Why can't all mayors be this visionary? San Francisco just signed into law a mandatory composting bill.
Calgary still doesn't have universal curbside recycling. Sigh.
June 23, 2009
June 15, 2009
Twilight Zone? No wait, it's just suburban Calgary
It's a beautiful summers day. It's 11 am on a Saturday. The birds are singing, the bees are buzzing. And there are no children in our neighborhood park.
None.
Not a single one on the swingset. Or playing tag. Or soccer. Or T-ball.
It was like I'd been transported to some alternate dimension with no children. But it wasn't just the lack of kids. There were no adults wandering through or sitting on a bench or under a tree with a book. Nothing. So I challenge everyone to go and visit your local park this week.
Turn off the video games, the TV, the computer. Maybe even leave your phone at home. Take your kids, or your loved one, or just yourself and enjoy those public spaces the city has set aside for us and uses our money to maintain. Remember, if no one uses them they just might disappear.
And while your out there say hi to a fellow neighbour. Let's build some communities and nurture spontaneous social interaction in Calgary.
None.
Not a single one on the swingset. Or playing tag. Or soccer. Or T-ball.
It was like I'd been transported to some alternate dimension with no children. But it wasn't just the lack of kids. There were no adults wandering through or sitting on a bench or under a tree with a book. Nothing. So I challenge everyone to go and visit your local park this week.
Turn off the video games, the TV, the computer. Maybe even leave your phone at home. Take your kids, or your loved one, or just yourself and enjoy those public spaces the city has set aside for us and uses our money to maintain. Remember, if no one uses them they just might disappear.
And while your out there say hi to a fellow neighbour. Let's build some communities and nurture spontaneous social interaction in Calgary.
June 12, 2009
Food Inc.
This sounds like a brilliant film. Food Inc. takes a good hard look at where the food we eat comes from, which I'm sure will be very scary. Michael Pollan, author of the Omnivore's Dilemma and a new book, In Defense of Food, which also looks very interesting.
As consumers we are so detached from our food, something I think many of us want to change. I think we need to change this attitude towards our food, the way we produce it is unsustainable at the moment. I think all of us will take a second look at our consumption after watching this film. I've seen similar documentaries on pig farming, which is really a horrendous industry.
I'm really looking forward to this film, I haven't been able to find where it is playing in Calgary, although I saw one website that said it opened on June 19.
As consumers we are so detached from our food, something I think many of us want to change. I think we need to change this attitude towards our food, the way we produce it is unsustainable at the moment. I think all of us will take a second look at our consumption after watching this film. I've seen similar documentaries on pig farming, which is really a horrendous industry.
I'm really looking forward to this film, I haven't been able to find where it is playing in Calgary, although I saw one website that said it opened on June 19.
June 10, 2009
San Fran gets tough on waste
It really amazes me how San Fran is so ahead of the rest of North America on this stuff. Go hippies! Another unfortunate reminder that Calgary is waaay behind. Thank God we can finally recycle plastic!
Finally, Lay's become local
I don't care how you slice it (haha) an enormous conglomerate like Frito-Lay (part of an even bigger conglomerate called Pepsi-co)cannot pretend they make "local" food. Isn't there some law against that? There should be.
What I'm talking about is Frito-Lay's newest marketing campaign that attempts to brand their Lays potato chips as "local." Lay's says they will "put a spotlight on potato farmers from California, Florida, Maine, Michigan and Texas that grow potatoes used in Lay’s Potato Chips as the faces for the iconic brand in :30 national and regional television spots that play a central role to the initiative."
In other words -- since we have thousands of farmers across the US, one of them must be close to you, despite the fact that those potatoes are probably shipped across the country to be processed, somewhere else to be packaged, then shipped to a distributor before your "local" potato chips finally reach you again. Does anyone actually fall for this garbage?
And don't forget the fact that I suspect (maybe someone can confirm this) Lay's uses GMO or GEO products which are not exactly in line with what most people are looking for when they decide to buy local.
