Living in China for two years has been the best thing I could have done. My eyes have been opened and my life has changed in so many ways. Even before I came to China, I was already trying to do the gung-ho save-the-world by being the change you want to see in the world deal. Then I came to realize that they still do that in the rest of the world. My grocery store here doesn’t get out-of-season fruits and vegetables. If the farmers here grow them, they sell them. It’s as simple as that. They don’t import from half-way around the world. They sell local, at least more local than, say, Loblaws (aka Canadian Safeway). I love mandarin orange season. It’s probably the sole reason why I don’t get sick here. If my 中百 (Zhōngbǎi) supermarket doesn’t have mangoes, I don’t eat mangoes. What my 中百 has, I buy. But they did bring in a box of Sunkist oranges at one point but I refused to buy them and bought the local ones.

Depending on who you talk to, the population of Wuhan is eight to 12 million people. That’s a lot of people. There’s a lot of cars in Wuhan but you also haven’t seen how many buses we have here. They’re finally starting construction on the subway system, too. I’ve always heard how our subway system is crappy and small, I even thought Montreal had it better than us. But Shanghai’s subway system is huge and they stop at major tourist locations. Hong Kong’s subway system is pretty awesome, too. But Hong Kong, in general, is teeny tiny in comparison to Wuhan. I remember walking on the streets two Octobers ago with a girl friend and walking way too far because we kept looking at the map thinking it was bigger than it actually was. We missed our turn to the jazz club where we met some interesting German characters staying at the Shangri-La.

China isn’t all for saving the environment either, though. When I arrived in Shanghai, my impression was how much waste was being produced by everyone. Take-out containers from street-food vendors. Individual plastic bags, not 4-cup cardboard cup holders, for your drinks from McDonald’s. We have so far to go as a global community to stop our destructive behaviours.

I’m tired. Time for bed.

• batteries, rechargeable or non-rechargeable
• bedding
• bikes
• broken watches
• CDs, blank or not
• cork
• cork boards
• costume jewelery
• crayons
• DVDs, blank or not
• drinking bottles, refillable
• encyclopedias
• fabric, any size
• furniture
• gas mowers
• gas trimmers
• handtools
• hockey helmets
• jerseys
• jewelery
• keys
• mannequins (or mannequin parts)
• markers
• microwaves
• musical instruments
• novels
• pencils
• school supplies (e.g., pencil cases)
• sewing machines, in working condition
• textbooks
• workbooks

TDSB’s Artsjunktion

380 Ossington Ave.
(@College St.)
416-393-0894
eileen.orr@tel.tdsb.on.ca

Artsjunktion is an art program in the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). They provide free materials for TDSB teachers, students and day-care staff for use in schools and classroom projects.

Acceptable Items: Children’s Books, National Geographic magazines, CDs, hub caps, mannequins and mannequin parts, hockey helmets, jerseys and skates. Almost anything that can be used for arts and crafts.

Materials for arts programs: broken watches, buttons, cork and cork boards, costume jewellery, crayons, dress-up clothing, fabric (remnants and large pieces), keys, markers, pencils, etc.

Computer and Electronics Recycling

• Diabetes Recycle Ink: Empty inkjet/laser printer cartridges and cellphones.
• Electronic Recycling Association (ERA): Computers and laptops. Donated computers will have their data wiped with RCMP standards before its refurbished and given to someone who cannot afford a new one.
• Interval House: Small appliances, computers, and other things (see website for more details).
• ReBoot Canada: Computer, computer components and parts, laptops, printers, scanners, software, etc. Donations will be refurbished and redistributed to charitable organizations.
• Renewed Computer Technology (RCT): Computer and peripherals. Refurbished and redistributed locally and globally.
• Salvation Army: Small appliances, microwaves, computers, and other things (see website for more details).
• SKETCH – Working Arts Studio for Street Involved and Homeless Youth: computers (Mac G4/PC Pentium 3 or better), peripherals, and other art supplies.
• thINK Food/Phones for Food: Cell phones, ink jet and laser cartridges.

Everyone at school wears them, so I’m just jumping on the band wagon 10 months late at the school and 4 years late in the world. I bought a full-back version of the Malindi and an Audrey. I don’t like the bow on the Audrey much but I was there and I was buying one anyways and they were going to be indoor shoes so it didn’t really matter that much. I like the Olivia but the huge faux-gem kind of irked me so I put it back on the shelf. I spent 428 CNY for both, which according to the website and today’s exchange rate and taking into account Ontario taxes, I’m paying the same price. They’re kind of comfy. I’m just not fond of the plastic-on-skin noises if I’m not wearing socks. Some of their styles are cute but others are really tacky. You win some, you lose some.

You gotta love sleepless blog posts.

