Urban Vancouver

Happy New Year!

Just to ease you into 2009, I thought I would post a nice video about New York-based artist Harvey Dinnerstein.

Dinnerstein is one of the world’s foremost contemporary realist painters. His hauntingly penetrating portraits and allegorical street scenes, painted over the course of five decades, depict New York’s rich pluralism, struggles, and resilience. And, funnily enough, the subway paintings remind me of travelling on the TTC here in Toronto!

The video promotes UNDERGROUND TOGETHER:The Art And Life Of Harvey Dinnerstein--the first career-spanning monograph of the artist, published to accompany a major travelling exhibition of his work. A luscious retrospective, the book is packed with 200 full-colour illustrations accompanied by insightful essays by gallerists Raman Frey and Wendi Norris. 

I was cross country skiing on Christmas day. The snow and ice on the trees sparkled in the sun making the whole scene a true winter wonderland. Relaxing, timeless, beautiful - a true winter wonderland.

Then I noticed that most of the trees were red. I was skiing through a forest of dead trees killed by pine beetles, which are raging out of control due to global warming.

Still beautiful, but not quite so relaxing. And a good reminder that that things have changed.

But many of us have not come to grips with how much things have changed. Rafe Mair has an article in the Tyee today that gives a good account of how greed and mismanagement has created the present economic mess. However, he asserts that "2008 isn't much different than 1929" as if we can afford a return to unbridled economic growth on our finite planet.

How to Create a Depression

Why we're in this mess despite so many warning signs.
By Rafe Mair
Published: January 5, 2009
[snip]
2008 isn't much different than 1929. Over optimism bred careless credit controls and in due course the bubble burst. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[snip]

And, as sure as God made little green apples, it will happen again. It always has and it always will.
http://www.thetyee.ca/Views/2009/01/05/Depression/?utm_source=mondayheadlines&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=050109

A second Tyee article by Rex Weyler asserts that things are different now, and 2009 is the year many of us will give up on economic growth and embrace steady-state economics. Giving up on economic growth makes the whole concept of a recession or depression obsolete. "2009, will signal the birth of a genuinely innovative economics that will eventually displace the patchwork rationalizations for greed."

Idea #10: Biophysical Economics
New ideas for the new year.
In the future, economists will return to earth.
By Rex Weyler
Published: January 2, 2009

TheTyee.ca

The year 2009 will witness a tsunami of appeals to economists to fix, as disgraced Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan put it, the "flaw" in their thinking. Most will get it wrong.

The proposals for bailouts, regulations and government spending sprees all share one tragic flaw: they assume no physical or biological limits to human growth. Most economists cling to an 18th century mechanical universe that conjured an "invisible hand" of God, that would allegedly convert private greed into public utopia.

Indeed, a few got rich, but the meek inherit an earth featuring child slavery, sweatshops, a billion starving people, toxic garbage heaps, dead rivers, exhausted aquifers, disappearing forests, depleted energy stores, lopped-off mountain tops, acid seas, melting glaciers and an atmosphere heating up like a flambé.
[snip]

Take a few minutes to read the whole article at http://www.thetyee.ca/Views/2009/01/02/Economics/

Things have changed big time since 1929. Building roads to stimulate economic growth worked to some extent in the 1930s, today you only have to look around you to see how much things have changed (at least in the interior of BC).

(This cartoon illustrates Rafe Mair`s article - but the message better matches Weyler`s)

Here in South Delta where we are surrounded by farming and the other allowable farm uses on farm land, composting is actually becoming a growth industry. Cheaper than paying to dump certain farm byproducts at the Vancouver/Delta Landfill and they have something to sell at the end of the composting process.

Now, in the world of agricultural fertilizer, 90% of nitrogen fertilizer comes from natural gaz, and with Peak Oil, any fossil fuel fertilizers may not be very affordable in the future. When our "turf sod" growers here roll up their fields of sod, they have to replace the loss of dirt or growth medium. They do this by bringing in truckload after truckload of "compostable" medium. Manures of all types from the Fraser Valley and many loads that I won't bother mentioning here. The biggest problem is how local residents of Ladner react to the smells generated by this use of composted materials.

