How is Environment Canada managed?

So, in the news today are stories about oilsands tailings showing up in groundwater and river water
(see http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/oilsands-study-confirms-tailings-found-in-groundwater-river-1.2545089)

Yet, when I went to the Environment Canada website there was nothing on the splashpage that referred to this work.

It's like the government is trying to avoid any stories that go against the oil industry as it is the economic driver for the economy at the current time.  This to me is short sighted and living in British Columbia, this dependence on the oil and gas industry strikes close to home with the proposed LNG developments.

It's all about the short term gains but the long term effects seem to be disregarded.  The environment is being put at risk because of the water needed for hydraulic fracturing, the issues of pipeline construction, and the push for more electrical power which is require for the compression of natural gas.

Things are getting scary and we need to figure out how to live with less before we back ourselves into a corner and face chaotic times.

Cesare Marchetti

So, in the planning seminars I have attended in the last few months, there has been reference to something called the Marchetti Constant.  This referred to the distance that humans are willing to travel to get to work, or simply travel during the day which is a one hour per day.  Thus, original cities were designed to accommodate how far someone could walk in an hour.  As different modes of travel emerged, cities got bigger, but still tot he limit of one hour.

Planners use this constant in determining how far a car or public transportation can get someone.  Thus, when things go beyond a thirty minute commute, efforts are made to reduce travel time.

[I am editing this soon after waking so some of the sentences may not make complete sense yet.]

Interestingly Cesare Marchetti only came up with this observation in the mid 1990's and published a paper titled Anthropological Invariants in Travel Behavior.  Technological Forecasting and Social Change 47: 75-88.
http://www.cesaremarchetti.org/archive/scan/MARCHETTI-052.pdf


He did based part of his work on the research of Yacob Zahavi.  Zahavi did his work for the U.S. Department of Transportation and the World Bank in the late1970s and early 1980s.

This article from Atlantic Cities provides a better account of Marchetti's work:
For Pedestrians, Cities Have Become the Wilderness

I should have been an urban planner, perhaps in another life.

Urban Planning is fascinating as it involves elements of sustainability that for me did not connect right away.   I have been following this field more closely in the past while I realize it's a critical element for creating a sustainable society.

This talk by Vishaan Chakrabarti discussing cities and how the way the Americans have designed cities in the past and how they need to be designed to make cities more livable.

Interesting publication about Livable Streets

The Wellesley Institute has a couple publications on building healthier cities:

• Building Population Health Into Municipal Policy

• Getting to Know the Built Environment as a Complex System

Part of the issue is that more than half the world's population lives in cities.  If we do not design our cities in a sustainable fashion then we are dooming ourselves.  Elements such as social activities, green space, transit and having a walkable city are important.  Planners play an important role in ensuring that cities include these elements but is also important that individuals understand the importance of these elements.

As civic elections are coming this year to the Metro Vancouver region make sure you carefully research the candidates to see who supports making your city more livable.  Allowing further developments with cul-de-sacs far away from transit or other amenities such as stores, schools, and medical offices isn't livable.  Developments that require someone to drive should be highly discouraged if we want to be able to have a region that isn't clogged with traffic 12 hours a day, every day of the week.

Linux at last works for me!

For the past decade I've been wanting to try Linux on my computer but I have had a herky jerky relationship with distros, mounting files, CLIs, debian, red hat, penguins and the such.

I can strip a computer down and build it up again but unless the OS came on an easy to use CD with a user friendly GUI, I tended to stay clear of it.  This was the case for early Linux distributions that I tried.  I didn't have the knowledge base to mess around with the CLI to try to get a video card working or connect to the internet.  And realistically the material online was basically techies talking to techies.  I could have learned it but had so many other things going on in my life at the time that I kept putting it off.

Only in the past couple weeks have I successfully found much easier to use distributions that I have actually got loaded and running on my computer.  I'm impressed how easy it is to use and how well it recognized all the equipment on the computer - video card, screen resolution, internet (wired and wireless) and sound card.

What really gets me is I bought an old P4 system (with hyperthreading) off Craigslist for $60 on which the previous owner had installed Windows 8.  Interestingly Windows 8 runs well on this old P4 system but it did not recognize the older Wireless G adapter.  Yet when I installed the Mint 16 version of Linux, it recognized it and had it running with no problem.

