Bravo to Honduras! They sat down and despite their political differences, and the high emotions, they worked it out! For once I can say that I have some faith in politicians! (Not any of the idiots in Canada!) The Honduran constitutional crisis grew more out of a slow news day, than an actual crisis. And the country very much wants to say that it is “Business as Usual”.

Tourism is down by as much as 70%, and non existent in some areas, have you ever wanted to go to a deserted island? Well Roatan and Utila offer thousands of beautiful resorts, hotels, restaurants and bars that are currently offering spectacular deals. Your vacation just got cheaper and more private!

And Safer!

Roatan has always been a safe destination, and this past year it instituted an active crime watch program, combined with efforts to support the local Marine Park, the future has been reassured above and below the waterline. So come visit, there are lots of ways, contact me and I’ll gladly help out for free! After all I’ve been going to the Bay Islands since 1997!

I live in the country, I don’t have a big farm, just a little one. I don’t drive around in a big ass F150 that I’m paying off until the end of time and I don’t like to get ripped off because I am either seen as part of, or not part of a specific group.

So this past spring when I took my Husqvarna lawn tractor in for an oil and filter atwww.hudsonsupply.com, actually they came and got it. I bought it from them and I thought they were honest so I figured , they know theses things so let them do their thing. well I was wrong because they called with a bill that was over $500.00!!!  Shit it still only costs 50 bucks or so to get the oil changed in a car! So they clearly think I’m part of the hobby farm elite! Maybe they think I’ve got a grand granite swimming pool overhanging the St.Lawrence river, on my estate!

Wrong they just thought they would try and soak me! But I got them to knock a hour’s labour off the bill if I promised never to come back there!

Deal!

So today I was calling around to a local heating and cooling supply place asking about 1/2 inch soft copper tubing, and low and behold they too think that I’m a big fat rich guy. They sell the copper in 60 foot rolls, but they charge $349.00. Home depot and the TSC store in Brockville both sell it, and I thought that a pro place would sell it cheaper. But I guess that this class war extends a lot farther than I thought because the Home Depot price is $300.00 cheaper! So I thought that this might be an oversight, and I called back and spoke to a women in the front office, and low and behold she said that they were “Supporting the tradesmen in the area”.  I guess by ripping the rest of us off! So I guess it will be a while before I shop at http://www.tackaberry.com.

So why is it so hard to look after the planet and after your pocketbook at the same time!

With the latest inaction of the Canadian government in regard to the climate talks in Copenhagen, Harper is borrowing from our children’s futures. If you could put a positive spin on the potential end of life as we know it, it would have received one of those big tory cheques, with a big logo. But you can’t. By actually going to the conference, with a firm agenda, all that is being doe is sending a bunch of hardline right wingers on an all expense paid holiday to Denmark.

In fact I offer that the cost of the flights and hotels would be enough money to really do some good,  somewhere  where politicians are not.

After owning this property since 1988, we have huge gardens, solar water, and electricity eight chickens, (and next year three pigs). We have discovered that we, our home, our farm our everything. Is contained within the 120 meter set back  from an Ontario Province significant wetland area. In our case it is administered by the Cataraquai Waterway authority. the upshot of all this is that we had to teenagers come out to our property and tell us that we would have to pay them $150 every time we built a building or graded our driveway.

Now I am all for protecting the earth that we inhabit, but how come I get this tax? I’ve been solar since ‘88 but I never got any kind of credit for that. we buy locally what we don’t produce here, and we manage our water consumption carefully. (We have a dug well). But not so the others in the area!

Up the road there is a chap (very connected, government job) who put two lakes in, with his back hoe he flooded a huge area, making himself a private lake!, then he put in a large lined pond, All within the wetland. Currently they are redoing a local bridge in Outlet. The construction company is dumping huge amount of chipped concrete into the creek, do they have a permit? No. The county even hauls water directly out of Grippen Creek which is next to my property. Within the PSW!

This is an attack against the local rural farmer, please go to our Facebook page and join our cause, after all they let people have chickens in Toronto now, why not let us have this new fangled technology you call chicken, out here in the countryside!

The Kyoto Box, a $6 solar cooker made from cardboard, has won the Financial Times-sponsored Climate Change Challenge contest for innovative ways to decrease the human impact on the environment. Its capacity to not only cook food but also sterilize water could help three billion people reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The Kenya-based Norwegian creator of the cooker, Jon Bøhmer, has been awarded $75,000 to put the idea into production.

Named after the United Nations’ Kyoto Protocol, the cooker is made from two cardboard boxes, one inside the other, with either paper or straw insulation placed in between; an acrylic cover on top lets in and traps sunlight. Black paint on the inner box, and silver foil on the outer one, help concentrate the heat. The trapped rays make the inside hot enough to cook casseroles, bake bread and boil water [CNN]. Covering the cooking pot with a transparent cover retains heat and water [BBC], and temperatures inside the pot can reach about 175 degrees Fahrenheit.

With as many as 3 billion people dependent on firewood for fuel, it is hoped that the cooker will eliminate the small-scale deforestation that has cumulatively become a major contributor to global warming worldwide. By allowing users to boil water, the simple device could also potentially save the millions of children who die from drinking unclean water [CNN]. The Kyoto Box was chosen from five finalists; the other four included a garlic-based feed additive to cut methane emissions from livestock, an indoor cooling system using hollow tiles, a cover for truck wheels to reduce fuel use and a “giant industrial microwave” for creating charcoal [Reuters].