Most of us in North America are simply disgusted at the thought of having to deal with our own excrement, not to mention having to talk about it. But it is a reality that will soon be upon us, in ways many of us never could have imagined. Most gets flushed down to the local sewage treatment plant and then a certain amount gets flushed out to sea. This site http://www.alanmacfarlane.com/savage/DUNG.PDF. gives an interesting history of what the Japanese did and I would guess still do.

Really, this is just another aspect of recycling our waste and our future.

...'We are told that 'Rent was adjusted on the basis of how many tenants there were and was raised if the number of occupants dropped.'The excreta might even be sub-divided. 'The value of human wastes was so high that rights of ownership to its components were assigned to different parties. In Osaka, the rights to fecal matter from the occupants of a dwelling belonged to the owner of the building whereas the urine belonged to the tenants. Feces were considered more valuable and hence commanded a higher price.'The commodity became more and more valuable, so that 'as the price of fish and other fertilizers rose, the value of night soil rose correspondingly, and vegetables were no longer sufficient to pay for it. By the early eighteenth century, with the increase in new paddies in the Osaka area, the price of fertilizer had jumped to the point that even night soil had to be purchased with silver.'The competition for night soil even led to open conflict. 'In the summer of 1724, two groups of villages from the Yamazaki and Takatsuki areas fought over the rights to collect night soil from various parts of the city.'Even in the 1930s 'every scrap of human manure is used to-day...The school and village office rent out the right to collect their night-soil.'....

And there is more at this link.

European bank funding BC P3s may be broken up by new owners

by mike_yvr | December 26, 2008 at 09:30 am

Dexia, the Belgian-French bank that's involved in several public-private partnership schemes in British Columbia, may be broken up by the governments who bailed it out.

The bank is providing financing for the Royal Jubilee Hospital expansion in Victoria, a new Surrey outpatient hospital, and the Golden Ears Bridge linking Maple Ridge to Surrey.

In the wake of September's credit crunch, Dexia received a bailout worth $11.3 billion from a number of European governments.

A media report today suggests that the state-owned French bank that took part in the bailout is considering carving out Dexia's French operations and merging them with the postal service.

Dexia has faced a number of problems recently.

Earlier this month, it was reported that the bank may be exposed in the Bernard Madofff alleged fraud scandal to the tune of $115 million (US),

And Dexia's inability to raise capital due to the world-wide shortage of credit forced the British government to bailout a major highway project near Carlisle.

Despite the crisis facing P3 lenders like Dexia, Depfa and other banks, the B.C. government agency reponsible for managing P3 schemes insists that taxpayers will not have to bailout projects like the Royal Jubillee Hospital expansion.

Nobody wants to be the Christmas turkey, but after a state-backed rescue earlier this year a carve-up could be in store for Belgo-French bank Dexia.

According to a report in French daily Les Echos published on Friday, France's state-owned lender La Caisse des Depots is backing a takeover of Dexia's French activities. The lender threw Dexia (other-otc: DXBGF - news - people ) a 2 billion-euro ($2.8 billion) lifeline at the end of September, as part of a 6.4 billion-euro ($9.0 billion) rescue package backed by the governments of France, Belgium and Luxembourg, and is reportedly considering merging the bank's French operations with France's state-owned postal bank, Banque Postale, to solve its funding difficulties.

This "novel" idea of giving up growth to stop climate change may well be a pipe dream, but it is also the only absolute way to stop climate change.

Why ‘Run-of-the-River’ is no Solution

Written by William E. Rees, PhD, FRSC
Sunday, 21 December 2008 10:56

Fact: Most public policy directed toward so-called sustainability, including
alternative energy, is directly or indirectly oriented toward maintaining
the status quo by other means—i.e., it emphasizes growth through efficiency
or is geared toward increasing supply rather than reducing demand. This
(along with kow-towing to the private sector) is what run-of-the-river hydro
is all about.

