Out like a lion?

March is now over and it's been a pretty busy month on the blog. Traffic is up and there has been a lot of interest generated in the local media thanks to Earth Hour. I had my "No Third Bridge" letter read on the CBC on Friday afternoon, was called for an interview for the newspaper regarding Earth Day the same night (missed the call due to attending a great lecture by William Dalrymple), had the blog featured on a local news aggregator today, and my recent article about Irving fighting the Migratory Birds Act landed me as "official blogger" of a Facebook group dedicated to that cause.

So what's a guy to do? No time to rest on my laurels. It's already three months done in this project and I still have a lot to do. Blogging is one thing, but doing stuff is the point of this endeavour. Here's what's in the works for April:

• Energy Audit in just a few weeks. Once that's done, I'm eligible for rebates and refunds on some of these projects, so expect to see some bigger work.
• The spending challenge (limiting and tracking my spending) is now in week thirteen. Hopefully there will be some funds available for the first couple of projects as identified by the auditor. I'm thinking windows...
• Still some water conservation items to tackle. Once the next water bill arrives, I'll be able to start tracking my improvements there and possibly start to get a little bit nuts about it. I suspect I will become increasingly difficult to live with...
• I'm working on a weekly report card form that I can post at the end of the week to grade myself on measurable items such as transit usage, etc. Not sure how many things are trackable on a weekly basis, but we'll give it a go.
• Even though I'm going to be using the bus as my primary mode of transportation, I testing my car's efficiency... It's a 15 year old Toyota that is still running very well... No need to replace it yet... or is it almost time?
• Also thinking that it's time to finally create a custom look and feel for the blog... anyone want to help me create some custom graphics? I just know I won't have the time for it this month.
  

I'm currently reading both Ecoholic and Living Like Ed so there are all kinds of new things I want to try.

Earth Hour is... Done!

We spent a cold two and half hours sitting by the light of 3 solar garden lights and three little candles. It was a fun evening as we listened to Jill Barber on CBC and had a rambling multicultural discussion about all kinds of different topics. We were all surprised by how quickly the first hour went by and when none of the neighbours turned their lights on right away, we felt compelled to outlast at least some of them.

So, turning off the main power switch for the house is a bit extreme, but it meant that everything was off. Leaving it for more than an hour or so might have had implications on the fridge and freezer, so maybe next we'll plan better and make more ice in advance or something.

For those who think that Earth Day isn't a big deal, certainly saving 20kW of power and about $2.20 is in fact no big deal. But to have four people sitting around enjoying each other's company without any computer or movie distractions on a busy Saturday night... that's something special. In fact, this might be the start of something a little more frequent than once a year.

Earth Hour is... Now! (Almost)

15 minutes to go and I'm starting the shutdown. We're throwing the main power switch and then going to listen to a concert on my crank radio under solar powered garden lights in a solar heated room. It's going to be fun!

See you on the other side!

Top Five Things To Do During Earth Hour

8pm tonight you are going to turn all of your power off. That means no tv, no movies, no internet! What are you going to do to survive for sixty minutes while you help save the planet???

Top Five Things to do during Earth Hour:

1. Wind up that crank radio and listen to Jill Barber on Canada Live on CBC. It was a great concert at the Cohn and you'll be able to hear me clapping in the crowd (back in February).
2. Light a candle and play a board game with your friends and family.
3. Tells stories in the dark like you would do when camping or when the power goes out during a storm. Bring a guitar but leave the amp home.
   
4. Go for a walk and take pictures of the parts of town in darkness.
   
5. It's only an hour, but you could... you know... help keep someone warm.

Top Five Things Not to do during Earth Hour:

1. Watch CNN's coverage of Earth Hour on your big screen TV.
2. Spend 60 minutes in a high-watt tanning bed.
3. See how many crayons you can melt in one hour on the electric radiator with the temperature cranked.
4. Tumble dry one item for 60 minutes on high heat.
5. Steal the surplus energy in the power grid for your underground lab to test out your new Death Ray Weapon.

