Rethinking Lifestyle

What would you do if your doctor told you that you had three months to live? You would probably put your affairs in order, make sure your Will was up-to-date, go for a holiday and especially spend time with family and friends.

I am writing this April 1, the day the federal carbon tax came into effect. As I went around my usual activities today, I was surprised by the number of comments I heard and read that indicate that folks think we have crossed a significant threshold.

For all of my working life I was a high-school teacher, specializing in chemistry and physics. Together with my lovely wife, a nurse, we had two children and when it came time to retire, the kids had already left home so we decided to downsize.

Steinbach is destined to be a cycling community, and it’s starting already! With more and more cyclists taking to the streets, South Eastman Transition Initiative has identified the need for a Community Bicycle Repair and Enthusiast Club.

It seems the Conservatives in Canada got their heads together and made several significant policy announcements.

As I travel about I frequently pick up garbage along the roads near my house tossed out of car windows by inconsiderate louts. Beer cans, pop cans, plastic bottles, coffee cups and bags of (usually) McDonald’s trash.

Disparity is a concept I first considered through school bus windows. The route our bus traveled through St. James, Winnipeg – and specifically the neighbourhood of Woodhaven – efficiently highlighted the differences between some homes and some others.

I had been told that if we wished to write about significant alternative houses in southeastern Manitoba, we needed to include Heather Bishop’s house near Woodmore, a hamlet east of Dominion City.

Last week in this column I bemoaned the fact that we have become utterly, dangerously dependent on natural gas to keep us from freezing in our Canadian winter.

The heading above, lead an article in the Winnipeg Free Press last Saturday. The article was buried on page C2, and the record was reported almost as if this was an accomplishment. Certainly no concern was expressed. But we should be concerned.