Save Time and Reduce Waste with Better Handling of Flyers & Community Newspapers

I don't like clutter.  I know advertising works (which explains the billions spent on it) the question is...  Why would I subject myself to advertising and allow my house to be cluttered just to give someone else my money?

Four times a week we receive a community newspaper.  Now the paper is mostly ads, advertisements, paid advertising and ads.  There are relevant local articles, but it hardly seems worth the "filtering" to get to the content.  Out of 40 printed pages, I'd guess 4 or less actually contain news.  Now I don't believe in mindlessly reading advertisements (and don't know anyone who will admit to this), but I must admit my relationship to the printed newspapers that appear on my mailbox has been undergoing a transformation.

I was curious what the impact was on my time and on the environment to handle all the paper associated with the unsolicited flyers and community newspapers I receive. To try and estimate the impact on my city, I'm assuming everyone in town does exactly what I do, and I'm believing the newspaper's circulation figures (averaged to 40,000 per paper) which I found on the Internet.  You will see some high dollar figures here, and this is because the cost to consumers is generally left out of the equation and ignored... Retailers don't incur that cost, it is the consumer's problem, so why would anyone bother to track or estimate that cost...  This is only a rough but fair estimate.  Now I'd love to make this more accurate, so if you take issue with the numbers, do us all a favour and contribute some research.  Here is the transformation in chronological order:

Handling Flyers and community newspapers (original version 1.0)

Initially we would bring the paper in, sort through the flyers "in case there was something good there", and put the papers on the coffee table to be read.  Then I would flip from front to back through the paper making sure I didn't "miss anything.  So including all the "handling time" bringing in the paper, reading through it. Picking it up off the floor after the small children decorated the room with it. Recycling it. I probably spent 30 minutes per paper and ended up skipping half of the papers completely.  The time spent "reading the paper" was time I didn't spend with my kids etc, so I'm going to think of that cost to me as $20/hour for my like many people earn.  The 150 grams estimated weight of the paper is based on Canada Post's "weight restriction" for mailing community newspapers (mine is probably larger) and 37 grams of flyers.  So 150 grams 4 times a week is 0.6 Kg per week or 31.2 Kg per year.

• My yearly time spent "handling" newspapers and flyers: 52 hours $1040


• My papers and flyers sent to recycling: 31.2Kgs (68.8 lbs)


• My city's yearly time spent "handling" newspapers and flyers: 2,080,000 hours $41,600,000   (this is the cost of consumer's time!)


• My city's papers and flyers sent to recycling: 1,248,000 Kgs (2,751,369 lbs)

Handling Flyers and community newspapers (updated version 2.0)

Then I recognized the time I was spending "tidying up" these papers all over our living space and I wanted to get the papers re-routed to recycling at the earliest point possible.  What I would do is "intentionaly"  sit down and skim the newspaper articles for 5 minutes, if there was relevant content I save the paper for my wife and tell her what is worth reading, if not, I recycle it and all of the flyers stuffed inside before the paper even makes it up the stairs to our living space.  (Sorry advertisers, your advertising budget was not effectively spent).  But this skimming is still an interesting activity to me, I'm not doing it because I am (at that moment) interested in reading the paper or learning something specific, I'm "reacting" to the newspaper being delivered to my door.  I'm voluntarily spending at least 20 minutes per week filtering out advertisements....   Hmm, how is it that someone else is "making me" spend time reading their paper....  That wasn't my idea.   Hey I could have used that time for something I WANTED to do.

• My yearly time spent "handling" newspapers and flyers: 17 hours $340 <reduced>


• My papers and flyers sent to recycling: 31.2Kgs (68.8 lbs)    <No change>


• My city's yearly time spent "handling" newspapers and flyers: 680,000 hours $13,600,000   <reduced>


• My city's papers and flyers sent to recycling: 1,248,000 Kgs (2,751,369 lbs) <No change>

Handling Flyers and community newspapers (New Era version 3.0)

So I noticed that when those friendly guys from the "Globe and Mail" would call, I would answer.  "Not really interested, I use the Internet." and they would simply drop it and let me go with no more "sales"... hmmm..  Maybe I could just use the Internet and replace my local community paper...  So I testsed this.  What I could find online (in several locations) had all the information with much less advertising.  In many cases it offered more than the news (videos and such).  I bravely asked my wife what she thought and when I learned that she really didn't use those grocery store flyers I'd been saving for years, our course was set.  We put a "No Flyers or Newspapers" sign on our mailbox and suddenly our house is neater, our recycling is lighter, and I'm facing much less temptation to purchase things I would not have otherwise purchased.  I'm estimating that I only spend 15 minutes per month looking for local news and information.  Only God knows the value of the "impulse purchases" I'm not making.

