Burlington revisited.

As fall rolls along and work coagulates into one large boredom clot, I thought it would be fun to reflect on the past 2.5 years since we moved to Burlington and balance out the good, the bad and the ugly.

In that time there have been some good changes to the city.

• Ice rink opened downtown.
• Downtown waterfront pier started.
• Central Library re-opened.
• Commitment to build a McMaster Campus downtown.
• Commitment to passing a pesticide ban by-law.
• Mountain Equipment Co-op announces a new store for Burlington.
• GO transit starts refurbishing the Fairview station and opens a new rail line and introduces weekend service.
• Upper Brant (below Fairview) gets a make over.
  

The flip side to the above - some not so good developments for the city.

• McMaster campus blows off the downtown deal and looks for a place with a parking lot.
• Walmart wins at the OMB and plans to build close to downtown.
• Traffic continues to be snarled.
• The pesticide bylaw may take a while to enact
• Home prices run amok - so much so that we can not even afford Burlington anymore.
• Global warming and climate change news continues to dominate the media and Burlington's modest efforts to control carbon emissions will be a drop in the ocean.
  

Toronto's trees get a little help in fighting drought

Toronto's trees took a beating this past summer.

Youtube link.

Are we acceptable.

When Robert Frost was in his sixties he wrote, "I am no longer concerned with good and evil. What concerns me is whether my offering will be acceptable."

I wonder if our species' offering is acceptable?

Sometimes words fail me...

So the summer weather in October will be today's spokesman on the state of our planet's climate.

That and the freaky sunny thunderstorms and rain bursts.

That was just weird...

Mildly funny Green Party ad from Youtube

Slightly simplistic election video from the Green Party of Ontario vs the Grey Parties of Ontario. Parody of Mac/PC ads .

Using Ontario's power more wisely is not an option. Are people in Ontario, especially in the GTA, really committed to voluntarily reducing their energy consumption?

Pesticide presentation

Since this has now been publicly presented and distributed (and written about in the Burlington Post) I thought it would be fun to share the with a larger audience. You can read the entire presentation with notes in PDF format here.

Some highlights:

"We have to ask what is the City of Burlington waiting for? Where is our leadership and vision?

As you can see from the numbers on this slide (130 Canadian municipalities of which there are 25 Ontario Municipalities) there is a groundswell of smart, environmentally aware communities who are acting on the concerns from residents and recommendations from professionals like the Canadian Cancer Society, the Ontario College of Physicians and environmental lobby groups.

These municipalities are passing and enacting pesticide by-laws that protect the health and environment of their people. And today the city of Hamilton announced that a partial ban on lawn and garden pesticides will go into effect in Hamilton on Labour Day 2008.

It is important to remember that these communities are demonstrating environmental awareness and strong leadership. Where is Burlington’s leadership?

Anyone of us can search on the internet or in libraries for information that supports or denies the health effects of exposure to pesticides. Healthy and vigorous debate is an important part of the democratic process, but as more and more communities enact bylaws banning pesticides the tipping point of public pressure will only increase.

We urge you to take the time to absorb the information presented to you tonight and reflect on Mayor Jackson’s vision from the May 9 Burlington Post “My vision for Burlington’s future is one where we can live, work, and play in a clean and healthy environment.”

Finally as the great ad man David Ogilvy once said “Don't bunt. Aim out of the ballpark.”

Polar bears chat about the causes of global warming.

An entry in the Friends of the Earth green film competition.

Check out the link above to vote for your favourite.

2 worth reading

A couple of good reads from thestar.com today.

The first story is on how "Green" fuels are potentially worse for global warming.
snip
"Using biodiesel derived from rapeseed would produce between 1 and 1.7 times more greenhouse gas than using conventional diesel, the study estimated."
end snip

The second story is a good opinion piece by Kathleen O'Hara about our provincial leaders lack of leadership on green issues - Leaders fumble green ball

snip
"...we can't allow our energy future to be hijacked by profit-driven corporations the way the Internet was. "The great promise of the Net ... has been compromised, at every step of the way, by commercial interests determined to gain a foothold over the medium."

Yes, the world is getting off to a rocky start when it comes to "saving civilization." Here in Ontario, it doesn't look like any person or party is going to lead us out of the increasingly hot wilderness – no matter what the election outcome. That is a disgrace when so much is at stake."
end snip

The meeting was...

