Author: Cam Proctor

Cameron works diligently in this academic and personal live to build capacity within communities and people towards the mutually inclusive goals of environmental sustainability and rewarding lifestyles. An avid supporter of education, Cameron believes in Thingsaregood.com as the “missing link” between alternative news and community involvement. Integrating his knowledge into writing, he pails in comparison to other writers in the humour dimension.

A-Typical Uses for Household Goods

Taking your beer and liqour bottles back to the beer store is a fantastic GREEN option called re-using. Its been around for a while, but North America seems to have forgotten how to do it; opting for a simple trash and replace mindset. Now a new funky eco-chic movement is taking re-use to new heights and its called up-cycling.
 I started thinking about up-cycling a couple of months ago whenever I was going to recycle something (I have a bread bag of trash every 2-3 weeks) and I was amazed at how creative and rewarding it can be. My best upcycles include:

1. Hydroponic watering system from 2L pop bottles
2. Using a wine bottle as a rolling pin
3. Old shirts, cloths, etc as drapes
4. TV or Computer stand stand of aluminum cans
5. Various cat toys

Cheap Laptop

buyolpc.jpg
I have been interested for years with the OLPC $100 laptop. Primarily for the role it will play in reshaping the socio-economics of developing countries, secondly for its technological accomplishments in low power draw. My only remaining question is….why can’t I get one? Well there have been hints that I can buy one for $100 bucks as long as I buy one for someone else in the developing world.
Its not the most powerfull laptop, but the cost and low wattage (4 watts browsing the internet, 1 watt reading a document) make the OLPC a gadget intriging. Especially since you charge it by pulling a string (exersice anyone?).

Taxes are good for YOU!

A study by the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives released its report yesterday entitled, the Social Benefits and Economic Costs of Taxation: A Comparison of High- and Low-Tax Countries by Neil Brooks and Thaddeus Hwong. The report studies high-tax Nordic countries and low-tax Anglo-America countries on 50 social and economic measures and finds the high-tax Nordic countries score better in 42 categories. In short, tax cuts are disastrous for the well-being of a nation’s citizen.

The report alleges that Canada’s fairly low tax rate will cause Canada to fall behind a number of OECD nations in a wide range of social and economic areas. Countries like Finland with high tax rates are actually preforming quite well economically, with a steady share of the research and development market. Smart and savy.