Oil & Money

It's all about oil and money. The Alberta tar sands expansion is destroying a Boreal forest the size of Vancouver Island. Wildlife is displaced with no place to go, or just simply killed like the ducks that try to land in the tailings ponds. Canada's biggest polluter is a legacy for it's richest Province. Soon Albertans will no longer have to pay health insurance premiums, courtesy of the tar sands. I guess that's a fair trade.
Have you noticed that our government isn't doing anything about gas prices? You can argue that they don't have anything to do with the increase in price, but then again they collect gas tax based on a percentage of the price.... the higher the price, the more tax you pay.
PetroCanada just announced their first quarter profits are up 82%.... something just over a billion dollars. Hmmmm.


Straw Bale House Update: The garage foundation has been poured and the forms were stripped today. The base for the masonry heater has been poured. The venting system turned out great. Fresh air will be drawn in from outside directly into the firebox. Another 8 inch pour will bring the shadow of the fireplace core up to slab height and the core can be assembled.

Tar, a sticky subject

Yes, survived the the holiday season and have settled into winter lethargy. Becoming a Denman Island tradition, is the loss of our regular ferry, which has been replaced by her smaller sister. This makes counting on making a ferry somewhat of a gamble... such is island life. A short foray into town last week for supplies was an adventure, as the roads were somewhat treacherous.... note the lack of other traffic.

Canada is host to one quarter of the world's remaining boreal forests. Northern Alberta's Precious forests are quickly being eaten up to make room for oil sands strip mining operations to fuel American Automobiles. Currently an area the size of Vancouver Island has been marked for development. Once the trees have been cut down and the animals displaced, the work of poisoning the air and the (once pristine) Athabasca River can begin. But hey, Alberta is debt-free!

Toxic Alberta - Alberta Oil Sands Raw Documentary

The Harm the Tar Sands Will Do

Straw Bale House update: 34 new posts and beams have been milled on the island for us. This means that there's work to do even on crappy days. Now that the straw is on the island and the free storage ends in June, there is some urgency to getting the roof on and the floor poured before that. It's our plan to begin baling as soon as weather allows for the drying of the lime plaster. Lime plaster is the exterior and interior finish of choice for a few of reasons....

- it sticks to straw. (very important)

- Carbon neutral - It actually recovers the carbon dioxide it took to make the hydrated lime.

- thermal mass for interior heat storage and cooling.

- it allows the free transfer of vapour through the walls.

- nothing will grow on it (moss, mildew etc)

The picture on the right shows the location of our current home (green circle - low) and the location of the new home (light blue circle - high). A distance of less than a kilometer and about 6 kilometers apart by road.