Sustainable Commuting: the Bicycle

Here’s my latest contribution to blogTO entitled Sustainable Commuting: the Bicycle, excerpt:

“The bicycle is the most efficient means of human-powered transportation, meaning it can travel the most distance with the least amount of energy exerted. Invented in the 19th century, bikes take up very little space, they're quiet, and they don't pollute. In Toronto, there are few faster ways to get around the city. Safety, however, has always been an impediment to potential cyclists with our lack of bike lanes and the "door prizes" that Toronto drivers periodically hand out.”

Photo “Bicycle Race” courtesy of Tony the Misfit on Flickr

Clean Energy – Circa 1970

Sketch it! is a fun section on The Urban Country where we feature random napkin sketches from our resident sketch artist and writer, George Pechtol (Against his will).

Today’s sketch features what we thought was clean energy in 1970.

Finding Mecca in the Toronto Islands

Birds are chirping and the water splashes as I look at the horizon to see the Toronto city skyline contrasting the nature that surrounds me. In the heart of the city, a mere harbour away from the CN Tower, the Toronto Islands provide a Mecca that feels a world away from the automobiles, pollution and the noises of the city.

Instead of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for a cottage that requires you to sit in your polluting automobile for 3 hours each way, I can walk to the harbour, jump in my kayak and arrive at this summer getaway in 20 minutes or less. Did you know that the Toronto islands comprise the largest urban car-free community in North America?

Read more »

The Future of Online Advertising

Dictionary.com's new homepage layout captures what online advertisers have been struggling with since the beginning of the Internet: to advertise effectively without impeding users.

Newspapers have been coping for years with the decline of print circulation. Most people get their news online and newspapers haven’t been able to generate the same level of revenue with their online readers.

Read more »

Fallen Leaves as Sustainable Food Packaging

McDonalds could learn a thing or two from the Chinese about sustainable food packaging.

This delicious dim sum dish consists of steamed glutinous rice filled with chicken, mushrooms, sausage, scallions and shrimp. It’s called “Nuo mi ji” in Chinese (Mandarin) or “Lo mai gai” in Cantonese and it’s nicely packaged inside a lotus leaf wrapping. Although the Chinese have been serving this dish for a very long time, in modern times it illustrates an interesting opportunity for sustainable food packaging. I can’t think of a better way to package food than to wrap it inside a fallen leaf. Where I live at least, leaves aren’t going away anytime soon and nothing is worse than seeing 16 bags of full of fallen leaves inside those big orange plastic garbage bags headed for the landfill.

Read more »

Urban Motor Home

The Urban Motor Home challenges the conventional SUV to a duel

Life in the city is easy without an automobile; it’s healthy and refreshing to commute to work by foot, and I can travel most places I need to on a daily basis fuelled on peanut butter and jelly. There are however special occasions when having a car can be both convenient and advantageous.

Read more »

Carpooling with Twitter

While driving on the highway yesterday I had a thought. Wouldn’t it be nice if there weren’t so many cars on the road with so many empty seats?

 

Wouldn’t it be cool if you could easily find someone heading to the same destination as you to carpool with? Well Twitter could be the tool that makes this a reality. Who would have guessed that twitter could help us reduce our impact on the environment?

Read more »

Medical Marijuana: Rights over Reason?

In May 2005, legal pot smoker Steve Gibson was asked to leave the premises of Gator Ted’s restaurant in Burlington Ontario.

Since then, Gator Ted’s owner Ted Kindos has been battling Gibson; mounting tens of thousands of dollars in court legal bills with his business on the line.

Gibson received a medical certificate to smoke marijuana in 2004 to help ease the neck pain he experiences as a result of a 1989 accident that occurred at his job in Mississauga. Gibson has been living off a disability pension since.

After the confrontation in 2005, Gibson went to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, claiming he was discriminated against because of his disability. Gibson won against bar owner Kindos, who was only acting on complaints from his patrons.

Read more »

Cherry Blossoms & Unexpectedly Friendly Geese

Spring is in full swing, summer is nigh, and the cherry blossoms in Toronto’s beautiful High Park are a sight to see. We cycled to the 398 acre park along the Martin Goodman trail to see the beautiful Japanese trees blossoming.

Read more »