What Would Jesus Buy?

Sho•po•ca•lypse [shah PAW kuh lips] n. The end of mankind from consumerism, over-consumption and the fires of eternal debt!

From the man that brought you Supersize Me... A harsh critic of the consumerism hysteria that comes about during the holiday season - What Would Jesus Buy?



This movie is definitely on my To-Watch list.

Top ten: News stories from National Geographic 2007

National Geographic recently listed their top ten news stories of 2007.

10. Meteor Crash in Peru Caused Mysterious Illness (September 21, 2007) Headaches and nausea in residents who visited the impact crater were caused by arsenic fumes from a rare kind of meteorite, scientists announced.

9. Jesus' Tomb Found in Israel, Filmmakers Claim (February 26, 2007) A tomb that once held the remains of Jesus of Nazareth—and those of his wife and son—has been found in a suburb of Jerusalem, according to the makers of a controversial film.

8. Interspecies Sex: Evolution's Hidden Secret? (March 14, 2007) Hybridization is not only widespread in nature, but it might also spawn many more new species than previously thought, a new study says.

7. Huge Underground "Ocean" Found Beneath Asia (February 27, 2007) A giant blob of water the size of the Arctic Ocean has been discovered hundreds of miles beneath eastern Asia, scientists report.

6. "Dinosaur Mummy" Found; Has Intact Skin, Tissue (December 3, 2007) Scientists announced the discovery of an extraordinarily preserved "dinosaur mummy"—a 67-million-year-old hadrosaur with much of its tissues and bones still encased in an uncollapsed envelope of skin.

5. Crater From 1908 Russian Space Impact Found, Team Says (November 7, 2007) Almost a century after a mysterious explosion in Russia flattened a huge swath of Siberian forest, scientists have found what they believe is a crater made by the cosmic object that created the blast.

4. Stonehenge Settlement Found: Builders' Homes, "Cult Houses" (January 30, 2007) A major prehistoric village unearthed near Stonehenge likely housed the builders of the famous monument, archaeologists say, and was an important ceremonial site.

3. Mass Plague Graves Found on Venice "Quarantine" Island (August 29, 2007) Ancient mass graves containing more than 1,500 victims of the bubonic plague have been discovered on a small island in Italy's Venetian Lagoon.

2. Monster Glowing Squid Caught on Camera (February 14, 2007) Monster-size, deep-sea squid that use their glowing arms to blind and stun their prey have been filmed in the wild for the first time off southeastern Japan, scientists say.

1. Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says (February 28, 2007) Simultaneous warming on Earth and Mars suggests that our planet's recent climate changes have a natural—and not a human-induced—cause, according to a controversial theory

Dreaming of greener holidays

This year, I've made a personal commitment to making this holiday season a bit greener than the last. I've participated in the holiday season in the past, knowing that I'm having a negative impact on the environment, but ignoring the consequences. So, here's my plan...

1. Stay out of the malls! Shop locally and support the downtown community. I'm also going to go to craft-fairs and markets. This will mean that I will have to plan ahead to get all my shopping done early to avoid the last minute panic dash to the mall. (It's probably going to make me less stressed in the long run too)

2. No more useless gifts! I'm not going to by "stuff" for the sake of a present. I'm going to by thoughtful and meaningful presents. This might also mean that instead of buying a big item I'll buy tickets to a concert or restaurant gift cards. For the people on the list that I'd normally buy smaller gifts for, instead of giving a trinket, I'll bake some cookies or make Irish cream. Maybe I'll even knit something.

3. No more paper! I'm not wrap any of my present. I might put a bow or ribbon to dress it up a bit. If I get really ambitious, I might sew a gift bag out of scraps of material. So, if you get an unwrapped present from me this year, it's not because I'm lazy, it's because I love you.


Those are my three goals for this year. Nothing too extraordinary, or innovative. Simple stuff. There's lots of other things that we all can do this year too.

- serve local produced and/or organic food and beverages

- buy a Christmas tree that you can plant in your yard in the spring

- instead of buying gifts for people, make a donation in their name to a local charity

- use only LED lighting

- purchase carbon offsets for your extra emissions created over the holidays

Belated update on my trip to California

As you may or may not know, I recently went to the Behavior, Energy and Climate Change Conference in Sacramento California.

