People change politics

Robert Kennedy was on The Hour talking about how oil and lumber companies used religious right wing groups to subvert the climate change agenda in the US. Well here is a more heart warming message from the UK.

A ground breaking new climate change law has been passed by MPs in UK Parliament thanks to peoples efforts.

Canadian Tire: Making Green by Selling Green

I've been wanting to kick-up my environmental game lately and am in the market for solar panels. I'm not talking about those little dashboard cellphone-charging ones either, I want some decent wattage panels! I am in continuous conflict with myself, as there is a delicate balance for me between investing in the environment, and the fact that I have very little to invest! Short story shorter, I don't want to spend a fortune before I reap my reward.

Obviously, like any true Canadian, I go to the Canadian Tire website. They have more and more gear all the time, but selection is still limited. I decide to do a little wider search, but let's face it, there is not much for supply OR demand here in the prairies. Finally, I come across a site, www.advancegreen.ca, and it turns out that it's another Canadian Tire site, but better, what gives?

From what I gather, Canadian Tire is setting up the mother of "living-green" do-it yourself product sites. It is actually an entire site dedicated to green living gear at that Canadian Tire-patented "little-over-price-but-I'll-buy-it-anyway-because-I-can't-find-it-anywhere-else" price.

I'm not going to say that they care about the environment in any moral sense, because I don't know, but the fact is that there is a solid market out there for enviro-goodies and this site is tapping into that.

UPDATE:

I have just found another site that sells wind turbines and solar cells, and it is located in none other than sunny Saskatoon. Visit wsetech.com for tonnes of helpful information on setting up your power grid, as well as handy wind and solar newsletters.

One Million Acts of Green

Today, October 22nd, onemillionactsofgreen.com is not even 24 hours old and already clocking in at 30,737 acts of green.

If you aren't familiar with the site yet let me fill you in. It is the brainchild of MuchMusic Vjay turned CBC ratings-booster George Stroumboulopoulos, who launched the site from his program, The Hour at 11pm last night. The premise is that many small, seemingly insignificant tasks to live "greener", can have a startling effect on greenhouse gas reduction. To give you an example, the 30,737 acts of green performed by those already signed up to the site, reduce the number of greenhouse gasses by a whopping 2,083,776 kg!

The site features groups, projects, and friends, in a very Facebook-esque manner. It contains a multitude of advice on how to reduce your carbon footprint, and not just the obvious and disillusioned "buy a Prius" banter. The site has the benefit of telling you how much you are saving (my 9 green acts thus far, including "don't idle car" and "use reusable coffee cup", amount to 738 kilograms of saved greenhouse gasses)!

It is easy to complain and state that the government is not doing enough to slow/stop/reverse global warming, but the big differences that small "green" acts can make to the environment argues the hypocracy of that sentiment.