Info. Insight. Inspiration.
It Starts Here!
Vol. 2, Issue 12
July 17th, 2011
Exciting News - NEW ISH COORDINATORS!
- I'm very pleased to introduce Kristen C and Victoria E as your new ISH coordinators for next year!
- It's been a pleasure to have coordinated the ISH newsletter for you over this past year. Thank you very much for your submissions and your interest, and let's support and look forward to continued info, insights, and inspirations from Kristen and Victoria in the year ahead!
Issues
- Warning: If you live in Oak Park, Michigan, growing vegetables yourself is an offense if you do it on your front yard! The city officials defended their assertions by citing centuries-old rules (of thumb): front yards are for growing what's "common": "a nice, grass yard with beautiful trees and bushes and flowers"
- Highland Companies is threatening to turn 2,400 acres of some of Canada's best farm land into a limestone mine. This Toronto Star article provides very good background to this threat to food production and clean water in southern Ontario. It is especially troubling because it appears that the company buying up the farmland used deceptive, manipulative and strong-arm tactics. (from Elaine P)
- Greenwashing among "green" detergents still exists! Sunlight, Pured, and GreenWorks are among the guilty this week - their "petrochemical free" concoctions were found to still contain chemicals made from petroleum, even as much as 38% in Sunlight Green Clean! (From Yan Y)
Solutions:
- China seems to be vamping-up its commitment for green-technology, with this most recent push for more energy-efficient buildings! If it works it could be awesome for China and for the world...but there's still many obstacles in its way! (From Ralph Y)
- Planning on flying to Europe anytime next year? Your flight may cost more than ever before (subject to gas prices)! But that may actually be something you'd be willing to pay for, because the EU wants to implement theirEmissions Trading Scheme (ETS), basically a carbon cap and trade system that will apply to all flights that have anything to do with the EU. Sets you back financially, yes, but necessary, argues the Economist.
Debates:
- My thoughts about "Force of Nature" - a documentary about the life and work of David Suzuki. It discusses very interesting themes such as climate change, resource consumption, environmental degradation, etc; all from Suzuki's point of view...very interesting! (From Yan Y)
- Australia has recently imposed a national carbon tax, amounting to about USD$25 per ton of carbon emitted. To prevent disadvantaged/low-income households from being too harmed by this tax (higher utility bills, etc), over 50% of the revenue from this tax will be used to support them. Also, additional revenue will be used to support green energy projects across Australia! With this move the Aussies join New Zealand, the EU, India, etc...not the US and Canada! (from Yan Y)
- Granted, carbon taxes are always controversial - opponents claim they 1) reduce economic competitiveness of a country and 2) harm the low-income population.
- Alberta doesn't want a national carbon tax because, since it produces way more carbon emissions than other provinces than Canada, it also has to pay more tax to the federal govn't. Ironically though, Alberta does have something of a provincial carbon tax for the worst emitters, which are required to pay $15 per ton into a "energy innovation fund"! This way, the local tax revenues stay in Alberta for use by Albertans...fair? For Alberta, the answer seems to be yes.
- Perhaps the solution to getting a carbon tax passed in Canada is for each individual province/territory to pass their own legislation?
- Here's some more info about carbon taxes! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_tax
It starts with YOU:
Fun and creative ways you can green up your home and your life:
- 5 ways of collecting water for your garden! This link shows you how to make your own rainbarrels, and yes, you can even recycle shower-water or pasta-boiling-water!
- In Calgary, the price of water (and all utilities) is scheduled for a 8-10% rise over the next few years! We're now more incentivized than ever to individually conserve our water use at home...here's how!
Your fortnightly health triplet:
- The doctor-patient relationship: the way it is now in many clinics in North America, versus the way it should be, in the eyes of an gynecologist.
- Although the model relationship she proposes is idealistic, it's a good idea to strive for, I think. Improving the way patients and doctors feel about their care will lead to better satisfaction all round, which could translate to better treatment results. Indirectly, a better doctor-patient relationship may also enhance healthcare sustainability: doctors, being less stressed and peeved at their patients, can provide better care for each one, reducing costly and wasteful errors; and patients, feeling confidence in their doctor, resort to less unnecessarily costly second-opinions, and may be less likely to waste money/time suing the MD... which could in turn reduce the amount of money the healthcare system spends to defend their doctors from lawsuits. Interesting! (From Yan Y)
- Don't get sick in July, a green medical resident may kill you! Here's why!
LOLz of the fortnight:
ABOUT "IT STARTS HERE":
- ISH is a member-based information resource about all things "sustainability", started in March of 2010. Our members consist of high school and university students, including IB candidates/alumni, Queen's Major Admission Award Scholars, Loran Scholars, and Canada's Top 20 Under 20 alumni.
- Members (those receiving the ISH - yes you are a member!) send in whatever materials they find (links to interesting facts, news about their organizations, etc) during the course of the week, and an editor compiles the material and sends out the ISH newsletter every sunday.
- As the ISH relies on member inputs, your contribution is greatly needed and always appreciated!
- You're a member if you care - about the world, about sustainability issues, and about what you can do to make things better. We hope you find the information in this newsletter interesting, informative, and inspiring. Remember: change starts here. Change starts with you.
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