ENVIRONMENT
Guelph Enviro Solutions
by admin on Aug.17, 2011, under ENVIRONMENT, GUELPH, POLITICS, RANDOM THOUGHTS
Yes, I know I am not shy about sharing my beefs with City Hall, but I also like to offer and discuss possible solutions. Yes, I am against the City of Guelph giving people tax funded rebates to replace their large tank toilets. My main complaint is that I don’t believe people are or should be motivated by a city rebate to throw their old toilet into the landfill. Motivation should come from the desire to reduce their water consumption to help out the environment and their wallet. Much to wife’s chagrin, I will tell you that we have an old, giant tank toilet. Years ago, my water guilt took over and I placed a large inflated water bag in the tank to greatly reduce the amount of water required for the toilet to properly operate.
If the City is hell bent on spending money on conservation initiatives it would seem providing a free water tank displacement bag would be a much cheaper way of reducing water use. It also will stop perfectly good toilets from being needlessly thrown into landfills.
Recently, I tweeted about my displeasure that my child’s diapers are now going to be picked up once every two weeks starting in September 2011. This is unacceptable. I understand the desire from the City to avoid diapers and other sanitary products from “contaminating” the compost found in green bags. But leaving residents to hold soiled diapers for two weeks is unfair. If you think I am whiner on this – then you hold on to my diaper bags during the heat of the summer. All this plan is going to do is cause more illegal dumping that nobody wants.
If sanitary products can be bagged separately from bio-degradable waste at source, surely the garbage trucks could be fitted to accommodate. Otherwise weekly clear pick up outside the winter months will be required.
Yes, my accommodation could cost more, but the City could use the money saved from scrapping its rebate program. I don’t have all the answers, but either does City Hall, so let’s hear some of your cost effective solutions.
Remember, it takes engaged citizens to make a city great. 
If Guelph Cares About the World – it Must Grow Up!
by admin on Mar.16, 2011, under ECONOMY, ENVIRONMENT, GUELPH
A recent column in the Economist Magazine indicates that one of the major implications of global warming will be the migration of millions people from soon to be un livable areas to regions that are able to cope with rising global temperatures.
No resource of course has the impact of damming a place un livable than a lack of fresh water.
Under this scenario Guelph’s water conservation initiatives don’t seem just, but rather greedy and small minded.
In Southern Ontario we have access to vast amounts of fresh water in the Great Lakes. Communities surrounding them have tapped into these great treasures to grow their communities and provide clean, reliable drinking water for generations.
Communities near Guelph have recognised that you can’t stop growth and progress and have made plans to utilise Lake Erie in order to provide for their growing, vibrant communities.
Guelph has decided to in effect cap it’s growth by not investing in developing its water infrastructure. This strategy seems to be endorsed by Guelphites, who want to limit any population expansion. Under this approach the City can tell the province it can’t grow any further because it doesn’t have enough ground water to support increased provincial population targets.
Many support this plan by killing any talk of water pipe expansion and pushing water conservation. The fact that this will come at huge cost to Guelph’s economic growth seems to be of little consequence to a workforce made up of a large percentage public-sector workers. New enterprises and jobs that come with them will be told to go elsewhere with Guelph’s not open for business sign on the lawn.
The other consequence of water conservation is the negative impact it will have on those who cannot migrate to Guelph and enjoy its bounty.
The number of displaced people is only going to grow dramatically with climate change. While other communities around Guelph are getting ready for this increased demand – Guelph ignores the incoming waves.
Conserving a precious resource like fresh water is the right call when it is in scarce supply. But conservation becomes selfish hoarding when you choose not to develop infrastructure to access to abundant water supplies the world needs.
When the world arrives on Guelph’s doorstep with their cup empty – I want to be able to invite them in. I don’t want to tell them that they may have better luck next door because we didn’t want to grow up.
THANKS GUELPH FOR CONSERVING YOUR WATER – NOW PAY MORE!
by admin on Feb.13, 2011, under ENVIRONMENT, GUELPH
The water conservation rebate program here in Guelph represents just one more example where City Hall has extended itself beyond its mandate and spent beyond its means.
Under normal circumstances when a business has less demand for its product they cutback staff and look to reduce costs. Not in Guelph. We add to staff and the long term financial burden that comes with it.
So why is your water bill going up? For starters, past Guelph Councils decided to bribe you, with your money – to get you to reduce your water consumption. Rebates are handed out for installing water saving appliances in your home. Apparently, conserving to reduce the cost from your water bill wasn’t incentive enough.
Some might wonder – what’s the problem with a rebate – its free money from the city. Trouble is the cash isn’t free – it is paid for by you and me as part of our water bill. Last year alone, according to the Waterworks department rebates cost over $800,000.
Now with people using less water – Guelph’s Waterworks Department has had less revenue to keep up with administration costs. So to cover their fixed costs water bills are going up again. This year the City agreed to increase water bills by – 10% in part to make up for the loss of revenue due to conservation.
It’s gets stranger. Now the waterworks department is asking the city to add more full-time personnel to their department during a period of falling demand. Seems, there are not enough staff to go around and administer the City’s self-imposed rebate program. More staff are now needed to make sure the water saving devices are installed as claimed.
Helping the environment in Guelph sure does cost you. You conserve to reduce your water bill and it goes up anyway with higher rates. Then your property taxes go up to help pay for salaries and benefits of the new inspectors who administer the City’s nanny state initiatives.
To be fair, Waterworks has indicated that the water conservation program saves the City over $130,000 annually and delays eventual infrastructure upgrades. This savings however is well shy of the $1.6 million annual cost of the conservation program that pushes people to conserve. The program should be scaled back by ending the rebates in order for costs to at least be in-line with projected savings. Otherwise, it is just another costly expenditure that hurts Guelph fixed income earners the most by adding to our perennial eye-popping tax and water rate increases.
