Burlington Uptown

Re: Hamilton Spectator Letter to the Editor

2009-11-02T20:46:00.002-05:00

I am awestruck to find the Spec giving airtime to a view which seeks to deliberately misinform its readers on the status of the scientific debate on climate change.

The writer indicates that because the Hadley Center's CRUT3v plotted against atmospheric CO2 shows a drop in temperature, while the CO2 concentration increased from about 367ppm to about 386ppm from 2002-2009 somehow invalidates the theory that CO2 causes temperature increase.

In actual fact, no reputable scientist has ever claimed such a thing. Climate is a system with more than one variable. Because other variables happen to be acting in such a way that temperature increases recently have slowed, does not invalidate any relationship between CO2 and temperature.

However, the place to debate climate science is not in the pages of the letters to the editor, it is amongst the scientific community. Every major scientific organization involved in climate research, including the science academies of 32 nations, the US National Research Council, the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences, the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society, the Royal Society, the American Physical Society, and many others have agreed with the conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). No scientific body of national or international standing is known to reject the basic findings of human influence on recent climate change.

If you don’t believe in the science, first convince the scientific community through such organizations that you are right and they are wrong. Then, maybe you have a case that we don’t need to take action.

Most of the denial of climate change is not driven by true scientific understanding, it is driven by fear and cowardice. Fear of making small and incremental changes in our lifestyle that are necessary in order to maintain prosperity for our children and the generations that follow. Fear of losing financial or material comforts.

Those who have put their lives on the line for this country would be ashamed that we are so passive and our leaders are so afraid to take even symbolic actions against this looming threat.

Large EI premium hikes on the way? - thestar.com

2009-10-06T13:16:00.001-04:00

Large EI premium hikes on the way? - thestar.com

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Truth in Advertising

2007-05-04T22:45:00.000-04:00

Saw this on CNN today...

Planet In Peril - brought to you by BMW.

Why Kyoto?

2007-02-12T22:14:00.000-05:00

One of the most common criticisms of Kyoto is that if we fail to meet our targets, that we will have to send billions of dollars to buy ‘credits’ from foreign nations, which can then use the revenue to boost consumption.

1. We have to at least ATTEMPT to meet the targets. Not making the attempt is a moral failure. If our society, which has profited the most from burning of hydrocarbons, won’t take leadership, we can bet that other societies will use our failure as an excuse for theirs.

2. If we don’t achieve the reductions, and have to buy credits, Kyoto to my knowledge doesn’t specify what currency we need to use to pay for our credits.
What I propose that instead of blindly shipping money in brown paper bags, that we negotiate with other countries to buy credits using Canadian assistance, technology and machinery that is built solely to reduce GHG emissions in those foreign countries. This has the added benefit of CREATING Canadian jobs, and ensuring that Canada becomes a world leader in GHG reduction technology.

We must recognize that, Kyoto or no, fossil fuel use will at some point have to be reduced. The industries upon which our economy is based will have to change to reflect this eventually. Canada’s current automotive industry will change - if not forced to by government, then in future by fuel prices and consumers making better choices. Our resource-based economy will change - it will be soon that even all the oil we can possibly export won’t make up for the depletion elsewhere in the world. Do we really want to pollute all the water sources in our North just to supply the Americans’ SUV driving needs for a few years?

If we drag our feet and resist this change, our economy will suffer for it in the long run. If we make inconvenient adjustments now, future adjustments will not be anywhere near as painful.

Protecting the environment and conserving the resources which sustain our life and our economy has to be our nation’s #1 priority, even if it means short-term profit growth is restrained. It’s a matter of national security, and the danger is hundreds of times bigger than the danger from terrorism. This danger requires that we make the appropriate sacrifices to combat it today, and not to leave the problem to future generations.

My Choices for Municipal Vote 2006

2006-11-13T14:08:00.000-05:00

OK...so here's who I'm supporting for today's municipal election:

Ward 5 Councilor: Rick Goldring

Not a huge amount to differentiate between at the ward level, however I did recognize Rick from the Garth Turner town hall meeting, and seeing him standing out in the rain waving to folks leaving the Orchard for the morning Go train. He seems to understand the concerns of the neighbourhood - trees and a lack of decent independent commercial activity in the area.

