Its funny that basis things like working plumbing, or access go clean water could be considered luxurious.
I would keep my current job as well but take a day off each week (instead of one of my weekend days) to cleanup my surrounding neighbourhood. I would probably use the extra income to repair some wood benches, buy paint to cleanup graffiti on walls, and throw down grass seeds along local trails.
The Federal Communications Commission voted 3–2 to impose net neutrality rules today, restoring the common-carrier regulatory framework enforced during the Obama era and then abandoned while Trump was president....
I believe I have heard about the rule being implemented recently within BC. Which is great!
Myself I am located in Ontario, but seeing first hand on highways I don’t believe trucks have any limiters on them here. They pretty much drive in all lanes as well weaving in and out all over the place.
Many times I am pushing on average 110-115km/h down the Hwys here (such as the 401) and a 53 footer barrels past me at around 120-130km/h
Not sure about others, but I for sure don’t feel safe, let alone thinking about my kids on the same hwy. No reason so much weight should be traveling at such high speeds.
I agree on all points you made. Especially the need for Canada to get its shit together and get rail back in play for long distance freight. No reason to use 53’ for everything.
I would even go as far as mandate if freight travels farther then a set distance rail is mandatory. Maybe 80km from a distribution hub?
Rail should be for long distance, with products coming to distribution hubs within towns/cities by rail. Then shipping for last mile delivery should be on smaller 10’-15’ truck or a 9’ cargo van for anything within city limits.
Hopefully someone from one of the european countries can chime in on this.
From my own experience driving in Europe in areas like Spain and Germany larger trucks are limited to 80km/h Max and cannot pass each other on hwys. Unless its a very specific section and especially not on uphill sections at all.
From what I seen as well is when one truck trys to pass another the truck being passed drops speed to allow the overtake to happen as quickly as possible allowing the truck to merge back into the far right lane.
Though trucking is alot more regulated in the EU in terms of size and length of trucks and trailers, as well as safety and speed.
Never too late or too soon to go out and improve aspects of your community.
Simple items like picking up a few peices of litter on your streets, in your local parks, or on any nearby trails. Every little bit helps, and the more local residents in the area do the same thing, the more beautiful and inviting your city becomes.
Microsoft is starting to enable ads inside the Start menu on Windows 11 for all users. After testing these briefly with Windows Insiders earlier this month, Microsoft has started to distribute update KB5036980 to Windows 11 users this week, which includes “recommendations” for apps from the Microsoft Store in the Start menu....
Producers and retailers should be held responsible for taking back all packagings and products that reach their end of life. This should then be recycled by the manufacturer and producers.
We should really take more issue with manufactures charging us for products, and the then us also having to pay in our taxes for the disposal of those products when they reach end of life.
I want to be able to return the plastics and packagings back to the store once I don’t need them anymore, same as I want to be able to bring my TV and appliances back to the same store and get a small credit back for the materials of those items.
I don’t want manufactures taking advantage of the garbage collection services that I pay for in my taxes. Or at the very least I want them to pay the full cost of those services in terms of social and environmental costs.
The largest gold heist in Canadian history was carried out with remarkable ease: A fraudulent shipping document for a load of farm-raised Scottish salmon was used to brazenly snatch $14.5 million in gold bars and nearly $2 million in bank notes
Its a good point, reuse is always better then recycling. But if we can reduce the amont of trash being sent to landfills that would have not been reused and help recycle it, this would be a win IMO.
Most glass bottles for example can be reused, but get a dollar to promote it being recyclable is better then not getting anything and sending it to the landfill.
10 dollars for a old phone in your pocket is better then you paying out of your pocket in taxes for local garbage and litter collection.
I think also worth noting is the 10$ for the phone is the “material cost”, the cost of the gold, silver, copper. Its not the “intrinsic value” of the phone, as the phone is not being resold, but in a ideal world being torn apart to build a new one.
I guess if every Canadian started calling every staples store in Canada asking about this, it would be a great way for this program to get implemented right away. No reason we can’t have this here aside from perception. (If it does not exist like you say)
Unfortunately this could be the case and the cynic in me feels this could be a green washing scheme like you said.
