Posts under ‘Environment’

Everyone knows I love a good graphic, and this one (from the excellent FlowingData.com) is a particularly eye-popping example. It provides pretty clear evidence of how disproportionately irresponsible BP’s North American operations are.

Tuesday night Nellie and I went to see a Hot Docs screening that I’d been both looking forward to and dreading. The Cove (hot docs | imdb) has been on my radar since it won the audience award at Sundance and Scott Weinberg at Cinematical wrote this review. I knew any documentary about saving dolphins [...]

I apologize for the poor quality of these images, but I just had to show you the ridiculousness that we walked past last night on the way home from Smokeless Joe. You’ve probably all seen a stretch hummer limo before. They’re the preferred ride of gaggles of horny, be-tuxed teenagers and d-list actors trying to [...]

Every time I check my mailbox — because some adorable companies still insist on sending me actual paper mail…quaint, no? — I’m amazed at the quantity of junk mail I see. The recycling bins in my building’s mail room are overflowing with flyers, ads…junk mail of every stripe. Seems like such a massive waste. Of [...]

Every night when we turn off the lights, it feels like there’s still a lamp on somewhere in our condo. The lights at Moss Park, nearly a kilometre away, are so bright that I wouldn’t be able to sleep in any room facing them without drawing the blinds. They stay on all night, whether or [...]

Here’s an email I got this afternoon: Hey Toronto Star: as a supposedly environmentally-conscious newspaper, should you really be giving out free gas? technorati tags: toronto star, free gas

My favourite word for today: solipsism. No idea why. I’m sure it’s related to some kind of deep and brilliant observation that I made earlier today and shall force you all to hear about. Gosh almighty I notice that the definition of solipsism sounds an awful lot like blogging geez whod’ve thunkit. A new poll [...]

So far we’ve seen two Hot Docs documentaries, and we’re off to see a third in just a few minutes. To date we’ve seen: Air India 182 (hot docs) by Sturla Gunnarsson. It screened opening night at the Winter Garden Theatre (which I’d never been in before…it’s quite strange and lovely) and, while it packed [...]

OK, it wasn’t quite that dramatic — this is a camera effect, not reality — but Earth Hour was at least noticeable from our balcony. We had CBGB over to observe the darkening, and while the effects from here weren’t as dramatic as if we’d be airborne, we could see the difference. Toronto even exceeded [...]

Interesting stuff found via Brijit, both of which relate to the book I’m reading right now: The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. From The Washington Post: A Chance to Defend Themselves (Thomas B. Wilner) More than 300 prisoners remain at Guantanamo. Most have been there almost six years. We now know that the great majority [...]

Bottled water has always been wasteful and indulgent, but now it’s just getting ridiculous. Via Newsweek: Holy Drinking Water, produced by a California-based company called Wayne Enterprises, is blessed in the warehouse by an Anglican or Roman Catholic priest (after a thorough background check). Like a crucifix or a rosary, a bottle of Holy Drinking [...]

From CityTV: Drive-thrus have become a way of life in car conscious Toronto, as busy GTA residents find they don’t have the time to even get out of their vehicles for a coffee or a hamburger. But what are they doing to the environment and how would you feel if local politicians made a move [...]

Thanks, Stephen Harper. Way to improve our image on the national stage. MUNYONYO, Uganda – Canada appears to have got its way at Commonwealth talks on climate change. The 53-member organization has produced an agreement stripped of any reference to binding targets for greenhouse gas emissions. Canada and Australia had been the lone holdouts against [...]

Richard Florida, author of Rise of the Creative Class, professor and all-around smart guy, is living in Toronto now. His blog is mirrored on the Globe and Mail’s website, and given his local focus I’ve subscribed to the feed. I find most of what he posts about very interesting; he describes his specialty areas as [...]

Awwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!! Joe posts songs of little girls singing cute songs…I post ICHC pictures. .:. Maybe a commodity isn’t really a commodity anymore: “Thirty years ago, bottled water barely existed as a business in the United States. Last year, we spent more on Poland Spring, Fiji Water, Evian, Aquafina, and Dasani than we spent on iPods [...]