Buying votes again, Mr. Harper?

Here I was, minding my own business on this rainy Nova Scotia winter day. I walked over to the post office to get the mail, which included Conservative Political Propaganda. It was no secret that the Conservative Government provided busses to seniors so that they could get to the voting stations during the last election. I saw one of these busses driving through Dundas, ON on my way to work, and I was simply shocked. I don’t agree with this political practice.

Now again, I’m receiving notice in my P.O. Box about all the wonderful things the Conservatives are doing for seniors. Not that there’s anything wrong with helping seniors, but perhaps building a few less prisons and actually giving out the promised rebates for green initiatives would also be good. In our small town, it’s no secret the majority of the people are older, and this is a Conservative heaven. Making sure they get more votes, they distribute these flyers, targeted at seniors.

Where’s my flyer about Climate Change Policy? Noooo, people my age get recruited with big financial incentives to go work in the Oil Sands.

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Snout to Tail cooking

My boyfriend Rob and I are doing some Menu development right now for the upcoming season of our Restaurant. Rob is a Chef and this is the first year that he and I will be working in a Restaurant that my parents have owned for 10 years. So, we are planning ideas and cooking through a lot of them. My main role is to taste and critique, but I do have the occasional idea that makes it onto the plate.

The big theme for us is using the whole product. If we get a Lobster, we use the meat for a dish, the shells to make stock. This goes for all seafood. Things get a little trickier with some of the land proteins, but we are creatively finding uses for absolutely everything to minimize any food waste.

Bisque and Main

Last week we bought three chickens. The bones made a stock and the breasts made a dinner. The rest was used to make chicken chips, chicken gelatin squares and confit legs in chicken fat. Absolutely no waste, and it all tasted fantastic.

Confit Chicken leg terrine served with Fennel, Radish and Lemon Salad.

 

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Recycling Plastic

I’ve always had this thing about recycling. Recycling, as we know it, is downcycling because with each round of “re”cycling, the materials become more and more mixed. This makes them less and less like the original materials we used to have for manufacturing. While recycling can extend the life of a given material for a few rounds, it doesn’t make the material truly recycled. Metals are mixed and eventually discarded, plastics have the same fate, and so does paper as it is mixed with chemical ink making it more and brown until it can no longer be used.

For a video on how we could truly recycle plastics watch the following TED talk.

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Canada and Kyoto

Canada made history this month by being the first country to withdraw from the Kyoto Protocol. I understand the Protocol may not have been perfect, but it was certainly a step in the right direction: protecting our planet for our children and grandchildren.

This move by our leaders doesn’t leave us in a positive place in the world. We are getting lots of criticism from other countries, and rightly so. The thing I really don’t understand is the lack of understanding too many Canadians still have about the science behind Global Warming. If you are someone who understands why we so desperately need to change our habits and reduce emissions, please explain it to someone who doesn’t.

Perhaps it’s not that they don’t understand, but that they wish it weren’t so. In order to make the difference we need to make to stop the warming process, most people fear that we would have to set our lives back to a stone age living situation. This isn’t the case. Governments need to implement more green energy projects which can also create lots of jobs. This is already being done in some provinces in Canada, although it’s still too small right now. But we are on the right track, at least in a small way.

Just because the Federal Government won’t cooperate with Kyoto, to make a profit in Oil in the short term, doesn’t necessarily mean that all government takes this stance. It seems that only the Conservative Party of Canada has this view point and many Liberal and Green Party Politicians are fighting for our planet, while the Conservatives are not. The NDP Government of Nova Scotia has implemented a thorough plan to reduce emissions, make the switch from fossil fuels to renewable and green energy sources, protect biodiversity and natural resources which started in 2010. Ontario currently has the second largest photovoltaic power station in Sarnia, producing 97MW.

As for you and me, that’s where we can make the biggest difference. Reduce your own emissions, whether the Government tells you to or not. We all need to do our part. Nobody’s asking you to go back to the stone age. Just make small changes at a time. Drive a little less and walk a little more, you’ll do your heart and your wallet both favours while helping reduce emissions. Aim to make your next car a hybrid. Make your home heating/cooling efficient by sealing leaky windows and doors, and set your thermometers on timers. Take advantage of natural light during the day whenever you can, and turn the lights off when you are not in a room. For scarcely used rooms, such as laundry and basements, consider installing motion sensored lights so they turn off automatically when you leave the room. It also helps not to have to find the switch when you’re lugging your laundry loads in there!

Start small and dream big. Lots of other countries have done it, and we can too. Write letters to your local MPs and ask them what they are doing. After all, if you and I can reduce our carbon footprint, they can too.

 

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Email the PM

Talks are coming to a close in Durban and Canada hasn’t changed it’s position. Please take the time to email Prime Minister Harper and Environment Minister Peter Kent from the link below.

Have your say! Ask them to put our future ahead of the future of oil.

Email NOW.

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News from Durban: the CCPI report

The Climate Change Performance Index was published today at the Durban Conference and the outlook is grim.

The CCPI is a rank given to each country based on their emissions (80% composed of 50% actual emissions, 30% trend) and climate policy (20%). The countries are then ranked from best to worst.

The best three are Sweden, UK and Germany. The worst three are Kazakhstan, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Near the bottom, in the “very poor” section is Canada, along with the USA and China to name a few. Canada specifically scored very poorly on the actual emissions and its policy. In fact, Canada is among the worst five climate policies of all countries.

The group is understandably worried about their findings because it appears that the trend toward burning coal and oil from tar sands has not been stopped. What’s worse is that emissions per GDP are increasing in many countries.

Interestingly they also report that the biggest increases in National Renewable Energy capacity have come from China, USA and Germany. Many people will be surprised to see China on that list.

Fact is, that across the board, there isn’t enough being done by any country, but especially most of the largest 10 emitters. They make up 60% of all global emissions and without a willingness to pursue a sustainable climate change policy, the necessary CO2 targets needed to avoid highly dangerous climate change simply cannot be met. It seems these countries have too close of a link between emissions and GDP and until they change this, we cannot expect much.

What shocks me time and time again are all the people, especially in my own country, that don’t believe climate change is real. I haven’t determined exactly why such a large group exists in Canada particularly, but the comments section on any CBC article about climate change is sickening. I really hoped the people would be able to distinguish between science we’ve heard since Kindergarten and political propaganda put forth by the conservatives. What we need now more than ever is education. If we don’t educate our public, this Harper-lead Conservative Government will drive us into a nice and toasty hell on earth.

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It’s about time

For far too long many of us have buried our heads in the sand when it comes to Climate Change. It’s a Global problem of epic proportion that some simply cannot fathom even attempting to solve. While I sympathise with just how complicated and overwhelming this seems, it’s time to make a change.

Perhaps many of you have waited for our Government to lead the way, which at this point in the game is nothing more than wishful thinking. The Canadian Conservative Government have made their stance pretty clear, and they chose the Oil Sands in Alberta.

Perhaps this whole idea of Climate Change is simply overwhelming because there are too many people talking about too many different issues. My goal is to educate people about the severity of Climate Change and what can be done to limit humanities impact on our ecosystem. It is my hope that here you will find the inspiration to fight this battle with those that already are.

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Hello world!

Welcome to SigridZiegler.com. The site is undergoing some changes currently but the content will be available. I hope you will find it informative and inspirational.

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