Tag: environment

Commuter challenged

Last week I attempted, for the first time, to participate in the Commuter Challenge. More people than I expected haven’t heard of this before, but the idea is that, for a week, you try to get to work by some way other than by driving yourself there. As part of the company “Green Team”, I felt I should try to participate, even though I really like the convenience of driving myself to work and back.

I don’t live far from work—Google Maps reports that it’s 3.7 km, one way. Cycling would be the most logical alternative mode of transport, likely not taking much longer than the drive in rush hour.

The problem is, I’m not much of a cyclist. I don’t feel in shape for the activity, I do not like driving on the sides of city streets, I don’t want to feel sweaty at work all day, I don’t want to feel obliged to have to bike home again if it’s raining by then.

Next up: the bus. Grand River Transit has developed a new EasyGo system that is pretty cool. You enter your start and end locations and times; it gives you the full bus route to take. Unfortunately, that also revealed a slightly absurd, 30-40 minute itinerary, with one or two transfers.

Telework was an option. While I couldn’t and wouldn’t want to work at home the whole week, I did have a laptop and a method of connecting to the work network, so that was my method for a couple of the days. For the others? I finally went with “get a ride with husband” in the morning (which he helpfully pointed out just meant that he had to drive a little farther before going to work), combined with walking back home. Which took me 40 minutes.

Happy news was that I did get my exercise in, and on days I probably otherwise would not have. The weather proved to be cooperative—didn’t get rained on, wasn’t ever excessively hot or cold. Except for the one spot with the pond Canada geese and their chicks, and the (live) groundhog I saw one day, the walk route itself was rather uninspiring, even boring. But the iPod proved a helpful tool for dealing with that.

The challenges? Well, it made doing errands pretty tricky. Cats ended up chowing down on yellowfish tuna in olive oil because I wasn’t about to cart home a bunch of can cat food from the store near the office, as I usually do. Telework Monday I drove myself to a medical appointment and back; otherwise I would have missed too much work time. Right after walk-home Tuesday I got into my car for an event in downtown. Though the bus route to there was very good, the bus options home were not. Wine bottles to return to the Beer Store near work? That didn’t happen either.

I also had to really downsize the amount of stuff I normally carry. For the most part, this just proves I normally carry way more than I need. But keeping a bag lunch at proper temperature and weight—tricky. The glass bottled water I used as an alternative to plastic? Too heavy to consider. Carrying my laptop and accessories and papers so I can work effectively at home? Not practical— hence my using the ride option as well.

So, unfortunately, I’m unlikely to stay with regular alternative commuting options. But I will work at home more often, as possible. It’s good to know that walking—and even transit—are actually possible on days the car is in for servicing, or whatever. And walking made it clear that plenty of people deal with the busy city streets by riding their bikes on the sidewalk, so though you’re not supposed to do that, it maybe makes biking an option.

It was good to try it out. If you didn’t participate this year, look out for out next time. Gas ain’t getting any cheaper…

Living the 100-mile diet… At least for one meal

The “One Book, One Community” choice for Waterloo region this year is “The 100-Mile Diet”, an account of a BC couple’s attempt to restrict their diet to food produced within 100 miles of their home, for one year. In that spirit was the Region of Waterloo Chef Association President’s Dinner, in celebration of Earth Day. By combining with Foodlink Waterloo Region, they wanted to show that even in April, when local produce options are limited at best, a fine meal was possible.

The evening began with a “Champagne reception”, featuring a nice, Inniskillin sparkling wine. Jean and I debated how “environmental” our presence at this event was—certainly it supported the producers and the idea; on the other hand, we did drive there.

Issue unresolved, we found that seating was in tables at eight, so we randomly selected one that had two spots available. While at first it looked like everyone was only going to talk to those they already knew, a gentleman from Wellesley suggested we all introduce each other, and things got rolling.

It was an interesting group. One couple owned Lyndon Fish Hatcheries—and also happened to have 10 children. The main focus of their business is growing fish to feed other fish hatcheries, but they do a small sideline in smoked arctic char. More on that later. They were there with another couple. He worked for Laidlaw and was frequently consulting his Blackberry; apparently he frequently had to fly out to various offices on short notice. But he wasn’t the type you’re probably picturing now from that description—he was much more down to earth.

The Wellesley couple owned a small food shop in that town. She was noticeably younger than him, with a thick Ukranian accent, but they’d met in New York City. Apparently he decided on the first day that they’d end up married, and proceeded to woo. She expressed perfect satisfaction with life in Wellesley, despite spending her teenage years in Manhattan.

