As you may have noticed I have decided to do a few runs this year - a little trick to keep me exercising, haha. Every time I am at a run though I see tons and tons of garbage. There are water stations along the way, not just at the start and finish line, and food is served on paper plates. These paper cups and plates aren't usually from a supplier that produces compostable throw-away dishes. They are ordinary paper cups that once dirty go in the garbage - garbage, a word that should be made redundant but instead has become to signify a huge problem.
The races I have done had only about 300-400 participants so that's small scale but just think about the number of runs and walks that are on every week, and the size of some of them with thousands of participants. It's a fast growing mountain of paper garbage. During the Toronto marathon for example the water stations were so littered with cups that the runners had to run over them.
No, I don't have a solution for the problem other than that the organisers should use compostable cups and plates and runners should be encouraged to bring a water bottle (at least for use after and before the race) and reuse cups. The latter option is not going to happen during the race but could happen after and before the race if refill stations were provided. At one race I got quite upset actually about the teenage volunteers (who with little enthusiasm probably fulfilled their mandatory volunteer hours) that kept filling cups even way after the race had finished and runners were heading home, probably just because they were told to do so and still had cups left. I bet they ended up having to pour the water away and throw out the cups.What a waste for nothing. Personally I always take my water bottle to the runs and try to refill it or keep a cup to refill. Summer might be different but usually I do not require to drink during the run. Seems like it's going to be a hot and dry summer though and I am almost hoping it will rain on the next race day.
And no, sporting events (unless it's motor sports) should not be erased due to the garbage they create, after all our society has become too lazy and fat to stop promoting physical activity.
Monday, May 28, 2012
It's great to be German - part 2
The DE Magazin had a article on the German love of cycling. It was a bit of an eye-opener to me but I also keep shaking my head at it, still. Why is it so hard to understand the advantages of a bike and the fun in riding it? And I mean riding it to commute, to run errands, to go from A to B, not just to ride around the park on a Sunday afternoon. When I still worked I cycled past avalanches of cars, lined up in the main roads of Kitchener that are currently under heavy construction, every single day. And every single day I wondered why these people sit like ... (well never mind) in their cars waiting for something to happen. A bike is so flexible in city traffic. Unfortunately lots of places in KW still do not have bike racks and I am left searching for a lamp post and the like to lock my ride.
"Most non-Europeans who come to Germany find it hard to imagine that people voluntarily use their own muscle power to get around." - Human beings adjust surprisingly quickly to whatever they do regularly, may it be sitting around or cycling and walking. As far as I am concerned a bit of exercise has not harmed anybody, but not exercising at all has harmed a lot of people. Also I still walk a lot but with my developing belly I much prefer riding my bike. It combines sitting on my bum and exercising - how awesome is that? Sitting for hours in the car meantime just makes me stiff and I am only in my early 30s.
"What, even the rich ride them?” she asks. “Yes, even rich people ride them.” My aunt from Istanbul can’t believe it. “What do their customers think when they see their investment banker riding a bike?” I say: “They probably think – look at that big head, showing off his wealth. Riding an expensive bike while my shares are hitting rock bottom!” She says: “I would never trust a cyclist with my money.”
I can't believe that this aunt can't believe the German cycling culture. I suppose it's one of those advertising scams that has taught us over many years that you have money if you drive a car but you are super poor if you cycle. Some bikes costs a fortune though. And I'd rather have a better, more expensive bike than a fancier car. I intend to get a bike for my daughter in a couple of years and hope she'll have the opportunity to cycle to school just like I did for 13 years, even though she does not grow up in Germany. I don't want her to be like one of these kids that expect to be carted around all day by mum or dad, and think there's no going anywhere without a car.
"Most non-Europeans who come to Germany find it hard to imagine that people voluntarily use their own muscle power to get around." - Human beings adjust surprisingly quickly to whatever they do regularly, may it be sitting around or cycling and walking. As far as I am concerned a bit of exercise has not harmed anybody, but not exercising at all has harmed a lot of people. Also I still walk a lot but with my developing belly I much prefer riding my bike. It combines sitting on my bum and exercising - how awesome is that? Sitting for hours in the car meantime just makes me stiff and I am only in my early 30s.
"What, even the rich ride them?” she asks. “Yes, even rich people ride them.” My aunt from Istanbul can’t believe it. “What do their customers think when they see their investment banker riding a bike?” I say: “They probably think – look at that big head, showing off his wealth. Riding an expensive bike while my shares are hitting rock bottom!” She says: “I would never trust a cyclist with my money.”
