Category: Environment

Hating Old South Orange Juice New Packaging

I'll never buy this Old South tetra pack top again. It's messy and tastes awful.

I usually have no issues with orange juice packaging, and as such take it for granted. This is not so for “Old South” orange juice with tetra top packaging. I will never again purchase any product with this type of packaging, no matter how much they go on sale.

Firstly, “Old South”, run by McCain Foods, decided their new packaging should contain less orange juice, so they cut their volume from 355 ml to 330 ml, a reduction of 7%. Because this orange juice is in concentrate, you also add 7% less water, resulting in 100 ml less overall orange juice. Why then is there no 7% reduction in the price of the product?

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Weathering Toronto’s Municipal Workers Strike

Toronto is nearing 1 month of no garbage pickup

Toronto is in the midst of a municipal worker’s strike. We’re coming up to almost one month without city services such as garbage and recycling pickup. To tell you the truth, though I would like to take the kids to the swimming pool on a hot day, the lack of garbage pickup has not bothered me much. Then again we do live in the suburbs. Yesterday a new temporary garbage dump has opened less than a kilometer from my house, so maybe I’ll change my mind within the next month or so.

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Repairing my leaky Suncast Hose Reel

After 2 years my Suncast Side Tracker hose reel leaked badly.

About seven years ago I purchased a Suncast Side Tracker STA100 hose reel. For the first two years it worked wonderfully and leak free. Since then it’s leaked like crazy, showering the wall and wasting lots of water. Clearly something needed to be fixed. Here’s how I fixed it.

I don’t really use my hose reel too often. After all, being in Toronto, Canada, garden hoses are really only used in the summer, particularly when the kids want to cool off by running in the sprinkler. In the fall, before winter returns, I take the hose reel off the wall and store the reel and hose in the garage.

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Growing up with Dollar Store Junk

Dollar Store toys are terrible quality that breaks easily, is unrepairable and disappoints your kids

I have never been a fan of Dollar Store* toys for my kids. They return home with plastic toys of very low quality, even by Chinese standards. The recent Toronto city garbage strike brings home the need to reduce our consumption because the city, temporarily, will not pick up our trash. I continue to press my case to both my parents and my kids that Dollar Store quality is false economy.

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Dangers of Riding a Bicycle in Toronto, Scarborough Ontario

It is very dangerous to ride a bicycle in Toronto or Scarborough, Ontario

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Paying Lip Service to Conserving Gas

Cycle Commuting in Sydney, Australia

It is clearly evident by the popularity of large SUVs here in Toronto that many Canadians here merely pay lip service to conserving the world’s diminishing gas supplies.

I see them every day driving their large vehicles to work, the only person in their SUV. Do they think they impress other people? Maybe they feel good driving such a monster? I’m not sure, but they certainly waste a whole lot more gas than they should.

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Electric Vehicles: Not in Ontario

GM-Segway concept electric vehicle

Here’s a really cool concept vehicle that could go a long way in reducing our dependence on oil. The GM-Segway concept vehicle is small, light and efficient. It’s electric powered. The absence of a sunroof would make it an interesting cross between a car and a motorcycle.

___It will probably be illegal on Ontario roads. Look, no huge front bumper, so will not withstand crash tests. The front bumper looks like a piece of bent sheet metal.

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China’s Persistent Pollution Problem

Pollution almost obscures Beijing's Birdsnest Stadium

We were in Beijing just before the Olympics in August 2008, and upon arrival were greeted by Beijing’s biggest and most violent thunderstorm of the year. I’ve never seen rain in Beijing like that day. It was only after we got into our hotel and watched CCTV Channel 9 news that we found out the thunderstorm was man-made. Man vs Wild, specifically Peking Man. Chinese Peking Man wins this round. We enjoyed clean air for the day. The day after, I knew we had to leave the city. Even with manipulated air quality, Beijing has a real problem with air pollution.

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Squirrel Acrobatics

Squirrel hangs upside down to eat birdseed

A neighbour has a couple of birdfeeders that are always stocked with birdseed. I always see local squirrels hang upside down in order to eat the birdseed, dropping excess seeds to the ground for the birds.

___There are many squirrels that use this feeding station, jumping from the neighbour’s roof to nearby tree branches, slowly shimmy backwards down the birdfeeder and hang by their hind legs. This allows them to use both hands to eat at their leisure. Maybe only young squirrels are able to feed this way.

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Female Cochineal Beetle and your Food

Interesting. Here’s an organic additive that creates deep and rich reds for your food or cosmetics. Ground up female cochineal beetles. I’ll be looking for these 5mm critters the next time I go shopping and begin reading packaging ingredients.

___Yes, the ingredient is called cochineal, carmine (carminic acid), or E120. Because beetles are insects it is not considered kosher, halal, or vegetarian. Some people can have allergic reactions to it, as was televised by “60 Minutes”. Yes, this kid almost died of anaphylactic shock. I’m always amazed at what is put into our food that we don’t know about. As usual, Canadian labeling laws do not give you any indication of its origins. While I do not have an aversion to eating bugs (they make a great supplemental protein source), I know most other people do. Cochineal can also be used as organic ant repellent.

___It is interesting that “60 Minutes” omitted to tell us of the long history of this dye and its stellar safety record. There was much sensationalism in the story, as if this was a new additive used by evil food manufacturers to poison us all. So much for unbiased reporting.

Female cochineal are flat, wingless, 5mm long, oval shaped scale insects. Dried and crushed they make an all natural, deep red dye for food and cosmetics

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