Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Garbage Diva Stories

I have two garbage success stories that I would like to share. You may recall that last year I was struggling to improve my composting technique, and in early January, Jane and I committed to producing only four modest bags of garbage for the entire year.

I have some good news to report.

Composting Diva
Last summer my compost wasn’t really cooking. Literally. A good compost should do so. I consulted a few resources such as the Composting Council of Canada and found the recipe for a smok’n compost. I posted my findings on my blog installment Compost that Cooks and followed the guidelines.

I knew I was doing something right when in the heart of winter, and we’re talking 20 below here, I could drill my compost stick right to the bottom of the compost no problem. That pile was generating heat.

My compost is now quite full. Soon I will open the bottom hatch to remove the rich mulch that will augment the soil of my edible garden. Jane and divert half our organic waste to our compost. It’s win-win: less waste to be shipped and free compost for our garden.

Garbage Challenge
It’s early April. For three months, Jane and I managed to limit our landfill-bound garbage to one bag for the first quarter. The garbage collector picked it up yesterday. Next garbage pick up is early July.

We buy in bulk as much as we can, visit cheese shops where they wrap in paper, and buy our fish from Whole Foods where sustainably harvested seafood is wrapped in paper as well. We also reuse any plastic bags we manage to collect and save them to recycle during Toronto’s Environment Days.

Our garbage challenge would be a crazy Herculean feat if it weren’t for the City of Toronto’s commitment to divert 70 percent of the city’s waste from the landfill by 2010. Recycling organic material as well as paper, aluminum and most plastic is a big help.

Canada’s Opposition Parties Support the Climate Change Accountability Act
Great news. On April 1st, Liberal, NDP and Bloc Québécois Members of Parliament supported BillC-311, the Climate Change Accountability Act. If passed by the Senate, the Act will set Canada’s greenhouse gas reduction targets at 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050. These levels are recommended by the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Every other sane country in the world is following the IPCC recommendations – even the USA. The bill passed second reading, with 141 votes in favour and 128 against. The entire Conservative Party voted against the bill. Good grief!

Action

Tell Congress: Close the carbon pollution loophole!
For Americans. Please sign the petition to get your green economy up and running. Please show us the way. Someone has to.

I give a dam about our natural waterways
For Canadians. The Conservatives are gutting laws that protect waterways. Help stop them!

In the News

GM: Goodbye Hummer? Hello electric scooter

Awful Ice Melting News:

Thinning Arctic sea ice alarms experts

Ice bridge holding Antarctic ice shelf cracks up

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