Regional Chair: Robert Plaschka

Definitely campaigning on the issue of energy sustainability, and peak-oil aware. He supports the Halton Energy from Waste (EFW) plan, which, if implemented with stringent controls over emisssions and water quality, is an intelligent way of using the resources we have more efficiently, and is a sound strategy to mitigate the impact of declining fossil fuels.

Burlington Mayor: Rick Burgess

Continuing in the mold created by the outgoing mayor Rob MacIssac, and received his testimonial. Running on a very extensive and detailed platform, which includes a "Uptown Roundtable" concept to help integrate communities such as north-east Burlington with the greater city.

Best of luck to all the candidates.

Halton MP Garth Turner Ousted from PC Caucus, conteplating joining Green Party!

2006-10-20T20:55:00.000-04:00

As most residents in the area are certainly aware, by now,Halton MP Garth Turner has been suspended by the Progressive Conservative caucus on Wednesday, October 18.

What has followed since has certainly been a whirlwind for Mr. Turner, and I have to admit I'm getting quite caught up in the excitement, and feel energized and excited to be part of a movement that has been sorely needed in Canadian politics during my lifetime.

On finding out the news, I visited his blog, www.garth.ca, which I read somewhat regularly, to find out what people were saying about it. The site was experiencing some difficulties, and only a couple of comments had been posted. At that moment, I noticed that in a previous segment that Mr. Turner has spent some time with the leader of the Green Party, had presented a positive opinion of her overall, and had interviewed her for one of his MPTV segments. I put two and two together, and thought "Wouldn't it be an incredible turn of events if Garth decided to join the Green Party?"

This is a party that has managed to get 800,000 votes in the last election, fielded candidates in every riding, and still had not even had the opportunity to participate in the leadership debates or even receive the mainstream media coverage to have the opportunity to bring its message to all Canadians. This is certainly a golden opportunity, and just in time for the Clean Air Act being released by the Conservative government. Mr. Turner seemed to recognize that in his piece on Elizabeth May, and this had the makings of a momentous political moment much like when Tommy Douglas founded the CCF.

I then posted a message encouraging him to go Green. When I returned to check my message, and saw the flood of messages posted on the blog, I realized that several others had done the same. Not much later, even the Green Party's former leader had dropped by to write a few lines to applaud Garth and welcome him over to the fold, and newspapers across the country were speculating on whether or not Garth Turner would make Canadian history and become the first ever Green Party MP. I subsequently posted another message to his blog, stating that as one of his constituents, I would be 100% in support of Garth joining the Green Party and offered whatever assistance I could give in his campaign on the Green ticket.

Like him or loathe him, you've got to admit that Garth Turner has done more for democracy than any member of the Canadian legislature on any side of the bench in the last 9 months. He has time and time again invited his constituents to contact him, held numerous town hall meetings, online consultations, hosted chats, and presented us through his blog and webcasting efforts with a unique inside view of what he was doing on our behalf in Ottawa, and what he was trying to accomplish in government. No doubt about it, Halton residents have a hard working, dedicated MP who has pledged to be our voice in Ottawa. We are extremely fortunate to have Garth working on our behalf.

Although I certainly can't say I agreed with every platform Garth was advocating, I grew to respect the fact that he tells us what's happening and is so willing to help educate his community about the workings of government. His refusal to make everything in politics a black or white issue, and his willingness to listen to all his constituents, not just those who voted for him, struck me as unusual and very admirable.

As for my own political stance, while as a middle income, married male living in Burlington, I am most comfortable with conservative fiscal principles. I disagree with waste, whether it be the financial waste of a big government which tries to be all things to all interests, or the waste of our precious resources in the pursuit of materialism for its own sake.