Of course many groups who profit from the rebate program want it to continue and even expand. But this is just self interest at play from these groups who profit from the extra business they gain from customers who get rebates for using their goods and services.
Perhaps the City should just let market forces do their good work and stop using our money to push their own environmental agenda. Don’t get me wrong here, with a young family, I care deeply about the environment and conservation, but the cost of hydro alone should be the lever used to motivate people to conserve.
Most troubling with this misguided plan are its potential unintended consequences. I have heard from many frustrated citizens who did make a concerted effort to reduce their water consumption in order to protect the environment (and their wallets). I am sure they are wondering like me – what’s the point. Hopefully, they don’t give up on conservation altogether under a plan that has good intentions, but fails in practice. Giving rebates for something people were going to do anyway is just a poor use of funds.
Running a municipality isn’t glamorous work. Your mandate is to effectively administer programs that the province has handed on down. It demands sound financial management where over spending beyond your means is shunned. In Guelph, we overspend on initiatives outside of our mandate and then cut essential services during the summer in order to cover up budget shortfalls caused by poor decision making.
Perhaps some on City Council should consider other careers if making sure the buses run on time and the garbage is collected each week, doesn’t appeal to their greater sense of moral purpose.
Fighting for a worthy cause is certainly noble, but putting the city in a financial hole to do so – is not.
CFL BULBS – AS THE BULB BREAKS THE FABLE WILL FALL
by admin on Sep.21, 2009, under ENVIRONMENT
This winter, I realized I had a received one big snow job. However, this time it was not at the hands of my older brother but from all those “do-gooder” environmentalists.
See, I bought into the whole compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) sell job. Our new house had a bunch of these energy efficient bulbs when we moved in and I naively went out and bought some more.
I had felt good about putting these new CFL bulbs up around the house and replacing the old, inefficient incandescent light bulbs. Annoyances like the fact that the light wasn’t as bright as the old ones or that they take a half second longer to turn on were sacrifices I was willing to make for the environment.
Doing so gave me that enviro-conscious, self-righteous swagger you get when you feel you are ahead of the unenlightened masses. You know, those non-believers, who have yet to fully appreciate how changing a light bulb can save the planet.
That is why I had resistance to ditching my CFL bulbs when my fear-mongering mother-in-law called. She explained to my wife these new light bulbs emit radiation and contain mercury.
I was able to convince my wife that her mom was overreacting about the radiation risk and I reassured her that it was important that we did our part in being green.
Later that night, I watched a story on the radiation risk from CFL bulbs on CBC’s The National.
The story confirmed the radiation risk, but only if you were in close proximity — 30 centimetres — to the fluorescent bulb.
What I found most surprising was the woman profiled in the story, who when told of the potential danger of CFL bulbs, decided to keep them anyway. According to her, the new bulb’s environmental benefit was of greater importance than a British study’s public health warning.
I must admit, my view was similar to hers, but to cover my bets and have peace with my mother-in-law, I decided to replace a couple of the CFL bulbs in reading lamps.
Sure enough, while replacing the green-conscious bulbs, one fell from my hand and broke onto the floor.
After sweeping it up and throwing it in the garbage, my wife said I should check the Internet for cleanup procedures.
Now I knew these bulbs contained a small amount of mercury, so I thought I might have to wipe the floor, too — but I had no idea that I just opened up a Pandora’s Box.
The cleaning procedures for these “toxic spills” vary greatly, from using a cloth to just short of having environmental cleanup crews come to your home.
On the one end is our provincial government’s Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure, which gives us these simple, no worry instructions: “Sweep up all of the glass fragments and phosphor powder — don’t vacuum and place in a plastic bag. Wipe the area with a damp paper towel to pick up stray shards of glass or fine particles, and place the used towel in the plastic bag as well.”
The Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S., however, suggests a much more rigorous cleanup.
According to its website — and I’m paraphrasing — after I broke the CFL bulb, I should have had everyone vacate the area, ventilated the room for a minimum of 15 minutes, shut off the ventilation system, scooped contents with cardboard and placed them in a glass jar, used sticky tape to pick up remaining fragments and powder, and wipe the area clean with a damp cloth that is disposed in the glass jar.
I wasn’t supposed to use a vacuum — or a broom for that matter — and any fabric such as clothing or bedding that came in contact with the broken glass or powder should not be washed, but thrown out.
Wow, what a great product. I’m so glad I brought these ticking time bombs into my family’s home.
Maybe I should see if I can run my vacuum cleaner on plutonium so I can save any strain on the energy grid.
Sarcasm aside, I know this was just one bulb that broke, but I think growing up my brother and I must have broken at least a couple of dozen old incandescent bulbs inside our parents’ house.
Now I have two little active boys in my house and there is no way I am leaving these toxic-cleanup-sites-in-waiting around for them to discover.
So I am off to the hardware store to buy a bunch of incandescent bulbs before our misguided government bans them.
First though, I will have to make sure that I dispose of the made-in-China “mercury bulbs” properly, too. Wouldn’t want to do any further damage to the environment outside my home.
If you want to reduce the problem of toxic mercury in the air then you should look to eliminate it at its source without bringing the problem into people’s homes.
Dropping that CFL bulb hopefully won’t cause any ill effects to my family, but it sure has got the snow out of my eyes.
I realized I had let my desire to be green and noble get in the way of seeing this snow job for what it is and not using my common sense.
Gregory Cawsey is a member of the Mercury’s Community Editorial Board. He can be reached at justcaws.com.