The trip was an awesome experience. I headed out to the airport with my friend and colleague Jen at 3:30am Wednesday morning. We arrived in San Francisco and had enough time to do a bit of exploring and eat lunch. It was a gorgeous day, but we didn't have a lot of time to spend there before we needed to catch our bus to Sacramento. (And just a short note: the Greyhound in the US is not the same as in Canada... they're very very sketchy... but we arrived in Sacramento safely)

The resort where the conference was held was beautiful. The conference speakers and the sessions were very informative and useful for my thesis work. My poster presentation was well received, and I got a lot of good feedback. I made a lot of great professional contacts.

There were several key themes presented at this conference, including: the acceleration of technology adoption and appropriate use, climate change policies and programs, individual action and decision making, models of behavior, and media and marketing. It was interesting to see the focus on technology, a very capitalistic approach to the climate change problem. There was very little talk about the actual curtailment of energy using behaviour. Rather, the bulk of the conversations were about how to live our lives more efficiently - without having to change our core behaviors.

This conference had several big political connection. Governor Arie sent a letter to the conference attendees (actually, I expect that the reason that they held the conference in Sacramento was because they were hoping that he was going make an appearance.) And, the co-president of Al Gore's organization Alliance for Climate Protection gave an inspirational key note address.

I got to see quite a bit of Sacramento. I was treated to dinner in Old Sacramento with some of the other Canadian attendees on Thursday night after the poster session. Old Sacramento has an Old West theme and is quite touristy.

I got to see the rest of downtown Sacramento on Friday night. Jen and I, along with another grad student we met, went out to a fancy-ish restaurant for dinner and a drink. Afterwards we went for a walk and saw the the State Capitol and other important state buildings. It's a beautiful city, but a little sketchy... the state prison and court houses are right downtown... surrounded by many many Bail Bonds.

Unfortunately, the only day that I had to see San Francisco was Saturday and the weather didn't co-operate - it was pouring rain. However, I made the most of it by visiting with a friend I had met at the conference - a PhD student at Sanford - and some of his friends. We went out for lunch, and then went out for a few drinks before I caught my plane home.

The only thing I regret is that I didn't take very many pictures.... I didn't really have time between rushing to conference sessions, traveling and bad weather. Not a good excuse though.

That about sums it up!

A crude awakening: the oil crash

This looks like a really interesting film. Nothing really new, but it seems to portray the urgency of the energy crisis.

I encourage you to check out the website: http://www.oilcrashmovie.com/

Post-election impressions

I'm not surprised with the results of the October 10th Election and Referendum. On the surface, the Ontario Parliament remained essentially the same. We have a Liberal majority government, PC opposition, a few NDPs and no Greens. But, beneath the surface, I sense that change is just around the corner.

Although they didn't win any seats, the Greens increased their support 3 fold from the 2003 election. Up from 2.7% to 8%. No other party has come close to this amount of change. In addition, there were several notable achievements from individual Green Party candidates. Shane Jolley in Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound came a close second with over 33% support. And, in my own riding in Guelph, Ben Polley came in third with over 19% support.

More hope is given to me when I look at the results from the Student Vote - a mock election held in schools. If these students had there way, Ontario would remain Liberal a liberal majority, but would have a Green Party opposition.

As for the Referendum, I have to say, that I was not at all shocked with the results. The change seemed confusing to people. In fact, I have heard several reports from friends working at the election booths, that people weren't sure what the question meant. I don't think that the government did a good job of educating the public (why would they... when they are currently benefiting from the current system).

Did anyone else notice something wrong with the "Your Big Decision" television campaigns? Every time the person in the commercial said "Yes" to the question, something bad happened... hmmm.

In the end, MMP was rejected - overwhelmingly rejected. But, two statistics stand out in my mind that give me hope for the future. Firstly, more people voted in the referendum than in the election (something like 55% vs. 50%). Secondly, of the people ages 18-34, 67% were in favour of adopting the MMP electoral system.

Change happens slowly. For those of you who are disappointed with the results of this election, don't loose hope. There are always more elections. Don't feel defeated, your vote does matter.

California here I come!

