National Marine Conservation Areas, or NMCA for short, are marine areas managed for sustainable use and containing smaller zones of high protection. They include the seabed, the water above it and any species which occur there. They may also take in wetlands, estuaries, islands and other coastal lands.
Although they only currently exist in Ontario and Quebec, they are working toward incorporating two sections of BC coastal waters. The first in the southern Strait of Georgia and possibly another up north. However, determining a NMCA is a long process filled with feasibility studies and much-needed input from the population. The studies are expected to be completed sometime in 2008, which will allow the governments of the region to decide whether a NMCA would be practical and desirable.
The Strait of Georgia marine region is the smallest of five marine regions found on Canada’s Pacific coast, yet it is also one of the most productive. It includes a wide diversity of seascapes ranging from the fjords of Desolation Sound to the broad mudflats of Boundary Bay, and from the cloudy sediment plumes flowing from the Fraser River to the clear waters among the southern Gulf Islands. [Parks Canada]
The boundary between earth and ocean exists only on a map and the cycle of life in the diverse marine ecosystems of Gwaii Haanas encircles land and sea. Once the NMCAR is established, nearly five thousand kilometres of Gwaii Haanas will be protected. This will be one of the only places in the world where a representative area is protected from mountain top to the great ocean depths. [Parks Canada]
It’s pretty amazing what you can learn when you stop to talk to the good folks who make appearances at these exhibitions. Sure, the Parks Canada booth didn’t have free samples of coffee, wine, organic beer or vodka, but it was truly something I was interested in and I learned a lot just by stopping in for those few minutes.
As a bit of a post-mortem since the EPIC Expo is now over, a huge thanks to happy frog (and our crew-chief DaveO) for having us on their team this weekend. They were the official social media sponsors of EPIC and I think we successfully generated a lot of buzz, not only for happy frog but for all the featured businesses and products we got to explore. You can check out all the content we churned out this weekend over on the frog blog.
Here at the happyfrog.ca booth in the concourse of the EPIC Expo we’re blogging and podcasting up a storm. The show continues until 9:00pm tonight and will resume tomorrow from 10am to 5pm. You can’t miss this social media sponsor’s booth as we’re located directly in front of the entrance to the showroom.
Raul got to interview Adria Vasil for his first podcast EVER, which will be posted to happyfrog.
Everything you ever wanted to know about organic beer. Side note: It tastes great, the lager, the pale ale, and the lager… and the pale ale again…
At this time yesterday Mike Holmes was in Toronto redoing a roof and getting a sunburn.
Although we can’t control our flip flopping weather in Vancouver, this city was sure grateful for Mike’s appearance. I had the chance to take some notes during his presentation although my blog post simply can’t express the passion and commitment this man emits, but I’ll try.
Over 7 seasons the TV show Holmes on Holmes has helped over 100 families, 365 days a year often working on 3-5 projects at a time. Mike announced that the final episode of the show will air in June and after that he’s moving on to bigger things.
Going to the next level of homebuilding, Mike’s new show Make it Right will see him in building houses in New Orleans and even heading to Africa to build 5 homes for children. Not only is he going international with the program, but he’s starting up a development company to make: “homes that will not burn down, fall down, blow down, will not mould, are totally enviro-friendly and ‘greener than green’.”
After we had been updated on various projects, and got over the sad news of the show’s ending (followed by the joy of knowing he’ll be spreading his knowledge across the world), Mike launched into his talk that contained so many energy-efficient tips I didn’t have the time to catch them all, but here are a few which he details as various “shades of green”:
Dark Green:
Two storey homes are not the most energy-efficient; bungalows are better
Flat roofs are a great way to collect rain water/grey water, they can be green, have a grass lawn or vegetable garden. You would be using the square footage you already own. Head up a flat roof to have a BBQ and a beer.
Shingles are asphalt which is oil-based. Not only are they more expensive, they are conducive to fires (50% of house fires spread from roof to roof). Try a flat roof or steel roof, which lasts up to 50 years.
Mike shared a story about a local fire department that was asking him to help promote the use of sprinklers in buildings and homes. Unfortunately he couldn’t back their campaign, “why would I get behind something that would put more water into a house I’m trying to keep water out of?” – “build a house that won’t burn!”
Dark Green:
Mike addresses a question he often hears, how much more expensive is it to build a sustainable home? It’s only about 10-20% more to get the right materials that will last longer than a lifetime.
“Cradle to Grave”: Designing a product that is environmentally friendly from beginning, middle, to the end of its life. ie. concrete – how much energy does it take to make it? A lot actually however, how long does it last? forever.
Lighter Shade of Green:
Combine a bunch of products within your home. The “lipstick and mascara” with energy efficient appliances does help.
Even Lighter Shade of Green:
Those 6 litre “low flow” toilets that, in Mike’s words, “take 5 flushes just to get your number two down.” Products like these are a great concept but unless you can find a low-flow that has enough ‘suction’ and won’t need multiple flushes, it’s not doing its job 100%. Mike says that in a home, 6% of water is used on washing our things and 13% is spent flushing the toilet.
