Environmental Investment which cost nothing but a little effort.

I've been becoming increasingly annoyed by paying lots of money to get my oil changed. So, I thought it was time to invest in some car ramps so I can change my oil at home instead. I figured that I would have to pay about $50 for the ramps, and that in about 2-3 oil changes at home they would be paid for.

I was wrong. I was wrong in a good way. Instead of running over to Canadian Tire and buying the car ramps there, I decided to "invest" my time instead of my money. How? I went on Craigslist. I searched for some to buy, but I also put out a wanted ad for car ramps. Within a few hours, I had 3 offers of car ramps for a nominal fee. The winner was Bob, who gave me the ramps for free.

It was a little drive out of the way on our way to Hamilton and was well worth. Turns out that he didn't want to have them end up in a landfill. Myself, do I care whether the thing that my car is going to rest on is bran new or not?

Bottom line, is..... well, the bottom line. I may have rammed my wang up the economy's ass without a condom, but what good is an econmy that is based on waste? It has to end sometime.

I wanna buy some gold..............and a random thought to conclude

I wanna buy some gold.

Yes, for investment purposes, but also because it's just so neat. I picture myself staring at a couple of sweet gold coins like I was Frodo staring at the ring.

If you really think about the value of gold, it has no value. You can't eat it, drink it, inject it, drop it, or smoke it (he he). It's only valueable because someone else wants it. Right? Ok, I know this, but I still want some.

Did you know that one ounce of gold can be hammered out to cover a rediculous area and that gold foil is only 20 atoms thick? That's pretty cool.

But really, my excuse is that it will go up in value drastically with the progressively worsening economy and it would be beneficial in case financial doomsday (collapse of the U.S. dollar). That's why I "need" some, but I want some because.....well....I can't give you a rational answer. It's just plain neat!

If the world turns to shite, then it would be good to have. But if it doesn't, then I'd have some gold. I just wish that I wasn't in such debt.

Speaking of which, why am I charged interest on my student loans? Isn't the point of a student loan to make a person more educated and thus more productive to the economy? Why would a bank feel the need to capitalize from me persuing my education? We think that's it's the government that lends us this money, but it's really the bank. Right now, the people that I deal with are not government workers. They are a seperate company that is paid to manage the people who owe money from going to school. Now, since I have to pay6 $450 a month just for the "government" loan, I can't do too much can I? How is this helping our bleeding heart economy if I can't save up to buy say, a bran new spankin car from one of the THE BIG THREE.
Fucking banks. They lent me money that never existed (if it is at all like the American system), and now I have to pay it all back and then some. I probably wouldn't have taken loans if I knew that my loans would actually cost me much more that I borrowed. I foolishly believed that the interest rate would be significantly lower than other loans, but it isn't. I even applied for interest relief, twice, and sent a letter to the government (the actual government) and again....."I make too much money".

Canada's a good place to be, but this feels like the government doesn't really care about the people. Well, the student loan sector anyways.

Some over stated, cliché thoughts....

I just saw the movie "Sicko" by Micheal Moore. Yeah, he still uses simple examples to show his point (like how the French doctor was very wealthy which proves that socialized medicine still allows doctors to make enough money) but it made realize nonetheless that America really sucks.

All this bullshit patriotic rhetoric that so many people swallow is repeated ad nauseum and it is nothing more that the biggest, most obvious (yet most subtle) lie. Is there a small group of people who think "lets make sure that we say how it is heroic to die to for your country, or to work like a slave in the name of the USA as much as possible"? I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. But it is hapenning. The powerful people in that country really have the people by the balls, and truly don't care about them. They want their people to be defeated for some reason, and I can't see why that is good.

It's really too bad. Although it happens in Canada as well, most US doctors and medical companies are profit driven. The most accurate word that I can think of to describe this corruption is barbaric. A doctor will actually prescribe more pills because it will make him/her richer. And, if you can't pay your hospital bill, you can actually be kicked out of the hospital. I know that Moore's films have a tendency to state broad, sweeping generalizations. In Columbine, he found that "Canadians don't lock their doors". I fucking lock my door. In this film, he makes the US medical system look much worse that it is and much better in other countries by using one carefully chosen example. Despite this, you can't deny that it is a dog eat dog world down there - well, more than most "civilized" countries. How could the government spend so much money on defence which kills it's soldiers and millions of others, and neglect the problems that are right at home. Aaaargh, I'm so angry at stupid and degressive it is!!!!!