• My yearly time spent not "handling" newspapers and flyers: 3 hours $60 (Internet time) <reduced>


• My papers and flyers sent to recycling: 0 Kgs (0 lbs) <reduced>


• My city's residents potential yearly time spent not "handling" newspapers and flyers: 120,000 hours $2,400,000 <reduced>


• My city's could potentially save  1,248,000 Kgs (2,751,369 lbs) of paper from going to recycling (or worse) <Join Me! It's free!>

Adding back "The Internet"

Sure there is time spent on the Internet to find local information, but I don't think it is the same as putting a paper on your doorstep.  I think that when someone is actually pursuing information, and not just having it "forced" on them, they are able to dig deeper and learn more.  Sure I will likely look up some local events using the Internet, maybe 15 minutes per month when I NEED to know something specific.  But that is one of the major points I'm making.  Newspaper delivery was someone else's idea that consumed my time and wasted paper.

Other Resources for breaking your flyer addiction

• I liked the vision expressed by http://www.reddotcampaign.ca

We are fortunate to live in abundance where one of our major issues is TOO MUCH STUFF! And to keep us buying more, Canadians are inundated with $19 Billion worth of advertising each year. If the old adage is true, "half of all marketing works great, if only we knew which half" why don't advertisers spend more resources understanding which half works and spend the other half supporting community?

• Another small but useful site is:  http://www.iwilltry.org/w/index.php?title=Flyers_against_flyers_campaign which advocates convincing your neighbours to join you in giving up flyers.  They had some great images you could print out and tape to your mailbox (download the originals from their site).

• The Canadian national "Do Not Call List" operated by the government of Canada promises to reduce phone based solicitation.  https://www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/


• The "Canadian Marketing Association has a "Do not Contact Service" designed to get your name on a list their members might check before sending out mailed advertisements. http://www.the-cma.org/?WCE=C=47|K=224217


• A ?grassroots? attempt to produce a better "do not call list" http://www.ioptout.ca/ trys to overcome limitations with the "Do Not Call List" (charities are not restricted etc).

(Use the comments to evaluate the usefulness of these links).

Please comment to let me know what you think of all this.  Do you have paper taming tricks? ways to find local information that work for you?  Would you consider joining me with a simple "no flyers or newspapers" sign on  your mailbox?  Why or why not?

Cheers,
Greg

Preventing overheight trucks from crashing into freeway overpasses.

This was a blog post that was going to start out as criticism, but as time has progressed, the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation has addressed the problem admirably and taken the wind out of those critical sails, so you will get to hear the story of what they did to improve the quality of one of BC's freeway overpasses to prevent accidents and protect infrastructure.

The story



In the 1960s, the overpasses above Highway 1 were built to similar design and varying clearance.  Perhaps in those days it was inconceivable that trucks would stretch 4.4 Meters (almost 15 feet) into the air, or perhaps years of additional paving shaved inches off of that clearance.  Whatever the case, we find clearance signs with various "heights" recorded on most of the overpasses East of Vancouver 4.6 Meters being the most common I've observed.

 

[caption id="attachment_565" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Overpass Clearance (one of many)"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_566" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Overpass clearance - 2"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_567" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Overpass clearance - 3"][/caption]

Year before last, some surprised trucker plowed into the Glover Road freeway overpass Eastbound on Highway 1 in Langley.  That particular overpass was a little lower than some of the others, so conceivably he might have driven quite some way before having his big rig stopped (the hard way).  The damage to the overpass was significant enough that traffic on Glover Road was reduced to 1 way alternating traffic for the several months it took for repairs.

