responding to climate related impacts in the Canadian West.

http://www.waterinstitute.ca/ The Alberta water institute has to deal with some oil sands related water issues of course: http://www.waterinstitute.ca/accelerating_dewatering_of_oil_fine_tailing.htm

That's a paragrpah that caught my attention on Flow:

"The Federal government has responsibility over various aspects of water including navigable waters and inland fisheries, interjurisdictional waters and federal lands and waters - such as military bases and First Nations reserves. At one time, the Federal government was keen to address fresh water concerns. They created institutions with a specific water focus (i.e., the Inland Waters Directorate and the Canada Centre for Inland Waters); passed legislation (i.e., Canada Water Act, 1970) and signed international agreements (i.e., Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, 1972). Notably, the Government outlined its commitment to water through the Federal Water Policy, tabled in 1987.
Federal interest in water, however, has declined over the last couple of decades. The Inland Waters Directorate, for instance was disbanded in the early 1990s and despite the significant amount of resources dedicated to developing the Federal Water Policy, few if any of the recommendations were ever implemented in a meaningful way." 

Big SIGH! Canada, you will have big problems one day if your resources keep being used so recklessly and without consequences. Generally, I would not want to burden the government with regulating every aspect of our life, including all natural resources. But as we know all too well industry does not take care of the resources they use as much as they should and not even the little man in the street does. But if the little man in the street does care he has still limited power. E.g., I can't go and buy a river and dictate that nobody uses the water, or determine how the water should be used and returned to the river. But the government can. I like to believe the government is not stupid enough that they don't realize the urgency of protecting our fresh water. Their ignorance is there for certain reasons. In Alberta the governent now is proud to have set up a committee to investigate the environmental impacts of the tar sands operations but it will take lots of time until first results come up and actions will be taken. I still doubt the indepence of that committee and I think they aren't in any rush because the province depends on the tar sands and does not want to hinder their development.  I think this country needs a massive natural catastrophe, like a big wake-up call, to realize things aren't right the way they are.

Enters the motorcycle

Some genius staff member at Edmonton's city hall had the idea to provide free parking spots for motorcyclists in downtown Edmonton. The reasons are that motorbikes blow out fewer emissions than cars, need less parking space, get along better with bicycles (as if anybody cycles in downtown) and there's already a bylaw in place that makes sure motorcycles are only so noisy, ah quiet. Great you may think but I'm still sighing in a little disbelief and it's not because certainly nobody will ride a motorbike in winter in Ed - it's too cold and the road conditions too dangerous. No it is because this idea might seem innovative for a city like Edmonton, but seriously, when do they come up with bike lanes  and bike racks all throughout downtown and a bylaw for apartment buildings that requires to have bike storage spaces? Or why not adopt a program like in Paris and other European cities where bikes are provided all over town for a small flat-fee per day, week or year. There's no need to return the bike to the station where it was picked up. Stations are fairly close and bikes plenty. The city also made sure to provide plenty of bike paths. Check out http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19685323/ns/travel-destination_travel/ (or the official website in French http://www.velib.paris.fr/ ) for details on the program that took off in 2007, thanks to Paris' city hall.
 
And if you are interested punch into Google "Paris bike". You will get lots of websites offering bike tours in Paris and announcing cycling as the best way to get around the city. Punch "Edmonton bike" into Google and you reach the websites of Edmonton's major bike stores and the Edmonton Bicycle Commuters. The latter one has a page called ghost bikes, a project dedicated to the memory of cyclists killed on Edmonton's roads. http://edmontonbikes.ca/projects/more/ghost_bikes/ 

One more word  on Google. Google maps now has a function to show bike routes between selected destinations, just like it used to show routes  for cars, public transit and walking. Although I am fairly happy with Googles advice on Edmonton's buses the bike routing mapping leaves much to be desired. The routes shown seem to pretty much ignore the official bike paths that currently exist in Edmonton but maybe that's because the paths are not well connected and therefore of limited use.
                     

