Here's a song I passed onto a fellow Trent graduate living in the hills of Rupert, so he could sing it with his ukelele at a recent Council meeting on the proposed sewage treatment plant planned on the Gatineau. Mr. Sanderson, you have my respect and my ear...
My neighbour tried to dump his garbage in my back yard
But I only wanna see my own garbage in my back yard
He laughed at me and told me to mind my own beeswax
So I built a fence to keep his garbage out of my back yard
(chorus)
I keep reading and singing those low down NIMBY blues
Cause the powers we employ ain’t giving us no clues
We say it’s messin’ up the balance and foolin’ Mother Nature
They say it’s the only way to safeguard Our future
Now Monsewer Mayor wants to build a sewer in our back yard
But we drink the water and swim butt naked in our back yard
I didn’t like it when they told me to just take some Exlax
So I wrote a song to keep MRC’s (bull)shit out of my back yard
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Black Out Day July?
July 20, 2011 will go down as a hot one
Not just for Ottawa but for most of N. America
Maybe even set all time records?
But watch out for the July 21 scorcher...
I’m sure the utilities are on high alert
And well they should be...
All pistons and reactors will be on line for this one
The AC stakes are high
Heat alerts can lead to weather rage
And black Day in July inner city madness
This is on the heals of serious damage by last storm
Many people are still out of power here and there are losses
A seven year old child out here was killed today by a fallen tree today
The shear high electrical consumption loads at this point in time
Can easily get out of control and cascade into serious unknowns
Like in Europe and Russia etc, heat emergencies can kill without mercy
Mostly the poor who can’t even open their windows
Cause they're more afraid of crime where they unforunately live
Maybe I should invent a poor mans human generated fan
Without electricity (or water) extreme heat can kill
All bets are off – time to batten down all the doors
The elderly and young or sick are at the serious risk
tomorrow could cascade quickly and deadly
Emergency services may be overwhelmed
The perfect heat storm could rain down disaster
Why are we vulnerable?
1) Without a well managed E. Canadian/US electricity grid system - the mere wiff of an incoming “pipeline” disaster – makes the concept of "shared" utilities and grids very nervous (this was evident today in the news)
2) Hydro Quebec and a few others have become very astute at erecting firewalls to avoid "familiar" calamities (but they remain even more adept at empire building is contrary to engineering and national common sense and efficiency)
But sooner or later a neighbouring utility will heed the call and it may soon need to become reciprocal
With wild fires burning out of control in N. Ontario, they're just one more threat bearing down on this ultimate risky event, the gigantic and inter-connected electricity grid infrastructure is not something to take for granted. Especially in these weather risky times.
Like my Boy Scout Motto – we need to be better prepared for the unexpected
P.S. Please give me a little warning before the 'Blews' Fest stage falls on me!
Not just for Ottawa but for most of N. America
Maybe even set all time records?
But watch out for the July 21 scorcher...
I’m sure the utilities are on high alert
And well they should be...
All pistons and reactors will be on line for this one
The AC stakes are high
Heat alerts can lead to weather rage
And black Day in July inner city madness
This is on the heals of serious damage by last storm
Many people are still out of power here and there are losses
A seven year old child out here was killed today by a fallen tree today
The shear high electrical consumption loads at this point in time
Can easily get out of control and cascade into serious unknowns
Like in Europe and Russia etc, heat emergencies can kill without mercy
Mostly the poor who can’t even open their windows
Cause they're more afraid of crime where they unforunately live
Maybe I should invent a poor mans human generated fan
Without electricity (or water) extreme heat can kill
All bets are off – time to batten down all the doors
The elderly and young or sick are at the serious risk
tomorrow could cascade quickly and deadly
Emergency services may be overwhelmed
The perfect heat storm could rain down disaster
Why are we vulnerable?
