Great day for sailing in the Thousand Islands

 

View from the boat

Well, the sky is blue, there’s a bit of wind, it’s nice and warm, and apparently the river is about 20 degrees C, perfect for a refreshing dip. No, I’m not in the Thousand Islands today, I’m in Toronto. But my little sailboat is there, and I can’t wait to spend a week on it sometime soon. After all, what’s more ecological than slipping through the water on wind power, making no noise aside from the hum of the rigging? Sit tight, boat. I’ll be there soon.

 

 What’s your favourite summer escape?

Test driving a lighter load on the road

The smart fortwo

I’m getting pretty excited about the lower-eco-impact cars coming on the market. I think Canadians have had a taste of high gas prices, and the concept of fuel efficiency has really taken hold. Why pay more to go the same distance? (And release more pollutants, including greenhouse gasses?)

I snapped up the opportunity to try out a smart car this week since it’s the epitome of efficient vehicles, so here’s me with the little white smart fortwo passion. I absolutely love driving it – it’s a speedy little beast with smooth braking and precise handling. I can park in places I wouldn’t consider in my (fairly small) hatchback. I thought I would be nervous about taking the smart car out on the highway in heavy traffic, but it’s very visible (the fact that it’s cute doesn’t hurt) and I can change lanes very nimbly.

I know the smart car is a good choice because my boss (Homemakers‘ editor, Kathy Ullyott) has one; she said that she filled the tank from running-on-fumes to full the other day for $15. Apparently the fortwo’s fuel consumption is 5.4L per 100 km. Not bad! smart has made the fortwo fuel efficient by making it light – not only is it smaller in size than most cars, it has plastic body panels. Apparently some of the car’s parts are made from 100 per cent recycled plastic, and, in general, many parts of the car are recyclable.

The smart (starting at about $15,000) may not be the right car for everyone, (nor will an electric version, which is currently being offered in Europe). But these kinds of vehicles are no doubt right for a lot of people, a lot of the time. (Me! Me!) Hopefully, within the next couple of years, we will see a mix of smaller, lighter and alternative fuel / electric cars on the roads made with parts that can be reclaimed and recycled.

Government incentives may help this happen; the Ontario government recently introduced a $10,000 rebate on the purchase of an electric vehicle, and they also offer rebates on alternative fuel vehicles.

What do you want in a “green” vehicle?

OK, I needed help with garden slugs and snails

It's for a good cause

A couple of days ago I mentioned that I’ve been hand-picking slugs and snails from the plants in my garden. But after spending the worst mosquito hour of the evening plucking slugs off of my basil, I decided I needed a little help.

I broke down and bought this easy-on-the-earth slug and snail trap from Lee Valley. Talk about killing with kindness: the trap basically contains three sunken pools you fill with beer. Like a hapless teenager drawn to a kegger, apparently the little garden munchers can resist neither lager nor ale. I lifted the lid after just 24 hours, and there were seven slugs and a snail caught in the trap’s clutches. I’m not sure this will eliminate my problem, but every little bit helps.

Do you have garden pests? How do you deal with them?

Worth a watch: The Story of Stuff

Thank you to Didi for posting a comment about this fabulous video about externalizing costs. To watch the full version, see The Story of Stuff website.

Saving water with rain barrels

Let it rain

We’ve had some sunny, dry weather in the past few weeks and I’ve had to water our garden a few times, even though I’ve tried to train the plants to deal with dry spells (sorry, stunted tomatoes!) Over the rainy weekend, I found myself a bit obsessed with collecting water. My partner and I installed a rain barrel in our back yard last week, but we hadn’t had much rain to see how well it performs. Well, we got our wish — on Saturday it rained so hard that we could have filled several rain barrels. The overflow valve on the barrel shown here was spewing water for most of the afternoon, even after I filled up juice containers and other vessels I found by mining through our recycling bin.

The rain barrel sits on a wood bench that’s mounted into the edge of our deck, perfect for use with a watering can. We reworked the eavestrough a bit and added a new piece of downspout so it would sit on top of the rain barrel and direct water through the barrel’s screened top. Next time the barrel is empty I’ll have to put some spacers under it so the bench doesn’t rot!

We bought this 190 L barrel from Canadian Tire. I like this one because it has a flat back, so it can sit against a wall. I plan to put another one of these barrels in my front garden, positioned against the house. I bought a gravity-feed watering kit from Lee Valley to connect to that front-garden rain barrel so that when the soil dries out, I can just open the spigot and let gravity do the watering.

How do you water your garden?

Organic gardening technique: hand-picked snails and slugs

It’s interesting how my plants get a bit slimy every time it rains. As the earth gets saturated, small invaders seek refuge from the water by crawling up the stems, and that’s when I nab ‘em!

When I enthusiastically began working in my garden this spring, I thought snails were kind of cute. After all, their stripy shells add a little colour to the garden. Oh, the naivety. Snails, and their blob-of-flesh friends, slugs, are making a lot of holes in my plants, causing a lot of damage.

