The 1st Annual Veggie Pride Parade

Posted on June 8, 2010 by boywithnoname

This past weekend I was able to participate in Toronto’s 1st Annual Veggie Pride Parade. It was a great day to get out and a great day for vegans/vegetarians to show their pride.

The odd thing about the Veggie Pride Parade was that I did not see a whole lot of advertising for it. I myself found out about it from an 8.5″x11″ flyer posted on a random wall. I did see posts about it on the Toronto Vegetarian Association website and may have seen some postings about it on BlogTO.com.

Because of the sparse advertising for the event, I was not sure what to expect.

In spite of the minimal advertising I was surprised to see quite a large turnout for the Veggie Pride Parade.  There were several different floats and a variety of different people showing their pride for the vegan/vegetarian lifestyle.

The parade started from Yonge & Bloor and crossed down the west side of Yonge street until Dundas Square.  Many people on the sidewalks stopped to snap photos and watch what all the broohaha was about.  I even heard one passer-by remark that the parade seemed disorganized.  In spite of all that though, I think everyone enjoyed the parade

I was glad to see the turnout and see that there was an event of this kind in the city of Toronto.  Here’s hoping that next year’s parade will see a much larger turnout.

Posted in Animal Rights, Buying Locally, Environmental Issues, Environmentalism, Food, Health & Wellness, Healthy Living, Local Food, Organic Products, Social and Politics, Sustainability, Toronto, Veganism/Vegetarianism | Leave a comment

Graham Hill talks about being a weekday vegetarian

Posted on June 7, 2010 by boywithnoname

My friend Sergio emailed me a couple of weeks ago with a link to a TED.com lecture given by Graham Hill (createor of the TreeHugger.com site).  In his lecture, Hill talks about the reasons why he became a weekday vegetarian.

TED Talks We all know the arguments that being vegetarian is better for the environment and for the animals — but in a carnivorous culture, it can be hard to make the change. Graham Hill has a powerful, pragmatic suggestion: Be a weekday veg.

You can watch the clip of Graham Hill’s TED Talk below.

posted with vodpod

I think that Hill raises some good points about starting out on a more environmentally friendly diet.  It can be difficult to become a vegetarian/vegan.  I know it was difficult for me, when I first started almost 6 years ago.  But thankfully I learned that there were several alternatives for me to get the nutrients that I needed.

As Hill suggests, start off slowly and then build your way up to vegetarian if you can or if you so desire.  Even making small changes, as Hill suggests, here and there will have a great impact towards helping the environment and to helping you stay healthy.

Posted in Culture, Environmental Issues, Environmentalism, Food, Global Issues, Health & Wellness, Healthy Living, Sustainability, TED, Talks, Veganism/Vegetarianism | Leave a comment

Woes for BP still loom

Posted on June 4, 2010 by boywithnoname

Since April 20, 2010, oil has been spilling into the Gulf of Mexico non-stop.  BP, who’s responsible for this environmental disaster has made several attempts to stop the oil leak and has failed at each attempt.

Today, BP attempted something new by cutting the ruptured oil pipe with shears.

According to an article on Yahoo! News, U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen stated that the riser pipe has been cut off from the marine riser package.

This will allow the company to collect at least some of the leaking oil in a containment cap and bring it to the surface.

Oil has been gushing into the Gulf since April 20 when a Transocean Ltd drilling rig Deepwater Horizon licensed to BP exploded killing 11 workers.

To read the rest of the Yahoo! News article, please click on the link below.

BP cuts ruptured oil pipe with shears

This disaster is far from over though and will have serious repercussions for the environment and ecosystem and business in and around the Gulf of Mexico, BP (for causing the spill), and for the Obama Administration (which has been criticized for being slow to respond to the disaster).

I’m sure we will be hearing more about this oil spill for the next little while and it will serve as a lesson to future generations.

Posted in Conservation, Consumerism, Consumption, Energy, Environmental Issues, Environmentalism, Media Awareness, Social and Politics, Sustainability, Technology | Leave a comment

What physically separated bike lanes have done for Vancouver

Posted on June 3, 2010 by boywithnoname

Toronto is really in the middle of its own controversy surrounding bike lanes being built along Jarvis Street and more recently the proposed bike lanes along University Avenue (which recently got voted down due to councilor error).

Many view Toronto’s unrequited want of bike lanes as a slap in the face of drivers and more ammunition in the “war against cars”.

Vancouver has had quite the opposite experience with introducing road infrastructure to accommodate bicycles.  Last year, the city introduced a physically separated bicycle lane on one of its major bridges (Burrard Bridge).  And it is happy to note that cycling has increased by 30%.

Streetfilms.org put up a really great clip on its website to talk to individuals about how the bridge has changed the way people view cycling and cyclists. You can check out the video below.

I would definitely suggest checking out the Streetfilms.org website for a better quality video than the one that I posted here.

I think it’s great to see that both motorists and cyclists have been able to adjust rather well to the idea of a segregated bike lane on a bridge.  It’s hopefully something City Council can look at in Toronto and both citizens and Councilors will be able to work together to get something similar up and running in the not-to-distant future.

Posted in Bicycle, Cityscape, Environmental Issues, Environmentalism, Folding Bicycles, Public Spaces, Road Infrastructure, Travel, public transportation | 2 Comments

Doors Open Toronto 2010

Posted on June 1, 2010 by boywithnoname

This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to take part in Doors Open Toronto, which is a great free event that the city holds every year where selected buildings around the city are opened up to the public and they can learn more about the building’s history and architecture.

It is one of my favourite annual events held in the city and only wish that it ran over the course of a couple of weekends because there is just so much to see.

This year, I visited the City Hall Podium Green Roof, the City Hall Observation Deck, Moutain Equipment Co-op’s Green Roof, St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church, The Tank Lofts in the Distillery District, and the Tollkeeper’s Cottage.

I saw a lot of great stuff and learned quite a bit about the various buildings and snapped some great shots of the various buildings as well (like the one linked to above) of Toronto’s City Hall.

If you didn’t get a chance to participate in this year’s event. Be sure to mark your calenders for next year around the same time.  I think it’s a great event worth checking out.  And while it is difficult to see it all in two days, you can certainly try your best to see as much as you can.

Posted in Culture, Doors Open Toronto, Environmentalism, Museum, Pedestrians, Photography, Public Spaces, Sociological Corner, Sustainability, Toronto, Urban Exploring, Urban Spaces | 2 Comments