Mike used a few obscenities on stage and laughs them off, “I’m sorry, I’m a contractor!”. Other parts of the presentation were a little too technical for me, especially the explanation of a Thermal Break and Thermal Barrier. Gotta love those vapour barriers, folks.
Fact: Concrete holds the most amount of moisture in a home.
Fact: In-floor heating is the most energy-efficient way to warm up a home.
Face: Spray-foam insulation is the most environmentally friendly, “Cradle to Grave”.
Unfortunately too many homes are built to ‘minimum code’, and that won’t change until lives are lost. How often do you hear about 100 condos in a complex going up on flames? Minimum code needs to change – there is no reason why homes and lives need to be lost if things are built right.
After a long question and answer period followed by book signing, Mike was catching a flight out of Vancouver. His insights are appreciated and it’s nice to see someone with so much passion for the greater good who is thinking about the future its generations.
The sounds of summer usually include the splashing of swimmers at the beach, the repetitive midi tune of the ice cream man’s truck, and the sound of your neighbour mowing the lawn. It may however be a little-known fact that gas-powered lawn mowers are serious environmental offenders.
A gasoline-powered lawnmower run for an hour puts out about the same amount of smog-forming emissions as 40 new automobiles run for an hour. (California Environmental Protection Agency, Air Resources Board. May 20, 1999)
Each summer weekend, about 2.7 million Canadians mow their lawns, using 40 million gallons of gasoline a year. (Environment Canada, One-Tonne Challenge, 2005)
Running your gas powered lawnmower for one hour is equal to driving a new car for almost 500 kilometres. (Environment Canada)
Photo by Darren Barefoot at the CAF’s Mow Down Pollution Launch in Victoria
Lawn and garden equipment users in California spill 17 million gallons of fuel each year while refilling their outdoor power equipment.
A typical 3.5 horsepower gas mower… can emit the same amount of VOCs – key precursors to smog – in an hour as a new car driven 340 miles (540 km), say industry experts. [Clean Air Foundation]
So how can we trim our grass so that its length is still conducive to hours of croquet without loosing the ball in the mossy brush of the backyard lawn? Simple – use an electric mower. To enable Canadians to take another step towards green living, “Mow Down Pollution” is educating Canadians about the eco-friendliness of using electric tools around the yard.
Bring your working or non-working gas-powered mower or trimmer to any Home Depot location between April 17 and 27, 2008 and receive up to a $100 instant rebate on the purchase of a new push-reel, electric, rechargeable or low-emission alternative mower or trimmer. [Mow Down Pollution]
Photo by Darren Barefoot at the CAF’s Mow Down Pollution Launch in Victoria
If you’ve spent a hot summer in Vancouver then you know how terrible our air can get – especially by the time it all blows out to the valley and they warn seniors to stay indoors to due its low and harmful quality.
By bringing in your old mower – or trimmer – you’re not only recycling something old and stinky that takes up space in the corner of the garage, but you’ll also get some green points (which are kind of like warm-fuzzies). You’ll know that achieving that perfect putting-green lawn for your next BBQ get together with the Jones’ won’t hurt clog the air with pollutants that can cause and irritate respiratory problems such as asthma. That’s a good thing – for you, the Earth, and well… Chilliwack.
There are a lot of award sites on the internet, but when it comes to the most trusted and widespread nothing comes close to the Webby Awards, which are handed out annually with winners hand-picked by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. The most engaging part for the common internet user is the crowd-powered People’s Voice portion of the Webby Awards.
The Webby People’s Voice honors excellence in 100+ categories including Websites, Interactive Advertising, Online Film & Video and Mobile. Last year, nearly half a million votes were cast and even more comments were posted to mark the biggest turnout in Webby history. And this year we expect even more spirited participation with addition of 25 new categories. [Webby Awards – About]
In 2007 the locally produced environmentally-conscious social networking site ChangeEverything.ca was a Webby Award honoree. They’ve grown over last year and have now been officially nominated for the ‘web award of web awards’, pitted against the likes of Flock, Bebo, Ning, and Facebook.
If you want to make changes – in your own life, in your neighbourhood or in your world – then Change Everything is the site for you. It’s fun, it’s free and it’s a great way to work towards positive change for you and our community.
ChangeEverything is a social networking site that allows you to…
Create a list of changes you want to make (big or small)
Help others change by joining their cause, community or conversation.
Basically, it’s an online community of change makers, “Some of us are longtime activists; some of us are community leaders; and a lot of us are just regular people with a few ideas for how we’d like to change things.” [ChangeEverything – About].
Using the web community for social change is a noble feat by this homegrown project, which is powered by those who would like to participate in ‘change’. Being nominated for a Webby Award is an excellent accomplishment, anyone and everyone can go here to cast their vote for ChangeEverything.
A big shout out goes to Rob and Alexandra of Social Signal for working with Vancity to make ChangeEverything a very successful reality for Vancouverites, Victoria, and the Lower Mainland.
