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The Madness of Media

Local writer Dominic Ali recently released Media Madness, a new book targeting media literacy in kids aged 10 to 14. The 64-page book, which Ali describes as “Marshall McLuhan meets MAD magazine,” encourages children to ask basic questions about the media they consume, such as who created the message, why was it created, and who is its target audience.

“We want to show them how media is produced and what are some of the effects of it,” says Ali. “We have a tendency to strictly focus on whether shows are good or bad without thinking about some of the values that are being shown.”

Ali, who also works in the communications department of the David Suzuki Foundation, believes that media literacy is becoming increasingly important now that children are exposed to more media than ever. He points to a recent U.S. study by the Kaiser Family Foundation that concluded that American kids spend more than six hours a day consuming media and only an hour-and-a-half doing physical activity.

The book does teach children to question what they view, but Ali is also quick to point out that Media Madness is not an anti-media screed. “Ideally, this is the sort of book that will inspire kids to make their own media,” he says.

Media Madness is published by Kids Can Press and is available at various local bookstores and at amazon.ca. (Jon Azpiri)

Gambling Meets Recycling

Calgary City Councillor Ric McIver has proposed that the city consider implementing a “recycling lottery,” which consists of a prize draw using recycled products as tickets.

The idea is already in use in Norway, where people simply write their names and telephone numbers on a squashed drink carton and put it into the recycling bin to be entered into a draw for a chance to win more than $35,000 Cdn.

Norwegian government officials have been pleased with the results, claiming that the percentage of the population recycling cartons has more than doubled, from 30 per cent to 70 per cent, as a result of the contest.

The U.K.-based National Consumer Council is also hoping to start a recycling lottery in England. The NCC wants to create a lottery for batteries, stating that fewer than five per cent of them are recycled. An NCC-sponsored survey of more than 2,000 adults found that three-quarters of those questioned about a recycling lottery thought it was a good idea. (JA)

Biodiesel Is Smart

The City of Vancouver’s Community Climate Change Action Plan has organized two initiatives to help reduce car emissions throughout the city.

The city has worked with five other B.C. municipalities to purchase up to 80 million litres of a cleaner-burning alternative fuel to use in fleet vehicles. Over the next five years, Vancouver, Whistler, North Vancouver, Burnaby, Richmond, and Delta will use biodiesel, a natural fuel composed of renewable resources such as used vegetable oils, animal fats, and domestically produced oilseed crops such as soy, canola, and hemp.

Vancouver City Councillor David Cadman says that switching to the alternative fuel will help create a local market for biodiesel. “We hope to get enough critical mass to produce biodiesel locally and get the price down to be virtually the same as regular diesel,” says Cadman. “Once you do that, all sorts of people will adapt their fleets, as well.”

Also, city council unanimously adopted a motion that will offer an increased parking discount for fuel-efficient hybrids or diesel “smart” cars at the city’s EasyPark garages. EasyPark had previously offered hybrid owners a 25 per cent discount at many of its lots, but Mayor Larry Campbell, who proposed the idea, hopes to increase the discount to as much as 50 per cent. City officials say the price reduction could be in place as early as next month.

The Climate Change Action Plan proposes to reduce emissions citywide to six per cent below 1990 levels by 2012. (JA)

Meanwhile …

The Canadian government recently signed an agreement with car manufacturers to reduce emissions from automobiles by more than 15 million tons by 2010.

The reduction will be consistent with the first phase of the California Clean Car Law. Seven other U.S. states either have, or are in the process of adopting, clean car laws. With the addition of Canada, one-third of the North American auto market will have to meet California’s tougher emissions rules.

Environmental groups hope that these stricter laws will create a domino effect across the rest of the U.S. “The automakers will find it financially impossible to make one clean set of cars for eight states and Canada and a dirty set for the rest,” says Dan Becker, Washington director of the Sierra Club’s Global Warming Program.

However, other environmentalists say the new regulations are inadequate. According to the David Suzuki Foundation and the Pembina Institute, the deal is weakened by being voluntary, not mandatory. The agreement also exempts automakers from any responsibility for the trend towards larger, more inefficient vehicles and states that federal fiscal measures to encourage consumer purchase of efficient vehicles are not required. (JA)

Ads Get Rid of Complacency

For the second year in a row, AIDS Vancouver will be organizing a national HIV-prevention ad campaign targeted at gay men. The campaign, which starts June 9, will feature billboards, posters, and newspaper ads encouraging condom use among gay men. Health Canada provided $450,000 for the two-year campaign that will appear in 16 urban centres.

