Category Archives: Sustainability

Sustainability, Technology

Working So Hard I Overheated! ;-)

Too many things on the go! About half an hour ago a guy from the gas company knocked on the door to say that they had replaced the gas meter (we’d gotten notice a few weeks ago this would happen). He said he’d like to come in and relight the furnace, the water heater, and any other gas appliances.

We keep the house at 18C in the daytime in our mild winters here, so I hadn’t even noticed that the furnace was off.

As part of the relighting he asked me to jack the thermostat way up so that the furnace would kick in.

He left, I got back to work… And mindlessly took my sweatshirt off and continued working in just a T-shirt. And awhile later I was getting more irritated by how bloody hot it was…

And it still took another ten minutes for it to sink in that I’d left the thermostat at 26C!

OK, furnace is off, back to work.

Business, Society, Sustainability

Restore Canada Rocks!

Thank you Restore Canada, Burnaby location.

The used office chair I bought from you three or four years ago for, if I recall, C$20, died.

So on my way home from dropping off a bunch of stuff at the Burnaby Recycle Center I stopped by your store and picked up a “new” office chair for C$10. Not quite as swanky as the last one, but it still has adjustable height, adjustable arms, lockable back tilt, etc.

Deal!

Business, Nature, Streamkeeping, Sustainability

BC Govt Steps Up to Protect Our Water. Huh?

So according to an article entitled “No more free water for bottlers in BC” in Business in Vancouver, and another in the Globe & Mail, BC will start charging commercial bottlers for water now taken freely from the commons, put in plastic bottles, and sold.

Yes, our water will now be sold to commercial bottlers for $2.25 per million litres. Ouch, that’s gotta hurt.

That means bottlers like Nestle will now pay 0.00022 cents per litre.  In case you have trouble seeing the decimal point, that’s “point zero zero zero two two” cents per litre.

Er, how much does Nestle charge for a litre of bottled water?

Streamkeeping, Sustainability, Technology

City of Burnaby Adopts Progressive, Green Design Standards for Town Centre Streets

The City of Burnaby’s new design standards for streets in its four town centres look interesting. Lots of green including rain gardens. Hope this progresses quickly, as we need all the rainwater infiltration that we can get to keep our urban streams as healthy as possible. Infiltration naturally filters pollution and reduces peak flows.

See the document here.

Business, Society, Sustainability

National Energy Board Shoots Self in Foot Before Taking a Step

You can’t make this stuff up.

Business in Vancouver reported in an article today:

The staff at the NEB’s new regional office will focus on communications work, community engagement and assist with operations, according to a press release.

The NEB did not respond to multiple requests for interviews.

Boy, that’s a great start for an operation tasked with communication and community engagement!

Nature, Photography, Streamkeeping, Sustainability, Travel

Speaking Twice at SEP 2015 Stewardship Workshop in May

I’ve been asked to take part in two presentations at the SEP 2015 British Columbia stewardship community workshop in May.

One will be on event and documentary photography, with an emphasis on using photos for effective communication and engagement, be it in paper publications or online. The other is a panel on engaging youth in stewardship activities. Should be fun!

SEP 2015 will take place in Port Alberni, BC, May 15-17, 2015.

More information about the workshop will be posted to this website as details firm up.

Nature, Sustainability

Upcoming Nature Walks in Burnaby, BC

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There are several nature walks coming up over the next few months in Burnaby, BC, parks. You can sign up here:

http://www.Burnaby.ca/webreg

I have been on walks with birder George Clulow (check out his excellent nature blog here), and with species-at-risk specialist Pam Zevit (South Coast Conservation Program).  I don’t think I’ve had the opportunity to participate on a tour with Greg Ferguson yet, but here’s one of the interesting things he’s working on – The British Columbia Swallow Conservation Project.

burnaby nature walks

Pets, Photography, Sustainability

Lighting the Fire

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We don’t use our fireplace much because it’s gas-fueled, and is not very efficient. Most of the heat goes up the stack, with little going into the house. For years we’ve aimed to rectify that, but other reno priorities always win the budgetary battle.

So we light the pilot light for only a couple of weeks each year, from near Christmas to New Year’s.

Here are two of my girls, my wife and cat, enjoying the fireplace. The third girl, the turtle, was under her broad spectrum lamp.

Yumi Choco fireplace

Society, Sustainability

Two Adult, No Kids Xmas Shopping

Two adult, no kids Christmas shopping.

Wife: “I know what I want, I’ll show you on Amazon.”

Me: “It says it won’t arrive until mid-January.”

Wife: “That’s fine.”

I’ve already given her some funny Ts that I bought for myself so she can wrap them for me.

And yes, we reuse wrapping paper from year to year within our household, until it gets too ratty, and then the cat gets to play with it before it goes in the paper recycling bin.

As I’ve posted in years past, there’s not much that we want, and less that we need. In our horrendously over-consuming society, we decided years ago that we each inform the other of one or two gifts that we want, and will actually use.

Takes some of the fun out, but we allow surprise stocking stuffing, and a few minor, dollar-store type gifts of under $10 that come from “Santa” under the tree, often to both of us .