Valentine's waste

It's just one of these days again that have been completely commercialized, selling whatever they can as Valentine-item. Most of it looks like rubbish to me already on the store shelves. And tomorrow everything unsold goes to the dump, big sigh. I have only known Valentine's Day for a few years and I don't think too much of it. My husband cooked dinner last night and he got heart-shaped buns for his sandwiches today. We'll have a little treat from the Dutch bakery across the street after dinner tonight. End of it. At work, we had a Valentine's lunch today where every staff member brought a lunch and we swapped them between us. Since it was lunch and lunch to me is a meal I didn't think the packaging mattered so I took my lunch in reusable containers and arranged it at school on a plate, with a napkin that I cut into a heart-shape. From most of the ladies though the lunch came in lots of packaging, boxes, paper and plastic bags in red and/or with hearts on them, from the dollar store. I can't even tell you what the content was. Oh well, at least the boxes can be reused. 

The Story of Stuff has a nice blog post (http://www.storyofstuff.com/blog/?p=674) about the most common  Valentine's day items: flowers, chocolate, gold and diamonds. Most of them are produced under hazardous conditions and with child labour. The blog post therefore states solutions and campaigns aiming to change this.   

Again, we don't have to live in abstinence of everything but we should be careful of how much and what we acquire. Especially in a relationship there's much more to it then just big gifts. Michelle Obama says laughter is what keeps a relationships alive and going, not taking yourself to serious when you are with your better half. I think my hubby and I are pretty good with that, too. We can't buy happiness but we can create it ourselves. That reminds me of a recent story that caused us lots of laughter: My hubby left his wallet at a friend's place, without intention of course, and did not pick it up until a week later. His friend said to him, "you really live a frugal life!" 

Pharmaceuticals, doctors and water

I mentioned before that pharmaceuticals can be found in treated waste water and cause havoc in nature. In fact, a recent article in the Epoch Times lists which type of pharmaceuticals (anti-depressants, antibiotics etc.) are dominant in certain US cities. Near animal feed lots concentration of growth hormones are way higher than in other water sources. The article also mentions the affected creatures such as fish, frogs, shrimp and how the pharmaceutical traces in the water change their behaviour or sexual organs. If it happens to them who says it will not happen to us? My husband told me today that the radio station he listens to asked why in recent years more girls are born than boys, even though boys have been the majority for a long time. How about BPA (bisphenol A, a toxin similar to oestrogen) and leftovers of the anti-baby-pill? They are in the water, no doubt. 
Obviously, there is enough reason not to tell the public about all that because you don't want to scare them about such simple things as drinking tap water. One major reason must be the pharma-industry that is keen on selling their products, which brings me to a different article on the same page. It states that aggressive marketing should make one very suspicious about a drug. But let's face it, doctors are only human beings too and just as susceptible to marketing as everyone else and it can be hard to say no. So doctors might happily prescribe a drug that is not very effective, is not approved because there has not been enough testing, not on the right test group anyway, is not as safe as the producer claims, but is marketed very well. In addition, the pharma-industry comes up with medication for conditions that do not even exist and did not used to be considered an illness, such as pre-diabetes or pre-hypertension. Voila, more and more pharmaceuticals make their way into our bodies, some of them needless and useless, get flushed out and cause further damage in fish, animals and us again as the water does its cycle and eventually comes through our tap again. 
I know we can't tell everybody to get off their medications but those who take them should question their purpose and usefulness and look into alternatives.                                  

Dental hygiene and soap

I don't know if you have heard but apparently the state of our mouth says a lot about our health. Oh damn it! I had not been to the dentist in years because of all my travelling. But since we moved to Edmonton we took up going to the dentist again and while I do it with pleasure because I think it's (supposed to be) good my husband dreads it. Also, I had heard before that brushing your teeth AND flossing are more important than the paste on the tooth brush. Reading the Epoch Times today I find that on the health page we are now advised to brush our teeth with  soap. Oh! And don't always believe the dentist!  
I wonder if organic toothpaste comes closer to soap than ordinary toothpaste? Anyway, the advice comes from Dr Gerald F. Judd, emeritus professor of chemistry at Purdue University. I wanted to pass on the reasons why soap is better, not tastier (although honey oatmeal soap might not be bad), than toothpaste.             
Acid destroys enamel and cavities would vanish if one simply rinsed the mouth with water right after eating instead of brushing the teeth. Glycerin which is part of every toothpaste stops our teeth from rebuilding enamel because they are coated in it and and it's hard to wash off due to its stickiness. He also says that bacteria are unable to destroy enamel but soap destroys bacteria and viruses and even removes plaque stuck to enamel. Removing plaque is important to prevent the plaque from spreading onto the gums resulting in poorly anchored teeth. Fluoride, already reason for lots of controversy, makes enamel weak and brittle as well as getting rid of 83 enzymes including the one needed to provide the phosphate for the enamel. (Note: Europe is "fluoride-free" already.) Fluoride reduces indeed tooth decay but several studies have found no evidence that added fluoride (in tap water or toothpaste) is in fact beneficial. 
Got the soap -  I suppose baking soda mixed to a paste with water will do? Got the brush? Go clean! 
And no, organic toothpaste is not much better, it still got glycerin in it.   
  
