By Terri Chu
Having a kid is expensive, anybody can tell you that. What nobody told me though was how expensive raising a child can be when you try to stay low on environmental impact. Cloth diapers are a huge capital outlay and I’m not convinced they are used long enough to break even against disposables. Using a diapering service costs around $25 per week while disposables are about $0.30 each, which even at 10 per day comes in at $21.
Tags: Annex · Columns · Life · Opinion
“This is a major greening initiative for the neighbourhood”—Jonathan Da Silva, Bloor-Annex BIA
By Annemarie Brissenden
Bloor Street West is about to get a whole lot greener, and it’s all thanks to the trees.
Tags: General
Tags: Annex · Editorial · General · Opinion
“I’ve come to the conclusion that the overriding factor in municipalities getting nice things is sheer willpower.”
By Terri Chu
Every time someone mentions a great municipal infrastructure project on the other side of the pond (usually in a really progressive nation like Germany or Sweden), I mutter some lame excuse as to the reason why Canadians can’t have equally nice things.
COURTESY HOLLY THOMSON/TORONTO ENVIRONMENTAL ALLIANCE
The city has a plethora of handy services to help you redirect waste from your garbage bin.
By Mike Layton
Tags: General
By Terri Chu
One great thing about living in the Annex is that there are lots of places to buy green products. (Though losing Grassroots means there are not a lot of places to refill shampoo bottles.) I find myself taking this for granted and not always carefully reading the labels on products I buy, trusting that they have been sourced by stores that share the same ethical values that I do.
In-ground pinchpoint planters, like the one on Robert Street shown above, act as a curb extension, provide an immovable barrier that discourages drivers from making illegal manoeuvres, and are not subject to the graffiti found on their above-ground counterparts.
COURTESY SUSAN DEXTER
By Marielle Torrefranca
By Joe Cressy
Downtown communities like ours face unique challenges and countless opportunities. Almost every day, in conversations at our local coffee shops, in public meetings, and as we connect with our neighbours, we look for ways to work together to build our communities. We look for opportunities to enhance our parks, support our neighbours, and to create new public spaces.
Tags: Annex · Columns · Opinion
“Why can’t they take black plastic?” asked my partner, staring at the City of Toronto recycling poster. I didn’t have an answer.
Tags: Annex · Columns · Opinion
By Beth Macdonell
“I heard someone call this the Seinfeld election. The election about nothing,” says James Norrie, a social media researcher and associate dean at Ryerson University. “It seems pretty apathetic out there.”
Still, Norrie believes in the power of social media. “If social media can provoke social unrest to the point that a government can fall,” he says, “it can mobilize voters.”
