My Passive Solar House

For all of my working life I was a high-school teacher, specializing in chemistry and physics. Together with my lovely wife, a nurse, we had two children and when it came time to retire, the kids had already left home so we decided to downsize. You only have to sit in the sun to realize the power that is available in the sun, and we wanted to take advantage of that with an appropriately designed solar house.

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A Community Bicycle Shop for Steinbach

Steinbach is destined to be a cycling community, and it’s starting already! With more and more cyclists taking to the streets, South Eastman Transition Initiative has identified the need for a Community Bicycle Repair and Enthusiast Club. On Thursday, March 28, 7:00 PM, we will be hosting a meeting at the MCC Thrift Store at 413 Main Street (use the clothing donation door off the back lane) to discuss options for such a club, including volunteer opportunities, location options, and identification of services to be offered.

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Mr. Scheer, it Matters WHAT you Subsidize

It seems the Conservatives in Canada got their heads together and made several significant policy announcements – significant not in the sense that, when isolated, these policy changes will affect anyone much, but significant because of the signal they send as to which direction Conservatives want to take Canada. The Manitoba Pallister government announced that it will be reducing the PST by 1% and it will not charge PST of the Federal Carbon tax. Andrew Scheer announced that a federal Conservative government will return the GST collected on home heating.

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Conserve vs Consume

As I travel about I frequently pick up garbage along the roads near my house tossed out of car windows by inconsiderate louts. Beer cans, pop cans, plastic bottles, coffee cups and bags of (usually) McDonalds trash. I cannot understand why these people are able to carry a cup of coffee when the cup is full but as soon as it is empty it is too hot to handle and out the window it goes.

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Making Room for More Joy: A Tiny House Manifesto

Disparity is a concept I first considered through school bus windows. The route our bus travelled through St. James, Winnipeg- and specifically the neighbourhood of Woodhaven- efficiently highlighted the differences between one home and the others.

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