Problem: Governments (and even most ‘environmental’ organizations) have yet
to confront a contrary two-fold reality that demands a very different
approach:

Scientists, particularly climate-change scientists, have grossly
underestimated the scale and rapidity of climate change. Arctic
warming/melting is 80-100 years ahead of the IPCC’s business-as-usual
scenario. The most recent peer-reviewed research suggests that the world
will be hard-pressed to avoid stabilizing GHGs at less than 650 ppm CO2e
which implies a 50% probability of a catastrophic 4C° of warming.
Eco-footprint analysis shows that the world is in over-shoot, using 25-40%
more of nature’s goods and services each year than the planet can
sustainably produce. We are depleting essential natural capital.

Solution: There is nothing for it but to GIVE UP GROWTH. The era of material
exuberance in the First World is over. Public policy that does not reflect
this reality merely accelerates ecosystemic—and ultimately
societal—collapse.

In this light, the mad scramble by governments everywhere to re-establish
‘normal’ growth after the recent implosion of the world’s greed-driven
financial markets is tragicomedy on a global scale. Sustainability requires
that we should, instead, be planning a stable way down for everyone while we
still have the capacity to do so. Governments should be negotiating a global
treaty on ‘contraction and convergence’ by which the First World would
shrink its per eco-footprints to converge, at a sustainable level, with
justifiably growing per capita EFs in the Third World. We should aim to
de-carbonize the global economy completely by 2025. All this implies an 80%
reduction in per capita consumption and waste production by North Americans.

The good news is that the implicit serious conservation effort would
generate more energy from existing sources than can be derived by
supply-side approaches. Ecologically hazardous run-of-the-river hydro is an
unnecessary growthist strategy.

By the way,‘zero growth’ may be blasphemy today, but within a decade or so it will have become holy doctrine.

The inventor of the "eco-footprint" concept, Dr. William Rees is one the world's foremost ecological and sustainability experts. He teaches at the UBC School of Community and Regional Planning.

For Immediate Release
Dec. 24 2008

Chilling December Phone Calls from Ministry of Transportation Inform Residents of Expropriation

Wilderness Committee says, "'Minister is Misleading Residents About What They are Really Delivering us for Christmas"

Vancouver, Healthy Communities Campaigner Ben West from the Wilderness Committee wants lower mainland residents to look closely at what our government is really delivering for Christmas. "The BC Government's Minister of Transportation, Kevin Falcon, has been doing lots of media appearances talking about public transit recently, but the reality is there aren't nearly enough buses on the road due to under funding, Translink is going broke," said West. "Meanwhile Kevin Falcon has been giving nasty Christmas presents this month, notices of expropriation to residents of North Surrey and Delta" said West.

With no contractors in place to build the highways proposed in the Gateway plan the Ministry of Transportation have begun early stages of bull dozing and laying sand along portions of the proposed route of the controversial South Fraser Perimeter Road (SFPR) highway. Residents in Bolivar Heights have raised complaints about the lack of consultation and now the bulldozing over baseball diamond fields in the popular Bolivar Heights Park. One of the next spots planned to be demolished is a Christmas tree farm in North Delta which is locally owned and operated by a long time resident.

Brad Major, a local fire fighter, and professional arborist has started a small business on his families beautiful 1 acre property which is located in the trajectory of the proposed SFPR highway route in North Delta on the banks of the Fraser River. Brad is un-happy residents who have been told that his property will be expropriated by the provincial government to make way for the proposed SFPR highway which would connect Delta Port to Highway 1 as part of the Gateway Project. He was contacted this month by the Ministry of Transportation by phone and told they would remove him out of his home within a year.