I found the meeting to review the pesticide bylaw quite educational.

I was very impressed with the dedication of staff, council and the mayor to sit through 4 hours of delegates and then have a fairly vigorous debate afterward. These people work very hard and I am sure that by the end of it most people just wanted to go home - I know I certainly did.

There were a few odd and tense moments - apparently this is not a black and white issue. Over the next few months I am sure there will be lots of posturing and positioning and consultation. Will be interesting to watch from the sidelines.

I am looking forward to the Post's take on it Friday's paper.

Oh and welcome to all the new readers.

TAL - Ira Glass on storytelling.

One of my favourite podcasts is This American Life from WBEZ National Public Radio in Chicago. It is an insightful often thought provoking weekly radio show hosted by Ira Glass.

If you have ever listened to it you will know how habit forming the show can become. The video below has Ira sharing some of his secrets on storytelling.

The last lecture.

The video below is making the internet buzz. Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch will be dead from terminal pancreatic cancer in the next month or so.

His last lecture is inspiring, heartfelt and courageous.

Leading up to my first time as a delegate.

I am starting to get nervous and jittery about my appearance and presentation at city hall this Tuesday evening. Here is a Burlington Post article on the meeting with the CDC committee quoting Kurt Koster the chair of the Pesticide Action Burlington committee.

There are 12 delegates on the agenda for Tuesday's review of the staff report on pesticide use in Burlington. The revised agenda was released on Friday. The email that informed us of the revised report and agenda included this paragraph.

"Please be advised that a Revised Agenda and staff report have been issued for the September 25th "Special" Community Development Committee meeting to deal with the cosmetic use of pesticides in the City of Burlington as a result of a staff direction was approved at the September 17th regular meeting of Community Development Committee. Committee will not entertain delegations on the original report."

I do not know what "Committee will not entertain delegations on the original report." means, but I am sure this will make things more entertaining.

And just for the record the staff report was revised to remove this recommendation - "That staff proceed with a proposed by-law to restrict the cosmetic use of pesticides within the city of Burlington."

You can see the full agenda and matter for consideration here.

Hey let's keep poisoning ourselves!

Not feeling overly positive that the city of Burlington will even consider a pesticide bylaw even after the meeting on Tuesday, September 25. I am not sure what the reluctance is.

According to a poll from the Canadian Cancer Society 60% of residents support a ban, 20% are on the fence and 20% oppose a ban outright.

Apparently 2 councilors will not move on this issue. No matter how much evidence is presented to them they will not vote for a pesticide bylaw.

Of course reports like this one from the EPA (an agency with a poor track record at best) where the EPA announces that "...2,4-D poses no risk to human health" don't really help.

Great.

Baby democracy

Ah - if it were only this simple - no debates, no lies, no promises.

Ontario election blah

I never really trust surveys but I thought this one was a little interesting.

Thestar.com is running a survey on their election page asking readers "What Ontario election issue is most important to you?"

Here are the current results.

Taxes 27%
Health care 21%
Cash for cities 16%
Schools funding 14%
Environment 12%
Fighting poverty 7%


What saddens me about the results of this random, non-scientific poll is where the environment issue ranks. I thought it would be higher given the recent rhetoric around the world.

The top 2 issues are really about preservation of the self and I certainly appeciate being overburdened by taxes and underserviced by our health care industry but frankly if we do not get our environmental issues under control taxes and health care will be the least of our worries.

Or am I being too pessimistic and gloomy?

Changing seasons: time to bulk up

I love the summer, the hot weather, the sunny long days, the camping, canoeing and cottaging. But I also love the fall. And over the last few nights and those early morning commutes, I have noticed that beautiful fall crispness is in the air.

For us this usually means the beginning of the cooking, baking, roasting, red wine drinking and bread making season. It also means a chance to try out some truly decadent recipes from the autumn issue of the LCBO's Food and Drink mag (not on their site yet but available in the stores).



I love this magazine - every shot, as you can see on the left, is perfectly taken to make readers drool and the recipes are fairly good although sometimes a little on the piggish side.

Now if we could just afford to have a wood burning fireplace installed we would be one happy cocooned family.

lead poisoning redux

We have known about the dangers of lead for decades and yet it still poses a real and present danger, just think of the recent toy recalls caused by poor manufacturing monitoring on toys made in China. So I was somewhat surprised to see that the school that my kids attend has high levels of lead in the water.