Last year’s campaign, entitled How Do You Know What You Know, was the first HIV public-awareness campaign directly targeting gay men. According to Phillip Banks of AIDS Vancouver, the ads were meant to jolt the gay community out of complacency. “We were looking at assumptions that some men made around the HIV-status of their partners and how those assumptions maybe led some people to taking risks that were going to transmit HIV to their partner or to themselves,” says Banks.

Several of the public service announcements featured black-and-white images of men in sexually intimate poses with the phrase “He’d tell me if he’s positive” and the tagline “How do you know what you know?” The graphic nature of the ads stirred up controversy: The Ottawa Citizen refused to run them, claiming that they were “explicit to the point of offending” and Pattison Outdoor refused to display the ads on its billboards.

This year, campaign organizers are focusing on the misperception among some people in the gay men’s community that condom use is not widespread. In fact, says Banks, 75 per cent of gay men regularly use condoms and he hopes this campaign will reach the remaining 25 per cent. “This campaign acknowledges that gay men are doing what they’re often told by the media that they aren’t doing,” says Banks. “We want to influence the men who aren’t using condoms because they believe it’s not a community norm.” (JA)

They’ve Got to Be Kidding

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has expressed outrage at the appointment of Matthew J. Hogan as acting director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Hogan was formerly the chief lobbyist for Safari Club International (SCI), a trophy-hunting organization that advocates the killing of rare species around the world.

SCI organizes competitions and offers awards for members to shoot animals such as rare leopards, lions, and rhinos. The SCI website even offers recipes for dishes such as Cougar Steaks and Dove Marsala. SCI members have tried to circumvent federal laws to import their rare trophies from other countries. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, now under Hogan’s watch, is the agency charged with granting or denying such trophy-import permits.

“The Fish and Wildlife Service should police trophy hunters and others who seek to harm wildlife,” says Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of HSUS. “They should not act as a procurement agency for people who simply wish to shoot rare animals as a means of improving their standing in the competitive world of trophy hunting.” (JA)

Save Water, Save Money

The city of Vancouver is offering Indoor Water Saver kits that could help residents use 15 to 20 per cent less water indoors and 10 to 15 per cent less energy for heating water. Each kit contains an adjustable massage-spray shower head, a dual setting touch-flow kitchen aerator, two faucet sink aerators, and other water conservation tools. The kit, which usually retails for $30, is available to Vancouver residents for $12 at Vancouver city hall in the client service centre on the main floor. For more info, visit vancouver.ca/water. (JA)

City Supports Native Youth Centre

The city of Vancouver has committed $2 million to the Native Youth Centre in East Vancouver, the first centre of its kind in Canada. The Urban Native Youth Association, which is spearheading the project, is working on raising $30 million. The result of their efforts will be a new three-level, 65,440 square-foot building at 1680 East Hastings. The centre will offer a range of services such as health care, childcare, and crisis intervention along with educational, recreational, and cultural programs. The province is contributing $1 million; various businesses have chipped in more than $1.4 million so far. (JA)

It’s Pretty, But Is It Ethical?

Some jewellers are working to get the rest of the gemstone industry to join the diamond industry in moving toward sustainable practices. Several years ago, the United Nations officially recognized the role of “conflict diamonds” in fuelling and prolonging violent conflicts in some countries, and urged the diamond industry to develop a global tracking system. In 2002, the diamond industry launched the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, which requires countries exporting diamonds to ship them in tamper-proof containers along with certificates guaranteeing that the packages are free of conflict diamonds. Countries receiving shipments have to certify that they have not been tampered with.

