Arctic Circle is a daily cartoon strip by Alex Hallet about three penguins, Oscar, Ed and Gordo, who have emigrated from Antarctica to the Arctic. The comic has an underlying environmental theme and regularly sees the humour in trying to live a more eco-friendly life in a 21st century world.
Posted on 12/28/2009 7:15:00 AM by Arctic Circle
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Categories: CO2 emissions
Tags: arctic circle
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Every September 22, people from around the world get together in the streets, intersections, and neighbourhood blocks to remind the world that we don't have to accept our car-dominated society.
World Carfree Day, a showcase for just how our cities might look like, feel like, and sound like without cars, is an en excellent opportunity to rethink and rediscover our personal mobility and the urban environment we live in.
Come celebrate International Car Free Day and to promote clean air, safe streets and the many active transportation and making healthy and active transportation choices on Saturday September 26th 2009 from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm in Downtown Kelowna on Bernard Avenue by the Sails and Kerry Park.
There will be Free activities including live music in Kerry Park, skateboards and bike demonstrations, games for all ages, interactive booths and displays, you can explore a Double decker bus, street art and face painting and more!
Source: I-Go Central Okanagan
Posted on 9/21/2009 11:00:00 PM by Maizal
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Categories: air quality | bike to work | clean air | CO2 emissions | congestion | emissions | world carfree day
Tags: i-go
Conserving fuel to stretch your fuel dollar and to be environmentally responsible is extremely important. Listed below are more tips from Shell Canada on simple ways to increase fuel efficiency and save money at the pump:
Posted on 7/28/2009 7:37:00 AM by Maizal
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Categories: clean air | CO2 emissions | ecodriving | emissions | fuel economy
Tags: shell canada
Posted on 7/13/2009 10:15:00 PM by Maizal
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Categories: air quality | clean air | CO2 emissions | ecodriving | fuel economy
76,728 kg of CO2 emmisions were prevented from entering the atmosphere as a direct result of Bike To Work Week participants efforts. During Bike To Work Week, between May 10-17, 6,167 Central Okanagan cyclists participated at least once. There were 1,135 new cyclists for this year's campaign. Cyclists travelled a total distance of 106,903 km, which is equivalent to cycling around the world 3 times. Listed below are the winning teams:
Posted on 7/7/2009 7:45:00 AM by Maizal
Categories: bike to work | clean air | CO2 emissions
Tags: city of kelowna
Take a look at the Guide to Greener electronics for more detailed information (including the grading criteria).
Posted on 6/29/2009 7:22:00 AM by Maizal
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Categories: climate change | CO2 emissions | energy-efficient | recycle | emissions | e-waste | toxics
Tags: greenpeace
Posted on 6/22/2009 10:38:00 PM by Maizal
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Categories: CO2 emissions | ecodriving | fuel economy
The 2009 National Commuter Challenge Event exceeded 2008 results by 10,000 participants.
Here are the highlights:
Kelowna and the Central Okanagan finished in second place in our population category. We finished fourth in the province.
Over 100 workplaces participated and here are the results:
Posted on 6/14/2009 5:03:00 PM by Maizal
Categories: bike to work | CO2 emissions
Tags: commuter challenge
Under-inflated tires in Canada produce a great deal of carbon anually as a result of excess fuel consumption. Under-inflated tires does not roll as smoothly as it is supposed to and this resistance causes the vehicle to use more fuel. A survey concluded that on any given day, almost 70% of vehicles have at least one tire under-inflated or over-inflated by 10%. You only need to spend a few minutes each month to ensure that your tires are properly inflated and save yourself some money and protect the environment. According to Natural Resources Canada, drivers burn an additional 643 million litres of fuel annually as a result of under-inflated tires. This amount of fuel releases 1 million tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere every year and costs drivers $579 million in unnessary fuel bills. Here are some tips for drivers:
Posted on 6/1/2009 7:31:00 AM by Maizal
Categories: CO2 emissions | fuel economy | pollution
Tags:
Clean Air Day is a celebration of environmentally-friendly activities that promote clean air and good health across Canada. It is a great opportunity to make environmentally-friendly lifestyle choices, for you, your family and your community. This year Clean Air Day is on Wednesday June 3rd.
The Transit will be free. Tell the driver it's Clean Air Day. There will be complimentary breakfast from 7:00 to 8:30 AM at Queensway, Orchard Park and Westbank Transit exchanges.
Choices made by businesses, communities and individuals can lead to meaningful reductions in air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions.
