• take responsibility for your own safety
• don’t allow yourself to get upset about drivers as you’ll lose concentration on your safety
• summer construction means I get to pass cars frequently
• find the right path to your destination by trying many (right path = least stop signs + least busy streets)
• rain is only a deterrent (plus I need fenders!)
• there are lots more people biking and more cyclists means it will become normalized and safer
• designated bike lanes are very beneficial; interconnected ones without gaps need to be the goal (dreaming about Amsterdam)
• biking to work is so wonderful, I’m very thankful!

On Earth… the problem had been with cars. The disadvantages involved in pulling lots of black sticky slime from out of the ground where it had been safely hidden out of harm’s way, turning it into tar to cover the land with, smoke to fill the air with and pouring the rest into the sea, all seemed to outweigh the advantages of being able to get more quickly from one place to another – particularly when the place you arrived at had probably become, as a result of this, very similar to the place you had left, i.e. covered with tar, full of smoke and short of fish. (from The Restaurant at the End of the Universe)

Satire and humour sometimes get to the absurdity of our life in a way regular speech often can’t. And, it can help us step back a minute and think about what we’re really doing with our actions and decisions.

Because reading articles about the problems with the sealants we put down on our driveways (Environmental News Network, and US Geological Service) doesn’t always have the same shock factor nor encourages us to change our actions, like:

1. Drive less and use / encourage alternative types of transportation (transit, walking, bike lanes / paths, trains, etc)
2. Put in a different driveway – gravel, interlock, grass / interlock or ‘grassy pavers‘ and the like
3. Support restriction of harmful chemicals – like coal tar and the like

We’re always going to need to travel and move around. But maybe we can think about doing it only as much as needed, not doing it needlessly, and doing it in the least destructive way possible.

(http://www.emagazine.com/view/?4948)

Washing with water vs. wiping with dry paper. We know paper doesn’t work for babies (that’s why we have wet wipes) so why do we think it works for kids and adults?

Check out the Blue Bidet for more details and health benefits. Alternatively, you could consider using a diaper sprayer to achieve the same effect, like a friend of mine does.

So, that ‘fact’ was stuck in my head.

I was looking today for some labeling regulations for another product (ingredient of ‘white whole wheat flour’ – what does that mean?) and read the regulations for Product of Canada.

A food product may claim Product of Canada when all or virtually all major ingredients, processing, and labour used to make the food product are Canadian. This means that all significant ingredients are Canadian and non-Canadian material must be negligible… Generally, the percentage referred to as very little or minor is considered to be less than a total of 2 per cent of the product. (Canada Food Inspection Agency)

So, that’s pretty good! Product of Canada means ingredients and processing done in Canada. Yay! I’m glad to have my mind’s facts changed on this!

On another note, Imported by or Imported for which a Canadian address / company tell you virtually  nothing about country of origin. Hopefully that too will change and we’ll know where all our food comes from.

It also explains the ice age / habitable continuum well, in my opinion.

It’s cute and tells a good message – it’s not inevitable if we act soon / now!

Wake Up, Freak Out – then Get a Grip from Leo Murray on Vimeo.

I began to ask around whether there are low VOC laminates. It took me quite some time to even figure out what to ask. Many people didn’t even know why I wanted this ‘feature’ and had never heard of a request like it before.

Eventually, I think I’ve made some progress, and since I’ve taken the time to try to figure this out – I thought I’d share so others won’t have to do the same!

What’s the issue? There’s actually two. (1) The backer board (particle board) is paper or sawdust held together by glue resins. (2) The plastic laminate surface is attached using a glue.

First I found out about the laminate: companies like Formica and others have a High Pressure Laminate (HPL) that is GreenGuard certified to be low VOC and use a low emitting glue to attach it to the backer board.

Next I found out about those who make backer boards: VT Industries makes a backer that is made from recycled paper and uses a water based resin. Their Canadian product from Belanger-Lamintes with the HPL and backer is called the EQ Countertop.

Perfect? Well, it was pretty hard to find a company that sells these countertops. But I did find two companies in Ontario: one is a supplier (The Top Shop) and the other is an installer (Just a Countertop).

