Category: Environment

Dinosaur in our Living Room (1)

Midland Painted Turtle, head and right front claw: macro, Toronto, ON, Canada

Midland Painted Turtle: Neck, Toronto, ON, Canada

Midland Painted Turtle: front left claw, Toronto, ON, Canada

Midland Painted Turtle: front right claw, Toronto, ON, Canada

Midland Painted Turtle, rear left shell segment, Toronto, ON, Canada

Midland Painted Turtle, Head, Toronto, ON, Canada

Links: 15 million years old, Painted Turtle, Turtle

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Family: Emydidae
Subfamily: Deirochelyinae
Genus: Chrysemys, Gray, 1844
Species: C. picta
Subspecies: C. p. marginata

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Decimation of the Middle Class in Scarborough/Toronto, Canada

Anyone who lives here in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, a suburb of Toronto, can tell you that incomes have markedly dropped. We see it in our schools and neighbourhood. A Toronto Star article on the widening income gaps here in Toronto brought me to a couple interesting maps by Dr. J. David Hulchanski. His paper “Report: The 3 Cities within Toronto, Income Polarization, 2007” gives much food for thought.

Dr. Hulchanski’s paper includes a couple of maps of Toronto by change in income from 1970 to 2000. It is a very sobering map for those of us who live in Scarborough, a suburb of Toronto. It is not that we are special, because other suburbs of Toronto have also experienced similar income drops.

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OneCity TTC Proposal: Comments from Scarborough

OneCity proposal for the TTC, Toronto, Canada. Will this reduce congestion? I think not.

Admiration is what I feel about Karen Stinz, Glen De Baeremaeker, two City of Toronto councilors, and their OneCity TTC proposal. While I might not agree with their complete plan, they have collectively invested time and effort into making commuting in Toronto better, and have a financial plan to pay for it. This is a damn sight better than Rob Ford, who shouted for subways but had no hope in hell of getting there.

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Neighbour’s Tree Falls, Toronto, Canada

Trees are something I cannot live without. It was with great regret that I saw my neighbour’s maple tree downed, a huge branch ripped off and cast aside in their backyard. Such is life.

Apparently unbeknownst to us there was rot in the crotch of the limb, which became a stressor. With the recent windstorm this stressor proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak. The crack was at the 12′ level, hidden from us puny humans. This downed limb was as thick as my waist and probably weighed in at about 1,000 lb. Overall this was just under half the tree.

The loss of this limb ripped half the circumference of the tree, severely weakening it. I am sure it will topple over sometime soon. It should be cut down.

We live in this area of Scarborough partially because of the plentiful canopy of trees. They are everywhere, providing shade, cleaning the air and habitat for birds and squirrels. They make the neighbourhood much more inviting.

Usually trees are quite strong, but they are also very resilient and will sway in heavy winds. Maybe we can all learn from this age old model. The tree that does not sway will break in stormy weather. Even the strongest will sway, something to keep in mind for the stiff upper lip crowd.

I have many trees in our backyard that I care for. With a minimum of pruning each year they reward me by growing stronger and taller, further beautifying our neighbourhood. One mulberry also gives us fruit, which tastes great. The birds feed on these as well. Our crabapple tree provides us with fresh blooms in the spring and shade in the summer. I simply prune it minimally each year, and it takes care of itself.

Maybe we all could learn more from trees.

My neighbours tree broke off a huge branch during a wind storm, Toronto, Canada

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Toronto City Council Bans Plastic Bags, effective 2013

Rarely do I see any progressive movement from my City of Toronto municipal government. Rob Ford, elected mayor during the last election, had promised to clean up city hall, but all we have seen so far has been further politiking and delays in large infrastructure, such as the Sheppard subway. Yesterday Ford proposed a motion to stop the $0.05 charge on plastic bags from retailers, but council turned the proposal around and banned all plastic bags, effective Jan 01 2013. Quick and efficient, yes, and I approve, but what happened to due process?

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North-East Toronto, Scarborough and Walkability

In my quest for more information about North-East Toronto, Canada, specifically Scarborough, here is information about walkability. The City of Toronto has published a report about how easy it is to walk about the city. The theory is that ease of walking contributes to better health and well-being, and therefore better living overall. How does my area of Toronto, heavily biased towards Mainland Chinese, rate on walkability? Overall, not very well.

The Walkability project is interesting to me in that I would rather walk or ride a bike to shop or go places yet I live in the suburbs, a statistically less walkable area of Toronto. While we do have better air and a far greater supply of Chinese groceries, I hope that my neighbourhood’s walkability will increase.

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Toronto Chinese Neighbourhoods: Location and Safety

By destiny, luck or fate, I live in a Toronto neighbourhood that has a high percentage of Chinese families. I have often wondered, like many families, if by neighbourhood is safe, relative to other Toronto neighbourhoods. As well, if a friend from China was about to migrate to Toronto and wanted to live in a safe Chinese neighbourhood, where would I recommend? This blog post tries to answer these questions.

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Deja Vu-like, the Morning Commute has not Improved

Going back to the commute routine has been eye opening, which caught me by surprise. It’s not like this is new to me, but getting used to the TTC and the quickness of pace has been eye opening.

The TTC seems to have stayed the same. I expected advancements, but this is not so. They struggle to keep from falling backward on themselves. While most bus drivers are courteous, I have met those who are not. Once there was a detour because of a crime and police had closed the road. This driver did not even announce why he was detouring, so many people asked. He got so mad.

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Changing your main water shutoff valve: Toronto

The human body is composed of roughly 80% water. To say that fresh water is vital to our existence is quite true. Living in Toronto, Canada, we get our drinking water from our municipal water purification plant and water supply piping system. While those in condominiums and large apartments rely on property management companies to worry about these minute details, the rest of us that live in houses must fend for ourselves. Municipal water arrives from a pipe deep underground, protected from the frost. There is a water shutoff on your front lawn, as well as main water shutoff inside your house. If your main water shutoff has seized shut or open and you cannot turn it in either direction, you will need to replace it. Without a way to shut off the water in your house you risk flooding your house if a water pipe bursts, for whatever reason. Here is how to change your main water shutoff in Toronto, Canada.

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How’s Your Mandarin? Editorial Cartoon

This editorial cartoon is a play on the US popular rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline being proposed to run from Canada, through the US, down to Texas. The proposal is facing stiff opposition, with some Canadians editorializing that we should just redirect the pipeline to China.

And because he asked, my Mandarin is quite good. I love this editorial cartoon.

The more the US has access to cheap oil, the more they will waste it. Overall I think the US and therefore the World would benefit by more expensive oil prices. This also applies to us Canadians. While we all talk conservation and environmental protection, I see way too many SUVs and other large vehicles transporting one driver, and a lack of motivation to fund and build mass transit. I hope that gas prices will double and therefore match that of Europe.

How"s your Mandarin editorial by Aislin, Nov 16 2011

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