Disturbing tale of melting men

Posted by Carolyn on September 4th, 2009

APTOPIX Germany WWF ClimateAn artist in Berlin (Nele Azevedo of Brazil)created 1000 ice sculptures of humans and left them to melt on the steps of  Gendarmenmarkt square to draw attention to climate change.

I must admit….the picture is creeping me out.

Exxon Mobil pleads guilty? Shocker

Posted by Carolyn on August 24th, 2009

birdsExxon Mobil pleaded guilty to the deaths of 85 migratory birds. The birds died after landing in natural gas well reserves and waste water. Somehow I find 85 to seem like a fairly small number, considering the deaths took place in several states over five years (2004-2009). But at least it’s something.

Exxon Mobil is giving $600 000 for the preservation of wetlands as a result of the guilty plea and promising to improve facilities to prevent this from happening in the future. $600 000 is pocket change for a corporation this large.

While it is very refreshing to see a company actually admit it did something wrong to the environment, I find these days that I have such a high degree of skepticism about anything that happens that in anyway involves a corporation. They so often seem above the law and social norms.

I recommend watching The Corporation. It was very eye-opening for me. Happy watching!

Hooray for Bundanoon!

Posted by Carolyn on July 22nd, 2009

bottleh2oBundanoon in New South Wales has voted almost unanimously to ban the sale of bottled water. Congrats!

One argument in favour of the ban address the carbon footprint of bottled water. Plastic bottles are a petroleum product (remember the earlier post about plastic never going away? eep!) and the majority of them do not get recycled but end up in the landfill.

The town is going to carry a line of refillable water bottles that say “Bundy on Tap” and provide filtered water stations where you can still them up. I want one!

Why pay money for something you can get for free? Many, many towns and cities have perfectly fine water straight from the tap. Also, some of that bottled water you’re buying is just tap water anyway. It’s not from some fancy spring the Swiss Alps. Bottled water companies have pulled a massive joke on consumers. Gotcha! Well gotcha them back!

Save money and the environment by brining your own bottle and filling it up as you go!  Try a Klean Kanteen…they won’t leech icky chemicals into your water.

Interesting Thought About Plastic…

Posted by Carolyn on June 29th, 2009

I heard something that really just kinda blew my socks off the other day.

Any piece of plastic that’s ever been made is still around.

Wow. I guess I knew that, but to actually hear it is shocking. Sure, plastic can be recycled into other objects, but the plastic is still plastic and it’s not decomposing. Eek! I fear a future where we’re swimming around is streets filled with bits of plastic. Well, let’s hope we don’t let it get that far.

Thanks to Val from Greenfeet.com and More Hip Than Hippie for the thought. I’ve heard her say it more than once. Think about it next time you go grocery shopping and just look at all the plastic in your cart (do you really need to put those 3 tomatoes in a plastic bag? No, you don’t).

Also, I want to give a shout out to my co-worker Nat, who recognizes my tree hugging-ness and gave me a pen made of paper last week. Not plastic (well the outside at least)! Thanks Nat!

Melbourne Coffee Culture…+1/-1

Posted by Carolyn on June 10th, 2009

latte-bowl-602Melbourne is nutters over coffee. Nutters. More so than Vancouverites.  There are cafes everywhere, and fortunately only a couple Starbucks. It’s a nice break from Starbucks I must say.

Now if you were to arrive in Melbourne from Canada and try to order a coffee you would probably be confused and so would the barista. You cannot ask for a coffee. Well you can, but that will be followed by “what coffee would you like?” They don’t even have drip coffee! It’s all espresso made. You can ask for a latte or cappuccino and those are the same. But here’s a mini lesson:

Latte = Latte

Cappuccino = Cappuccino

Flat White = Latte with less foam

Long Black = Americano (like a black coffee)

Short Black = Espresso shot

Macchiato = Espresso shot with a little milk

But here’s the kicker…coffees in Melbourne are better than any coffee I have ever had anywhere. It’s soooo good. I’m already dreading of what will happen when I go back to Canada and need to fuel my caffeine addiction. And it’s cheaper! A latte at Starbucks in Canada is going to be $4-$5. A latte here is going to be $2.50-$3.50. That makes a big difference if you buy a coffee (or three) a day. I’m lucky enough to work at a cafe and get coffees at work, otherwise I’d be poor. This is the plus 1.

The minus 1 is that no one uses travel mugs! I’ve hardly seen anyone go into a cafe with their own mug.  A lot of people do have their coffees in the cafe, and get real cups and mugs, but there’s a lot of take-away coffee cups used in this city everyday. I’m trying to use mine every time I go and maybe it will catch on. Maybe.