Thank You

Last night, not only I was re-elected to the University of Alberta Students' Union Students' Council as a Science Councillor, I was also elected to General Faculties Council as a Science Councillor. Additionally, I was first-place in both races!

Bragging aside, I want to thank everyone for their support, guidance, and feedback over the past two weeks. I made a lot of campaign promises, and I look forward to working towards each and every one of them. I also want to commend all of my fellow candidates, especially those who campaigned hard, be it posters, attending the Councillor Forum at Dewey's, or other methods. We had an excellent turnout this year for individuals running, and I'm proud of every Science student who put their name forward. Congratulations to those that won a position, in all faculties, and I look forward to working with you next year.

Being a Councillor isn't all free food and great people; it's a responsibility that I have enjoyed taking on for the last year. It's long meetings and long nights, but if you know me, you know that I secretly love all of that. I don't enjoy giving up working with other groups that I love - I constantly wish that there were more hours in the day so that I could go deer tracking or just hang out with friends, but something has to give, and unfortunately it's my other extracurriculars. But it is worth it.

To finish this up, just thank you. THANK YOU. This is awesome, and I'm pumped. Special kudos to Ngina wa Kaai, who kept me motivated; Jess Tansey, who kept me real (and was my photographer!); and Natalie Cox, who kept me critical. This doesn't include those that gave me feedback, helped with my poster and website, and were just fantastic. And you know, thanks to those that voted for me :)
Also, thanks to the election staff, who ran a successful Council election with record voter turnout of 10.5223% (3034 votes), with Science at around 16.44%. Finally, apologies to my classmates, instructors, TAs, family, and friends - I have been an awful student for the past few weeks and I swear Mom, I'll visit next weekend.

We have a lot of work ahead of us, but for now, let's focus on finishing up this year of Council, and you know, passing my courses?

Happy Meat Day! Or, Kim's Month As A Vegetarian

The gross illness that I feel right now can only be described as the result of over-indulgence. But before we get to my evening, some context!

For the past few years, I've felt that the meat industry could do with improvement to their treatment of animals, especially more humane approaches. After receiving an invite to Earthlings, dubbed 'The Vegan Maker', I realized that it may be hypocritical to hold these ideals and continue to eat factory-made meat products. So I (thought) I had two choices - change my ideals, or change my ways. Since the former is a lot harder to do, I was willing to try the latter. The way I saw it, I could eat free-range or organic meat products, reduce my meat consumption entirely (aka vegetarian), or a mix of both. I'm a student, and with the downtown farmers' market closed during the winter, I can't afford time and money required to get my hands on free-range meat on a regular basis. So I decided to try an experiment - to see if I could be a vegetarian.

Out of this came the Month of Vegetarianism shared with my friend Jess. She was a vegetarian at one time for a bit, and would mind trying it again, to see if she could 'do it right'. With a promise not eat meat or meat products for an entire month, it was on. We decided on January because of the post-Christmas overkill of food, as well as the relative lack of stress from school.

My experience overall? Here's a few:

1. Veggie Burgers.
It seems that no two veggie burgers are alike. My first one (I don't include the accidental veggie burger I had at Pets In The Park '09) was at Room At The Top, one of the bars on campus, and honestly it wasn't that great. The filler and cooking method led to it being really crunchy, which wasn't what I was really looking for. However, the veggie burger at the Jekyll + Hyde Pub in downtown Edmonton was divine. The rice was a perfect consistency and was similar to a burger patty. I hardly noticed the difference.

2. Tofu.
The one thing I was really hesitant to try ended up being nothing. No, it actually tasted like nothing.

3. Prep and Feel.
Now, for the entire month, I did take a multi-vitamin due to some worry about getting enough iron. This to me is kind of funny, because chances are that I got more iron from those multivitamins than I do from ingesting meat since I don't normally eat a lot of meat. As for eating, I never had a meal where I felt a sort of 'heavy' fullness, though I never went to bed hungry. That's what complex carbohydrates are for, people. Though, I did notice that I got hungrier more often.

