Moron Of The Day Award

It's a toss up for the Moron Of The Day Award on the  bike commute home yesterday:

The Translink bus driver going north on Gilmore in the left hand lane turning west onto Lougheed  had it nailed until the unshaven, unkempt dude in a white van told me to get onto the side walk...

The bus incident was gnawing at me most of my ride home. Here is what happened:
I am going north on Gilmore. Traffic is heavy and I am attempting to cross two lanes to position myself in the left hand turn lane. I get cut off a few times despite signalling (it is still light outside and beautifully sunny - visibility is not an issue today), but finally make it into the lane beside the turn lane. Signalling to move left into the turn lane when I notice the aforementioned bus in my rear view mirror barrelling down the left turn lane (probably in an attempt to make the advanced turn signal). When I see the bus I abandon my lane switch. Got a car behind me that wants to make the light. Cars on the right of me moving through the intersection... Bus slows down and I move into the lane (signalling again and just about to give the bus driver a little thank you wave when she honks her horn at me (angrily). WTH. Stopped at the green light now yielding to traffic before turning left. Checking behind me to see what is up with the driver. She is gesticulating wildly and I mouth "where do you want me to go?". Ok, I probably startled her, but I certainly didn't force my way into the lane. She slowed down and I took that as indication that she is allowing me to merge.

Lets think about this for a moment...if I as a bike rider cut off a bus, who do you think will come out as winner?  Correct.  No matter who has the right of way, I will always lose.  Dear bus driver woman, please consider this next time you think you have been wronged by a bike rider.  

You know what irked me the most after the incident and after getting over my fear of being re ended in a road rage incident ?  We took the same route west on Lougheed and then north on Boundary.  I caught up with you when you parked your bus somewhere on Boundary to wait for the schedule to catch up...You weren't even in a hurry or late on your schedule...you were just annoyed with yet another bothersome cyclists.

Tell you what... I have been riding, driving, walking and running accident free all my life.  Considering that I am in my 5th decade, that should account for something.  I am a law abiding citizen, pay my taxes and obey the traffic rules.  I even stop at stop signs, slow down on yellow (am I the only one?), come to a full stop before turning right on red and stop for pedestrians.  3-4 times a week, rain or shine, I take my life into my hands and cycle to work.  I prefer riding over driving for various reasons and only take the car if I have groceries to buy for my family or I don't feel up to fighting the weather.
My commute is about an hour long each way and involves several dangerous intersections, heavy traffic, steep hills, pot holes, debris on the bike path,  the Second Narrow Bridge and streets with no considerations for cyclists.  The reason I have not been injured yet, is not your good driving, it is being constantly on the alert for drivers disobeying rules, not stopping at stop signs, turning right on red without yielding to me, turning left without yielding to me, opening their car doors into my path, swerving out of a parking spot without yielding, cutting me off when turning, passing me scarily close.... You get the picture.  Those dangers are not the exception, they are the rule and reality of cycling on the streets of Metro Vancouver.

I know that cyclists have a bad reputation: they don't signal, they pop up right beside you, they ride without a helmet, they don't have lights, they run red lights, they don't obey the rules...Ok, hang on, do you in your car obey the rules?  Today I witnessed two people stopping at stop signs...that is a record as I usually just see drivers roll through stop signs.  So, when driving becomes civil again in Vancouver, when you stop killing pedestrians and cyclists, then we can start taking about the bad cyclists out there...but they might be dead by then.

Until that time, I just hope that in your hurry and rage, that I won't be your next victim.

As for the moron in the van telling me to get on the side walk, you will see a lot of change in our car oriented culture in the future.  Single occupancy vehicle traffic in our city is not sustainable in the long term.  The changes implemented over the last few years by forward thinking, bike riding Mayor Gregor Robertson are only the beginning. Better get used to alternative methods of transportation and bike riders sharing your lane!

Eliminating Household Chemicals

It took a while and I still cringe when I am buying new supplies of expensive, but non-toxic household cleaners, but I am proud to say that I have eliminated most harsh daily household cleaning products.

Motivated by skin irritations in family members, I started with the laundry detergents. Because I was a sucker for the nice smell of fabric softeners, I weaned myself very slowly from the product. Using less and less and finally diluting the product with water...until my last bottle was used up...Gulp. I don't think anybody in the family noticed.

Next on my list was the laundry detergent. I researched and shopped around and found VIP laundry soap at the local supermarket was affordable and met my criteria. VIP is a local company based in Mission. Their laundry detergent is Scent free, dye free, comes in a recyclable bottle (I actually used the granules that come in a plastic bag), biodegradable, septic safe, no Phosphates, no NTA or EDTA, not tested on animals and no optical brightener. The other product that I since have found is by Nature Clean. They have a whole line of household products which now are available at my local supermarket.

Laundry under control, I moved to find a general cleaning product. I do use Baking Soda and Vinegar, but do find that for dishes, floors, toilets I need a bit of sudsing action. Nature Clean, also a Canadian company (based in Ontario), has a great All Purpose Cleaner. I replaced my household cleaner, bathroom cleaner and dish detergent with this one procuct. Apparently, one can also use it for laundry. Eureka.

The last item on my list was the dishwasher detergent. The natural products for this purpose seemed shamelessly overprized. I finally caved in and bought a box of Nature Clean dishwashing detergent.

Because the products are quite a bit more expensive, I am using minute amounts. Luckily, the softness of Vancouver's water lends itself to that practice. Using about a teaspoon of dishwasher detergent per load, my box has lasted almost a year, or about 150 loads. Ditto for the laundry detergent. I eliminated the cost of softener and have cut down on the amount of granules used per load. A teaspoon full is about all I need for a normal wash.