I can't believe that this aunt can't believe the German cycling culture. I suppose it's one of those advertising scams that has taught us over many years that you have money if you drive a car but you are super poor if you cycle. Some bikes costs a fortune though. And I'd rather have a better, more expensive bike than a fancier car. I intend to get a bike for my daughter in a couple of years and hope she'll have the opportunity to cycle to school just like I did for 13 years, even though she does not grow up in Germany. I don't want her to be like one of these kids that expect to be carted around all day by mum or dad, and think there's no going anywhere without a car.
It's great to be German - part 1
Last Thursday during a trip to Toronto I picked up two publications, one called Canadian Wilderness from CPAWS and one called DE Magazin at the German Consulate. I read both cover to cover, especially since the DE Magazin had a special on sustainability. Well, Germany is pretty good on protecting the environment - even exceded its Kyoto target - and exports its ideas and skills as well. So I am all proud to be German considering the effort Germany puts in to do its share for the future of this planet and the next generations. Surely, this magazine aims to tell the public about the good things that happen in Germany while CPAWS aims to educate people about where there is still a need to take action in order to help the environment, besides pointing out one or the other success the organisation has achieved. So reading the CPAWS paper was rather depressing. The main focus fell on the unfortunate turn in the development of Canada's National Parks, away from putting nature first to implementing more theme-park-like attractions that might attract more people but impact flora and fauna negatively. Sigh, it's simply so wrong - how can the executives at Parks Canada not see that?
Today we received the newsletter from our local (Conservative) MP who did not even mention the word environment in any article, especially not the one about the 2012 Budget. On the comment card that we will return to this MP my husband noted as "issues that most concern you and your family": Protecting the environment. I have little hope though that it will ever sink in with the Conservatives that they are on a path or death and destruction.
Today we received the newsletter from our local (Conservative) MP who did not even mention the word environment in any article, especially not the one about the 2012 Budget. On the comment card that we will return to this MP my husband noted as "issues that most concern you and your family": Protecting the environment. I have little hope though that it will ever sink in with the Conservatives that they are on a path or death and destruction.
Monday, May 7, 2012
It's unecological to be pregnant
I am not going to talk about the environmental impact of a child growing up right now, it's huge no question. But the nine months leading up to having this child can already be an issue.
Being pregnant alone is a small environmental disaster if you get morning sickness, food aversions and strong sensitivity to smells like I did. We noticed that over the last weeks our garbage and recycling amounts have risen. That's because I am pregnant and buy and eat things I would otherwise avoid. My sense of smell makes everything and everywhere stink so cooking and baking are more torture than fun. I am totally off a lot of good foods but long instead for a lot of junk food. Obviously, to make cooking easier I'd use more canned food for example. I have to buy more bread, pizza, cookies ... baked goods because I can't bare to stand in the kitchen making them myself. Oh, leftovers have become a nightmare to me too so they end up in the garbage currently.
I hate the first trimester of pregnancy. It's going to be our second and last child, for sure. Last time I was pregnant I was working on a farm so I did not have to cook ... what a bliss. Obviously, we could have eaten out a lot recently but that costs a lot of money and it's against my good consciousness to spend so much money on eating out. There are better options to spend it on. Besides, our food expenses went up with buying more "convenience" food. So why is there the persistent opinion that cooking from scratch is expensive? It sure is not!
I can't wait to return to normal eating behaviours and enjoy all those foods that I used to love, including bread. My husband already mentioned that our daugther eats too much junk (sweets, potato chips, sucking hard candy all day etc.)... because that's what she sees me doing. Sorry, honey, can't help it. And my apologies to the environment too.
Being pregnant alone is a small environmental disaster if you get morning sickness, food aversions and strong sensitivity to smells like I did. We noticed that over the last weeks our garbage and recycling amounts have risen. That's because I am pregnant and buy and eat things I would otherwise avoid. My sense of smell makes everything and everywhere stink so cooking and baking are more torture than fun. I am totally off a lot of good foods but long instead for a lot of junk food. Obviously, to make cooking easier I'd use more canned food for example. I have to buy more bread, pizza, cookies ... baked goods because I can't bare to stand in the kitchen making them myself. Oh, leftovers have become a nightmare to me too so they end up in the garbage currently.
I hate the first trimester of pregnancy. It's going to be our second and last child, for sure. Last time I was pregnant I was working on a farm so I did not have to cook ... what a bliss. Obviously, we could have eaten out a lot recently but that costs a lot of money and it's against my good consciousness to spend so much money on eating out. There are better options to spend it on. Besides, our food expenses went up with buying more "convenience" food. So why is there the persistent opinion that cooking from scratch is expensive? It sure is not!
