Urban Ecosystem

Our world is changing with a speed that is difficult to grasp. Land and resources are gobbled up and discarded at a staggering pace. Toronto artist Kendall Anderson documents some of our urben detritus with his photography site, Invisible Threads

Death to the Oil Furnace

My neighbor replaced his circa 1973 oil furnace with a high-efficiency natural gas model. Older oil furnaces are a nasty, dirty business. The new model will save on CO2 emissions, and provide less oil money to Ralph Klein's government. And that can only be a good thing...

Carbon coefficients of each fuel source

• fuel oil: 161.44 pounds of CO2 per million BTU
• natural gas: 117 pounds of CO2 per million BTU

data from EPA's Global Warming Research Center

Best coffee cup in town

This is the best re-usable coffee cup in town. Lightweight, inexpensive, it holds 14 oz of java & is a great replacement for two daily paper cups of coffee. $2.75 from Mountain Equipment Co-op

Environment on radar screen

Today's Globe suggests that the environment rather than more tax cuts, is on the agenda for the federal government's upcoming fiscal update (mini-budget). Said Ajax-Pickering MP Mark Holland of Canadians' increasing concern over environmental issues,

"It's having major impacts - on quality of life in terms of smog. I think it's
an immediate and pressing problem. It's a pressing problem for our health, a
pressing problem for the environment and it's a pressing problem for
sustainability. And when you take a look at gas prices where they are - our
reliance on petroleum is no longer sustainable."

Good to see the green message is getting through to the Liberals - they need to act effectively to reduce smog and meet our CO2 reduction committments. It's fine for backbenchers to raise these issues but the environment has clearly not been at the top of the Liberal decision-makers' agenda in recent years.

Is It Safe?

..It's not safe to be outside today