My friend Thomas wrote this beautiful piece on his pup Rocco. Grab the tissues and read on. ❤
It’s taken me a while to be able to write anything about Rocco. On top of a profound sense of loss, something else rendered me inarticulate: some form of what I can only call trauma. Rocco’s last 24 hours were awful. I watched helplessly as seizure after seizure wracked his failing body. He fought so […]
Originally posted in Sustainability eNews Vol. 71 – April 2016. A special thank you to the Students’ Union Facilities and Operations Team and the folks at Energy Management and Sustainable Operations.
All photos, graphics and text by K.Barnes.
Once it leaves your hand and enters the container, you probably don’t give waste a second thought, but there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes to ensure the university’s waste is being recycled or composted correctly. At home, a lot of what is accidentally thrown away can still be sorted out at the City of Edmonton Waste Management Centre, but it doesn’t work like that at the university.
“If people put things in the wrong bin, we have to reach into the bin and put it in the right one.” – Gerry, Students’ Union Facilities and Operations
“If you don’t know where something is supposed to go, it’s okay to ask us where to put items.” – Emma, Students’ Union Facilities and Operations
The University of Alberta is part of the Institutional, Commercial and Industrial sector, which means it is not part of the municipal waste system you have at home. Instead, the university must have its own waste contractors who collect and process waste and recycling. Someone who lives in a residence in Edmonton pays taxes which go toward municipal services like waste management. The university’s contract requires waste materials to be separated correctly, or it all goes to the landfill. This also means that the material in the university’s “landfill” stream does not get sorted further after it leaves campus – it goes straight to a landfill.
“Landfills are designed to not allow things to break down easily, or liquids to leach out. They are a highly anaerobic environment. Even a piece of food waste, which can compost quite easily, will sit there for years in a landfill.”
– Shannon Leblanc, Sustainability Coordinator, Energy Management & Sustainable Operations
Keeping as many compostable or recyclable items out of the landfill as possible is an institutional sustainability priority. For example, decomposing organics in landfills produce a gas which is composed primarily of methane, a greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. By keeping compostable items out of the landfill, the university can reduce its ecological footprint. With this in mind, the University of Alberta’s draft Sustainability Plan has set a target to divert 90 per cent of waste from the landfill by 2020.
To meet that target, the university is piloting Zero Waste stations in the Students’ Union Building, HUB Mall and Lister Centre. These stations move the university from a six-stream system to a simpler four-stream system which captures mixed paper, recyclables, organics and landfill waste. Once these stations are working, the system will be expanded to the rest of North Campus.
To evaluate the new system, UAlberta’s Energy Management and Sustainable Operations and Buildings and Grounds Services perform regular waste audits to get concrete data about how well the Zero Waste stations are working. That means the waste is collected, labelled and sorted to see how many of the items are correctly disposed of, and see what items cause trouble.
Next time you need to toss an item, check out the containers to see where it belongs and help the university keep recyclables and compostable items out of the landfill.
**This post is intended to hold my own feet to the fire, and keep certain promises to myself.**
About ten months ago I wrote a blog post about coming up with a ten-year plan for myself.
With the end of the year just around the corner (and I know it will come *much* sooner than I anticipate), I thought I should get a head -start on taking a look at how well I’ve stuck to my goals and re-evaluate them. Why wait until New Years’, right?
a) Steady work and less contracts– I’d love to continue working on my skills and building work experience, particularly in communications, marketing, project management, business, but I won’t say no to any good opportunities that come my way;
b) Pay off student loans– it might take a while, but it is super important to me;
c) Work out at least three times a week consistently— I’d like to get stronger and more fit, which means having a more structured attendence;
d) Learn to speak another language fluently– I’ve been working on German through Duolingo; and
e) Travel more– Top spots include New Orleans, Cuba, and the UK.
a) I’ve definitely kept this promise, however I also picked up some more contracts as side work, and I’m enjoying it. Maybe a better way to look at this goal is to keep steady work as well as some freelancing on the side.
b) Working on that… I can’t wait for the day when I pay less in student loan payments than my rent.
c) Here’s one of the goals I’m failing at massively. I eat better than I did as a student, but working out consistently hasn’t happened. As much as I’d like to blame the freelance work, that’s not really fair. There were stints where I excused myself from going to gym because the weather was so nice out. A leisurely stroll does not a workout make.
I think I need to come up with a motivator to go to the gym (eg. allow myself to buy fancy teas if I keep my goal), or find an app like Duolingo to keep motivated.
d) I’m actually fairly impressed with how much German I’m retaining, and now that Duolingo has expanded to include Ukrainian, I practice French, German and Ukrainian each for once a day and I’m loving it.
e) I can safely blame the failure of this goal on the student loans, and I don’t feel the slightest bit guilty. Instead, I’m trying to focus on reading books that transport me to new places and get my travel fix that way.