From the Burlington Post "Tom Thomson and Ryerson elementary of Burlington, the New Street site of the Gary Allan High School for adult and continuing education, W.I. Dick elementary in Milton and Montclair elementary in Oakville now all have minimum daily flushing times ranging from 20-35 minutes."

I understand that older schools can be hazardous but running the taps up-to 35 minutes when we have just come through the driest summer on record just strikes me as a give-your-head-a-shake dumbass bureaucratic moment. I love when our government officials suck and blow at the same time.

I am not downplaying the health risks associated with lead, trust me, in fact my kids have been bringing their own water since they started at the school, but is there no better way to address this issue? Is the flushed water captured and used to water the trees and plants on the property? What is the long term fix?


From the Halton website on lead in the drinking water. "Younger children are still developing and are therefore more sensitive to the neurological and blood effects of lead. As well, children less than six years of age absorb lead more easily than adults. Particular recommendations are made for formula-fed infants because the water used to make the formula can contribute 40-60 per cent of an infant's lead intake, whereas drinking water in older children and adults only contributes approximately 10 per cent of total lead intake."

This is scary stuff and is just another example that we can never really get a handle on all the pollutants out there. No matter how much monitoring or safe guards our elected officials and municipal agencies promise to put in place, we are still being poisoned every single day - even by a simple drink of water from the school fountain.

Slowly getting back in the groove

I have been shunning the computer and have only just now gotten back to thinking about all the work I have to do. And now that we have gotten through my daughter's 9th birthday and the start of school we can try and catch up.

The next big agenda item is finishing up the pesticide ban presentation for the September 25 meeting at Burlington's city hall. The meeting looked like it was going to be a no go with the provincial liberals campaign promise to ban the use of pesticides throughout Ontario. But I guess we are going to go through the excercise anyway.

With regards to the liberal election promise I never have much faith in seeing these things coming to fruition - but you can read the details (as skimpy as they are) here.

"Many fruits, including peaches, apples, pears and grapes, were found to contain residues of pesticides, the report said. However, the ban the Liberal Party is contemplating would not apply to farmers.

Both proponents and critics of pesticide use have called on the province to pass legislation on what is permitted. Mr. McGuinty will introduce legislation if his party wins a second term in office. No decision has been made on what the penalties would be for breaking the ban."

And just for the record I will not be voting Liberal - even with this "promise" on their platform.

Taking time off - see ya!

I am going on hols and will not even consider going online until the end of August.

What happens when we no longer can fuel our cars?

There has been a lot of speculation about the death of the suburbs over the last year or so including dire predictions on peak oil and what will happen to the economy and the world when we can no longer rely on cheap gas to survive.

Is there any truth to the matter? A quick online search on death of the suburbs returns naysayers, doom and gloomers and links to books on how to regain your spirituality while embracing the suburbanite "culture".

The fact is the 'burbs are a car lovers world. Always have been and for the most part always will be - only thing is car worship is not sustainable. Which of course means that when we do run out of oil whether it is next week or in 100 years we will have to find a better way to get around. Until then necessity is the mother of invention and if there is no need to change we won't. That my dear readers is human nature.

Vacation time can't come soon enough

One more week until I get 2 weeks down time. It has been a very busy summer and I feel like I am running a marathon just to get a little relief.

Hard to keep up with family life, housework, budgeting, facebook, digg, reddit, work, gmail, volunteer work and just staying on top of it all.

2 weeks off will do me good. I hope.

Pesticides - can't live without 'em

My brother came by on the weekend and played devils advocate on the pesticide bylaw presentation I am helping to write.

He got me thinking about what it is we are trying to do with our request to city council to introduce a bylaw.

He said, "What about the average Joe who has lived in the same house for 50 years and every spring has sprayed pesticides on his perfect green lawn and nothing happened to him or his family. What gives you the right to force him to change?"

And I did not have an answer to that question.

But then again I do not have an answer on how to fix climate change, how to wean us off the car or how the U.S. can exit Iraq. I don't have a lot of answers.

The best answer I could come up with was, "How smart is it to pour chemicals all over a lawn?" Pretty pathetic.

We can quote studies, show charts, talk about people dying and generally play the emotional card but will that do any good? If I was a councilor I know exactly how I would vote on this issue but what if I had 60% of my constituents who said "Piss off, I love my chemicals and green lawn and I am not hurting anyone."?