But what these big companies are great at? PR. Check it out: “While Lay’s Potato Chips have been one of the most popular snacks since they were introduced, what people might not realize is how many communities across the country play a role in the creation of America’s favorite potato chip,” said Dave Skena, vice president of potato chip marketing, Frito-Lay North America. “The truth is we are closer to home than people might expect and we felt it was only fitting to put the spotlight on these people and communities and celebrate the contributions they’ve made to the Lay’s brand.”
And finally: "The campaign highlights the simplicity of Lay's Classic Potato Chips in a day and age where consumers are looking to keep things less complex." Really? Gag.
What I'm talking about is Frito-Lay's newest marketing campaign that attempts to brand their Lays potato chips as "local." Lay's says they will "put a spotlight on potato farmers from California, Florida, Maine, Michigan and Texas that grow potatoes used in Lay’s Potato Chips as the faces for the iconic brand in :30 national and regional television spots that play a central role to the initiative."
In other words -- since we have thousands of farmers across the US, one of them must be close to you, despite the fact that those potatoes are probably shipped across the country to be processed, somewhere else to be packaged, then shipped to a distributor before your "local" potato chips finally reach you again. Does anyone actually fall for this garbage?
And don't forget the fact that I suspect (maybe someone can confirm this) Lay's uses GMO or GEO products which are not exactly in line with what most people are looking for when they decide to buy local.
But what these big companies are great at? PR. Check it out: “While Lay’s Potato Chips have been one of the most popular snacks since they were introduced, what people might not realize is how many communities across the country play a role in the creation of America’s favorite potato chip,” said Dave Skena, vice president of potato chip marketing, Frito-Lay North America. “The truth is we are closer to home than people might expect and we felt it was only fitting to put the spotlight on these people and communities and celebrate the contributions they’ve made to the Lay’s brand.”
And finally: "The campaign highlights the simplicity of Lay's Classic Potato Chips in a day and age where consumers are looking to keep things less complex." Really? Gag.
June 9, 2009
Calgary Farmers' Market
Since my Fast Forward article last week on the Calgary Farmers' Market I have been thinking about the local food movement in Calgary.
I first got interested in all the drama going on at the CFM when I read a blog post by Wade Sirois, co-owner of Forage and Infuse Catering. It got more interesting when the market manager refused to return my phone calls, was constantly in meetings when I visited the market and none of the vendors would talk about anything to do with the market. It was so bad, that one vendor, who told me that he didn't want to talk and didn't know anything anyway phoned me back later that day to beg me not to mention him at all in my story. He was petrified! Is this not completely ridiculous?
I finally got some answers from some vendors at the CFM but it seems like the CFM is far from the best way to get local food to consumers. Especially since so much of the stuff they sell is not local. Bananas? Passion fruit? Sometimes I wonder if everyone is aware that they aren't necessarily buying local at the CFM. I know what questions to ask, but do the suburban moms with their tote bags and baby carriages full of the same product that is sold to Safeway? In my opinion, farmers' markets should not only be about local producers, but micro-producers. If the farmers' market is filled with distributors selling products from giant operations it doesn't matter if it is local or organic or whatever. It will destroy one of the most important traditions in Canada -- the family farm.
Some other interesting info from the rumour mill. In my discussions with Wade, it came up that while the farmers' market pays Canada Lands $4 a square foot, vendors pay the market $80 a square foot. So what does the market do with all that extra money?
Obviously some of it has to go to infrastructure, things like electricity and water, but where else is this money going? Advertising is a big one, which is a bit of a problem for me -- aren't farmers' markets supposed to be shared by communities, by word of mouth, by friends, family?
I really can't imagine what it must be like that for vendors at that market right now. I am genuinely worried that the one vendor brave enough to use his name in my article will face fines, or worse repercussions. He assured me that they have a strong following and will be successful whether they are part of the CFM or not. I truly believe this about most of the producers there.
It's such a shit show. How can a farmers' market function when none of the vendors know what is going on. Maybe I'm naive in thinking that we can buy products directly from a farmer without middle-men, where the producer has total control over their product. But I think it needs to happen, I (and I think Wade) am hoping that some of the CFM vendors will get so fed up they leave and start a pure farmers market.
