Sunday 25 October 2009

It's Little Things That Make Our Day...

It was only a small gesture, but it sure felt good when we picked up the Saturday newspaper and unexpectedly came across this "Thumbs Up" notice:


Who ever it was, thank you for being so thoughtful and for making our day!

Sunday 18 October 2009

Embracing My Inner Geek

I'll be the first to admit that my passion for all things green borders on the realm of geekyness. I realized this when we got a shipment from the U.S. in; some fragile items that had to be packed with some protective material to avoid damage.
Opening the package I went all oo and ah the moment I saw what was used for protective material. Instead of the common foam chips there were these folded paper triangles. Not made of (toxic) plastic foam or bubble wrap, not made of (extremely inefficient high-embodied-energy) corn starch - no: just plain and simple paper.
A bunch of environmentally-friendly Expandos

It's called Expandos and hails from Denver, CO. I never thought I'd be reading the entire website of a packaging materials manufacturer, but I did. I was looking for a catch (there always is one, right?), but no: it's made out of recycled paper using Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) practices. It's bio-degradable and fully recyclable. It uses low-energy manufacturing methods and produces no toxic by-products or waste. Oh, and did I mention it works as good as if not better than conventional packaging materials?

Up close and personal - hi there, handsome...

Okay, call me an eco geek, but it's little things like these that make me happy. It almost makes me me wish we had lots of fragile stuff to ship out. They even offer this option to have your name printed on each individual triangle. Hmm, I can just see our logo there right now...

Saturday 10 October 2009

Cutting It Pretty Close...

Our Eco Centre has thick straw bale walls that are plastered. Plastering is a tough job, especially if one section is out of reach of any conventional rental scaffolding, as was the case with our East gable. Perfectly tucked away out of anyone’s reach, this section been sitting there waiting to be plastered ever since we finished construction 3 years ago…

Of course this meant that whenever we had a serious rain or snow storm coming from the East, that wall would slowly erode and seep water in. Also the sun’s damaging ultra violet rays were beginning to leave their marks (thank you, hole in the ozone layer).

So this year we really had to get around to plastering that section from hell. Winter is lurking behind the fall-red maple bushes, and once it’s snowing you can forget about any plastering for the next 6 months. If only we knew how to get up there…

And just when we started to get slightly desperate: presto, our farmer neighbour Mo turns out to be a serious scaffolder with just the right equipment for this kind of job. Mo arrived with his truck full of bits and pieces, and 3 hours later we could get up there - finally!

Presto again, and our friend and neighbour Dan Bigelow offers to help us out with a paddle mixer and lots of plaster pointers. Heck, he even offers to do the plastering himself! Dan happens to be a concrete & plaster specialist, so what he says goes (plaster-wise that is).

Plastering away with Dan up top, Hubert as his Vanna White

And after 3 years of head scratching and finding excuses, the East gable finally got finished yesterday! Just in time, it appears, as this morning we woke up to this fall’s first snowstorm. Winter has moved in, the plastering season is officially over…

24 hours later: 3cm of snow and -6C...

A big shout out to Mo and Dan for helping us out just in time!

Sunday 4 October 2009

And The Cape Goes To…

About 30 people got together here last Saturday to share some fellowship, ideas and -just as important- some good food & drinks. But the real reason for this festive get-together was to honour North Ontario’s very first Eco Hero Jeanie Gaudette, and runners-up Laura Ogden and Gary Peacock.

They all received a certificate and an environmentally-friendly prize package, sponsored by local businesses. Winner (and elementary school teacher) Jeanie Gaudette also received a congratulatory letter from the contest’s honorary patron, Canadian astronaut and environmentalist Dr. Roberta Bondar who compliments Jeannie writing: “(…) It is very important that our children learn ways to protect the environment. You are a wonderful role model not only for your pupils but everyone around you!”

North Ontario’s very first Eco Hero(ine) Jeanie Gaudette (Centre), flanked by runners-up Laura Ogden (right) and Gary Peacock (left)

We had a blast with this contest, learning about all these initiatives to help our fragile environment, and especially meeting the people behind them. It’s incredibly encouraging to see how much is happening on a grassroots level, ideas that slowly but surely perculate into ever-wider circles.

Don’t worry if you missed this year’s contest, the Eco Hero will be back next year.  I’m just thinking, some contests have a crowning ceremony, so maybe we should introduce a “caping ceremony”. You know – super heroes, capes?
Okay, maybe not…