Now, several North American jewellery companies are trying to get importers of other gems to take similar action. Some of their suggested protocols include environmental protection, fair labour practices at the cutting and jewellery factories, and a tight chain of custody. They’re recommending that consumers who want to make ethical jewellery purchases should buy secondhand, remake a piece they already own, and ask retailers about whether they are addressing concerns about gemstone production. (Co-Op America)

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Business News

Clean and Green

Easywash Inc. recently broke ground on the world’s most eco-friendly car wash, scheduled to open in North Vancouver in five or six months. The car wash, on Mountain Highway, will use non-potable water extracted from an on-site 33-metre well. Eighty-five per cent of the well water used to wash the cars will be recycled to flush toilets and water greenery on the property. The car wash will not use any drinking water, saving approximately 24 million litres of treated drinking water each year. “That water is such a commodity,” says Easywash president Geoff Baker. “We don’t feel it is appropriate to use clean drinking water to wash vehicles.”

Meanwhile, the Greater Vancouver Regional District will likely impose restrictions on the use of drinking water this summer and is considering imposing a 25 per cent surcharge for summer water. Easywash would not be affected by such water restrictions or by-laws, since it won’t be using the GVRD’s water supplies.

Other Canadian cities, such as Calgary and Toronto, are so concerned about the effect of car washing on the water supply that they do not allow people to wash their cars in their driveways. “It’s not just the water consumption they’re looking at,” says Baker. “It’s the effluent that’s produced. When you wash your car with dish soap, detergent and chemicals are washed into the storm drains, which go straight into the rivers and streams.”

The North Vancouver car wash will also be built with sustainability in mind. Hydrogen fuel cells will power the entire facility, which will also feature energy-efficient appliances and natural lighting. Seventy-five per cent of the construction waste will be recycled.

Baker and partner Laura-Lee Normandeau have put together a team of private investors who will finance the $3.6 million project. The group is also looking at the possibility of opening several locations around the Lower Mainland.

“I can guarantee that, when the water restrictions are put in place, my phone will be ringing off the hook,” says Baker. (JA)

Tides + Technology = Power

Vancouver’s Clean Current Power Systems is starting a new tidal-power project that is the first of its kind in Canada. The five-year venture will provide electricity to Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific ’s educational and research centre at the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve, located between Victoria and Port Angeles, Wash.

Clean Current Power Systems will be testing its system, which uses a bi-directional ductal horizontal turbine with a direct drive variable speed magnetic generator, to convert kinetic energy from tides into electricity. Translation: “It’s like an underwater windmill,” says Glen Darou, Clean Current president and CEO. “It uses the same physics as a windmill, except that water is more than 800 times denser than wind, so there’s a lot more power in water.”

There are at least 15 other companies worldwide working to create a tidal-power technology that will eventually become the industry standard. Darou says Clean Current’s technology has better than 50 per cent “water-to-wire” efficiency, a significant improvement over competing free-stream tidal energy technologies. Clean Current hopes to refine its technology and have it available for commercial use by 2008.

Clean Current has received funding from Canada’s largest independent oil and gas producer, Calgary-based EnCana Corp., which is paying more than half of the project’s $3 million cost.

According to Darou, the predictability of tidal power makes it attractive to potential investors. “The tides are reliable,” says Darou. “They’re not affected by global warming. They’re a sun-moon gravitational system. They’re predictable on an 18- or 19-year cycle. We have people who we’re paying right now to develop a model that will tell us exactly how much energy we will be pulling out at every minute over the next 25 to 30 years.”

The Clean Current project is also benefiting Pearson College and the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve. The college will replace the two diesel generators it currently uses with the tidal-turbine generator, a move that will save them $18,000 a year in power costs. The school’s 200 students from 88 countries will also study the turbine technology, with the possibility that some will promote the technology when they return to their home countries. (JA)

Goodbye Greenhouse Gas

Morrison Machine Works (MMW), a Fort St. John–based manufacturer, has developed a new environmentally friendly fuel-injection system that could help oil and gas companies conform with the recently adopted Kyoto Accord. The MCI-300 “emotive force device” is a chemical injection system that recovers the energy lost at restrictions in gas pipelines and converts it into a linear force that helps maintain gas flow. By returning all gases to the pipeline, instead of venting into the atmosphere, the system eliminates the emission of greenhouse gases. Several large international oil and gas companies have tested the prototypes, and MMW president Jim Morrison is in negotiations with an international pump manufacturer about a joint venture for manufacturing and sales. (JA)

New Grants Coming Right Up

The federal government plans to offer new grants for people converting their cars to run on natural gas.

