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Trash Talk: Toronto City Hall loses to Lobbyists 4

(Photo by markolson on Flikr) Trash Talk is a special section where we expose the unnecessary waste that is generated by companies so that the urban country staff and readers can speak out to make a difference. March 17th marks a crucial blow to the credibility of Toronto City Hall in its battle against Food ...

Earth Hour: Waste of time? 8

Earth Hour 2009 takes place this Saturday from 8:30PM to 9:30PM. Is Earth Hour a great way to save energy and promote sustainable living? Or is it perhaps just a waste of time and causing an unnecessary spike on our electricity circuits? Earth Hour originated in Australia in 2007 but quickly expanded to 35 countries ...

Trash Talk: Toronto Rock Waste 2

Trash Talk is a special section where we expose the unnecessary waste that is generated by companies so that the urban country staff and readers can speak out to make a difference. At the end of the Toronto Rock lacrosse game I attended yesterday evening, I was appalled when I came to realize that the ...

Pushing the limits of Human Power 3

Spring has arrived; and with it comes the anticipation of summer activities such as biking and kayaking (for myself anyway). I wanted to share the amazing story of Calgary adventurer and super-athlete, the 48-year-old Greg Kolodziejzyk from AdventuresOfGreg.com. On July 17th 2006, Greg set 2 world records: The first for the most distance travelled in ...

Light Switch that Resists 1

Imagine this: A light switch that is more difficult to turn on when your home is consuming a lot of energy. You walk around your house and turn off all 5 of your TVs, go back to the light switch, and the switch is now easy to turn on. Novel idea? Or just a silly ...

The Green Team 3

At the office I’m a proud member of the unofficial “Green Team”. Our Office Green Team consists of some out-of-the-closet greens, in-the-closet greens, passive greens, gentle greens, you name it. I’m known as the idealistic, grumpy green who gives co-workers a hard time whenever they wittingly causing harm to the environment. One act of wastefulness ...

Sustainable Commuting 4

Excerpt from my blogTO article: “When it comes to commuting to work, we have many options to choose from. We can drive to work, take public transit, telecommute, walk, bike, rollerblade, skateboard, fly, take a train, ride a bus. The list goes on and on. At different points in my life I’ve experienced most of ...

Hand Washing vs. Dishwashers 5

The other day I was challenged by my buddy George about whether Dishwashers are more harmful to the environment than washing dishes by hand. My first instinct was that a full dishwasher would use less water than washing by hand because washing by hand seems inefficient since most people leave the water running and clean ...

Being Dutch = Being Green? 2

Growing up with a Dutch Mother explains a lot about my principles of simple living and reducing waste. We knew how to make the most out of everything and throw away very little. A recent e-mail forward from my Mom helps explain a lot about what living “green” is all about. I’ve extracted out all ...

The Low-Salt Diet 1

I love winter in Canada. It’s my second favourite season of the year (next to the spring/summer/fall season that is). I love hockey, I love the snow, and nothing beats relaxing in a nice warm home with an ice cold beer on a cold winter day. Winter helps me appreciate warm weather. If I didn’t ...