Actually I still know how I would vote - we need elected officials with a clear, concise, green, smart mandate. As long as their mandate is the same as mine of course ;-).

Does anyone have any answers to these conundrums?

Very tired

The CN crew that laid all the track at the new GO station platform over the long weekend must be tired. Maybe even more tired than I am. In fact the slight joy I felt at seeing the track down could not keep me awake this morning as I promptly fell asleep on the train. I woke up at Union feeling more groggy than ever.

This will be a very long day.

Just getting mellow

It is the kind of Sunday morning I love - sunny, calm and still with a hint of the heat of the day to come.

The goldfish are out of the murky depths of the pond breaking the surface to nudge at a piece of apple - one of their favourite treats.

And the Rhubarb faces the sun its broad green leaves. And the new yellow tomatoes sag on the vine ripe and ready for the table. The coffee is hot and life feels full of promise and hope.

GO train not so green?

This morning I wanted to recycle a water bottle I had been carrying around in my bag for a week or so - I know water bottles suck and I should not use them, mea culpa - and looked for a recycling bin on the platform of the Burlington GO station.

Turns out there is no recycling bin on these platforms. Sorta silly, I thought that in this day and age every public space should have-easy-to-find and easy-to-use recycling receptacles.

Whew!

It is hot, dry and brown in southern Ontario. Sure are a lot of dusty lawns and parks out there. Are we officially in a drought?

UPDATE: Apparently we have had (if I am reading this correctly, as the wording seems a little, well wordy) 60% less rain fall from May to July.

Our cities' poor trees are wilting under the waterless onslaught - in fact I have seen some maples (shown in a bad cell phone shot to the left) in the parking lot of the Catholic School board facility at the corner of Drury Lane and Fairview turning red and brown and start to drop their leaves. I pass these trees each day on my morning and nightly bike commute home from the GO station. Every time I pass by I wince. Maybe the city could spare some water from the soccer fields?

A new wooden screen door.

Last summer we ripped out the old and ugly aluminum screen door that was too short for the front door. I sanded and painted the existing wooden door and we have lived without a screen door until today.

Over the last 2 weeks or so I have been building a screen door. I used poplar, biscuits and glue for the joinery and lost-wax cast steel hardware and hinges from Lee Valley for a little extra design.

I painted the door white and the hardware black and hung the door today. The end result is nice. It transforms the inside of the house letting in a ton of light and air and hints to a time when my grandmother used to yell at me "don't slam the screen door".

This door has a more gentle bump to it then my grandmother's door did but I imagine as the hinges loosen up and the weather stripping thins it will only be a matter of time until I am yelling out "stop slamming the screen door!."


Now we will just have to wait and see how that biscuit and glue "joinery" holds up to all that slamming.

Fire at Dundas Ontario pesticide plant pollutes Spencer creek.

And looky here, timely news to follow-up on the post below:

"Thousands of fish are dead after contaminated run-off from a burning pesticide plant flowed into Spencer Creek." Reported by the Hamilton Spectator.

I particularly like this quote -

"Mimi Gilbert, regional communications adviser for the Ministry of the Environment, said inspectors started finding dead fish about one kilometre downstream from the plant. The kill included a variety of species and fish of all ages.

Gilbert said all the run-off from the fire site has now been contained and the spill won't affect drinking water."

Yeah right - I think I will drink wine for the next month or so.

Will a pesticide ban ever fly in Burlington, Ontario?

The new council seems to be a tad greener than the old one (by about 2 councilors and a mayor who presents himself as green, but I am not convinced) but I think they are still too suburban to pass such a law.

What do I mean by suburban? I guess I mean spoiled, used to driving everywhere, too rich, too greedy and generally turning a blind eye on the impact of the cities behavior on the environment. It would be lovely to have a mayor and council that had a vision for the future that was green, sustainable and risk taking when it comes to decisions like this. Of course a team like that could also be incredibly dangerous - but sometimes public consultation, more reports and expensive studies can cloud the issue. Lets face it people, tossing chemicals on our lawns is a really dumb thing to do.