Fresh Wednesdays
Date: Every Wednesday (July 15 to August 26)
Time: 8 A.M. to 2 P.M.
Location: Nathan Phillips Square

Starting on July 15 until the last Wednesday of August, you can shop for fresh fruits and vegetables at the Farmers’ Market at Nathan Phillips Square and enjoy some live music. The Farmers’ Market at Nathan Phillips square will run until October 14–there’s just no live music.

Tasty Thursdays
Date: Every Thursday (July 16 to August 27)
Time: 11 A.M. to 2 P.M.
Location: Nathan Phillips Square

Starting on July 16 until the last Thursday of August, you can taste foods from some Toronto restaurants. Samosas, mango salads, vegetable spring rolls, and vegetarian sushi. All for $5 or less! This year they are starting to serve their food in eco-friendly containers.

Mariposa Cruises’ Fireworks Dinner Cruise
Date: Sat, June 27; Wed, July 1; Sat July 4
Time: 7:00 P.M. to 11:30 P.M.
Location: Toronto Harbour

Cruise around the Toronto Harbour on Captain Matthew Flinders for four hours while you enjoy the fireworks and a buffet-style dinner.

The 43rd Annual CHIN International Picnic
Date: July 1, 4, 5
Time: Noon to 11 P.M.
Location: Canadian National Exhibition

A music festival, picnic, sporting events, Mr. and Mrs. CHIN International Bikini Contests, petting zoo, K-9 Dog Challenge, and a 100,000 square foot bazaar at the C.N.E.It’s a great excuse for the family to go out and enjoy the sun.

Taste of Lawrence
Date: July 3-5
Time: 8 A.M. to 11 P.M. (Fri), 11 A.M. to 11 P.M. (Sat), 11 A.M. to 6 P.M. (Sun)
Location: Lawrence Avenue East (Warden Avenue to Pharmacy)

Enjoy Lawrence Avenue East without the smelly traffic and replace it with great food and lots of things for the kids to do.

Mariposa Cruises’ Fiesta Friday Dinner
Date: July 10
Time: 6:30 P.M. to 10:00 P.M.
Location: Toronto Harbour

Sail around the Toronto Harbour on the Mariposa Belle for three hours. Enjoy a Mexican buffet-style dinner with DJ, dancing and a cash bar.

Live Green Toronto Festival
Date: July 25-26
Time: Unknown
Location: Yonge Street (Dundas to Queen)

This festival will showcase hundreds of green products for work, home and play. Browse around and taste some local foods and listen to some live music. You can even get information on how to organize a project that will turn your neighbourhood green.

Irie Music Festival
Date: July 30 to August 3
Time: See Schedule
Location: Nathan Phillips Square and Queen’s Park

There are a whole list of events for the festival. The main events of the festival are reggae and world music performances but you’ll find lots of other things to do as well, including art vendors, Caribbean dance showcase and food.

Toronto Festival of Beer
Date: August 6-8
Time: 4 P.M. to 10 P.M. (Thu, Fri), 1 P.M. to 7 P.M. (Sat)
Location: Exhibition Place

Beer, BBQ, beer, live performances, beer, grilling demos, and more beer.

KRINOS Taste of the Danforth
Date: August 7-9, 2009
Time: 6 P.M. to 11 P.M. (Fri), Noon to 11 P.M. (Sat), Noon to 8 P.M. (Sun)
Location: Greektown; Danforth Avenue (Broadview Subway Station to Jones Avenue)

The ever populaire Taste of the Danforth takes place in the heart of Greektown. Enjoy music and food in the world’s largest Greek festival outside of Greece!

I thought I would visit Greenbook’s supplier, 3Degrees Inc., and learn more about RECs when I came across a carbon footprint calculator. Carbon footprint calculators are to me like the thousands of online personality tests to others. I decided to find out the carbon footprint of my flight to Shanghai. According to 3Degrees’ Carbon Footprint Calculator, my round-trip flight from Toronto to Shanghai is going to cost me 10,513 pounds of  CO₂. That’s equivalent to the annual carbon footprint of a small home. It’s too bad I can’t walk to China.

David Suzuki wrote a great article that Canoe published about water bottles and the environment. Alongside other things, I learnt that Dasani and Aquafina are bottles of repackaged tap water. I’ve heard that Dasani was, I never knew that Aquafina was. So we’re paying a company to sell us tap water we could get at home. I like how our logic is so off-the-mark. Btw, Dasani tastes gross. I don’t think I’ve ever had Aquafina before though. Did you know…

It takes close to 17 million barrels of oil to produce the 30 billion water bottles that U.S. citizens go through every year. Or, as the National Geographic website illustrates it: “Imagine a water bottle filled a quarter of the way up with oil. That’s about how much oil was needed to produce the bottle.” It also takes more water to produce a bottle than the bottle itself will hold.

That’s what Suzuki writes in his article. After reading that, I decided to go over to the National Geographic website and found an article on “7 Misconceptions About Plastics and Plastic Recycling“.

