We recently took B on a tour of our local landfill. I had been there before as part of a school project but that was a long time ago and a lot has changed in the regions waste management division. The tour was an opportunity for us to see their processes and for B to see his beloved 'garbie rucks'. The facilities are set up to handle multiple streams of waste the problem is that they are not all being fully utilized by our community. Every Wednesday I drive past all the houses with their bags of trash out at the curb and maybe just maybe their blue box. Rarely do I see a green bin. Our landfill currently has a lifespan of 25 years but if more people used their blue boxes and green bins that could be extended to 50 years.  Right now 2/3 of everything that ends up in the landfill could have been diverted to the blue box or green bin program. That is shocking and sad. 

I get that the green bin program can be gross. It even grosses me out sometimes. But think about the alternative...it could be that a new landfill is built in your backyard. Now which is grosser? 

I think this is something I will never understand. People do not want something like a landfill in their backyard yet they chose every single day to not do what it takes to extend the life of the current landfill.

*  There is a difference between a dump and a landfill (landfills are engineered to protect the environment)

*  New technologies for covering trash at the end of each day is helping to expand the lifespan of landfills. Previously they had to use 3 inches of cover each day...think of how much space is being used up each day with just cover material!

*  When a landfill is full they place clay on the top and sides to encase the trash. This 'garbage mountain' never gets smaller....the bio degradation process is so slow that these landfills will never go away.

*  Our landfill was the first in North America to be ISO 14001 certified

*  Beside our landfill is protected space and the latest studies show that the landfills operations have had zero effect on this space.

* There is a Habitat for Humanity trailer right at the landfill where they can collect building materials for reuse.

*  Conduct a mini waste audit in your own home. Know what you are producing and how to reduce it.

*  Recycle. Set up your kitchen and outdoor space to make it easy for the whole family to be involved.

*  Compost either through your city program or in your own backyard or heck do both if you can.

*  Take part in your local yard waste program.

*  Donate old clothes, furniture and toys. Don't throw these things out!

*  Buy used whenever you can.

*  Know your waste management policies. We can't recycle styrofoam at the curb but we can bring it into the recycling center at the landfill.

*  Take a tour of your local landfill

Have you toured your local landfill? Do you do all that you can do to divert waste from your landfill? Have you ever done an audit of what you produce? I am thinking we need to do ours as the last one we did was over 2 years ago.

A few times a month you may notice that I post about things like picking up trash, sustainable halloween, reducing food waste, and a million uses for vinegar.  These are all part of a weekly challenge called Change the World Wednesday. Each week Reduce Footprints announce the results of the previous challenge and what the next challenge will be. I really enjoy these challenges as it gives me something to work on each week and because they are small enough that you can tackle them within a week. 

The philosophy behind the challenges are that together a group of people can make a difference. I strongly believe in this and participate in the challenges as I can. 

I have learned a lot from the other bloggers that participate as well. Even though we are all blogging about virtually the same topic I love how we can all find a different spin on how to apply it to our lives. My favourites are It's Not Easy to Be Green, Little Green Blog, Green Baby Diaper Service and Good Girl Gone Green. I highly recommend checking them out in addition to following along with the weekly challenge to see what everyone is doing. 

Cleaning out some clothing that B has outgrown was all I needed to tip the scale over 2011 items I have gotten rid of this year. As it stands right now (end of week 35) the total is 2037 items. Here is the total breakdown of where everything went.

It feels good to get rid of so many items but it feels even better to know that I diverted as much as I could from the landfill. So what did I learn from all of this? Well I learned that I hold on to random things for no particular reason...boxes of things that I had never unpacked when we moved here 4 years ago. I also now know how easy it can be to have 'stuff' build up. We don't tend to have a lot of junk laying around so it did surprise me at how quickly our total started to add up. What we did have was a lot of items that we didn't use anymore that still had life left in them that someone else could use. And of course baby items fall into this category. I like the 1 in 1 out rule but am not sure we could apply it to everything in the house. I do however think we could easily apply it to B's toys. As he gets new one's for Christmas and his birthday we will donate or sell the same number of toys that he has outgrown. This year we will pick them for him but next year we plan on including him in the process so he can understand the value in what it means to donate things.

Have you done a challenge like this? What results did you find?