Anyway will a bylaw be passed? We will find out on September 25th as the city meets to hear from delegates about the issues. The Sustainable Development committee will be there as will Pesticide Action Burlington and hopefully many other delegates. The word on the street is that any proposed bylaw ban would be rejected 4-3. In fact I heard through second hand information one councilor had suggested that a ban on pesticides would be unhealthy for some of their constituents because of the amount of weeds that would spread. Yeesh.

I hope we can help change their minds.

Lets see if we can generate a comment or two - what do the readers think?

Need more facts:
How about these from the Sierra Club.

"Once you begin to apply pesticides, your lawn can become addicted to chemical treatment. Repeated applications can cause soil to become conditioned, which speeds up degradation of the pesticides. This results in the need to apply increasingly toxic chemicals at more frequent intervals to control the pest problem. Meanwhile, beneficial organisms are killed off, soil can become sterile, and pesticide-resistant insects breed to produce a species able to withstand the toxins and continue eating your grass!"

or David Suzuki:

"Over 6,000 Canadians suffer from acute pesticide poisonings every year. That is one of the findings from research conducted by David Boyd for the David Suzuki Foundation report, Northern Exposure: Acute pesticide poisonings in Canada.

Nearly half of those poisoned by pesticides are children under the age of six—imagine 100 kindergarten classes, or 50 school buses full of young children."

And finally take a look at who has tackled this issue already - looks like Burlington needs to get with the program.

Rank	Municipality	Prov	Population	Pesticide By-law Status
1	Toronto	ON	2 481 494	Adopted
2	Hamilton	ON	490 268	Drafted
3-9	Waterloo Region*	ON	508 000	Adopted
10	London	ON	271 003	Adopted
11	Markham	ON	208 615	Adopted
12	Windsor	ON	208 402	Adopted
13	Vaughan	ON	182 022	Drafted
14	Oakville	ON	144 738	Adopted
15	Guelph	ON	114 943	Adopted
16	Pickering	ON	87 139	Drafted
17	Peterborough	ON	71 445	Adopted
18	New Market	ON	65 788	Adopted
19	North Bay	ON	52 771	Adopted
20	Caledon	ON	50 595	Adopted
21	Georgina	ON	39 263	Adopted
22	Orangeville	ON	25 248	Adopted
23	Thorold	ON	18 048	Adopted
24	Cobourg	ON	17 172	Adopted
25	Collingwood	ON	16 039	Adopted
26	Smith-Ennismore-Lakefield	ON	16 000	Adopted
27	Perth	ON	6 003	Adopted
28	Gananoque	ON	5 167	Adopted
29	Deep river	ON	4 000	Adopted
30	Georgian Bay	ON	2 230	Adopted
31	Cobalt	ON	1 229	Adopted
32	The Archipelago (Parry Sound)	ON	505	Adopted

Have been too busy

We were away camping for 5 days at Grundy Lake just south of the French River. Probably one of the best camping spots for families that we have been to, bit of a long haul from Burlington but well worth the drive.

The swimming is fantastic and if you get a spot on the Red Maple campground you are easy walking distance to the secluded beach and slippery rocks.

The other cool lake is Gutt lake which you can canoe to from Grundy. There are cliffs there that are perfect for jumping off of. The kids had a blast as you can see from the shot to the left. The highest jump is maybe 18 feet or so but enough of an adrenaline rush to get your heart racing.

We are already making plans to go again next year.

Older, not necessarily wiser.

Latest census numbers are out and hey guess what? We are getting older. What I want to know is what happens when Canadians start dropping like flies. And at what point will the tipping point occur?

SNIP
"Statistics Canada says the numbers of retirement-aged Canadians in the workforce will continue to increase — in less than 10 years, one in five people in the workforce will be aged 55 to 64.

"In about 10 years Canada may have more people at the age where they can leave the labour force than people at the age where they can begin working," said Statistics Canada."

Summer posting.

It has been a quiet start to the week in Burlington. The world keeps turning and we keep trying to find time to post.

Some things I am working on:

1) A screen door for the front door. Will post some photos.
2) A PPT presentation on a pesticide By-law restriction to the City of Burlington for the end of September. Will post when done.
3) A top 5 list of my local hangouts.
4) Lots of real work at the place I earn my living.

Bedroom community, city or suburb

The name of this blog is probably a little misleading.

I had a conversation last week with someone who said that Burlington is not a suburb but a city or at a stretch a bedroom community.

According to Wikipedia "Most modern suburbs are commuter towns with many single-family homes. Many suburbs have some degree of political autonomy and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods."