4. Availability of veggie-friendly choices.
Really, the question should be why is gelatin in everything. Or, why is chicken in everything so good-looking. Eventually, it became too hard to police the gelatin aspect. It also became an art of navigating my local Sobey's to find something veggie-friendly AND healthy to eat. And since 3/5ths of my DnD group was vegetarian now, we got majority rule on snack choices. Campus was rough, I got tired of eating pasta and white sauce or veggie lasagna from L'Express by about the second week, so I had to get creative/eat a lot of snack food for lunch.
Also, I hate hummus and raw tomato, so there were some limitations.

5. Sausage.
Everyone asks if I miss bacon. Honestly, I don't understand the whole hullabaloo over bacon- sure, it's good, but not that good. What I missed the most was sausage. And everyone proceeded to make a joke when I mentioned this. I do have the best friends.

So what now? It's February 1st - my month of being a vegetarian is over. To celebrate "Meat Day", as it came to be known, Jess and I had a Tim Horton's breakfast sandwich this morning (they had been haunting my dreams!), and then went out to dinner at the Outback Steakhouse. Hence the gross feeling, because I overate (something I had gotten out of the habit of doing for years now, but NO I just HAD to). Silly me.

As for the decision, the more I've talked to my vegan, vegetarian, omnivore, etc. friends, the more views and personal perspectives I've heard. First, I know I'm not alone in feeling hypocritical. But at the same time, why do I exempt eggs and cheese from the bill, despite being a factory industry? Probably because of my love of cheese. Why do I stand by dissections as a learning tool or the use of animals in scientific testing? Because for me, the knowledge gained by using animals, either for teaching purposes or testing, is a benefit not only to humans but to animals as well. Would you want your vet performing surgery on your pet without dissection or trial experience? I wouldn't, especially after all the dissections I've performed. I trust the animal committees of institutions like the University of Alberta to make the appropriate decisions when it comes to matters like this.

All in all, there are bigger issues here that cannot be addressed through my own self-imposed month of not eating animal flesh. But hey, happy Meat Day! From now on, I'm aiming for less meat consumption throughout the week, with a re-address when the Farmers' Market reopens. It's not the best solution, but right now it's the one that works.

Quick 'n' Awkward: Condoms

Want to make the entire dining room quiet at your next family dinner?

Ask your mom (or dad) a favour - could they pick up a huge box of condoms from Costco for you?

.

.. [crickets]

...

Yeah.

Not for me! For the Voices For Choices table when we table in the Students' Union Building, since the Health and Wellness Team (formerly Peer Health Educators) still haven't gotten back to us about restocking our supply. It took everyone about a minute or two to recover from THAT one. But hey, at VFC we're sex-positive, so why not start at home.

Science of Sustainability: Germany's Waste Management Program

Germany's waste management program is mainly made up of comprehensive recycling, composting, and as little waste as possible with the help of laws and industrial procedures.

This could easily have been an Edmonton vs Kassel post, as Edmonton is known for it's municipal recycling program, except that Germany has a national program, so for that I'll only touch upon Edmonton's program briefly. In the late 1980's, Edmonton filled it's landfill and had a unique opportunity to change the way we think about waste as a city. Recycling was incorporated into Edmonton's plan, as well as composting using household waste and biosolids from treated water. Originally the Blue Box program existed where recyclables went into a blue box alongside your garbage bags, it's been the Blue Bag program for a while with the same general idea. Bottle, carton, and can deposits exist across Canada on bottles, cans, and milk containers, and can be turned in for refund at Bottle Depots. In Edmonton, about 60% of household waste is diverted from the landfill, with goals of 90% by 2013.

Recycling. Oh, recycling. Often seen as the easiest step into getting people into the sustainability thought process, because it's easy to sort out your waste, and the personal responsibility can be quite rewarding. Money made of deposit fees are also a bonus. Composting is the best alternative for biodegradable refuse as well. So how does Germany do it?