For some reason, I'm really pissed right now. That's why I had to write. I really want the American people to get really pissed off and actually do something. The American Empire will fall, and I feel like it will happen in our lifetime. And guess what, I can't fucking wait. Those greedy freaks who perpetuate these institutions and hold back positive change have had their fun and the party's gotta end sometime. I hope soon.

Anyways, I'm glad that I'm Canadian, even though our country is far from perfect. Living in America seems like pure shite though.

Is this an idea for the planet? Well, it can relate. I'm too tired/lazy to think of an interesting point that isn't blatently obvious. So, you think of one for me. I know that only one or two people read this blog, but that's cool. Even one is enough.

Thanks for reading.

A view from the other side.....

All throughout history, there are incidents of false paranoia and mass hysteria. Is it possible that the financial crisis, global warming, peak oil, and the environment are similar?

Well, as for the financial crisis, here is an interesting article that explores the other side. There are some interesting points that explain how the media convinces people to behave like there is a recession. In other words, the chicken is hatched before the egg.

Click Bellow:

An open letter to the Wall Street Journal

Let me know your thoughts.

I also just caught this snippet from Ron Paul.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/024086.html

Perhaps a change in currency is closer that we think.

Arguments

The last few days I spent many hours debating a friend of mine on certain issues that I've been concerned with. It led to do some reading online and I ended up learning quite a bit. I must admit that it really took a lot of energy to look up so many conservative based arguments. The idea that we should keep on going like we have been simply doesn't sit right with me.

A large part of our discussion was about global warming science. So in my readings, I came across a movie called "The Global Warming Swindle" (which I've recently downloaded and am going to watch soon). The series of youtube videos shows a few clips from the documentary, interviews the film maker, then they proceed to debate both sides with a panel of scientists.

Global warming isn't really my main concern at this point in my life, but I'm interested in it and these videos are worth a look.




Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8

The next 20 years are going to be very different than the last 20 years

My concern and worry for the future of society has taken an exponential increase in the past few weeks.

It started when I when I watched the second Zeitgeist movie: Zeitgeist Addendum. It's basically a documentary about the entire concept of money and the complex systems that are involved with it. Have you ever had the conversation where you ask yourself: "what is money"? It's just paper right? Yes, it kind of is. Thankfully it's widely agreed that it's worth something to other people. We trust the fact that is worth something, and that it will be worth something in the future.

I've also watched Chris Martenson's Crash Course, which really clarifies the changing times ahead and questions the state of money in general. You owe it to yourself to watch this series of videos, and you'll be glad when you do. The more I think about this concept of money, the more I realize that we live in old fashioned times. Our grand kids will look back at this time as a time of gluttony, waste, and ignorance.

One point that I took away from the Crash Course - which is something that I think of often - is how much energy we get from oil. Chris Martenson's main point about oil is that we live like kings!!!! Why? Well, a gallon of gasoline is worth 500 hours of man labour. We all make much use out of this liquid slavery. Sure, we can be seen as slaves to oil. In actuality, we harness the energy of several slaves with this energy source. Currently, a gallon of gasoline(that's 3.79 litres) costs about $3 and that gallon will give you 500 man hours of work. So, if you burned 1 gallon of gasoline in a car, and then had someone push it back to where you started, that would be how much energy was used in that gallon. So, how much would you pay that guy for pushing your car that far?

Chris Martenson's thesis in this series of videos is that "The next twenty years will be (much) different than the last twenty years". Watch these videos, and get your own opinion. There is no fancy music to heighten the emotional impact of his points. Rather, he presents facts in a logical and seemingly unbiased way. Of course, he states his opinions, but he tells you when he is. I personally do not have the time, patience, or even intelligence to conduct the research that he has done. So, take advantage of this package that he has produced.

In watching these movies, I realized that I don't fully understand the concept yet. But, what I took away from it all is that money is really quite fake. It is created out of thin air by the federal reserve. Can you write yourself a check and get rich off of it? Obviously not. But, the government can. This irresponsibility on behalf of our leaders will catch up with everyone (government and citizens) sooner than later because inevitably, we will all be bound by the planets environmental limits. It's plain physics really, not the results of marijuana smoking/hippy/environmentlist/left winged influenced ideologies. Nope, physics. We'll hit these limits hard and fast. Humans don't deserve to live like we do right now and making this change will be very difficult for our society.