What are you going to be doing? Leave a comment below!

Mass Transit In Action

I know I've made reference to it a few times, but part of my footprint reduction is to take the bus as often as possible. It's been a little bit of a struggle initially, as I get used to the routes and their timing with respect to getting to work and class and then getting home at night. This week, I managed to leave my car at home four out of five work days. I'm starting to recognize faces on the bus, so there is definitely a healthy community of mass transit commuters.

The more I do in this footprint reduction lifestyle change, the more I realize that everything I do is about improving the quality of my life, not taking something away. By taking the bus, I know I'm doing something about taking a car off the road and the associated carbon emissions and waste from being a one-person in the car commuter. But that almost doesn't matter... I enjoy taking the bus, seeing new people, passively buzzing along without having to worry about icy road conditions (even now in late March!), deep axle snapping potholes, burning $30 of gas a week, or finding a parking spot!

I find have a bit more awake time before arriving at work and I'm able to use the time to plan my day, do a little bit of meditation, or just feel like a part of a bigger community. Did I mention that I'm saving about $30 a week in gas and reducing the associated CO2?

As a small-to-medium-sized city like Halifax continues to grow, improvements to this system are essential. There is no need to be considering additional bridges or tunnels into the downtown core when only about 10% of people use the available transit system. In fact, more people walk to work! How do we change the car culture when 75% or more of commuters use their cars to get to work daily?

Earth Hour - The countdown is on!

Earth Hour is less than 48 hours away! Things are gearing up and people are getting ready to shutdown. I haven't decided yet, but the hope is that I will simply throw the breakers for my whole house for the hour. What are you planning to do?

In other updates:

• We've reached our first milestone! So far, Lower Footprint has raised enough money to cover the expenses related to an energy audit. The next big milestone will be enough funds to finance a solar water heater. That's after the energy audit though!
• Welcome Nevada! I don't think I've celebrated this one yet. We've had at least one visitor from the South West desert state, as well as South Africa, and a number of other places around the world. Still no one from Manitoba though! Where are you Winnipeg?
• As the sunny days get a bit stronger, the solarium is pumping out good heat for the rest of the house. Sure, it's still only about 19C in here, but the thermostats are set at 13C and the rads are not clicking in anywhere near as often. It hit 32C in the solarium today and probably within in a month, I will be talking about over heating the room.
• After a not so stellar week last week, I've bused it to work everyday this week except Monday. With the possible exception of Monday evenings (when I stay downtown until about 10pm), it's actually a lot easier to bus it, than to drive.
  
• For you music fans out there, I'm happy to report that Halifax is in the midst of another concert announcement frenzy. Leonard Cohen sold out 5 shows last week and Bob Dylan tickets go on sale on Saturday... somehow I managed to get mine already! Woohoo! It's going to be a busy month of May.
  

...Is being planned for 2016.

So my early reports were confirmed in today's newspaper.

Plans are in the works for another bridge or tunnel to South End Halifax by 2016 at a cost of $1.1 Billion dollars. Couple that price tag with an increase in construction costs, environmental impacts, maintenance, and interest on financing, and then how much does it really cost? I'm no expert, but I'm willing to bet that one could make a state of the art upgrade to our transit system that would be less expensive and probably would recoup money over the long term. More buses, more hydrogen/hybrid buses (apparently 2 are coming), and restrictions on one person per car during peak times would start dealing with this uncontrolled traffic growth. Maybe something like London's restrictions would be appropriate.

The article even suggests appropriation as the likely way that this bridge and its approaches would get started. That's probably the good news. The houses bordering the "cut" in South End Halifax house some of the wealthiest people in the city. Are they going to give up their backyards and limited traffic area for on-ramps and daily commuter congestion? I have a sneaking suspicion that the wealthiest people in Halifax won't be part of the city's next Africville.

Anyway, it's fun to scoop the local paper by 12 hours... :)