Before I went to Germany, I thought I knew how to recycle. Edmonton's blue bag program wasn't as strictly followed in my parent's home as my own home, but I thought I was pretty much an expert. Wrong. Germany takes recycling to a whole new level.


Let's start with bottles used for drinking. Most of the time, soda is sold in green or clear glass bottles that carry a pfand, or a deposit. This also happens with plastic bottles, such as those used for carbonated water (that is a post in and of itself). Bottles can be returned at most grocery stores, though some seem to be finicky about whether they carry that beverage or not. Back to recycling, if glass doesn't carry a pfand, it is separated by colour (brown, green, or clear), and put into the appropriate section of the green bin, although outside bins might just be one container. Paper is put into the blue paper bins, and plastic or aluminum packaging material into the yellow bins. Compostable material, such as fruits, veggies, eggs, hair, etc. is put into the brown bins (not shown above, they are harder to find outside of private homes). Finally, anything that doesn't fit these categories goes in the grey bin, Restmüll, the rest of it, which is incinerated. Almost. Anything large or potentially hazardous needs to be dropped off in case it would be harmful to be burned.

PHEW! It was exhausting at first to learn the system. I was used to having a garbage bin in my room to throw everything away. Instead, I ended up hoarding my trash until it was time to separate it.

Aside from recycling, there are other waste policies in Germany, such as waste-to-energy power facilities, or responsible production laws. The latter includes a comprehensive product stewardship program called the Green Dot Program, where companies aim to use the least amount of packaging possible to pay less for the Green Dot, which includes the company paying for the cost of recycling. What's the point? Ethical consumerism is promoted, so consumers look for the green dot on products. It's not only worth it to the companies, it's also environmentally responsible. It encourages positive behaviour from both producers and consumers, and has been linked to a 14% decrease in packaging waste since it's inception. Packaging material that is recycled then feeds into the former, waste-to-energy solutions, where 62% of recycled plastic is converted into fuel.

Oh, and if you don't feel like recycling? Trash is collected and then the homeowner is charged according to weight, so why not use the nationally provided program? Win-win.

I didn't manage to get any pictures of the bins - so out of character! BUT, here is my buddy Michael's trash bin in his room. Supposedly it was unused for years until I used it...
*shrug* See can, will use.

Edmonton vs. Kassel: Public Transit

A view of the city above the fountains of Wilhemshöhe

Now this is a doozy. Not only because it's a huge topic, but also because public transit in Edmonton is a very hot-button issue. LRT (light rail transit, similar to a subway or tram line) vs bus vs car tyranny - it's all been hotly debated for years, and will likely continue to be as people are still deeply polarized on this issue.

So how does Edmonton's current LRT system compare to other cities around the world, specifically Kassel? I've been to Paris, Rome, Frankfurt, Kassel, Berlin, and Hannover, and used their LRT-esque systems, some more extensively than others, and they have one thing in common - they're better than the LRT. More lines, more frequent schedules, cheaper fare, nicer trains, etc. etc. Edmonton has a metro population of 1,034,945. So how is it that Kassel, a city with a metro population of ~450,000, has a transit system that puts Edmonton's to shame, at least in terms of rapid transit? The picture to the right is one of the views from my tram ride home, so similar to Alberta, it's eerie.

Kassel is one of the more principal cities in the region. However, unlike Edmonton, Kassel isn't the capital of the state of Hesse. Frankfurt is. Frankfurt, with a metro population of over 5 million. Therefore, it doesn't necessarily have increased funding to account for the transit system. Instead, the difference may lie in the planning of the two cities.

Edmonton as established as a town in the early 1890's, a city in the early 1900's, and has since grown outward from what is now the downtown. Kassel is about 1000 years old, but took serious damage from WWII bombing - about 90% of the city was lost. In the 1950's, town planners decided to build on a new plan instead of keeping the old system. Ring roads were introduced, and led to the sort of sprawl that can be seen today, where neighbouring towns are so close by that you can hardly tell the difference. This was the case in the town where I stayed, Kaufungen. Driving south on the main road from Kassel, a little yellow sign under an overpass let's you know that you're in Kaufungen, which is comparable to Edmonton's Sherwood Park in appearance and general feel of the place.

