Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Friday, August 26, 2005

Critical Mass Today


Join the fun. Corner Bloor and Spadina. 6:30 p.m.
I am off to Ottawa for the weekend, so have a great ride!!!
Cheers,

Martino

Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Friday, August 12, 2005

Top Ten Reasons We're So Smoggy

10. The feds passed legislation on mandatory fuel efficiency standards in 1981, but have never asked the Governor General to sign it into law so...
9. The average vehicle on the road in Canada has become less efficient every year since the early 1990s, thanks to SUVs and light trucks which don't have to meet the same pollution standards as cars.
8. The federal government's Kyoto Plan still isn't up to the job.
7. The province's investment in transit is half of what it was 10 years ago.
6. The McGuinty government is investing less in energy conservation in our electricity sector than did the Peterson government, and about 1/3 of what the Rae government invested.
5. The Harris/Eves government destroyed the province's energy conservation programs because Enron and friends asked them to. Really, no lie.
4. Five of our 20 nuclear reactors haven't worked for 8 years while the rest are unreliable, so the use of coal has doubled. We're looking at spending over 5 billion to try to bring back broken-down nukes which soaks up all the money that could be used for wind, solar, and conservation.
3. The oil and car companies have invested in fighting action on climate change rather than in renewable energy or better vehicles.
2. The federal government waited 13 years to get serious about a climate change treaty they signed in 1992.
1. The city doesn't do enough to get cars out of the way of buses, streetcars, bikes and pedestrians.

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

50th Smog Day in Toronto

As of 3 p.m. today, we have reached the 50th Smog Day in Toronto this year.
I started keeping track because neither the City of Toronto nor the Province keep an accurate count, in my opinion. Any day
that exceeds an AQI of 32 is a Smog Day.
A very good friend of mine who bikes every day came to visit me at work today. He
told he just came from the doctor who has diagnosed him with asthma. I'd hate to think what the smog is doing to children, the elderly and animals. I have written to Dr. David McKeown, the Officer of Public Health for the City of Toronto, to ask how many Smog Days it takes before it's an emergency. The response was less than comforting.