Please, watch these videos. It's important. Give me suggestions as to how to influence people to choose to watch them. It's not as easy as I thought it would be.

To be continued........

Confession

As I took out the garbage last night, I saw that my neighbour had a computer monitor, some wires, and a 90's style dot-matrix printer waiting to be thrown out.

Unfortunately, these things will be thrown out in the garbage and not recycled. So, I was going to do a good thing. I found a business in Brampton that recycles old electronics. Great! I can just drop it off and they'll take care of it. The name of the business is "Sims Recycling Systems" and their motto is: "Save Our Planet". Then noticed that there was a "quote generator". Yup, you had to pay to have it recycled. So, I got a quote for how much it would cost to recycle this monitor and it was over $150. I later learned that this was more for corporate recycling hence the cost. Even then though, how is a company or corporation expected to recycle their "old" computers if they have to pay for it? Obviously, I don't see this happening.

With a little more searching, I found that the City of Toronto has many locations for residential electronics recycling and it is free of charge. There was one right on my way to work, so I was going to put that printer and monitor in my car before the trucks came and drop it off myself.

Well, I was running late, and it was pouring rain. The equipment was soaked, and I was in a hurry. That right there was enough to deter me from taking the step to put it in my car. So, I didn't get to do my good deed for the day.

What I deem to be the real problem though is that there isn't enough awareness or publicity about these recycling centers. There should be commercials, infomercials, and incentives to use these facilities. My neighbour is an intelligent guy with a really cute dog and he commented on my green party sign that I had on my lawn before the election. But, it takes that extra step to actually recycle. It shouldn't be this difficult!!!!!

Use Craigslist and watch "Story of Stuff"

Craigslist is a great way to re-use your products. You can either give away something for free, or charge a few bucks for it. If someone picks up this product that you don't have a use for anymore, then you get two happy parties. By giving away or selling your older products, you might get a few bucks, but more importantly you'll also prevent a new product from being purchased and starting the wasteful cycle again.

This being said, you sometimes have to pay for using Craigslist. I recently gave away a computer monitor (because someone left a better one in the recycling room at my old apartment). The guy who took the monitor had no phone manners whatsoever. When he came to pick it up, he showed up with three other gangsta looking dudes. He took the monitor without saying thank you. I felt like I was owed that. That is how I paid for using Craigslist.

Oh well, hopefully that monitor is getting used. Most people would throw it out because they just got their bran new flat screen LCD. You can also recycle these things, but you have to make special arrangements or drive the electronic equipment to the recycling center. I did this once with an obsolete scanner. I was surprised to see several "old" computer monitors in many crates. They looked quite useful, along with the computers that accompanied them. I just hope that this electronics recycling system is viable and that those electronics materials get used again.

Some other sites recommended by First Gate Blogger that are similar to Craigslist which I haven't yet used:
http://www.kijiji.com/
http://www.freecycle.org/

I highly recommend watching the following flash video:

http://storyofstuff.com/

It's a graspable concept of how materials are produced, sold, and thrown out in our current society.

Bikes in the garbage

In my neibourhood, the garbage gets picked up on Thursday morning. Before getting in my car to go to work, I saw two complete bicycles next to some bags of garbage. One was a mountain bike, while the other was a child's bike.

Immediately I thought of Canadian Tire, the store that most likely sold this bike for a mere $100 or so. There is a factory that made this thing, which pollutes and uses resources. The buyer's son probably grew out of the smaller bike, but the other one just got old and useless. Now, it's in a landfill, most likely without even given the chance to have it's metals recycled or it's tires reused. It doesn't take space up in his garage anymore, but it still takes up space.

In a way, I don't blame the buyer for throwing these things out. There is no financial incentive at all to dismantle the bikes and have them recycled. There is no financial incentive to drive the bike over to a used bike shop and donate the bikes. There is also no financial incentive to take the time to put the word out online for someone who could use the bikes. Well, in this case, he could have received a few dollars for the bikes, but it's much easier to just put them in the garbage where a worker uncritically takes away the crap that you don't want or need once a week and puts them somewhere else. Out of sight, out of mind.

I've been reading Elizabeth May's book "How to Save the World in Your Spare Time", and I've been thinking about organizing something to help people not waste as much. Ideas to come and if you have any, let me know.

P.s. I drive to work because it's cheaper and faster. We are surrounded by ipods, cool cell phones, and other technology that distract us from the fact that we are actually technically stunted. Humans have done so much, so why is it more expensive to take public transit?