Syncrude Found Guilty!

After eight weeks of trial, Syncrude Canada has been found guilty in the deaths of 1600+ ducks over two years ago in a northern Alberta tailing pond. The AB government has yet to admit any wrong-doing on their part, nor have they released any solid plans to limit the usage of tailing ponds.

Innovative Thinking?

I've been trying to leave the reporting about the Gulf Oil Spill to the real reporters -- hence the lack of postings as of late -- and I'm going to continue to do so.

Instead, let's take a second to think about what we're each doing to change some of the other environmental disasters we've created. Have you thought about painting a mountain? Eduardo Gold of Peru has.

Happy Earth Day!

Today marks the 40th Earth Day since its inception on April 22nd, 1970 – A day to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth and our environment. Think about the things you did yesterday: how you got to work, what you ate for lunch, even the way you washed your dishes, and look for ways to these small events greener tomorrow (and for the rest of the year)!


Recycling is the easiest way to be friendly to the environment – it’s something everyone can do! In fact, Alberta has an 80% recycling return rate! But do you know what happens to your bottles and cans once they leave the blue bin?

 Tetrabrik juice boxes are treated to remove paper fibres which are used in specialty papers, corrugated cardboard, and napkins!

 Plastic pop bottles will never breakdown in a landfill, but if properly recycled, they CAN keep you warm and cosy. They are cleaned and grinded down to create household carpet and polar fleece!

 Recycled clear glass containers can keep you safe! This type of glass is crushed and melted to create tiny beads used in road reflector paint.

 Coloured glass is not without its perks – it is used to make fibreglass insulation for building houses.

 Aluminum cans are used to make… aluminum cans… I know, not that exciting. But the neat part is the recycling process – from the time you toss the can to the time you’re drinking from its repurposed parts can be less than six weeks!

And then there were two...

A 2nd garbage patch has been discovered in the North Atlantic.

Most people know about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (seriously, who comes up with these names?), discovered in 1997, but now the Atlantic can share in the infamy. If this doesn't get people to reassess the amount of plastics they use -- or at the very least, what happens when they're done with it -- I don't know what will.

Spring is Springing!

I'd love to say that Spring has sprung here in Alberta, but it's simply not the case. While that's dampened many spirits, there's something Mother Nature just can't stop -- the spring wedding. With May and June being two of the most popular wedding months, early spring is a great time to start thinking about greening your big day.

Based in Winnipeg, Botanical Paperworks offers a wide range of plantable wedding invites, favours, and thank-you cards for sale on their website and at hip stores across Canada. Each item is designed from handmade paper embedded with wildflower seeds -- each tiny card sprouts enough flowers to fill the decently-sized pot I generally plant them in. It might sounds like a small place to start but, with millions of wedding invites going out each year, finding ethically sourced paper products can mean big changes in the long run.

While you're at it, take a look at other sources of paper products used through out your wedding and reception... Consider using real linens and cutlery instead of paper napkins and plastic utensils and a nice, reusable wicker basket over a store-bought cardboard cardbox.

Green Growing

While much of the environmental focus in the news as of late has been on arctic ice growth, I've chosen against jumping on that bandwagon. (Let's be honest, if the "it's all a sham"-side hasn't listened to anyone yet, they're not going to start with me.) Instead, I've been paying a lot of attention to the Guerilla Gardening movement.

Some people see the movement as political -- reclaiming public spaces as an exercise in land ownership and reform. I think as a fabulous way to show Mother Nature you care. What better way to show appreciation for the earth than to plant flowers or food and watch it grow for the birds, animals, and people around you? I often look at the sad state of city-run parks and derelict street corners (oh, the joy of living and working downtown) and dream about beautify-ing them to enjoy with my neighbours. My landlord might notice me landscaping the front lawn of my apartment building, but I might just arm myself with Mookychick's advice and find my own little corner of the world this summer.

Earth Hour 2010

In Edmonton, power consumption dropped by 3% during Earth Hour last night. That number sounds great, but in 2009 we saw a decrease of 5% during the same hour. Ah well, at least we did better than Calgary's 0.5%...