Kids, Cars and Drive-Thrus

Back in the summer of '08, when summer was actually hot in June and we weren't contemplating building an Ark, I wrote a post about drive-thrus and how they are slowly murdering Mother Nature. I chalked them up to laziness and couldn't understand how anyone could see them in any other light.

Well, I stand corrected.

There is an excellent Blog post on the Ottawa Citizen website where a womyn (and mother) responds to the story of another mother in the Ottawa area who left her child in the car during 42 degree weather. Yes, 42 degrees. Then she left the car unlocked, which in this case was a positive thing because someone was able to retrieve the baby. The mother then came out and accused the other womyn of having kidnapped her baby. Oy vey! THEN it was released that the womyn was inside getting herself some ice cream.

I know.

So a journalist for the Citizen wrote a really interesting blog post about how she praises drive-thrus for helping mothers get things done while not having to leave their babies in the car or taking forever and a day to take the baby out and then putting the baby back in. This is particularly tricky if you've managed to get the baby to fall asleep and then you have to wake them to pick up a coffee. Even things like paying at the pump of the gas station allow mothers to keep their babies safe and in eye sight, while making the whole process speedy.

An FC kudos to the womyn who used her common sense and saved a baby from a sweltering car.

And thank you to journalist Melanie Coulson for correcting me in thinking that drive-thrus only benefit the lazy.

Mmmm.... Controversy.

There are few things that I love more than food and controversy. Today, we get a meal of both!

So I have rather mixed feelings about the position of Governor General but I have very good feelings about this particular GG. I've met her on two different occasions and was really impressed with how knowledgeable she really is in the areas in which she throws herself into. She's incredibly warm and although not 100% genuine (By that I mean that you can tell that she's "on") she's pretty great.

But apparently, by eating a piece of raw seal meat while visiting the North, she's 10 levels of awful.

Seriously? Give me a break.

Never mind the animal rights activists who've been touting the "CLUB SODA, NOT SEALS" crap for years, critics across the Pond are saying that what she did was a political act and that the GG is supposed to do ceremonial acts only.

Let's break that down.

Political Part: It's only been deemed political because mostly overseas critics (I'm looking at you, McCartney) have viewed the seal hunt as political. Hunting animals as a whole is not inherently political. It's been going on forever and if I'm correct, the Queen herself is a big fan. Hence why she's got dogs!

Furthermore, people use the "Ceremonial Symbol Only" balogna all the time but the Monarchy is pretty freakin' political in itself and much more controversial than eating meat, I would argue.

So GG -1, Critics - 0

Controversial Part: Regardless of how it became that way, yes the seal hunt in Canada is controversial. Personally, I'm a huge supporter of the seal hunt but that is not the point here. Attending the Inuit ceremony/event was not deemed controversial but only when she ate some of the meat was it deemed that way. Okay... well what if she hadn't eaten the meat? What if she had been offered and then refused? What kind of controversial message would that send? It would certainly be a giant slap in the face of Inuit people and seal hunters, too.

Once again, GG -2, Critics - 0

As far as I'm concerned, seal hunting is an indigenous way of life and a huge economic boost to people living in the North and on the Canadian Coast. And until anti-hunting asshats can come up with a more environmentally friendly and sustainable means of making money, then they can shut the hell up. And leave Madame Jean out of it, too! If for no other reason than the fact that she has fabulous shoes and used to host one of my favourite shows.

Cities Contemplate Banning Bottle Water

... and I say, "It's about damn time!".

The Canadian Federation of Municipalities is toying with the idea of banning the sale of bottled water on municipal properties.

Setting aside the very real fact that there's a water war brewing in this world and that water privatization is scary as hell, the existence of bottled water is killing our environment. Our landfills are filled with the stuff and even if every bottled was recycled, the environmental cost of making those bad boys is outrageous.

And then you throw in the various studies showing that most bottled water is no better than what you get from the tap and personally, I'm left scratching my head.

To me, bottled water is one of the biggest scams in existence. I see it in the same category as "Botox" where our children and their children will look at us and say "WTF were you think?" "You mean, you used to BUY water from a BOTTLE when you could get it from the tap?" And then they'll burst into laughter. Especially if the water wars continue and our children's children will be forced to buy water from a bottle because we'll have sold it all to a handful of corporations.

Treat your water like a commodity to be bought and sold and that's exactly what will happen.

So "Kudos" to those municipalities who decide to follow through on this. There will be tons of pressure from Coke, Pepsi and the like but I'm hoping they stick to their guns.

Drinking bottled water has become a cultural symbol, right up there with drinking from a Starbucks cup. It's a class symbol. But it's also learnt behaviour. And just as society is starting to shift towards carrying around travel mugs for their coffee, the same can be done for water.

This may blow some people's minds, but there are such things as water bottles that you buy and you use over and over and over again. Yup. You buy it once and you keep using it again and again. And you fill it up with whatever you want. I know, it's crazy. But you should try it. All the cool kids do.

Government Logic At Its Best

So Canada is going to “Help Poorer Nations Fight Climate Change” while also being an “avid cheerleader for asbestos”.

Climate Change = hip and cutting edge
Lung Cancer = so passé

Canada: A country that is really good at lookin’ good and not so good at being good.