"No amount of so called 'market value compensation' they push me into could make up for the true value of this land," said Major. "These properties which would be destroyed by this highway are homes, places where families and communities live," said Major. "I just can't believe those Government Grinches are doing this, it's sad because this land will be covered in families Christmas trees when them come through to build a highway over us. We grow trees and re-plant them as part of our environmentally friendly business. They could be paving over our Christmas trees within a year, to deliver Christmas goodies to Vancouver," Major explained. We want to capture carbon with trees, they want to get lots more trucks through Delta to delivering goods to Vancouver and in the meantime they would be delivering a big increase in carbon emissions. That's not a present that we asked for and its definitely not what any of us need or want," said Major.

Earlier in December Minister Falcon held a press conference in Gateway Skytrain station in Surrey to discuss a study he has ordered to look at either spending our money on extending the Skytrain in Surrey or investing in light along the same route. The 10 million dollar study would not be done before the scheduled May 2009 provincial election. At a press conference in Vancouver last week Minister Falcon talked about approaching the federal government for transit funding as part of the upcoming budget. Falcon then met with new Federal Transportation Minister John Baird, the highly criticized former Environment Minister who continues to face scrutiny for policies that facilitate climate change. According to Falcon they discussed investment in public transit even though much of the proposed BC Transit Plan is scheduled for 2030. There was no mention of the billions of dollars the BC government needs to pay for Gateway which they have indicated they want to start work on immediately.

"Anyone who is concerned about climate change or would like to see our money actually spent on smart public transportation instead of Gateway should consider sending a Christmas e-mail to their MLA and cc it to their MP the Premier and Prime Minister and tell them what you think about it" urged West. "There is still a chance over the holidays for our provincial and federal government to take a closer look at the blatant contradiction between their stated goal of taking action on climate change and their eagerness for short sighted gluttonous expansion that will just make things worse. Everyone that understands the frightening implication of this project hopes that our governments make their new years resolution to follow through on their low carbon 'diet' plan and redirect the funds from Gateway to smart growth investment in the buses and light rail everyone really wants for Christmas" suggested West.

A poll commissioned by the David Suzuki Foundation early this year showed that approximately 60% of residents South of the Fraser and approximately 70% of people across the lower mainland overall would like to see funds diverted from highways to transit in light of concerns about climate change.

-30-

Happy New Year kids. The Vancouver Skateboard Coalition’s first meeting of 2009 is tomorrow. That’s Wednesday, January 7th. And please note our change of venue… it’s going to be at Boulevard, Kevin Kelly’s new skateshop. That’s out in Kerrisdale at 5305 West Boulevard.

January 6, 2009: New Lesson on Dried Beans, Peas & Lentil

Welcome back everyone and Happy New Year. School is not officially back in session! We thought we would start you off with something healthy to kick off the new year…so with no further adieu.

Beans…beans…beans….Many people often overlook dried beans, peas and lentils because they simply don’t know how to cook them. You may even think, “Why would I cook them when I can buy them ready-cooked in a can?” Well, here are just a few reasons to learn to make them yourself. Canned beans are often loaded with sodium, so cooking them yourself allows you to control the salt. The texture and flavor of freshly-cooked beans is also superior to that of canned beans. Dried beans are also a fraction of the cost and they are cinch to make.

There are many reasons for incorporating beans into your diet. Beans are packed with protein and nutrients. They add texture, flavor and substance to many meals, which makes them extremely versatile. Whether they are part of a main course, light lunch, soup, snack or even part of breakfast, beans are a healthy part of a balanced diet.

In this lesson, you will learn the basics of cooking dried beans - all the way from soaking to testing for doneness. You’ll see just how simple it is to incorporate this highly-nutritious and readily-available food into your diet.

Happy Cooking!

The Rouxbe Cooking School Team.

A UK car show had a commuter challenge where the bicycle beat all forms of motorized transportation!