I'm sure someone in the Ministry of Transportation thought "Wow, that was shocking, that guy's truck just hit the overpass.  Hope that doesn't happen again..."

Last year, another surprised trucker plowed into the same Glover Road overpass.  Same damage, same road closure with alternating traffic.  The repairs made one side of the overpass solid, presumably to lend additional strength to the bridge (under siege).  Since that second repair, there have been additional precautions taken, which together have formed a system to try and prevent this from happening again.







 

[caption id="attachment_569" align="aligncenter" width="420" caption="Overpass under siege (repaired again)"][/caption]

Preventing the collisions

 

First there were 2 signs positioned further up the road on either side which re-stated the clearance information printed on the bridge.  With advance warning a trucker could conceivably stop before hitting the bridge.  The signs used bright contrasting colours to draw attention.

 

[caption id="attachment_570" align="aligncenter" width="420" caption="Bright clearance signs (with enough room to stop)"][/caption]

 

Next, a bunch of yellow and black reflective signs were added to the bridge to draw attention to the bridge.  

So if a trucker was overheight, knew he was overheight, read the signs, did the math and stopped in time he could avoid hitting the bridge.  But what if he didn't know he was overheight? 

A series of bright yellow warning / informational signs were deployed, starting with a sign warning trucks to use the right lane for the overheight detection system. 

 

[caption id="attachment_571" align="aligncenter" width="420" caption="Truckers Keep Right for overheight detection system"][/caption]

Then the overheight detection system which triggers a flashing overhead sign that would warn when a truck was overheight.

 

[caption id="attachment_572" align="aligncenter" width="420" caption="Glover Road Overheight detection system uses beams (of light) when interupted, flashing signals are triggered."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_573" align="aligncenter" width="420" caption="When flashing give that overheight truck that isn't stopping lots of room"][/caption]

 

Then a small pull-out was built where trucks could pull off the freeway to check their loads.  It had a large bright yellow "pull-out" sign for easy identification, and a series of bright yellow signs warning that the pullout was approaching.  At the pullout there is an informational sign intended for those who have used the pull-out (my eyes are good, but at 100km/h that font is too small even for me :-) ) 

 

[caption id="attachment_574" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="overheight truck pullout ahead"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_575" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="overheight truck pullout ahead (getting closer)"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_576" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="overheight truck pullout NOW! (no seriously, NOW)"][/caption]

 

 

 

So now overheight trucks can be detected and "flashed", and there is an illuminated pullout available for these trucks.  Assuming that works and the driver notices he is overheight, this challenge remains for a driver who is overheight.  He either needs to back up the freeway for 2-3 miles, or he needs a crane to unload him so he can drive underneath the bridge.

Now the Ministry has added a "detour route" informational sign West of the 200th street interchange in the same bright yellow colour, warning drivers of overheight vehicles to detour off of the freeway.

Good job guys, hopefully we don't see another accident at that freeway overpass like the last two.

 













The unmeasured cost

Glover road was reduced to single lane alternating traffic next to a university on the main road leading from Langley to the Albion ferry crossing (on the Fraser river).  Thousands of people had to wait each day while traffic changed direction to cross the freeway.  This took them away from their families, their jobs, their volunteer engagements.  This time was simply lost.  Add to that unmeasured cost, the construction costs and the real cost of not putting signage up after the first incident becomes more apparent.  The albion ferry is reported to have moved about 4,500 people per day, so this number would be reasonable for forming an estimate. Assuming a 1 minute delay for 4500 cars per day for 180 days (2 years 3 months out of service each year), with commuters earning $25/hour, the inconvenience could have cost citizens. $337,500 over 2 years.  That number will never appear in a government balance sheet, but it is a cost that was paid by citizens, and it is a cost we may be able to avoid paying in the future thanks to the improvements brought by the Ministry of Transportation.

 

[caption id="attachment_577" align="aligncenter" width="336" caption="Traffic congestion HWY 1 Eastbound"][/caption]

 

I find it ironic that the train bridge overpass to the East of Glover Road (bearing scars from previous impacts) is even lower...  We'll wait and see if that has been taken into account. 