1) Without a well managed E. Canadian/US electricity grid system - the mere wiff of an incoming “pipeline” disaster – makes the concept of "shared" utilities and grids very nervous (this was evident today in the news)
2) Hydro Quebec and a few others have become very astute at erecting firewalls to avoid "familiar" calamities (but they remain even more adept at empire building is contrary to engineering and national common sense and efficiency)
But sooner or later a neighbouring utility will heed the call and it may soon need to become reciprocal
With wild fires burning out of control in N. Ontario, they're just one more threat bearing down on this ultimate risky event, the gigantic and inter-connected electricity grid infrastructure is not something to take for granted. Especially in these weather risky times.
Like my Boy Scout Motto – we need to be better prepared for the unexpected
P.S. Please give me a little warning before the 'Blews' Fest stage falls on me!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Do you feel sorry for the cars?
Yesterdays wind storm has finally blown itself out. A path of devastation lies in it's wake. I took a walk at the peak of this phenomena just to feel the wind in my face. I witnessed a massive white pine fall in front of me. When my curiosity checked it out, I realized it was rotten inside. I thought, this is the forest cleaning and recycling itself. Still I felt sorry for this majestic tree, probably older than me.
As I look at images of the wind storm damage in the city the next day, I see people crying about losing their new truck or car because they parked it beside a tree whose time had come. I think maybe the city trees are angry and getting back any way they can, at the real villains of this war on Nature?
Too bad some people get hurt when they get in the way of nature's big show. Most animals have the common sense to hunker down and wait for this Spring storm to end, but not people. Luckily no one died in the Ottawa area but more than 500 mature city trees were felled by this surprise attack. Maybe these tress are the true martyrs of the 21rst Century? It will take a lifetime for some of these trees to grow back if anyone even cares or dares to plant a seedling. Meanwhile the city scape is uglier than ever and the cars keep winning.
As I look at images of the wind storm damage in the city the next day, I see people crying about losing their new truck or car because they parked it beside a tree whose time had come. I think maybe the city trees are angry and getting back any way they can, at the real villains of this war on Nature?
Too bad some people get hurt when they get in the way of nature's big show. Most animals have the common sense to hunker down and wait for this Spring storm to end, but not people. Luckily no one died in the Ottawa area but more than 500 mature city trees were felled by this surprise attack. Maybe these tress are the true martyrs of the 21rst Century? It will take a lifetime for some of these trees to grow back if anyone even cares or dares to plant a seedling. Meanwhile the city scape is uglier than ever and the cars keep winning.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Local Guatemala Stove Project Volunteers
The local chimney sweep, Renny Lambton and environmental consultant, Andre Lalonde, like many from Wakefield this winter, trekked off to Guatemala to take a small break from winter and the same old routine. Renny and I took part in a once in a lifetime experience to build cookstoves for disadvantaged Mayan families of San Francisco Alte Plano district of the Guatemalan Western Highlands. Springing up around 10,000 feet, surrounded by idyllic volcanic cones, our home base was a cheap hostel called Casa Argentina in the city of Quazeltanango or Xela (Shay-lah).
Renny and I were part of a 23 strongest ever volunteer force of Canadians working with the Perth based NGO called Guatemala Stove Project, who have put their own time and money on the line to help build masonry cookstoves from ``scratch``. Even the energy efficient cookstove, which costs about $225 to build, is based on a traditional Mayan design. The GSP was founded in 1999 in response to a request for help from CEDEC (indigenous peoples non profit group) for masonry cook stoves but the communities they serve lacked the material resources to build such stoves for themselves. The GSP and its local cadre of masons, along with volunteers, have seen the difference between smoke and creosote encrusted cooking areas and those same places after a low cost GSP stove has been installed. There`s no doubt here that these stoves dramatically improve the health, life expectancy and over all well being of Mayan families, especially women and children. The statistics are depressing to say the least, but these efforts by GSP really deserve notice and credit.
Renny and I got to see that up close. We got to work with GSP and learn more than making firm foundations for long lasting cookstoves, we learned to cement long lasting friendships and trust with these Mayan communities.