• Wufoo - HTML Form Builder - Free Contact Forms & Online Surveys Very cool little form builder. I'd been using Google Docs but am going to give this a try. Discovered via SocialSignal.com (tags: resources tools web2.0 webapp forms)
• The breakup of the United States - Boing Boing This breakup scenario that BoingBoing refers to has the US all going to foreign influencers which makes no sense to me. But still, an interesting take on it. I have read Juan Enriquez's "The Untied States of America" - fascinating! And tend to think it will go more along his lines. (tags: politics future usa)
• In Honor Of Al Franken « There Is Nothing New Under The Sun Ooo ... delightful if Franken won! Nice vid clip find by nothingnew. Also - found out about Goodwin's Law. What more could you ask for in a blog post. :) (tags: personal alfranken)

When one is supposed to be working but finds that the mood isn’t quite right, one may be inclined to perhaps instead enjoy a walk about town under the loose guise of a work related activity, like say going to the post office.  On one of these ‘work related activity’ walks one may even be inclined to perhaps take a camera with him. In fact one may even be inclined to take photos of things with that camera as he walks.  If one was the adventurous sort one could even possibly combine these two activities and perhaps maybe call it a photo walk.

I guess I am to go this way?

This blue wall I have never noticed before even though I most likely have walked by it nine thousand times.

I guess Xmas is over.

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Given their woeful programming record, for some reason, or other, this week Vancouver's last remaining repertory cinema, the Hollywood Theatre on West Broadway, has programmed a great double-bill (ends Thursday), two films which have made VanRamblings' Top Films of 2008 list.

Woody Allen's strongest and most entertaining film in years, Vicky Cristina Barcelona proves to be the perfect antidote for this dreadful winter we've been having. Allen's burlesque presents a blissful summer idyll and an inspired riff on the unique, unpredictable nature of romantic relationships, all wrapped up within a beguiling tragicomedy about two young Americans (Scarlett Johansson and a splendid Rebecca Hall) who spend a summer in Spain, meet a flamboyant artist (Javier Bardem) and his beautiful but slightly deranged ex-wife (Penélope Cruz). Loopy, exhilarating, bittersweet. Wonderful performances abound, with much laughter and good cheer. Definitely a film not to miss. 7:30 p.m. nightly.

You can all but feel the prairie dust the moment the theatre lights dim, and Appaloosa begins. A traditional genre western that sets itself apart with psychologically complex characters, an intriguing love triangle, as well as great performances and chemistry between the leads - Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Renée Zellweger, Jeremy Irons - this laconic yet gripping story of frontier folks, tyrannical ranchers and no-nonsense lawmen, entertains and involves from start to finish. Everything feels true in this slightly offbeat movie about friendly devotion; no mean feat, that. Plays nightly at the Hollywood Theatre, at 9:15 p.m.

The Hollywood Theatre is located at 3123 West Broadway, in Vancouver.

VanRamblings has updated our Best Films of 2008 list, where we're up to 10 films now (another 10 to come, as we see all of the 2008 releases yet to reach Vancouver screens). Be sure to check it out, by clicking right here.

There is no doubt that this is going to be a tough year for the media in Canada and beyond.

Journalism students graduating this year have the talent and the skills that the industry needs, but the question is whether news organisations will invest in them.

Even student journalism award winners are finding it tough. Azeem Ahmad, the winner of Birmingham University Student Journalist of the Year award sponsored by media group, Trinity Mirror, has talked about his struggle to find a suitable opening:

It’s not that there is a lack of job opportunities, but there is definitely a lot of competition for the more interesting roles, naturally. I believed that achieving my award would set me apart from the competition and make potential employers take more notice of me, but I’m still finding myself just as unsuccessful in getting my foot on the ladder as I did before I won the award.

His advice to budding journalists reflects how landing for a job has changed:

Blog as often as possible; subscribe to and read the key influencers/speakers in your chosen field - and comment too Let the author know you’ve read what they’ve written and agreed or disagreed with it; start and get involved in the discussions, engage with the community online and create one around yourself; join Twitter and become a networked journalist.  Engage, engage, engage - I can’t stress that enough.

