The Climes They Are A-Changin'

Norm Kelly, living in denial
credit: Steve Russell/Toronto Star

Does anyone think it would be a good idea to hire Todd Akin as the head of Planned Parenthood? Or Ernst Zundel to run a chapter of B'Nai Brith? Completely absurd notions, aren't they? And yet, here in Toronto, we have a climate change denier as the chair of the Parks and Environment committee for City Council. Norm Kelly, Ward 40 (Scarborough-Agincourt) councillor, met last week with several environmental experts regarding how climate change will affect Toronto's aging infrastructure, listened to each of them speak in turn, and then told reporters that there's "information coming along the academic pipeline" that will, in some way, "prove" that climate change is a myth. Kelly is not nearly as radical as the men I cited in my earlier analogy—and to his credit seems to be allowing for some debate (which he will likely just ignore at the end of the day)—but he's symbolic of a pretty big problem in this country: people in positions of authority who are not under-qualified but "anti-qualified" to be in charge of hugely important portfolios.

Zoo Tour with the "Plant Guy"

Ray Metcalf, "Plant Guy"

When I was ten years old I participated in the Ontario Forestry Association's annual "TreeBee" (which I swear was held that year in the auditorium of my future high school, UTS, but I cannot confirm that anywhere). I remember studying hard to learn how to recognize many different species of trees and plants on sight in preparation for the visual portion of the contest, a fast-paced slide show on the main screen. I could tell an elm from an ash from a maple from an oak just by seeing a picture of a leaf for a few seconds. Our school didn't win any prizes but we held our own and I spent the next several trips to wooded areas naming every tree I passed out loud for everyone to hear. Somewhere along the way, though, the enthusiasm waned, the information was locked away and I was no longer able to replicate those great feats of my preteen years. Yesterday I participated in a walking tour as part of my Volunteer training that jerked me right back to early 1972 (my TreeBee era)—a guided tour of the Zoo's plant life (such as would be offered to a Grade Three class) hosted by Ray Metcalfe.

My Zoo Volunteer Training Has Begun!

My temporary badge

Today I was at the Toronto Zoo for the first week of my ten-week training program to become a "Weekday Zoo Volunteer". Each session (except the two weeks in the middle where we will be "shadowing" an experienced Volunteer on a walking tour) will be from 10-3 on Fridays, with a break of three weeks over Christmas and New Years. The intake group is very large this year—twenty-eight potential new Volunteers—because in their existing pool there are some members with increasing mobility issues who are unable to take on the task of a two-hour tour any longer. I believe there were a total of five new Volunteers last year (there may have been even fewer); that's quite a jump from one year to the next. It does appear that I came along at just the right time. It was pretty nice to sit in a room full of like-minded people, all eager to share their love of wildlife and conservation with young people, hoping to light that spark within each of them. I am very much looking forward to doing this for a long time.

Nora's Lists

Nora Ephron, 1941-2012

Two days ago the world lost Nora Ephron due to complications from the leukemia she had been battling for several years. I didn't know a great deal about her other than I enjoyed many of the movies she had written and/or directed over the years, but in scanning the myriad tributes to her over the past two days I have come to realize that she was looked up to and admired by women - and men who name themselves as feminists - the world over. I never gave much thought to the strong female leads of her movies, nor to the fact that she was a rare animal, a "woman director" in Hollywood; in my defence, it simply didn't seem "out of the ordinary" to me, not because I have my head in the sand but because when the social order starts to feel "right" to me I have a tendency to be soothed and not shocked by it. These tributes, appearing on such diverse online sites as The Huffington Post, The New York Times and The Christian Science Monitor (Ms. Ephron was Jewish), are remarkable to read now, as fascinating and insightful as the incredible volume of tweets sent out over the same period of time lamenting her loss. She seems to have been a rather quiet hero, neither shrill nor obvious, just a woman who believed that women had been shortchanged forever and set out to subtly change the way of the world.

"Photocopia"*

*pronounced: "fo-to-CO-pee-uh", as in "cornucopia" but with photos.

There's not too much happening 'round these parts today - sort of the calm before the storm while we wait for the carnies to show up and take over the northern part of Stan Wadlow Park. Sometime later this week the trucks will start trickling in and a midway will take shape, mostly under cover of darkness. The first ride/attraction/food booth may appear late tomorrow night, but I expect it's more likely we won't see any activity until sometime on Friday. I hope they can handle the "ovenlike conditions" which are apparently on their way to Southern Ontario. Seriously. The paper called them "ovenlike". Hyperbole much?