[caption id="attachment_568" align="aligncenter" width="420" caption="The "even lower" railway overpass to the East (notice the repairs from past collisions...)"][/caption]









Cheers,
Greg 

Bad Design

Things are designed for their beauty, their cost, their useability and sometimes just for fun.  It is surprising how often we come across things that seem badly designed given the possibility for greatness in design.

At my work we have all struggled to use our very beautiful entry doors.  They are polished and shiny with hidden hinges.  They are completely symetrical, so that from either side of the door, the door appears the same.  So we are all pushing and pulling when we should be pulling and pushing.  I expect some designer won an award for the doors, but it wouldn't be a useability award.  Here they are:



My co-worker tackled the challenging doors with an office labeler and some discretely placed hints that have so far not been disturbed by the interior design police.



Sometimes the ingenious methods people come up with to deal with bad design are as enjoyable as good design would be.  How many cents did it take to solve the design problem. 5?

In this next photo, can you spot the problem with the card swipe instructions here:



Thats right, the diagram adjacent to the cardswipe indicates that the magnetic strip needs to be on the left...  BUT in the digital image on the right, the orange screen clearly displays the magnetic strip on the right.   Left? or Right?  Well I assumed the hardware was more closely tied to the diagram attached to it and believed the diagram.  "wrong!"  It was the digital image on the orange screen that got it right.

Now how many thousands of dollars go into deploying something like a gas pump, and how many people reviewed the design etc. before it got to me the customer.  (And how many thousands of people a year have to re-swipe their card because of this bad design?)

I hope you enjoyed these as much as I did, I'll post more as I find them, so be sure to check back.

Cheers,
Greg.

BC-STV British Columbia's Single Transferrable vote - Take 2

I wrote about the BC-STV the other day.  I continue to learn more good things about STV and am determined to do my part in informing other voters in my sphere of influence so they can make an informed choice on May 12th.

I heard some really compelling arguments in favour of the STV written by Arthur here: http://Ansak.blogspot.com  

And today in the paper "Dave" from Castlegar BC offered a letter comparing First Past the Post (FPTP) with Single Transferable Vote (STV):

... First past the Post:

• Fails to accurately reflect voter's choices (percentage of votes case is not accurately represented by seats in government)


• Allows a minortity of votes to elect majority governments


• Restricts new parties and independent candidates from fair competition


• Entrenches power in established political parties


• Narrows voter  choice <not wanting to "waste votes">

Single Transferable Vote:

• Accurately reflects voters choices by seats in government


• ensures that majority governements are not formed without a morjoity of voter support


• Allows new parties and independent candidates to fairly compete


• Increases voter choice.

As a footnote Dave went on to mention that in Ireland where STV is used, the politicians held two referendums in an effort to get rid of STV and both times the public voted to keep it.  As more people become educated about STV, its support increases...

Vote with me on May 12 2009 to implement the "Single Transferable Vote" and redeem the opportunity of a lifetime to improve your democracy in a significant way.

Honda videos on Quality and the Future of Transportation

Honda has some beautifully produced short films addressing quality issues in production.  They consist of a series of exerpts from interviews with quotes from Honda engineers as well as others you might recognize for their vision for the future like, Orson Scott Card.

There are 3 short films ranging between 6 and8 minutes with the following themes;

• How "failure" is the secret of success


• How "Kicking out the ladder" pressures teams to achieve more


• Visions of how Mobility will look 80 years from now  (no it's not all rocket cars and jet=packs)

It's encouraging to see a large corporation thoughtfully discussing important issues like quality and sustainability.  My cynical side sees this simply as effective marketing, but we have certainly enjoyed Honda quality when we owned one of their cars.  Enjoy the informative eye-candy.

Have you seen other really well produced videos on Sustainable living and social issues or Quality and excellence in design that you would recommend?  Let me know in the comments.
Greg

Quality through continual refinement

In improving Quality, continual improvement through the practice of incremental refinement is a powerful approach.