I can't wait to return to normal eating behaviours and enjoy all those foods that I used to love, including bread. My husband already mentioned that our daugther eats too much junk (sweets, potato chips, sucking hard candy all day etc.)... because that's what she sees me doing. Sorry, honey, can't help it. And my apologies to the environment too.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
He had a dream - it became a nightmare
Imagine you pack up your family and move out into a pristine countryside away from cities, noise and everyday hassles. Your family builds a house together, starts a garden and raises animals like goats and sheep to pursue self-subsistence, and generally lives a bit more simple to focus on things that matter more to you. After a few years a gas and oil company sends you a letter informing you that they'll start drilling for gas on your property next week. In no time you have a gas well next to your shed, without receiving compensation of course. In disbelief, you search for help but it turns out that you only own the top layer of your property and your government has sold underground rights to that oil & gas company without notifying you - because they don't have to. It also turns out that the gas is sour gas which contains some of the deadliest substances on Earth, including H2S - the colourless, highly poisonous hydrogen sulfide. Suddenly your animals abort, the women in your family miscarry and every family member falls sick. Oops, there was a yet undetected leak. Despite your struggles to live on your own property, neither the oil & gas company, nor a government body or the Energy Board cares about you. In fact, as you object and fight against what is happening to your family you become the suspect of "eco-terrorism" and the law-enforcement body of your country repeatedly invades your property and searches every corner of it.
If this happens to you, you probably live in Canada. Feeling lucky?
I'm not making this up - Wiebo's War is a real story of a large family that wanted to get away from it all to follow their religious beliefs and live more acccording to how God wants them to live. They move into Northern Alberta, unfortunately right into the middle of a large gas reservoir that is discovered a few years later. Within a few more years a 100 wells are covering the land around the farm, some wells stand right on the farm. The gas production, including leaks, threaten the life of the family as it contaminates the air, the water supply of the family and the soil. Meantime, gas wells are being bombed in Northern B.C. Although no evidence has ever been found, the RCMP highly suspects the Ludwig family (Wiebo is the head of the family) to be involved and starts disrupting the family's life. The most shocking part to me was that nobody cares about the health issues that affect the family and their livestock ever since the sour gas drilling has began. Even the neighbours oppose the Ludwig's fight against EnCana as most of them simply start working for an oil & gas company that moves in to "develop" the area further.
I don't agree with the bombings or with the family's religous beliefs but I don't get why the family is being attact for not submitting themselves to the regime of the oil & gas companies. Surfing quickly the internet on the subject, I read opinions expressing hate for him, saying he's a terrorist, he tore church communities apart in Ontario where they family moved away from, he could have just accepted an offer to be bought out by the oil & gas companies ... hang on a minute. Where do we end up if everybody just takes the money and runs and ignores the distruction that's being caused by greedy corporations that turn your once-idyllic home into an industrial site? We need more people like Wiebo if we don't want this country to become the synonym for apocalypse.
The film, a production of Canada's National Film Board was recently shown at Waterloo Library and there were a "whopping" 12 persons in the audience. Sigh.
If this happens to you, you probably live in Canada. Feeling lucky?
I'm not making this up - Wiebo's War is a real story of a large family that wanted to get away from it all to follow their religious beliefs and live more acccording to how God wants them to live. They move into Northern Alberta, unfortunately right into the middle of a large gas reservoir that is discovered a few years later. Within a few more years a 100 wells are covering the land around the farm, some wells stand right on the farm. The gas production, including leaks, threaten the life of the family as it contaminates the air, the water supply of the family and the soil. Meantime, gas wells are being bombed in Northern B.C. Although no evidence has ever been found, the RCMP highly suspects the Ludwig family (Wiebo is the head of the family) to be involved and starts disrupting the family's life. The most shocking part to me was that nobody cares about the health issues that affect the family and their livestock ever since the sour gas drilling has began. Even the neighbours oppose the Ludwig's fight against EnCana as most of them simply start working for an oil & gas company that moves in to "develop" the area further.
I don't agree with the bombings or with the family's religous beliefs but I don't get why the family is being attact for not submitting themselves to the regime of the oil & gas companies. Surfing quickly the internet on the subject, I read opinions expressing hate for him, saying he's a terrorist, he tore church communities apart in Ontario where they family moved away from, he could have just accepted an offer to be bought out by the oil & gas companies ... hang on a minute. Where do we end up if everybody just takes the money and runs and ignores the distruction that's being caused by greedy corporations that turn your once-idyllic home into an industrial site? We need more people like Wiebo if we don't want this country to become the synonym for apocalypse.
The film, a production of Canada's National Film Board was recently shown at Waterloo Library and there were a "whopping" 12 persons in the audience. Sigh.