When I was a teenager I went to a Girl Guide conference my Mom. At least I think it was a conference...truthfully I don't remember much about the day other than the fact that my Mom and I learned how to do self breast exams. Before that day I didn't know much about the importance of self exams much less how to do it. 17 year olds don't think about breast cancer...at least they didn't when I was a teenager. I walked away from that day and started to do self exams. I learned that yes you may find bumps and lumps but that these may not be anything to be concerned about as they may come and go with your cycle. Of course this doesn't mean that I didn't freak out every time I felt something that I didn't think belonged. Did we even have the internet back then? If we did I am sure I 'Excite'd' to find out if I had cause for concern. As with any teenager 'fads' wane and I stopped doing my weekly checks. It wasn't until just this past week that I started again. I can't tell you what it is that made me start again but I just found myself in the shower and thinking 'huh maybe I should just give myself a good old exam here and see what we got going on'. Note to self - it is much hard to give yourself an exam on huge adult boobs than it is on big teenager boobs. 

Truthfully I am glad that I have started again and will continue to check myself weekly. Cancer scares the crap out of me.The past 2 years I have walked in the Toronto Weekend to End Women's Cancers with all the proceeds of my fundraising ($3450!!) going to breast cancer research at Princess Margaret Hospital. Each year as we walk we meet women who have lost loved one's or who are battling cancer themselves. We meet survivors and hero's. 2 years ago there was a young girl handing out high 5's at the end of our 60km journey. We thought she was the daughter of a walker and just there to cheer everyone on. We were wrong. She is Canada's youngest breast cancer survivor at the tender age of 4 (then, now 5). She was 2 and a half when her mom discovered the lump in her breast and since then she has undergone treatments to kick cancers ass including a full mastectomy. (Photo courtesy of Globe and Mail)

2 and a half....seriously that makes the 17 year old me for thinking that breast cancer couldn't happen to me. Walking those 95km has opened my eyes to the disease and the importance of protecting our boobs. So what can we all do? Well nothing is guaranteed but I think that if you live a healthy life you will reduce your chances of getting breast cancer. What exactly does that mean?

       

Eat less meat and more whole grains, fruit and vegetables. Make it organic too to reduce your exposure to harmful pesticides. If you do eat meat then make sure it is antibiotic and hormone free.

Go for walks (or you know train for a nice fall 60km walk), run, join a gym, sign up for boot camp ....do whatever it is that you need to do to stay healthy and active.

Don't use chemicals on your lawn or garden, don't use toxic cleaners in your home and don't use them on yourself either! Look for green cleaners and body care products that are certified or from a reputable company. Do your research and know what is in the products you are exposing yourself to so you can limit your exposure to harmful chemicals.

Yep, touch them. Take a course if you need to or use Google to find instructional videos or photos of the best way to do a self exam. Stay proactive. Studies show that when breast cancer is detected early the survival rate (5 year) is 98%. Sadly over 30% of women are diagnosed after the cancer has spread and is no longer localized.

If there is a history of breast cancer in your family make sure you talk to your doctor. Get clinical breast exams and talk about early mammograms.

This is where we were 3 years ago. Amazing pizza, great culture, fantastic tours and hands down the best gelato in the universe.

Today is Blog Action Day and World Food Day. As I reflected on what I should write about I thought about the comments I have gotten lately when I talk about what we are doing to reduce the impact of our food. The most common is 'I don't really want to know where my food comes from because I think it will scare me'. So true....because it will scare you.

We as a society spend a lot of time researching the car we want to buy, the school we will send our children to, we inspect houses before we buy them but we don't do any of this for the food we consume. The majority of people do not know where their food comes from. Sure they may read that little sticker and see the country of origin but that means very little in the grand scheme of things. You see that innocent sticker on your banana/cucumber/orange and see that it is from Peru/Argentina/Mexico and most likely don't really think about what that means. The transportation, different farming practices, wages and treatment of workers and the quality...oh the lack of quality.  Not saying that goods from other regions can't be good but there is nothing compared to locally grown.Why do we continue to pay for goods from other regions when it is better for the environment and way tastier to buy local?

This year I have tried to focus on our food consumption. We found a local market that we love and who I feel comfortable asking questions to (he tractor tweets and everything!). We cut back on fast food, processed food, bought more organic and made more of our food from scratch. We looked at the quality of the food we were eating, looked at the impact of our food, I switched to almond milk (more on that later) and cut back on the amount of food waste we were producing. The only 2 things left to do are build a bigger backyard garden and find a local sustainable meat farmer.