For example, as I drive home I have a route that works quite well. It is the most direct path between two points or the fastest path between two points. As I go along I start to notice things. Hey, people are turning off here, I wonder why or hey, Google disagrees with me and thinks it knows it better route. (Google maps that is, Google doesn’t talk to me yet…) Or hey, I wonder where that road goes it comes out at an intersection and looks busier than the road I took previously. Through experience we don’t become experts at driving down new roads but we become experts driving down the roads that we know. So with each opportunity to observe a contrary point of view each opportunity to experience the effect of plans. We are in a position to improve and to do better.

I believe in continual refinement. Let’s draft a document, present it to some other knowledgeable people and have them critique it. Then lets present it to our customers and have them shoot it full of holes. After each critique and review, we see problems and we fix them, so it becomes better and better and better until we have a really good document. The alternative is to try and get things perfect before we benefit from the insight and correction we might be offered. Producing PERFECT work is the realm of those who fear that the customer will discover they are not perfect.  In producing PERFECT work (which is really just unreviewed work) Those doing the writing will tend to overthink second guess and overcorrect the work in the hopes that it will not fail, this extra “dilligence” will result in an increased cost that may or may not pay off in acceptance by the customer.

So, let’s put it out so the customers can test it.  Every time the work encounters a problem, we hear about it and we’re able to improve our documentation. Things that we anticipated would be a problem, are not.  However those that we never would have anticipated become problems. We let our customers help us achieve quality through continual and repeated refinement.

In the case of a business process that is being refined, where incremental change is possible (and it isn’t always) staff experience less disruption, maintain more productivity and generally experience less stress caused by change.

Some customers I worked with had been drafting some webpages which would represent their department and department’s initiatives.  They had these pages in draft form for 3 years, during which time, none of their customers could read the information they had been thoughtfully compiling.  The information by that point, ironically was out of date and would require updating.  Their desire to get the information absolutely perfect had effectively removed the entire benefit of compiling the information in the first place.

Often in the IT environment where I work, we wrestle with the need for information that should be documeted, but which has not been. Even if we had partial information, outdated information, or incorrect information that would be preferable to NO INFORMATION.  At least partial information gives you a place to start. A contact, a server name, a vendor’s 1800 number.  So I am through my experience a fan of work that is created imperfect, and then refined as opportunity presents itself. 

Well, this document has been sitting in draft for a while, so I’m going to kick it out there.  Maybe though it it incomplete, it will be of some benefit.  Let me know what you think, and I’ll improve it as we go.

Better versus Perfect, a pattern of change.

I’ve observed a pattern that I want to share with you. It seems important because it is common, and it affects how we view the world around us. Whether we are opposed to change or embrace it. Whether we feel that a change is “enough” or “over the top”.

Now I’m only interested in addressing change that moves us from an undesirable state to a better state. And I’m only interested in addressing change that is intentional, requiring the will of people to accept it and successfully make a change. There is this principle at work, that people tend to look to a perfect state, and if they can’t achieve that perfect state, then they won’t even attempt to improve things at all.

I’ll apologize, this article has been delayed because I’ve been bogged down with examples and keep missing the essence of what I’m trying to capture for you. I see the process like a bell curve. At first we are blithely continuing on doing something harmful. Then there is information introduced that leads us to believe that what we are doing may not be all good and perfect. We resist the idea, we like the status quo, some early adopters start shifting away from harmful activity. Following this there is a less harmful activity offered, and it becomes more popular/accessible to do things the new way, but the new way is still causing harm. Eventually the information, the education and the innovation continue, and people are moved from doing lots of harm, to doing less harm, to doing no harm, to actually reversing the process and undoing harm (repairing cumulative damage from prior activity).

We saw this with the hole in the ozone layer. We were using CFCs and other chemicals that actually caused a depletion of high altitude ozone, which showed up most obviously at the South Pole. Through education about what was going on, we as a global community were able to see harm, see the cause of the harm, make changes to reduce the harm, eliminate the harm and even remedy the harm.

Or take smoking. 50 years ago in North America it was passed off as “sophisticated”, healthy, normal, fashionable, and social. Education about the effects of smoking has been difficult to absorb. People didn’t want to give up their sophistication, their habit, the social aspects of smoking, or their FREEDOM!!! Please someone get me a flag. Even the cigarette companies started “reducing harm” they added filters, bigger filters, reduced tar etc in an attempt to make their products less harmful or decrease the perception of their harm. (How could breathing a carcinogen be bad for me? I breathed it through a paper filter.) Now we have people quitting, and their lungs by wonderful design are actually recovering with the risk of nasty diseases cut by as much as half 1 year after quitting. (We aren’t out of the woods with smoking yet are we?)