         

Our health sector and the environment

No doubt about there's too much waste, too many materials used, too many chemicals used, too much of everything bad for the environment in the health sector. Think about packaging for pharmaceuticals, every item that any health professional uses wrapped separately, everything needs to be kept sterile, ... I don't want to know how many gallons of sanitizers a hospital goes through in a day, how many dozens of garbage bags it fills, how many pages of papers are printed, ... 

I read an article in the Epoch Times titled "Diabetes and the rise of the machines". I talks about kidney failure and the treatment that follows. There's two main options. One dialysis treatment takes place at home, during the night, where a machine takes on the job your kidney usually does. The patient in the article receives 17 boxes of liquids and tubing, each weighing 35 lbs, each week! The other treatment, called hemodialysis, happens at the hospital, three times per week for 5 hours each. The cost is $60,000 per year per patient. The number of patients has more than tripled in 20 years, from 11,000 in 1990 to 38,000 in 2010 in Canada. The increase is largest in persons above 75 years of age. Kidney transplants are much cheaper but there are not enough donors. 
 
Since I'm not a very empathetic person one of my first thoughts was, "OMG, all that waste". I must admit though that the fact that the couple in the article used to live in the US but returned to Canada because the treatment is here covered by the public health sector was one of the reasons why I did not feel for them. Anyway, the rise in life expectancy is again backfiring. In Africa they'd probably look at this issue in disbelief. With all the health systems in the highly developed countries being overburdened immigration to less developed countries might become a trend one day, as long as the immigrant is healthy obviously.  For the time being somebody has to deal with that overburden. 

Back to my waste issue though. It's going to get worse as our population gets older and seeks medical treatment more frequently. I hear it from my family and it's ridiculous, they are off to the doctor for every little cough. For reasons of sanitation not much is going to change about all the packaging, the sanitizers, the single-use utensils. If hospitals are as bad as schools in Edmonton there will not even be much recycling in place which is a shame. Thinking about right now, I wonder though why there's so much fuss about treating human beings in sterile, clean environments. Animals get treated in the field, on the ground, in the barn, somewhere not so 'clean'. I remember watching young stallions in Iceland being castrated in the backyard of the farmer. Once their best parts were cut off they were, still under sedatives, put back into the field. Done. No fuss, no problem, they all survived without infections. With animals there's also a more sane approach of live and let die which will unfortunately disappear as pets are more and more treated like humans (I doubt they like it) but that's again a different story.        
 

    

As if this was going to happen

The National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE), an independent federal advisory agency, suggested to the Canadian government the implementation of Canada's very own emissions regulations such as new vehicle emissions standards and a cap-and-trade-system to start addressing the problem of rising greenhouse gas emissions. This would be a dream come true if that government actually did a step towards emissions cut-downs, especially since we are now in 2011 and the issue has been present for a not insignificant number of years and lots of other countries worldwide have reacted long ago. 
 
Anyway, the NRTEE is at the same time concerned about the economy so they want to have a solution that helps the environment and the economy which is very ambitious but not impossible. It seems to be the big problem though. If Canada's regulations were to be stricter than what the US does or intends to do they suspect it will weaken the Canadian economy.  Personally, I am against the cap-and-trade system since it turned into more emissions in Europe. Alone the phrase "to allow firms to pollute more" (through buying carbon credits) sounds wrong. The goal is to REDUCE pollution, not to shift it from one place to another. But Canada obviously considers the trade system because the US does so. The sovereignty of Canada does not seem to go far once it comes to the environment. I wished for once Canada would just ignore the fact that the 'Big Brother' exists at all and do the first step. Germany implemented lots of environmental regulations and still has a fairly strong economy. We are not so depended on one trade partner though. May I conclude that Canada lacks a "yes, we can"- attitude? This reminds me of a book that was written recently about Canadians, by an Indian who lives in Canada, saying that Canadians have a 'head-in-the-sand"-attitude when they face problems. And I thought ostriches lived in Australia.                          

