This is going to be bit of a rant.
I have mostly turned a blind eye to any corporation that claims to be green. I think that when the Norwegian government refused to endorse any cars as being green, they were on solid ethical ground. The car in and of itself cannot be green. It uses far too many resources, pollutes far too much and encourages waste. Even electric cars.
As a traveler I have accepted the fact that I am not green and my travel is harming the ecology of this planet. I am getting annoyed at the travel agencies that do 'eco' tours. The travel part of doing eco tours destroys any green aspect of this. Some are using decent methods for minimizing the impact of damage, using horses, mules, donkeys, buses and other methods of transport to the tour site which have a lower environmental impact. But. Their company model is based on tourists getting to them. And tourists, including travelers like me use a lot of high negative impact methods to travel. Airplanes, private vehicles, mutli-passenger vans, buses, trains, boats etc all use fossil fuels and have a high impact on the CO2 count.
I have a tough time with this personally. I love to see new places, to wander through towns and villages, take a trail through a forest and gaze upon a horizon new to me. I struggle with taking a plane, weighing the time/cost/pollution factors and bearing it all with me in terms of my carbon footprint.
But.
I do all this while not calling myself an eco warrior or environmental advocate. The two are irreconcilable with traveling.
Couch surfing, getting around by motorcycle, living in a tent, minimizing the meat and dairy I eat, all help to lighten my impact. But all that does is lighten it a little, not eliminate it. And I am far from perfect in all of the things I mentioned.
So I have a real big problem with slapping an eco label on anything to do with tourists and consumers in general.
I read an article today on the difference between two companies, North Face and Patagonia. They both target their sales at people in the outdoor active set, and North face is by far the winner in consumer dollars, and Patagonia is okay with that. They are okay with that because they are not driven to make more and more money. They are driven to make better and better products so the consumers need to consume less and less. The current marketing stance of Patagonia is please do not buy anything unless you _really_ need it. And if you really need it consider buying from us. Virtually every other company out there shouts to the consumer 'you need this product we sell'.
The sad truth is in our modern dollar driven world, no we do not need more.
We want more.
Do I want a better laptop? Yes. Do I need one? No.
Do I want to buy....... the list is endless, but as a consumer group, what we really need is to consume far less. Period. The urge to buy and buy fills an emotional need, but it does not need to exist. If you are driven to buy, it means that there is something that is missing in your life and you need to find what is missing and replace that urge before you end up on an episode of Hoarders.
Walking through a third world market I see endless amounts of low cost items. The small trashy toys, disposable goods and items that scream planned obsolescence to me. I also see a fair amount of used goods from the first world. This is a disturbing trend as it is either showing how little use we make of an item, or it shows that the first world is shoving its trash on the third.
We as consumers need better products that we can use up entirely, ones that last multiple generations and have a life cycle in the decades, not days or months. I have seen kids toys that have lasted generations, and cookware that has as well. The few who consider this a great thing needs to get bigger and the people who demand quality goods that will stand the test of time to allow us to get off the endless buy cycle needs to turn into the majority.
The 2nd hand market is strong, and I applaud that. Re-cycling is great, giving away things to people who will use them is terrific. Buying a smaller home is even better. Buying a car with great fuel economy is good. Making the most of your current vehicle before investing in a different one is better. Not having one at all is best.
There is a lot more to say on this topic, but I will leave that for now, and just condense my message. If you consume anything that has required the use of fossil fuels to make or distribute do not make the error of calling it green. At best it is green-ish. There is a growing chunk of society that says consuming less is okay. Join it. There are ways to replace the urge to buy new stuff to fill an emotional hole in your life. Find them. Make the most of the things you have, buy quality items to last a long time. Do not confuse want with need.
Next time you feel the obsession to impulse shop, maybe make a small item and give it to a friend. Go for a walk. Write a letter.
Heck, even post something on your blog.
Thursday, 27 November 2014
Friday, 21 November 2014
Stuck in San Pedro
Okay, not so much stuck as just too lazy to move on.
I spent two weeks raising my Spanish fluency level from horrid to really bad.
And then I dropped my laptop about six inches onto a cement floor.
Dead hard drive, had Win7 installed on the new hard drive and went off in quest of drivers to run everything on the damn machine. Three days later, I have full functionality back. It is no fun tracking down drivers for NIC and wireless. Once I got the wired connection working, it was only about another four hours to get the wireless running.
Next step is to see if there is any way of recovering the data from the dead drive. If not I see a lot of downloading in my near future. The old drive was 750 GB and was well over half full.......
In other tempting news, there are a number of businesses for sale around this area. Three hostels and one resort hotel.