My friend Tanya and I lost our sanity for a moment and signed up for Boot Camp. We have been going for a few weeks now and I am loving it. Not just because Leah kicks my ass every week but because of the steps she is taking to reduce the impact of her business.

When we first registered she sent back release forms for us to complete. My first thought was 'Oh Crap! My No Printing Initiative is screwed!' But she has no problem at all with me completing my forms electronically and emailing them back to her.

She works hard to reduce the use of paper products in her gym. She has face cloths in the bathroom that you can use to dry your hands. She also recommends that you bring your own 'sweat cloth' to wipe down your mat after cool down instead of using paper towels.

There is no air conditioning (OMG this would be hellish in the summer) but instead she leaves all the doors, including an overhead warehouse door open to give a cross breeze. There are fans as well but they aren't on now as there really is no need.

I try to find sustainable companies to buy products and services from but every once in awhile I find one when I am not even looking....and seriously I love that.

Halloween kicks off the part of the year where we all tend to get a bit more wasteful. There are always options on how we can reduce the impact of these holidays. I have outlined some tips below and what we will be doing to make sure we celebrate sustainably.

There are lots of options when it comes to candy. Usually the biggest option when buying is chocolate or chips. Let's change this thinking and add other options like organic candy, sugar free candy, apple chips, veggie chips, pumpkin seeds, granola bars or non food alternatives (pencils, erasers, stickers). This year we are giving out organic candy. I found Pure Fun candy at our local grocery store and am also going to give out Yummy Earth Organic suckers.

If you do not want to buy organic or don't have options readily available to you there are still smart choices that you can make. Chose to not buy Nestle products due to their unethical business practices including their misleading marketing of formula and continued environmental destruction.

There is no need to buy a new costume every year. Look for alternatives like:

     * Buying 2nd hand from a consignment shop and online website

     * Trading costumes with friends/neighbours/coworkers/family

     * Making costumes from every day materials you have in your home

It was easy for us this year as we thought ahead last year and bought a costume that was a bit too big. It still fits him this year so he will yet again be a shark. 

To collect his candy in (okay the candy is technically for us) we carry a re-useable bag. I remember when I was a kid we would use pillow cases and I see loads of kids still doing this. It is rare to see someone showing up at the door with a plastic bag so I think that is a positive trend.

We don't really decorate for Halloween other than carving 3 pumpkins. We get our pumpkins from a local farm where we can pick our own. We make spicy pumpkin seeds out of the insides and then compost the pumpkins when we are done with them. 

If you do put up decorations there are some ideas:

     * Buy items that you can reuse year after year

     * Look for items that use no power or batteries

     * Make decorations from items you have around the house
     * Use leaves to 'stuff' decorations
   

September is over which means that technically our No More Fast Food Eco-Challenge is over. As I was telling people about what we were doing the majority seemed to think we were crazy and that it would be "impossible" to do. People asked why we were doing this challenge. There are a few reasons:

* Fast food makes you feel like crap. Sluggish, greasy, gross

* There is a ridiculous amount of sodium in fast food (1040mg in a Big Mac)

* No way is any of the food local

* Some companies are known for destructive environmental practices

* Money doesn't grow on trees so there are better places for us to spend it

Regardless of why we were doing it I still thought it would be hard too...more so for Joey than me. But it really wasn't all that hard. Here is what made it easy.

* I stocked us up with homemade burgers and buns so if we craved that we easily had it on hand

* I made sweet potato fries in the oven instead of buying deep fried french fries

* I bought pizza shells and toppings so we could make our own pizza at home

* I started to menu plan again so had what we needed each night

* I prepped food the night before if required (ie: chopping toppings, marinades)

I did slip up once. I had just walked 35 km and I was exhausted and just felt like Wendy's. I craved their spicy chicken sandwich and dipping my fries into Joe's chili. I had no ability to make dinner that night and decided to just eat what I craved.

I can't say that I feel "better" after only a month. I think it takes longer to get it out of your system. But both Joe and I do agree that overall we feel healthier because we made smart meal choices. This Eco-Challenge isn't ending here. We both agreed that the pizza we have been making at home is better than what we had been buying from a local pizza place. The fast food burgers can not even come close to Joe's homemade burgers.

Over the last week I have been interviewing candidates from the NDP, Liberal and Green Parties. I reached out to the PC Party as well but did not hear back from any of the candidates. The last question I asked each of them was about how they have reduced the environmental impact of their election campaign. Here are their responses....some are very interesting.