Education, publication, and dissemination of information come first. These make qualitative judgements on our actions “smoking may cause cancer” -> “smoking causes cancer” -> “Second hand smoke hurts your children you horrible person”. Now Judgement is a loaded word so lets use the relatively neutral word “evaluation”. An evaluation of a course of action is that it is not beneficial. This is judgement or discernment, or discrimination in the classic sense, but in our North American culture where discriminating shoppers sound horrible and where judging someone’s actions sounds intolerant, we are better off with retaining the idea of evaluating something sans baggage. Nobody likes to have their actions evaluated, and find that the evaluation requires them to change how they are living. But Education and evaluation create an opportunity for change. They show us the door, walking through it is up to us. This education and evaluation is not enough to continue on this pattern of change for the better. There needs to be will as well.

By this point in your life, you are familiar with the resistance of people to change how they do things. Big industry didn’t develop a conscience, they were forced to pollute less by legislation. Very few smokers successfully quit the first time they hear about health risks. There are always explanations for why we don’t change including. It can’t be done, it is hard, it is costly, it is inconvenient, it would hurt the economy, the alternatives aren’t much better, I was born this way, this is my right, and I don’t want to.

Will is essential in making a change. Without will the opportunity to change is merely academic. An interesting theory to be tossed around at the dinner table and then forgotten. The will to improve must stand strong in the face of an entrenched status quo, and in the face of active resistance and even counter-information.

e.g. “The link between human activity and global warming has not been proven” says the senator from the United States who received the majority of his campaign contributions from oil companies… 

Where there is a will, there is a way.  This way can be made easier through innovation (legislation, technology breakthroughs, new mindsets).

Now wanting to do no harm, or receive no harm is worthy, but it takes something more to pull people beyond the point where they stop hurting themselves or their children.  There needs to be a real self-lessness, or a real love that takes place in order to move into the healing phase.  The accountants won’t push us there because they are terrified of the costs of doing more than is required.  The lawyers were satisfied the moment we stopped harming, and are terrified that our attempts to heal could go wrong and cost us dearly. Its the lovers who need to lead this charge.  The idealistic dreamers turned world changers who move beyond “hurting others less” to “not hurting others” to “healing others”.

Lets test out this pattern with a real life example that is bound to have some people plugging their ears and singing “lalala I can’t hear you”.

Our cars consume gasoline that is refined from non-renewable fossil fuels. They produce exhaust that is deadly poison. (If you were to fill a room with exhaust and breath it for a short period of time you would die.) It is a scientific fact that there are a finite number of years of fossil fuels left on earth (http://www.energybulletin.net/659.html), and only a fraction of those fuels can be extracted at reasonable expense. So essentially by driving a gasoline powered car, I’m ensuring that humans consume what little fossil fuels the earth has left. Now the ideal state would be that my vehicle is powered by something plentiful (water) and produces no pollution (clean air). Then I could drive my car with impunity knowing I’m doing no harm (in terms of fuel consumption and air pollution). However, GM, Toyota, Honda, Ford, Chrysler, Mazda and others have not started selling cars that don’t consume fossil fuels or pollute the air. So today at reasonable cost I can’t have the perfect car.

My desire to leap to “perfect” is what makes this change impossible. Were I willing to purchase a car that gets gas mileage / kilometerage? that was twice as good, I could effectively cut my pollution in half, and effectively cut in half my consumption of fossil fuels. Were I able to commute to work with 2 other people, I would effectively cut the pollution from my driving by 2/3 for the days we carpooled. Were I to do both, I could cut my pollution to 1/6 of previous levels. That is a hugely significant change.