Considering this past year was full of upheaval and change, I’m actually fairly impressed with how well I’ve done, minus going to the gym. Still, I think these are managable goals, and I intend on keeping them. 🙂
-kb
Baseball’s a funny thing when you are North of 49°. It doesn’t seem to exist most of the time. If you want baseball that far north, you are looking at small local leagues, the ones that are overshadowed by the almighty hockey. Until the Blue Jays made the American League Championship Series this year, I didn’t think Canadians outside of Toronto realized baseball was a viewing option.
It’s a beautiful sport, though. Quietly tense, but the fireworks can blow you away. I can’t think of another sport that balances these polar opposites so well. Baseball is like a good book– it can suck you in, keep you on the edge of your seat and make you forget about the world around you, yet you still have a visceral reaction to what you witness. There’s nothing suspenseful about hockey; it’s more like a good popcorn action flick.
I’ve witnessed a lot of great sporting experiences. My dad always made sure I watched March Madness and we were ecstatic by the Chicago Bulls’ wins with Michael Jordan. I remember the heartbreak with the 2003-2004 Calgary Flames lost the cup, and I remember Crosby’s golden goal.
I still can’t get seeing the Royals in May 2011 out of my head.
We were visiting family before my cousin’s wedding, and it was decided we were going to see a baseball game. I was excited; I’d only ever seen small local games or watched it on TV. After an early meal, we all packed into the SUV my parents rented (by packed, I mean that we had to shut Dave in the trunk) and we pulled up to Kauffman Stadium. The parking lot was pretty full since there was a Chiefs game and the tailgaters were still enjoying the sunshine. We walked into the stadium to find our seats– down low by 1st base. I wouldn’t realize how lucky we were until my mom had to splurge for Jays tickets at the equivalent level in Toronto a couple of years later.
The stadium was remarkably empty, but Dave said it was because the Royals never win…
The stadium was so full of life, though. The families with small children who were terrified of the mascot Sluggerrr. Drunk college students singing with all their good-natured hearts. Drunk oddballs who knew every player and still could recall their stats in an inebriated state.
COME ON, BABEEEEEE! IT’S ALL ON YOUR SHOULDERS NOW! – drunk fan behind us who was wearing both home and away caps, paired with yellow-lens sunglasses
While I can’t remember who the Royals were playing, I remember feeling in the stadium. The Royals would get ahead, then the other team would get 3 RBI and the lead would switch. Pinch-hitting. Base-stealing. It was tense. It was exciting. It went for 13 innings, and the Royals won.
We didn’t get back home until midnight, but the feeling didn’t leave. That night was when I saw the romance of baseball.
Back in Canada, baseball’s beauty flies under the radar, a bit like the cute neighbour next door. Everyone is busy obsessing about the popular kid– hockey. Few people outside of Toronto seem to remember the back-to-back World Series wins for the Blue Jays and most beyond the GTA only start paying attention once there is a title at stake.
I think you need to sit in a stadium to see the beauty of baseball. Look it straight in the eye and watch your team battle back from deficit to a win at the change of a hairpin turn. You have to feel the anxiety of the batter while you wait for the pitcher to throw. You need to hear the silence when you watch to see where the ball lands. You must feel the roar of the crowd at a home run.
Thank you, Kansas City for making me romantic about baseball. ❤
Sometimes my colleagues and I get to do some very cool things, like Eco Move Out. I’m spoiled since I didn’t do much heavy lifting– just holding a camera or doors. 🙂
I like to have playlists on hand filled with fantastic women whose strength, determination, talent and creativity motivate me to be and do my best. In honour of International Women’s Day 2015, I thought I’d share a few of my favourites.
“Pirate Jenny” by Nina Simone
Nina’s cover of the classic Threepenny Opera song is easily the best version. Hearing Nina’s strength come through as the tough pirate captain Jenny masquerading as girl working at inn, then getting her revenge, is pretty empowering.
“Transgender Dysphoria Blues” by Against Me!
Frontwoman Laura Jane Grace is such an incredible songwriter: so raw and honest. The band’s most recent album Transgender Dysphoria Blues is inspired by Laura’s experience coming out as transgender, and it’s one of the best things I’ve heard out of the punk scene in years.
“Yellow Flicker Beat” by Lorde
I love how Lorde’s songwriting seems so wise beyond her years. This song is from the most recent Hunger Games film; while I was less than impressed with the film, I love this song and how it capture’s Katniss’ determination and strength.
“Now That The Buffalo’s Gone” by Buffy Sainte-Marie
It was so hard to only pick one Buffy song, so I chose one of the songs from her first album It’s My Way!. Buffy’s protest of the mistreatment of First Nations still rings true today, and she hasn’t stopped speaking out against this injustice.
“***Flawless” by Beyoncé featuring Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
There has been a lot of text dedicated to Queen Bey’s ascension as a leading feminist force in music and Western culture, so I’ll keep it simple: #BowDown.
“Can See Can Do” by M.I.A.
https://soundcloud.com/miauk/canseecando The boldness of M.I.A.’s personality rings through every song. I cannot wait until her new album drops hopefully sooner than later.
“Jeudi 17, mai” by Ariane Moffatt
Ariane reworked her song “Jeudi 17, mai” during the Bill 78 protests led by students in Québec. The original version of the song was written to reflect the headlines in 2008, but Ariane’s updated version gave the Printemps érable an anthem for their protest.
