Every minute, a forest the size of 33 football fields is cut down. Even more is burned because apparantly pastureland is more valuble. If you do your part, we could try and plant 33 football fields of trees every minute!

Planting a tree is easy, and you’ll feel good afterwards. Why don’t you make it a game and have a competition with your school or friends to see who can plant the most trees?

I have been working on a new project to try and prevent or reroute the South Fraser Perimeter Road. It would have a tremendous impact on Burns Bog, also refferred to as “The Lungs of the Lower Mainland” which is home to many endangered species as well as a rare but delicate bog ecosystem. There are zoning codes protecting Burns Bog from development, but Gateway argued that the development was just outside the bog [an area that scientists beleive is vital to the bog ecosystem]. People in the Sunbury Neighbourhood have said that the rosd will cause air quality degradation as well as light and sound pollution. If not prevented, the SFPR will not only disrupt the balance of Burns Bog (a massive store of carbon dioxide), the Fraser River, and seven protected ravines that the route in intended to run through, it will be the cause of lower life quality for approximately 2000 homes, 5000 people and 3 schools. Is having an extra road really worth it?

Especially one who is not making people happy, not contributing to world peace, and not truly trying to protect the environment. If they are doing a good job, encourage it. In Elizabeth May’s “How To Be An Activist ” pamphlet, here are four of the ten getting started points, the ones which apply to this sort of activism.

• Refuse to be intimidated. If you are told that a subject is too technical or scientific for you to understand, don’t believe it. Elected politicians make these decisions all the time based on general knowledge and their sense of public opinion. The claim of “expert” versus average concerned citizen is inherently anti- democratic and elitist. You may not be an expert. But you can read and understand what experts have to say. Make a note of good quotes (including the source) of expert views concerned with the environment. Start your own card file of references to unleash if someone tries to suggest you don’t know enough to be involved.

• Don’t take no for an answer. Be persistent. The squeaky wheel.

• Ask lots of questions. Get to the bottom of issues. Do your homework.

• Be unfailingly polite. Being persistent is not the same thing as being rude. You may be in this for the long haul, so don’t burn any bridges.

And here are a few things I would like to add:

• Use detail. Do not just say “Don’t log the forest. Bye” for example, list all the reasons why the forest should not be logged, and information about species, especially endangered ones, that live there. Use interesting words, lots of description, accurate stats, etc.
• Don’t be fooled by greenwashed responses. See my post on greenwashing to tell between ‘green’ as in government/corporation propaganda and green as in sustainable.
• MAKE SURE they read it. Just because someone wrote a response on thier behalf, it does not mean your target politician actually saw your letter. Insist that it is read by the actual person you sent it to.

Good luck !

Email your friends, talk with your family, if people know what’s going on they at lest have an opportunity to do something about it. Check out the Cutting Carbon page.

Your dish-and-clothes-washing water goes somewhere! In fact, it sometimes goes into a drinking water source with wildlife in it. Someimes it if filtered and directly re-circulated into the tapwater system. So watch what you put in it.

Also, any soaps you use in your home will have an effect on the people living in it. Toxic and synthetic chemicals in cleaners can emit fumes that are health hazards and often smell bad on top of that. Even worse, they could be health hazardsand have no smell at alland therefore be difficult to detect.

If you are too lazy to make your own biodegradable, natural, and environmentally friendly as well as healthy soaps and cleaners, Ecover sells them.

You can make your own dish soaps and household cleaners with a few simple ingredients and recipies that I found in my co-op newsletter, specifically an article about natural cleaning products for a green home by Tanya Petterson. The following ingedients and recipies are in her words with a few very minor changes because I thing Tanya put it the best way:

• Distilled white vinegar is a deodorizer, disinfectant, preservative and mild acid. It breaks up dirt, grease, mineral deposits, mold, and soap scum.
• Baking soda is a deodorizer and gentle scrub. It softens hard water, removes acidic stains, and polishes shiny surfaces like stainless steel without scratching them.
• Salt is a great basic scrub that will give you extra cleaning power.
• Lemon is a deodorizer, stain remover, and grease cutter. It acts as a mild bleach when exposed to sunlight except it smells way better than normal bleach.
• Olive oil helps polish and nourish wood.
• Borax is a mild natural alkali used as a water softener, and preservative, aiding in cleansing in cleansers and detergents.
• Essential oils such as eucalyptus, lavender, and tea tree are natural disinfectants and antifungals.

RECIPIES:
Lemon-Scented All-Purpose Cleaner
1 tbsp borax
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup hot water
Mix ingredients in a spray bottle (the lemon scent lingers). Use for cleaning bathroom and kitchen surfaces, as well as other water-safe surfaces. Discard any remaining cleaner and make a fresh batch next time.

Toilet Bowl Cleaner
1 cup vinegar
1/2 cup baking soda
Pour the vinegar directly into the toilet bowl and let stand for 30 mins. Sprinkle baking soda onto toilet brush and scour. To keep bowl fresh, pour 1 cup of vinegar into the toilet bowl once a month and let stand overnight.

Furniture Polish
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup vinegar
2 tsp lemon juice
Mix in spray bottle. Spray liberally on wood surfaces and wipe dry.

Drain Cleaner
For slow drains, use this drain cleaner once a week to keep drains fresh and clog free.

1/2 cup baking soda
1 cup white vinegar
1 gallon boiling water
Pour baking soda down the drain, followed by vinegar, and allow mixture to foam for several minutes before flushing the drain with boiling water.

All-Purpose Scrub
1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 of a lemon
Coat the lemon with baking soda and scrub with the lemon itself. Use a damp rag to wipe away any residue.

Mold + Mildew
2 cups distilled white vinegar
Pour vinegar into spray bottle and spray on infected area. The smell will dissipate in a few hours (open a window to speed up the process). For areas with persisent mold problems, use tea tree oil instead of vinegar, combining 2 drops of tea tree oil with 1 cup of water in a spray bottle. A natural antiseptic and fungicide will kill most types of mold and help prevent new growth.

All-Purpose Cleaner
1/2 cup vinegar
1/4 cup baking soda
2 liters water
Mix vinegar and bking soda with the 2 liters of water. Store and keep. Use for removal of water deposit stains on shower stall panels, bathroom chrome fixtures, bathroom mirrors, etc.

Enjoy!