Apr

26

North America sorta stinks

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There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more.
~ Lord Byron: “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage”

Dec

15

Garbage day

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[taken during Vancouver’s garbage strike last summer]
i realize i haven’t posted in the “Living Lightly” category for some months now. my environmental concerns have gone from attempting to reduce my ecological footprint in a metropolitan city to figuring out ways to prevent donkeys and goats from spreading my garbage all over a neighbourhood that […]

Sep

15

Green medicine

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since i haven’t had the opportunity to write much on “living lightly” lately, please go read Graham’s post.
The reason there’s so much waste in the first place is to encourage sterility. When you typically open a package to do a procedure (a lumbar puncture, a central line, etc) you open up a water-resistant plastic kit […]

Jul

9

On the road again

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“Passing through unconscious states.
When I awoke I was on the highway.”
~ Death Cab for Cutie
Jonathan is so awesome. he let me take his car all the way to Saskatchewan even though i haven’t been behind a wheel for over 5 weeks. i haven’t even been in a country where they drive on […]

May

8

Because large jets burn ~1 gallon of fuel/second

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after considering my available options somewhat thoroughly, i decided to offset the CO2 produced by my flights to Zambia and Nevis with TerraPass.
for just over $60US, i purchased a mixture of Renewable Energy Certificates (33.3%) and Carbon Credit Offsets (66.7%) to offset a total of 15,000lbs of CO2. TerraPass has flight offsets from 6,000 […]

May

3

Garbage day

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as a follow-up to this post, i decided to take on my own challenge and keep track of the things i threw away all day yesterday.
1) coffee grinds and filter
without a compost pile, i can’t do much with the coffee grounds. filters are apparently compost-friendly as well, but i am looking into a reusable […]

May

2

Waste not, want not

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a couple of months ago, i heard an interview on CBC’s Freestyle program (if i’m ever listening to the radio, it’s almost always CBC in a vehicle or KCRW online) with a woman who was attempting to go garbage-free.
yes, zero garbage. i have mentioned here before that i try to be conscious of recyclables […]

Apr

10

Nature vs. nurture

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this is not a garbage dump. or a landfill.
in fact, for many of us that use it on a daily basis and live nearby, this large piece of undeveloped land behind the exhibition centre is like our backyard. and it saddens us when people dump their junk here.
in this pile were a couple of snow […]

Apr

5

Moving camp

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it looks like my sister is going to be moving out of the house around the same time as i am. she is unhappy with the flight school here and has decided to transfer to Regina. with both of us gone, my mom doesn’t have much reason to stay in Prince George. all of our […]

Apr

4

CO2 update

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a little while ago, i calculated that my flights to Zambia and Nevis (as well as half a dozen flights within the province last year) total 31,232 miles and make me personally responsible for 623 gallons of fuel consumption and 12,180 additional lbs of CO2 in our atmosphere. in a panic of conscience and an […]

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