Canada's Volcanoes

Last weekend, a friend of mine was talking about Super Volcanoes (they're just what you think they are - big volcanoes that can superly mess things up). I decided to read up on them today which inevitably led me down a Wiki-hole to learn about volcanoes in Canada.


Did you know that there are over 200 potentially active volcanoes in Canada? 49 of which have erupted in the past 10,000 years! 10,000 years may seem like a long time, but in geologist-talk it's barely an instant.

The older I get, the more I enjoy learning about the world around me (and the more I realize I've lived in a bubble for 20-some-odd). Volcanoes are REAL! We live on a PLANET! Jersey Shore people DO EXIST! I never really thought Canada had volcanoes before...but it turns out volcanoes are the things that made Canada. Maybe everyone else knew this already (egg on my face!) but I'm pretty sure many didn't. The world is interesting.

I saw a hawk on the way home

On the bike ride home from work I tend to cross from Wellesley through a park to Harbord.  Today when I came into the park, I saw a group of people blocking the sidewalk, looking up into a tree.  Coming closer, I saw that there was a Red-Tailed Hawk having an early dinner of fresh pigeon.  He was just hanging out up there, munching away, tearing flesh and feathers with his sharp talons and beak, as everyone below was watching in quiet awe.  

I’ve seen this kind of thing before.  My dad was a falconer so I grew up with falcons, hawks, eagles and owls in the backyard.  I knew how to hold a raptor when I was four years old and often helped dad with feeding when he was at work, so seeing the bird really brought back memories.  Although it wasn’t a once in a lifetime thing to me, it was still special; surrounding me were men and women in suits and skirts, riding bikes and walking home, briefcases at their sides and cars honking around us.  Rush-hour traffic in the heart of the city and here was one of the purest forms of nature happening right before our eyes.  A glimpse into the private diet of a strong creature.  It was awesome.  

If only I had my camera!  I’ve gotta get me one of those $99 iPhones…

Real food vs. Fake food

A great article comparing real foods to fake foods:

http://bit.ly/2njBA

(I know I've been away for a while, but I'll be back by the end of the week!)

Cycle and the City

This article from The Star discusses a great new project popping up next week in Montreal - bike rentals. Montreal is a great city for biking; why can't Toronto be too? Sure we have a couple bike lanes around the university and some great senic bike trails...but what about people trying to get around the city? Instead of worrying about the streets, we worry about the sidewalks.

I don’t understand why there is such a need to expand sidewalks in the city; people are going to walk three and four-abreast no matter how big sidewalks are, and making them bigger is just going to add to the congestion. Try walking down the streets in Little Korea in the evenings – you won’t be able to pass a gaggle of teenagers no matter how big the sidewalk is.

Expanding sidewalks would be great, but isn’t the biggest deal. If people would just use a bit of common sense and courtesy, there wouldn’t be a problem on sidewalks. It’s those who refuse to give way to others, walk three abreast with SUV strollers and stop in the middle of the sidewalk to tie shoes and talk on phones who are the problem.

Let's add some bike lanes. Or if we’re not going to add bike lanes, why not try and fix up the side of the roads a bit so when you’re biking down them (instead of biking on the busy sidewalk) you don’t have things breaking and falling off your bike from all the gaping holes and bumps that surround sewer grates. My rear light has fallen so many times I had to tape it on – and that’s just from an easy ride down Bloor street!

We should follow Montreal's ideas and do more for cyclists in the city. Especially if, as the article states, Toronto is to follow suit with the rental program! No one is going to want to rent bikes if they have no safe place to ride them.

Spring has Sprung!

Spring has sprung and the world is green again!

As Canadians, we spend about six months of the year in drab, brown, cold, seemingly unending bad weather. September winds down and October brings a brilliant last hurrah with leaves turning splendid oranges, reds and yellows and a cool, fresh smell in the air. Then the leaves fall, the world turns brown and we settle in for months of cold and snow.

By the beginning of April, though, the air warms and the snow melts and we put up with rain because, as the adage goes, “April showers bring May flowers”. Every so often we have beautiful, glorious, summer-like days where windows get open and rugs get shaken off the balcony.

