We are coming upon the end of week 2 of the garbage strike and news reports inidcate that there is no end in site. The provincial government is still standing firm in its hope that the city of Toronto will be able to work out its own issues. Until the waste that lines our streets poses a serious health risk, the provincial government will not step in and legilate the union back to work.
In the meantime, citizens around the city continue to make use of the garbage bins as if there is not strike. And yet, we continue to complain that nobody is picking up the garbage.
Maybe if we didn’t create so much garbage in the first place we wouldn’t have to worry about the trash piling up on the sides of the streets or stray banana peels falling to the side of the road or venti cups from Starbucks jutting out of the “temporarily out of order” garbage bins.
Why is it that we are quick to complain about garbage not being picked up, yet we do very little to minimize the amount that we create. It’s as if we as a society just assume that our waste is someone else’s problem. Out of sight, out of mind, right?
The city urged people to take their garbage with them and hang on to it (and yes, I know that would be unpleasant for many of us to do). But couldn’t we re-examine our consumption. Look at the products we use/consume and see if we can do without it for a day or a week?
We can point the finger of blame at other people (i.e. Mayor Miller or striking city workers), because that’s easy to do and it prevents us from taking on any responsibility for our consumptive lifestyles and doesn’t make us feel bad for living our lives the way we do.
Would it be so hard to just adjust our consumption patterns for the duration of the strike, or do we, as a city, just genuinely not care about the way our city looks and smells?
Not to be confused with Bike Train, which acts more to promote tourism within the green belt, Bike+Transit (or B+T for those of you out there on the interwebs that are too lazy to type out both words) seeks to promote intermodal transportation whether for recreation or for commuting.
…a website encouraging and facilitating recreational and commuter bicycle and transit travel across the region.
Promoting “inter-modal” local cycling tourism awareness, B+T.com is designed to help get the most out of GTA and Golden Horseshoe transit, bike path and trail infrastructure.
Source: Bikes+Transit.com website
I received an email from Donald Weidman about a media conference that would officially launch the Bikes + Transit initiative for 2009.
Media Conference – official launch of Bikes+Transit.com
(www.bikesandtransit.com)
Date: WEDNESDAY, JULY 8
Time: 11:00 a.m. to 11:20 a.m.
Place: High Park TTC Subway Station, Bloor Street West, Toronto
With: Adrian Heaps – chair, City of Toronto Cycling Advisory Committee
Adam Giambrone – chair, Toronto Transit Commission
Donald Wiedman – founder Bikes+Transit.com, and GO-by-Bike to Ajax (2008)Invited: Representatives from: GO Transit, Metrolinx, Waterfront Trail, Trans Canada Trail, Toronto & Region Conservation, Durham Tourism, City of Pickering, Town of Ajax, Town of Whitby, Town of Grimsby and City of Burlington.
From July 13 to September 13, Bikes+Transit.com will feature a weekly sample destination, affordable and easily reached by bike + bus, subway, ferry, motor coach or commuter train.
Bikes+Transit.com – get right on it!
www.bikesandtransit.comFor more information:
Donald Wiedman, 647 669 0461
donald@wiedmancommunications.com
Bikes + Transit is certainly an interesting initiative, which would get people more active and allow people to see parts of the city (or parts of other cities) that they normally wouldn’t get to see.
If you are unable to attend the media conference/launch on July 8, then you don’t need to worry. You can participate in one of several Bikes+Transit sample routes from July 13, 2009 to September 13, 2009.
Happy (and safe) riding everbody!
I received a comment yesterday in my Eco-Friendly Stores in Toronto post from Sven of Mariclaro.
For those of you that aren’t all that familiar with Mariclaro, they are a collective of Mexican, German and Canadian artists who create bags (as well as other accessories) from reclaimed/recycled materials.
Image from Mariclaro website
I have purchased a Mariclaro laptop bag from Blue Banana Market in the Kensington Market area, which I absolutely adore. There are a few other stores in the Toronto area that carry Mariclaro products, you can check out the listing of where to buy Mariclaro on their website.
Now add one more shop to that list. According to the comment that Sven left for me, Mariclaro is planning to open up a store front here in the Toronto area. More accurately, in the Roncessvalles (aka Roncey) area.
Below you will find an excerpt from the comment that Sven left for me.
We focus mainly, but not exclusively on the production of bags. Other products we have and are working on include belts, wallets and whatever we dream up next. All our products are made to last, and 99% recycled.
We are opening a store/workshop on 457 Roncesvalles Toronto. Opening date is 10 of July 2009.
So be sure to mark that date in your calendars boys and girls, because you will be able to get your hands on even more of the accessories that come from the collective of artists that make up Mariclaro.
Late last year the TTC introduced an ETA system that appears on the screens in subway stations, notifying passengers of the amount of time it would take for the next train to arrive.
Initially this ETA system was introduced at Dundas Station, since it’s a very pedestrian heavy station.
A few months after the pilot project at Dundas Station, the TTC decided to introduce the ETA system to more stations and stated that they would slowly introduce them to all the stations on the subway system before the end of 2009.
I noticed recently that they added the ETA system to the subway stop I normally go to – Warden Station. But for whatever reason I keep forgetting that it’s there. I think it might be a combination of growing up and looking down the way to see if the train is coming out of the tunnel and because the ETA system is dwarfed by advertisements.
I realize that funding to put those screens up at each station comes from advertisting/sponsors etc., but when advertisements take up more space than information that is more pertinent to a rider (i.e. arrival of next train, time of day and to a lesser extent the weather), doesn’t shouldn’t that signal to us that there’s something severely wrong?
I’m sure that House of Lords or Pizza Pizza are glad they’re getting the word out about their stores or that CTV is hawking the latest episode of The Listener, but I just find it slightly odd that this information takes precedence over me knowing when the train is going to arrive.
Shouldn’t information regarding train arrival or even train delays take up a much larger portion of the screen? I know that when I’m on the subway, that information would be of great value to me – but maybe I’m just the odd one out. We’re already bombarded with poster advertisements on the train itself and on the station walls, but I guess advertisers want to hit us one more time by taking up a large chunk of the video screens.
I know the TTC is cash-strapped and if they were to raise their fares to pay for things like video screens, then people would be in an uproar. So it’s really a lose-lose-lose situation all around. I suppose some would say that I should be grateful that we get information on train arrival at all…
According to an article on Tree Hugger, the World Wildlife Fund has just released a report that ranks the G8 countries on the measures they are taking to help curb climate change.
The report ranks Canada in dead last among the G8 nations and Canada’s progress seems to be declining. The US came in second last, but is heading in upwardly direction with its progress to help curb climate change.
Canada gets smacked for:
-Very high emission rates per capita compared to the industrialized countries’ average despite high share of hydropower
-Among the few G8 countries with emissions still increasing
-Expanding energy-intensive non-conventional oil development (tar sands); neither
provincial nor planned federal regulation will reduce overall emissions
-No significant policy improvements since last year; earlier climate plan does not aim for compliance with Kyoto target and has not been implemented
To read the rest of the Tree Hugger article, please click on the link below.
EPIC FAIL for Canada on WWF Climate Report Card
After having celebrated Canada Day just yesterday, this is probably something that most Canadians would not be too proud of. Hopefully we, as a country, can get our act together and take more steps to help curb climate change. Nobody really likes to be in last place, although when you’re dealing with rankings of this nature, someone always ends up in last. It’s unfortunate that Canada was the one that ranked at the bottom this time around.