The system fires up well, I can access youtube and it doesn't drag like a Windows system.  I really have nothing against Windows but the search for drivers was always a problem and the constant updating was frustrating at times.  I'm going to give Linux a big thumbs up for working so well on technology that would be well past its due date in the Windows world.  And in this web based world where Google Chromebooks are actually making a tiny dent in the market, I see no problem with giving new life to an old computer that allows me to do basic web tasks.  A bonus is this distribution also has a version of Libre Office which allows me interactivity with the MS Office suite.

Now, I'm not saying this will work for everyone as it took a bit of wrangling for me but it is much, much easier than it was ten years ago.  I doubt Linux will ever take off and become a major player in the computer world but the dedicated and loyal following it has will ensure it will remain a viable option.

Where to find the news on sustainability issues.

Tired of trying to find my bookmarks on different computers, I have decided to compile an easier to access list of websites, blogs, and other resources that contain information about environmental, sustainability, collaboration resources and news.

I would ask that you submit any resources that may be useful.
----------
Next City - Inspiring Better Cities

EMBARQ
http://www.embarq.org/

EMBARQ’s mission is to catalyze and help implement sustainable transport solutions to improve quality of life in cities.

Since 2002, the EMBARQ network has expanded to Mexico, Brazil, China, India, Turkey and the Andean Region, collaborating with local transport authorities to reduce pollution, improve public health, and create safe, accessible and attractive urban public spaces. The network employs more than 120 experts in fields ranging from architecture to air quality management; geography to journalism; and sociology to civil and transport engineering.

Forum for the Future - action for a sustainable world
http://www.forumforthefuture.org/

European Climate Foundation
http://europeanclimate.org/


David Suzuki Foundation


GreenBiz


Guardian Sustainable Business


On Earth


The Tyee


Stanford Program on Social Entrepreneurship


Stanford Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law


Pembina Institute

• "The Pembina Institute is an organization unlike any other working to protect Canada's environment today.  We combine the research and technical capacity of a think tank with the values and advocacy of an environmental NGO and the entrepreneurial and business sense of a for-profit consulting firm.  This equips us with a unique ability to employ multi-facted and highly collaborative approaches to change."
• "Leading the transition to a clean energy future is no small task, and it requires advancing solutions to today's energy challenges from various angles.  The Pembina Institute has spent close to three decades working to reduce the environmental impacts of Canada's energy production and use in several key areas."

Sustainability Solutions Group


Light House

• Light House is a not-for-profit company dedicated to advancing green building and the sustainable infrastructure and economic systems into which green buildings are intrinsically integrated.

Board of Change


Transition Network

Transition Network is a charitable organisation whose role is to inspire, encourage, connect, support and train communities as they self-organise around the Transition model, creating initiatives that rebuild resilience and reduce CO2 emissions. 

Ultimately it’s about creating a healthy human culture, one that meets our needs for community, livelihoods and fun.  We’re here to support you.

We run events, conferences, trainings, blogs, webinars. We produce  monthly newsletters, books, films, guides, tweets, and more,  all with the intention of best supporting those around the world who are doing Transition.


National Geographic - The Great Energy Challenge


Wellesley Institute

The Wellesley Institute is a Toronto-based non-profit and non-partisan research and policy institute. We focus on developing research, policy and community mobilization to advance population health.

Vision: A healthier and more equitable Greater Toronto Area for all.

Mission: Advance population health and reduce health inequities by driving change on the so­cial determinants of health through applied research, effective policy solutions, knowledge mobilization, and innovation, and assisting communities to mobilize around health choices.

The Atlantic Cities website has articles relating to transportation and neighborhoods which are relevant to urban planning and a healthy built environment.

University of Michigan - Center for Sustainable Systems

Mission

The Center for Sustainable Systems advances concepts of sustainability through interdisciplinary research and education. CSS collaborates with diverse stakeholders to develop and apply life cycle based models and sustainability metrics for systems that meet societal needs. CSS promotes tools and knowledge that support the design, evaluation, and improvement of complex systems.

Vision

The University of Michigan’s Center for Sustainable Systems at the School of Natural Resources and Environment will be a global leader in systems-based approaches to sustainability through creative and effective teaching and research.

