It is time to put your rain barrels out as it will no longer be freezing(at least we're pretty sure of that)...rain water is great for your plants(and your hair I've heard) and a nice alternative to using your tap water. If you don't have a rain barrel, there are lots of pretty ones available at the garden centers, but if you don't care about the way that it looks the City of Calgary sells big blue ones for $60 at the Eco-Store. Actually, the eco-store is a neat place and you should check it out for sure. Compost bins there are subsidized year round for less than $25. If you are not from Calgary, check with your local government(their website will usually have the answer). Many provide these things at a reduced cost. Heck, in Okotoks, every new house gets a free fancy dancy rain barrel. It looks so pretty sitting next to my house :)
Here's the link to the eco-store for their hours of operation and address:
http://cleancalgary.org/index.php/store
Check it out! And, hey, for those people who were having problems with their compost bins being too wet this spring(I've actually had a few emails regarding this)...a neighbour of mine recommended torn up newspaper when you run out of leaves. I'm trying it in mine. Email me if you want to know how it went!
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Summertime
...and the living is easy! Well, just when you think summer is here, it goes and snows. Welcome to the May long weekend in Alberta! Of course, we chose this weekend to build our deck, so we will be choosing next weekend to do the very same thing. The reason I am blogging about our deck(insert inappropriate comment here) is because it shows the evolution in our ecological thinking and our attempts to use our consumer power to affect change. Sounds monumental, doesn't it?
Well, we decided to go with a composite decking instead of treated lumber. Environmentally speaking, less waste will go into the construction of our deck mostly because it will outlast a traditional wood deck--not to mention the harsh chemicals involved in pressure treated decks and the process of continually staining them. So, we looked around, wrote down all the names of all the composites that were readily available to us and looked to see which one used recycled materials. Now, when I asked the young punk sales guy at Home Depot if Brite composite was made from recycled material, he looked at me like I was from another planet. Of course, I am, but we don't want to be telling total strangers that fact. So, my only option of really knowing was checking out the websites. I had wrongly assumed that all these composites would be made of recycled material--in fact, Eon, proudly claims it is the only one made of 100% virgin plastic. Now, while you would still be cutting down on material, it would be more ecologically minded of us to keep looking. Our neighbour pointed us towards Trex decking. In my research, they were the only ones that claimed to use primarily recycled material--that being recycled plastic grocery bags(they had to be good for something), recycled pallet wrap and waste wood. At least, the only ones that I could easily purchase at one of the large hardware stores. We got ours at Totem at McLeod Trail. Since we are still installing it, it's hard to rave, but I am already loving the idea of never having to paint or stain it again. It was considerably more expensive than traditional decking--around 3x's as much, but lasts much longer so it is more of an upfront cost as the cost of maintaining a traditional deck doesn't really factor in to our comparison. You can now find a link to their website here on my blog.
Anyone up for margaritas and chips when it's all done? We can't wait. In fact, we have had a landscape designer who specializes in Xeriscaping plan our front and back yards. We expect it to look great and need very little maintenance once it is completed. It's just that whole getting it completed thing. Xeriscaping is a type of low water, low fertilizer landscaping using local plants and shrubs. No, we are not just putting down rocks...in fact, you can find lots of beautiful examples of xeriscaping in Okotoks(you should see our neighbour's yard--Jen and Joanne--it's well on its way to being completely gorgeous). Check back to hear more about it as we get it in...and possibly some photos!
Well, we decided to go with a composite decking instead of treated lumber. Environmentally speaking, less waste will go into the construction of our deck mostly because it will outlast a traditional wood deck--not to mention the harsh chemicals involved in pressure treated decks and the process of continually staining them. So, we looked around, wrote down all the names of all the composites that were readily available to us and looked to see which one used recycled materials. Now, when I asked the young punk sales guy at Home Depot if Brite composite was made from recycled material, he looked at me like I was from another planet. Of course, I am, but we don't want to be telling total strangers that fact. So, my only option of really knowing was checking out the websites. I had wrongly assumed that all these composites would be made of recycled material--in fact, Eon, proudly claims it is the only one made of 100% virgin plastic. Now, while you would still be cutting down on material, it would be more ecologically minded of us to keep looking. Our neighbour pointed us towards Trex decking. In my research, they were the only ones that claimed to use primarily recycled material--that being recycled plastic grocery bags(they had to be good for something), recycled pallet wrap and waste wood. At least, the only ones that I could easily purchase at one of the large hardware stores. We got ours at Totem at McLeod Trail. Since we are still installing it, it's hard to rave, but I am already loving the idea of never having to paint or stain it again. It was considerably more expensive than traditional decking--around 3x's as much, but lasts much longer so it is more of an upfront cost as the cost of maintaining a traditional deck doesn't really factor in to our comparison. You can now find a link to their website here on my blog.