In any event, and in lieu of any real "news" today, I thought it would be a good time to play "catch-up" with some of the recent pictures I've taken at home. First up: this bold, brazen pigeon. Being on the twentieth floor, we're quite regularly visited by pigeons - especially in the first light of the day. However, they seem to have become much more frequent in their appearances over the past week or so and I have no idea why. This guy landed on the sill just in front of my computer and proceeded to strut right past the open window, stopping on the other side to stare through the glass at Addie, who was as taught as a bowstring on the couch behind me:

"Come and get me, copper!"

Heading for the Ottawa Valley

Sunset on the Ottawa River, seen from Mom's home

It's Art Fayre time in Dunvegan, Ontario this weekend. (If you haven't checked out the Art Fayre blog or Facebook site please drop by and take a look.) Some very talented local artists will have their works on display at this annual exhibition and Sarah and I are really looking forward to being there. Today we're on the road, heading up to Sarah's mom's home in Lefaivre, near Hawkesbury. We haven't been up there since last August; we used to go a little more frequently but the addition of Addie to our family has made us, by necessity, less spontaneous. It requires some planning on our part if we're going to be away even overnight; this weekend my son, Tim, will be staying in our apartment and cat-sitting for us.

Ontario Turtle Tally

Snapping turtle on the road in Eastern Ontario

The Toronto Zoo has been running a project under their Adopt-A-Pond umbrella called the Ontario Turtle Tally since 2003. From their website: "The purpose [of the Turtle Tally] is to collect, record and store location and species information on Ontario turtles, including species at risk....The information that is collected in this database will be submitted to the Natural Heritage Information Centre and will be used to learn more about turtle distributions in Ontario." Sarah submitted two pictures and the corresponding info to the good people at the Turtle Tally, including this one taken from her mom's City Mouse/Country Mouse blog.

The Ford Chronicles Continue

On June 1, 2009, the city of Toronto passed a bylaw stating that retailers had to charge a minimum of 5 cents for every plastic bag they gave to a customer. I have always thought this was a good idea; Sarah and I have smoothly switched to the mindset of bringing reusable bags with us wherever we plan to purchase large quantities of goods - or just large goods. Shoppers Drug Mart, grocery shopping, clothes shopping, what have you, we bring bags with us to ensure we are not bringing home unnecessary plastic bags to clog up the landfills. Sarah and I each have a couple of "Randy Bags" with us most of the time and in the back of our car there are several cloth bags of varying sizes; we bring a few with us on all major shopping excursions. We don't do this to save the five cents; rather, we do this because it's the right thing to do. What the five cent fee accomplished is it made retailers ask if we needed a plastic bag (or several) which prompted us to say "no, thank you". There is no conceivable way this is a bad thing.

That is, unless you are a certain lame duck mayor of a certain giant metropolis in Canada who has absolutely no other "cause" that he is capable of "winning". Then it becomes the Biggest. Issue. Ever.

BlackOutSpeakOut

What Bill C38 means for the environment. (hotlink)

Please read more on the Ontario Nature Blog. (hotlink)

Thank you for your support and understanding. Please check out the links and consider writing to the party leaders or signing the petition.

My Blog will be "Dark" on Monday

Our friend Natalie steered me to an event that is happening tomorrow, June 4th, across Canada: Black Out Speak Out. The Ontario Nature - Federation of Ontario Naturalists Facebook site offers this explanation for the undertaking:

On Monday, Ontario Nature will support a national campaign called Black Out Speak Out. Environmental organisations and supporters across Canada will darken their websites as a response against efforts to silence Canadians who speak up in favour of environmental protection. The support for this protest is in reaction to the federal budget bill C-38 and the provincial budget bill C-55, whose amendments to environmental legislation significantly threaten protective measures for species at risk and the integrity of the environment.

They (and I) urge you to read the full details on their blog.

I support these efforts 100%. I feel that the absolutely disgraceful "Omnibus" budget bill the Harper Government has put forth has the potential to set environmental efforts in Canada back scores and scores of years with one flourish of the pen. This faux-majority, which may very well have stolen the election last May, is on a dangerous path of destruction and I believe that concerned Canadians should fight them tooth and nail for every millimetre of our national fabric that they try to erode.

On Monday I will make no formal blog post. I am scheduling a picture and link to appear on my blog at 12:01 AM and that will be my only entry for Monday, June 4, 2012. Also, I will make no posts on Facebook or Twitter from midnight tonight until at least 12:01 AM on June 5. I felt an explanation prior to the actual event would be helpful, hence this post you are reading.

Please consider supporting this fight in any way you see fit. Thank you for reading this and please check out the links I have posted for further and more detailed information.

See you on Tuesday.

-Grumpy P.