New Year - New Resolutions

As we find out about the events that are coming up in the City of Kawartha Lakes, we will list them here. If you have an event, please feel free to Contact Us.

Don't forget about the Lindsay Scottish Festival this coming weekend! (June 27/28)

Recycling Art

I was looking up ways to turn junk into art a while ago and I found this website that blew me away. An artist called Chris Jordan has created these amazing works of art that are huge in size as well as the impact that they will have on you. Here is an image that looks like (to me) water on a window. Go to his website to find out what this really is.

Chris Jordon's artwork

Open Passage Expedition

Silent Sound left the docks in Victoria, BC on Friday June 5th for her voyage through the Canadian Arctic via the Northwest Passage. The goal of this carbon-neutral voyage through the Northwest Passage is to use written word, video and photos to tell the story of how climate change is affecting Arctic communities. One of their sponsors is Direct Energy, so one would sincerely hope that they aren't mapping out energy sources for them as they do their research. As the polar ice caps melt, the interest in up for these companies to get the rights to what they feel are riches below. Let's just ruin the last pristine areas of the planet, right?

To read their blog and about their trip, go to openpassageexpedition.com

"True North" is in book form!

You've seen his very funny comic strip in the local Kawartha Lakes This Week paper on Fridays, taking a gentle poke at his place of birth and the adjustment of a fellow from the U.S. settling down in Canada with his Canadian bride.

Now he has released it in a book, so you can see it from the very start with his move to Canada from the Chicago area. It is available from Amazon for $12.99.

I've read it from cover to cover and I have to say my favourite is that Foster is a member of AA. Not Alcoholic's Anonymous, but American's Anonymous. And their chant is "George Bush is not our fault, George Bush is not our fault". Very funny.

His website is at kevinfrank.net.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

You use your re-useable bags at the grocery store now, not only because it's better for the environment, but because they are now charging you for a plastic one! At least we all got a chance to start to remember to take them into the store with us.

If you want to make little changes to help the environment, here are a few. Greenpeace has a list of the types of toilet paper, tissues and paper towels that are made from recycled paper. Saving 7,000 tons of paper if we all used these products. Visit Greenpeace's shopper guide. Another suggestion is to go back to cloth hankies, but I'm not prepared to go that far, sorry.

Know the difference when buying items so you know whether they are in fact, good for the environment.

Pre-Consumer recycled comes from left overs of the paper mills but are still derived directly from trees.
Post-consumer recycled means that the original material has been used by consumers and comes from newspapers or other items recovered from blue box systems. This is good as you are rewarding companies that use this resource and are keeping resusable materials out of landfills.
Biodegradable is a term that has become almost meaningless through lack of government regulation. It means that a product will break down and return to its natural components. What it doesn't say if that is months or centuries, or if it has toxic substances that could pollute the land.
Chlorine-free. Chlorine has been used by many paper manufacturers but it is a potentially harmful chemical that seeps into our water systems and is linked to respiratory illnesses. Some recycled paper has chlorine from their original use, the amount in recycled products will decline as more manufacturers move towards other healthy alternatives.
Recyclable. This simply means that you can recycle this product, if you own area allows it.

For more detailed information on paper and recycling, visit the Forest Stewardship Council's site.

It is up to us as consumers to try to buy items without packaging where possible, and reward companies with less packaging or recyclable packaging with our purchasing power.

The Lindsay Farmers' Market is up and running again, and what a great opportunity to eat locally, save on packaging and support your local businesses and farmers! They are celebrating their 150th Anniversary this year.

Easy Radio online

There is a local radio station that started up on April 1st. It is only available online so far, but if you want to listen to golden oldies, the site is at easyradio.ca. It is simple to listen, just click on the button that says "listen now!"
Easy broadcasts 8am to 10pm every day.

Finally, a Carrot rather than a Stick

I've felt in the past few years that every new "green initiative" that is decreed by our governments have a feeling of us being hit in the head to comply rather than enticing us to do the right thing. Take the various charges added now to new televisions and monitors, a charge to dispose of it. When if they made Industry responsible for their packaging and the waste that is built into their products in the first place, consumers would be happier to buy them. (have you ever had to open up a toy for a child? After you have managed to break into the plastic, there are 100 twist ties to unravel). The best thing they have done, and it's only a start, is to offer to take back liquor bottles as well as beer containers for recycling.

The government has been in the news after giving money to the Auto industry in order to save jobs. In an ideal world, this would mean the encouragement for these auto giants to start making less gas guzzlers and other green models. However, in Ontario we can't even drive an electric car as they are not legal on our roads. Silly? You bet. However, perhaps smarter minds are thinking about it, as this article lays out.

Do What You Can

But now resident of Ontario have a chance to get rid of some of their waste responsibly with a new $28 million program that allows us to get rid of left over paint, non-rechargeable batteries to participating stores such as Home Depot or Rona. Now before you traipse down to our local stores in Lindsay, I looked up my lindsay postcode and we will have to go to Oshawa or Port Perry for the moment. But it is encouraging. And the best thing about this? We aren't paying for it. In our taxes or to drop things off. It is run by Stewardship Ontario, which is funded by the companies that import or make the materials that are allowed back.

To find out more about what you can dispose of and where the nearest place is, go to dowhatyoucan.ca to learn more.

And don't forget that our own local TAG (Technology Alliance Group) here in Lindsay has had two annual events for the disposal of all your old computers, printers and even old televisions. And they aren't thrown out, they are taken apart and recycled. Read the document report from this wonderful endeavour.

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