Values

Fundamental to the Center’s success in accomplishing its mission and realizing its vision are the values in which we believe and practice:

• Applying systems analysis to establish metrics
• Promoting change through education and communication
• Restoring and enhancing ecosystem health, structure and function
• Meeting basic needs with inter- and intra-generational equity
• Valuing ecologically and socially sustainable systems in the marketplace
• Using nature as a model
• Using interdisciplinary, multi-objective approaches and multi-stakeholder participation

Ceres (www.ceres.org)

Ceres is an advocate for sustainability leadership. Ceres mobilizes a powerful network of investors, companies and public interest groups to accelerate and expand the adoption of sustainable business practices and solutions to build a healthy global economy.

Our mission is to mobilize investor and business leadership to build a thriving, sustainable global economy.

Tree Hugger (http://www.treehugger.com/)


Sapiens (http://sapiens.revues.org/)
This is an online journal that focuses on integrating knowledge to foster advances in sustainability.

ICMA

--> – International City/County Management Association

Based in Washington DC

CMA, the International City/County Management Association, advances professional local government worldwide. The organization’s mission is to create excellence in local governance by developing and fostering professional management to build better communities.

ICMA identifies leading practices to address the needs of local governments and professionals serving communities globally.

I never got the money

A few years back I got one of those emails saying I had won a lottery.  I responded on a whim to see what would happen.

Sadly I must report that I was never sent a cheque.

My brief correspondence is copied below:



IRISH LOTTERY WINNER
1 message

---

Vogt, Joann	Wed, Nov 28, 2007 at 4:34 PM
Attn: Winner,      ONLINE NOTIFICATION OF WINNING The IRISH LOTTERY, wishes to congratulate you on your success as one of our Ten(10) Star Prize Winner for the Xmas and new year bonanza. International Awareness Promotion (IAP) held in London. This makes you the proud owner of a prize of 1,000.000.00 Pounds (ONE MILLION POUNDS STERLING). To begin processing of your prize. Contact claims officer via below informations: Mr Walter Blakes Phone:  +447045731465 E-mail:  irishlotteryboard.claims@yahoo.com.hk Contact him, with your, Serial No: S/N-00167, Ticket Number: 564 75359565-188 Also provide listed informations: Names:   Address:  Sex: Marital Status: Age:  Occupation: Phone no: Country: Congratulations once again from all members of our staff Yours Sincerely, Mr. GREY LINPSON. +++++++++ Irish Lottery 1 message wes wong Thu, Nov 29, 2007 at 12:22 PM To: irishlotteryboard.claims@yahoo.com.hk But here's the information you requested for Serial No: S/N-00167, Ticket Number: 564 75359565-188. Name: B. Lo Mee Address:  666 Satan Drive, Denver, Colorado 80290, USA Sex: daily Marital Status: married, with 7 wives Occupation: Professional Wrestler Phone: (502) 491-6300 ---------------------------------------------------------- Funny how the Irish Lottery Board would be using a yahoo account. Figure if you're going to waste my time, I'd return the favor ++++++++++ CONTACT DELIVERY COMPANY 1 message Lottery Board Irish Thu, Nov 29, 2007 at 7:02 PM To: vancouverwes@gmail.com 2007 Winner The Lottery Department P O Box 101011 G Lower Dorset Street,Dublin 1, Ireland (Customer Services Dear B. Lo Mee How are you doing today? I am in receipt of your mail and I must say that you Should count yourself extremely lucky to have emerged as one of our winners in  This year孍 lucky deep sweepstakes. Each email address was attached to a ticket Number. Your email address (vancouverwes@gmail.com) was selected along with others as winners A certificate of prize claims and some vital documents will be sent along side your winnings cheque. The documents to be sent are; 1. WINNING CERTIFICATE. 2. WINNERS CHEQUE 3. CLEAR SOURCE OF FUNDS CERTIFICATES (C.S.F.C.); 4. CERTIFICATES OF ORIGIN OF FUNDS (C.O.F.). world wide premier courier delivery has been contracted to deliver your Winning package to your location. Contact the courier company with the contact information below for further instructions on how to send the consignment to your location. Below are the contact details of world wide premier courier delivery and your bank transfer contacts. Choose any of your delivery optionsourier delivery . Contact  one of these options that are given to you. Contact:Mr.Lawson Anderson (TEL +447045765501 E-mail:worldwide.premiercourierdelivery@yahoo.com.hk OR BANK TRANSFER Bank Manager's name:CHRISTOPHER PRESTO (TEL +447045765551 Email: mr.mathewpresto_yorkshirebank@yahoo.com.hk Please do fill this form and send it to any of the option you choosed to be your mode of delivery. Name: Age: Marital Status: Country: Sex: Do contact the courier company and make proper arrangement for the delivery of your  winning cheque. Please note that we have already forwarded your contact address and  phone number to the courier company Warm Regards, (FIDUCIARY AGENT).                  Yahoo! 網上安全攻略，教你如何防範黑客! 了解更多 ++++++++++ RE: irish lottery 1 message wes wong Fri, Nov 30, 2007 at 3:38 PM To: worldwide.premiercourierdelivery@yahoo.com.hk Hello, This is in reference to the Irish Lottery - Serial No: S/N-00167, Ticket Number: 564 75359565-188 Could you deliver to B. Lo Mee at Room 70, 2146 East Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z3. My phone number is 604.822.2173. The email received also requested some of the following information: Name: B. Lo Mee Age: 24 Marital Status: married, 8 wives now Country: Canada Sex: daily (got 8 wives you know) Please rush the delivery of payment as soon as possible - many mouths to feed. Thank you, B. Lo Mee