What can we do to ease the pain? First, we can stop using those one-time disposable bottles: Evian, Fiji, Perrier, Coke, Fruitopia, SoBe, and all those other ones. Change your container like a hard-plastic (BPA-free) Nalgene bottle, a metallic SIGG bottle, or if you really can’t get away with disposables try BIOTA Spring Water in a compostable container. The BIOTA Spring Water container is made from corn though, I don’t think the humanitarians approve of it (?). Drink filtered water using a Brita Water Filtration System or one of those filter-under-the-sink versions or filter-on-the-tap versions. If you think it lacks flavour, try one of those flavour crystal things. Go for the big containers instead of those single packs. I’ll get back to you on that… I don’t know which ones more harmful for the environment: little single-serving, crystal-flavour packets or big canisters of multiple servings.

• BIOTA Spring Water: At least take out the landfill issue…
• Brita Water Filtration System: This is system is great if you’re worried about lead and mercury in your tap water.
• Klean Kanteen: Canadian (!) metal bottle company.
• Nalgene Outdoors: BPA-free plastic bottles.
• SIGG: Metal bottles.

Read more:

• AllAboutWater.org. “The Effects of Bottled Water on the Environment.” AllAboutWater.org. http://www.allaboutwater.org/environment.html.
• Suzuki, David with Faisal Moola. “Message in a Bottle.” Canoe. http://cnews.canoe.ca/…/5855561-ca.html.
• CBC News. “Buying bottled water is wrong, says Suzuki.” CBC News. http://www.cbc.ca/…/suzuki-water.html.
• Toxic Nation. “Ban Bisphenol A Fact Sheet.” Environmental Defense. http://www.environmentaldefence.ca/…/bisphenolfaq.htm
• Labour Environmental Alliance Society. “On the Trail of Water Bottle Toxins.” Labour Enviromental Alliance Society. http://www.leas.ca/On-the-Trail-of-Water-Bottle-Toxins.htm.
• Llanos, Miguel. “Plastic bottles pile up as mountains of waste.” Environment-Msnbc.com. March 3, 2005. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5279230/.

You say it’s not aesthetically pleasing. Okay, I can’t change your mind about what you think looks pleasing and what doesn’t but I like it and it’s practical. The smart fortwo is 2.5 m in length, that’s the width of a normal parking space. To put it into perspective, the Honda Civic is 4.4 m and the Hyundai Santa Fe is 4.67 m in length. Okay, smart fortwo seats two and the Honda Civic and the Hyundai Santa Fe seats 5. This is my segue.

The smart fortwo seats two, that defeats the purpose of carpooling. My turn, let’s be realistic. In the last, say, six months, how many times have you carpooled with more than one other person? In those six months, how many times did you drive in that car by yourself? It’s more accurate to think of it in distance traveled than number of times driven, but you get the idea. I know that some of you do carpool with more than one other person, but some of you also have more than one car in the garage and can easily swap for a night if you need a car that seats more than two. The rest of you always talk about carpooling but never actually do it. You might as well get a minivan because you never know when you need to seat more than five people!

Since we’re talking about carpooling, what about the rest of the gas-saving stuff? According to Insurance Canada, the smart car is almost 700 lbs lighter than the Mini Cooper. All else being equal, the smart car adds over 1.5 litre per 100 km fuel efficiency (see “Top 10 Fuel-Saving Tips“) over the Mini Cooper; that’s a micro class versus a mini class, imagine a mid-size SUV class.

You yell, “It’s not safe!” Mercedes-Benz, not safe? Really? Fine. You need hard facts and examples, right? I knew it, I read your mind. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says they can’t compare frontal impact across weight classes and since the smart car is in a class of its own we’re out of luck (see CTV.ca | Tiny Smart car gets highest rating in crash tests). The side impact ratings can be compared across weight classes though and it’s rating “Good” which is the highest safety rating. The side impact tests simulate a crash with a pickup truck or SUV. The smart car rated “Good” (highest safety rating) for the side impact rating.

Cars are designed to crumple and absorb energy, right? True, there’s not much crumpling in a smart carsome people call the smart car shell a walnut, but the smart car restraint system was designed to absorb most of this energy. The front and back actually do crumple, just not as noticeably as a normal car crash, where the front is over a meter long. The smart car is also equipped with all the new safety gadgets like an electronic stability control (ESC)  program used. Think of it as anti-lock brakes for steering; we don’t have to pump the brakes anymore like they did before automatic cars were brought to the market.

Just as a note, the 2008 Hummer H3 in the Midsize SUVs category rated “Acceptable” (second highest safety rating) for Side Impact and “Poor” (lowest safety rating) for Rear Impact. Size doesn’t matter.

While I have your attention, why don’t you take a look at those yummy hybrids too.