Sometimes what blinds us to the possibility of improvement is our insistence on having our cake and eating it too. People think of the 2 weeks a year they spend on summer vacation and insist on purchasing an SUV with lots of “cargo capacity”, which they proceed to drive to work the other 50 weeks a year. (effectively a big empty metal balloon). There is an un-willingness to “sacrifice” (drive an efficient subcompact car), so the improvement in gas mileage becomes negative. I don’t want to carpool with people as that would put constraints on my “lifestyle”, versus I can carpool 1 day per week.  We tell ourselves stories, that are eerily similar to the stories the marketeers tell us, to justify our reluctance to improve and change.

I see incremental change as the best hope of reaching an ideal state. It is slower in terms of total change, but it is easier in terms of disruption, it is easier in terms of economics (consumer and producer).  It is easier in terms of social change and behavioural improvement.  It is far easier to plan a trip to the neighbours than it is to plan a trip to Grandma’s house, but if the neighbour’s house is on the way to Grandma’s house, then the journey in the right direction has already begun.

Do you see places where this pattern of better versus perfect emerges?

How Many Lightbulbs Does it Take to Change the World? One. And You’re Looking At It.

Over at FastCompany.com Charles Fishman wrote an insightful article about Compact Flourescent Lightbulbs and their growing acceptance. 

"For years, compact fluorescent bulbs have promised dramatic energy savings–yet they remain a mere curiosity. That’s about to change... For two decades, CFLs lacked precisely what we expect from lightbulbs: strong, unwavering light; quiet; not to mention shapes that actually fit in the places we use bulbs. Now every one of those problems has been conquered. The bulbs come on quickly; their light is bright, white, steady, and silent; and the old U-shaped tubes–they looked like bulbs from a World War II submarine–have mostly been replaced by the swirl. Since 1985, CFLs have changed as much as cell phones and portable music players."

Personally we have put CFLs in our house in all the places where they make sense, and it feels good to be getting decent light for less money.  It even makes us feel better about leaving the lights on for safety or comfort without feeling like we're being (as) wasteful.  So head on over and read about Compact Flourescent Lightbulbs .

My response to the One Tonne Challenge

The government of Canada initiated the One Tonne challenge as an exercise to get Canadian’s thinking about how they would reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide by one tonne (1000 KG) per year.

My response: No more gas, Less wasted water, Less drafts

The government of Canada initiated the One Tonne challenge as an exercise to get Canadian’s thinking about how they would reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide by one tonne (1000 KG) per year.

No more gas

I moved into a house that is lit and heated with electricity rather than natural gas. We have our gas meter locked off. We plan to light and heat the house entirely with electricity. We have 85% of our electricity produced through green means here in British Columbia. Huge hydro electric dams capture our abundant rainfall yielding a huge benefit from that investment in this infrastructure that was made years ago. We need to keep thinking like this. Principles before profits. My friends warn me that electricity is more expensive, so I’m trying to soften the blow by making my house more energy efficient.

Less wasted water

When water is wasted there is less clean water for other uses. When hot water is wasted it contributes directly to global warming through the C02 released to heat the water. We have replaced faucets, and replaced faucet cartridges for 6 taps. We believe that this represents 22,000 litres of water saved per year. As you know it is usually the hot water taps that leak the worst. We’ve installed aerators (little metal screens) over the faucets to limit the peak water flow. 1.5 gpm (gallons per minute) for the bathroom sink 2.2 gpm for the kitchen 2.2 gpm for our low-flow shower head, 2.2 gpm for the ensuite bathroom. We have committed to only watering the lawn 1 time per week if it needs it since frequent watering encourages shallow root systems and the quick death of your lawn anyways. We have turned down our hot water tank to 50 degrees Celsius from 60 degrees Celsius. We have read that this is hot enough to discourage bacterial growth, and the reduction in temperature means that there is a lessened chance of our children being scalded with host water. I am also continuing my practice of always washing my hands with cold water, requiring no hot water heating and no water wasted by waiting for the tap to “warm up”.

Less drafts

We have installed a door sweep under our front door with brushes to keep bugs and drafts out. We have tightened the weather stripping on our 3 exterior doors so that no light is visible around the door frame when it is shut and locked. (yes we keep them locked). We have injected expanding latex foam under our door sills (lots of space for bugs there) into spaces around anything that penetrates our house’s ‘envelope’ (entry points for vents and wires). We have put drapes up over our largest windows which we close at night to reduce the transfer of heat through those windows.

