Circular Barometer & CIty Planning
Cities.
More of us live in cities than ever before.
Occasionally, we get the pretend opportunity to give input on how our cities grow (or if they should). In most cases, developers and councilors who are their friends tend to get the final word on what happens with our cities and how we’re supposed to live in them.
FEAR NOT!
There are better ways.
For years, I’ve been following Strong Towns, an organization in the US that publishes vast amounts of ideas about how to make our lives better in cities. Every once in a while, key people actually listen to them.
You can actually become an advocate based on their educational platforms and offerings. I’ve done a few courses and try to take their ideas into consideration when writing on this blog.
It’s because of Strong Towns that I see a video like this and wonder ‘why doesn’t every new home build have an underground fridge as part of the code requirements?‘ Of course, there are some impracticalities, especially for Canada, but the reality is this: we need more forward-thinking people to enforce a different mindset related to our food and how we store everything. Our appliances account for the greatest amount of energy use in our homes. Wouldn’t it be nice to reduce the impact of one less appliance (a giant fridge) as part of our kitchen?
Of course, it’s unlikely that we’ll be able to get municipal councils to adopt to this radical kind of thinking, but we need to at least encourage them to allow homeowners to build cold cellars and root cellars in their basements (assuming they’re fortunate enough to have the space).
And if Strong Towns doesn’t appeal to you, at least check out the Bloomberg review of ‘Circular Cities’, a concept developed by an organization called Holcim. These are cities that are considered EXTREMELY fixated on energy efficiency and planning for the future.
A ranking on an index like THIS is what I want from every city in Canada. You should want it too.
Our Carbon Is Tar, Not Oil
The CBC continues to perpetuate the question about Canada’s ‘oil’ and why nobody wants it.
It’s because it’s TAR.
Canada’s carbon production is the dirtiest and most environmentally destructive on the planet.
The industry destroys everything in sight.
It is a lose-lose proposition.
In time, Canada will NOT be able to export our tar anywhere, even if it’s for processing, because the carbon cost and impact (ie. application of true externalities) would result in too many taxes and fines per the Paris Accord.
Canada’s dependency on tar is 100% sheer folly.
We need to stop wasting money on carbon production immediately. ZERO public spend on pipelines, products and other petroleum resources.