The Dramaturge At Home

Yay Internet! Bringing like-minded people together.

I found this one pseudo-randomly ... via melle.ca to schmutzie to shelly (one of the many delightful rabbit-hole journeys I've been taken along on the interweb).  Knitting afghans for kids with cancer, one square at a time.  (She's getting close to her goal, but seems to still be taking squares).  I've been quite jealous of my love's prodigious knitting.  But my patience and attention span are very short.  I managed a third of a cellphone cover once.  Roro had to finish it for me.

But I might be able to do a crochet square.  So I'm going to try this and see.  And hey, if it means a trip to the yarn store, I'm pretty sure I can convince her to go.

Gone Pink ...

October, of course, is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  And I like to do what I can to support it (being a woman with breasts and all).  I don't run, although Roro and I did support our friend Kism in CIBC's Run for the Cure (go Kism!).  I do, however, blog.  And I'm pleased to participate in Mathew Oliphant's Pink for October initiative.  So The Dramaturge at Home has gone pink for October.  If you have a blog, and are so inclined, it's not too late to switch yours over.  Some design tips here.  Or, you can just donate to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

Enviro Roundup Thursday - Three Green Tidbits

1. Ideal Bite ... Eco-living tips and Blog for the rest of us
Are you getting Ideal Bite's daily tips in your inbox each day?  Are you getting their blog in your feed reader?  No?  You must fix that, right now.  Go ahead.  I'll wait.  Seriously.  Great content - funny & informative.  Great design.  Great product reviews.  Go.

Oh, and here's the other thing I love about Ideal Bite.  Their daily tip and blog entry are related, but not identical.  Now, that may not seem like a big thing.  But how often have you monitored a blog in your reader, then received an email that repeated the same content.  Some people like that.  Not me.  Which says to me that these gals have a great editorial team.  Well done.

And.  AND. They invite readers of their daily tips (both in email and on their site) to go to the related entry in their blog and comment on it.  They close the loop between outbound uni-directional email and multi-directional blogging.  OUTSTANDING!

2. TerraPass ... Offset Your Car's Annual Emissions

We all want to do something about "the environment".  And we often say this as we climb into our cars and head out into the fray.  Well, here's one realitively inexpensive, small but significant step you can take - get a TerraPass for your car.   TerraPass funds clean energy projects that reduce industrial carbon dioxide emissions.  The TerraPass that you buy goes towards the cost of reducing the amount of emissions from your individual vehicle.  And its certified by an independent third-party .  And here's the thing I really love ... they are a for-profit company.  This is not some crunchy-granola, womb-holding, kum-bah-ya singing non-profit.  They are in it *both* for social responsibility AND a profit.  They are, unfortunately, American .. though so much American pollution impacts Canadians, it makes sense to support them.  I do currently purchase my air-travel offsets from a Canadian company, offsetters.ca, but I like the model of TerraPass better.

3. An Inconvenient Truth ... The scariest movie you'll ever see
OK, I don't *love* that tagline.  Regardless, have you gotten your ticket yet?  It opened last weekend to strong reviews in the US.  It opens this weekend in Canada.  I saw Gore at TED2006 and got a preview of it.  Such an incredible, powerful, stunning and damning message.  We are sitting on a ticking timebomb of a planet and we need to take some action.  Check out the Inconvenient Truth's official site [watch out, it launches with a scary soundtrack playing]; read the blog. Find out where it's playing near you.  In Toronto, it's playing at the Cumberland.  You can watch the trailer below.

       

Tags: environment, green tips, toronto, TerraPass, IdealBite,  An Inconvenient Truth

Harper Gov't Values Arts less than Sports - Sign Petition

Apparently, the Harper government is providing a tax credit to parents whose children participate in sports, but not who participate in the arts, debate, science or other extracurricular activities.  As someone whose partner is in the arts, I'm very disappointed in this.  A petition has been started at Petition Online that reads:

 

The decision by the Government of Canada in its most recent budget to give a tax credit to the parents of children taking part in organized sports (the so-called “soccer mom” credit) is fundamentally unfair. It provides a subsidy to one group of citizens by making a value judgement about the activities in which they choose to involve their children.

The implicit assumption is that involvement in traditional sports has a higher value than taking piano or dance lessons, taking classes in the visual and dramatic arts, singing in a youth choir or taking part in debating or chess clubs. This is unsupportable in fact and undemocratic in its effects. Parents who choose to spend their money on developing the aesthetic, cultural and artistic gifts of their children should not be discriminated against in favour of parents who choose to support their childrens’ athletic abilities.

Therefore, the undersigned petition the government to reconsider its announced policy and to extend the tax credit to all children and to any activity in which parents enroll their children for their mental, artistic or physical well-being.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

I encourage you to sign.

As well, please contact Mr. Harper and your MP to let them know how you feel.  You can also read about it at CBC.

Ban Mobile Billboards - Toronto Public Space Committee Meeting

The Toronto Public Space Committee (TPSC) is holding its first planning meeting to work towards the banning of mobile billboards.  I'm excited that people are getting organized!  From their email:

"Billboard Trucks" planning meeting ~ January 10th

Have you seen those crazy trucks with billboards on them? As thousands of people are dying from smog in Toronto, all these gas-powered vehicles that serve no productive purpose are driving around in circles!  More ads, more smog and more gridlock.

They've been banned in Vancouver and Montreal. It's time for Toronto to do the same thing.  Let's get this started!  We're launching our Billboard Truck campaign and we're having out first meeting on Jan 10th.

Hope you can join us!

Tuesday January 10th
6pm, City Hall (Committee Room #1)

Details at: http://www.publicspace.ca/adtrucks.htm

contact: [email protected]

I've also sent a copy of this to Kyle Rae, my city councillor, who initially responded to my complaint, but I haven't heard from since.

In any case, fellow Torontonians, if you care about the environment and getting rid of this ridiculous advertising tactic, please join us on Tuesday, Jan 10!

Technorati Tags: environment, marketing, mobilebillboards, toronto