Green Guelph

Yep. I ran into Ceri from Haven Designs (See her business in the business directory) today and she’s creating an environmental nursery right now. And when I say nursery I mean changing diaper’s kind of nursery not the changing soil type of nursery. Although I guess both can soil something? It’s for babies okay.

Anyways…She invited me over to see what she’s doing to make this all come together. It won’t be for a while as it’s in the “stages” of something? But when it’s all together I’m going to do a video of it and allow her to explain what she’s done so you can all see it.

Cam Guthrie

I thought this was an interesting statement from Jason Bovington who was interviewed by the Guelph Mercury today.

He said the following…

Gotta be honest….that seems like an odd statement. Unless he moved from living in a coal factory in China, then his statement is totally acceptable to me.

***UPDATE*** as of March 9th.

I recently found on a different blog someone by the name of “Mr. Detector” (not his real name, hiding his identity because he’s not brave enough.), complaining that I was being rude to Jason for moving to Guelph because of being known for it’s environmental leadership. Just to clarify folks – the above posting was written with a feeling of surprise when I originally read Jason’s statement, as I’ve heard of people moving to a different location due to jobs, family, a girlfriend or boyfriend etc…but I’ve never in my life heard of someone moving due to a city known as being environmentally friendly. That statement was a first for me and probably for most of you as well. I will continue to stand behind the fact that I did find it to be an odd statement. I truly believe most people would agree with me, and most people I’ve talked to do.

But that doesn’t mean Jason’s statement was wrong! Furthermore, it was not meant as a “jab” against Jason at all! If in fact that is his reason for moving to Guelph, (which I’m sure it is ), then that’s great and we’re glad to have him here. I’m sure he will most likely add to the environmental causes within Guelph which in-turn will benefit all of us as well.

Although the other person who brought this to my attention is a very negative person and to me doesn’t seem like they want to contribute anything of substance to Green Guelph.ca, I do appreciate him bringing up this observation so that I could re-look at how I originally wrote the entry and I immediately concluded that his point was valid and I needed to correct it. Which I feel I’ve done here.

In conclusion I think the best way to sort-out this situation is by saying:

and…

“Welcome to Guelph Jason, welcome to Guelph!”

I made it up to the Cutten Club with my 2 kids in tow for the open house on the Solid Waste Management of Guelph last night. Interesting. I thought the event was very good. City staff were on hand to answer questions that you may have had. Mayor Farbridge and I had a good chat. The Green Party was out in full force as well. They handed you a questionnaire on the way in asking for your opinions on many matters. You got free drinks, some snacks and then a reusable bag with logo on it on the way out. I got 3 of them! (It pays to bring kids with you…ha!)

Here’s a picture of my kids standing in front of one of the many posters on display. (Coming soon. My wife took the camera tonight…)

There are 3 guiding principles that the City is using to figure out our Solid Waste Management plan. Here they are:

- CLICK HERE – 3 GUIDING PRINCIPLES

One of the questions on the survey was:

” The Provincial Targets are 60% diversion rates. Should Guelph meet or exceed these rates?”

So Guelph, what do you think? And don’t just answer “YES” or “NO”. Give some reasoning behind your answer. Maybe suggest why we should or shouldn’t or how we could exceed it.

Our diversion rate has fallen since the closure of WET/DRY plant. Keep that in mind while answering the above question.

Finally there was spot on the survey for further comments and I wrote pretty much what I’ve been suggesting since the closure of the WET/DRY plant: Guelph is not an Island and doesn’t have a fence around it. See if we can partner with other municipalities first. See if there’s common ground to be had. If an opportunity came up to develop an incinerator that burned clean and created energy or products and this cost could be shared. We may be able to divert even more waste and take a lot of trucks driving up and down the 401 off the road. The U.S.A is going to close up shop to allowing us to truck our junk to them sooner than later I feel. Hey, as long as it’s PROVEN TECHNOLOGY that won’t fall apart in 15 years. That’s a good starting point.

Have a good night folks,

Cam Guthrie

Hey! Thanks everyone for continuing to make greenguelph.ca your site for everything green within Guelph. 1270 visitors since starting this site just 4 months ago! Please keep passing the word around to friends and family!