The last two federal elections I have however voted for the Green party, based on the principle that they needed to be a factor to bring the big picture, do-or-die envirnmental issues to the forefront in our country's political debate. Although I am uncomfortable with their anti-nuclear stance, and some of the party's earlier ideas about welfare and spending public money on "alternative medicine", I do feel that the Green party is a place where pragmatists and idealists can tolerate open discussion. The Greens have demonstrated a shared concern for the enviroment, and concern for the future of our nation, and in fact are the only party that has even discussed the concept of a future as oil and natural gas begin to deplete.

Certainly Green is a far more tolerant party than that of the Alliance/Conservatives, who still can't seem to get over the whole same sex marriage thing. The Greens are a party with a bit of an image problem - they are seen as "environmentalists", which is commonly synomous with "looney left" in the political discussion which commonly happens today. Having a no nonsense fiscal mind like Garth Turner in their caucus would certainly help move the stereotype away from the perception that the Green movement is all hippies and communists. I have said in my post in Garth's blog, and I'll repeat it: Conservation and Conservatism are one and the same. To be a conservative, one must by definition practice conservation. It's a core value, and one I believe a clear majority of Canadians can stand up for.

There seem to be many in the Green Party camp who feel the same way, who were born in or immigrated to this huge, beautiful and rich land, and we want to ensure that it stays beautiful, rich, continues to sustain us and enables our decendants to be prosperous for many generations to come.

We are blessed with such natural wealth, it would be the greatest tragedy to let it be lost because we are too cheap or too focussed on our immediate financial returns to take the necessary steps to clean up the messes we make. The assumption that Canadians are not willing to accept lower returns on their investment portfolios in exchange a properly protected environment with less fossil fuel dependence is just not acceptable any longer.

We have seen traditional political parties make no preparations whatsoever for the coming of peak oil, which is hanging like the Sword of Damocles over all of Western civilisation. We have seen the Liberals do very little in 13 years to accomplish the targets set out in the Kyoto agreement that they signed. We have now seen the Conservatives take 8 months to draft a strategy which by all acoounts is a "wait and see" strategy. Since Brian Mulroney, no government has accomplished a thing on this issue, and it is the most important issue to the young people who will inherit a prosperous Canada. It is my hope that the Canada they inherit is capable of sustaining them and the generations that follow, although based on the actions of our recent governments, I feel like a passenger on the Titanic where the captain still refuses to pay attention to the icebergs dead ahead.

As a side note: The bank I work for spends millions of dollars on "Backup and Recovery" sites, which means basically, in the unlikely event that the main site is destroyed in a terrorist attack or disaster of some kind, that there is an alternate location so that business can carry on somewhat as usual. The chance of this occuring is maybe 1 in 10,000 if that, yet the Banks treat this with amazing seriousness and devote a lot of money and time to planning, testing and drilling its processes to maintain operations at a second site in the event of a disaster.

And remember - this is for an unlikely event. What is the backup and recovery plan for the likely event of peak oil? Even if there's just a 10% chance that industrial civilization collapses as oil production starts to decline - possibly in the next 5-10 years - isn't it worth the effort to spend a substantial portion of our national wealth to making sure that we as a society can survive, continue to feed ourselves and maintain some semblance of an economy post-peak? The issue certainly hasn't even been discussed outside of a small community of concerned citizens. Canadians en masse need to be engaged in finding solutions to a problem that is by all evidence available, 99.9% likely, not just 10%. For those who think this is just a lefty issue, please check out what Roscoe Bartlett (Republican) from Maryland has to say about Peak Oil.

Even if there's a 1% chance that over the next 50 years the ocean levels will rise causing billions of dollars in damage to our coastal cities, doesn't it make sense
to spend a few million today researching the technologies that will reduce the emissions, and slow the warming trend that is in evidence?

Just what are Canada's backup & recovery plans for Peak Oil and Climate Change?

This is the question we need to ask our leaders now.

Update

2006-10-14T10:20:00.001-04:00

After finally retrieving my username & password from Blogger, this blog is up and running again.

