recycle2shop.com

We turned up at Moss Street Market at 8am yesterday in the pouring rain with no let up in sight.  Sure enough, it just got wetter.  I felt sorry for the artists as this is a once in a year happening.  Market vendors come prepared for any weather.  How on earth would any painter  keep water colours intact when the streets were small rivers.  The rain petered out around noon and stopped at 2pm when fog descended instead.  At least this encouraged spectators to arrive and at 4pm closing time the sun finally appeared.

Thank you to all our customers that came anyway and even some tourists braved our sea side weather.

Today at our downtown market in Centennial Square we met a couple from Austin Texas who love our cold, rainy days as they had left a sweltering 100 degrees and were glad to breathe cool air…so there you go Victoria, we can become a haven for people escaping hotter global warming areas.

I have been hoarding my plastic & Styrofoam recycle for months. Thank heavens for reFUSE in Victoria - it’s on Government Street between Chinatown and Bay Street. They take everything plastic, including waxed cartons, chip bags (with the aluminium lining) and styrofoam - as long as you take it already sorted.

Fabric Paths

My garden paths are looking quite sartorial with their latest covering of fabric remnants - saved from Recycle2shop’s bag and apron making.
Victoria Downtown Market was busy this weekend with some tourists from as far away as Texas and England.

Aprons on the Line

The Gay Pride Parade started as usual from our corner on Pandora and Government Street - loved the energy as Lady Gaga’s music pounded out of the speakers. The costumes this year looked fantastic - loads of feathers of course.

Gay Pride

Latest eco cleaning tip - olive oil with a few drops of lemon juice or essence make for a friendly furniture polish.

I read a clear explanation of our climate change denial by a geneticist, human rights worker, Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard: “Imagine a ship that is sinking and needs all the available power to run the pumps to drain out the rising waters. The first class passengers refuse to cooperate because they feel hot and want to use the air-conditioner and other electrical appliances. The second-class passengers spend all their time trying to be upgraded to first-class status. The boat sinks and the passengers all drown. That is where the present approach to climate change is leading. ” as quoted in The New York Times, Opinion Pages of June 23, 2011.

Victoria Cliffs

Olympic Mountain Rain Clouds

Summer has finally arrived in Victoria bringing people out to local markets. One local seagull welcomed us back to Centennial & Government street by divebombing and leaving a ’splot’ on Recycle2shop’s tent - leaving tourists alone for once. We will be back in Centennial Square in 2 weeks after 4 weeks on ‘the street’ by Chinatown.

Backdrop to stall

Victoria is now one of two communities in Canada with a Blue Community Certificate. Our city declares water a human right, guarantees access for all, further restricts and bans the sale of bottled water in city facilities and events and reolves to support public water infrastructure. Thanks to Marianne Alto and CUPE, Water Watch, and the Victoria Council of Canadians who worked tirelessly on this resolution.

Eco tip for today - instead of chemical fabric softeners - add 1 cup of vinegar and 2 drops of essential oil (lavender, lemon, bergamot etc) to the rinse cycle.

Bergamot & Guest

A Canadian company, Switchable Solutions, in Ontario has been formed to recycle Polystyrene (that’s coffee cups, packing trays etc) in a ‘greener’ way than is currently available. They are also saying that their process can be used to extract oil from the Alberta Tar sands without leaving tailing ponds. Wow - go Canada.
The Financial Post reports that Philip Jessop, the chemistry professor from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, invented the new technology. “Jessop said most current recycling methods need to heat solvents to make them work, while his reusable solvent only needs room-temperature exposure to carbon dioxide and air.” - Financial Post June 21 Alison Martell

The Victoria Downtown Market is moving from Centennial Square for the next 3 weeks to Government Street (close to Chinatown Gates). T’will be lovely to be back on the street even though Centennial Square has its own appeal.

Recycle2shop in the market

Recycle2shop will not be at Moss Street Market this Saturday. We will be at Centennial Square on Sunday for the Victoria Downtown Market.

The Ancient Forest Alliance has released another vid to try to save BC’s ancient trees.

Eco tips for May.
The easy way to shiny silver: pot of water, 1T baking soda, 1T salt, aluminum foil and silver anything - bring to the boil for a few minutes and watch the magic. Works best if you scrunch up the foil so that the silver is in contact.
Moth away: nasty clothes moths stay away when you add a few drops of Bergamot, Lavender and Lemon oil to the bottom of your drawers. Or when you put your clothes away for the winter, put a few drops on a piece of cedar and store in the bag with your clothes.

Elizabeth May - Green Party MP, is to speak in Victoria, Wednesday May 18 at the Alix Goolden Hall at 7pm. Included in her talk is information about the Kyoto Protocol to be discussed (again) at the next UN Climate Conference in South Africa in December.
Meanwhile, in our own climate dilemma, we had to cancel the Downtown Market in Centennial square - the rain was relentless! Saturday, however was lovely at the Moss Street Market in Fairfield. Here’s hoping for dry weather for the long weekend - Victoria Day in Victoria.

Images courtesy of Moss Street Market.

We are finally twits - yup, started tweeting yesterday. It’s a great place to find eco news by following eco twitters. And it’s fun! If you want to get hooked, join me and twit/tweet.