I was a bit sceptical when suddenly all the fish in the supermarkets had eco-labels on. One day it's just ordinary fish from the ocean the next day it's caught sustainably, they want to make us believe. Read this short article from David Suzuki why fish need a bicycle and you have all reason to question any fish you eat. The Marine Stewardship Council does intend a certification that in my eyes doesn't keep the promise that the organisation gives to the consumer. Considering the amount of by-catch mentioned in the article they can stick their vision of keeping the ocean alive up their a.. . As a friend said, don't eat anything that comes out of the ocean! I have to agree. That's very sad though because I love fish, alive and on my plate.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Heat or no heat
We are moving to Kitchener, Ontario to be closer to family. Mind you we moved already twice within Edmonton in less than 2 years and I am getting fed up with stupid landlords, noisy neighbours, all kinds of critters and the heating. We don't know if Kitchener will be any better but at least we are not taking chances again in Edmonton. My husband who's already in Kitchener looking for apartments has a long list with him what to check for. He looks at high rise buildings since those are made of concrete and we therefore should not hear our neighbours so well. We have to take chances with the bugs since I doubt landlords would give us an honest answer about when they had bedbugs or cockroaches last in the building. Our current management just could not be bothered to deal with it and we had to chase our landlord a while to bring the pest control in before having to throw out our stuff. The bed frame is gone though. A friend was surprised we have not had more pest issues! What? I have not ever had any in any other country I lived, apart from mice on farms but that's expected.
Top of the list is the heating still. It got switched back on where I still live and all my windows are open because it's unbearable. I don't need 30 C inside. Especially not when temperatures outside are still high. Even in deepest winter it's not acceptable. But of course in Kitchener plenty of apartments have one temperature for all, too. Again a friend commented that might just be the way it is! What? Have not had this before either, not even in cheap student accommodation. Fine, in Southern Spain and Caribbean Mexico there was no heating at all but those are hot countries. Canada is cold for at least half of the year.
So one place had heat regulation but heat was not included in the rent as it usually is the case. Left me with two questions: 1) Is it metered per unit or does every unit pay the same share no matter how much they heat? I don't know the answer yet. 2) How much will the electric heating cost us per month? Obviously we have no idea if the building is insulated or not (unlikely though). We might end up having to run the heating 24/7 to keep the place ice-free. Not too sure about that, especially if we are not home, say because we both work and our baby is in childcare.
I am looking forward to getting out of our Edmonton apartment but I am very sceptical too about what we will get in Kitchener. Oh, and the thought of getting something better in Kitchener for the same price (rent) as in Edmonton seems to be an illusion too, sigh.
Top of the list is the heating still. It got switched back on where I still live and all my windows are open because it's unbearable. I don't need 30 C inside. Especially not when temperatures outside are still high. Even in deepest winter it's not acceptable. But of course in Kitchener plenty of apartments have one temperature for all, too. Again a friend commented that might just be the way it is! What? Have not had this before either, not even in cheap student accommodation. Fine, in Southern Spain and Caribbean Mexico there was no heating at all but those are hot countries. Canada is cold for at least half of the year.
So one place had heat regulation but heat was not included in the rent as it usually is the case. Left me with two questions: 1) Is it metered per unit or does every unit pay the same share no matter how much they heat? I don't know the answer yet. 2) How much will the electric heating cost us per month? Obviously we have no idea if the building is insulated or not (unlikely though). We might end up having to run the heating 24/7 to keep the place ice-free. Not too sure about that, especially if we are not home, say because we both work and our baby is in childcare.
I am looking forward to getting out of our Edmonton apartment but I am very sceptical too about what we will get in Kitchener. Oh, and the thought of getting something better in Kitchener for the same price (rent) as in Edmonton seems to be an illusion too, sigh.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
The apparently most dangerous foods
I just quickly have to post this link to the 11 most dangerous foods.
You may notice right away that they are all simple, some may say natural, foods, nothing processed but they are "dangerous". I eat them all the time and nothing has ever happened. But I also don't belong to the kind of people who put foods into the fridge, freezer or cupboards and forget about them for the next weeks or months to come. The conclusion out of this article could almost be: Eat processed foods. Stuff yourselves with junk food. It's safer! - Never mind that you will probably catch some other health issues due to excess fats, salts and sugar. Oh, maybe I should say then, chose your foods depending on which health issues you mind less. It's all up to you now. Not eating at all is an option too, will lead to the quickest death but at least you died healthily. No I am not going crazy, just disliking this rubbish article.
By the way I also don't agree with all the storage tips they give. I have friends who live without a fridge, they just have a cool pantry. But they also built their home themselves. Surely, most of us live in one of the modern standard housing options that keep in all rooms the same temperature which is too high for most foods. (I will write about that shortly) . Comes in the invention of the fridge and if you live in North America they are even twice as spacious as in most European countries.
You may notice right away that they are all simple, some may say natural, foods, nothing processed but they are "dangerous". I eat them all the time and nothing has ever happened. But I also don't belong to the kind of people who put foods into the fridge, freezer or cupboards and forget about them for the next weeks or months to come. The conclusion out of this article could almost be: Eat processed foods. Stuff yourselves with junk food. It's safer! - Never mind that you will probably catch some other health issues due to excess fats, salts and sugar. Oh, maybe I should say then, chose your foods depending on which health issues you mind less. It's all up to you now. Not eating at all is an option too, will lead to the quickest death but at least you died healthily. No I am not going crazy, just disliking this rubbish article.
