Thursday, July 31, 2008

Canada Green? - We'll See

Either early morning fog and haze or just bad weather - too early to tell.


I'm off to Canada for a over a week, waaay up in the Gaspe peninsula. I don't think my laptop will work and the nearest library is an hour away. So not to worry if there are no posts. I will be back. In the mean time, the archives offer a lot of information with the usual tweak. I will keep my green eyes open and report when I come back...

Our neighbors to the north are often admired for many reasons, mostly having to do with their European influence and the values that come with them. Canadians seem more down to earth and enjoy life at a slower, greener? level. Over all, their houses are smaller, their cars are smaller and yet they seem a lot happier than we Americans. Smaller houses and cars and less consumption is definitely more green, even though they smoke a lot of cigarettes. ($+^&!@ French)

Though I have been to Canada a lot, this will be in a very remote area and for a long time, not the usual quick stop Montreal. I will be looking for "greenness" and maybe even deciding what all that means, it's a huge label. Do they Recycle? Even more important, do they do better at what comes before that which is Reduce and Reuse? I think it will be a yes.

Will they be more energy efficient? I guess when you don't have computers, that is one way to reduce electricity. The price of gas is really high, so are they careful about using their car? My guess is they will be. Do they care about the tar sands drilling and the problems for the environment it causes? Do they care about the boreal forests that are stripped for mostly our paper and catalog consumption? I hope to find these out.

Do Canadians citizens know more about climate change and do something about? Surveys indicate that they do. So with eyes wide open I look forward to tapping this tiny segment of Canadian life and getting a sense of where they are in this whole journey.

Stay Tuned...

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