Well Burlington seems to qualify for that - it is a commuter town for many, does have a degree of autonomy and is certainly less dense than inner city areas, but it is probably not a bedroom community. Again from Wikipedia "As a general rule, suburbs are developed in areas adjacent to main employment centres, such as a town or a city, but may or may not have many jobs locally, whereas bedroom communities have few local businesses and most residents commute to employment centers some distance away."

Maybe I should change the name of the blog to Musings from Burlington: a commuter town for some a home for everyone else even though I still think Burlington can be classified as a suburb.

Greening goes awry

Not nearly as green as we think.

Uh no kidding. For anyone who has spent any time in cities like Mississauga, Oakville or Burlington it is evidently clear that most Canadians could care less about the environment. Shop at Longos and see how many plastic bags you can collect. And now that has been somewhat validated by a recent survey.

Full story on the Globe and Mail.
SNIP:

"A national survey of household habits says Canadians have made some changes for conservation, but still hold onto habits that go against the green-living grain.

Six in 10 households now use fluorescent bulbs, over four in 10 have programmable thermostats, recycling rates have jumped and 60 per cent of homes have water-saving shower heads since the last household efficiency survey in 1994.

But the use of chemical pesticides is only slight down from 1994 levels — with the sole exception of Quebec, where pesticide use has plunged — most Canadians still commute to work alone in private vehicles, and rising numbers of people drink water from plastic containers."

Nary a drop to drink.

The Halton region has relaxed the mandatory water ban from June 28th a little allowing homeowners to do a wee sprinkling here and there. I wonder if anyone has actually been charged for watering on their off days or off hours.

I do know that when I go on an early morning walk there are many automatic sprinklers running including big honking ones on the soccer fields in the park. I wonder of the city can get fined if they water during the wrong time of day?

I am a bit of a water conscious freak and installed a rain barrel (and for you west nile worriers you need not worry - there is a fine mesh screen on it) from Home Depot this past spring and have used it to keep my tomatoes and 2 corn plants (there were more but someone has chewed them down) watered. It is amazing how little rain you need to fill the barrel. I have a model that you can join together in sequence although I am not sure I am that keen on having a row of rain barrels in the yard.

Our lawn, on the other hand, has turned in to tough brown turf. Kinda dusty and not much fun to play boules on.

Kite festival

The Kite Festival, created by The Kite Museum.com, sort of happened in Spencer Smith Park (where else?) this past Sunday.

The weather was a bit wonky and so the event was not much to look at. There were some kids attempting to fly hand-made orange garbage bag kites in the rain and humidity. There were some cool kites in the waterfront centre (left) and a really hyper guy who whipped through a PowerPoint on the history of kites - I think he was nervous. This was our first experience with this event and the kids and I were a little crestfallen at the lack of buzz. Seems to me it could be a really cool event.

Later in the evening we biked to the Music Centre bandstand in Central Park (no not that Central Park silly this one.) and listened to some old big band music as part of the Music in the Park series.The band, made up by a primarily senior membership, had lots of enthusiasm if not musical ability. Too bad it was cut short by a non-functioning sound system and looming thunder clouds - hey maybe they were related?

A summer Saturday morning and a feeling of bliss.

A lovely serene and peaceful Saturday. Sipping coffeee in the yard and making the plans for the day. A bike ride and picnic to Burlington Beach may be in order.

Or maybe just a lazy day with a good book in a chair in the sun.

More exciting news for Burlington

Good news all around for the city.

Looks like the proposed McMaster University campus in downtown Burlington cleared another hurdle this past week with the approval, by the university's governors, of moving their executive MBA program to the new facility.

There is a bit of mumbling and groaning from some quarters about the proposed location of the campus. There are even some suggestions that the school should be built on a larger plot of land removed from downtown with ample parking. I disagree 100%.

The only place for this campus is downtown. It is a smart use of the space (less urban sprawl - more intensification, easy access to cyclists, walkers and transit users) and would be an excellent boost to the cities vital, local economy. Smart cities know how important a vibrant downtown is to their future success and overall livability.

The second piece of news is the announcement of the commitment to fund a portion of the performance arts centre by the federal government. This is so cool and really will add to the cultural life in this 'burban city. Rumours abound that, if this project goes ahead, the building will be a Leed certified facility with hopefully a green roof and geothermal HVAC.