Get Off your Ass AND Save a Tree!

Sticking it to the Man can get quite exhausting. In fact, paying attention to the world AT ALL is exhausting and not to mention, a huge downer. So it’s awfully refreshing to read a good piece of news, proof that there are some people in the world that are taking things in a good direction.

If you know anything about Canada, you know about the big boom that is Alberta. (If you don’t, you haven’t been reading one of the best blogs around). Either way, the place is booming and there are constant new developments. The Calgary City Council made a pretty stellar move recently when they disallowed a new business complex to have drive-thrus.

Their reasoning is that they are trying to build a sense of community and by having people stay in their cars to do pretty much everything these days, the chance of actually running into your neighbour and stopping to chat are slim to none.

There’s actually a really strong movement to outright ban drive-thrus in many municipalities and many are fighting for it to be law from coast to coast. The reason most often used is that drive-thrus are HORRIFIC for the environment. Think about it. You’re just sitting there, idling away with your arm out the window like a toddler, waiting for your pre-fab food. Or bank money. Or prescription. Yes, some pharmacies have drive-thrus now.

So I say, down with Drive-Thrus! Let's get off our asses and walk a few feet, shall we?

Alright so by positive news, I didn’t exactly mean world peace and candy for all, but! it’s a start, people.

**For those of you wanting to take action, there is an online petition here asking for the banning of drive-thrus. Online petitions are generally pretty inaffective but you can add your voice to the debate nonetheless.

Mother Nature is sinking and I don't wanna swim

Big news for the environment this week and like most things on this blog, the news is BAD.

It seems that a massive chunk of the Antarctic ice shelf has broken off and collapsed. Just to give you some perspective, the chunk of ice is bigger than Montreal. The city. In Quebec. Saddened, but not surprised, scientists are blaming the collapse on global warming. And the prospects aren’t exactly looking up when you consider that

“The rest of the Wilkins ice shelf, measuring more than twice the size of Prince Edward Island, is holding on by a narrow beam of thin ice.”

Obviously this is a big deal. So is the fact that Painkillers, other drugs found in southern Ontario drinking water. These “other drugs” include birth control and anti-depressants. Serious drugs with high hormone levels. The study is obviously ringing alarm bells for the 15 municipalities it includes, but it’s also a bad sign for the environment. The study concludes that they are “trace amounts”, which is enough for CBC respondents to go off about how you “take your own risks by drinking tap water” and “this is just another paranoid attack on big pharma”. But trace amounts are still amounts and add up with time. And let’s face it, we don’t really know that much about the effects of these drugs on aquatic life and the eco-system, since they are tested on peeps not animals. And with children hitting puberty at younger and younger ages, there is word that the link can be made to hormones found in water.

So I read this and think HOLY HELL. But apparently, Canadians aren’t too concerned. In fact, the biggest headline on Globe and Mail this morning when this was written?

No Rolling, No Winning. Context? A manufacturers default has made a bunch of Tim Hortons Roll Up The Rim To Win cups look as though they have already been rolled. Naturally, people are shitting bricks that Tim Hortons employees, who work shit hours for shit pay, have been rolling up the rims behind the counter and then handing them to customers.

Mother Nature is slowly crumbling - not a big deal. You quite possibly missed out on a free donut from the purchase of a low-grade, environmentally unconscious cup of coffee – massive deal.

Nice to see Canadians have got their priorities in order.

Catholic Church: Out of Touch and Lovin' It

So I’ve stated on here many-a-times before that yours truly is a pro-choice, lapsed Roman Catholic. I grew up in a Catholic household in the sense that I did all my fancy, smancy sacraments and attended Catholic school. I’ve now abandoned it and am morally opposed to organized religion. There are many reasons for this, mostly the hypocrisy and ignorance which hurts my soul.

Please take note of Exhibit A: Ottawa's Catholic archbishop says he will refuse communion to any politician who "obstinately" supports access to abortion, but only if he or she cannot be persuaded to stand down.

So if you’re an elected Member of Parliament who has gone through all the religious sacraments necessary to receive “the body of Christ” but you think that womyn should have the right choose, no bread for you.

My question is: who and what defines “obstinately” supporting access to abortion? Is it voting YES on certain Bills or is it only if you’re really into it and joining pro-choice rallies? And how exactly does this fellow intend to “persuade them to stand down”?

“Mr/Ms/Mrs Minister – If you don’t vote NO on such-and-such a Bill, you can’t have any bread. Why? Because I said so!”

This whole thing is really that paternalistic and truly hypocritical considering the history of the Catholic Church. They’re shunning pro-choice politicians from church ceremony but it took them forever to admit to histories of sexual abuse and they’re still trying to skirt away from the residential school controversy. Then there's the stuff like, you know.. the Crusades.

Not to mention the sheer hypocrisy of listening to not only a man, but a man sworn to celibacy, telling other people what their reproductive rights should be.

But! Fear Not Loyal Followers! Observe Exhibit B: The Pope says that polluting is a sin. Enviromentalists have been touting this line for years, but apparently it takes a decrepid old man in a funky hat to preach love for the Earth before it really sinks in.

So, does that mean we can expect the Pope mobile to be a hybrid?