Leslie Street Spit - Slated for Development?

I was home in Scarborough for a couple days, and my mother mentioned that developers are proposing a parking lot and Wal-Mart on the Leslie Street Spit. Since I don't have a lot of time to blog these days, I'll let the good folks from OurFaves Toronto speak to the issue. It largely speaks for itself. Sometimes I wonder what's happened to Toronto since I left 7 years ago.

"It's really scenic and beautiful. As a relatively new Torontonian, I didn't discover it til my last marathon course took me there. Really a hidden gem." - Robin

"You get the best of the city and the country - with great views of the skyline plus lots of birds and other wildlife. To avoid the crowds, try a winter walk." - Morgan

"It's a nice bike ride out there, then you turn around and look back at the islands and the skyline in the distance, and feel like you're a million miles from downtown in the middle of Lake Ontario." - Sharon

http://www.flickr.com/photos/digbytoast/sets/72157601216092134/

I couldn't find an article describing SmartCentres' proposal, or details of the discussion at city council. This is the closest I found:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080409.TORBRIEFS09-2/TPStory/TPNational/Ontario/

My friend wheel needs truing - any suggestions?

So I've been a bit conflicted lately about comments made by some of my friends which reflect on my other friends, and not sure how to manage/resolve the conflict. I guess one way to illustrate the nature of the situation is to look at my friend wheel (courtesy Facebook).
See the big lump of connections on the bottom left? Those are between my Grebel (i.e. religious) friends, and the rest are my non-Grebel (predominantly non-religious) friends.
The conflict derives I think from two sources. One is a kind of disconnect between my religious and non-religious friends, who generally know about each other, but don't actually know each other. The other source of conflict is that I can hear truth in the statements made by each group about the other, and am struck by a sense of how great it would be if each group were open to understanding how they are viewed by the other. Yet, I'm frustrated by being at a loss to see a workable way for this to happen. My impression is that were each group open to hearing and understanding the views of those outside their circle, then they would both benefit. Not only that, but the tendency for this conflict to manifest negatively would be reduced. Knowing the strengths of the other, not necessarily even by actively getting to know each other but simply recognizing that there's opportunity to learn from the other, could be a way to build bridges in our community and in turn benefit each of us as individuals.

To Know

I recently made the choice to become a vegetarian. After realizing that the folks in Toronto who I surveyed for my grad thesis, and whose decision to take serious ownership of their energy footprint I hugely respect, were spending $15,000-$30,000 to reduce their GHG emissions by the approximately the same amount as I'm responsible for by being a meat-eater, I decided it was something I had to do. I'm a bit apprehensive about the switch - I've relied on meat as my primary source of protein, and being a very active person (preparing for a mini-triathlon in June) it may be a challenge to figure out how remove meat from my diet without it having some effect on my physical abilities. The decision fits with a much larger issue though, which is understanding the up- and downstream consequences of my purchase decisions. My resource management prof showed this picture of a piece of tar sands extraction equipment in class on Friday, and commented that "If oil sand developers were really about job creation, why wouldn't they use a lower impact form of extraction that employs more people?" Being educated about the sort of a world we're creating through our economic decisions is an important part of being a responsible citizen, and for me personally, part of being a Christian with some degree of integrity.

"When you want a glass of milk, why buy the cow?"

This is the catch-phrase of local car sharing organization I joined in December, and I must say, I have been very impressed with their services. For $10 per month, and $6/hour of use, anyone with a clean driving record for the last three years, and who is 23 years or older, can join and have access to several cars in the area of Uptown Waterloo. Compared to the expenses, both financial and environmental, of personal vehicle ownership, the car coop offers several advantages:

• $10 membership fee instead of monthly insurance payments (which are usually $50+)
• no repair worries
• 2003 or newer model cars, except for their Honda Insight hybrid which is a 2000 (and doesn't show its age :)
• no snow shoveling or other parking-related hassles

If you use a car occasionally, (a few of times a week or less), then you will likely find a car sharing an economic boon. Call or message me if you have questions! I'm excited to talk about the coop.

Fish and a bicycle, out of water

Dark satanic mills of Vaughn White painted cyclist memorial “RIP Bianca” 12/09/06 …very sad, but also... very, um (as my mother completed my sentence) very tacky. [my father had heard of this accident. Apparently… (details)] What have we done to this earth? How can God forgive this? What kind of legacy is this to leave our children? In a city where there were once churches on every corner, there are now car dealerships. Porche, Saturn, glow in the noise and gloom, reflecting on slushy dirty asphalt. Black Mercedes, grey machines crouch in garages and dark show rooms. “Fine cars”. Truck cabs block the sidewalk, idling. Where there was once the sound of running water, there is now the roar of combustion echoing on concrete. And when the water does run, it’s filled with salt and engine oil. Where birds once sang, now an airplane screams…invisible overhead. Where are the human people? All I see are bad decisions.
Indian single tear watches from billboard clichéd mockery.

Police 2007

Well, here are Jon and me and about 15,000 quinquagenarian ska/reggae fans at the ACC on Thursday. My grandpa sweater and collared shirt helped us fit right in...

We were a little farther back this time, but it worked out... here's a 50-foot long Brontosaurus walking along the jumbotron during In Your Footsteps.

Hey there Mr. Dinosaur you really couldn't ask for more
You were God's favorite creature but you didn't have a future...

They say the meek shall inherit the earth

little Andy Summers and his guitar...

the requisite Message in a Bottle...

In Your Footsteps...

We couldn't quite hit those high 'yayos'

Roxy sing-along...

The scoop on school

I now have a fairly clear idea of how my Fall is shaping up. The final word from the Grad Studies office was that my average is just too low to allow admission without a term of qualifying courses. But the good news is, 3 of those half credits will come from a senior essay which will basically be reading volumes of research related to my thesis, and putting the readings together into a paper at the end. I'll also take two other upper year undergrad ES courses, one on professional and scholarly practice in Human Geography, which again deals with research methods and ends with a proposal. And the last course is very exciting...Resource Management taught by Dr. Brent Doberstein. He has done research related to deforestation in Haiti and resultant flash floods at the Haitian/DR border. When I met with him this morning, he was keen to have me in his class, and he mentioned having employed two people as research assistants who are currently working in Haiti for MCC, Mary Lynn Steckley and her husband.
The really interesting thing is that Mary Lynn has a Masters in Geography, and a lot of experience doing field research under difficult conditions (previously in Indonesia), while her husband has a Masters in Poli Sci. Brent said that her husband often works as her research assistant when they go abroad, since she's the one with a background in the field.

One more plus is that I'll be paid as a full-time Grad RA!

So if I can maintain a term GPA of 80%, I'll be admitted officially and begin a TA in the Winter. In the meantime, I'll have ample time for research and preparing my thesis, and the added benefit of getting to broaden my academic background into sustainable development. Prof. Doberstein and his "international case study" approach to teaching resource management is something I'm really looking forward to.