What are you doing to make your lifestyle more sustainable

Wed, 2013-02-13 18:15

lagatta

Yes, even though it is quite a drive from Winnipeg to chez vous, it is a hell of a lot closer than either BC or Ontario... I'm sorry you have to leave that lovely house though.

It was criminal to have cut that more southerly cross-Canadian route, not to mention how horrible it is to contemplate making something as socially-useful as a central railway station into a frigging Casino... The Casino here was going to move to Pointe-Ste-Charles, still a rather hardscrabble urban neighbourhood, though there has been some gentrification of late. Many community and anti-poverty associations protested this move and so far it has been held off.

Timebandit, did you know Magnus Isaacson? He always said pretty much the same thing; you couldn't make a decent documentary film (or docudrama) without pissing several people off.

APTN is based in Winnipeg, of course...

Wed, 2013-02-13 18:29

#103

Timebandit Timebandit's picture

I don't know Magnus Isaacson, but what he says is very true. I will change my mind if what I find on the ground is different than I thought - and this doc is no different, we found some assumptions were wrong, but there were other things more shocking than we anticipated as well - but you have to tell it as you find it, whether it makes people happy or not.

I know people connected to APTN and several other Manitoba producers already - two in particular have been incredibly welcoming and helpful, but everyone seems very glad to have us join their community. So that is a very nice feeling.

I really do wish I could take the train to Winnipeg, especially in winter. It's about a 6 hour drive, lots of trucks. I'd pay extra not to have the stress of piloting through it. There's going to be quite a bit of back and forth as we get established. And it's criminal what they did to our lovely old station. I shot several music videos there back in the '80s and early '90s, such a beautiful space.

Wed, 2013-02-13 19:19

#104

lagatta

I wrote "did" because alas he died not long ago, after years fighting a rare type of cancer. Another Viking, sorry, I had misspelled his name, stupidly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Isacsson You'll find a lot more at NFB and other sites on documentary filmmakers. He's mentioned on the memorial thread here.

This is a bit thread drift, I know, but Magnus did work a lot on environmental and indigenous issues, as well as union struggles.

Thu, 2013-02-14 07:06

#105

Michelle

Wow, Timebandit, that's really something. I had no idea you were leaving the province altogether! I'm sorry you have to go. I hope things work out for you well in Winnipeg. Stupid Sask Party!

I look forward to watching the doc. :) I haven't been able to watch it on TV since our house is in an uproar right now, but hopefully it will air again.

Fri, 2013-02-22 00:35

#106

NorthReport

Our future?

German town goes off the grid, achieves energy independence

http://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/town-goes-grid-achieves-e...

Sun, 2013-02-24 16:57

#107

epaulo13

Culinary Dispatches Urban Farming in an East Vancouver Backyard

quote:

Green tendrils have sprouted into urban crevices in ways thought unlikely, if not impossible only a decade ago: roof-top gardens, proliferating bike paths and community agriculture have forced their way onto Vancouver’s blacktop. Not all of these innovations are popular. Some, such as the City of Vancouver’s bike path construction, have been derided as impractical, inconvenient and merely enviro-chic. But there are those who envision a more verdant Vancouver, one that comes with an economic shift and a significantly reduced carbon footprint. Kim Del Valle Garcia and her partner Rowan Melling live near Broadway Skytrain Station. They raise chickens in their backyard.

Four hens cluck and peck in a pen in one of the three plots of land that comprise Del Valle Garcia and Melling’s Back Alley Urban Farms. The fowl are part of a nascent land reform movement taking root in Vancouver. Del Valle Garcia says the idea behind the farm network is to use “any useable space, whether it’s legal or illegal” for the purpose of feeding people in the neighbourhood. Back Alley Urban Farms also grows vegetables. Along with the eggs, the farms produce enough to feed the two farmers. There is also surplus, and the chickens do their part. The birds each lay an egg a day in the summer, but fewer in the winter, with the cold bringing down their production. Even with the seasonal drop in egg laying, the chickens contribute fertilizer to the enterprise. And, at peak levels, there are enough eggs and vegetables to sell at farmer’s markets in the city, as well as enough to do a brisk business selling produce from their backyard....

http://dtesnhouse.ca/zine/culinary-dispatches-urban-farming-in-an-east-v...

Sun, 2013-02-24 18:06

#108

lagatta

Interesting indeed, but why the anti-bike-path crap?

Sun, 2013-02-24 19:23

#109

epaulo13

lagatta wrote:

Interesting indeed, but why the anti-bike-path crap?

lagatta

..at 1st read i thought she was reporting a negative outcome. on the reread i see what you mean. hopefully it’s a bad choice of words when introducing the reduced carbon footprint story. it wouldn't make sense otherwise when reclaiming land uses to leave out bike paths.

eta..i went back to the site to find a clue as to her opinion on the paths but found nothing in the archives.

Sun, 2013-02-24 19:55

#110

lagatta

I suspect she identifies cycling, and bike paths, with wealthy trendy "greens" who have sport cycles worth thousands of dollars (and who can be as arrogant as any entitled car driver). But cycling is very democratic, really, here most people have old utilitarian bicycles, and this includes quite a few "marginal" people who look for bottles, cans and scrap.

Sun, 2013-02-24 20:20

#111

epaulo13

..in 2007 i went to holland and was insired by all the bikes. the next year a gave up owning a car and last year i let my drivers lapse. i quit driving but didn't really take up the bike until last year. later this year i turn 65 and a part of..what do i now do with the rest of my life..i am going to make the bike my main transportation. i've been out a couple times this winter and i'm looking forward to the spring summer and fall.