Canadian ZENN's electric car

Toronto Company Has Electric Car But Our Government Won't Let Them Sell It - "Although the car is now available for sale in 48 US States, no Canadian government has approved it for sale in Canada. In fact, Queens Park refused to even entertain the idea until Al Gore cornered Dalton McGuinty earlier this year and insisted that he make it happen." [BlogTO]

Green ink draws a crowd - "With this interest in bringing properties up to new environmental standards, it was only a matter of time that an army of new ventures would surface catering to this burgeoning green market." [Globe and Mail]

Prius too small as T.O. limo - "Green Limousine Inc., can currently operate [its] "green" limo service in Ajax and Pickering, but not in Toronto, where a bylaw that stipulates vehicle size, trunk space and passenger legroom restricts the use of the most popular and energy-efficient hybrid cars." [Toronto Star]

Ontario to ban 'old' lightbulbs - "The Ontario government said Wednesday it plans to ban the current bulbs and what it calls other inefficient lighting technologies by 2012 in an effort to reduce the province's electricity consumption and lower the greenhouse gases that cause global warming." [Toronto Star]

Let it all hang out

"This Thursday is [US] National Hanging Out Day, a project which aims to promote energy conservation by encouraging you to hang the laundry out to dry. By simply switching to solar and wind power, using a highly unique infrastructural improvement called a 'clothesline,' it is estimated the U.S. could trim 3-4% of it's energy usage overnight." [The Examining Room of Dr. Charles via ScienceBlogs]

To Fight Global Warming, Some hang a Clothesline - "That simple decision to hang a clothesline, however, catapults me into the laundry underground. Clotheslines are banned or restricted by many of the roughly 300,000 homeowners’ associations that set rules for some 60 million people. When I called to ask, our Rolling Hills Community Association told me that my laundry had to be completely hidden in an enclosure approved by its board of directors...

Looking for fellow clothesline fans, I came across the Web site of Alexander Lee, a lawyer and 32-year-old clothesline activist in Concord, N.H. [who] sponsors an annual National Hanging Out Day on April 19. He plans to string a clothesline at the State House in Concord, N.H., this Saturday as part of a Step It Up 2007 rally on climate change, where he will hang T-shirts and sheets with the slogan “Hang Your Pants. Stop the Plants.” " [New York Times]

Retrofit that s***!

Faulty towers - "Typically viewed as "mistakes" from the 1960s and '70s, and largely excluded from urban debates, [high-rise apartments] may in fact represent one of our greatest opportunities for creating a sustainable region... Though efficiencies are gained from reduced land coverage, transit use and so on, exposed floor edges (typically protruding balconies), minimal insulation, single-pane windows, and aging mechanical systems give these buildings an unacceptable environmental impact. A typical 25-storey building contributes 1,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide." [Toronto Star]

Climate draft allows spike in oil-sands emissions - "The internal documents appear to underestimate significantly future oil-sands development as a way of producing more positive figures, said two environmentalists who analyzed the documents..." [Globe and Mail]

ChocoSol's 'horizontal trade'

"ChocoSol is a small, ecological and inter-community initiative between Mexican farmers in Chiapas, technologists from the Universadad [sic] de la Tierra in Oaxaco [sic], and Toronto-based chocolatiers Michael Sacco and Graham Corbett. They import organic cocao through a structure that they define as 'horizontal trade.'" [Read more @ Torontoist]

Bag ladies (and lords), rejoice

Ontario curbs scavengers seeking big bucks from bottles - "Starting Monday, customers were charged a recycling fee of 10 cents or 20 cents a bottle for liquor or wine purchases. The money is returned when the empties are brought to a Beer Store. However, nothing prevents people from returning bottles bought before Monday and claiming a deposit they never paid." [CBC; also Toronto Star]

I've been saving wine bottles for a couple of months myself, but only because I learned that the vast majority of glass put in Ontario's blue boxes ends up in the landfill. 10 or 20 cents to haul your bottles back to the Beer Store is hardly a giant unwarranted payday. Maybe giving a little sugar to people who haven't paid the deposit on their empties is a relatively cost-effective way to publicize the recycling program? Certainly cheaper than the TV spots they've been running.

I wish they could be returned to LCBOs, as they tend to be more conveniently located next to bus routes and subway stations than their Beery cousins. By way of evidence, I offer up BeerHunter.ca, which is a handy way to locate your nearest booze peddler.

Environment czar calls firing a 'surprise' - "[Johanne] Gelinas, whose last report urged a massive scale-up of efforts to combat climate change, learned of her dismissal Tuesday from an online news report, said a source... Auditor General Sheila Fraser, Gelinas’ boss, issued a news release saying Gelinas was leaving 'to pursue other opportunities.'" [Toronto Star]

It ain't easy scheming green

Harper letter called Kyoto 'socialist scheme' - "With polls showing the environment is a top priority with voters and Harper keen to bolster his environmental credentials, the [2002 fundraising] letter could prove embarrassing. It was circulated Tuesday by the Liberals, who said it unmasks Harper as a climate-change denier... These days, Harper avoids criticizing the Kyoto accord, and simply dismisses its targets as unattainable " [Toronto Star]

Survey shows 13% of Americans never heard of global warming - "The report, by ACNielsen of more than 25,000 Internet users, showed that 57 percent of people around the world considered global warming a 'very serious problem' and a further 34 percent rated it a 'serious problem.'" [Reuters]

NB: Being from an online (and therefore not randomly sampled) survey, these numbers should be treated with some suspicion.

Fast clothes?

'Fast clothes' good for fashion but bad for the environment - "It is hard to imagine how customers who rush after trends, or the stores that serve them, will respond to the report's suggestions: that people lease clothes and return them at the end of a month or a season, so the garments can be lent again — like library books — to someone else, and that they buy more expensive and durable clothing that can be worn for years." [Int'l Herald Tribune]

Get it to go green

"Get it to Go Green advocates sustainable take-out containers, which are often made of sugar cane, corn, and potato starch. Such materials are biodegradable, non-toxic, and do not contain cancer causing agents, unlike the materials in paper, plastic, and Styrofoam." [Torontoist]