``Scratch`` means using basic translation (Spanish to the local Mayan dialect is tricky) and even sign language to communicate firstly and directly with the Woman of the house - to tell us where the stove should go. We then literally ``scratch out`` a stove footprint in the mud and rock encrusted floor, to level out a place for the cinder blocks to be layered down and `buttered` together. Renny and I learned some of the Mason`s basic tricks of the trade, when a volunteer mason from Algonquin college named John Scott showed us how to make this kind of cookstove at a weekend training session in Perth.
Here we were put to the test. We were fortunate to be guided along by GSPs founding volunteer, Tom Clarke, whom I met in 2000 at Blue Skies music festival. In fact, we were very fortunate to have many other returning volunteers with GSP as part of our team this year. Our team was a great cross section including a school teacher and his daughter, a doctor and his wife with 2 kids, a sculpture and his wife, a prospector, an animator, a lineman for Ontario Hydro, retirees, and so many more wonderful people to work with and get to know.
Of course we were given great support and help from all segments of the local family who were receiving the stove, but friends and neighbors as well. A rather time consuming job, soaking and moving cinder blocks, sifting sand, collecting water and making concrete, collecting water and insulation material called pumice. Through CEDEC, our intrepid volunteers split into 4 or 5 groups early each morning for roughly 2 weeks, and worked all day with about 5 local masons who do this kind of thing almost full time through the GSP.
Instead of giving gifts to the kids at the end of the day, I juggled with them and we all laughed as I clowned it up. At the end of the day, us volunteers were good tired and in need of a warm solar shower and a cold Gallo beer and dinner. An early evening became the norm as we got used to our routine of meeting for prearranged breakfast next door at 6:30. It was so cold you could see your breath.
All the building material had already been lovingly and painstakingly moved into place by the local families and community members. Although the number of cook stoves built by volunteers each year has increased over the years (since 1999), we built 30 stoves in about 2 weeks which given the rotating illness that inevitably makes its rounds with volunteers, we were pretty proud (I think this was a record for GSP volunteers). More importantly of course, is overall, the GSP has built around 4,000 cookstoves in Guatemala since 1999. This kind of work has helped immeasurably by reducing local deforestation and dangerous woodsmoke, training local masons, and instilling a sense of pride of ownership and the benefits a GSP cookstove can provide.
I personally would love to go back to Guatemala next winter and do this experience again with a new group of volunteers. This time I`ll spend a few more weeks in San Pedro and San Juan on the edge of this idyllic lake called Atitlan. I could live here!
Renny and I were part of a 23 strongest ever volunteer force of Canadians working with the Perth based NGO called Guatemala Stove Project, who have put their own time and money on the line to help build masonry cookstoves from ``scratch``. Even the energy efficient cookstove, which costs about $225 to build, is based on a traditional Mayan design. The GSP was founded in 1999 in response to a request for help from CEDEC (indigenous peoples non profit group) for masonry cook stoves but the communities they serve lacked the material resources to build such stoves for themselves. The GSP and its local cadre of masons, along with volunteers, have seen the difference between smoke and creosote encrusted cooking areas and those same places after a low cost GSP stove has been installed. There`s no doubt here that these stoves dramatically improve the health, life expectancy and over all well being of Mayan families, especially women and children. The statistics are depressing to say the least, but these efforts by GSP really deserve notice and credit.
Renny and I got to see that up close. We got to work with GSP and learn more than making firm foundations for long lasting cookstoves, we learned to cement long lasting friendships and trust with these Mayan communities.
``Scratch`` means using basic translation (Spanish to the local Mayan dialect is tricky) and even sign language to communicate firstly and directly with the Woman of the house - to tell us where the stove should go. We then literally ``scratch out`` a stove footprint in the mud and rock encrusted floor, to level out a place for the cinder blocks to be layered down and `buttered` together. Renny and I learned some of the Mason`s basic tricks of the trade, when a volunteer mason from Algonquin college named John Scott showed us how to make this kind of cookstove at a weekend training session in Perth.