Irony or tragedy?

In an ironic twist I read this on the “one tonne challenge” website:

The Government of Canada Climate Change site is currently unavailable.

We appreciate your interest in the important issue of climate change and suggest that you visit the following sites for more information:

• Visit Environment Canada’s Green LaneTM for weather and environmental information. The Green Lane helps connect Canadians, exchange information and share knowledge for environmental decision-making.


• Visit the Natural Resources Canada site to learn about the role this department is playing in helping shape the contributions of the natural resources sector to the Canadian economy, society and environment.

Now I know Canada has been getting a black eye for its “very slow movement” on the Kyoto accord and the obligations it made, but perhaps this black eye is deserved? <<Addendum>> Perhaps these comments are in appropriate. Canada has done much in the area of natural resources given its vast land area, while having to overcome the challenges of distances unknown to all other countries except perhaps Russia. We have to communicate and transport further to move resources from source to “market” we have to move resources further to move them from market to market. We have some challenges that no European country has. However, it would appear that Canadians are waiting for something. Waiting for the government to make the first move, waiting for the pollution free car to suddenly be produced by the car manufacturing corporations, waiting for the garbage they put in landfills to magically dissolve. Some Canadians deserve credit for taking initiative and reducing their negative impact on the natural environment, but others are waiting for it to magically become more convenient and less expensive to do the right thing. In this respect it would appear that our brothers and sisters in Europe have us beat as they consciously try to do the right thing at higher cost and higher inconvenience.

Saving Water

Some simple tips for water conservation.

• Wash your hands with cold water, this saves waiting for warm water to arrive at the faucet


• Turn off the tap while you are soaping up your hands while washing.


• If you prefer chilled water, keep a jug of water in the fridge so you don’t have to run your tap while waiting for cool water.


• Use a bucket to wash your car, using the hose only for rinsing.


• Use a container (like a 4Litre milk jug) filled with water to water plants by poking a small pin hole in the bottom, rather than running a house continually.


• Fill kitchen pots with cold water and allow stove to heat. (this is still somewhat up for debate in terms of the energy used)


• Water lawn in evening or morning when there is no direct sun to evaporate your water


• Do not water lawn daily, water once per week allowing a good soaking, do not allow water to fall on hard surfaces, or to drain from lawn to hard surfaces.


• Allow your lawn to grow longer in summer (3-4 inches) so it can stay healthy in dry summer conditions.


• Consider using a “rain barrel” to store water (rain water is especially good for plants) rather than allowing it to get drained off via your house’s drainage system.


• Don’t allow your sprinkler to water the driveway, sidewalk, or street. This water evaporates quickly so it is wasted. Also stop watering if your lawn or garden starts allowing water to run out of it onto the street. it means your land is saturated and should not be watered further.


• Set a timer to remember to turn off your sprinkler.


• Turn off your hose at the faucet on your house, rather than leaving the hose under pressure, where it can leak through couplings or nozzles which are rarely 100% water tight.


• Turn off the tap while you are brushing your teeth.


• Skip a bath or shower.. I’m serious, chances are there is one day a week when you don’t have to smell like a rose. You are getting up, going to chop firewood, and then heading out for a hike. Instead of showering first thing in the morning, save it for evening before you go to bed. When you rise in the morning, you will have just barely had your shower the night before and you can avoid wasting multi-gallons of clean water. Note this won’t always work, and some people need their showers more than others.


• Put a brick in your toilet tank to reduce the amount of water used per flush.


• Fix tap leaks by replacing washers or cartridges. http://www.slowtheflow.com/repairing-faucet-leaks.html It’s easy unless you have a major plumbing problems.


• Fix toilet leaks http://www.slowtheflow.com/repairing-toilet-leaks.html (even silent ones you don’t know you have) Remember the water where you are doing the repair is the fresh water that comes in from your water supply. Relatively speaking it is much cleaner to work on that end.  They provide a handy (albeit general) pdf brochure for fixing toilet leaks.


• Choose a property with trees that shade your yard, providing better conservation of water.