Since embarking on this quest, sustainability and ecofriendliness have become part of everybodies vocabulary. Hopefully, with more and more people switching to less toxic alternatives, these products will become more affordable and widely available.

The Cool North Shore

As some of you know Club Fat Ass had environmental friendliness on our schedule long before it was in the news. It's a good thing that sustainability is now part of our vocabulary and hopefully soon part of all our actions.

I realized how much of an early adopter of environmentally friendly living I was when I was invited by my neighbor JoAN to participate in the Cool North Shore.

Many of us know that climate change threatens the future health of the planet, our community and the future we’re leaving for our children. Figuring out how to respond to these concerns can be overwhelming and confusing. A diverse group of North Shore citizens called Legacy North Shore Society (), has decided we can do something powerful NOW to tackle climate change and work together to make a real difference.

They adapted the stimulating, simple and effective Low Carbon Diet model created by the Empowerment Institute (which has been used in hundreds of communities and organizations across the world) for the North Shore. They are partnering with local governments and BC Hydro to spread this across the entire North Shore over the coming year. This is a ground‐breaking opportunity for citizens and neighborhoods to make a concrete and satisfying difference on the North Shore.

Cool North Shore (which is part of Legacy North Shore) is all about building a low carbon community by engaging North Shore residents and organizations in taking action to measurably reduce our CO2 emissions.

Our first meeting was a couple of weeks ago. We were asked to come as a team. JoAn, who has been involved with Legacy North Shore, invited our neighborhood to form a team. Sandra, Heather (an almost around the corner neighbor) and myself responded. We carpooled to the Bella Candela restaurant, whose owner sponsored the evening (good pizza and salad, btw.) and settled down. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Soon after David, Bryan and Charles introduced themselves and the idea behind Cool North Shore, we were asked to switch tables. Oops, I thought I was operating in the safety of a team... After intros we were asked to reflect on our fears with regards to our environment. The tables were covered in blank sheets of paper and we jotted down our thoughts. Another switch, intros and more brainstorming on fears. After the next switch we were asked to look at our hopes. Luckily, my table mates were very hopeful that the increased visibility of the environmental issues facing us would translate into action and change on a personal, community and political level. I sometimes have my doubts...Another switch saw us looking at what we have done on a personal level to reduce our carbon foot print.

During the last part of the evening, we rejoined our original teams and were asked to plan ahead following a plan of action laid out by the Cool North Shore folks and the "Low Carbon Diet" publication. We committed to an immediate personal action. Mine is to reduce my weekly clothes dryer loads by setting up a clothesline. The other action items were in preparation for a team meeting that we scheduled among the 4 of us: Using the Low Carbon Diet booklet set a carbon reduction goal in pounds (the book was published in the US). Complete the carbon calculator at: and read chapters 1-16.

We were all pretty psyched at the end of the evening. I shall report in with further updates on Cool the North Shore and my personal action items. For now, I challenge you to take the carbon calculator at www.earthlab.com and ponder how you personally can reduce your carbon footprint.

Lastly, one of the next steps for our teams is to look at personal household reductions and then at involving our neighborhood and the community...I figure with Club Fat Ass I have a outdoor oriented, attentive community at my fingertips: if you are interested to participate in Cool North Shore, please let me know. They arranged a second meeting (like the one I attended) To register, please send your name and names of your fellow attendees (North Shore residents only), with their emails, by October 13 to: bryang@sfu.ca. Space is limited to 50 people (overflow will go to an early 2009 session).

Of Fabric Softeners and Plastic Bottles

I am a sucker when it comes to nice smelling fresh laundered clothes. It's like comfort food for me. Maybe it brings back childhood memories or it makes up for the years travelling or using washing machines that left the laundry gray and murky looking and smelling. Several years ago I was able to buy a second hand Asco frontloader and there is joy in doing laundry again (just kidding).

While always limiting the use of chemicals in my life, I find it hard to say no to the fabric softener. The other day I needed more fabric softener and realized that the store where I buy most of my household items and dry groceries, did only sell softener in big plastic bottles. I was looking for those refill packages that make a mess, but use less packaging. No such luck. I almost walked away without the product...but as I said, I am a sucker for that nice smell. Ok, I thought maybe I can do without the smell, but who likes stiff, hard laundry? I settled on a product without perfumes...laundry is soft, but no fragrance.

Did I really need to research to find that fabric softeners contain chemicals that can be toxic to humans...no. For those reasons I have never dyed my hair, bleached my teeth or used pesticides in the garden...but duh, I am a sucker for that smell. I found an article on the Grinning Planet outlining the dangers and alternatives.

I will slowly cut down on my softener and will not buy a new bottle (funny, all I wanted to begin with was not buying yet another plastic bottle). Have to try adding vinegar to the rinse cycle. Vinegar is not necessarily my favourite perfume. Over the summer I will also hang my laundry outside more frequently to conserve energy on the drying.

Any hints and tip on how you deal with your laundry without damaging our environment or health are appreciated.

Out Of Balance

I've always felt compelled to wag my finger at the person tossing garbage out of a driving car, idling their SUV while sitting in a parking lot, driving around the block to drop the kids of at school and doing other stupid things that would harm nature and my enjoyment of it.

Unfortunately, my personal pet peeve is not so personal anymore. Our globe is at risk. The earth is warming, species are becoming extinct, habitat is lost, humans are getting sick. I believe, we can change. I believe it is possible to change the direction we are heading. All of us are in this together, but rather than wait for our governments to implement change toward sustainability (and believe me, as soon as it hits the pocket book, change will come) we can start changing small habits of ours... think before hopping in the car, using pesticides on your roses or heating the house with the windows wide open. Small changes by each of us can have a huge impact.