Natural Resources Canada recently ended a pilot program that offered incentives towards EPA-certified natural-gas conversions, and will start a new program to subsidize conversions of newer, larger vehicles. According to Markus Wenzel of the Langley-based company ECO Fuel Systems, the plan is to promote a new sequential injection natural gas system similar to the technology used for gas vehicles. Eventually the new technology, with high-pressure fuel storage, dispensing, and transmission systems, will pave the way for the introduction of hydrogen-based fuels.

“We need to maintain the advantage of cleaner fuel technology to use cleaner fuels properly,” says Wenzel. “This new technology does that and Natural Resources Canada has realized it and put a grant out. Because the systems are more expensive than the old ones, they feel that the only way they can get the new technology into the marketplace is to put incentives in the good technology so the old technology will fall by the wayside.”

The majority of ECO Fuel’s customers are companies with large-fleet vehicles, although they do also work with people who want to reduce their own car’s emissions. Converting a car to the new technology costs $5,000 to $6,000, but the government subsidies for eligible vehicles should cut the cost to the customer by at least 50 per cent. See ecofuel.com. (JA)

Meeting of Minds

The third annual international conference of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) is taking place in Vancouver next month (June 2 to 5). Speakers include David Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World ; Jim Hightower, former agriculture commissioner in Texas, now an author and commentator; Cliff Fregin, co-owner of Haida Bucks Café in Masset and chief operating officer of the National Aboriginal Capital Corporation Association; and David Suzuki, scientist and author. Topics to be discussed include alternative transportation, local food systems, the media, and business models for sustainability. (See ballebc.com.) (JA)

Big Boost for Stanley Theatre

Vancouver-based Industrial Al-liance Pacific Life Insurance recently donated $1.5 million to the Stanley Theatre, the largest corporate donation to a Vancouver arts organization in recent history. The money will be used to help repay the theatre’s mortgage.

This donation marks the start of a 20-year partnership among Industrial Alliance Pacific, the Arts Club Theatre Company, and the Stanley Theatre Society. The Stanley Theatre will be re-named the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage.

Industrial Alliance Pacific has been a long-time supporter of the arts. The company has sponsored a Stanley Theatre production every year since 2000 and is the title sponsor of the Festival Vancouver’s Industrial Alliance Pacific First Nations Longhouse Series. The company has also supported events by the Vancouver Art Gallery and Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

The new sign for the theatre will be unveiled this month. (JA)

More Recognition for VanCity

VanCity Credit Union won the Ceres- ACCA North American Sustainability Reporting Award for its environmental, social, and sustainability reporting. VanCity is the first financial institution in North America to win the award, which is designed to encourage excellence in sustainability reporting and corporate transparency. The company was praised for its “triple bottom-line thinking,” which takes into account environmental, social, and financial performance. (JA)

In other news…

A Natural Perspective is the first online retailer to offer a line of Canadian-made, natural skin-care products. The Quebec-based company sells products with an emphasis on promoting each province. The product line includes glacial marine clay found only on B.C.’s northern coastline, newly discovered pristine salts from the prairies, and handcrafted goat’s milk soaps made in Quebec. See anaturalperspective.com.… The Radha Yoga & Eatery, a Downtown Eastside yoga centre, recently won a library of 50 world music CDs from CBC’s Roots & Wings radio broadcast. The centre will provide a space for the public to listen to the music collection. (JA)

Remember, They Touch Food

Waiting tables is not only a reliable money-maker, it also offers endless insights into humanity.

Restaurant staffers are now sharing these insights online at sites like bitterwaitress.com, waiterrant.blogspot.com and stainedapron.com. For insiders, the sites are a long-awaited opportunity to vent on-the-job frustrations. (And who wouldn’t rather they vent online than in the kitchen.)

But for foodies who’ve never had the tables turned, some of the sites’ contents might come as a shock.

You’ll find rants about customer conduct archived under headings like “War Stories,” “Keep Your Brats at Home!”, and bitterwaitress ’s wildly popular “Shitty Tipper Database”, where servers crunch numbers and name names.

The sites also feature crash courses in restaurant etiquette. The Stained Apron offers “Customer 101” and “How to Make Service More Efficient” classes that will remind you to be exceptionally kind to the people who touch your food.