Tips to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions:
Posted on 5/25/2009 7:29:00 AM by Maizal
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Categories: air quality | bike to work | carbon footprint | clean air | CO2 emissions | ecodriving | greenhouse gas | pollution | ridesharing
Tags: clean air day
If each one of us makes a commitment to make a change to help the environment, collectively, it will amount to alot. If we recall a statistic from before, if every American home replaced just one light bulb with an Energy Star bulb, we would save enough energy to power more that 3 million homes for a whole year and save $600 million in annual energy costs. Not only that, we would also prevent greenhouse gas emissions accounting to more than 800,000 cars. Another simple thing to do is to use cold water to wash your clothes. Hotter water does not mean cleaner clothes; in fact the only difference that can be seen is in your utility bill. Did you know that 90% of washing machine energy consumption is in the heating of water. Canadian families do an average of 416 wash loads per year which amounts to 1,281 lbs to 2,407 lbs of CO2 in the atmosphere. If we switch to cold water, not only will be prevent that CO2 from entering the atmosphere, but we will also save an average of $61 per year on our utility bill. Isn't it a good time to save money and at the same time help the environment? Source: Article by Maggie Calloway in the column "Smart Choices for Our Future"
Posted on 1/14/2009 6:38:00 AM by Maizal
Categories: CO2 emissions | energy costs | energy star | greenhouse gas
The City of Kelowna in it's adoption of sustainable transportation practices, ranks in the Top 10 cities in Canada. In the second annual Smart Transportation Ranking Report, put together by the UBC Sauder School of Business and Appleton Charitable Foundation, Kelowna placed 10th (out of 27 cities). It moved up 4 spots from last year. The report looks at 17 indicators in four categories - air quality, public policy, transport policy and technology adoption. Kelowna has a green municipal fleet which includes 4 hybrid vehciles and 18 smart cars. It's one of 4 cities to have all it's transit buses running on alternative fuels. Projects for sustainable transportation in 2009 include the expansion of Rapid Bus BC, a transit exchange in Rutland, the extension of Rails with Trails and 2 off-road cycling projects along the proposed Glenmore Bypass and Gordon Drive extension.
Posted on 11/27/2008 8:09:00 PM by Maizal
Categories: clean air | CO2 emissions | ecodriving | hybrid | low emmision | smart car | sustainability | air quality | alternative fuels
Tags: city of kelowna, ubc sauder school of business, appleton charitable foundation
Posted on 11/9/2008 10:52:00 PM by Maizal
Categories: climate change | CO2 emissions | environmental issues | greenhouse gas
Tags: jeffrey simpson, globe and mail
According to Environment Canada, transportation is the single largest contributor of carbon dioxide emissions - accounting for 30% of the total. One of the reasons for this fueling involves "food miles" which is the distance food travels from the field to your home.
What can the average person do to reduce these emissions? Here are a few suggestions from Jill Rhynard, a co-ordinator of health promotion at the Interior Health of the Okanagan health delivery area:
Posted on 10/28/2008 7:18:00 AM by Maizal
Categories: CO2 emissions | environmentally friendly | locally grown
Tags: environment canada, interior health
Posted on 8/12/2008 7:10:00 AM by Maizal
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Categories: climate change | CO2 emissions | global warming | greenhouse gas | net-zero energy
"The number one cause of global warming gases worldwide is animal agriculture" - Dave Way, EarthSave President.
EarthSave Canada is a non-profit organization that outlines to people the environmental, health and ethical consequences of what people eat.
Dave Way is touring the Okanagan discussing the facts brought up in the 2006 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations called Livestock's Long Shadow. Basically, the main issue is that raising animals for food affects climate change more than people think.
There are lots of concerns about using food grains as biofuels but not much for using those grains as animal feed. Last year, 100 million tonnes of grain were used to make biofuels but 760 million tonnes were fed to animals. The raising of animals for food contributes significantly to the release of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.
For instance, 18% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to the raising of livestock, compared to 13% for transportation. Fossil fuels burned to raise animals range from running tractors to supplying electricity for their operations. Also, the 1.5 billion cows and tens of billions of pigs, chickens and goats release methane gas which is 20 to 25% stronger than carbon dioxide.
Providing grains for the livestock requires clearing out forests to plant feed, then fertilized with petroleum based chemicals that contain nitrous oxide which is 300 times stronger than CO2.
Diets heavy in protein are also causes of many diseases. Thus, we should limit the amount of meat we eat and take part in programs such as Meatless Mondays etc. Even if we reduce our meat intake by 20%, there would be a significant impact on climate change.
Posted on 8/11/2008 7:05:00 AM by Maizal
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Categories: CO2 emissions | global warming | greenhouse gas | biofuel | climate change
Tags: earthsave canada