Staying green in a wasteful place.

This blog will always have a slight environmental bent to it. It is who I am however I must admit that it is hard to maintain a green streak when you live in the burbs.

To recap - we moved to Burlington from South Riverdale in Toronto in July of 2005. We moved because we grew out of our small and old row house. We moved to Burlington because we could not afford to buy a larger home in TO.

We did our research and looked at many communities in the GTA. We looked north, east and finally west. We are happy where we ended up and although our "new" home is smallish and older, we like the fact that we can walk to the Library, the YMCA and downtown. I love the fact that I can ride my bike or walk to the GO train.

But all is not perfect.

There are still challenges. Like my 2 hour commute, like too many malls, too many cars and too much traffic. Like narrow views and tiny worlds where a sense of entitlement means that people still drive honking SUV's and pick-up trucks. Making connections is hard, meeting like-minded people is challenging and finding a well paying job closer to home is next to impossible.

Often, when I travel on the long train ride home, I see people that I might find interesting and that might find me interesting. They might have a certain look about them that comes off as looking intelligent, educated and aware. Then I watch them get off the train and get in to their SUV and my opinion changes. Sadly I turn judgmental and pious. Not on purpose, and for no good reason - if I could afford a big SUV would I buy one? Never.

And that is a fundamental difference between my family and many of the people that I have met so far. I like to feel that my family and I think globally and act locally. We try to shop and support the smaller stores downtown, we avoid the malls as much as possible, we drive a small car, we ride and walk more often than not, we use a reel mower (on a corner lot no less). These are not hardships for us and I am not bragging about how we live. I certainly do not feel that we are better than anyone else and there are days where we throw out too much plastic or don't recycle 100% or buy too much stuff. But on the whole we are at least aware of our actions. And when we do slip up I know that I feel good and guilty.

So why can't everyone live like us?

Well the suburbs have been built around the car and as anyone who has spent anytime north of the QEW can tell you - walking around up there is not much fun. Cycling is downright dangerous and despite the best intentions of the City of Burlington, transit is inconvenient and time consuming. Conspicuous consumption is, well, conspicuous and the mall is a hang out.

There are bright lights to be sure, like the better recycling of garbage and waste that will come to the Halton region next year. Like the heightened awareness about pesticides, plastic bags, and pollution. Like the high price of gas that might force drivers to rethink their mode of transportation. Things will change and I know that Burlington will, over time, become a slightly greener town.

Do we regret the move?

Some days yes. We lament the change of pace, from fast and furious, to slow and steady. We sometimes feel like outsiders. We miss our friends, who knew 40 minutes down the road would be so far to travel?

Other days we are thankful for the space, the tranquil sense of piece that we get when sitting in our backyard next to the fish pond, the friendly people we meet at our children's school, the older well-meaning steady neighbours who willingly (some might say eagerly) share the history of the street we live on. We love the waterfront, downtown the Library and the clean well maintained community centres.

On the balance it was the right move at the right time for right now.

A cheery bit of news. Not.

Great Lakes fish getting worse: Study

SNIP-

"Toxins that once only surfaced in big fish are making their way down the food chain, a sign that the Great Lakes are getting even more polluted, a new report says. "

You can read the full story here.

New rail line and platform

The Burlington GO train station is getting a new platform and rail line. I have been following the snail like construction for the last few months and it looks like they may be done before the snow files again.

As far as I can tell (there are no artist renderings anywhere) the whole platform looks like it will get some sort of shelter doohickey. This will be a very welcome retreat on those cold and blustery winter mornings when we all huddle together for warmth waiting for the switches to get unstuck and the wayward 6:35 train to roll in at 7 or so.

The biggest benefit for the folks traveling homeward from Union Station on the 5:02 is that we will no longer have to wait, up to 10 minutes some days, for the east bound train to leave Burlington. If all works according to plan we should be able to just roll-in like all of the other station stops. I can tell you that there is nothing more frustrating than being slow close to home that you can feel it only to be stopped up at the last minute for an empty train heading in to Union Station. Somewhat frustrating to say the least.

Wither yonder

We have returned from a lovely camping trip on Lake Huron. I am back at work and trying to figure out what to do next.

We are out of money.

It is foggy and cool - where for art thou summer?

Perhaps all is not lost as the weekend looks hot and muggy.