Our leisure and the environment

When it comes to the environment it's always the same things that are targeted by critics - it's the oil industry, greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels (cars, houses, industry), it's more and more what is in products and then the every day Joe has to reduce water, electricity use, waste ... It's all not wrong but a lot of things get left out: from Formula 1 to stock cars, monstrous trucks, motorcycles, any race of motorized vehicles should not be a sport but simply prohibited. Quads, snow mobiles and similar vehicles should only be used for working purposes not for fun rides. Then there are sightseeing flights, flights for sky divers and for stunts-shows in the air. Similarly this list can be done up for boats/ water traffic. So there are industries behind the use of motorized vehicles that make a lot of money and would not agree to any cut-downs for the environment's sake, namely the leisure, tourism and entertainment industries, as well as the manufacturers of the vehicles. It's all about fun and that's why it's probably not being attacked - don't we all earn that little bit of fun through the hard work we do and life's tough enough, bla bla bla? Maybe, maybe not. The terrible thing is that once you start you can go on and on about different leisure activities. Gyms for example is something I don't understand. All that equipment, the space, the air conditioning, TV screens .... a lot of material to help people work out because our modern jobs are not actually that physically challenging any more, unless you consider sitting on a desk for 8 hours or more per day a problem. I do. But sliding my butt back and forth across the chair and stomping my feet underneath the desk still does not give me the satisfaction of a physical work-out. Instead of a gym, I prefer to run outside, carry my shopping bags home and knead my bread dough ... it helps to stay fit. Oh, I just remember another one, pools! All that water in the pool, all that chlorine in the water, all that energy to heat the pool, all the substances & water needed to clean the facility. An aquatic centre is possibly an all-resources-consuming operation. But when the next ocean is 1000 of miles away and the river frozen and polluted anyway, no lake anywhere to see, where are we meant to swim? To lots of sport and leisure activities, I think, there is no good alternative. With regards to the pool, Edmonton has lots of them, they actually do a good deed to our society. As much as I don't understand why there is 99% seniors in the aquasize classes, as much I am glad to see them there. Water sports are good for the elderly and I wished they'd all be forced into it. I'm getting tired of all the studies that come up giving us the same advice over and over again: eat healthy food and exercise and you'll avoid cancers, obesity, diabetes, and so on. So here we go, let the old and young exercise, moderately of course, if it keeps them away from the doctor's office. The health sector is an environmental burden in itself that never gets attacked but more about that later. Still, 'sports' with motorized vehicles are not a work-out, not for the driver, not for the spectators. They should simply be abolished.          
                                     

When you go to Europe look for Eosta

Let me write about food again because we all love eating.  Daniel Goleman writes in his book Ecological Intelligence about Eosta, Europe’s largest distributor to retailers of organic produce. I had not heard of them before but then again, when did I shop the last time in Europe ...  Anyway, Goleman spoke to Managing Director Volkert Engelsmann and found out that every product has a 3-digit code. This code will give the consumer details on the farmer and a profile of the farmer's operations when entered on www.natureandmore.com! That's pretty awesome, similar to our Organic Box which tells us the originating farm of every product. Engelsmann believes in the power of a transparent market place. - Knowing the background of a product wins more and more importance amongst Canadians too according to a new study. Instead of complaining to a company about their "bad" product (from sweatshops etc.) though Canadians simply don't buy it and find something else. I hope so.     

Back at Eosta, Engelsmann also says: “We serve an awareness elite, people who are concerned about health, the environment, social issues.” I don't like that "awareness elite". Dave & I think of ourselves more as hippies than an elite. We simply want to eat well and we are willing to spend a little bit more money on food, if that keeps crap off our table. We are not keen on picking up one of those Western diseases either. For Engelsmann the term elite justifies high prices that only the "high-income elite" (I made that up) can afford. Great for the farmer but only to the point where you have enough rich people to afford your food. The Organic Box always aims to pay a good price to the farmers too but once they are way better off then we are I am not sure I want to give them that extra money. Even buying organic food I do compare prices. If I can get my cereal at one organic store for $20 per kg and at the competition for $12 per kg, guess where I will buy.  