A year after my last post, the pace of development continues unabated. We now have a couple of new plazas at Appleby Line & Dundas - one with a Winners store, and the other with a Starbucks. Has anyone tried walking to these places? I did so last year, at the risk of death from truck exhaust and careless commuters driving over 100km/h down the Appleby Freeway. A Swiss Chalet is going up in the empty lot beside Rona, and the condos at the corner of Appleby and Upper Middle are almost finished.

Kudos to the landscapers for this condo complex. The buildings and their grounds look good, and adds value to the community. The parking lot is hidden in the central area, and the sides presented to the street are attractive and have great scale. It's obvious that the developers here live in the area, or were at least concerned about those who have to look at it.

Apart from this, despite the best intentions of the planners and politicians who created the blueprint for the community, everything else that gets built once again favours the driver. It will be impossible to transition this area to a pedestrian and transit oriented community if we continue to develop everything in a way that caters first to the driver, and to the pedestrian or transit user as a secondary afterthought.

I can choose about 7 different places to get a car wash, but why do they have to make it so difficult to go out for a walk and get a Guniness? When I picture the ideal suburban lifestyle, I see something like on Coronation Street, where everyone works practically across the street from their home, and the pub is the center of activity. Of course, a Corrie style flat in Toronto would easily go for a couple of million.

One way you can instantly tell a GTA resident - talk to them about commuting. It's the instant conversation starter. An hour commute from Burlington to Toronto every day is actually about average for most folks who work downtown. Since low density living spaces in the core are completely unaffordable, the choice is between density and distance, and witht he cheap oil economy, distance always seems easier. Despite the recent easing of gas prices, I don't expect it to stay easy for long. Rob MacIssac - as new head of the GTTA (Greater Toronto Transit Authority), you've got a tough job ahead of you. All these people who rely on the automobile will have to be moved to their jobs somehow. The roads have already burst beyond capacity, and there's no point building new ones, because there's no land available near the major destination points in the city.

Another thought - I reallize that Minit-Lube's and the like are necessary, but what's with the massive parking lot & gaudy signage beside the new Jiffy Lube/World's Largest Car Wash place on Appleby? I guess as a community we have the aesthetics that we deserve - those of NASCAR. You could probably fit a race track right there in the parking lot. Talk about waste of precious land.

Television Uber Alles?

2005-08-08T13:23:00.000-04:00

Driving down Wilson St. in Downtown Hamilton yesterday, I noticed a very interesting phenomenon. This is a rather hard scrabble part of the city, lots of poverty around. Some of the houses in the area looked like they were about to cave in on themselves, and the exteriors have not been cleaned in years.

Yet perched on top of every single one of the most run-down places in the neighbourhood...a brand new satellite dish!

The lure of the almighty television seems to have completely replaced any sense of public duty to maintain the places in which we live. Who cares about our civic life...we just want to be entertained.

I certainly hope this isn't to be the fate of our area in Burlington once the quick trip to Home Depot in the SUV becomes a lot more difficult as oil supply starts the long decline.

The cost of oil today: just over $63 a barrel as we speak. Things are happening fast.

Welcome to the Burlington Uptown Weblog

2005-07-24T22:08:00.000-04:00

This blog is all about Uptown Burlington, consisting of the mostly suburban communities surrounding Appleby Line & Burloak Drive, north of the QEW. The area has been growing and developing rapidly over the last 5 years. Much of this development has been exciting, seeing many new people moving into the area and the creation of new services and parks for its residents. Make no mistake about it, this is a great place for people to live.

However, being a mostly suburban community could be problematic for this area in the years to come. Many readers will note the recent increases in the price of gasoline. If anyone has stopped to think about the reasons why, they would have realized by now that North America's current car centred lifestyle will not be sustainable for much longer. Extra capacity to produce more and more oil every year is not available, most countries are declining.

Oil companies have not invested the money necessary to find enough new sources of oil to replace the wells that are in decline. In Alberta, we have the oil sands, which can help stem the decline, but use massive amounts of water and natural gas to extract. They will be useful, but there's no way we could mine the stuff fast enough to sustain all of the transportation needs of the world.