The Freedom Train against Pipelines
This is an interesting website about First Nations fighting the Enbridge Pipeline from Edmonton across Northern Alberta and B.C. to Kitimat. It comes with a petition too: Freedom Train
Sunday, April 22, 2012
To charge or not to charge
We went with our local hiking group today to Webster Falls Conservation Area in Dundas (near Hamilton) , part of the Niagara Escarpment and the Bruce Trail goes through there as well, of course. We hiked 10-12 km, saw Tew and Webster Falls and enjoyed the scenery. It's very beautiful out there, the trails are interesting enough and even partially hilly and with staircases. Yeah!
The downturn was the entrance charge. Last year $8 per car, they are now already charging $10 per day! In order to avoid that we parked the cars at a school less than a km down the road. At this conservation area's main parking lot they don't trust people to use the parking ticket dispenser and instead have a cashier who happened to start working at the time when we gathered in the parking lot. Smelling that we must have gotten there somewhere she grumpily told us we all had to pay $4 per person. Dave and I had come in a pedestrian entrance though that said $2 per person. I must say the majority of the group was annoyed about the charges that hike every year considerably and this woman even seemed to make them up out of anger. So we cramped 8 people into a car, laughed ourselves stupid (this was stupid after all) and paid $10 for the load. The woman mumbled something about calling the cops. Blabla.
Note that there are at least another 5 entrances to the conservation area, especially when you come along the Bruce Trail or enter through a residential area where there is not even a sign mentioning a fee. If you stick to the Bruce Trail you will not even get close to the ticket booth.
Here's what angers me: I hate paying to enjoy nature. But here the conservation areas (CA) are run by municipalities. So even if we bought an annual ticket that gives us access to a bunch of local CAs we pay extra every time we visit one a little further away. Bah. Go to a Provincial Park and the province wants your money, go to a National Park and the feds (Parks Canada) want it. Boo boo booo!!! Stupid system. Why don't they introduce a single annual ticket for ALL protected areas in the country and that's it, if it really has to be.
In Germany all this access is covered by our taxes already, nobody would dare to charge a per day user fee. Besides we don't have too many fences around farmland so you walk, cycle, ride horses there. In the UK they have a Public Right of Way which allows everyone to cross private farm property on foot, sometimes by bike if you don't mind lifting it over fences with steps. That gives people access to the countryside just about anywhere, totally legal and nobody has to bother driving to a conservation area, provincial park etc just to go for a hike. They've created a trail system that basically covers the whole country!! In Iceland you can go just about anywhere. In Canada there are fences, everything's private and nobody wants to have you on their land (after all, you may bring a stupid ATV or snowmobile). So unless you stick to city parks you pay to get access to a trail, waterfall or whatever. Nonsense! Besides, the fees are too high.
The downturn was the entrance charge. Last year $8 per car, they are now already charging $10 per day! In order to avoid that we parked the cars at a school less than a km down the road. At this conservation area's main parking lot they don't trust people to use the parking ticket dispenser and instead have a cashier who happened to start working at the time when we gathered in the parking lot. Smelling that we must have gotten there somewhere she grumpily told us we all had to pay $4 per person. Dave and I had come in a pedestrian entrance though that said $2 per person. I must say the majority of the group was annoyed about the charges that hike every year considerably and this woman even seemed to make them up out of anger. So we cramped 8 people into a car, laughed ourselves stupid (this was stupid after all) and paid $10 for the load. The woman mumbled something about calling the cops. Blabla.
Note that there are at least another 5 entrances to the conservation area, especially when you come along the Bruce Trail or enter through a residential area where there is not even a sign mentioning a fee. If you stick to the Bruce Trail you will not even get close to the ticket booth.
Here's what angers me: I hate paying to enjoy nature. But here the conservation areas (CA) are run by municipalities. So even if we bought an annual ticket that gives us access to a bunch of local CAs we pay extra every time we visit one a little further away. Bah. Go to a Provincial Park and the province wants your money, go to a National Park and the feds (Parks Canada) want it. Boo boo booo!!! Stupid system. Why don't they introduce a single annual ticket for ALL protected areas in the country and that's it, if it really has to be.
In Germany all this access is covered by our taxes already, nobody would dare to charge a per day user fee. Besides we don't have too many fences around farmland so you walk, cycle, ride horses there. In the UK they have a Public Right of Way which allows everyone to cross private farm property on foot, sometimes by bike if you don't mind lifting it over fences with steps. That gives people access to the countryside just about anywhere, totally legal and nobody has to bother driving to a conservation area, provincial park etc just to go for a hike. They've created a trail system that basically covers the whole country!! In Iceland you can go just about anywhere. In Canada there are fences, everything's private and nobody wants to have you on their land (after all, you may bring a stupid ATV or snowmobile). So unless you stick to city parks you pay to get access to a trail, waterfall or whatever. Nonsense! Besides, the fees are too high.
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