Off to Ottawa
Oct 11, 2009
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GreenGoPost will be in Ottawa for the coming week. Yes, that’s Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Many of us south of the border tend to refer to Canada as a whole, but that would be like saying, “Oh, I’m going to the US,” and therefore lumping Hawaii, Maine, Texas, and the Dakotas together. You’ve got the oil riches of Alberta; rural prairies of Saskatchewan and Manitoba; sophisticated urban centers like Toronto and Montreal; very British Victoria; very French Quebec City; the remote Maritimes; and St. John and St. John’s, in different provinces that I can never remember.
Canada shares the longest border with the US, is our largest trading partner, and shares many cultural ties with its neighbor to the south . . . yet Americans often misunderstand our northern neighbor. The American right demagogues Canada as a socialist experiment gone awry, conveniently forgetting that Canadian businesses are huge investors in the US . . . and that Canadian provinces have far more power compared to those of the 50 US states. The left often praises Canada as an example of how the US needs to “improve” . . . unaware that Canadians have had their own tortured history with indigenous people and the Francophone population . . . and by the way . . . Canada has a huge carbon footprint on the globe . . . and depending on what survey you read, carbon emissions per capita meet or exceed that of the US.
Ottawa and its approximate one million citizens have created a fairly sustainable community long before it chic. The city is extremely pedestrian friendly, bike paths are abundant (and in the winter, you can ice skate to work, depending on location and/or physical ability), has efficient public transportation, and has plenty of green space. Community gardens are growing in popularity, a nascent clean tech sector is growing, and its recycling bin program is becoming even more aggressive—over 200,000 homes now can pitch food waste into a bin, which is turned into compost.
Ottawa’s a national capital that feels provincial, but makes for a great visit. We’ll be updating you with what’s going on the sustainable side of Ottawa in the next couple weeks. 