Good, But...What Took You So Long??

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency turns to renewable power. I can't help but respond with sarcastic applause. Full press release here.

(Washington, D.C. - March 23, 2006) In a case of practicing what they preach, today EPA announced 100 percent of its power consumption at its Washington, D.C. headquarters will be supplied by green, renewable power. In addition, the vast majority of energy at over 30 regional and laboratory facilities will come from sustainable sources.

"America's energy supply tomorrow requires action today," said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. "For 35 years, EPA has been greening our nation's landscape. By committing to alternative, renewable power sources, the agency is meeting the President's call to green our nation's energy."

EPA has contracted to purchase nearly 260 million kilowatt hours of green power each year for 10 of the agency's offices and 21 laboratories, which places the agency among the top three green-power consumers in the country. Only the U.S. Air Force and Whole Foods Markets buy more green power.

Maybe Another Day...

Westboro Beach, Ottawa -

Saturday, June 17, 2006

We are proud to host the second annual Ottawa Riverkeeper Triathlon. The Riverkeeper is the first outdoor triathlon of the Eastern Ontario season and it is right in downtown Ottawa on the shores of the Ottawa River. This early season outdoor swim event is held at one of Ottawa’s best kept secrets – Westboro Beach, on the Ottawa River Parkway. The restoration/conservation of the beach area and immediate river area is the result of a partnership between the Westboro Beach Community Association, Ottawa Riverkeeper, Newport Restaurant, the NCC and the City of Ottawa.

Swim Triathlon Team Challenge: Swim 500m – Cycle 20Km – Run 5Km
OR
Paddle Triathlon Team Challenge: Paddle 5Km – Cycle 20Km – Run 5Km

I couldn't possibly do this. I can't run worth a damn. I look like a cartoon. This is kind of what I would look like if I went running with Oscar.


Except that Oscar doesn't wear tennis shoes. He also isn't green. Apparently he's "brindle" though I don't know if that's a colour or a pattern. I started to look it up, then I was reminded that I don't really care all that much.

Do They Have Something Against Fingers?

From Canada.com:

Capitol Records have air-brushed cigarettes from an original picture featured on the cover of a Beatles four-CD box set, in a bid to fit in with more health-conscious times.

The Capitol Albums, Vol. 2 - which marks the first appearance on CD of the U.S. versions of Rubber Soul, the Help! soundtrack, The Early Beatles and Beatles VI - will see the Fab Four's former tobacco habit and two of Ringo Starr's fingers magically erased.

Previous Beatles reissues also had their artwork changed - when I Want to Hold Your Hand was re-released in 1984 by EMI records, Sir Paul McCartney's cigaretty was removed from the original cover.

A U.S. poster company also digitally removed the same Beatle's cigarette from its poster of the 1969 album Abbey Road three years ago.

I Would Leap Over it in a Single Bound...

However, these folks expect me to climb the stairs.

Well, it's done. I'm officially registered to climb the CN Tower. I went to the gym this morning, got on one of those death-dealing stairmaster machines, and climbed 50 damn floors worth. I didn't collapse or soil myself, so I'm confident I can pull this off without embarassment.

My travel arrangements are set. I'll be staying at the Skydome Hotel (I'm not calling it the Rogers Center) so I'll be close by. If you recall, I refuse to fly now so I'm taking the train there and back leaving early Friday and returning late Saturday. No doubt after all that climbing I'll be looking forward to sitting on a train for four hours.

I have a very modest goal of raising $100. They (the WWF) set you up with a website, though you can't make many changes to it. You can add text, but you can't modify theirs, which I guess is understandable.

If the link above doesn't work, then please go to the main page, click "sponsor a climber" and search for "Fournier".

Other than that...Wish me luck!

That Was Fast...

Yesterday, Christine at one point told me she was going to Home Depot for...huh...something. I probably wasn't listening very closely.

Usually, when she goes to the grocery store for something specific, she'll ask if I want anything. She seldom asks me this when she goes to a place like Canadian Tire or Home Depot. She must have been lightly surprised when I said "Ooh! Can you get me some compact fluorescent light bulbs?!" But she did that for me, despite what she saw as an unfortunate lack of selection.

Turns out a 3-pack cost about $15. She got the A-type showing on this page. Globe's (a Montreal-based company) claim:

"Globe enersaver bulbs use up to 70% less energy and last up to 6 times longer than regular lights bulbs! That's significant savings and perfectly suited for foxy treehugging types!"

All right, so I made up that part after "savings". Still, I may contact them to sugget the add it, so I think it sort of counts.

These guys are 7-watt bulbs but apparently the equivalent of 40-watt'ers. We'll use them in the crawl space (though it's not like we spend much time down there so I don't see much benefit to that) and in the two lamps in the main bedroom. In fact, I'm going to go make the change now!

Damn...I've never been so excited to change a light bulb in my life...

Hungry Hungry Hippo.

A three-month-old baby pygmy hippopotamus swims by his grazing mother at Henry Doorly Zoo Friday, March 24, 2006, in Omaha, Neb. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

Choptax.

BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- China will slap a tax on chopsticks and a range of goods ranging from yachts to petrol in a bid to save trees and protect the environment.

