So, Al Gore is calling Canada’s climate change plan (Clean Air Act) “a complete and total fraud…designed to mislead the Canadian people,” while David Suzuki says it’s “a sham, and a complete abdication of our international commitment.” Meanwhile, in Nairobi, Canada “won” the international “Fossil Award” for “misleading” the world, “repudiating” the Kyoto Protocol and […]
And… we’re back.
I apologize for my absence, especially my insistence that it’s been May 1 for, oh, the last three days. I’ve been sick with a cold or flu or some such grossness, and when I get sick I basically just sleep. I have been sleeping for almost two days straight, with small jaunts to the loo […]
May day
It’s the first of May today, and while the date has several important associations (notably Beltane or the first day of summer in the pagan tradition) as a “socialist Canadian” (as I was once called while travelling in the States), I like to remember that it’s also May Day. I’m not going to take to […]
Urban Garden
(Say in creepy voice-over actor voice:) – Have you always wanted your own Versaille-style parterre but can’t afford the maintenance staff? – Do you love the idea of a bouncy castle but lack children to justify the purchase? With Tjep’s Urban Garden you get both parterre and bounciness all in one! The go-anywhere, inflatable Urban […]
Happy connections
I’m not big on logic. For example, I simultaneously reject the idea that there is a divine order to things, that we are “destined” to live out our lives in a predetermined way, yet I also somehow believe that everything happens for a reason. I fully acknowledge that I can’t defend this position. I’ve had […]
Teaching sustainability
Love it: Laura Secord School’s Mr. Burns: “Excellent! The more power you fools use, the richer I get!” I met Karen Wik one rainy night just over a month ago. I’d ducked into Famous Foods, the grocery store just a few minutes’ walk from my house (which, by some miraculous coincidence, is also an amazing […]
Go with the flow
I love the brilliant simplicity of John Arndt’s master’s thesis project, the Flow Kitchen. John designed the kitchen workstation to utilize natural processes (like gravity, evaporation, decomposition and growth) and create a symbiotic little ecosystem. The dishrack drains onto the herbs or other edibles stored below it. Food scraps go into a little cup that […]
Earth Day 2007
Happy Earth Day, dolls! How are you marking the occasion? (Yes, I know, we’re gardeners. Everyday is Earth Day. Right.) I’m heading down the road to the MOBY garden to do some cobbing. Let me explain. MOBY, or My Own Back Yard, is a very cool community garden project near the Commercial Drive skytrain station […]