Here we were put to the test. We were fortunate to be guided along by GSPs founding volunteer, Tom Clarke, whom I met in 2000 at Blue Skies music festival. In fact, we were very fortunate to have many other returning volunteers with GSP as part of our team this year. Our team was a great cross section including a school teacher and his daughter, a doctor and his wife with 2 kids, a sculpture and his wife, a prospector, an animator, a lineman for Ontario Hydro, retirees, and so many more wonderful people to work with and get to know.
Of course we were given great support and help from all segments of the local family who were receiving the stove, but friends and neighbors as well. A rather time consuming job, soaking and moving cinder blocks, sifting sand, collecting water and making concrete, collecting water and insulation material called pumice. Through CEDEC, our intrepid volunteers split into 4 or 5 groups early each morning for roughly 2 weeks, and worked all day with about 5 local masons who do this kind of thing almost full time through the GSP.
Instead of giving gifts to the kids at the end of the day, I juggled with them and we all laughed as I clowned it up. At the end of the day, us volunteers were good tired and in need of a warm solar shower and a cold Gallo beer and dinner. An early evening became the norm as we got used to our routine of meeting for prearranged breakfast next door at 6:30. It was so cold you could see your breath.
All the building material had already been lovingly and painstakingly moved into place by the local families and community members. Although the number of cook stoves built by volunteers each year has increased over the years (since 1999), we built 30 stoves in about 2 weeks which given the rotating illness that inevitably makes its rounds with volunteers, we were pretty proud (I think this was a record for GSP volunteers). More importantly of course, is overall, the GSP has built around 4,000 cookstoves in Guatemala since 1999. This kind of work has helped immeasurably by reducing local deforestation and dangerous woodsmoke, training local masons, and instilling a sense of pride of ownership and the benefits a GSP cookstove can provide.
I personally would love to go back to Guatemala next winter and do this experience again with a new group of volunteers. This time I`ll spend a few more weeks in San Pedro and San Juan on the edge of this idyllic lake called Atitlan. I could live here!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Toast!
My neigbour Senator D Head is back in the news. Seems his tarnished reputation has been tarnished even more. March 11, 2011, he was found GUILTY of fraud and breach of trust. Some say he's toast but it doesn't look that way to me. The judge said Lavigne "committed a false and dishonest act" when he requested $12,365 in expense claims for travel made by a former staffer, to whom he paid only $2,700 (Lavigne cheaped out by giving his staffer $50 for each of the 54 return trips from Ottawa to Montreal, instead of the $217 he was owed (with the senator still claiming the full expenses as his own) I wonder who bought coffee?
Seems another "aide" Daniele Cote testifed that Lavigne did the same thing with him. Mr. cheapskate Lavigne was convicted of breach of trust for directing Cote to cut down trees on Neil and Carol Faulkners property next door. The reason the senator did this was so he wouldn't have to pay the going cost for having hydro poles extended to his own property. I guess this gives a whole new meaning to "small town cheap?". I witnessed Lavigne using his research assistant "bouncer" to do odd jobs around his flood plain property by cutting grass and intimidating anyone (including me and the media) who even went by his property in a canoe. I witnessed the Senator and his wife throwing tantrums and stones at river passerbyers and his famous bumming incidents. So much for public trust! Thank goodness he kept his pants on.
The fact that Lavigne wasn't found guilty of obstruction of justice is an injustice in itself. He now faces a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison for fraud and 5 years for breach of trust. His office and travel budgets have been suspended. He continues to receive his annual paycheque of $132,300 and has billed for $315,355 in office and travel expenses since 2007. I've barely made that much money in my whole life!. Apparently Stephen Harper would be glad to see him thrown out so the PM can install his own Montreal area senator and no doubt, start the whole sordid process all over again. Do I sound cynical and angry? - you bet your sweet bippy I am.
The court and investigators say that this reaffirms that no one is above the law and they'll have to answer to their acts eventually. Yeah right. As I look out my window while writing this, I notive the senator is comfy at home with a cozy fire burning. Like myself, he has no work to do but unlike myself, he collects $132K a year for doing this. The senator told a neighbor that I was jealous because he picked up a prime peice of riverfront for a song. I'm not jealous because I have good friendly relationships with all my neighbors. This does however, reaffirm for me, that life is not fair and maybe karmic law is just a sad cosmic joke. Look who laughing now?
