Rob McMahon » Environment

The Trouble With Tories

Rob McMahon — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 00:59:16 +0000

What a crazy week in federal politics. It makes me nostalgic for my days as a trouble maker in the federal and provincial Liberal parties in the mid to late 80s in Ontario. Don’t get me wrong, I rolled up my sleeves and did a lot of hard work at the riding association level. It was still fun being subversive to an extent. But isn’t that what being a Young Liberal was all about?

This week I was sick to my stomach with some of the stuff being pulled by federal Conservatives – present and past. With Steven Harper deciding he’s a nuclear physicist and ordering the restart of the Chalk River Reactor, John Baird holding hands with American climate change nay-sayers to block real negotiations in Bali and Lyin’ Brian’s return to the hill to talk about getting envelopes of cash in hotel rooms I was in need of some serious pepto.

It made me miss Jean Chretien more than I already did. I’ll save my “How Paul Martin Destroyed The Liberal Party” sermon for another day. But suffice it to say, it was really good to see le peite gar on The Hour this week.

StÃ©phane, its time to step up and put this Tory government out of our misery!

Civic Pride

Rob McMahon — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 17:31:15 +0000

Vancouver is a beautiful city, nestled between the mountains and the ocean there is no other place on earth like it. We all take pride in our city, the Sea Wall, our beaches, our parks and everything else that makes us unique. If anyone ever doubted that, it was made blaitantly obvious when there was such a public outpouring of emotion and angst when November’s windstorm tore Stanley Park to shreds. I still find it hard to see the park in the condition that its in.

One of the big events that happens every year is the Celebration of Lights fireworks. I’m fortunate enough to be able to watch from my apartment so I don’t have to join the half million or so people who head down to the beach to see it. The fireworks are always great but it’s always disappointing to see the trash left all over the place after.

Thursday morning a group of volunteers was criticized by striking city workers for cleaning up the garbage left on the beach after the fireworks. I really think this was out of line. One company’s employees volunteered their own time and other civic minded people went down rolled up their sleeves and pitched in.

I don’t know enough about the issues involved in the strike to a side in the dispute. The one thing I think is in poor taste is criticizing citizens for taking pride in their city and going out and picking up garbage.

Live Nostalgia

Rob McMahon — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 01:04:09 +0000

Watching some of the Live Earth concert on the weekend brought back lots of memories of being at Live Aid in 1985. Especially when they were talking about Madonna playing there. I was just days away from turning 19 and a friend called an mentioned another friend of his was selling off the last two seats on a tour bus headed to the concert from Toronto. How could I say no. It was an absolute blast being at the concert, seeing all the acts and finding myself on television while Brian Adams was singing Tears Are Not Enough. The video is pretty bad but about 2:45 into it you see us at the very top of JFK stadium with a huge Canadian flag and then again close to the end of the song. It was pretty damn cool.

And I’m loving Madge’s new video.

Bottled Water Bad?

Rob McMahon — Sat, 05 May 2007 20:46:41 +0000

The cover of the new Maclean’s magazine asks the question, how much tap water are you willing to drink to save the planet? That’s a very interesting question. Especially to anyone living here on the Wet Coast (sic). We are constantly told to have 3 days of drinking water available in the case of an earthquake, emergency or any other kind of natural disaster. And considering the run on the stores after the boil water advisory issued last year following a true storm of the century its not a bad idea. But what about for daily living?

Its disturbing the number of plastic bottles that end up in the landfills every year. Especially since recycling has become so prevalent and easy to do. The only time I purchase a bottle of water is when i am out somewhere and need something to drink. Anytime I go out to play tennis, volleyball, softball or just a bike ride I just take one of the bottles I have bought over the years. It takes only a minute to fill one up.

To be perfectly honestly, I like the tap water in the City of Vancouver. I thought it was a great idea when Councillor Tim Stephenson tried to ban bottled water from City Hall to set an example. We have some of the best drinking water in the world.