Anyone up for margaritas and chips when it's all done? We can't wait. In fact, we have had a landscape designer who specializes in Xeriscaping plan our front and back yards. We expect it to look great and need very little maintenance once it is completed. It's just that whole getting it completed thing. Xeriscaping is a type of low water, low fertilizer landscaping using local plants and shrubs. No, we are not just putting down rocks...in fact, you can find lots of beautiful examples of xeriscaping in Okotoks(you should see our neighbour's yard--Jen and Joanne--it's well on its way to being completely gorgeous). Check back to hear more about it as we get it in...and possibly some photos!
Friday, May 11, 2007
Seriously Concerned
So, I was interviewed a while ago by this girl-we totally clicked-and the article is out. Click on the title of this entry and it will take you to it. The two quotes that she actually used were 'we are super tight on this street' and 'we moved here because we are seriously concerned about climate change'...so do I sound like a 12 year old or what? Anyways, just thought you all might like to check it out. Looks like a neat little magazine.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Things I learned On Our Trip#2
So, the other day on Wild Rose Forum(yes I know I'm a huge CBC radio nerd) the topic was spring cleaning and a new Calgary resident called in. She had just moved here from the UK and did not know how to care for her stainless steel appliances. After answering her query, the host asked her if her new appliances were much larger than her old ones. The caller responded by laughing and then said "everything is bigger in Calgary". It struck a chord with me. We have always tried to live a 'smaller' life. Of course, I realize that 'smaller' is a relative term and for many who live 'larger' than we do, they too might think that they are living small. While in Spain, I got a glimpse of just how 'large' it is we North Americans really do live.
In every city we visited, we passed by real estate offices. They are much the same everywhere and had new listings posted on their windows. All the listings were apartments. 95% were under 1000 square feet--heck, many were under 800 square feet. We saw only one listing that came near to our own house. An apartment almost 1600 square feet in size--no yard, no parking(it did say the possibility for parking), no basement(ours adds an additional 600 square feet of living space). It was in Sevilla and it was listed at close to 700,000 euros. At 1.5 dollars to the euro, that is a significant difference for sure.
So, this 'smaller' living also brought about other differences that we noticed. You should have seen the kitchen stores--so cool and sleek with their tiny little kitchens all efficiently laid out to pack as much as possible in a little tiny space. And, the lack of parking--well, that means that the streets are packed, at all times of the day, with people actually walking to their destinations. Kids are actually playing in the parks and in the streets. It was not uncommon to see little boys kicking soccer balls in tight little alleyways using the buildings as teammates. And, the cars people drive were way, way smaller. Smart cars(there were several different models) were very common--so easy to park(where does one add a parkade in a city of buildings that are hundreds of years old with streets designed for horse and carriage). I often saw families of 5 get out of VW golfs...which has us thinking that we should rid ourselves of our own minivan and be a two golf family. We saw very few SUV's and the ones we did see were diesel driven. The government there keeps the price of diesel lower than the astronomical price of gas in order to encourage conservation. Wow...
And the variety in the shopping was so different. People don't drive to big box stores or shopping malls(where would they put them in a city that is hundreds of years old?)--they walk down the street and go to the little independent shirt store where all they sell is men's shirts. If you need a tie--no fret, right next door is a tie store and next to that is a shoe store. I don't know where they get their pants. But, you see what I mean don't you? We all live in these huges houses and fill them with stuff we don't need--and I'm not so sure that we're any happier. I can only imagine how much smaller their ecological footprint is from ours. Sad really...
In every city we visited, we passed by real estate offices. They are much the same everywhere and had new listings posted on their windows. All the listings were apartments. 95% were under 1000 square feet--heck, many were under 800 square feet. We saw only one listing that came near to our own house. An apartment almost 1600 square feet in size--no yard, no parking(it did say the possibility for parking), no basement(ours adds an additional 600 square feet of living space). It was in Sevilla and it was listed at close to 700,000 euros. At 1.5 dollars to the euro, that is a significant difference for sure.
So, this 'smaller' living also brought about other differences that we noticed. You should have seen the kitchen stores--so cool and sleek with their tiny little kitchens all efficiently laid out to pack as much as possible in a little tiny space. And, the lack of parking--well, that means that the streets are packed, at all times of the day, with people actually walking to their destinations. Kids are actually playing in the parks and in the streets. It was not uncommon to see little boys kicking soccer balls in tight little alleyways using the buildings as teammates. And, the cars people drive were way, way smaller. Smart cars(there were several different models) were very common--so easy to park(where does one add a parkade in a city of buildings that are hundreds of years old with streets designed for horse and carriage). I often saw families of 5 get out of VW golfs...which has us thinking that we should rid ourselves of our own minivan and be a two golf family. We saw very few SUV's and the ones we did see were diesel driven. The government there keeps the price of diesel lower than the astronomical price of gas in order to encourage conservation. Wow...
And the variety in the shopping was so different. People don't drive to big box stores or shopping malls(where would they put them in a city that is hundreds of years old?)--they walk down the street and go to the little independent shirt store where all they sell is men's shirts. If you need a tie--no fret, right next door is a tie store and next to that is a shoe store. I don't know where they get their pants. But, you see what I mean don't you? We all live in these huges houses and fill them with stuff we don't need--and I'm not so sure that we're any happier. I can only imagine how much smaller their ecological footprint is from ours. Sad really...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)