No bouncy castles. No food court. No US produce. (Or Mexico for that matter!) No distributors. Just a farmer with his product and me with money. Period. Why is this such a difficult thing to accomplish?
Oh, and apparently all the Fast Forwards at the CFM disappeared on Friday when there are usually some left at the end of the week. Just sayin'.
I first got interested in all the drama going on at the CFM when I read a blog post by Wade Sirois, co-owner of Forage and Infuse Catering. It got more interesting when the market manager refused to return my phone calls, was constantly in meetings when I visited the market and none of the vendors would talk about anything to do with the market. It was so bad, that one vendor, who told me that he didn't want to talk and didn't know anything anyway phoned me back later that day to beg me not to mention him at all in my story. He was petrified! Is this not completely ridiculous?
I finally got some answers from some vendors at the CFM but it seems like the CFM is far from the best way to get local food to consumers. Especially since so much of the stuff they sell is not local. Bananas? Passion fruit? Sometimes I wonder if everyone is aware that they aren't necessarily buying local at the CFM. I know what questions to ask, but do the suburban moms with their tote bags and baby carriages full of the same product that is sold to Safeway? In my opinion, farmers' markets should not only be about local producers, but micro-producers. If the farmers' market is filled with distributors selling products from giant operations it doesn't matter if it is local or organic or whatever. It will destroy one of the most important traditions in Canada -- the family farm.
Some other interesting info from the rumour mill. In my discussions with Wade, it came up that while the farmers' market pays Canada Lands $4 a square foot, vendors pay the market $80 a square foot. So what does the market do with all that extra money?
Obviously some of it has to go to infrastructure, things like electricity and water, but where else is this money going? Advertising is a big one, which is a bit of a problem for me -- aren't farmers' markets supposed to be shared by communities, by word of mouth, by friends, family?
I really can't imagine what it must be like that for vendors at that market right now. I am genuinely worried that the one vendor brave enough to use his name in my article will face fines, or worse repercussions. He assured me that they have a strong following and will be successful whether they are part of the CFM or not. I truly believe this about most of the producers there.
It's such a shit show. How can a farmers' market function when none of the vendors know what is going on. Maybe I'm naive in thinking that we can buy products directly from a farmer without middle-men, where the producer has total control over their product. But I think it needs to happen, I (and I think Wade) am hoping that some of the CFM vendors will get so fed up they leave and start a pure farmers market.
No bouncy castles. No food court. No US produce. (Or Mexico for that matter!) No distributors. Just a farmer with his product and me with money. Period. Why is this such a difficult thing to accomplish?
Oh, and apparently all the Fast Forwards at the CFM disappeared on Friday when there are usually some left at the end of the week. Just sayin'.
June 8, 2009
Urban sprawl
I recently read a blog post by Ryan at the New Resilient which got me interested in a film called Radiant City, filmed right here in Calgary about urban sprawl.
Some of the facts were astonishing. The average suburban home is now 2200 square feet. Over 90% of kids are now driven to school. Suburbanites are, on average, 6 pounds heavier than their inner city counterparts.
Some of the attitudes in the film were depressing, mostly because they really reflect how some people in this city view life. The two most recent examples are a Calgary Herald article about the 62 new officers assigned to the downtown beat to help "clean the core" as the chief said and a CBC story about attainable housing. This is an actual quote from the Herald article:
"Lisa Millican squeals with delight as she sees us approach her convoy of strollers.
In fact, Millican and friends Chantel Bradley and Carley Loder, all toting carriages with sleeping babies, are here precisely because of the new police presence.
'We live in the deep south, but heard on TV that there was a police foot patrol starting today,' says the 26-year-old. 'They make us feel it's OK to leave the suburbs. We love these guys.'"
I can't even begin to talk about what is wrong with that. What has happened to our society that people are too scared to venture out of their gated suburban communities. Does suburbia have us so compartmentalized that we have forgotten how to interact with other people? It makes me wonder where these people were raised and how they have been so entirely insulated their whole life.
The CBC story on the six o'clock news tonight showed one woman who didn't want the sites to be used for attainable housing because of "the people who come with that kind of housing. It's not that they're all bad I guess but some of them are."