A brief look at the hotel scratched it off the buy list. Lake Atitlan is slowly rising, there is no surface exit for the water, it makes its way out through fissures in the rock and the lake is now approaching levels last seen in 1974, the last time there was a major earthquake in the region. The level of the lake fell fifteen meters in under 6 months but has since slowly crept back up. The Hotel has several of it's buildings right on the water's current edge.
If the lake continues to rise at its current rate, one of the other hostels will lose it's cafe/bar in under 3 years.
That leaves two viable hostels to look closer at. Both of them are doing solid business, the owners are selling for personal reasons, not financial . It would be fun to run one for a while, but I can see myself getting tired of it in under five years and it turning into a giant drag. It is very hard to backpack with a full hostel in your pack.
On the other hand if anybody reading this blog want to own their own business, having a steady proven income and live in a Spanish speaking country with a thriving tourist trade, send me a note.
All for now, back to filling the new hard drive.
I spent two weeks raising my Spanish fluency level from horrid to really bad.
And then I dropped my laptop about six inches onto a cement floor.
Dead hard drive, had Win7 installed on the new hard drive and went off in quest of drivers to run everything on the damn machine. Three days later, I have full functionality back. It is no fun tracking down drivers for NIC and wireless. Once I got the wired connection working, it was only about another four hours to get the wireless running.
Next step is to see if there is any way of recovering the data from the dead drive. If not I see a lot of downloading in my near future. The old drive was 750 GB and was well over half full.......
In other tempting news, there are a number of businesses for sale around this area. Three hostels and one resort hotel.
A brief look at the hotel scratched it off the buy list. Lake Atitlan is slowly rising, there is no surface exit for the water, it makes its way out through fissures in the rock and the lake is now approaching levels last seen in 1974, the last time there was a major earthquake in the region. The level of the lake fell fifteen meters in under 6 months but has since slowly crept back up. The Hotel has several of it's buildings right on the water's current edge.
If the lake continues to rise at its current rate, one of the other hostels will lose it's cafe/bar in under 3 years.
That leaves two viable hostels to look closer at. Both of them are doing solid business, the owners are selling for personal reasons, not financial . It would be fun to run one for a while, but I can see myself getting tired of it in under five years and it turning into a giant drag. It is very hard to backpack with a full hostel in your pack.
On the other hand if anybody reading this blog want to own their own business, having a steady proven income and live in a Spanish speaking country with a thriving tourist trade, send me a note.
All for now, back to filling the new hard drive.
Tuesday, 11 November 2014
Remembrance Day
Sometimes I think about the differences between Canada and the USA, and for the most part they are not great, but once in a while things strike me.
When Remembrance Day (it was originally Armistice Day) was first brought forward in Canada, the veterans decided that the day would be dedicated to remembering the war veterans from all wars. There were to be no flags attached directly to the Day, as it was to honour the deeds from all sides of every conflict.
Unit flags are welcome, and items such as those, but veterans of WWII from Germany, Italy, France, England etc, have all been equally honoured here.
We are proud of our efforts as a nation in WWI, II etc, but the day is not to honour our efforts as a nation or people, but to recall that on both sides of every conflict are people, and many of those people deserve their efforts to be recognized just as much as those from 'our' side.
Who won, who was right, which side we believe deserved to win, which side we support is irrelevant on this day for me. That you served with honour, pride and determination is what matters.
Different from what is celebrated in the USA, as there, their own county's veterans are who take centre stage.
This may seem like I disapprove of what they do, and it is not, really. But it does highlight a difference between the cultures.
When Remembrance Day (it was originally Armistice Day) was first brought forward in Canada, the veterans decided that the day would be dedicated to remembering the war veterans from all wars. There were to be no flags attached directly to the Day, as it was to honour the deeds from all sides of every conflict.
Unit flags are welcome, and items such as those, but veterans of WWII from Germany, Italy, France, England etc, have all been equally honoured here.
We are proud of our efforts as a nation in WWI, II etc, but the day is not to honour our efforts as a nation or people, but to recall that on both sides of every conflict are people, and many of those people deserve their efforts to be recognized just as much as those from 'our' side.
Who won, who was right, which side we believe deserved to win, which side we support is irrelevant on this day for me. That you served with honour, pride and determination is what matters.
Different from what is celebrated in the USA, as there, their own county's veterans are who take centre stage.
This may seem like I disapprove of what they do, and it is not, really. But it does highlight a difference between the cultures.
Friday, 17 October 2014
Getting on
As a re-cap, over 7 years ago I was in an industrial accident. The recovery period was over a year, and I focussed a lot of my energy in fighting against the results of the accident.
