Another Take on Waste-to-energy Facility July 28, 2008
Posted by MelissaHK in environment.Tags: environment, ottawa
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On July 4, 2008, I wrote about Ottawa’s plan to have a gasification unit here in the city, which converts waste to energy. Vancouver’s The Tyee offers up an article that asks the question of how good this really is (“Dump the New Garbage Plans? Finding the Greenest Way to Deal with Trash” by Colleen Kimmett). For one thing, what will the plant’s emissions be? The article suggests that “[s]ome experts say we’d be far better off if we increased recycling and composting.” And would this kind of plant lessen the incentive for everyone to reduce waste? This article talks about some of the differing perspectives on this issue, and even suggests some alternatives that seem quite good and interesting. There’s also a little waste-to-energy 101 about how that technology works. Definitely a good read.
Ottawa Will Recylce Organic Food Waste — in 2009 July 28, 2008
Posted by MelissaHK in environment.Tags: environment, ottawa
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I missed this when it came out last month, but apparently Ottawa will launch its “Green Bin” program next fall (yep, not until 2009). I wish it was sooner, but hopefully better late than never will prove a good adage in this case. When the City does launch the program, it will be sending residents an information kit, an organic kitchen catcher, and a green bin (like the blue bin for cans/bottles and black for paper). You can read the press release from the City here.
On the note of recycling, the City around an information brochure on what can and can’t be recycled in the current blue and black bins. I was a little surprised to see that plastic packaging and plastic bags were on the “don’t recycle” list. I recycle pretty much everything, to the point of bringing home the plastic I use at work because they don’t handle cans/bottles here, only paper. Does it do any good to throw all of the plastic in there anyway? I guess I’ll just have to be that much more conscious when I buy things, to make sure I don’t buy things with plastic packaging unless absolutely necessary (not an easy thing to do!).
Net Neutrality 101 – It’s All About Access July 24, 2008
Posted by MelissaHK in the net.Tags: net-neutrality
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Something I’ve been starting to care about recently is the issue of Net Neutrality. (It’s becoming so important that I think it deserves capital letters.)
Whether you are a media producer, actively fighting for democracy, or a at-home user, this affects you and will continue to affect you.
In case you don’t know what Net Neutrality is all about, imagine your service provider, such as Rogers, Bell, AT&T, etc. getting to tell you where you can go on the Internet. So, let’s say you sign up at home to get Internet from Bell. Bell would offer you “dozens” of Internet sites you could visit. And nowhere else. Your. Internet. Experience. Would. Be. That. Limited. And the funny thing is (and not the haw-haw kind of funny) is that these companies are not hiding it. If you do a Google search on the issue, you’ll find several press releases coming from within and outside of the industry.
Here is an excellent video talking about this and other related issues. It’s 10 minutes. I found it worth every second.
Other links on Net Neutrality (many suggest things that everyone can do and/or have listservs and newsletters you can sign up for):
- Page at Wikipedia
- Canadian site Neutrality.ca
- Blog developed by the Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking
- Canadian coalition SaveOurNet.ca
- Michael Geist’s blog – a mist read for this and other important issues
- Canadian-based Campaign for Democratic Media on this issue (they deal with others as well)
- Council of Canadians call to action
- United States based SaveTheInternet.com
Someone just sent me the following message, and should be considered before you read the rest of my post: “The original posting on this was un-sourced and, I think, inaccurate in regards to a broad conspiracy among ISPs to shut down the free Internet. In the US and I think in Canada as well, this would be a clear violation of telecom legislation. That being said, it is also clear that ISPs will continue to attempt to limit and shape Internet traffic in order to maximize their revenues.”
And now with the rest of my original post . . .
I also subcribe to feeds from Mostly Water, and I read this, which really supports the notion from that YouTube video that service providers want the Internet to act more like a television service and only offering “dozens of sites” (wow, we will be so severely limited if this happens!):
Death of Free Internet is Imminent: Canada Will Become Test Case
By Kevin Parkinson – July 20, 2008
[Canada] is being used as a test case to drastically change the delivery of Internet service forever. The change will be so radical that it has the potential to send us back to the horse and buggy days of information sharing and access…[There is a] diabolical plot by *Bell Canada* and *Telus*, to begin charging per site fees on most Internet sites. The plan is to convert the Internet into a cable-like system, where customers sign up for specific web sites, and then pay to visit sites beyond a cutoff point.
Nature Given Constitutional Rights in Ecuador (taken from mostly water) July 11, 2008
Posted by MelissaHK in environment.Tags: environment
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This is pretty cool. It warms me heart, it does. Oh, and you should just check out mostly water in general if you are interested in more grassroots and activist news, offering different perspectives from what you normally hear in more mainstream forms of media.
Ecuador Constitutional Assembly Votes to Approve Rights of Nature In New Constitution
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 7, 2008
On July 7, 2008, the Ecuador Constitutional Assembly – composed of one hundred and thirty (130) delegates elected countrywide to rewrite the country’s Constitution – voted to approve articles for the new constitution recognizing rights for nature and ecosystems.
“If adopted in the final constitution by the people, Ecuador would become the first country in the world to codify a new system of environmental protection based on rights,” stated Thomas Linzey, Executive Director of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund.
Ottawa to make energy from waste July 4, 2008
Posted by MelissaHK in environment.Tags: environment, ottawa
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This seems pretty cool on the surface. According to Technology Review, the Ottawa City Council has approved this new project:
According to the article, “Rather than burning trash to generate heat, as with an incinerator, the facility proposed by Ottawa-based PlascoEnergy Group employs electric-plasma torches to gasify the municipal waste and enlist the gas to generate electricity.” They are estimating that it will take about three years to build, and the company is proposed to pay for the $125million start-up costs. Ottawa would still pay a standard “tipping fee” of $60 per metric ton of waste. The article doesn’t talk about where the plant would be.