Prices? Well, a standard laminate countertop for our kitchen of 24 linear feet was $663 not installed. The cost for the EQ Countertop was $1100, also not installed. So, that seems not too bad. (For reference we also found a solid surface countertop priced at $2500 installed. Granite, etc. is closer to $3500 and up)

So, what did I learn? I learned what to ask: do you carry a counter top that has a GreenGuard certified laminate and used a water based resin backer? I learned they can be bought in my area. I stopped searching after finding VT Industries (they have branches in the US and Canada). If you’re not in Ontario, you can call them to find out their retailers in your area.

I also learned that while you can research a lot using just the internet, things didn’t always complete sense until I actually talked to real people.

• No local markets for diversified farm crops
• Farmers grow corn and soybeans
• Soybeans make for cheap burgers (feed for cows) and most added fats to processed foods
• Corn gives us cheap sweeteners for pop and most other products (corn syrup / fructose)
• Big food processors ask for more and cheaper production (yet pay $3.70 per bushel to the farmer and make $440 off the products from it)
• Farmers expand their land removing woodlots, wetlands and buffer strips and stop crop rotation
• Farmers see their land become degraded and the streams and lakes degenerate with loss of fish

What can be done? We could follow recommendations from reports like “The Farm Crisis and Corporate Profits” and nutrition researchers:

“Better food labelling, health claims on fruits and vegetables, healthy food cheaper than junk food, government support for farmers who grow good food in an environmentally sustainable manner.”

Eating local is a beginning, but don’t stop there!

By 2011, 40 percent of their products will be made from recycled or FSC certified fibre, and anything from the Boreal Forest will be FSC certified.

Thank you to Greenpeace for bringing this campaign to a successful completion!

Plants don’t grow when they are in soggy ground, no matter how much sunshine they get.

I went today after almost two weeks away. The weeds were tall, sure. But so many leaves are yellowish from too much water, and the plants are not thriving. (To top it off, my onions which were doing great have all had their tops eaten by deer!)

It was a fairly disappointing visit.

As I biked home, I reflected on the subsistence farmers I met while in Zambia. Being a subsistence farmer means that you eat what you grow. If you don’t grow enough, you don’t eat enough. Having excess to sell is rare.

Seemingly outside of my control in my garden is the amount of water it receives. Drought or flooding in Zambia would also be outside of the control of subsistence farmers.

I had a small taste, I think, of the enormity of spending all ones time with the chance of no harvest, which is the life of a subsistence farmer.

I am glad I work for an organization which works among the poorest farmers to help them find ways beyond subsistence farming, like diversification, compost, mulch, drainage, improved seeds and the like, so that a bad year might only mean just enough food, but no extra, and a normal year means the ability to improve (house, clothing, livestock, education) and to celebrate life.

What with climate change scenarios that claim extinction of 80% of species, widespread disease and suffering of those in developing countries, etc.  this is mentionedregularly.

So today, I read about research done which found the following positive and hopeful conclusion:

We provide startling evidence that most ecosystems globally can, given human will, recover from very major perturbations on timescales of decades to half-centuries. (From PLoS ONE)

“‘Overall,’ said Yale professor and study co-author Oswald Schmitz, ‘the damages to these ecosystems are pretty serious. But the message is that if societies chose to become sustainable, ecosystems will recover. It isn’t hopeless.’”

So – if we transition to more sustainable system, the world will be able to recover – and on a shorter timeline than previously thought. A word of caution: they did find that 25% of ecosystems “showed no recovery or were beyond recovery” and that “ecosystems degraded by humans took longer to recover than ecosystems that suffered natural disturbances”.

From my faith standpoint, this ability of the world points to both the way in which God made it (able to adapt and recover) and to the way he upholds and renews it, even when we humans make a mess. God didn’t give up – he sent Jesus to save the entire universe. And yet, humans still have a responsibility – we need to stop making messes, and transition to living sustainably on this planet.

Final note: this research is dealing with ecosystems. Messing with the climate will take more time to recover and may hamper the ability of individual ecosystems to recover. So, let’s make adjustments now!