The Circular Economy - World Economic Forum, Davos 2014

The following is excerpted from the Guardian's Sustainable Business Blog, with attendees in Davos for the World Economic Forum

The Guardian bloggers interviewed Danish environment minister Ida Auken and discussed the role of the circular economy as the best route to sustainable business transformation:

"Whether you are a political leader looking for a new vision on where to go coming out of the crisis, or a business leader looking for new business opportunities, then look no further than the circular economy.
If you are a green NGO still discussing with your organisation whether business is part of the solution or only part of the problem, then look in the same direction.
It is going to be huge and transform the way we think, produce, consume and live. Everything needs to be redesigned when we move from a linear to a circular economy, so that we make sure that we don’t lose or destroy our natural resources but instead make products and services that are resource efficient, recyclable and innovative.
This will include new leasing and sharing models and creative ways for businesses to engage with their customers. The good news is you will not be alone. Here in Davos I have met business leaders from some of the world’s largest companies wanting to drive this agenda and transform their own business models.
I have met large consulting firms that want to help you do it the right way and I have met people from the start up world that have ideas if someone is willing to invest in it. To quote one of the champions of the circular economy – just do it!"

You may be asking, what is the circular economy.  In a nutshell it is industrial economy that is, by design or intention, restorative rather than the traditional linear economy which takes resources, makes a product, and when the product reaches the end of its life cycle is thrown in a landfill.  The circular economy attempts to mimic nature - when something dies, it is food for something else.  There is virtually no waste in nature.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation in cooperation with McKinsey and Company has produced two reports on the circular economy, they are available on the Foundations website here. 

Life isn't a straight line

In today's Globe and Mail, there was an article about former CFL running back Jesse Lumsden and his success in bobsled.

He is going to the Olympics in Sochi and will be on both the two man and four man teams.

It is a remarkable as he had expected to still be playing football but that dream was cut short by injuries.

For someone who grew up playing football and expected to play football as an adult, he has found something different that he loves and excels.

For me this is the reality of our lives and why we shouldn't be too quick to push our children into things.  Sure, some people know what they want to do and manage to do it for their entire lives but most do not.  I would fall into the second group as I've wandered from being a lab technician, researcher, and shipper/receiver to my current position as a pseudo project manager in the field of shared value/sustainability.

The only reason I managed to get to where I am and where I will be is by having a diverse skill set which allows me to write, research, navigate technology, and understand much jargon.  This is what we have to help develop in our children, a cross-section of skills that allows them to adapt to many situations, and not limited to a narrow set of possibilities.  Always keep learning, whether it be in a formal situation or informally.

I am currently taking a communications course - mainly business writing - in which being concise and accurate is emphasized.  Now for those that poo-poo arts courses, it is interesting how my history courses were quite valuable in terms of writing for business.  In some of these classes, a five to ten page article had to be summarized in a 250 word precis.  This can be incredibly difficult to isolate the main points of a long article and to bring it to conclusion.  However, this is exactly what needs to be done in some business communication.  You can't write an essay for every email.

So, even if you don't fully understand why you are being taught something or if you'll ever need it, perhaps it is important not to disregard it.  You don't have to invest your full attention but don't ignore what you are being taught.

Should we keep fighting?

In a blog entry by Dave Pollard he reviews the book Requiem for a Species by Clive Hamilton.