But hopefully with what some cities are doing now with charging the full economic and social cost of blue & black bin programs to companies and manufactures this could start having a real good impact.
Specially since most manufactures shift the cost of recycling and trash to communities and tax payers. Instead this cost should be internalised by the manufacturer and retailer.
Hopefully this kind of shift promotes better sustainable packaging, and prevents things like planed obsolescence and fast fashion.
We need to bring our cities back to human scale and not car scale.
Cities need to become more “dense” and have less aboveground car parking lots spreading everything out large distances. Think of a Walmart parking lot, have you ever walked to the store across the parking lot, or just drove instead? This is what’s happening in all cities.
We need cities where we can walk, cycle, and take transits such as trams, subways and trains.
Everything should be within a 15-20 minute walk or cycle around us, and we should not have to cross 7 or 8 car lanes of traffic.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday designated a pair of widely used industrial chemicals as hazardous substances under the country’s Superfund program, accelerating a crackdown on toxic compounds known as “forever chemicals.”...
We should really start holding companies and manufacturers responsible for all the single use items they produce. Too much do manufactures and companies create items and then put the burden of cleanup and disposal on tax payers, society, and the environment.
Simple things like a single-use coffee cup costs nothing for the manufacturer, but the cost is “transferred” to the city in garbage and recycling costs. And when that coffee cup becomes litter on the street, or ends up in an ocean or pond, it cost society both cleanup cost and indirectly healthcare costs (when the plastics end up inside us).
Cities and governments should for example start charging the full cost of public waste and recycling collection.
Manufacturers should also be legally responsible to receive back all packaging and products they produce and they should be responsible for the disassembly and recycling of those products.
This could have the added benefit of stopping things like fast fashion, and planned obsolescence in everyday items and appliances.
Think of how beer and liquor stores take back and recycle their bottles, this should also include the cardboard and packaging.
Some cheerful news!
Shout out to staple for now taking back all recyclable waste. More companies should start doing this!!
If a universal basic income started today with the stipulation that you had to put 40 hrs/wk towards making the world a better place or solving societal problems, how would you spend your time?
FCC restores net neutrality rules that ban blocking and throttling in 3-2 vote (arstechnica.com)
The Federal Communications Commission voted 3–2 to impose net neutrality rules today, restoring the common-carrier regulatory framework enforced during the Obama era and then abandoned while Trump was president....
New truckers in Canada aren't being trained well enough. How do we fix that? (www.cbc.ca)
Cyclist cleans road signs as a hobby (www.bbc.com)
A cyclist’s new hobby of cleaning street signs has already taken him as far afield as Belgium....
Airlines will now be required to give automatic cash refunds for canceled and delayed flights (apnews.com)
Windows 11 Start menu ads are now rolling out to everyone (www.theverge.com)
Microsoft is starting to enable ads inside the Start menu on Windows 11 for all users. After testing these briefly with Windows Insiders earlier this month, Microsoft has started to distribute update KB5036980 to Windows 11 users this week, which includes “recommendations” for apps from the Microsoft Store in the Start menu....
Ottawa wants to find how much plastic producers are making, and where it ends up (www.cbc.ca)
Plastic producers will be required to detail the quantity and type of plastic they put into the Canadian market under new rules announced Monday....
Canada’s gold heist: Inside one of the biggest thefts in the annals of crime | CNN (amp.cnn.com)
The largest gold heist in Canadian history was carried out with remarkable ease: A fraudulent shipping document for a load of farm-raised Scottish salmon was used to brazenly snatch $14.5 million in gold bars and nearly $2 million in bank notes
Staples new plan is to recycle nearly everything — and pay their customers for it (www.thecooldown.com)
Check out the full list of what staples accepts now part of their expanded recycling programs....
spoiler: they're not (www.resilience.org)
cross-posted from: slrpnk.net/post/8772597...
US designates PFAS chemicals as Superfund hazardous substances (www.reuters.com)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday designated a pair of widely used industrial chemicals as hazardous substances under the country’s Superfund program, accelerating a crackdown on toxic compounds known as “forever chemicals.”...
Toronto the Good? Seems more like Toronto the Hostile now (www.thestar.com)