Seems another "aide" Daniele Cote testifed that Lavigne did the same thing with him. Mr. cheapskate Lavigne was convicted of breach of trust for directing Cote to cut down trees on Neil and Carol Faulkners property next door. The reason the senator did this was so he wouldn't have to pay the going cost for having hydro poles extended to his own property. I guess this gives a whole new meaning to "small town cheap?". I witnessed Lavigne using his research assistant "bouncer" to do odd jobs around his flood plain property by cutting grass and intimidating anyone (including me and the media) who even went by his property in a canoe. I witnessed the Senator and his wife throwing tantrums and stones at river passerbyers and his famous bumming incidents. So much for public trust! Thank goodness he kept his pants on.
The fact that Lavigne wasn't found guilty of obstruction of justice is an injustice in itself. He now faces a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison for fraud and 5 years for breach of trust. His office and travel budgets have been suspended. He continues to receive his annual paycheque of $132,300 and has billed for $315,355 in office and travel expenses since 2007. I've barely made that much money in my whole life!. Apparently Stephen Harper would be glad to see him thrown out so the PM can install his own Montreal area senator and no doubt, start the whole sordid process all over again. Do I sound cynical and angry? - you bet your sweet bippy I am.
The court and investigators say that this reaffirms that no one is above the law and they'll have to answer to their acts eventually. Yeah right. As I look out my window while writing this, I notive the senator is comfy at home with a cozy fire burning. Like myself, he has no work to do but unlike myself, he collects $132K a year for doing this. The senator told a neighbor that I was jealous because he picked up a prime peice of riverfront for a song. I'm not jealous because I have good friendly relationships with all my neighbors. This does however, reaffirm for me, that life is not fair and maybe karmic law is just a sad cosmic joke. Look who laughing now?
Toast!
My neigbour Senator D Head is back in the news. Seems his tarnished reputation has been tarnished even more. March 11, 2011, he was found GUILTY of fraud and breach of trust. Some say he's toast but it doesn't look that way to me. The judge said Lavigne "committed a false and dishonest act" when he requested $12,365 in expense claims for travel made by a former staffer, to whom he paid only $2,700 (Lavigne cheaped out by giving his staffer $50 for each of the 54 return trips from Ottawa to Montreal, instead of the $217 he was owed (with the senator still claiming the full expenses as his own) I wonder who bought coffee?
Seems another "aide" Daniele Cote testifed that Lavigne did the same thing with him. Mr. cheapskate Lavigne was convicted of breach of trust for directing Cote to cut down trees on Neil and Carol Faulkners property next door. The reason the senator did this was so he wouldn't have to pay the going cost for having hydro poles extended to his own property. I guess this gives a whole new meaning to "small town cheap?". I witnessed Lavigne using his research assistant "bouncer" to do odd jobs around his flood plain property by cutting grass and intimidating anyone (including me and the media) who even went by his property in a canoe. I witnessed the Senator and his wife throwing tantrums and stones at river passerbyers and his famous bumming incidents. So much for public trust! Thank God he kept his pants on.
The fact that Lavigne wasn't found guilty of obstruction of justice is an injustice in itself. He now faces a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison for fraud and 5 years for breach of trust. His office and travel budgets have been suspended. He continues to receive his annual paycheque of $132,300 and has billed for $315,355 in office and travel expenses since 2007. I've barely made that much money in my whole life!. Apparently Stephen Harper would be glad to see him thrown out so the PM can install his own Montreal area senator and no doubt, start the whole sordid process all over again. Do I sound cynical and angry? - you bet your sweet bippy I am. All Canadian taxpayers should be too!