So amid the lively conversation, we got some pretty nice food. First course (earth) was a nice celeriac and potato soup. Second course (water) proved the highlight—the smoked char on greens and tomatoes (greenhouse, if you’re wondering about that one), with a side of brie. Great fish! And we had it first hand that it had all been smoked the night before. Third course (air) featured pheasant and chicken. Then there was a lovely sorbet of apple and chardonnay from the Breadalbane Inn (which I think we need to try). Fourth course (land) was black Angus filet mignon, potatoes, and green beans (definitely a surprise this time of year). Dessert was a nice trio of tiny crepes with apple butter, delicious double brie ice cream, and equally delicious maple syrup tart.

Despite a few moans and groans, everyone at the table seemed to manage to eat everything. Oh, and there were also wine pairings: a nice white meritage from Jackson-Triggs, a good Pinot from Inniskillin, and a bigger red—Cabernet?—to go with the beef.

The evening ended with an auction for a personal chef’s dinner (we dropped out after the first price point) and some door prizes, one of which we won! Dinner for four at Conestega College. All in all a good evening out, whether or not the earth thanks us for it.

Airlines are evil

It’s not news that gone are the days when flying, being at an airport, was actually kind of fun. Security and loss of competition have ended that. But when exactly did the airline experience change from being merely unpleasant to actively evil?

Let start with the computer glitch that inconvenienced thousands of Air Canada travellers. Now, I’m sure Air Canada didn’t do this on purpose. But the way they handled is just so typical of the lack of caring with this airline. As just one case, the Globe and Mail’s Stephanie Nolan reports not being called out of the huge lineup (though other people were), and therefore missing her flight; receiving no apology for this; not being rebooked onto another flight (though the people behind her in line, at the counter beside her, were); boarding a plane and waiting an hour on the tarmac, only to be told to de-plane; and of Air Canada losing her luggage, though she never left the ground.

She finally flew, luggage-less, on West Jet.

But maybe that’s not evil. Maybe it’s just callous, bad customer service.

Well, how about acceleration the destruction of the planet? Airplane emissions are a considerable contributor to global warming. Some environmentalists feel we should basically stop flying altogether. It’s hard not to feel some guilt in boarding a plane, since you know that when planes aren’t full enough, flights are cancelled.

Or are they?

Last week it was reported that British Airways “has flown dozens of empty planes across the Atlantic Ocean in the past two weeks to avoid losing valuable runway slots at London’s airports.” London has a use it or lose policy, and they chose to use it. Isn’t that charming?

But one man who won’t have to face the upcoming global warming apocalypse is poor Robert Dziekanski, the Polish man who died after being tasered twice by RCMP officers at Vancouver Airport. Most of the attention has been directed to the actions of the RCMP in this cases, and the question of whether tasers should continue to be allowed. And it’s very appropriate to look into both of these—the incident truly puts Canada in a bad light.

But I think some attention should also be given to what led to Mr. Dziekanski being in such an agitated state, and that is the callousness or incompetence of airport staff. Mr Dziekanski, flying for the first time, out of Poland for the first time, had been trying to reach his mother for 10 hours. His mother, who was indeed in a different part of the airport, had asked repeatedly for help in finding her son, only to be told he was not there. Meantime, apparently no one noticed or cared that this man had been wandering, lost, in the secure immigration area for such a long time.

Airline staff did not kill Mr. Dziekanski, but they certainly led him to slaughter.

“Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all—the apathy of human beings.|— Helen Keller

Environmentalist? Who, me?

Bit of a family weekend, what with it being Canadian Thanksgiving and all. And with an Ontario election on, talk at times naturally turned to that subject.

Both my Dad and my sister expressed surprise that I was not voting for the Green Party.

Dad also commented that he was surprised I didn’t have those cloth shopping bags. Well, in this case I could assure him I did, but still needed to gather some plastic bags to put cat litter in, because nothing else will do.

But the point is… I’ve somehow developed the reputation of being the family environmentalist.

This is a bit alarming, as I was feel sorry for environmentalists. They have an important message to impart, but their opponents can always attack something they did as being “harmful to the environment”. David Suzuki had too many kids. Al Gore drives a big car and lives in a big house. Stéphane Dion flies a lot. Cameron Diaz’ shirt is politically insensitive. Etc.

I do care about the environment. I think it’s the most important issue of our time. I get frustrated the more isn’t being done about it, faster.

But… I’m also conscious that I live in a pretty big house for two people, that we each have a car, that I drive to work even though it’s well within biking distance, and we like to fly places for vacation…

We do all the “easy” stuff, certainly. We have the fluorescent light bulbs, the programmable thermostat (never set to extreme temperatures), the composter, the recycle bins. I do cold water wash when I can. I walk to the store when I’m not getting more than I’ll be able carry back. (My husband says we should get bonus points because we’ve been doing most of this for quite some time, well before it become trendy.)

But all in all, I’m sure the ecological footprint isn’t the greatest.

Maybe it would help if I voted Green…