One of the experts in the film talked about how suburbs propagate monocultures. The big mansions are in a cluster here, the houses in a cluster here, the town homes here. It has created a new breed of discrimination. Incomism. We don't want to hang out with people who don't make what we make, live like we live and buy into the same ideals we do.
The more I hear people saying the kind of things in these news stories the less faith I have in Calgary, as a city and as a meaningful community. It makes me afraid for the future of initiatives like Plan It, a great idea that is long overdue, but in jeopardy, especially since the home builders are already busy spinning the facts to their advantage.
Can Calgary have a future that doesn't exclude public transit, walking and biking. Or are we wedded to a future of giant homes in pod-like communities with no sense of community? I don't want to believe it, but it seems more and more likely.
Some of the facts were astonishing. The average suburban home is now 2200 square feet. Over 90% of kids are now driven to school. Suburbanites are, on average, 6 pounds heavier than their inner city counterparts.
Some of the attitudes in the film were depressing, mostly because they really reflect how some people in this city view life. The two most recent examples are a Calgary Herald article about the 62 new officers assigned to the downtown beat to help "clean the core" as the chief said and a CBC story about attainable housing. This is an actual quote from the Herald article:
"Lisa Millican squeals with delight as she sees us approach her convoy of strollers.
In fact, Millican and friends Chantel Bradley and Carley Loder, all toting carriages with sleeping babies, are here precisely because of the new police presence.
'We live in the deep south, but heard on TV that there was a police foot patrol starting today,' says the 26-year-old. 'They make us feel it's OK to leave the suburbs. We love these guys.'"
I can't even begin to talk about what is wrong with that. What has happened to our society that people are too scared to venture out of their gated suburban communities. Does suburbia have us so compartmentalized that we have forgotten how to interact with other people? It makes me wonder where these people were raised and how they have been so entirely insulated their whole life.
The CBC story on the six o'clock news tonight showed one woman who didn't want the sites to be used for attainable housing because of "the people who come with that kind of housing. It's not that they're all bad I guess but some of them are."
One of the experts in the film talked about how suburbs propagate monocultures. The big mansions are in a cluster here, the houses in a cluster here, the town homes here. It has created a new breed of discrimination. Incomism. We don't want to hang out with people who don't make what we make, live like we live and buy into the same ideals we do.
The more I hear people saying the kind of things in these news stories the less faith I have in Calgary, as a city and as a meaningful community. It makes me afraid for the future of initiatives like Plan It, a great idea that is long overdue, but in jeopardy, especially since the home builders are already busy spinning the facts to their advantage.
Can Calgary have a future that doesn't exclude public transit, walking and biking. Or are we wedded to a future of giant homes in pod-like communities with no sense of community? I don't want to believe it, but it seems more and more likely.
June 4, 2009
Greening the doctor
Ok, so I'm officially an ecoweenie. I went for my pap test today and was very impressed by my doctor.
Not by her bedside manner. Or her knowledge of medicine. Nope, it was because I thought she was being very green. I didn't ask her if it was on purpose, but you know that horrible retractor thing they use? Well it was a good old fashioned metal one. Cold, yes, but not wasteful like those disposable plastic ones.
And the little paper sheet she gave me to cover myself? She had torn it in half, saving paper. (Maybe she was just being cheap but who really cares what the motivation is). I did feel a little bad because I really should have just brought my own sheet, but hey, my doctor's green! I think that's kind of cool. I know, I'm a weenie, but I'm ok with it.
Not by her bedside manner. Or her knowledge of medicine. Nope, it was because I thought she was being very green. I didn't ask her if it was on purpose, but you know that horrible retractor thing they use? Well it was a good old fashioned metal one. Cold, yes, but not wasteful like those disposable plastic ones.
And the little paper sheet she gave me to cover myself? She had torn it in half, saving paper. (Maybe she was just being cheap but who really cares what the motivation is). I did feel a little bad because I really should have just brought my own sheet, but hey, my doctor's green! I think that's kind of cool. I know, I'm a weenie, but I'm ok with it.
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