The court and investigators say that this reaffirms that no one is above the law and they'll have to answer to their acts eventually. Yeah right. As I look out my window while writing this, I notice the senator is comfy at home with a cozy fire burning. Like myself, he has no work to do but unlike myself, he collects $132K a year for doing this. The senator told a neighbor that I was jealous because he picked up a prime peice of riverfront for a song. I'm not jealous because I have good friendly relationships with all my neighbors. This does however, reaffirm for me, that life is not fair and maybe karmic law is just a sad cosmic joke. Look who laughing now?
Seems another "aide" Daniele Cote testifed that Lavigne did the same thing with him. Mr. cheapskate Lavigne was convicted of breach of trust for directing Cote to cut down trees on Neil and Carol Faulkners property next door. The reason the senator did this was so he wouldn't have to pay the going cost for having hydro poles extended to his own property. I guess this gives a whole new meaning to "small town cheap?". I witnessed Lavigne using his research assistant "bouncer" to do odd jobs around his flood plain property by cutting grass and intimidating anyone (including me and the media) who even went by his property in a canoe. I witnessed the Senator and his wife throwing tantrums and stones at river passerbyers and his famous bumming incidents. So much for public trust! Thank God he kept his pants on.
The fact that Lavigne wasn't found guilty of obstruction of justice is an injustice in itself. He now faces a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison for fraud and 5 years for breach of trust. His office and travel budgets have been suspended. He continues to receive his annual paycheque of $132,300 and has billed for $315,355 in office and travel expenses since 2007. I've barely made that much money in my whole life!. Apparently Stephen Harper would be glad to see him thrown out so the PM can install his own Montreal area senator and no doubt, start the whole sordid process all over again. Do I sound cynical and angry? - you bet your sweet bippy I am. All Canadian taxpayers should be too!
The court and investigators say that this reaffirms that no one is above the law and they'll have to answer to their acts eventually. Yeah right. As I look out my window while writing this, I notice the senator is comfy at home with a cozy fire burning. Like myself, he has no work to do but unlike myself, he collects $132K a year for doing this. The senator told a neighbor that I was jealous because he picked up a prime peice of riverfront for a song. I'm not jealous because I have good friendly relationships with all my neighbors. This does however, reaffirm for me, that life is not fair and maybe karmic law is just a sad cosmic joke. Look who laughing now?
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Stepping out
I've just returned from a 3 week stepping out from my calm, lonely paradise world on the west shore of the Gatineau river, downstream from my community home of Wakefield. My name changed to Andres, it has been a re-birth experience, a wonderful balance of tourist wonders on Guatemala's lago Atitlan, UNESCO's Antigua and of course, diesel smoke and over-populated Xela in the Western highlands. I needed this perspective...
If it wasn't for the Guatemala Stove Project, I would have stayed at Atitlan for the whole time, but the central purpose of my stepping out, was building cookstoves in the poor but dignified community of San Fransisco el alto (north of Xela). We made 29 cookstoves in two weeks, for me, this was practicing what I believe and dare to preach. This is a personal choice that few dare to go. Sustainability and reducing deforestation (I hope), but much more than that, connecting with a kinder gentler Mayan people - learning from daring to experience. Many of the kind hearted 20+1 volunteers gave gifts, but I stuck to making stoves, juggling for the kids, and finding universal humour wherever I could. Amidst illness and petty robberies, this was a beautiful and powerful experience. Syncronisity and joining lucid dream dots will bring me back I'm sure.
If it wasn't for the Guatemala Stove Project, I would have stayed at Atitlan for the whole time, but the central purpose of my stepping out, was building cookstoves in the poor but dignified community of San Fransisco el alto (north of Xela). We made 29 cookstoves in two weeks, for me, this was practicing what I believe and dare to preach. This is a personal choice that few dare to go. Sustainability and reducing deforestation (I hope), but much more than that, connecting with a kinder gentler Mayan people - learning from daring to experience. Many of the kind hearted 20+1 volunteers gave gifts, but I stuck to making stoves, juggling for the kids, and finding universal humour wherever I could. Amidst illness and petty robberies, this was a beautiful and powerful experience. Syncronisity and joining lucid dream dots will bring me back I'm sure.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
Posts
