Monday, June 23, 2008

AIDS Committee of Guelph Summer Newsletter

The ACG summer 2008 newsletter is now available. It features information on the membership campaign, the redesigned membership form, the new (and disappointing) anit-drug policy in Canada and more.

The newsletter also has information about Insite, based in Vancouver, which is a supervised injection site. Throughout the years it has been running, it has proven to reduce the spread of HIV and Hepatitis C. The success of the safe injection site shows that harm reduction should be a necessary program in all of Canada's HIV/ AIDS policies.

Read the newsletter to learn more about the ACG and Canada's current news on the deadly disease.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Good environmental news for Canada?

As most people know, Canada and many other developed countries have failed miserably at following the Kyoto Protocol and other environmental plans to cut down carbon emissions. With the chance of using more renewable resources for energy and new technology that helps limit our carbon footprint, you would think that Canada, would have already adopted a strong environmental plan.

I continue reading people's comments on sites such as CBC about their frustration with Canada's government. The government has continued to use the excuse of politics getting in the way of creating a plan to reduce our environmental impact. Apparently it would be too economically damaging to cut our carbon emissions drastically.

In my opinion, the environmental damage will (soon) one day be so destructive that politics or not, we're going to have to take responsibility. I'm not an economist, but when you think logically, wouldn't there be a worse impact on Canada's economic system if we wait for that day?

Every news site I visited today has an article about Liberal Leader Stephan Dion's new carbon tax plan. It seems that our Liberals are taking advantage of the fact that our Conservative government isn't doing anything about the impact Canada is having on the environment.

There has already been attacks by other parties about the plan. Even if the plan isn't perfect yet, how can anyone attack it when we aren't following any plan right now? I think that with an election coming in a year and a bit, other parties might be surprised at how many people will vote based on these types of plans.

Environmental responsibility is increasingly becoming a much needed 'trend,' with more and more news coverage on what other cities or countries are doing to help the environment and limit their carbon footprint. The past two nights I've seen TV news coverage on teenagers who are going out and planting trees, carpooling, riding their bikes, etc. These teenagers are smart, and will become our new voters over the next few years.

It's time Canada acknowledges the current and next generation's concern for the environment. I think every party's priority should be to make a plan, and whoever gets in, better follow through with it. Canadians are getting fed up with fake promises and these so-called "politics."

L

Guelph Transit changing to 20 minute schedule

On July 6th, 2008, Guelph Transit will switch over to the much anticipated 20 minute bus schedule. After almost a year of a slow, inconvenient and frustrating 40 minute schedule, Guelph will be making many transit users smile - until they find out about the increase in property taxes and signigicant fare hikes.

On Tuesday, June 17th, the Guelph Tribune published an article about the new 20 minute service, saying that the new schedule has increased "property taxes by 0.66%" and riders "face significant fare increases."

Last week I wrote about the inconvenient schedule and unnecessary emissions from buses idling. Now, in order to have a schedule that can fit the overload of people during peak times onto a bus (within a 20 minute period,) riders must pay more. I understand that the few buses that were bought cost money, but we already pay $2.00 / ride or $58.00/ month for a bus pas.

In the Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge area, you can take a bus for $2.50 and go to any one of those 3 cities. If Guelph increases the fare to $2.50, how would this make sense? Am I missing something? Guelph is a lot smaller than those 3 cities, yet you can take a bus from Kitchener to Cambridge that will only take 20 or 25 minutes. Yes, the K-W area is bigger and would therefore have more riders, but Guelph buses don't go half the distance and don't have half the riders our neighbouring cities do.

I'm hoping that with the 20 minute service, the transit system will be able to attract more downtown workers to take the bus. However, if they don't, the rest of us who already take the bus to work are left with a higher fare, maybe even leading people to drive?? Who knows. I'm a five minute drive from downtown. It might not be cheaper to take the bus instead of my car. But I wouldn't do that, because it's impossible to park downtown and it's better for the environment. (I hope.)

For more detailed information about the schedule changes, read the Guelph Tribune article.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

AIDS Committee "20 years gone by" video

The AIDS Committee of Guelph has released a preview of the "20 years gone by" video they plan to share at the Annual General Meeting held on September 24th, 2008. The video recaps the past 20 years at the ACG, including interviews with current and past employees.

Check it out!

Friday, June 13, 2008

20 years gone by at the AIDS Committee of Guelph

A non-profit organization I volunteer with, the AIDS Committee of Guelph (ACG,) is having a summer barbeque, "20 Years Gone By." The location is not confirmed as of yet, but it will be on Thursday, July 10th, at 12pm and is open to everyone.

As a Public Relations student, I most recently developed a membership campaign for the the ACG. They are hoping to increase membership among clients, volunteers and other interested members of the community. Their membership application form is available online under "Become a Member!"Membership keeps you updated on events, funding and services; helps you become a part of the growing HIV/ AIDS movement; and allows you to attend the Annual General Meeting to vote on the Board of Directors and talk about HIV/ AIDS issues in the community.

