Month: October 2008

Calgary to join Modern Recycling World

- Adam Clare

In my head I just assumed that all Canadian cities had curbside recycling. Apparently I was wrong, and it’s not good that cities lack this program. It is good that Calgary is trying to remedy that problem and that despite the difficulty of recycling in Calgary, people overuse the system.

Moving to a new system is important, Magdich said. Calgary’s community recycling depots now operate at 150 per cent above intended capacity.
“Our community recycling depots have been in place for some time and they served us well for a number of years. But yeah, we’re definitely at capacity with them,” Magdich said Wednesday.
“We are excited about moving to blue-cart recycling. It will really help the city move forward in keeping more waste out of the landfill.”

Buildings of the Future Will Have Living Walls

- Adam Clare


In Sao Paulo the future is looking green for new buildings. There’s a really cool building that has every external wall covered in growth. Deco Journal has pictures of the building known as Harmoania 57 and an english description of what exactly is going on. For those that speak Spanish, here’s a Spanish article with even more pictures.

The eco system which allows the vegetation to grow on the walls of the building is heavily sustained by a watering structure running through the concrete walls. The plants grow in little cavities specially designed for this purpose. In time, all the concrete should be covered in vegetation.

Last time we looked at Sao Paolo, they banned billboards.

Kill Mold with Vinegar

- Adam Clare 2 Comments

About a year ago we looked at the greatness of vinegar to solve your problems, and now we have more news on how good vinegar is. Vinegar is great for getting rid of mold.

Instead of reaching for industrial bleach or the M2A1-7 flamethrower, try using white vinegar instead. Now, I know many of you are disappointed, hoping the flamethrower would be the first choice. Vinegar may not be as fun, but at least you will have a house to come home to. Restaurants have been effectively using vinegar, to clean cooking surfaces for years. If you need to get to surfaces not easily reached by wiping them down, try filling a spray bottle and saturate the area. Let it sit. 82% of the mold strains can be eliminated, by vinegar alone. For tougher mutant molds, try two teaspoons of tea tree oil and two cups of water. Again, the smell will be strong and can linger a few days, in addition to being toxic to animals. So, tea tree oil is the last resort, when you are wanting to fight molds, without using harsh chemicals.

I Vote Toronto Wants New Torontonians to Vote

- Adam Clare

I Vote Toronto is all about getting people who live in Toronto to show their support for their city and democracy come voting day. I Vote Toronto wants to help people new to Toronto (and those unfamiliar with the Canadian electoral system) figure out how to vote. Canada’s federal election is happening on Oct. 14th and hopefully people will vote showing respect for each other and vote for a party that looks to help the people of Canada.

From their website:

I Vote Toronto is a coalition of individuals and organizations who believe in creating a more inclusive and representative city. Our coalition consists of community centres, settlement and integration services, social justice groups, employment agencies, environmental organizations and concerned residents from all areas of Toronto. While the coalition represents many different interests, we are united in our understanding that Toronto’s electoral process must reflect the makeup of its residents.

The I Vote Toronto campaign will engage communities all across Toronto, building awareness and providing the facts about immigration, integration, civic engagement and the health of our neighbourhoods. We will then make our case to provincial and municipal politicians, and urge them to update our voting laws, which currently leave hundreds of thousands of Torontonians without a voice.

Local Currencies Have a Good Return

- Adam Clare

Doulgas Rsuhkoff is guest blogging on boing boing and today he wrote a neat post on his small town. A restaurant owner there is trying to expand, but in order to do so he needs to raise cash. The owner turned to the community instead of a bank by selling local credit.

So Halko’s idea is to sell VIP cards. For every dollar a customer spends on a card, they receive the equivalent of $1.20 worth of credit at either restaurant. If I buy a thousand dollar card, I get twelve hundred dollars worth of food: a 20% rate of return on the investment of dollars. Halko gets the cash infusion he needs to build the new restaurant – and since he’s paying for it in 20% tab adjustments, it just comes out of profits. He gets the money a lot cheaper than if he were borrowing it from the bank, paying back in cash over time. Meanwhile, customers get more food for less money.

But wait, there’s more: the entire scheme refocuses a community’s energy and cash on itself. Because our money goes further at our own restaurant than a restaurant somewhere else, we are biased towards eating locally. Since we have a stake in the success (and the non-failure) of the restaurant in whose food we have invested, we’ll also be more likely to promote it to our friends. And since we have already spent a big chunk of money on Comfort’s food, we’re more likely go get food there than dish out more cash for a meal somewhere else.

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