Cam Guthrie

The red dot campaign! WHAT? Yeah, that’s what I said the first time I heard of this.  Apparently you can sign up with Canada Post to have your file “Red Dotted” so that you will not recieve bulk mail delivered to your door. Canada Post says this program has been going on for about 10 years. I did not know that! I’ve seen stickers at peoples doors saying NO JUNK MAIL but I didn’t know that you could actually sign up for a program like this.

So this could very well be a benefit in two ways (I’m sure there’s more than two but this is all I could think of):

#1. No more junk mail – Admit it, it can be a nuisance.

#2. No more flyers actually flying! IS it just me or do the delivery people never take the time to put them in my mailbox so it just blows all over the place? Sorry – just venting a bit.

Most major retailers have their weekly flyers available on-line so you can sign up for them there and recieve them electronically.

I will say though, I’m a sucker for the Future Shop and Canadian Tire flyers. If only for a few moments I can dream of the big plasma television and the tools to install it on my wall! Ha!

Here are some interesting STATS that I found for you:

• 67% of Canadians are not interested in flyers and advertising that comes in the mail.
• 25% of Canadians discard them without reading.

So what do you think Guelph? Is this something you should look at doing? Go to www.reddotcampaign.ca for more details.

Please post your comments here if you have already done this or what other action steps you’ve taken to reduce the junk-mail that comes to your door. It would be interesting to hear other stories.

Cam Guthrie

I received a great phone call about a week ago asking me to write 6 articles about the environment within Guelph for the Publication “Guelph Homes & Lifestyles”. This publication get sent to about 35,000 homes within Guelph, 6 times a year totalling 210,000 and it’s starting this month.

Look for the article this month describing what greenguelph.ca is all about!

Thanks for your support everyone! Thank you for promoting your businesses and stories! Since November 2007 we have had over 1100 people visit this site.

Cam Guthrie

Below is an article from the Guelph Mercury about drive-thrus. What’s my stand on it? If there’s hardly any line-up and I’m running late – I use it. If I have my children in the back of my car – I use it.  However, I prefer going in as much as possible. I will say though, a few times when I’ve been caught in a long line-up or when the person in front of me has ordered every sandwich and toasted bagel on the menu, I will turn my car off while waiting.  I do not think that putting a penalty on consumers by charging them more for going through a drive-thru is a good idea.

It’s an interesting debate. To find the balance for the business, the consumer and the environment. One I hope you will discuss here.

So….what do you think Guelph? Can a balance be found? Please post a comment on this…

RECORD PHOTO

RECORD PHOTO

Like many cities in Ontario, Guelph has been discussing what to do about drive-thrus.

The city currently has no plans to put the brakes on new drive-thru facilities, but there has been some talk about looking closer at the issue from several perspectives — including pedestrian safety, the environment and urban design.

“I think there is a lot of interest in Guelph, both in terms of council and the citizenry, in looking into that,” said Councillor Lise Burcher.

Kitchener has been looking at its drive-thru policies after two recent decisions from the Ontario Municipal Board that supported the city in blocking drive-thru restaurants. Councillors there appear to favour new rules that would require buildings with drive-thrus to have direct access for pedestrians that keeps them away from the car lanes.

London, Hamilton, Mississauga and Winnipeg already have policies that limit new drive-thru construction.

As part of the commercial policy plan adopted in 2006, the City of Guelph puts some restrictions on where drive-thrus can be constructed. A building cannot put a drive-thru between the building and the street, or at the intersection of two streets.

“It’s an esthetic thing,” said Scott Hannah of the city’s planning department.

When a drive-thru could raise pedestrian safety concerns, the city addresses that through the site plan review process before the construction can go ahead, he added.

Internally, city staff have been discussing the environmental implications of drive-thrus, Hannah said.

“Other municipalities are tackling the same thing,” he said. “There hasn’t been any direction from council yet.”

The city is currently looking at its idling bylaw, which could affect drive-thrus, Burcher said.

In addition to the pollution from cars idling while their drivers wait for their burgers or coffee, drive-thrus can also discourage people from walking into the restaurant, she added.

“It creates an unfriendly pedestrian environment,” she said. “In general, it creates barriers, or breaks in the pedestrian network.

“There are all kinds of things we need to look at comprehensively.”

Guelph resident Brian Holstein has been unofficially campaigning against drive-thrus for a while. He said he would support anything the city does to get more people turning off their engines and walking from their car to the restaurant.

“There is really no need for them,” he said about drive-thrus. “There is a want for them, but there is no need for them.”