It was this weekend that I really noticed the world has greened again. Buds on trees have exploded into leafy bunches, the grass is green and lush and practically begging to be sat on, tulips are out in full force, and everyone in the city wanted to be outside. Streets are crowded and waits for patios run 30 minutes. Kensington Market is once again vibrant and loud and smelly, the street meat vendors are out in full force and the ice cream truck comes down my street playing his tune every day between 5:30-5:45pm. Spring is a time of re-birth and life and the city definitely comes alive when the sun shines and our air is warm. We soak up the sun and leave windows open, wear dresses and flip flops as much as we can because we know that in just a few, fast months it’ll all be over and we’ll be back in long coats and thick socks, battling our cases of SAD’s once more.

Those people with year-round warmth don’t know how good they have it.

Earth Day Resolutions

Inspired by Earth Day, I've hopped on the bandwagon and have been researching different stuff about the environment, pollution and going green. I found this link on Planet Green about making an Earth Day resolution list, and thought I'd make my own.

Jenny's Earth Day Resolutions:
- try to "reduce" more (I recycle and reuse all the time, but reducing seems key)
- use natural cleaning prodcuts more often (even though I loves me my Mr. Clean)
- find/make some mesh bags for my produce instead of using those clear bags they provide
- strive to make birthday gifts for friends out of recycled/reused materials (some call this "upcycling" others call it "cheap")
- shop for produce at local MyMarkets so I know my food is fresh, organic, local and the money is going straight to the farmer
- loose weight (it'll make my carbon footprint lighter? Get it? Get it?!)

What are your Earth Day resolutions?

Mmm local apples!

Eco-chic

It seems we all fall victim to trends.  No matter how much we may try to ‘go against the grain’ or stand apart from the crowd, we all inevitably fall into stride with those around us, if even just for a few steps.  From big hair to skinny jeans, and even that whole “pirate” craze that went around a few years ago, we all follow trends.  Sometimes, though, they’re not as bad as they seem.

Take the latest “Eco-chic” trend, for instance.  For the past few years it’s been “cool” to be environmentally friendly and let everyone know just how with-it you are.  It started with recycling all those years ago (I like to think blue bins with slogans like “Kanata Recycles” are bragging a bit), gained momentum with An Inconvenient Truth and those stupid $300 purses that say “I am not a plastic bag”, and now everyone is doing their part with travel mugs, stainless steel water containers, canvas shopping bags and some people even compost.  Green is the new Black. 

With everyone following these Green trends and with the general public learning more and more about their impact on the environment, big companies have started to follow suit.  Coffee shops give you a 10 cent discount when you bring a reusable mug, grocery stores have gotten rid of plastic bags, the city has installed more recycling bins and allows you to recycle styrofoam, and some restaurants even have ‘organic waste’ bins for foodstuffs.  It seems that, unlike those stupid skinny jeans, this is one trend that is going to be around for a while.  It’s a good thing. 

It’s hard to be green all the time, though.  I know that I can’t go out and spend hundreds of dollars on buying some organic sustainable grain-fed t-shirt (that’s what they sell in brand- name stores, right?).  And I can’t even fathom buying organic at grocery stores…I mean, who wants to pay $5 for a head of lettuce?! (unless you live in Melbourne, where that’s the norm.)  There are better things I could be doing for the environment that are a lot cheaper.  Things like:

     -     Using a Brita water filter instead of drinking bottled water.  Not only am I reducing the waste              going out to landrills and recycling centres, but think of the fuel and oil I'm saving both in                      transportation and manufacturing costs.  Did you know that to make one plastic 1L bottle of              water takes about 1/4 of that bottle filled with oil? 

-         Cut down on my meat or go totally veg again.  The amount of water and grains used for factory farms is astounding and disgusting. 

-         Buy organic vegetables NOT from the store!  There are plenty of “MyMarkets” in Toronto; these MyMarkets are markets where the farmer sells you his/her produce directly…not through another party.  It means more money for the farmers and fresher, more delicious veggies for me.  If you live in The Annex, check out the market in the Borden St. Parking lot (behind Dooney’s) starting up in May/June.

-         Using my travel mug when I grab my 3pm double-double.