The box can be produced in standard cardboard factories, and Bøhmer is already working with one factory in Nairobi. Bøhmer, who has started a design firm called Kyoto Energy, also designed a sturdier version made of recycled plastic, which he says would also be extremely cheap to produce. His next step is to conduct trials with 10,000 cookers in 10 countries, including India, Indonesia, South Africa, Kenya and Uganda [GreenBiz.com]. “We’re saving lives and saving trees” [Reuters], he said. “I don’t want to see another 80-year-old woman carrying 20 kilos of firewood on her back. Maybe we don’t have to” [CNN].

The pattern created in a Swedish forest by logging tracks and trees downed by Hurricane Gudrun

in January 2005.

    ”It’s as if the heavens had sent a message to the forest industry reminding them that, in this area, deciduous trees would have withstood the winds much better than pine.”

    —Joakim “Jocke” Berglund, who took this photograph from a Cessna aircraft

If you’re looking for a greener alternative to washing your clothes, it doesn’t get much greener than our hand powered laundry machine (well, laundry washer, it’s not really a machine if you crank it yourself!).

This portable washing machine requires no electricity, which saves money in energy bills. It is also portable, which enables you to use in places that don’t have electricity.

When you’re in a hurry to wash a few items, this washing machine easily solves the problem of having to wait around for your electric or gas washing machine to complete a full load of laundry or feel bad about only washing a few items at a time.

Made of plastic with no mechanical parts, the hand powered washing machine comes assembled. Just attach the handle and go! It can last a lifetime and requires no maintenance.

Because this washing machine is so small, it’s easy to store and move from one place to another. This is an ideal washing machine to have with you in an RV, on road trips, at weekend sports tournaments, in apartments, especially those with limited access to laundry areas, on camping trips and those who want to make their lifestyle more energy efficient.

This small washing machine uses less water and powder detergent per load of laundry. The washing cycle is also extremely fast (from 10 seconds to 2 minutes) saving you an extraordinary amount of time.

If you work in the yard or outside frequently and don’t like to put your really dirty clothes in the wash with your other clothes, this washing machine allows you to easily separate them and get them thoroughly clean without staining other clothes.

How it works:

CASE ONE

The other day I borrowed a 3000 watt portable generator from a friend. We are raising chickens, and at the time they were very small and needed a light on them 24 hours. The second day that I had the generator, the on/off switch popped off! It has worn out and as it was spring loaded it broke and popped off.

I sent a note off to Goss Industries in the GTA about it and I was shocked about a few things: 1) Bill Santo got back to me within a couple of days. 2) Offered to pop a new part in the mail. 3) Sent the right part to me, at no charge!

This is the best sort of conservation! This product, which would of been junk, or at least and expensive repair is now up and running, saving me from having to buy a new one!

http://www.gossindustries.com

CASE TWO

My friend Christina has a rotor tiller, in the spring my garden is always ready first so I borrow the tiller, then my friend Peter across the street uses it and takes it back to Christina’s. We share wood splitters, chain saws, whipper snippers, and car pool together.

To take this one step farther we all manage our gardens together so that we all don’t have to grow so many things.

CASE THREE

We are cutting our ties to the world, sort of! We are trying to wean ourselves off the paper newspaper. Martina misses the crossword, but we have found it all online. We have eliminated almost all of the cell phones, cable TV bills, and all of those pesky monthly bills.

CASE FOUR

We have taken a “FARM FIRST” attitude about our little oasis here. Planting tons of trees, expanding the gardens and putting more into them. We are making our own wine, beer and hooch as well! We are taking a 100% pro active approach to our lifestyle!

Come see us at www.splitzvillefarm.com

Who Revived the Electric Car!

General Questions about the evMe
Where is the car made?
The car has been designed and assembled in Australia. Components for the car come from a variety of sources all over the world.
Is this an Australian car company if everything is made overseas?
Energetique is a wholly owned Australian company. The specialty electronic components that we import from our overseas suppliers is currently not manufactured in Australia. Our advanced technologies in system integration and vehicle management are proprietary to Energetique and differentiate us from being an importer of components.
Are there any government rebates or subsidies for purchasing an electric car in Australia?
Not at this time but Energetique is actively lobbying government to support cleaner more sustainable transport solutions.
How did you come up with the idea for evMe?
Founder Phil Coop had always been interested in issues of sustainability and regional economics. Phil was concerned that there were as yet no real alternatives to internal combustion vehicles and decided to purchase a Suzuki Mighty Boy that was converted to electric using an AC Induction motor and lead acid batteries. The vehicle had a long working life but was constrained by the conventional technologies it contained. Several years of research involving a small team of like minded, technology savvy individuals revealed that an energy efficient and environmentally friendly transport alternative for commuters was possible using state of the art technologies and that there was an opportunity to manufacture this type of vehicle in Australia. This background research also provided a wide range of associated technologies and applications that are currently being pursued through more formal research and development and ultimately commercialisation.
I want to add a link to the evMe website from my website, do you have any graphics?
Images can be downloaded from the media section of the evMe site here