Snöfiskkaviar!

yay! Woke up to white stuff on the ground and it's still falling. *glee*

Sux

So, we already knew that Toronto sucks, but I guess didn't realise just how much.

So, a year and a half ago I took a quiz to determine how many Earths we would need if everyone lived like me. It turned out the answer was 2.4, which totally blows.

My lifestyle isn't substantially different now from how it was then in terms of the choices I make, but where I live has severely constrained those choices. For example, I can't use my bike as my primary mode of transportation anymore because here in the suburbs nothing is fucking biking distance, but we can't live downtown because it's too damned expensive. Also, I buy all my groceries at supermarkets, because that's the only place there is, which means that I have no idea how much, if any, is locally grown.

Now it would take 3.4 Earths to sustain 6.5 billion of me.

Stupid Toronto. grmblgrmbl

Not yet...

The temperature is high and the ground is wet and puddle-y, but the rain drops swirling around under the street lamp are starting to look suspiciously flake-like.

Snöfiskcaviar

Well, it's a bit late for my tastes, and there isn't very much of it, but the white stuff that dusted the ground last night is still there, and I can no longer comfortably hang out on the balcony in just jeans and a tank top. As winter goes, it's not much, but I'll take it.

Hold Your Nose with Your Left Hand

It'll leave the right one free for shaking Pat Robertson's.
Look, the guy's an asshole, a racist, a homophobe, a misogynist, and I have no intention of calling him a friend or even an ally generally, but we need him.

He has finally accepted the reality of global warming. His reason (it's been really fucking hot this summer) is as unscientific as they come, but people listen to him and we need him. I know, I know, fucking Pat Robertson, but we need him. People listen to him. He's enough of a bigot and a moron otherwise that people take him seriously, and if he starts supporting Kyoto, and encouraging Americans to reduce their CO2 outputs, and telling people to invest in renewable energy, it could make a huge difference.

Mourn your personal integrity later. Right now we have a planetary ecosystem to save.

Nothin' to Prove but the Groove

It's true that it's a sport. There's no game more fun than "bug-the-vegetarian". Unless you are one.

I'm sick of being wishy-washy about this.

I'm sick of hiding behind "It's a personal choice."

I'm sick of it all so I'm just going to say it.

Eating meat is wrong. If you live in a first world country and you don't have a medical condition that would prevent you from being vegetarian, you have no excuse. I know that each situation is different, and people need to judge for themselves what is best for their lives, which is why I would never tell people that they should be vegetarian, and I certainly wouldn't support any kind of vegetarianising legislation, but that's beside the point. Not everything that should be legal is right, and the only realistic way to maintain all our civil rights is if we exercise descretion in using them. Eating factory-farmed meat is cruel to the animal and bad for the environment. Eating free-range meat is somewhat less so, but that's not saying much. Now when it comes to people doing things that are wrong, I'm hardly in a position to cast the first stone, but I'm sick of pretending I don't think what I think. Eating meat is wrong and our reliance on it as a society needs to stop.

There's nothing I can do to make people stop eating meat, but I beg every meat eater who reads this post to really think about it. THINK about it. Do you *need* to eat meat? Do you need to eat as much as you do? If not, why do you? Is your pleasure and convenience worth the loss of the rainforests? Is it worth antibiotic-resistent bacteria? Is it worth upset ecosystems and loss of subsistence farmland and starving people who need the calories that our cows and pigs burn off as heat? Is it worth it? Really?

Just think about it. Please.


_____
title taken from the Ember Swift song Include My Food.

If Everyone Lived Like Me

According to the Earth Day Footprint Quiz, I use up 4.4 hectares. While this is only half as much space as the average Canadian uses, it's still considerably more than the 1.8 biologically productive hectares per person that the Earth can provide.

What this means is that if everyone lived like me, we would need 2.4 Earths to sustain us.

Would my readers care to take the quiz and tell me how much more than their fair share they use?

Utterly Inappropriate

Last week it rained and was above freezing. It went all the way up to 10 degrees. This week it's at least snowing, but it's still above freezing and the slush and puddles are much more Toronto-esque than what one would expect to find in Montreal.

My birthday is in two days. I have had a nose-bitingly cold birthday every year of my life and if I don't have one this year I will hold Reagan, Bush, OPEC, the automotive and aeronautical industries, and every single SUV driving, air-conditioning-cranking, meat-eating, suburbanite asshole responsible, and though I have neither the time nor the resources to kick all their asses personally, I will be sending them some VERY BAD VIBES.

I had better have proper winter weather on my birthday. That's all I'm saying.

Joy to the World...

...the sun is come.

The days will start getting longer now. Hopefully moods will be lifting as well. Despite the lack of sunlight, and my attendant grumpth, this is my favourite time of year. I spend it surrounded by loved ones, in light and warmth. There is always good food, warm drinks, and conversation around the fireplace. There is always snow and cold on the outside, and blankets and couches on the inside. There are always arguments; there is always strife. But we wouldn't be us if there weren't.

There are dogs to walk, pies to bake, potatoes to mash, and yes, even a turkey to roast.

There are candles to light, and latkes to fry, and chocolates and oranges in abundance.

I'll be there in less than 48 hours. I can't wait.