I recently got some very awesome news. I was chosen to present a poster of my research at the Behavior, Energy and Climate Change conference held at the beginning of November in Sacramento! Even better, I have the trip and all my expenses covered by the Ontario Centres of Excellence Professional Outreach Award.

I'm super excited. This will be the first time that I've had an opportunity to present my work and my research to a group of other professionals and academics. Also, this will be the first time that I've traveled anywhere on a plane in my adult life. Plus, I get to stay at a really fancy hotel!

Don't worry, there will be plenty of pictures to come!

I want to hear what Frank has to say!

Poor Frank... left out in the cold. And, left out of the leaders' debate... AGAIN!


Please sign the petition to help get Frank included, even if you aren't a supporter of the Green Party. They got 11% of the popular vote! What more do the televisions networks want!?!

The petition is available at http://www.letfrankin.ca/

A bit about my research

My friends and family are always wondering about my research thesis. So, I've copied below an abstract that I've written about the my research. Note, that not all of what has been said here is completed yet, and I haven't analyzed any of my data... though that is going to happen soon. Please feel free to comment or ask questions!

TOU and Vulnerable Households: A case study of electricity consumption behaviour
Through the Smart Metering Initiative in the Canadian province of Ontario, all residential households will be converted to a time-of-use (TOU) rate pricing system for electricity by the year 2010. Although TOU rates are designed to be cost-neutral for the average consumer, research suggests that TOU rates may affect consumers differently depending on their socioeconomic characteristics. In an effort to understand the effects of TOU rates on lower-income and senior-headed households, researchers from the University of Waterloo conducted a collaborative study with Milton Hydro throughout the Summer and Fall of 2007. Ten expert interviews were conducted with Ontario professionals working in government, environmental non-profit and citizen advocacy organizations in order to provide context for the study. Time-differentiated electricity consumption data were then collected from 201 units in affordable housing and senior housing complexes in Milton, Ontario between May and October 2007. Researchers determined if the households were expected, given their then-current electricity consumption patterns, to have their electricity costs rise or fall as they moved from the traditional ‘flat rate’ pricing system to the TOU pricing system. They also determined the household response to TOU rates by calculating the proportion of electricity shifted to off-peak periods or conserved during on-peak periods as a result of the introduction of the new pricing system. This research emphasizes the relationship between energy policy and environmental equity and demonstrates the influence of socioeconomic characteristics in energy conservation behaviour.

A crucial time to cast your vote

One of the biggest environmental decision facing Ontarians in the next month is the referendum on electoral reform. Under the current first-pasted-the-post electoral system, parties like the Ontario Green Party only have an outside chance at winning a seat in the provincial legislator. Even though they represent about 10% of the popular vote, since they've never gotten the majority of the votes within one district, the provincial Greens have never had any of their candidates elected. Under the proposed mixed member proportional system (MMP), if 10% of Ontarians vote for the Green Party, than 10% of the seats will go to the Greens!

Obviously, I'm in favour of the new system. I've summarized some of the arguments for and against the new system:

Arguments for MMP:
-more choice - choose the party and the candidate
-fairer results - 10% means 10%!
-stronger representation
-eliminates "wasted" votes (know that your vote will count towards something!)

Arguments against MMP:
-17 fewer local ridings (is thought to be less representative)
-39 politicians not chosen specifically by voters
-22 more politicians and their staff at Queen's Parkand vote-counting system

Arguements for FPTP:
-hmm....?? (honestly.. the official site for the "No MPP" campaign just bashes MPP and but doesn't say anything that's good about FPTP)

Arguments against FPTP:
-less representation (only the "most popular" in each riding wins)
-distorts the will of the voters
-produces phony majority governments
-fails to produce accountable governments
-results in low percentage of elected women and visible minorities

To get this new electoral system is going to be tough! They've set the stakes pretty hight. This MMP will become law only IF:

a) 50% of the voters in 64 electoral districts vote for Mixed Member Proportional
AND
b)At least 60% of all the referendum ballots across the province choose the alternative system recommended by the Citizens' Assembly.

EVERY VOTE IS CRUCIAL!!!!

To learn about how and why MPP was selected check out this video.



To learn about how the electoral system will work check out this video.