We car pool whenever possible and I’ve recently bought a very small car with excellent gas mileage. We reuse our signs, wires and posts. Rather than send out a mailing, much of which may be tossed out with junk mail, we are hand delivering our brochure to the urban parts of Dufferin-Caledon. We are relying on newspaper ads to a greater degree and less on printed material.

All of the platforms are printed on FSC paper and Steve rides his bike whenever he can. When picking lawn signs Steve went with the option that can be washed and then reused for the next election. They track where all the signs are located so they can easily pick them up after the election. Oh and check out Steve's website. Go to it and then don't do anything, go away from it for a bit (like go into Paint and draw a picture of a unicorn and 3 puppies). When you come back see what has happened to his website. Pretty cool eh?

When I asked Nik this question I got a very raw and real answer from him. Honestly it was not at all what I was expecting but I find it refreshing that he answered the question truthfully. Here are the best parts of his answer:

'I must admit that campaigns are really very terrible on the environmental side. There's a lot of driving around, constantly, sometimes just to deliver a handful of election signs in an expedient manner a half hour's drive away. We try to carpool, but it's incredibly difficult due to multiple schedules being balanced- and there's virtually no viable, reliable, efficient transit to take internally within the riding. Constant driving to events, to canvassing in different parts of the riding; thousands of leaflets which will probably be trashed instead of recycled by innumerable constituents; and, although we'll pick most of them up- those campaign signs are visual pollution for about a month. I consider myself an environmentalist, but really, again, it's very difficult to be competitive without a large footprint- in life and in campaigning. The current economic and social-success model our society is based upon still rewards bad behavior and punishes good behavior (both in environmental and social justice issues), and that's one of the reasons that I'm running in the first place. A catch-22 perhaps?

Or maybe that's just a terrible excuse. I'm not sure- but it reminds me of one of George Monbiot's running themes dealing with competing moralities in this new post-climate-change world. Apparently Jack Layton never owned a car, but he was pretty successful in the political world, don't ya think? I guess I'm going to spend the rest of my life trying to catch up to him.'

I’ve been running a 21st century campaign that’s essentially paper-free. Focusing on the power of social media, I’ve been making videos and spreading my campaign messages via Twitter and Facebook. Just like I did with my Love Song For Elizabeth May which got extensive media coverage during the Federal Election, I aim to get important environmental and societal messages out to as many people as possible by being entertaining and interesting. Any flyer's I’ve brought to meetings were generic party flyer's that the main campaign office had left over. I’ve been distributing generic signs that were left over and which can be reused. I had a flyer-making event where we made flyer's out of discarded cereal boxes, and we’ll encourage people to recycle these recycled flyers when the campaign is over.

I practice what I preach. As an example, I bring my own stainless steel water bottle (filled from the tap) rather than using plastic water bottles provided at all candidate meetings. I also support the ban of election signs on public property in Caledon...it is important to be able to have some election signs so people are aware of the candidates but there can be far too many signs. I print my speeches and notes on scrap paper or I print double-sided.

The Ken Schmidt campaign team is taking a concerted effort to ensure every aspect of the local campaign contributes to reducing the environmental impact. Where at all possible the campaign is utilizing social media advertising to reduce the printed material. All in office collateral, cans and plastics are recycled. We are utilizing car-pooling during canvassing to reduce the carbon foot print whenever possible.

Tonight I was at BootCamp surrounded by other women working our asses off and basically sweating all over the place. On my way home I thought about what life would be like if we, as women, were not allowed to do such things because we are girls. What if I couldn't wear that pink top I wore today or if I couldn't pick who I wanted to spend my life with. What if I couldn't be writing this right now.... because I am a girl. I thought about situations I have experienced where perhaps I was meeting girls who in fact were not allowed to live to their full potential because they are a girl.

When we were in Guatemala we went for a hike in the rainforest and there was a group of children who followed us around. My first thought was 'why the heck aren't they in school?' so I asked our guide who told me that they can not afford to send the boys to school. There was no consideration that the girls would go to school if there was the money. 

When we were in Nicaragua we were walking through a market looking at local crafts. There were teenage boys dressed in school uniforms all over the market. They were there to help tourists barter for goods and also it would help them with their English skills. We saw no girls...only boys and were told that in this particular area it was because most girls were not sent to high school due to cost. 