During the past week it has rained a lot here in Toronto, so the earth is quite wet and the garden invaders are out of their hiding spots, especially after dark. A couple of nights ago, I put on my much-loved pair of thick, lined rubber gloves I use for gardening (I’m not afraid to pick up anything when I’m wearing those) and headed out into the rain. There was just enough light from the house to see slugs and snails clinging to the tops of my plants. One by one, I gently nudged them off my plants and into a box of soapy water, according to a technique described on this helpful website on coping with slugs and snails.

According to this article on CanadianGardening.com, applying diatomaceous earth around your plants is another helpful slug and snail management strategy.

For more earth-friendly gardening techniques, have a look at this article on Homemakers.com.

Do you have slugs or snails in your garden? Do they create problems for you?

Make painting even greener

After blogging about recycled paint on Tuesday, I found out about some Canadian-made painting accessories made with recycled, recyclable materials. Dynamic Paint Products makes a paint roller made from 100 per cent post-consumer recycled plastic, as well as paint trays made from recycled, recyclable plastic. Their “Enviro-Brush” has a removeable handle, making cleaning easier and allowing you to reuse the handle if the brush component can’t be reused.

I have a bunch of renovations to do in the next year, including gutting the main bathroom as well as the basement, so I’m going to need some good tools like this to keep the waste to a minimum!

Of course, being green is also about not using more than you need. Click here for a helpful article on Homemakers.com about estimating your paint requirements.

Lawn and garden fertilizing: A waterway-saving approach

Beware the green monster

When summer gets too hot to handle (not something that’s been a huge problem so far this year), my favourite path to refreshment is a plunge into the cool St. Lawrence. I was in for the first time last weekend, and it felt wonderful.  But I worry about invaders that are upsetting the balance. 

Of the many things troubling Canada’s waters, algae is a blooming problem. Excess nutrients from many sources is finding its way into the water. According to Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment, “…any increase in phosphorus in the lake will increase the quantity of algae that can grow. High levels of phosphorus can lead to algal blooms and in some cases affect the habitat of cold water fish such as lake trout.” Why does that matter? Well, according to a ministry fact sheet, excess algae means lower oxygen content. And lower oxygen content means things living in the lake end up dead, particularly trout, but lots of other forms of life as well. In the worst-case scenario, the algae load the water with bacteria, making it undrinkable.

The ministry offers an opportunity for landowners to test for phosphorus levels in their area waterways. Click here for more information.

You can contribute in other ways as well: If you’re buying fertilizer, look for a low or zero-phosphorus option, so that nutrients that wash out of the soil don’t end up in a waterway. (I live in the middle of Toronto, but I can see that the storm water system could take material from my garden straight to Lake Ontario.) Bags of fertilizer have a series of three numbers printed on it to indicate nutrient level. The numbers are the percentage nutrient content of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, in that order. If the package says 21-0-17, for example, the phosphorus count is zero. Beyond fertilizer, stick to phosphate-free detergents — both for your body and for washing things like cars and dishes — and ensure that your cottage septic system is contained.

Minnesota passed laws in 2002 to control the level of phosphorus in commercially available fertilizer, and apparently Maine, parts of Michigan, Wisconsin, Maryland and Manitoba have followed suit.

Have you noticed anything upsetting the water in your area?

Painting a room? Try low-VOC recycled paint

In researching a story about indoor air quality for Homemakers magazine the other day, I ran across a great option for paint. Boomerang paint (about $15 for a 3.78 litre pail) is made from 99 per cent recycled paint, and it’s now EcoLogo certified and it’s low VOC (volatile organic compound – see an earlier post for more about that). The container is made from recyclable plastic, which apparently takes less manufacturing energy to create, and the label is printed on FSC-certified paper.

In 2008, the company recovered 4,000,000 litres of paint through various waste collection initiatives and an extensive network of paint depots, including at Rona hardware stores. That’s a lot of paint!

To have a look at the colours Boomerang offers in interior and exterior paints and stains, click here.

Have you tried a low-VOC paint?

Community rallies for cleaner trains

In downtown Toronto today? Check out an awareness-raising event called the “Clean Air for Little Lungs Stroller Parade” in Queen’s Park. The parade is an initiative of a neighbourhood group called the “Clean Train Coalition.” The coalition wants the Ontario government to upgrade its plans for the new Metrolinx rail network being installed through Toronto. Instead of running diesel trains on the new commuter rail line to run from Union Station to Georgetown, the group is hoping to move the government to install infrastructure for electric trains.

I appreciate that this group isn’t saying “not in my backyard.” Their website says that the CTC believes in transit. But they don’t want a busy rail corridor through the city that pollutes the air with diesel fumes, since exposure to diesel exhaust is linked to cancer, asthma, heart disease and many other health issues. “Build it once, build it right!” they say. I couldn’t agree more.

This Homemakers article shows the links between air pollution and health effects.

What do you think the government should be doing to improve our health?