The basic message is that it is too late to stop traumatic climate change.  The predicted changes to the planet include (from CHAP 7):

• the uncontrollable burning of most of the world’s remaining tropical, subtropical and temperate forests due to latent heat
• the prevalence of desertification, disappearance of glacial melt, massive water shortages and endemic high rates of heat-related deaths in the world’s temperate zones (including the Western US and Canada; worst in Southern Europe, the Middle East, much Southeast Asia and most of Mexico and Central America)
• an ice-free world, with a commensurate rise, sooner or later, of 50-70m in sea levels
• unprecedented and chronic floods, storms and monsoons
• the death of almost all ocean life
• large-scale collapse of human infrastructure not designed for such extreme and frequent weather events
• massive numbers of climate change refugees, migrating (mostly north) thousands of miles in search of lands that are still habitable and arable

I'm not sure if things will go so far, so fast but it is a wake up call.

In the Guardian Sustainable Business blog there is an entry discussing Vivienne Westwood's proposal to form laws against ecocide in light of the massive damage humans are perpetrating on the environment.

Why science faces an uphill battle

As someone with a bit more education than most, it frustrates reading newspaper articles about "recent" findings.

Today's Vancouver Sun has an article about how obesity raises the risk of influenza and respiratory diseases.  I typically try to track down the original journal article for such things to have a better idea of the research that was done.  So, I dig up the original article from the International Journal of Obesity and it is from May 2013.

Now, this may be recent in terms of being within the last year but in this age of super short news cycles, social media and almost non-existent information retention information should have the ability to reach a broader audience a lot faster.

At least this time they actually referred to the actual journal along with the senior author's name.  Some references are so difficult to track down that the news writer may as well have made up the story.

Coming from an academic background where everything you say write to be backed up by a reference, these newspaper articles would receive a failing grade.  I'm not in industry but things could definitely be done better.

The Limits of GDP

In an Op-Ed piece by Michael Porter in the Boston Globe, he comments on how GDP is not the best way to quantify national success.

++++++++++

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was developed by economist Simon Kuznets and is a measure of a country's national income that represents economic assets.  GDP growth became a measure of national progress but it has increasingly come under question whether GDP is sufficient measure.

Even Kuznets commented in 1934 that the welfare of nation cannot be measured just by a measurement of national income.  Our standard of living includes other factors including social, environmental and community assets.  Happiness goes beyond wealth and includes: health, access to knowledge, tolerant communities and opportunities for personal achievement.

To try and include these other factors into a new metric, Porter has developed what he terms the Social Progress Index (SPI)which measures social progress in three broad areas: basic human needs, foundations of wellbeing and opportunities for an individual to reach their full potential.  The goal of the SPI is to "capture the breadth of issues that constitute wellbeing and identify priority areas for improvement."

The SPI helps measure social outcomes separate from economic indicators and allows a comparison of per capita GDP to social progress.  In general, economic growth correlates to improved social progress but some nations are shown to achieve higher social progress with similar GDPs.  Porter provides the example of Costa Rica having greater social progress as compared to South Africa.

By measuring the right thing, we can work towards improving national wellbeing and the development of the SPI allows a better measure than the GDP.

Hopefully this measure will be more broadly used by all those in a position to make decisions that affect our lives.

One issue with increasing density in cities

In Vancouver and the surrounding Metro area there is an expected population increase of nearly one million people expected over the next 25 years.

To prepare for this increase, city planners are working on increasing density through the construction of multi-use apartment units and townhouse complexes.  This is great for getting a lot of people onto a small area but one thing that doesn't get much press is that these are strata units.

Having lived in a strata complex and served on council, I think there needs to be more training and information made available to individuals looking to buy such housing.

One of the issues, is the ever increasing strata fees that owners will be expected to pay.  If you're initial fees start at $400/month, after ten years at a modest annual increase of 2.5% your fees will be $500/month.  And at the 10 year mark for many of the new units going up, there will be the initial wave of maintenance that will need to be considered from roofs and painting, to drainage issues and fixing the swimming pool that so many places seem to come with.

Unless the complex has a well funded maintenance fund, these costs could also result in assessments that many people are unprepared for.

The Metro Vancouver region is growing and this requires the construction of higher density housing.  With each development, I believe the developer should be mandated to provide buyers a full educational package on the expected responsibilities of strata owners.  I also believe that everybody should serve on council at least once in their lives because so much happens during meetings that doesn't get put into the minutes.  An inside scoop to the activities of council doesn't take much time, a handful of meetings every year and it allows one to learn who is in the complex because in this increasingly digital age, it seems face to face contact is a diminishing asset.