With the Election happening this week in Ontario it has made me think about what my life would be like if I was not allowed to vote. What if I wasn't allowed to have a say in the future of our province and country? I spent tonight on Twitter with other moms talking about the election as part of #momthevote and I seriously can not imagine not having the freedom or means to be able to have these conversations, relationships and freedoms. But there are girls all over the world that don't have this and honestly it makes me sad.  

What if because I am a girl was a positive thing everywhere. I can go to school because I am a girl. I can be whatever I want to be because I am a girl. I can decide my own life path because I am a girl. I will stand up for myself because I am a girl. I can wear pink and dance in the street because I am a girl. What can we do to make this a reality? We can raise awareness by educating others about the injustice girls experience around the world simply because they are a girl. Currently girls get less than 2 cents of every aid dollar so we can sponsor girls so they can have the funding they need to attend school and reach their goals. We can empower girls to put their health first and give them the tools to protect themselves against diseases.

You can read more Girl Effect Campaign blog posts here. If you feel inspired write your own and link it up!

Today I am reviewing the Liberal Party platform. You can view the PC Platform here, the NDP platform here and the Green Party platform here.

The Liberal Party platform focuses on education, job creation, health care, transportation and energy. It highlights what they have achieved in the last 8 years and the programs they will continue to work on in the next term if they are re-elected. You can find their Platform Costing Plan here, which outlines the costs over the next 4+ years.

I interviewed Ken Schmidt who is the Liberal Party candidate in the Essex riding. You can see his answers below.

     * Continue with the Water Opportunities and Water Conservation Act

     * Develop clean water technologies that will create jobs and protect the environment

     * Work with municipalities to expand the Greenbelt and protect land from urban sprawl

     * Create a Stewardship Program to help farmers protect natural resources

Energy

     * Will create 50,000 jobs in the clean energy field

     * Will replace coal plants with clean energy by 2014

     * Clean Energy benefit is saving families 10% on every bill until 2015

     * Work with Federal government to fund green energy projects

Ken explains that the Liberals have a Long Term Energy Plan to make Ontario a global leader in clean energy. Ontario has attracted over $20 billion of the private sector investment in clean energy that has created over 22,000 jobs. By 2018 we will have 10,700 MW of clean energy online. Coal use was down 90% in the first half of 2011 vs 2003. The Long Term Energy Plan sets the course for a clean energy revolution that will ensure our homes, schools, businesses and hospitals have clean power supply now and into the future by doubling investments to build new clean energy. By adding more clean renewable sources to the system, shutting down coal, creating jobs and promoting conservation the Liberal plan will create a brighter, healthier and more prosperous future for our children and grandchildren.

     * Develop Local Food Act that will support and promote local food

     * Increase amount of local food bought by schools and hospitals

     * Help to secure new markets and create new manufacturing opportunities for ON food

     * Create a Bio-Economy Fund that will allow farmers in biofuel markets

Ken explains that the Liberals support local food because it is good for our farmers, local communities and the environment. They have invested $4 million to make it easier for people to buy direct from Ontario farmers. The results of this investment was a 69% increase in on-farm markets and farmers market membership growing from 136 to 150.

     * 5% of all new cars will be electric

     * Invest $80 million in charging stations and infrastructure

     * Expand GO service to full day 2 way service on all corridors

     * Money back guarantee for GO customers whose train is 15+ minutes late

Ken explains that the Liberals vision is that 1 in 20 cars will be electrically powered by 2020. Ontarians can received between $5000 and $8500 for purchasing an electric vehicle and can also get green license plates that will allow users to use the HOV lanes.

     * Implement the Family Caregiver Leave - 8 weeks paid protected leave

     * Access to an online Personalized Cancer Risk Profile

     * Double Child Activity Tax Credit to $100

Ken states that over half of all Canada's midwives practice in Ontario and that they are an integral part of our health care team. Since 2003 the Liberals have increased midwifery funding by 300% and have increased the number of spaces in degree programs. The Liberals support piloting the birth centers in Ontario and working with Midwives to expand opportunities for their profession.

    

     * Full day kindergarten fully rolled out by 2014

     * 30% tuition grant for middle class students

     * Increase Child Benefit from $1100 to $1310 by 2013

Additional Commitments

What do you think of the Green Party Platform? Have you read their 5 plans? What are your thoughts?