With 20 years gone by, the ACG has been dedicated to creating a non-judgemental, friendly atmosphere. With extensive HIV/ AIDS information available, education workshops, support services, and an HIV testing location on site, they reach out and help those with or at risk of HIV, their family members and friends.

They have an annual Red Ribbon Gala, most currently held on May 3rd. The event helps fund the AIDS Committee and Masai Centre. Other ways to donate are available online.
For more information about the organization or HIV/ AIDS awareness, log on to the AIDS Committee of Guelph website.

I recommend learning more about this organization and using it's valuable resources. Remember that 62,000 Canadians are living with HIV/ AIDS.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Global Footprint Network

Recently I read in a local newspaper about a website that allows you to calculate how many "earths" and global hectares we would need if everyone lived like you (called a footprint.) I did the quiz, realizing ahead of time that life in North America uses a lot more resources than life in underdeveloped / poor countries.

After answering the more detailed questions to get a more accurate result of my footprint, the world would need 4.4 earths to sustain everyone if they lived like me. Like I said, it wasn't a complete surprise but still kind of scary to think about. It asks you about what type of food you eat, if the food is local, energy consumption at home, how often you drive, etc etc.

The quiz allows you to change your answers to see what could be causing such a high use of resources. It then tells you what you changed that caused your global footprint to increase or decrease.

I found it interesting that reducing how often I'm on a plane reduced my overall "required earths" by 0.3. I don't even fly that often, probably 3 times a year. This fact makes me semi-support the recent increase in fuel-surcharges and baggage charges from airlines.

I've always had an interest in environmental sustainability, and this site has certainly caused me to be more conscious over the last few weeks. There is a bit of a glitch though - I am unable to ever get my resource usage down to a level where we would only need 1 earth to sustain everyone if they lived like me. A few reasons for this include:
- A lot of food I eat cannot be bought locally because it isn't in season for half the year.
- I work and live in one city currently, but go to school 20 minutes away.
- Buses to the city I attend school would take 1.5 hours due to the weird route it takes.
- My bus service, as mentioned in the other post, doesn't have a convenient schedule any more.
- Equipment for renewable energy is too expensive still. Hopefully this will change as more cities around the world continue to sell more and find new ways to reduce production costs.
- And, I just like meat. Apparently if I ate less or no meat, I would reduce my footprint.

The site also gives tips on reducing the amount of resources you use, information on national resource usage, carbon footprints and more.

Check out the Global Footprint Network and see what your footprint is.

Link to article about Guelph Transit

Here's a story written about the transit situation. In general, the public's reaction to the schedule change has not been positive, as noted in this article and many others when searched for online.

http://insideguelph.wordpress.com/2007/08/09/guelph-transit-takes-a-step-backward/

Guelph Transit System

For years, the Guelph Transit system was on a thirty minute schedule, meeting downtown at quarter after and quarter to each hour. The thirty minute service allowed you to basically get from one end of Guelph to the other in less than an hour.

Last September, due to a few of the longer routes causing buses to run late during peak times (in the morning when kids are going to school, and at the end of the afternoon,) the transit system changed the schedule to a 40 minute service during the 'peak times.' Peak times include 2 hours in the morning, and 6 hours in the afternoon. This was to allow them to get downtown back on time.

Instead of adding more buses onto the already busy routes (some of which had tell people to wait for the next bus,) they just extended the schedule another 10 minutes. This has caused the already packed buses to become more packed, because there is less flexibility to catch the next one. If someone is travelling across town, it would take an extra 20 minutes already (if transferring downtown,) so waiting for the next bus isn't an option.

Every day I take the bus to work. The route from my house actually takes less than half an hour to loop back downtown. Because of this, my bus sits for 5 - 10 minutes at the side of the road to pass time. Not only is it ridiculous that a bus sits and idles for that long every morning on it's route, it makes me wonder why a 40 minute service was implemented in the first place? They obviously had to have done research, so how did they miss the fact that 30 minutes was already more than enough time for many of the routes? Yes, some routes needed the extra time, but why not put 2 buses on that route, or create a 20 minute service where the buses would leave 20 minutes apart?

Apparently Guelph Transit will be implementing a 20 minute service, but not until next year. They plan to buy a few new buses in order to accommodate the new schedule. We'll see when this plan is finally implemented. In the mean time:
- They've lost a few of their patrons (like me, who used to take the bus to the Stone Road mall area but now doesn't because it takes too long);
- They're doing more damage to the environment than before from idling. Guelph has always claimed itself as a "green" city, setting a good example for other cities. This bus situation proves just how untrue this is when it comes to vehicle emissions; and
- They're giving patrons fewer chances to take the bus.

That's all for now. I'll post links about the schedule when I hear more about it.

L