-         Stop using Ziploc bags.  I know it’s hard and sometimes you can’t escape it…but reusable containers come in all shapes and sizes.

There are plenty more things that I could do for the environment and plenty more things that I already do.  I am a proud follower of the Green movement and know that what I do makes a difference, no matter how small.  If we all take these small steps and make these small changes, even if it’s just half the time ( like using your travel mug every other day or keeping just one day a week vegetarian), eventually we’ll see a difference being made.  Jump on the trend and be proud to march in step.

 …just don’t fall for the organic grain-fed wedding gowns. 

What are some of the ways you help the environment?  Share your ideas or thoughts in the comments!

Rrrrrroll Up the Junk

What do you do when you finish Rrrrolling up the rim?  Toss the cup into the garbage?  Toss it into the recycling?  Separate the lid from the cup and put each into its respective bins?

 Turns out the only “correct” thing to do is throw the cup into the garbage—in Toronto anyways. 

Tim Hortons cups (as well as Starbucks, Coffee Time and all those other places that sell take-away coffee) are not recyclable in Toronto, and neither are the lids. 

I was confused at first – the lids have the recycle symbol on them so I’ve always separated the lids from the cups when tossing out my trash.  In researching into it, though, Toronto doesn’t recycle the lids because if they get into other paper recyclables the plastics could contaminate the paper and cause a whole world of problems. Toronto could get a machine to separate the lids from the cups, but it would cost $3 million just to get it and another $1 million a year to work it.  God forbid people just use their brain and separate the two themselves.  

People think that the cups are recyclable because, in Toronto, all recyclables go into the same bin; plastics, papers, cans, everything.  Since the cups are paper with a small plastic coating, it should be alright…but it ain’t.  The fact is in Toronto alone 1,000,000 paper coffee cups are thrown away every day.  If we multiply that by the Monday-Friday working crowds and high school kids off on weekends, that is at least 6,000 000 cups thrown out a week, on average, in the city of Toronto.  Disgusting.  Worse still, Tim Hortons cups do not contain any recycled content.  Every cup is 100% brand new materials.  If trees could talk… 

In some cities - even cities close by – you can recycle the cups so long as they’re separated from the lids.  How is it that Canada’s biggest city can’t implement this system?  

Tim Hortons has partnered up with Turtle Island Recycling to install special ‘cup recycling’ bins in certain stores around the city; cups thrown out there will be recycled and made into products such as roof coverings, etc.  But I’m going to go ahead and guess that more than ¾ of the cups that get filled at Timmy’s leave the building. These bins are a small start but more of a “quiet down, we’re doing something” than a real leap in the right direction. 

Something has to change.  Making the cups recyclable would be a good step.  Making them biodegradable and compostable would be even better.  How is it that small, one-store coffee shops can use biodegradable cups, containers and cutlery, yet these big corporations can’t?  Change the plastic lining to a biodegradable corn-based one or something.  And for god’s sake, once the cups DO become recyclable, people need to separate the cups from the lids.  Really, it takes one second.

 Another solution would be to charge people for using the disposable cups similar to the recent Toronto law stating that as of June 1 grocery stores would charge consumers five cents per plastic bag used.  Some stores already put it into effect (like the ValuMart by my work) and already I’ve seen a difference in my co-workers; they don’t want to pay an extra five cents, so they bring their own bag.  When consumers see a sign saying “you will be charged per bag” they take notice…no one wants to throw money away!

If Tim’s starts charging people five cents per cup they use, maybe it would make people think differently.  This, combined with the fact that they already do give a 10 cent discount if you use a refillable mug, could really do some good.  Maybe?

 The real solution: bring your own mugs.  I’ll be the first to admit that I hate carrying around a travel mug; they’re bulky, sometimes they leak, and they’re hard to hang on to when you’re on the subway. But really, it’s the right thing to do.  Plus, they’re really pretty these days.  I read somewhere that if just 50 people a day in every Starbucks across the country brought their own mug, they would save 150 000 cups a day.  Not a huge number, comparatively, but not a small on either. 

 So bring your own mugs to coffee shops, people!  Even just a few times a week can make a difference.  And while you’re at it, get your own re-usable water bottles too. 

Don’t even get me started on the stupidity of water bottles…