Observations about Craigslist

Spent my New Year's Day sorting some things out in the basement as it was getting a little labyrinthian on one side and I couldn't actually get to some things with ease.

As part of the process, I threw up a few items on Craigslist to give away and sell.  I like Craigslist because it helps link local people with items they need.  It also fits with my personal ethos of recycling and reuse.  I often look on Craigslist or thrift stores first when looking for an item instead of rushing out to the big box store.

Anyhow, looking at Craigslist posting this week makes me think that a lot of people got a new flat screen television for Christmas or at Boxing Week sales based on the number of older CRT TVs being given away.

I was joking with my wife, that instead of keeping up with the Jones by buying a new TV, we can just get the box off someone and leave it in the alley to make people think we got a new TV.  We get to up our neighborhood cred while saving all the money.

Any food, any time of year.

One of the issues surrounding climate change is the consumer belief that we can have any food item any time of the year.

This struck me on a snowy day in Vancouver as I was walking by a produce store.  There was an individual asking one of the workers if they had any grapes.

I think, "It is snowing, why would you expect grapes."

The only grapes would be coming from a much warmer part of the world, quite literally thousands of kilometers away.  Can we really expect to make any progress towards sustainability if we are constantly shipping foods thousands of kilometers to satisfy the culinary desires of everybody.

That's why this winter I avoided the consumption of mandarin oranges.  It is silly that this 'tradition' of eating oranges at Christmas time has become part of the way things are done in Vancouver.

Just a thought.  If we want things to get better, we all need to think a lot harder and act a lot smarter.

Mix tapes rule

Earlier in the year our trusty Toyota Echo was unfortunately in a motor vehicle accident and needed to go to rust bucket in the sky.

Fortunately, our friend was selling his old Honda Accord in order to contribute towards a mini-van for his growing family.

However, the vehicle was of a vintage when cassette tapes were still standard equipment for car stereos.  This was bad timing as when I was packing up to move, I decided that I no longer needed my cassette deck and various tapes and had sold all of this.

We got one of those cassette adapters but it has an annoying his and bit awkward to use with the funny cord hanging out.  I spread the word that I was in need of cassettes and several friends forwarded what they had which was cool.

However, it was only yesterday that re-aquired a cassette deck, just $20 on craigslist.

So, this morning I connected it up in "mission control" and got everything working.  My son and I then sat down to record some music.  It is very easy now with youtube as compared to 15 years ago with a stack of CDs.  We just think of a song, go to youtube and find it.

It was a good teaching moment too as I had to show my son how to use a pencil to wind the leader up to the start of the tape and then blanking the first part of the tape.  Then showed him how to set the level on the cassette deck so that all the songs would be roughly the same loudness, saving one from jumping to the volume control if a sound was too loud or soft.

There are some benefits to old technology and to be able to spend an hour quietly with my son was great because he's approaching his teens and by then hanging out with dad might not be on the top of his priorities.

If you're going to make your own, I like this set of rules.

Homeschooling, a brief word

I came across an article by Penelope Trunk who writes on many things, but what caught my interest was one of her entries on homeschooling in that is a how-to-live decision not a how-to-learn decision.

People ask me why I homeschool my son and it comes down to allowing my son to learn at his pace and not have his enthusiasm and energy restricted by a teacher that is struggling to keep control of over twenty kids at a time.

I also feel that you maybe have ten to twelve good years to be with your child, from the age of around two to their early teens before they go out into the world more on their own.  I figured that taking some time out of my life to build a strong relationship with my child isn't such a burden.  Really, if you're going to have kids you should be prepared to deal with the responsibility of kids.

Not everyone is in the position to homeschool but many who think they aren't really could do it if they committed themselves to the idea of being more involved with his/her child's education.  Our family has learned to live with less, and really we have a lot, in order to homeschool.

And to those who think homeschooled kids don't get enough social interaction, you're wrong.  Homeschool kids have sufficient opportunities for social interactions: sports teams, field trips, homeschool groups (we have a math group), classes for homeschoolers, and more are out there.  The cool thing is that it provides these children opportunities for interacting with not only children of their own age but children of all ages, instructors, teachers, other parents, grand parents, store owners, field trip guides and more.  Homeschool children aren't restricted to the four walls of a school and one teacher for the year.

I overheard a conversation between a regular school kid and a homeschooler.  "So when do you go to school?" the answer, "All the time."

