Recently I was driving home from  my friends in Guelph and I kept glancing at my odometer waiting for the moment I knew would be coming soon. Suddenly I let out a deep wahooooo as the odometer clicked over and rolled to 300, 000 kms.  It was a good day for me and my 1995 Honda Civic that has been an amazing piece of engineering for me ever since I purchased it from my brother a few years ago. Basically get oil changes regularly and put gas in it and it just runs, and rns, and runs I’m hoping to reach a half a million clicks.

I always heard many stories of people many people who have similar year civics that have very high mileage. I was literally put to shame when upon researching this I found my same  car on CraigsList with count em, 939,899 miles. The fact that in 1995 they could make a car that would presumably go 1 million miles is astounding and has opened my eyes to the possibilities for my “White Lightning”. 

Another thing I have always loved about my civic is the amazing gas mileage. I would find it difficult to find someone who doesn’t consider gas mileage at the top of their must have list when buying a new car. Only having to fill up my small $35 gas tank between once and twice a month with an average of around 450 kms per tank has been amazing in light of the ever increasing price of gas. As I passed the recent 300,00 k milestone I began thinking more about how great of a car my civic has been to me. It wasn’t until I looked up the MPG and emissions reports that I found out just how great it actually is. With a highway fuel consumption of 41 mpg, 33 in the City and an impressive combined fuel efficiency of 36 this car surely must rival the most fuel efficient (non-hybrid) cars of today. The best car for 2008 in the subcompact car class goes to the Toyota Yaris, surely this new car will blow old Bessie out of the water……..huh,,,,,,,,,,,,what……….dur,,,,,,,,,,,, So it turns out  my 12 year old car beats this years most fuel efficient car in pretty much every section, MPG, Green House Gas emissions, driving costs and energy impact score. (more…)

A while ago I wrote an article called “Ride your Bike” encouraging more people to use a bike as a carbonless and lifestyle enhancing mode of transportation. Since then a lot of things have changed. For starters I now own a car, I no longer live in Thunder Bay, I have since downgraded to the metropolis of Toronto (yes, downgraded). And now instead of going to school I am commuting to work. All of these things combined with growing older and busier all stacked up and one day I realized I hadn’t seen my bike in a long time.

Of all the things that affected my falling out with my Bike my car had the most effect. Going to school in Thunder Bay and living in Southern Ontario in the summer was simply to difficult to fly back and forth and transport all my things, not to mention much more expensive. I ended up getting an older 1995 Honda Civic with good gas mileage 275 thousand Km’s and still ticking. After having my car for a while I soon found out that having to bike and choosing to bike are two incredibly different things. (more…)

Personal decisions and lifestyle changes are the best ways to combat global warming. Go for a walk. – Just going to the mailbox or to a friend close by. Get out of the routine of driving everywhere and go for a walk, It might take an extra 20 minutes but I guarantee you wont regret it. Limiting vehicle use to only when necessary can save tones of GHG emissions and walking has tremendous health benefits.

Start a household compost. – A large percentage of household waste is made up of compost. When organic materials are sent to garbage dumps they rot and release methane gas into the atmosphere. By implementing proper compostin you can limit your household garbage by approximately 40% as well as use the compost as fertilizer.

Read a book. –Believe it or not they do still exist. Theirs even building full of them that will let you borrow them for free. Take a break from the TV/ video games / computer and pick up a good book. Causes no carbon emissions and stimulates the mind in ways that TV can not.

Use your bike. -Almost every household has one, it’s that dusty / rusty thing behind practically everything that has accumulated in the garage. Dig it out wipe it off and simply go for an enjoyable cruise. This age old form of transportation also works very well for errands and commuting. The best part, No carbon emissions and a healthier lifestyle. Biking to work, school or friends can save hundreds on fuel costs as well. (more…)

Branson, Suzuki, and Leno, oh my! What do these celebrities all have to do with the environment?
	All will be revealed during our week-long environmental extravaganza (which starts today.) Jay Leno, Richard Branson, The Barenaked Ladies, Blue Man Group and David Suzuki Join the Fight Against Climate Change During Global Warning: A Daily Planet Special Series, March 26-30 on Discovery Channel.

From icecaps to hotsprings, Daily Planet will spend an entire week travelling to remote corners of the Earth to find out what we can do to reverse global warming and what people are doing to create a sustainable future. (more…)

A short video in support of Greenpeace’s Green My Apple Campaign. It intends to highlight the materiality of digital culture. Made by a friend of mine Chris Hamelin. We all have to do our part to encourage waste reduction, reuse and at the very least, proper disposal.

This is an issue of rising concern and is particularly close to my heart as I am a “techie” myself and although I love technology and all it’s interesting applications the waste is enormous. My personal experience with this was when I wanted to buy new ink for my printer and found that the price to replace my new cartridge(I would have refilled if it wasn’t equipped with a chip to disallow just that) was comparable to that of a brand new printer which is encouraging waste. (more…)

Two months, $4,000 dollars, and 42, 905 trees. In May and June of 2004 I slept in a tent, bathed in a lake, met a tone of cool people, got in the best shape of my life, and saw some amazing wildlife and scenery. On my quest for some tangible help to the environment and enough money to go to school I wound up just outside of Armstrong, Ontario about 4 hours north of Thunder Bay. I planned on getting a lot of trees in the ground and making a lot of money but what I didn’t expect was to have a good time doing it.

I’m not saying it was easy I had to get up around 5:00 every day be on my piece by 7:00 and planted approximately 2, 000 trees a day in rough territory. It was all worth it. On a typical day the sun would wake me up on my lakeside camping area and I would trudge the nature trail up to the food trailer and demolish a delicious breakfast (thank God for the awesome cooks). Then we would all pack into vans and head out to our pieces of land for the day. The drive was always a little disheartening for me as we passed mile after mile of clear-cut forest but at least I had the satisfaction that I was the one putting them in the ground not taking them out. (more…)