No idling

 
There’s an interesting story in today’s Montreal Gazette about the impact of idling your car. Besides polluting and wasting fuel, it also damages the car engine because newer cars are designed in order not to have to be idled before you start driving, even in the winter.
Idle Threat
Bylaw rarely enforced. Only 106 out of 1.3 [...]

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Oil, that is, black gold

I’ve been reading a couple of interesting things recently about the oil sands projects in Alberta.
The first is this series, published earlier this year in the Globe and Mail. The eight-day series looks at the development of the oil sands, and the environmental and social cost of the projects, which are estimated to have a [...]

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One step forward, two steps back

Our quest to leave our car in the driveway to reduce our family’s contribution to climate change continues.
I’ve learned it takes excellent organizational abilities, superior time-management capabilities and the skills of a cultural animator to persuade some people in my family that taking a wagon, or God forbid, walking, is a fun way to get where [...]

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I love my green TV

 
I caught a couple of very entertaining green shows on HGTV last weekend. Both – Eco House Challenge and No Waste Like Home – are about families trying to live in a more environmentally aware way.
Eco House Challenge pits two Australian families against each other to see who can be the greenest, and the results are hilarious. It kicks off with each [...]

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Oh, the guilt

Our worst offending anti-Earth behaviour must be driving our minivan. With five people in the family, it’s a handy way to get from here to there. Still, you can’t argue that it’s environmentally friendly.
My husband was kind enough to remind me of the damage our driving does after a recent shopping trip to the West Island. [...]

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