Things Are Good

Toronto’s Green Roofs Keep Growing

Back in 2006 we first looked at how green roofs were becoming a development issue in Toronto, in 2009 Toronto implemented that green roof bylaw. Then in 2014 we took a look at how North America’s green roof industry is growing.

This year, Toronto has become the hub for green roofs! Torontist took a look into what made this happen and why green roofs are perfect for cities.

There are approximatelyÂ 500 green roofs, big and small, in Toronto. This is thanks toÂ a 2010 bylaw [PDF]Â requiring all new developers to cover between 20 and 60 per cent of their buildings with vegetation. Itâ€™s the first (and, for now, only) regulation of its kind in North America, making Toronto uniquely positioned for environmental design.

The bylaw is why the 41-storyÂ RBC WaterPark Place [PDF]Â at Bay Street and Queens Quay has three green roofs that together could fill a NFL football field.

Developers can opt out of installing anything remotely grassy for a fee. But Jane Welsh, City Hallâ€™s project manager for environmental planning, toldÂ TorontoistÂ only five per cent of buildings choose to go sans-green roof.

Welsh also says municipally-owned buildings install a green roof anytime thereâ€™s a repair or replacement to the top of the building, when feasible.

Why Watching Game of Thrones is Good for Your Relationship

Binge watching TV shows is common for a lot of couples, and that’s good. There are debates around the merit of binge watching and whether or not consuming media that ferociously is fine or not. For a good relationship binging doesn’t make a big difference – it’s following the drama of the characters that makes it worthwhile. Game of Thrones is a show that has a lot of drama which makes it an ideal show to share with your partner.

It turns out that watching the same show together gives couples a shared experience that is akin to having a social circle! Obviously, you should still go out and be social with real people.

They based their work on previous findings that suggested shared experience deepens intimacy because it allows people gradually to incorporate aspects of their partners into their sense of self. The process is called â€˜â€˜self-expansion,â€™â€™ and can foster feelings of closeness and love.
Using the characters in a TV show as subjects for gossip or for discussion of traits and behavior, or even for shared projection of fantasy, can do the same for a couple as talking about shared acquaintancesâ€”and give them the same necessary sense of belonging.

UK Bans Fising in a Million Square Kilometres

The UK will be banning commercial fishing in approximately one million kilometres of their ocean waters. The country is expanding their marine protection areas in the Atlantic and Pacific around the British Overseas Territories. This is good news as overfishing is contributing part to the global mass extinction of marine wildlife, anything countries can do to curtail the current fishing levels will help the environment and at risk species.

A 840,000 sq km (320,000 sq mile) area around Pitcairn, where the mutineers of the Bounty settled, becomes a no-take zone for any fishing from this week. St Helena, around 445,000 sq km of the south Atlantic ocean and home to whale sharks and humpbacks, is now also designated as a protected area.

The foreign office said it would designate two further marine protection zones, one each around two south Altantic islands â€“ Ascension by 2019 and Tristan da Cunha by 2020.

Sir Alan Duncan, minister of state for Europe and the Americas, said: â€œProtecting 4m sq km of ocean is a fantastic achievement, converting our historic legacy into modern environmental success.â€

Atmospheric Acidity Levels Return to Preindustrial Levels

Repairing the damage humans have done to the environment is a slow process but it can be done!

Thanks to policies put in place by leading economies (the article sites the American Clean Air Act from the 1970s) the acidity levels in the atmosphere has returned to a balanced level. This proves that we can combat climate change using existing political tools – we just need the political will!

â€œWe can see that the acid pollution in the atmosphere from industry has fallen dramatically since manmade acid pollution took off in the 1930s and peaked in the 1960s and 70s. In the 1970s, both Europe and the United States adopted the â€˜The clean air act amendmentsâ€™, which required filters in factories, thus reducing acid emissions and this is what we can now see the results of. The pollution of acid in the atmosphere is now almost down to the level it was before the pollution really took off in the 1930s, explains Helle Astrid KjÃ¦r.

3 Day Weekends Can Future Proof Work

A more efficient work week comes from rest, relaxation, and working less. We’ve looked at the idea that a more relaxed approach to work makes things better for everybody before (maybe to the point where I sound anti-work). Now there are more arguments for a shorter work week that are worth looking at.

For one, it can help keep people employed as more automation occurs across all sectors. And another reason is that it can save money and the environment by reducing the time spent commuting and running an office.

Itâ€™s happened before. For example, in 2007 Utah redefined the working week for state employees, with extended hours Monday to Thursday meaning it could eliminate Fridays entirely. In its first 10 months, the move saved the state at least $1.8 million in energy costs. Fewer working days meant less office lighting, less air conditioning and less time spent running computers and other equipment â€” all without even reducing the total number of hours worked.

For one day a week, thousands of commuters were able to stay at home. If the reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions from travel were included, the state estimated a saving of more than 12,000 tons of CO2 each year.