“Rebel Girl” by Bikini Kill
Women in the early 90s were blazing the trail for DIY feminism and the riot grrl movement, and Bikini Kill were there, adding to the soundtrack. I love how unapologetic they are about their abrasiveness and toughness paired with femininity.
“Uja” and “Umingmak” by Tanya Tagaq
Tanya’s album Animism is powerful, but this live performance is awesome (as in it evokes awe). She performs a ten minute set with the names of the over 1186 missing and murdered indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people running on the screen behind her. In interviews, Tanya is blunt and honest, speaking to the horrific discrimination indigenous women, children and the Inuit face on a daily basis. Much respect for this trailblazer and fighter.
**This post is intended to hold my own feet to the fire, and keep certain promises to myself.**
“Where do you see yourself in ten years?” is a question I’ve been asking myself a fair bit lately. It’s not a foreign question to me– I’m the type of person who likes to think before I speak and plan before I do. I often like to ruminate on where I am, where I’d like to be, and how to connect those two points. There is a certain amount of comfort in planning a head and finding out the plan works.
On the other hand, when the plan doesn’t work, it’s time for the post-mortem: why didn’t the plan work; what went wrong; how could I have avoided it; what next, etc. For me, knowing where I am and how I got there informs how I should proceed.
Nine years ago when I finished high school, I had a pretty straightforward plan: go to university, live on my own, travel a bit and work. Pretty vague, but I did meet all those goals. Maybe I would have liked more long-term work and less contracts, more travel and less hanging around home, but I did okay meeting goals I set as a teenager. I didn’t decide where I wanted to travel to, what field I wanted to work in or where I’d live, but I gave each goal a shot.
Now here I am, almost ten years later, realizing I need to figure out goals for the next ten years– some personal and some professional. I’ve got a year to finalize the details, but here are some preliminary goals:
a) Steady work and less contracts– I’d love to continue working on my skills and building work experience, particularly in communications, marketing, project management, business, but I won’t say no to any good opportunities that come my way;
b) Pay off student loans– it might take a while, but it is super important to me;
c) Work out at least three times a week consistently— I’d like to get stronger and more fit, which means having a more structured attendence;
d) Learn to speak another language fluently– I’ve been working on German through Duolingo; and
e) Travel more– Top spots include New Orleans, Cuba, and the UK.
It’s a small start, but I hope this will help me solidify my trajectory think about where I want to be in the next ten years.
~kb
My friend Thomas’ account covering the suicide of Solomon Uyarasuk. Heart-breaking.
I find myself in Igloolik this week, an Inuit community of almost 1,500 people which sits on its own small island about 800 km northwest of Iqaluit, just off the northeast corner of Melville Peninsula.
Arriving Sunday night around 4:30pm it was already pitch dark and about -30C with the wind: an instant reminder that I’m further north than Iqaluit. I’m above the Arctic Circle now, where, eventually, the sun will disappear for weeks each winter. The average temperature in Igloolik this week is around -27C, before the wind chill. And there are only about 3 hours of sunlight, including twilight.
My official capacity here—covering a five-day coroner’s inquest into the death of a young, popular artist and circus performer while in police custody for Nunatsiaq News
A plane waits on the tarmac of Iqaluit’s airport Nov. 22. After flying all the way to Igloolik, my plane turned around headed…
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I got a new camera last year and I’ve spent some time trying to learn all the settings. At school we used Nikons, so switching to a Canon took a bit to learn. My goal was to see if I could learn to take pictures that I wouldn’t feel the urge to doctor with Photoshop. Here’s a small selection, taken over the course of the summer and autumn. Alberta is ridiculously pretty.
This morning I had a mad craving for Credo’s cheddar corn muffins *again*. Just this past week I picked up one right at 7 am, freshly pulled out of the oven because I couldn’t wait. Suffice to say, it was getting ridiculous. While I love the cheesy corn muffins with a kick, I needed to find a cheaper way.
I absolutely suck at baking, so any recipe had to be super easy. In a high school baking class, I think I only got a good grade because my partner was incredible; myself and the other girl, not so much.
After looking through a few recipes online, and not really exactly what I wanted, I “MacGyver-ed” my own recipe. I wanted something reminiscent of cheese grits (which I suck at making as well), and I wanted the muffins to have a wee bit of a kick.
Cheese ‘n’ Grits Muffins
Preheat oven to 425 and grease muffin tin. Mix first five ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, beat egg. Add milk and butter to mix. Add liquid ingredients and cheese to large bowl. Mix lightly (until all ingredients are moist) and be careful to not overmix. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake for 15 minutes– knife should come out clean or at least a tiny bit cheesy. Place on cooling rack or enjoy hot with butter. Makes 12 muffins.
Music while you cook
I’m on a bit of a Jack White kick since I saw him perform at Sonic Boom fest. I’ve been a big fan since his early White Stripes days and I still like his recent stuff; since I can’t pick, take two!
Here’s the first song I ever heard by The White Stripes:
And a song off his new album:
Kateryna Barnes 