Incorporated into the new planning of Kassel was the establishment of roads that were wide enough to serve the already-established trams (light rail trolleys). This system has remained over time to expand to townships just outside of the city, as well as regional expresses that have an even further reach. I found this out when I missed my tram stop and ended up on a 10 minute tram ride through the country side, eventually ending up in the town of Hesse and the end of the line.

There has to be a demand for this kind of supply. Every five years, Kassel hosts the documenta, a world renowned exhibition of contemporary, modern, and installation art. This, coupled with industries inside the city and it's university campuses, is enough to maintain its transit system, which is home to 9 tram lines and 28 bus lines, all of which have regular schedules, including night buses on weekend nights that run until just past 2 am. The picture to the left is a crap picture of just one of the many stations throughout Kassel that support many different tram and bus lines. The tram lines are also highly innovative by incorporating the tracks that serve regional trains to better serve the surrounding area without using more land for these lines.

Edmonton on the other hand, boasts similar festivals, industries, and institutions, if not more. We're the Festival City, with more than 30 annual festivals. We're home to three major educational institutions as well as others, often with satellite campuses throughout the city. Yet our transit system often draws the ire of citizens, who curse the lack of rapid transit to key areas, yet at the same time dismiss some proposals for expansion. In my own opinion, a lot of it is due to the typical Not In My Backyard, or NIMBY, approach. This shouldn't be news to a lot of long-term Edmontonians. A lot of it is cautious - cautious of changing economic outlooks, safety concerns, and aesthetic reasons. And some of it is warranted. But only some, and to quote Admiral Adama of Battlestar Galactica, sometimes you have to roll a hard six.

This is just food for thought, but from someone who has had both, I'd rather go back for seconds in Kassel, where I took the number 4 tram from Oberkaufungen Mitte, rode it for twenty minutes until Am Stern, and got off to go to school. It didn't stop there though, I was able to go throughout the city just by connecting the lines, and almost always started from Königsplatz, which became the meeting place for everyone and the butt of a few jokes. This is more than I can say for the often dull transit stations of Edmonton.

An impromptu photo op of me (center) and my geocaching group at Wilhemshöhe Bergpark's (mountain park) train station, one of the city's most popular attractions.

All photos are mine, MINE! Just ask permission, peeps, otherwise I go Gollum on yer butt.

Insomnia

Two more days of tortuous concentration and then my exams are over! After that? Planning for a marketing campaign for a group I'm in, working on Voices for Choices stuff, reading my novels for my English course next semester (Frankenstein and Persuasion), research and planning for Council stuff, a Die Hard marathon, a Battlestar Galactica marathon, and hopefully some D&D.

And I guess a blog post, eh? Or SEVERAL? This semester was awful for posting, my apologies. Especially to those awaiting my LRT post re: Germany vs. Edmonton. It's either been too busy or I'm too lazy or the Muses refuse my pleas.

Anywho, I've got a final in five hours, so I'll have to catch you later!

-- Post From My iPod

Awkward Homophones

Sitting in a bar, talking to a few fellow SU folks about speech and words that are used pejoratively, etc. One person was a self-described 'grammarian', which I had never heard before. It reminded me of words like 'contrarian', 'bavarian/bavarian' or my personal favourite, 'pastafarian'. Before I had time to think it through, my Dionysian plied tongue already started saying something along the lines of, "Why is everything becoming an '-arian'?"

Not one of my best moments, but hey, it's what I do - fail to think things through and fulfill the role of comedic patsy. And my timing couldn't have been better, since this entire discussion stemmed from talking about white privilege, the Racism Free Edmonton campaign, and it's recent controversy.

So to recap - I ran into trouble with homophones (not the first time) and opened my big mouth, hilarity ensued, and we moved on.

Normally, I have a no-beer-if-I'm-with-important-people rule, which I broke tonight >.<
Never again.