Fall 2009.

U of T, I accept.

Before the Turkey comes the egg.

I leave in like, a month. This is craziness.

Here are some of the things I need to get/will be doing before I go:

1. Go to Toronto tomorrow.
2. BUY A PLANE TICKET.
3. Get a MacBook Pro.
4. Visit my University choices again.
5. Decide and accept the university that I'll be attending in the fall.
6. Start planning the courses that I'll be taking in the fall.
7. Be the lead in a play.
8. See Riverdance.
9. Go shopping for 2 proms.
10. Attend 2 proms.
11. Host a going away party.
12. Say goodbye.
13. Fall in love. (I guess that wouldn't be the best idea right before I leave. But, perhaps while I'm there.... Hehe.)

OMFG Turkey

So, just a little while ago I got an email that started with the following:

Dear Luke,

We are glad to inform you that you are chosen to be one of our summer volunteers as English Teacher.

We will soon provide you with more details.

I'm in.

I would go there and teach English to high school students in Adıyaman for much of that time, and get lots of opportunities to explore Turkey's wonders.

This is so exciting I can't contain myself. 

P.s - Expect a HUGE going away party!

The Thirst for Oil-berta

This is an article I wrote a little while ago for the café I "work" at and thought I would republish on here. I have quite a few of these things that I will likely republish in the future. Feel free to let me know what you think!

_______________________________________________________

What have so many of us become dependent on in our world that we couldn’t live a day without? It’s not exactly something new and revolutionary, it’s oil. When you think about it, it’s even something that’s considered “natural” in it’s original state. It’s pumped from the ground, then it’s refined. It’s something that’s seemed so simple to us for so long, why would we even question it? It keeps our homes warm, our cars running, our world turning, right? That’s all true, in a sense.

For a long time now, oil has been the cheapest as well as an efficient way to get things done. Get us to school, get us to work, power our lawnmower... heck, we even make most plastics out of the stuff! It’s been efficient and cheap until now anyways. Let’s take a step back and think about this. We’ve always been told there’s lots of oil, right? It’s just pressurized animals and plants from millions of years ago, so how could we ever run out? Well it seems that we are, and the difference between even ten years ago and today? Two words: tar sands.

Here are the basics on tar sands: oil that’s on sand from millions of years ago. Sounds simple right? Ten years ago, no one would have even considered squeezing a tiny amount of oil from a speckle of sand, but now it’s one of our main ways of producing oil. Why? Because there’s so much oil that we could last for many more years on it. Oil is separated from the sand using complicated machinery and lots of humans are needed to make this work. Now here’s the “kicker”: It takes about two barrels of oil to produce every one barrel that comes from the tar sands. How much sense does that make? And no, you don’t need to answer that. Alberta is at the heart of this operation and the resistance from the government is not exactly helping to put an end to this nonsense.

So what can we do? We don’t determine where our oil comes from, do we? It’s not like we can choose a gas pump that’s “tar sands oil free”. What we need to do is end our dependency on oil altogether. We all know the story and bottom line, oil = bad for the environment, us and the future. It’s not necessarily as complicated as it sounds and this doesn’t mean that you must run out and buy a “Smart Car” either (though I know you want to). Choosing locally grown foods makes a difference, it really does. When you think about it, strawberries coming from the U.S. have taken planes, trucks and who knows what else to get here. That’s all using oil! Try your best to buy veggies and fruits that are in season in our area. I’m a firm believer in that what’s in season is what we’re meant to eat anyways. This isn’t always easy in our area but it doesn’t hurt to try. Also, buying products with less packaging makes a huge difference; the plastic containers are most likely made with an oil by-product, so the less packaging that’s on it, the less dependent on oil you’ll be! Another point, if you’re taking a trip soon to, let’s say, Alberta, take a train instead of a plane. It’s much more enjoyable (not to mention comfortable!) and you’ll be saving tons of carbon. One more tip – When you’re at the grocery store, if you forgot your reusable bags at home (it happens to the best of us!) just ask for brown paper bags. They’re biodegradable and aren’t made of any oil-based products, you just have to ask for them.

Best of luck and happy greening!

___________________________________________________

This article was inspired by a White Rose Coffeehouse event that took place on March 5^th with Aly Ostrowski. If you’d like more info on tar sands, visit www.facesofresistance.ca and also visit www.whiterosecoffee.com to get on our mailing list to make sure you’re the first to know about upcoming events!

Well hello there young feller.

I really, really like SquareSpace. 

I've been using it for a while with another blog, and thought I'd try it out here. Looks good to me.

Holla!

-Luke.