Toronto shouldn’t have to pay for roads used by non-Torontonians
I love a good history lesson.
GREENINGS (JULY 2017): Taking tolls to the Gardiner and Don Valley Parkway
August 1st, 2017 · Comments Off on GREENINGS (JULY 2017): Taking tolls to the Gardiner and Don Valley Parkway
GREENINGS (JUNE 2017): Lessons from Madrid
June 30th, 2017 · Comments Off on GREENINGS (JUNE 2017): Lessons from Madrid
PHOTO BY TERRI CHU/GLEANER NEWS: Cars rule the road in Madrid (above), a city whose culinary delights and historic sights are marred by the population’s refusal to use public transit.
Time to end the car era
By Terri Chu
Tags: Annex · Columns · Life · Opinion
GREENINGS (MAY 2017): Thoughts on hitting the 400 benchmark
May 26th, 2017 · Comments Off on GREENINGS (MAY 2017): Thoughts on hitting the 400 benchmark
GREENINGS (APRIL 2017): Solving the food waste problem
April 10th, 2017 · Comments Off on GREENINGS (APRIL 2017): Solving the food waste problem
We need to change ingrained cultural practices
Food waste is a $31-billion problem.
Every year, roughly 40 per cent of perfectly edible food that is grown and imported is thrown away. Of that, households account for half of the problem. Discarded food usually takes the form of unwanted leftovers, imperfect food deemed unsalable, oversupply, and, worst of all, supply management (throwing away food to keep prices high).
GREENINGS (MARCH 2017): Kellie Leitch was right
March 22nd, 2017 · Comments Off on GREENINGS (MARCH 2017): Kellie Leitch was right
It’s hard to borrow a cup of sugar…but the problem isn’t Toronto
Kellie Leitch is reportedly getting packets upon packets of sugar in the mail as a response to her comments that in Toronto, you can’t walk next door and borrow a cup of sugar. She’s right, to an extent…just not in Toronto.
GREENINGS (JANUARY 2017): Feeling the carbon tax crunch?
January 23rd, 2017 · Comments Off on GREENINGS (JANUARY 2017): Feeling the carbon tax crunch?
Embrace the green and lower your footprint
Christmas came a little late for me this year. I woke up on New Year’s Day and looked out of the window at the gas station sign. The ever slightly higher gas price was a pleasant reminder of the new carbon tax that Ontarians are now paying and I couldn’t be happier. Natural gas will be increased by about 7 cents a cubic metre, and gasoline about 4 cents a litre. This is truly a great day for our children. It’s a small but important step in the right direction.
GREENINGS (DECEMBER 2016): A green, meaningful Christmas
December 20th, 2016 · Comments Off on GREENINGS (DECEMBER 2016): A green, meaningful Christmas
Five alternatives to store-bought gifts
By Terri Chu
When I was a child, Christmas was a magical time. But as I grew older and became more environmentally aware, the holiday quickly became one of my least favourite times of year. Now I can’t even step into a mall during the holidays: just the mere sight of so many useless gifts meant as a token, ultimately destined for the landfill, makes me grieve for the planet.
GREENINGS (NOVEMBER 2016): Force the focus
November 18th, 2016 · Comments Off on GREENINGS (NOVEMBER 2016): Force the focus
Draw attention to what really matters
By Terri Chu
Sometimes I wonder why, knowing what we know about climate change, there are people who continue to buy things they don’t really need for the sake of it. We have our share of green businesses in the Annex, but that doesn’t make us immune from replacing our perfectly functioning phones with newer ones, or falling for the latest fashion trends (none of which are sustainable).
GREENINGS (MAY 2016): Cloth diapers have gone from burden of the poor to luxury of the rich in one generation
May 13th, 2016 · Comments Off on GREENINGS (MAY 2016): Cloth diapers have gone from burden of the poor to luxury of the rich in one generation
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
GREENINGS (April 2016): Provide help or stand aside
April 7th, 2016 · Comments Off on GREENINGS (April 2016): Provide help or stand aside
Relentless OMB stifles creative green projects
“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.
GREENINGS: Don’t fall prey to marketing
March 9th, 2016 · Comments Off on GREENINGS: Don’t fall prey to marketing
Make informed choices when buying green
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.
Reduce, reuse, then recycle
February 2nd, 2016 · 1 Comment
The energy lost in the pretense of plastic recycling
“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
To dome or not to dome, that is the question
February 19th, 2015 · Comments Off on To dome or not to dome, that is the question
By Terri Chu
Turf is as troubling as the toxins now in the soil, the Central Technical School (CTS) dome is a hotly contested issue in this area. I’ve met nearly as many people who support the dome as oppose it. The student body no doubt would like to see the stand-off end. There’s a lot of confusion and many opposing interests at play.