When you are in a physio program this is very helpful in keeping you motivated and centered on a target. The closer you get to recovery, the more you focus on being as strong, flexible and pain free as you were before the accident. I succeeded in being pain free, but not in being as strong or a flexible, and this has become a bit of a challenge. I have long accepted the new limitaions in terms of what I should not do, running and jumping result in pain. But I recently came to a realization that fighting against my injury is no longer what I am doing. I am now fighting against the changes in my body and the weaknesses brought on, instead of finding the strengths that remain.
The accident re-set my priorities in a big way, and I began to see that traveling was a direction I wanted to go in. The people in my life have allowed me to go in this direction, and I am grateful to them all because of it.
I think the next step is to get stronger within the body I am stuck with and also find a way to generate a little income at the same time.
This is just a few random thought for now, and a few pictures from San Pedro will be posted soon-ish.
When you are in a physio program this is very helpful in keeping you motivated and centered on a target. The closer you get to recovery, the more you focus on being as strong, flexible and pain free as you were before the accident. I succeeded in being pain free, but not in being as strong or a flexible, and this has become a bit of a challenge. I have long accepted the new limitaions in terms of what I should not do, running and jumping result in pain. But I recently came to a realization that fighting against my injury is no longer what I am doing. I am now fighting against the changes in my body and the weaknesses brought on, instead of finding the strengths that remain.
The accident re-set my priorities in a big way, and I began to see that traveling was a direction I wanted to go in. The people in my life have allowed me to go in this direction, and I am grateful to them all because of it.
I think the next step is to get stronger within the body I am stuck with and also find a way to generate a little income at the same time.
This is just a few random thought for now, and a few pictures from San Pedro will be posted soon-ish.
Tuesday, 7 October 2014
Caye Caulker
I went on a snorkeling tour yesterday, and here are a few of the pics I took.
It was a fine day, and even the brief rain squall did not dampen our fun.
The sad note however was in talking to the owner of the tour, Steve about the state of the reef. He has been doing the tours for over 15 years, and the changes in the reef disturb him. There has been a gradual decline in the size and type of fish on the reef. The delicate balance of ecology has been tipped, and he thinks it is past the point of no return. The changes had been gradual until the introduction of Lionfish in the area. They are a predatory spieces who prey upon the young of virtual all the other types. The lack of diversification will mean the death of the ecology of the reef. The difference in the vibrance of the reef, the startling demarcations between living and dead coral show how this is a very dire situation for the reef.
The other disappointing thing I noted was the amount of plastic trash found in the area. It is so sad we humans callously discard so much of it into the environment, with not enough of us caring about the long term effects on the place we all live.
The number of tourists visiting the area is also rising, and the north side of the island has recently received power which will accelerate the development of the tourism, and I do not fault the tourists for wanting to see and visit the area, but a part of me gets down on large scale tourism, wanting the rustic out of the way places to stay waiting for the dedicated wanderer to find.
It was a fine day, and even the brief rain squall did not dampen our fun.
The sad note however was in talking to the owner of the tour, Steve about the state of the reef. He has been doing the tours for over 15 years, and the changes in the reef disturb him. There has been a gradual decline in the size and type of fish on the reef. The delicate balance of ecology has been tipped, and he thinks it is past the point of no return. The changes had been gradual until the introduction of Lionfish in the area. They are a predatory spieces who prey upon the young of virtual all the other types. The lack of diversification will mean the death of the ecology of the reef. The difference in the vibrance of the reef, the startling demarcations between living and dead coral show how this is a very dire situation for the reef.
The other disappointing thing I noted was the amount of plastic trash found in the area. It is so sad we humans callously discard so much of it into the environment, with not enough of us caring about the long term effects on the place we all live.
The number of tourists visiting the area is also rising, and the north side of the island has recently received power which will accelerate the development of the tourism, and I do not fault the tourists for wanting to see and visit the area, but a part of me gets down on large scale tourism, wanting the rustic out of the way places to stay waiting for the dedicated wanderer to find.
Sunday, 5 October 2014
Cancun, Mexico
Did not do much in terms of the 'real' Mexico in Cancun. I was treated to 3 nights at an all inclusive resort in Cancun, and although it was nice, the over-all experience was over-rated to me.
I felt too distanced from the real people who live in the area, and it would have been very difficult to break out of the tourist zone while staying at the resort. The resort itself was nice, and very relaxing, but seemed a bit on the expensive side for what you get.
From Cancun, we took a bus south for Chetumal, on the border with Belize, stayed for one night in a hostel, Paakal's, took a walk to a local restaurant, and gorged on a grill special for two. Way too much meat, great sauces, nice tortillas, terrific atmosphere. There were a lot of locals celebrating graduating from college/tech school, and it seemed like every 5 minutes a table was getting a song and celebration from the waiters, along with their name splashed on the tv screens scattered around.
