Human-Powered Public Transportation? 2
Cycling is a healthy and sustainable method of transportation, but one of its limitations is that you’re susceptible to less-than-ideal weather conditions. What if you could cycle to work in any weather conditions without having to worry about your safety or comfort? Furthermore, what if you could cycle to work in a reclined, comfortable seat ...
Mountain Equipment Co-op Takes Home Gold 3
Mountain Equipment Co-op is known for its commitment to sustainability, but its new Burlington, Ontario store sets the bar high for retail store energy-efficiency. For a company that diverts 92% of its waste generated at its stores and offices by recycling, composting and donating, it’s difficult to raise the bar even higher. But MEC – ...
Middle-Aged Men Powering Through Midlife Crisis
Last Wednesday I returned from a 6-day canoe/portage trip in the interior of the 7,653 square kilometre Algonquin Park. Like most years, my trip to Algonquin Park contrasts that of other summer travel destinations. Last year I camped at Algonquin Park shortly after taking a vacation in California. Living with only the bare necessities ...
Eco-Living Tip: Dog Poop Bags 6
Eco-Living Tips is a special section on The Urban Country where we provide tips for our readers on how we can live a more sustainable, environmentally-friendly lifestyle. If you’re at all like myself, you become irked when people dispose of non bio-degradable materials into our trash bins. Plastic bags are one such item that frequently ...
Greenpeace Kleercut Campaign – 2004-2009
Photo courtesy of stopkleenex / Flickr Greenpeace has announced it is suspending its (almost) 5-year-long “Kleercut” campaign against Kimberly-Clark for its destruction of Canada’s Boreal forest to produce its tissue products. In a joint news conference, the two foes announced that they have finally come to terms with one another with Kimberly-Clark committing to help ...
With Glowing Hearts, We See Thee (temperature) Rise 1
Last Wednesday, Canada celebrated her 142nd birthday. A recent poll suggested that only 21% of Canadians knew how old their country was turning. If it isn’t bad enough that reportedly 4 percent of Canadians think that Canada is younger than 100-years-old, another recent study takes an even bigger dump on our beloved country. A 51-page ...
Living Off the Grid
Image ‘Wired-II’ courtesy of Buck Lewis on Flickr What do a solar backpack, a wind up lantern, a pedal-pump generator, and a rollable water-proof solar panel have in common? Firstly, they all provide sustainable energy “off the grid”, and secondly, they can all be purchased from a really neat website called Modern Outpost that I ...
Kayak Trip: T-Minus 14 days 4
It’s now official. During the wee hours of 13 July 2009, I will set forth on a solo 560KM kayak journey from Toronto to Montreal to raise money for Noah’s Ark home for children in the Philippines. If you would like to support this cause, please pledge an amount of your choosing by either e-mailing ...
Adventures of the Past, Present and Future
It’s 30 degrees Celsius – the wind is blowing in my face, and bugs are splattered across my goggles as I cruise along the Trans Canada Highway. It’s September 2004 and I’m on a solo motorcycle epic adventure that took me 4,712.5KM on my Yamaha XT 225cc enduro motorcycle to explore 5 provinces in just ...
NASCAR’s Environment 4
Photo by James Schwartz / The Urban Country – Jeff Gordon’s long-lost brother If rush-hour traffic levels are an indicator of economic prosperity, then Detroit is in very poor shape. I traveled through the Motor City on Friday at 5:30PM expecting a flood of cars leaving the city at the end of the work day ...