As for alternative energy, there may be some benefits to adding wind and solar power to our electricity generation to ease the transition from fossil fuels like coal and natural gas, the use of wind and solar on a massive scale are not going to save us. Hydrogen needs to be generated from either natural gas or electricity, so it's really just like a convenient battery.

We're going to have to face it: ten years from now, half of us will probably be unable to afford to travel by private automobile. Those of us who can afford to drive will probably have a difficult time maintaining the other elements of their lifestyle in a world where energy is no longer as cheap and taken for granted as it is today.

I care about our community - I do not want to see it turn into an automobile slum that no one cares about. I see things like the graffiti on the rail barrier at Dundas & Appleby, and it saddens me that people can be so unconcerned about the place that they live.

I highly recommend any visitor to this blog, to take a look at some of the writings of an American author, James Howard Kunstler. His most recent book, The Long Emergency, is a highly recommented illustration of the kinds of changes we need to make to keep our society functioning, and our community as the changes we are starting to feel from the stretching of our hydro grid close to the breaking point, to the continued increases in the prices of crude oil, gasoline, electricity and all forms of energy we use. I see him as a kind of kindred shit-disturber - with a sharp wit and a very no-nonsense style. I hope that this weblog can serve half as well as Mr. Kunstler's has to educate about the 'clusterfuck' we're heading for, while entertaining along the way.

For this community to continue to offer a high quality of life, we need to encourage one another to make decisions that emphasise the people who live here. Cookie cutter suburban big-box development is unnecessary, and will lead us down the path towards being another boring strip that people occasionally drive to, but noone wants to live near.

Ten years from now, when the big box retailers can no longer afford to transport cheap shit from China, what's going to become of the giant aircraft-hangar like sheds? We need to make this community one that people will feel safe walking in, and one that actually has some interesting places to walk to without having to traverse giant, half empty asphalt deserts.

While at times, Burlington's city council is attempting to guide the development in the area to a more compact, more walkable form, they haven't really been able to enforce many of the guidelines that were laid out when this community was created. It's almost as if they've taken the attitude that wrong development is better than no development at all. Here's some of the bonehead creations that are being built or have been built in the last few years:

- Wal Mart at the corner of Appleby and Dundas - a megastore surrounded by a sea of parking lots and a few chain stores trying to cash in on the traffic.
- The new Appleby Arena, which is set back about 100 feet from the road with a huge parking lot.
- 2 drive through restaurants (although they are built close to the sidewalk, the main entrances face the parking lot)
- Two new shopping centres going up at Appleby and Dundas, designed not for local people, but drivers on their way between destinations.
- 3 new full-service gas stations with car wash & convenience store
- A giant car wash
- A huge underpass for the railway

It definitely seems that the development we have allowed to happen, geared more towards our cars than our people. There have been a number of positive things - such as the new condos going up which are close to the street line, and the big land developers have kept to an aestetic of building a neighbourhood reasonably well. Unfortunately, the commercial sector just doesn't seem to get it. Big business is focussed only on the bottom line. In bygone days, the local businessman used to take an interest in the community, and lived in the same area where the business was located. Now, decisions about what kind of buildings to put in our community are made in some corporate office down in Bentonville, Arkansas by someone who doesn't give a damn about what the people living in the Orchard have to look at every day. Some of the things that would serve to make this area great:

How about a pub, facing the street (people should walk to the pub anyways instead of drive).

An ice cream shop that serves ice cream to people walking or cycling along the pathway?

Larger homes along major collector roads which allow live/work arrangements, for professionals like doctors (hey - we need more of those don't we?), accountants, lawyers, chiropractors, etc.

At the corner of Dundas and Appleby - wouldn't this be a perfect spot for a farmers market? Close to farms in rural Halton, and within walking distance of thousands of residents. It would be nice for the market to have its own home, instead of in a mall parking lot.

I'd like to hear your thoughts about what would make this neighbourhood great.