Your Footprint

"Out of sight, out of mind" goes the old saying, and we know that it is largely true. Of course, we have friendly reminders, like grandparents who remind you that there are children starving in Ethiopia, so clean your plate young man!

On a grander scale, though, the old adage still holds true. Cities can take up a lot of space, and you can fit a lot of people in them, but the ecological impact of all those people is hardly limited to the geographical boundaries of that city.

Even your own household. What must we think when we are kids and we throw garbage away? Where does it go? For all intents and purposes, once the garbage bag is tossed in the garbage truck and whisked away, it has blinked out of existence altogether. But of course that's not true, and the same goes for the resources we intake, and the wastes we pour out.

The idea of an 'Ecological Footprint' is to try and remember that our households affects the environment far beyond everyday experience.

Go to myfootprint.org, and find out what your ecological footprint is. Then, head over to this website to find out your lifestyle footprint. In your blog, post the results of your footprints so everyone can check it out, and suggest some ways that you might be able to reduce your footprint.

Canadian Carbon Tax

Another tax!?!? Awwwwwwww... :(

Ok, hilarity aside, Canada has been tossing around the idea of a 'Carbon Tax' in the House of Commons, lately. But the Conservatives, and their minister of the environment, the Hon. John Baird are certainly making it clear that they do NOT support a carbon tax! David McGuinty (yes, THAT McGuinty... he's the brother of Ontario premiere Dalton McGuinty) exchanged some words with Mr. Baird, to which he responded:

"We don't sit around the cabinet dreaming up ways to increase taxes," Baird said, taking a shot at McGuinty's brother, Dalton, who is premier of Ontario. "That's certainly more common in the McGuinty family than the Harper cabinet."

Despite what the politicians say, the economists are now weighing on this issue. The Globe and Mail reports that Don Drummond, chief economist of Toronto-Dominion Bank, has released a report that states he believes a well-designed carbon tax is the answer to Canada's pollution woes. But he doesn't just think that a tax should be thrown out there as a disincentive tactic. He states that it should be "revenue neutral", and would shift tax to other areas, rather than just being another money grab by the government.

So what do you think? Is it a good idea? In your blog, make a post that summarizes your opinion of a carbon tax here in Canada and why you think it is a good, or bad idea. Be sure to support your opinion with at least 3 links to other websites!

Parasitic Energy

Let's face it, we take the energy available to us for granted. Although we grumble at the pumps when paying ever increasing prices for gasoline in order to move us around, at the same time, many people spend hours a week on stationary exercise machines, frittering away precious energy in order to burn off the excess energy from the food we consume.

In Hong Kong, one person is doing something about it. By hooking up the gym equipment to a battery, the gym is able to harness the energy produced by its customers in order to power the lights and tv's!

Not only that, but some people have plans to utilize energy produced by people in their everyday lives in creative ways. Devices that capture the energy of a person in their everyday, regular routines has been dubbed 'Parasitic' generators. Pretty cool!

Read all about it here.

A Little TOO ‘Inconvenient’?

Al Gore accepted the oscar during the Academy Awards with a speech that reiterates something he says in his documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’: “This is not a political issue, but a moral issue.”

Al Gore has certainly hit the spot light with his crusade to enlighten people about the looming danger of global warming. But not everyone is jumping on the green bandwagon and going out to buy solar panels, hybrid cars, and plant trees as a result of his movie.

The Christian Science Monitor calls ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ a ‘Docuganda’. From the Urban Dictionary:

"A film that uses documentary style to spread propaganda. Usually, docuganda will set out a premise and then attack any skeptics, rather than actually attempt to prove the case. The effect is that you either agree with the premise or you look like a fool. The word was specifically coined to refer to UFO "documentaries," ; such as "In Search Of," which provide anecdotal evidence for a phenomenon, draw a conclusion based on that evidence, and then attack any possible competing conclusions."

But you may argue, is that so wrong? So what if Al Gore’s documentary is one-sided? Sometimes, in order to correct social behaviour, you need to over-emphasize to get people to take action. It certainly seems to be working judging by the cultural influences it is having in North America.

How did ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ (AIT) affect you? Do you accept what it is telling you? Or is there more to the story? What should you believe?

Post on your blog:

1. How did you feel after seeing AIT?
2. Find 2 references that support AIT, and explain how they do (provide links).
3. Find 2 reference that criticize AIT, and explain why they do (provide links).
4. Do you think AIT is a docuganda?
   

Environmental News

Need a good website to find the latest environment and resource related news? The Environmental News Network (er, sorry, its the new Environmental News Network now) posts daily on stories from around the world on environment related topics. It even has a e-newsletter you can subscribe to, and organizes stories into 'channels' based on subject i.e. 'Animals & Ecosystems' or 'Energy & Natural Resources'. This website is an excellent resource for secondary sources when doing research.

One of today's stories for example is how Australia is now switching to a system that no longer allows incandescent light bulbs. The only light bulbs available for people to buy will be compact fluorescent light bulbs. This is an interesting move; Australia's environment minister Malcolm Turnbull states that this should reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 800,000 tonnes by 2012. Despite this, Australia still shows no interest in signing up for the Kyoto protocol.

Did January Seem Warm to You?

Ok,
We all remember December. A 'Green Christmas' was on everyone's lips, and you could argue that the unseasonably warm weather we experienced before holidays was part of the reason that the environment and global warming has 'suddenly' become a major concern to the public.

But didn't all that warm weather suddenly end in January? Didn't we have a return to seasonal temperatures? Didn't temperatures actually go below the seasonal averages?

Perhaps locally it did, but gobally, last January was the warmest on record! This map shows that the greatest temperature anomalies occured mostly in Asia, which contributed to the above average global temperature.

Does this mean global warming is a fact? Perhaps there are other reasons for this warming trend? Read the article in the above link, and post your opinion on global warming. Also, what is the NOAA? And what is this 'Goldilocks Effect'?

Incentives? Where??

We’ve discussed this week the idea that in order to get people to change their lifestyles, they need to be ‘motivated’ using incentives or disincentives. So what incentives does our government currently offer us?

There are quite a few, actually! But the problem is that few people know about them. However, if you go to the following website: www.incentivesandrebates.ca, you can search through a database of all the current programs offered by the government of Ontario designed to help Canadians use more renewable sources, or less non-renewable sources.

1. Search the database for incentives and rebates currently offered in Ontario.

2. Pick 4 incentives that you think are particularly effective.

3. Summarize each program in a blog entry.

4. Explain what you like about each incentive, and what you think is particularly effective about them.

5. Be sure to include links to www.incentivesandrebates.ca, as well as to the incentives you chose so people who read your blog can find them for more information!

In addition, check out this article on how reducing consumption, and going green is starting to become 'trendy'!


Mr. Holmes