fourONEsixSTYLE

Friend Mark McKay was asked to make one of his ranty vids on the subject of cars in the GTA for MTV Canada. The facts on the dangers of driving aren’t new but it’s worth a look to see Mark’s take on the subject and his great cutting style. (I love watching him poke out from behind interviewees like Cam Woolley). First time I watched it I felt like the big bad driver that I am. Now, a couple weeks after a stupid license suspension, I can say I’m a weathered TTC rider and poo-poo all the drivers out there too!

This is what I love about politics. There’s a whole lot of talk about what’s right and wrong but when it comes down to it it’s really all about action.

Last election I did my research to see how much (or how little) the political parties in my riding, Parkdale - High Park, were doing to support the environment. It was on everyone’s agenda and they were all purporting to support it. The release I wrote last election, A Greener Campaign will show you just how well the other parties act on their promises, however this little video will show you that too, in only 9 seconds.

Despite promises from the Liberal, the NDP or even the Conservatives, only the Ontario Green Party have spent the time to plan and deliver an agenda that will put the environment on the right track while being sure that your tax dollars are not spent frivoulously (read NDP) by your future government. Besides that you’ve got to love a leader like Frank de Jong who blasts by Howard Hampton’s idling tour bus while on his bicycle.

PS. Election day is Wednesday, October 10th. Get out and vote!

blister in the sun
Originally uploaded by 416style

Photographers and astrologers in Toronto take note, if you’re able to get up at 4:51am tomorrow morning you’re in for a treat. Get outdoors and you’ll catch a total lunar eclipse as the earth’s shadow slowly passes in front of the moon. It’ll deliver celestial fans in North and South America a spectacular view of a copper red glowing globe in the sky. The planetary process will take an hour and a half to move through its heavenly course. Worth setting your alarm clock for I’m sure.

Find out about more about the eclipse from 680news.com.

Last year my friend, actor and indie filmmaker Brett Reason, shot and cut a short video which followed four car junkies (including himself) getting wasted and heading to the auto show. Their goal? See how long they could sit in the Mercedes S550 before someone kicked them out. After he showed me the piece, we debated what the name of it should be. He thought Loaded at the Auto Show would be good, I figured Fully Loaded would be more slick. It was his bit, so he won.

Brett called a couple days ago to tell me what the slogan is for this year’s show - it’s Fully Loaded. I’m not sure if he was more excited that we nailed their ad slogan before they did or just because the show would be starting this week, either way he got me hyped to go and I’m no car buff.

While him and his buddies cruise the fast car corner I might see what’s new in hybrids. If you’re still driving an old jalopy maybe you should check it out too - Metro recently reported that the biggest emissions (up to 37 times the normal amount) can come from cars 20 years old and up.

Scrap watching the auto show’s promotional vid on their site, there’s nothing innovative about it. Instead, amuse yourself with a little dark humour at theigloo, where you too can get Fully Loaded at the Auto Show.

photo: Richard Tamayo

In my work with the Green Party I’ve come across some people who think that the NDP’s are a sound environmental choice in this election simply because they list a few things in their policy geared toward this issue. They do not put the environment first, they put unions first, uranium mining first and import of US toxic waste to Canada first.

If you have the chance please read the Media Release I wrote and sent out this morning:

A Greener Campaign

(January 18, 2006, Toronto) Campaign brochures landed in the mailboxes of many Parkdale-High Park residents today. In this last week of campaigning, candidates know it’s critical to make an impact. While several parties claim to make environmental issues a priority, a quick look at the method and means of printing these brochures only helps compound the fact that the Green Party does more toward a sustainable environment than any other party.

Parkdale-High Park Green Party candidate Rob Rishchynski ensures his campaign is living up to the environmental standards that often define his party. “Our campaign materials are produced using recycled papers and waterless printing processes. All campaign lawn signs are collected and re-used.”

In an added boost to the party today, The Sierra Club of Canada rated the Greens’ platform highest among all five parties in its commitment to the environment. “The Green Party really improved its platform since the 2004 election, with a greater sophistication in its policy…it has the strongest set of recommendations for environment and sustainability”, said Elizabeth May, Executive Director of the Sierra Club of Canada.

No other party appears to have a comprehensive strategy for reaching its environmental goals. Nor, in the case of Parkdale-High Park, has any other candidate but Rishchynski paid attention to the little things that matter, like ISO 14001 certified printing, energy conservation and using recycled materials.

Rishchynski knows it’s these very things that will make an impact with residents and business owners in the community, and he’s certain his party can offer real solutions for the environment while improving Canada’s economic outlook. For your copy of the brochure or to learn more about Green Party policies please visit www.parkdalehighparkgreens.ca

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Also, if you have the opportunity, visit the Green Party blog, where I pulled the following:

The Green Party is unequivocally opposed to subsidizing car companies such as Ford and GM – which have the highest CO2 emissions of any major car companies worldwide
The Green Party is unequivocally opposed to construction of new nuclear power plants
The Green Party is unequivocally opposed to exporting uranium for nuclear weapons
The Green Party is unequivocally opposed to clear cutting
The Green Party is opposed to the commercial seal hunt and would cut government subsidies to it
The Green Party is unequivocally opposed to importing toxic waste from the United States to incinerate in Canada.