You’re also welcome to post your counter-rants. (One non-tipper spoke out on The Stained Apron, advising servers to “stop whining and ask your manager for a raise.” (Andi McDaniel)

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Web Sightings

Fried Dough: Gotta Love It
home.comcast.net/~osoono/ethnic-doughs.htm

A strangely interesting catalogue of doughnuts, churros, gulab jamuns, fritters, and other doughy desserts. Features information on 35 different fried treats from dozens of countries.

The Way We Were
archives.cbc.ca/IDD-1-69-1587/life_society/60s/

A collection of vintage CBC footage including interviews with Leonard Cohen and Marshall McLuhan as well as features on Expo ’67 and John and Yoko’s famous Montreal Bed-In.

They Rule
theyrule.net

A dynamic representation of the relationships between some of America’s most powerful corporate executives, who often sit on the boards of several different companies. Interlocking maps vividly illustrate which companies they are involved with and how the companies might gain from such a relationship.

Yes, It’s Pointless
blinkorama.blogspot.com

An entertaining time-waster: a series of photos of celebrities caught in mid-blink.

From Here to Moscow
vancouvertomoscow.com

An ongoing diary of two Vancouver men, Colin Angus and Tim Harvey, as they trek from Vancouver to Moscow by bicycle, foot, canoe, and rowboat to raise the profile of zero-emission transportation.

They’re Good for Something
bigboxreuse.com

Art student documents how communities are re-using big box stores after large franchises have abandoned them. Several photos of former Wal-Marts that have been converted into elementary schools, courthouses, and a Spam museum (luncheon “meat”, not junk e-mail).

43 Folders
wiki.43folders.com/index.php/Unsorted_life_hacks

A series of tips and tricks, loosely inspired by David Allen’s bestseller Getting Things Done, to help you get organized. Such as the forehead ticket trick: the car doesn’t move until everyone takes out their ticket and holds it to their forehead.

Bush? Fascist?
bushflash.com/14.html

A short film that’s worth checking out.

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Eavesdropping

“I’ve been a securities regulator for 20 years, and I’ve seen more money stolen in the name of God than in any other way.”

Deborah Bortner, director of securities for Washington state and past president of the North American Securities Administrators, in the B.C. Securities Commission brochure “Culture, Religion & Scams”. The investor alert gives details on how to avoid “affinity fraud”, in which a con artist joins a religious, ethnic, or other close-knit group of people, intentionally gains their trust, and then rips them off.

“Not only was I one of the top emitters in the world, because I was American, I was one of the worst Americans because I spent so much time flying to and from scientific conferences to talk about climate change. Teaching about climate change by day and emitting at night. I lived a Jekyll and Hyde kind of life.”

Jonathan Foley, climatology professor, University of Wisconsin. Plenty magazine

“Don’t eat anything bigger than your head.” Miss Piggy

“There’s a lot of hostility toward science in America right now,” Columbia University professor Peter Bearman, in a Globe and Mail article about U.S. scientists who say the American government is messing with their research for political reasons, including satisfying the religious right.

“I believe in dying of a broken heart. I think that it does happen.” Dr. Howard Dombrower of the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care in Toronto. Globe and Mail

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Mother’s Day: Some Facts

Number of children in the world: 2.2 billion

Number of children living in poverty: one billion

Life expectancy of a child born in Japan in 2003: 82 years

Life expectancy of a child born in Zambia in 2003: 33 years

Number of children who have no access to safe water: 400 million; one in five

Number of children who have no access to health services: 270 million; one in seven

Daily toll of children who die before their fifth birthday: 29,158

Number of children who die each day because they lack access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation: 3,900

Estimated number of children under 14 years old in sub-Saharan Africa who are HIV-positive: 1.9 million

Number of children worldwide who died in 2003 before they were five: 10.6 million; most deaths could have been prevented

Number of primary-school-age children who are out of school: 121 million; most are girls

Estimated number of children killed in conflicts since 1990: 1.6 million

Estimated increase in the under-five mortality rate during a “typical” five-year war: 13 per cent

Total number of children younger than five living in France, Germany, Greece, and Italy: 10.6 million

Number of children who have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS worldwide: 15 million

Source: UNICEF