Plans to impose a 5 percent consumption tax on both disposable wooden chopsticks and wooden floor panels would help curb the plundering of timber resources and efforts to protect the environment, the Ministry of Finance said.

Disposable chopsticks used up 1.3 million cubic metes of timber each year, depleting the country's forests, the ministry said.

From April 1, China will make its biggest adjustments to consumption taxes in 12 years, with its newly stressed national goals of slashing energy consumption and stemming environmental degradation in mind.

The move was aimed at "promoting environmental protection and economizing on resources while better guiding the production and consumption of certain products," the ministry said on its Web site.

Among the most significant changes will be adjustments to car taxes, with levies poised to rise as high as 20 percent for highly polluting vehicles with larger engines.

China would also broaden the scope of oil products subject to consumption levies to include fuel oil, jet fuel and naphtha and lubricants, as the government leans more on pricing mechanisms to curb the country's rampant use of energy.

Adjustments were also made to level new consumption taxes on golf balls and equipment, yachts and luxury watches and to scrap charges on skin care and shampoo products, once seen as the privilege of the wealthy, but which have become commonplace as incomes have risen.

China's most common hard alcohol, known as baijiu, would be taxed at a flat level of 20 percent for the first time, it said.

The Finance Ministry did not say how the move would impact Chinese efforts to spur domestic consumption as a bigger driver of growth alongside exports and investment.

The Other CFL.

Compact Fluorescent Lights. They can't possibly let me down anymore, or cost me more, than the Canadian Football League has. Damn Renegades...I'm still sore about that.

We're going Bullfrog on Earth Day. Have I mentioned that? I know I've talked about Bullfrog before but I don't know if I'd specified when we were doing it. Anyway, that's when.

About these bad boys, the Energy Star site says...

If every household in the U.S. replaced one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL), it would prevent enough pollution to equal removing one million cars from the road. CFLs provide high-quality light, smart technology, and design, requiring less energy while lasting longer than typical incandescent bulbs.

...and probably cost an arm and a leg. However, my understanding is that "lasting longer" equal 6-10 times longer. That's not too damn bad. So we'll probably investigate this right around the time that we switch to Bullfrog (Earth Day, if you haven't heard...) and use the "require less energy" part to offset the fact that Bullfrog costs a little more.

Plus they look kind of cool. For a light bulb.

Toe-Dipping.

All right. I went to the gym today and they moved everything around. I tried to get myself a stair-climber but I couldn't locate one. I instead snagged one of those glider thingies that's kind of like cross-country skiing but without quite the same range of motion. It was as close as I could get.

I'm proud to report that I did not heave all over myself. A good first sign. I'm going to check on the finances of the whole thing this weekend. Being that the CN Tower Climb is April 29th, I'll be almost exactly a month removed from the event. If I can fully commit, I'm doing so by the end of the day Sunday.

As far as Renegade DoNations go, I've heard that one of the team staff members wants to help me get that off the ground. Nice that I got someone's attention. In fairness, I understand that most teams don't sell their single-game tickets by now, but I just wish someone had shared that with me before I'd gotten into planning it full-tilt. Ah well. Hope it all works out. Wish me luck.

Renegade DoNations

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a huge (in spirit, if not in stature) Ottawa Renegades fan. In the summer of 2004, I got together with a group of fans and started something of a fan club called Renegade Nation (and our man Skully above is our bad-ass logo).

Of late, that team has struggled financially and there have been grumblings that they might fold outright. Following a conversation with one of the other fans on the Renegade Nation, it was decided that we take matter into our hands a little bit, and create some interest ourselves.

The resulting idea was Renegade DoNations (see the play on words there? That was my idea! Blew my own mind with that one...). The plan was this:

-- We buy enough single game tickets to get the group rate.
-- We encourage people to buy those discounted single game tickets.
-- Those tickets would then be mailed to me.
-- I would donate them to youth-oriented charities.

It was working smashingly, with the team's help in terms of amounts I'd need to buy, etc. I had Big Brothers on board, CAYFO, and another charity run by a gentleman in Renegade Nation called Live Work Play. I was getting a good response, and things were moving along very quickly. I was hitting two birds with one stone; team support and charitable help, while having a grand old time doing it.

Christine last night asked me if it was the kind of thing I could see myself getting into more seriously.

Maybe. Maybe not.

I received an e-mail at work this morning from the Renegades as a response to my offer to buy four tickets. They told me that single-game tickets were not yet on sale.

I see. They've known about this project of mine for four or five days now. They quoted me the prices. Yet when I try to buy, after having convinced folks to purchase about a combined 40 tickets...I get told that they're not prepared to sell me tickets.

Why wasn't this made clear when I first inquired? Why do you quote me prices to something I can't buy?

I have no patience for that sort of thing. And if I were doing this as a living, it would drive me nuts. I'm reminded of a story from a few years where a car was donated to a lady on welfare, and she turned it down because it was yellow. She doesn't like yellow, see...You try to help and the recipient of that help walls you up.

I'll go on with Renegade DoNations anyway, of course. I love the idea regardless.

But by the time tickets become available, the team's finances will likely be figured out. The need for a show of support will not be as great (or the team will fold), which will mean that it'll be harder to convince folks to participate, which means that fewer charities benefit. This is likely a blown opportunity and it frustrates me. That's why "maybe not".