Back to Eosta again:  Products are rated by independent experts for healthiness, social qualities, and ecological impact. Environmental aspects include for example water consumption and composting. Eosta does a full Life Cycle Analysis on all greenhouse gas emissions throughout the supply chain, from farm to plate, supervised by Germany’s national certification agency. Eosta supports innovation to reduce methane, a greenhouse gas. The reason is simple: If you compost organic waste instead of adding it to the landfill, and keep turning it properly, it will not produce any methane. It will turn into a stable compost that increases soil fertility, which in return erases the use for mineral fertilizers, and increases the soil’s water holding quality (less runoff). Crops are also more pest resistant. Much to the contrary, nitrogen fertilizers popular in common farming cause greater yields but crops are more susceptible to pests. That's why farmers then need pesticides. Producing and applying conventional fertilizer contributes 16% of all greenhouse gases, especially nitrous oxide which is 300 times more aggressive than CO2.      

Also let's not forget that “most agriculture takes place near rivers and in deltas, where chemical fertilizer runoff causes eutrophication", meaning the growth of algae explodes, the water is depleted of oxygen and other forms of wildlife lose their habitat. Engelmann continues with, "The World Bank has financed a program to hire people to cut back the algae this causes before it chokes off the oxygen aquatic life need. But we said, instead of burning the algae and other alien vegetation, we’ll use it for compost and gradually replace the need for mineral fertilizers that cause the problem in the first place.”  Pretty good, eh. There's such a (seemingly) simple way of dealing with the damage our modern society creates. If only the made the farmer clean up the algae who used the fertilizers in the beginning - he might rethink his agricultural practices. Learning by doing - you are in for a lesson.

The last two paragraphs make me think that there lies the reason for the high prices - Eosta does an all-around-job which I much appreciate. The consumer might need to know all of this though to accept the high prices, and still have the money to pay for it. When a friend of ours joked he needed a mortgage to pay for his organic beef, I thought we simply eat vegetarian instead. And I for my part will keep comparing prices of organic products and chose the cheaper one, and keep receiving the Organic Box so I don't have to buy the not-so-fresh organic produce at our closest supermarket.  

Life can be so frustrating

No, I have not given up on this blog yet I am just fed up with just about anything. A plumber was just here and checked our heating because we have not been able to regulate the temperature in our apartment. When it's -20 C outside the apartment cools to 70-72 F but when it's around 0 C outside we have 80 F inside. The building's boiler turns off at 15 C outside temperature. So the thermostat is only for decoration, it is not actually hooked up to the heating. Also, the valves on the heaters themselves are broken so they are on full blast. Now, one could put a valve on every heater (4 in total for $200-300 each) like in Germany - that's were they apparently come from, that's were I know them from - but I doubt our landlord is willing to pay. We'll find out. I don't even want to know which idiot broke the valves and why there's a fake thermostat but it's pretty retarded! 
I have started using shampoo and conditioner from our local organic store. They smell good, feel the same as the ordinary stuff, my hair looks good but it gets static and I hate static hair. Momentarily I am back to using either ordinary shampoo or conditioner in combination with the other organic stuff. That works but was not meant to be. Once I am through the bottles I might have to try different "toxin-free" shampoo or conditioner. Soaps work just fine. The toothpaste is fine, too. I have gotten used to the taste again. Actually, it feels in your mouth like the stuff we had in the GDR. 
I'm also trying to sort out my (hubby does not get so many weeks off so he's not coming along) holiday plans but there is not much environmental about it, apart from the fact that I try to take as few flights as possible while seeing as many people as possible. It's a disaster though because one-way flights always cost so much more. Never mind, flying less is better for Ruby and me, too. I hate all the time wasted at airports.  
At my new school I have a group of grade 5 & 6 students for supervision. It's that age group that I want Ruby to jump over because kids that age are a pain to deal with challenging authority and rules wherever they can. I'm starting little with making them rinse their milk cartons and put them in for the bottle depot. I got a girl putting it in the garbage and she stared at me when I wanted her to pick it out again and put it in the right place. Well, wash your hands afterwards, you won't do it again anyway. I also confiscated a, well I'm not sure what it is, let's say I-pod. Electronics are forbidden at school. I don't think any elementary school child needs them to start with. Learn to communicate properly first! The biggest problem in my class is noise pollution - they are terribly loud and have gotten away with it for a long time. Solution in progress ...