Today the Ontario Government agreed set into place its long awaited e-waste collection program. Well I may be exaggerated the long awaited part for some people but for others… At the University the Environmental Law Students Association (ELSA) has taken it upon themselves over the past few years to host and coordinate e-waste drives. Certainly a noble cause since so many people are completely clueless about the deep secrets that electronic waste hides. Let me elaborate briefly. 1- E-waste is not like normal waste; once in the landfill it leaks toxic heavy metals which pollute the groundwater. 2- A good deal of e-waste ends up in China or India where peasants live in giant e-waste landfills. The inhabitants “mine” the precious metals in the computers and electronic components. They are exposed to toxic chemicals as they tear apart the components and burn the plastics for heat. And so forth and so on. So, back to ELSA. Last year on Earth Day ESLA helped to host a massive e-waste drive. ...

Smoking bad, not smoking good. Blah blah blah blah blah blah. I think we have all heard this before; second-hand smoke, poor air quality, lies to the public, impotence, and let’s not forget yellow teeth. But there is one specific aspect of a cigarettes that bug me more than anything and that is litter. My parents were smokers. I would go to school everyday smelling like an ash tray. Before they stopped smoking indoors, the house always had this lovely blue fog about it. But that was their choice you see. I didn’t really much care about if people smoked, but how they smoked. It is easy to see how second-hand smoke has a big impact on others and I think many can agree that this is where the line is drawn. Individuals should not suffer because of another’s personal choices. So the thing that gets me is when people toss their cigarettes on the ground. I know that this seems innocuous compared to some of the other dangers of smoking but I can’t shake it. A couple of years ago I was at a co...

I am not going to talk about the debacle of what happened with the U-pass over the past few days. I think that I have already said enough to the press as it is. But what I am going to talk about is the splintered state of public transportation in the City now and moving forward. 53 Days was a long time to be without transit and the good people of Ottawa didn’t take it sitting down. In fact they walked, carpooled, taxied, did whatever was needed to get where they had to go. The world didn’t stop when the busses did and this brought many people to a very important realization. They say that in order to effectuate change, individuals need to be shaken out of dormancy and indifference. Our everyday lives have a way of making us complaisant. I think that the strike was one of those shakes; one of those rare moments that makes us realize that there is another way. The unfortunate thing about this is that transit could be the big loser. As the members of the campus community realize that ther...