Category Archives: Sustainability

Business, Sustainability, Technology, Travel

Consequences of Car Crash Drag on for Weeks

A fellow ran a stop sign and T-boned our car nearly two weeks ago, and the recovery process is still dragging on. Thankfully it’s “recovery” as in getting life back to normal, not “recovery” as in being injured. I was fine, but our trusty 1998 Subaru Outback ended up being written off by the insurance company.

Dealings with the Insurance Corporation of BC have been great. Staff have been calm, courteous and helpful. While we’re not happy that it was decided to write our vehicle off, we understand there’s not much to be done for a nearly 20-year-old car, no matter how well we’d maintained it over the years. Unfortunately, we’re unlikely to get more than a few thousand dollars for it, but we’ll push for the most. I’m collating maintenance records, and bills of recent purchases of value like snow tires, new battery, etc.

Our insurance for replacement vehicle coverage will run out this week, so we have to get on with getting a new(er) car. ICBC extended the rental coverage by nearly a week because they’ve been inundated and haven’t provided us with a buyout yet.

So we’re shopping for a new vehicle, and while that’s exciting in some ways, it’s also stressful. All sorts of decisions to make like new vs used, cash vs finance vs lease, etc.

We’re pretty much settled on what we want. I want another AWD (all-wheel drive) vehicle. I loved the Subbie’s performance in winter conditions. My wife wants a hybrid, and unfortunately Subaru has none available in Canada.

You put “hybrid” and “AWD” together, and the result is Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, for the most part. There may be a few others that fit those parameters, but they’re too big  or even more expensive.

We test drove a 2018 RAV4 Hybrid yesterday, and it seemed huge compared to our old Outback.  Mind you a new Outback is also huge compared to the models several generations ago.

We’ve also considered used RAV4s, but it appears you’d save at most three or four thousand dollars if getting a recent “Certified Used” hybrid, so why not go new and get a full warranty, more financing options, etc.

Looking forward to getting this all settled as soon as possible!

98 Outback towed away
Saying goodbye to our faithful companion of nearly 20 years.

Lots of memories associated with this car.

Both of my late parents were still alive when we got it. It transported hutches, dining room tables, coffee tables, armchairs. . .

My wife and I did dozens of trips across western Canada over the years. Many camping and canoeing trips. . . North as far as Kitimat, west to Tofino and Long Beach, east as far as Brandon, south as far as LA and Joshua Tree. . .

Sustainability

Fashion? Me?

Some time ago several of us were chatting on FB about fashion, and its potentially hugely negative impact on the environment. I mentioned that in our little family, I wear stuff until it’s threadbare, and my wife does most of her clothes shopping at thrift stores.

As I was working in my home office today, it occurred to me that what I’m wearing at the moment is an excellent example. It’s a Russell Athletics sweatshirt that I bought at Oshman’s Harajuku in Tokyo over 20 years ago. This has been one tough sweatshirt!

 Paul Russell Athletics sweatshirt
Fishing, Nature, Photography, Streamkeeping, Sustainability

More Coho Dying Unspawned on Byrne Ck in Burnaby

Volunteers with the Byrne Creek Streamkeepers Society are seeing more coho prespawn mortality this season. That’s when coho that return to spawn die before they can do so.

This has been a recurring problem on the creek over the years, and is likely due to polluted road wash that carries contaminants into the water. There are ongoing studies in Washington State that point to a toxic brew of contaminants in stormwater as being lethal to coho, which seem particularly susceptible to it.

male prespawn mortality coho
We found this coho male today

female prespawn mortality coho
And this coho female full of eggs a couple of days ago

We get so few coho back to Byrne Creek that we treasure every one, and it’s so sad to see them die without completing their life cycle.

We desperately need to infiltrate water washed off from roads and parking lots into the ground through swales and rain gardens. The ground acts as a natural filter. Yet the Byrne Creek watershed in Burnaby, BC, is seeing more and more ground paved over despite hundreds of hours of professional and public input into Stormwater Management Plans and a recent Environmental Sustainability Strategy.

Note that it is illegal to interfere with spawning salmon. Streamkeepers have training and permission to process dead salmon to collect data on species, size, spawning status, etc. We return the carcasses to the creek after processing as they provide food and nutrients to other fish, animals and the overall ecosystem.

UPDATE (Dec. 7, 2017): More research coming from the US northwest. 

Fishing, Nature, Streamkeeping, Sustainability

Reveling at the Chill, the Rain

Gotta go to sleep, early shift tomorrow, but hearing what sounds like a few drops outside my window in south #Burnaby makes me happy.

Yes, I’m happy at the chill in the air, and the looming precipitation. Rain means salmon are coming. . .

All ya folks out there sad at the rain and the dark, get thee back outside, and feel, touch, smell the season.

Autumn is glorious, especially here in the lower mainland of BC.

Nighty night.

Food, Nature, Photography, Sustainability

Mason Bee Reveal Shows ‘Profit’

We unrolled the paper tubes we’d set out over the summer, and opened the unit with plastic trays.

Excited to not only “preserve our capital” but notch a “profit” of a dozen cocoons. Our location in a townhouse with only a high balcony on which to set out bee houses is not the best, so we were happy with this year’s results!

Paper tubes rolled from the Burnaby Now proved to be much more attractive than plastic trays.


The supervisor was having trouble seeing the action and was meowking indignantly around our feet, so we eventually let her on the table, where she soon fell asleep .

mason bee cocoon harvesting