The NDP Record:

The NDP government in BC supported the clear cutting of Clayoquot Sound
The NDP government in Ontario supported the construction of the Darlington Nuclear Power Plant
The federal NDP supported $100 million in subsidies to Ford in the Fall of 2004 and $200 million in subsidies to General Motors in March 2005 to protect CAW jobs, but GM announced 30,000 layoffs for North American workers in November 2005
The NDP accepts exporting uranium without guarantees that these exports are not used to create weapons of mass destruction;
The NDP always puts unionized jobs ahead of the environment. Which is worse: putting business interests ahead of the environment or unions’ interests ahead of the environment? Answer – both are creating an ecological debt for our children.
The NDP instigated the fall of the Liberal government in November 2005 before the most important conference in my lifetime – the conference to negotiate the follow on agreement to the Kyoto Protocol. All the opposition parties put short-term political interest ahead of the long term interest of the planet and future generations.

Guess which Party made the following statements or actions:

“Environmentalists are the enemies of progress” (NDP Premier in BC)
The largest mass arrest in Canada’s history – arresting grandmothers, students and teachers stopping logging trucks from clear cutting old growth forest in Clayoquot. (Under an NDP government).
In power, the NDP in Ontario, BC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba has never implemented proportional representation.
What party pressured the leader’s Chief of Staff to resign because he personally opposed the commercial seal hunt in Newfoundland? (Answer: NDP – Rick Smith as Layton’s Chief of Staff was pressured to resign in 2004).

Jim Harris rides the C-Train
Originally uploaded by Grant Neufeld.

I’ve been campaigning with the Green Party in the Parkdale High Park riding for a couple weeks now. I’ve been to several All-Candidates meetings and met many business owners who reassured me that the idea of electing a Green candidate is not far off. Many welcome the idea that the Green Party’s policy is both fiscally responsible and environmentally sustainable.

What impresses me, after reading all federal party platforms, is that green leader Jim Harris and the Greens have a clear vision and also have very realistic objectives with which to reach their goals for the future of this country. I didn’t seem to find this with any other party. Sure, the Liberals will throw cash at their “issues” which might help in the short term, and the NDP’s words tell us they believe in the environment while all their actions point in support of dirty dirty industry.

The Liberals have an appaulling record at meeting Kyoto standards - carbon emissions have gone up 24% since 1993 instead of their promised 20% decline; and Harper’s party is starting to remind us of why we hated them in the last election, telling the papers the Conservatives will scrap Kyoto altogether. Even though they say Harper’s a changed man doesn’t mean he won’t set us back 10 years to a time when the lack of certain freedoms and liberties repressed and alienated friends and neighbours.

The Green Party seems to be the only one thinking ahead. They are socially progressive, want to change the way government and tax is structured, do away with corporate campaign donations and give us all a place to live where we can breath freer, fresher air.

On January 23rd, vote Green. Tell Ottawa we are ready for a greener country and a greener government.

If you need more information visit greenparty.ca.

keep it clean
Originally uploaded by 416style.

Much to the dismay of many others, I’m one of those people that takes garbage pretty seriously, not just my garbage, everyone’s garbage. If I see someone chuck something out their car window I honk and swear. If someone on a boat cruise I’m on throws a cigarette butt in the lake I’m gonna tell them the lake is not their ashtray. If I’m at someone’s for dinner and they’re not using their green bin, I’ll do it myself. (Yeah, they love me.) Thankfully, I have a good group of friends, most of whom also believe it’s important to keep this city looking great.

When these new bins started hitting the city streets I was intrigued, but not convinced they were the best idea. I’ll admit I like that there are separate places for litter, butts and recycling. Reminds me a bit of Japan’s system, which has the Japanese separating into burnable garbage and just plain trash. Wish we were there too. Copenhagen, for example, uses its garbage, via incinerators, to heat homes throughout the country. Here, uneducated activists shut down the idea of incinerators before it could be properly examined. Things have changed since the first incinerating programs popped up 35 years ago. Toxins aren’t allowed to spew into the air.

Toronto’s trying some new things out but it’s not that forward thinking. Instead, we’re about to impose limits on household waste, supposedly in an effort to increase recycling and organic separation. But both those programs have been larger successes than the municipal government ever hoped for.

Unfortunately not too much will change with the launch of these new bins. The program’s success will likely only be measured by advertising revenues brought in. I have two big beefs with the new bins and it’s not the advertising. One of the problems with Toronto’s garbage is that there just aren’t enough places to dispose of trash, but my major concern is safety. These short bins are nice and cute but when I’m walking around the streets at night, I already weave my way around the sidewalk, making sure no one lurking behind a doorway or hedge can get too close to me. Was that not a consideration here? Safety on the streets? I hope someone realizes this, then I can tackle my next big garbage issue: no recycling in Toronto movie theatres. You better believe I give them my two cents every time I go.