Yay for Liberals!

Stephen Harper just might be the best thing to happen to Canadian politics. Now hold on, just give me a ch...no...no....calm down, just let me explain. Let me start at the beginning.

I will be the first to admit, I am not one for following Canadian politics. I am by all means a patriot, but I have become so disenfranchised and disappointed by our political environment that I can't bring myself to vote for either the Liberals or Conservatives in elections. Instead, I vote for Green Party because I know they at least have the balls to stand for something. Since I started paying attention to politics in general, I haven't been able to shake the feeling that regardless of which party is in power, we basically enjoy the same level of unproductive fence jumping from our government. This is where Mr Harper comes in. As somebody who has been attacked from the beginning (justifiably or not) as a Canadian version of George W. Bush, his policies have undeniably polarized the Canadian political environment. The reason why I say this is a good thing is because it has FINALLY allowed the Liberal party to get up the courage to separate themselves from the Conservatives policy-wise and actually stand for something (other than the petty arguing that is supposed to appear like standing for something). Today the Liberal Party announced plans for a carbon tax, and frankly I just about fell out of my chair. The plan, which is extremely necessary for climate chnage reversal and long overdue, stands to place pressure on commerce to force more environmentally friendly practices. Of course, we can expect HARD lobbying to reject this, but it's still an enormous step forward. For those concerned about extra costs, yes some things will cost a little extra, but part of the plan is tax breaks for the public to not only compensate for the extra costs, but to concede that commerce has never really taken on the tax burden that they should have.

All in all, we can expect a lot of resitance to this from the Conservative Party, who has already launched aggressive attack ads (which frankly are insulting to the listeners' intelligence) as well as from big business (like somehow this environmental idea is new to them), and maybe in the end it won't end up being that effective, but it's still an enormous step forward for Canada simply to have the framework in place from which to build upon later. So thank you, Mr Harper, for being shockingly right wing even for your party, and allowing the Liberals to actually be, well...liberals.

Compact Flourescent Lights - warning

As many of you probably know by know, compact flourescent lightblulbs are far more energy efficient and long-lasting than traditional incandescent lighting. However, there are two points of caution to be taken into account if you are thinking of switching (or have switched)

1. The bulbs contain small amounts of mercury. IN fact, the mercury is part of how the bulbs work, so its necessary. However, mercury is highly toxic, so the bulbs must be disposed of safely and properly.

2. Apparently there have been reports that if the bulbs are left on after they have died (which takes a long, long time) the continuing current can actually cause them to catch fire. The only way to prevent this is to remove them as soon as they burn out so they aren't left absorbing electricity.

Of course, there are also LED bulbs that are even more efficient than the compact flourescents, and they don't have these issues, at least as far as I am aware. They are more expensive, so you really have to decide if the cost is worth it to you.

TED

I have recently taken quite an interest in watching a lecture series on youtube called the TED seminars (Technology, Entertainment, Design). They are a series of seminars from the greatest scientists, anthropologists, designers, politicians, etc on ways we can help change the world, often relating to their own expertise, but certainly not limited to it. These are unquestionably the best lectures I have ever seen and I highly recommend checking one or two out if you want to learn something without actually having to read anything. They are only about 2-30 minutes each usually so they are quite easy to digest. I have included one relating to health and environmentalism called "What's wrong with what we eat" by Mark Bittman (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YkNkscBEp0). Other speakers have included Al Gore, Jane Goodall, and others, and include subjects ranging from poverty to economic change to global warming to just human nature in general, so there's something for everyone.

Ps, as many of you know, I am a vegetarian, and if you want to know some of the reasons why, or you are thinking about it yourself, check out the Bittman video. In fact, check it out anyways because it's worth watching even from a health perspective. He isn't a vegetarian himself so I promise he won't try and guilt you into it. Preview: Nearly a fifth of greenhouse gases come from industrial livestock production. 10 BILLION animals are killed every year for human use in the United States alone. 70% of the agricultural land in the world (30% of the earth's land surface) is attributed directly or indirectly to producing the animals we eat. Check it out.

This week in going green- mooshoes and ecocessories

So clearly I've gotten well out of the habit of making regular posts, mostly because I am busy with work, selling the house and my last courses at Laurier. I will try to make a point of doing regular posts again even if that means just doing them on my lunch hour or whenever. This week I have two cool things to tell you about if you are (like me) wading through seas of information about going green trying to find the best (and most practical) way for you. Hopefully these can help you out.

Mooshoes- this is a vegan shoestore based out of NYC, so not all of their shoes are necessarily eco-friendly, but they are certainly all animal friendly. I mention them because they carry some of the best eco-brands out there, including Simple, which in my experience has been extremely difficult to find at a reasonable price, if at all. The one place I found on Queen Street listed the shoes at around $20-25 more than Mooshoes did, so it's certainly worth the shipping. In addition, Simple's Ecos do not appear to be available in Canada (according to a retailer in Port Carling) but they are on Mooshoes. They do a lot of business out of their website and shipping is only $15 to Canada! Now, before you say "Rob, $15 isn't that cheap", that's $15 if you order 1 item, 2 items, 20 items, regardless of how many or how much they cost. I currently have an order out for a pair of sandals and my much sought after Ecos for $124 including shipping. Considering how uneblievably difficult it has been to find the shoes i want it will be worth every penny when they get here. (ps, the Ecos themselves were $70, the most expensive ones Simple makes were $90). The shoes I got have hemp uppers, and laces made from recycled plastic bottles. The soles are recycled tires, except the term "recycled" is misleading, there were never broken down and reprocessed, you can see the tire tread on the soles, which is SUPER cool! Anyways, enough about that.

Ecocessories- this is a little accessories business that my friend Jess started, and let me just say I am VERY impressed, I wouldn't plug it otherwise. Her website is www.ecocessories.ca which right now links to her blog (this business is VERY new, but mucho cool) but will soon be an actual website. You can already check out some of her work and it looks amazing. From what I can tell at least some of her stuff reuses beads from elsewhere and there are some very cool plans for eco-friendly shipping. Of course, most importanly, all her work is super stylin' and I can't wait to see more of it. I definitely plan on buying some for Christmas/birthday gifts and so should you! Anyways, that's all for now, Adios