recycle2shop.com

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

400,000 honeybees arrive at the Empress Hotel on May 26. Kama Silva is the super chef behind this initiative; the honeybees come from Surrey BC apiarist John Gibeau. Victoria honey will soon be served with high tea in the Empress’ tea rooms. Kudos to Fairmont Empress for sustainability, they also partner with Ocean Wise for sustainable seafood. I have a soft spot for the Empress - back in the mists of time I was one of their tour guides for the renovation. Picture courtesy of Surrey’s Honey Bee Centre

Tom Pederson (exec of Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions) gave his climate talk at Uvic last night. He is so easy to listen to - we get the science and stats in lay persons talk - we get solutions that are supportable. PICS works with politicians to find climate solutions even when PICS findings are contrary to government policies. So you ask, what are these solutions then? The biggy is to sell BC hydro power (from the wacky dam - Bennett’s) eastwards instead of southwards - to Alberta and Saskatchewan so that those provinces can get rid of coal power. Our hydro electricity would enable those provinces to use wind power (the windiest parts of Canada) with hydro power picking up the slack. We heard about the ethanol scandal - corn grown in southern US for ethanol needs added nitrates which poison the Gulf of Mexico thus neutralizing any advantage to replacing Arabian oil with home grown ethanol. PIC’s studies are freely available on their website at the University of Victoria.
Andrew Weaver of UVic’s team at Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC) - not to be confused with PICS. They are researching climate systems that, in part, will determine how much water will be available in the future for BC Hydro Electricity.
How lucky are we that these two scientists, working at the University of Victoria can influence BC politicians to do the ‘right’ thing for our ‘eearth’.