MEC comes to Burlington

Awesome and exciting news! Burlington is getting its greenest building to date in the form of a 20,000 square foot Mountain Equipment Co-op.

Snippet from their release.

""Sustainability is a driving force at MEC, and the Burlington store will be developed to our rigorous green building standards," said Robinson.

MEC plans to construct its greenest building to date and to meet at least the gold standard of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) greenbuilding rating system."

The location is not ideal - but it is still accessible by walking and biking and is close enough to downtown to make transit an option.

Sound of Music Festival

The Sound of Music Festival wrapped up this past weekend and Spencer Smith appears to have survived another festival onslaught.

The weather was glorious, hot and sunny with only a mild sprinkling. On Saturday my family and I rode our bikes down and parked at Caroline and Brant and then meandered through the downtown. Oddly enough during the time we were there, 1- 5 pm, there was very little music being played. About 15 minutes in to our visit my daughter ended up having a little asthma attack and decided to go home with my wife but my young son and I stayed and played.

I reluctantly forked over the outrageous sum of $20 for some amusement ride tickets. Turns out it was well worth it as the young one gleefully and enthusiastically rode the rides. It was great fun to see him grinning ear-to-ear on the slide, mini-roller coaster and merry-go-round. Ahh to have such joy.

After tearing through the rides we sat down at the east end of the park in front of the Bell stage and watched exactly one song from a totally forgettable Canadian Idol finalist Then my son declared the music too loud and we proceeded back to Brant street to do some beading at beadworks. Jacob made a cool looking choker for himself and then we took one more listen tothe music and headed home for cookout.

Soccer Dad.

Signed my 5 year old up lad up for soccer this past winter.

Stood in line on a cold winter day for about 90 minutes or so while the line for the sign-up snaked it's way around the building and up the stairs of the Burlington Youth Soccer Club. The building was butt ugly and the view encompassed a parking lot and the QEW. Not much to keep 2 squirming, bored children interested or engaged, but I kept telling myself that this would be a good thing for him.

Plunked my cash down and we, or rather I, gleefully waited for the start of J 's first season as a bona-fide player of the classic suburban sport - soccer. The whole experience felt like a right of passage and I could hardly wait for the Wednesday after Victoria day when it would all begin,

Things did not go well.

And to understand why you have to understand my son. J is a stubborn and willful lad. When he digs his five-year-old heels in there is no moving him until he is ready. When we first moved to Burlington from the Big Smoke he was set to start JK in September. He started in May. And it was not for lack of trying on our part (or the teacher's, principal, special ed teacher etc..). He simply decided there was no way in hell he was going to school and that was that.

So my wife and I approached soccer with levity and enthusiasm and joy and support and love. The big day came. I took an early GO train home so I could get him fed and to the game on time. It was at Optimist park and even I felt overwhelmed with the mayhem and noise of 10 teams of small boys running around and kicking yellow balls in every direction. So I can only imagine how he felt.

We found the coach, got the uniform and ball and off he went to show-off his skills. So far, so good. I grinned like a Cheshire cat, I was so happy. The team finished up the 20 minute practice and then gathered round the coach for the pre-game pep talk. And then it happened. Someone stepped on his hand and he started crying and that, my dear readers, was that. We tried the next week but he would not even come out of the house. He yelled and cried and kicked and screamed and no matter what form of persuasion or bribe we tried he had decided that he would not play soccer.

At least we got a refund.

Sustainable huh?

I am a member of a citizen's committee on sustainable development (an oxymoron if ever there was one) and part of the task we have set for ourselves this year is to create a document that sets the goal for the city corporation to reach in terms of CO2 reduction.

The problem is that the corporation is only responsible for a minute portion of the green gas emissions with the bulk of the emissions coming from the citizens. Like any typical suburban community ours has sprawled. The new subdivisions are car centric, built on farm land and completely unsustainable. So how do you reverse these mistakes? No idea. The only ways to reduce emissions from a car centric society is to come up with a car that pollutes less, offer reliable and free public transportation or tax the people. None of them easy choices.

But the alternative is not so great either.

Weeds are good.

With spring in the air it is time to think about greening the garden and lawn. There is an excellent Organic gardening seminar at the Burlington Central Public Library on Tuesday April 10 at 7 pm.

Get your garden off drugs!

Oh and while you are at it get a rain barrel will you...please?