Almost Carbon Neutral Holiday

March 21, 2007 – 2:55 pm

I just finished a week long vacation with my dad. I wanted to keep the footprint of my holiday as small as possible without limiting myself to sitting at home with the heat and lights off, reading by candle light under a pile of blankets. My dad made the three day journey from Ontario with VIA Rail to join me for some almost carbon neutral fun.

Successes

  1. The train trip was less carbon intensive that air travel. (approx 0.6 tonnes vs 0.8 tonnes)
  2. We only made four car trips, including the taxi to and from the train station.
  3. We made numerous trips to Home Depot with Bob trailers to fetch odds and ends (including concrete blocks & a shop trolley!) for the house and garden.
  4. We made it up to Grouse Mountain to go skiing and boarding using public transit alone (see pics below).
  5. We built the cedar fence I had been hoping to create for the last year from locally harvested wood.
  6. We assembled the fence using the Stil electric chainsaw (no smelly 2 stroke engine) Lisa got me for Christmas.

    7. Electric Stil Chainsaw

  7. I found 7 of the 10 concrete blocks I needed for the fence in the blackberry bushes accross the street. Free and recycled!
  8. I learned how to get around the lower mainland via transit much more efficiently.
  9. Lisa tested and purchased a new three wheel recumbant for our almost carbon neutral honeymoon bike tour of BC.
  10. We turned all compost into the garden, planted peas, lettuce and spinach.

    11. Playin in the compost

  11. I offset 2 tonnes of CO2 with offsetters.ca for $40 CDN

Failures

  1. We made four car trips, I had hoped for zero.
  2. It’s really difficult to not make any garbage when you take a holiday to fix everything around the house and garden.

Photo journey to Grouse Mountain using Public Transit
Total trip time each was about 2 hours each way. Take the #50, to sea bus, to #136 to Grouse Mountain gondala.
Chris with our gear trolley
Chris with the gear at 2nd & Fir
Chris on 50 bus to Waterfront Station
Chris bus 1
Chris & I on the Seabus
Chris & Justin on the Seabus
Chris on the Gondola Skyride up to Grouse
Chris Gondola
Broken Wheelchair Lift on the Bus on the way Home.
Broken Bus

[tags]Carbon Neutral Vacation[/tags]

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How Vancity’s CEO learned An Inconvenient Truth – March 8th

March 1, 2007 – 7:16 am

In early January, Vancity’s CEO Dave Mowat headed down to Nashville, where he received training from Al Gore about how to deliver the climate change presentation that was featured in the Oscar-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. Now, Dave’s mission is to share that presentation – and its important messages about climate change – to a broader audience.

Details

When: March 8th, 7:00 – 9:00pm
Where: The Ridge Theatre, 3131 Arbutus St. Vancouver
URL:How our CEO learned An Inconvenient Truth

[tags]Global Warming, Climate Change, An Inconvenient Truth, Vancity[/tags]

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Vancouver Climate Change Forum March 1st

February 28, 2007 – 5:14 am

You’re invited to a free screening of Oscar-winning movie, An Inconvenient Truth.

Join Gregor Robertson, MLA for Vancouver – Fairview and special guests before the movie to talk about steps we can take to make a difference in our lives and our communities.

Special guests include:

  • Tom Osdoba, Sustainability Group, City of Vancouver
  • Morag Carter, Climate Change Program, David Suzuki Foundation
  • William Rees, PhD., UBC School of Community and Regional Planning, originator of the “ecological footprint” analysis

Location

When: Thursday, March 1st. Program starts at 6:45pm. Movie screening at 9:00pm.
Where: Park Theatre, 3440 Cambie Street

Event is free. No registration is required.

Support your local Cambie merchants. Have dinner on Cambie Street before the show.

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Phased in Carbon Tax

February 26, 2007 – 9:02 am

We all pay fees to use municipal dumps and it should be no different when dumping greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. We must shift our linear systems of production into cyclic processes where nothing toxic accumulates in the biosphere, be it solid, liquid or gas. This is basic common sense and the minimum bottom line that we have to reach. No one wants garbage accumulating in their basement or backyard so lets stop creating it.

A revenue neutral, phased in carbon tax would give individuals and industry a clear fore-knowledge of future costs of business-as-usual. This tax strategy would create an incentive for everyone to adjust their consumption of energy over time. Start gradually and communicate the shift so all are aware of the timetable. Make it rapid enough to achieve a real impact in the short-term and foster a sense of urgency but not so fast that business is crippled. Such a tax will send a strong message to industry that the era of government looking the other way on environmental issues is over. It will create a climate of innovation and give consumers greater choice of options when looking for green upgrades.

Write your MP, premier, environment minister and prime minister and let them know that you are ready to see a carbon tax phased in over the next 10 – 20 years as one step toward a zero-waste society.

References

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Vancouver Climate Change Film Fest

February 22, 2007 – 7:39 am

I went to the first night of the Climate Change Film Festival last night. There were two excellent documentaries followed by a talk with Dr. Mark Jaccard, a Canadian economist specializing in sustainable energy systems. Overall it was great but these events always seem to attrack a few nutsbars eager to share their unconventional views on an open mic. Future hint to organizers: There must be a firm announcement up front indicating that racist comments are not welcome, self publicity or emotional rants will not be tollerated and all questions will be prescreened. This is a bit draconian but will save everyone’s time.

Exxon Mobil: Anthropogenic Climate Killers The first documentary, Out of Balance was a look at Exxon Mobil’s efforts to fund organizations discrediting and confusing the public about the reality of climate change. They have been effective, using their billions of dollars in profit to create a decade long viel of lies to keep the masses doubtful and unconcerned.

The second film, The Day the Water Died had the camera pointed at Exxon once again. Exxon did essentially nothing to clean up the spill which covered thousands of kilometers of coastline, destroying all marine life and wiping out local economies dependant on the ocean. To add insult to the devastation, they have refused to pay the $5 billion dollar charge awarded by the courts by keeping the case tangled in appeals court for the last 18 years.

Esso Exxon’s logo is more familiarly known under the guise of its subsidiary Esso in Canada. Exxon is one of the most vile and unconscious organizations on the planet and I would encourage everyone to never buy their fuels again. Let them go the way of the Eastern Islanders.

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Climate Change Film Festival

February 19, 2007 – 4:19 am

There are numerous climate change films and talks happening this week at Vancouver Public Library:
http://www.vpl.ca/branches/LibrarySquare/tec/climatefilmfestival.html
peace
Justin

[tags]Global Warming, Climate Change, Film Festival, Vancouver Public Library[/tags]

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