This is career-seeking 2.0 for journalists. Dan Schawbel at Mashable provides some good advice in using social media for job-hunting.

Among the recommendations - create a video resume, capitalise on LinkedIn and tap into Twitter to network and make connections.

It is a far cry from mailing a CV and cover letter to the HR department.

I’m proud to live in a city that doesn’t easily yield to the mania of public-private partnerships (P3s). The role of governments is to serve the public interest, not entertain profit-making, oftentimes risky, ventures. Moreover, unless a municipal government can prove without a scintilla of doubt:

a) that a P3 will cost less without sacrificing quality or the public good; and,

b) that they know how to properly negotiate a P3, then cities must avoid dabbling in such partnerships.

And I make these points with great hesitation. I have not been convinced that P3s save money in the long term, I fear loss of public control, and I fret about diminished accountability.

But if I thought P3s were worth the risk (which I don’t), point b is most compelling. According to David Zussman (in C. Dunn, ed. “Handbook of Canadian Public Administration”), P3s must be skillfully negotiated, otherwise they “may lessen public accountability, increase the cost to taxpayers, expose the government to hidden costs, and make the governments bear the majority of the risk” (p. 62). Jinkies!

I would make a final point that there could be an abrogation of the principles of democracy when entering into P3s. That is, I voted (or a plurality of voters) for elected officials to serve us. I did not elect a corporation, motivated by profit and not the public good, to serve me.

This piece by the Globe and Mail’s Jeff Gray is worth reading: “TTC yes, Private Manager No”.

Some people know the town as Sin City. Others are a little too familiar with the one-armed bandits and the cocktail waitresses in short skirts. For the more technologically inclined in the month of January, it’s known as the home of the Consumer Electronics Show. That’s right, I’m back in Las Vegas this week for CES! (This explains the new background image.) As you may recall, I went to Las Vegas http://btr.michaelkwan.com/2008/01/11/highlights-from-ces-2008-fata1ity-frankie-j-slash/">last January as well and that was my first Consumer Electronics Show. I had a great time, so I couldn’t resist the temptation of going back.

In terms of packing, what I brought to CES 2008 will be much the same as what I’m bringing this year. I’m going to do my best to get away with just a couple of carry-on bags so that I don’t have to deal with any checked in luggage. That, in addition to my NEXUS pass, should ease my path through airport security and all of that fun stuff.

Since I will be out and about for most of the day, I may be effectively unplugged from the matrix for several hours at a time, but each time I find some Internet, you will likely find me on Twitter. If you want to keep up with the latest tech and the hottest parties this week, following me on Twitter is probably a good move.

For my coverage of the show, be sure to keep your browsers directed at Futurelooks.com and Mobilemag.com. Some random coverage may end up here on Beyond the Rhetoric as well, assuming that I’m not too busy playing poker after the late-night parties.

In addition to CES, I’m also in Las Vegas for my first Affiliate Summit West. This will be my first blogging/marketing conference, so it will be a distinctly different experience from the tech trade shows that I have attended in the past. Maybe it’ll help propel this blog to the new level. I just hope that I won’t be jet-lagged when I come back.

If you happen to spot me roaming the Las Vegas Strip, don’t hesitate to say hi. It’s always fun to meet readers in person.

1. Why not fine the cars that are illegally parked on the roads for um... I don't know a traffic violation?
2. Why not fine lazy store owners who don't know what a shovel is?
3. Why not deploy more than 35% of your snow plows in what has been the worst snowfall in decades?
   
4. Next time don't pray for rain, I know its Vancouver but this time it was different and this is just the beginning of climate change.

If you're not familiar with the concept, it basically means that property owners can build another potentially stand-alone structure on their property that opens up to the lane - what we would otherwise call an alley. You can check out this fact-sheet from the City of Vancouver for more info.

More...

“The aim of life is self-development. To realize one’s nature perfectly—that is what each of us is here for.”

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