Cool, Wade Davis joins UBC

Anthropologist and language preserver crusader Wade Davis has joined UBC and will be teaching undergraduate classes.

http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Canada/BC/ID/2425189164/

I put up there with David Suzuki in drawing my awareness to the challenges we face to ensure that humankind will continue into the future.

Is it so wrong to be average?

I recall a story of a U.S Senator stating that half the doctors in the United States were below average and that action needed to be taken.  Not sure if this was urban legend but it represents a poor understanding of math.

However, what's wrong with not being average?  It has to be put into perspective.  A fourth line hockey player is below average for a professional hockey player but he could still outplay everyone on the ice in my Sunday night hockey group.

This comes up because I am reading The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Anchor.  He teaches at Harvard where the students come in with high expectations because they have been groomed their entire lives to attend such a prestigious school.  However, once again after their first exam, many are shocked to be considered below average.

He also dismays his students by reminding them that 99% of them will not graduate at the top 1% of their class.  The students fail to recognize where they are relative to the rest of the world where the majority of people their age will never attend a university.

So, don't let being less than average stop you from doing something you love or make you feel less than adequate.  Never stopped me from playing goalie in ice hockey.

Metro Vancouver, Future of the Region (November 28, 2013)

Attended another Metro Vancouver event on Thursday, part of their Future of the Region dialogues.  The talk discussed the planning necessary for the Metro Vancouver region in order to make it an economically robust, culturally rich and socially equitable place to live, work and play.

The panel members included former Vancouver city councilor Gordon Price, Bev Grieve (Director of Development Services, New Westminster), Tim Savoie (General Manager, Development Services, Port Moody), and Gary Pooni (President, Brook Pooni Associates).  I’ve attached a scan of the bios that was provided at the dialogue.

The bottom line message, repeatedly emphasized by Gordon Price, was that the future of the region is going to be decided by the Translink referendum.  If the people do not vote to support Translink, then more roads will be built to support a car oriented society.  Over a million more people will be coming to the region over the next 25 years and developments will have to increase density but without proper public transportation, it will be very difficult to move the people as needed.  Price also emphasized that the transit system is at its limits already, with the 99 B-Line unable to meet demand.  The Marine Gateway project and the proposed Oakridge redevelopment will also place increased pressure on the Canada Line.  However, without increased funding to meet the transit needs of the increasing population, things will only get worse and push people into cars.  This is the wrong direction for the region to take and hopefully people will recognize this and vote appropriately when the referendum does come around.

Metro Vancouver Sustainability Breakfast - Food Waste

Attended the Metro Vancouver Sustainability Breakfast today.

Today’s topic was the challenges and opportunities presented by the upcoming ban of organics in the waste stream in 2015.

Todd Jeanotte of the Four Seasons hotel presented how the hotel works to minimize food waste in their different restaurants and catering business.  This involves staff engagement, menu engineering, preference reports, collaboration with suppliers, forecast management, and accurate measurement of input and output.

Erin Nichols represented the Vancouver Food Bank and spoke of how the organizations Food Runners program helps divert food that is near the expiration date from over 200 donors to those that can make best use of the food.  The interesting point made was that there is no liability for businesses that donate food which was a concern in the past.

Stuary Lilley of Enterra Feed described the process of how they take food waste and convert it into feedstock for chickens/farmed fished, oil and fertilizer.  Their process is described as a bioconversion process which uses the food waste to feed black soldier fly larvae which are then processed to make animal feed and fertilizer.  It helps close the loop in terms of minimizing waste and putting back the nutrients used to grow food into the agricultural process.

Steve Harpur, founder of Earth Renu, described how his company takes food waste and processes it into natural gas or biodiesel.  His main message is that there should be no food waste (packaged or unpackaged) going to landfill.  There are sufficient technologies capable of dealing with the waste and by locating his facility on Annacis Island, he reduces the distance that waste needs to travel – rather than the 700 km round trip to Cache Creek.

There was also a representative from Recycle Smart, a company that connect sustainability and business.  Many businesses do not know where to start, especially in dealing with the upcoming organics ban.  They also demonstrate that working towards meeting these requirements is not that costly and may actually save a business money by reducing waste collection fees.  Your waste may actually be a resource for another company.

The main message is that food waste represents nearly a third of the food produced in the world and that being organize material there exists the means and technologies to make use of this material rather than sending it to landfill.