Next day we were off for Caye Caulker in Belize. If the bus had not stopped to have a tire changed, we would have made the 4:30 water taxi, ended up waiting with the friendly staff until 5:30 for the last ride to the island, but Jana really enjoyed the boat ride.
We are set for canoeing this afternoon, and snorkeling tomorrow, and may post some pics afterward.
I felt too distanced from the real people who live in the area, and it would have been very difficult to break out of the tourist zone while staying at the resort. The resort itself was nice, and very relaxing, but seemed a bit on the expensive side for what you get.
From Cancun, we took a bus south for Chetumal, on the border with Belize, stayed for one night in a hostel, Paakal's, took a walk to a local restaurant, and gorged on a grill special for two. Way too much meat, great sauces, nice tortillas, terrific atmosphere. There were a lot of locals celebrating graduating from college/tech school, and it seemed like every 5 minutes a table was getting a song and celebration from the waiters, along with their name splashed on the tv screens scattered around.
Next day we were off for Caye Caulker in Belize. If the bus had not stopped to have a tire changed, we would have made the 4:30 water taxi, ended up waiting with the friendly staff until 5:30 for the last ride to the island, but Jana really enjoyed the boat ride.
We are set for canoeing this afternoon, and snorkeling tomorrow, and may post some pics afterward.
Tuesday, 23 September 2014
Slow Summer
Time this summer has gone slow. Not slow as in dragging by, but slow as in the pace of things being done was slow. Looked at in a list, the things I got done for my parents ends up being a long list.
Replace garage door opener
repair garage floor
install roll up shade on patio
lay cement blocks for sidewalk
paint all exterior trim
paint garage door
paint patio deck
make and install door for storage area
install ceiling tiles
finish and install stair handrails
trouble shoot air conditioner
change taps in bathroom
install proper exterior vent covers for bathrooms
make and install shelves in bathroom
make shelves in cold room
re-do venting for dryer
and more.
But really most of my time has been doing little stuff and just making sure they are both doing okay. Helping mom cook a few times, over half the stuff on the above list dad helped out with, and we had time to take a trip to Calgary to visit with my brother and his family. They appreciated how much of the 14 hours of driving I did, I liked getting to play with the grand nieces and grand nephew.
Visiting with the neighbours, helping a few of them with projects. Picking berries and tilling the garden. Mowing the lawn.
All that boring stuff that makes up living, but now I have the time to pace it out, and do it without a rush. It makes for a slow summer, one I will treasure for the lack of pressure to get a lot done in a short period of time.
It was a cool spring on the prairies this year, the farmers got off to a long slow start, and there was way too much rain. Once it was in, however the crops did fine, and the harvest has been behind average because of the late start, but better than average in quantity and quality.
Last year was better, but last year broke all records, and the infrastructure could not handle the amount of grain to be moved. There is still some of last year's crop waiting to be sold and shipped.
A picture taken of a field on the edge of town, pretty much sums up the area and time of year in one shot.
Next up a lovely shot of the falls colours beginning to make a difference in the look of the street.
Replace garage door opener
repair garage floor
install roll up shade on patio
lay cement blocks for sidewalk
paint all exterior trim
paint garage door
paint patio deck
make and install door for storage area
install ceiling tiles
finish and install stair handrails
trouble shoot air conditioner
change taps in bathroom
install proper exterior vent covers for bathrooms
make and install shelves in bathroom
make shelves in cold room
re-do venting for dryer
and more.
But really most of my time has been doing little stuff and just making sure they are both doing okay. Helping mom cook a few times, over half the stuff on the above list dad helped out with, and we had time to take a trip to Calgary to visit with my brother and his family. They appreciated how much of the 14 hours of driving I did, I liked getting to play with the grand nieces and grand nephew.
Visiting with the neighbours, helping a few of them with projects. Picking berries and tilling the garden. Mowing the lawn.
All that boring stuff that makes up living, but now I have the time to pace it out, and do it without a rush. It makes for a slow summer, one I will treasure for the lack of pressure to get a lot done in a short period of time.
It was a cool spring on the prairies this year, the farmers got off to a long slow start, and there was way too much rain. Once it was in, however the crops did fine, and the harvest has been behind average because of the late start, but better than average in quantity and quality.
Last year was better, but last year broke all records, and the infrastructure could not handle the amount of grain to be moved. There is still some of last year's crop waiting to be sold and shipped.
A picture taken of a field on the edge of town, pretty much sums up the area and time of year in one shot.
Next up a lovely shot of the falls colours beginning to make a difference in the look of the street.
Next up for me is heading into Saskatoon, and boarding a plane for Cancun. The weather this last week has been remarkably fine, but those colours on the above leaves are a clear warning to me that it is time to flee.
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