By the way I also don't agree with all the storage tips they give. I have friends who live without a fridge, they just have a cool pantry. But they also built their home themselves. Surely, most of us live in one of the modern standard housing options that keep in all rooms the same temperature which is too high for most foods. (I will write about that shortly) . Comes in the invention of the fridge and if you live in North America they are even twice as spacious as in most European countries.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
An example of solar power investments in Ontario
The article on the web is titled something like How to make money from your hydro company although that may take many years but it's still an interesting watch.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Read the news - still no good ones
I happened to have a look into the paper today. I have not read much the news since I returned to Edmonton because they are upsetting and I was proven right again today. The Fisheries Resource Conservation Council suggests that "70,000 grey seals should be killed over a one- or two-year period to test the hypothesis that the animals are preventing recovery of groundfish in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence." What???
In the 1990s the cod stocks collapsed due to overfishing by human beings, not by seal, but now they want the seals to be killed because the cod does not recover!!?? Apparently fishermen have been complaining that the "hungry seals have hindered the recovery of cod stocks". I bet they are hungry and I can't blame them because it is not their fault. They are victims too. It's again one of these cases where our species has messed around far too much with nature and now puts the blame for not being able to quickly enough continue their exploitation on a different animal species. I can't belief somebody dared to make such a stupid suggestion.
The other upsetting point obviously is the search for a new Premier of Alberta. Elections are held on Saturday. Does not matter who it's going to be all candidates want to expand the oil sands and do more business with Asia because there is a growing opposition in the US to a planned pipeline. One candidate cautioned that there are not enough refineries and therefore the oil sands growth should only be moderate until the maximum value can be achieved. Along with that comes a demand for Alberta's very own immigration law to get more workers in to help with the expansion of the oil sands. A man called Ted Morton said that economical growth must come without polluting air, land and water. He's not going to win. No change for the better in sight then. Alberta, one fine day you will have to suck up your mistakes.
There was a recent study done on commuting times in Canada. Edmontonians have the shortest commute to work from all Canadians. That came as a surprise and the city of Edmonton is all proud of it. My explanation for this "win" is that Edmonton - sprawl, sprawl, sprawl - devotes a lot of space to streets, roads, bigger roads and back alleys. Don't walk, don't cycle, just drive. Traffic lights are timed to keep motorized vehicles going even if that means that pedestrians might have to wait up to 3 minutes to get a green light. That's not only frustrating it adds up to a lot of time once you need to cross at more than one light. Having rented a car recently I must say I was astonished how many errands I could run in a single day. It would take me at least a week by any other means.
In the 1990s the cod stocks collapsed due to overfishing by human beings, not by seal, but now they want the seals to be killed because the cod does not recover!!?? Apparently fishermen have been complaining that the "hungry seals have hindered the recovery of cod stocks". I bet they are hungry and I can't blame them because it is not their fault. They are victims too. It's again one of these cases where our species has messed around far too much with nature and now puts the blame for not being able to quickly enough continue their exploitation on a different animal species. I can't belief somebody dared to make such a stupid suggestion.
The other upsetting point obviously is the search for a new Premier of Alberta. Elections are held on Saturday. Does not matter who it's going to be all candidates want to expand the oil sands and do more business with Asia because there is a growing opposition in the US to a planned pipeline. One candidate cautioned that there are not enough refineries and therefore the oil sands growth should only be moderate until the maximum value can be achieved. Along with that comes a demand for Alberta's very own immigration law to get more workers in to help with the expansion of the oil sands. A man called Ted Morton said that economical growth must come without polluting air, land and water. He's not going to win. No change for the better in sight then. Alberta, one fine day you will have to suck up your mistakes.
There was a recent study done on commuting times in Canada. Edmontonians have the shortest commute to work from all Canadians. That came as a surprise and the city of Edmonton is all proud of it. My explanation for this "win" is that Edmonton - sprawl, sprawl, sprawl - devotes a lot of space to streets, roads, bigger roads and back alleys. Don't walk, don't cycle, just drive. Traffic lights are timed to keep motorized vehicles going even if that means that pedestrians might have to wait up to 3 minutes to get a green light. That's not only frustrating it adds up to a lot of time once you need to cross at more than one light. Having rented a car recently I must say I was astonished how many errands I could run in a single day. It would take me at least a week by any other means.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Space junk
Have you read the article Space junk reaching "tipping point" yet. No, it's not surprising but it's still shocking and sad. Go on reading the comments, too. One of them, by Miff, goes like that: "This makes me so happy. Humans have proven themselves to be the most inefficient, destructive species. I always worry that the rich elite already found their new planet and have their escape route planned. If 'space garbage' is true, they die with the rest of us. Like the dinosaurs, we're unworthy of survival.
I remember, pre-90's, people talked about wanting world peace. That hope is gone. Now we just want iPads and our own reality shows. Good riddance humans."
It's true isn't it. And what's your favourite reality show?
I remember, pre-90's, people talked about wanting world peace. That hope is gone. Now we just want iPads and our own reality shows. Good riddance humans."
It's true isn't it. And what's your favourite reality show?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)