Sasha on the Street

  Last week I had the opportunity to attend the second day of the Ontario Bike Summit (#OBS2012) in downtown Toronto. I went as part of the Morning Glory Cycling Club’s Advocacy Committee, but I was thinking as a cycling commuter, recreational cyclist, driver, engineer and planner. It was a great event to promote cycling [...]

Autonomy. Mastery. Purpose. “Autonomy: The urge to direct our own lives. Mastery: the desire to get better and better at something that matters. Purpose: the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves. … If you want engagement, self-direction is best. ” This TED talk by Dan Pink is [...]

Not always, just sometimes. Mostly at busy intersections where it feels like buses, cars and motorbikes are standing on top of each other. Sometimes on stretches where the road is so bad I’d rather bounce off every sidewalk joint. Sometimes in areas where drivers are so unaware I’d rather not take my life into my [...]

Is it going to rain today? You can usually look outside and tell if it might rain. There is something about the air, it’s heavy, it’s moist, it almost feels electric. But will it rain tomorrow? The next day? How about a week from now? Isn’t that how you build a case? You load it [...]

What is the ultimate, optimal diet? Paleo? Vegan? Vegetarian? Meat-etarian? Ok the meat-atarian one is a bit of a joke, but these days there are lots of ‘dieting’ options out there. But trying to decide which one is right for you can be difficult. I go by the ‘Sasha Diet,’ it is sustainable, affordable  and [...]

I’m heading up to Ottawa this weekend for a track and field meet. Turns out I’m going to fly, which from a sustainable, triple bottom line perspective is the most viable. I was hoping that taking the train would have been best option, the idea of driving, alone, up to Ottawa before the meet just [...]

I’m a fan of packing my lunch. You get to pick what you want. You can have a light lunch. You can eat outside, in your office, in the car. You can choose to have desert before you eat the healthier stuff. But sometimes it’s nice to celebrate with friends and go out for lunch. [...]

Extreme Events. Heavy Rainfall. Widespread droughts and desertification. Mile wide twisters. Category 5 Hurricanes. According to Tim Flannery’s The Weather Makers this is what the weather of the future will be like. And why? Because of climate change, because of the harsh impact humans have on the sensitive planet. The book is divided into 5 [...]

The Globe and Mail published an article on making gridlock /congestion /traffic a federal election issue through the use of social media, using #CutMyCommute. Burdened by long drives from home-to-work, home-to-shop, home-to-wherever, commuters believe they should be heard, and they have the support of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Gridlock isn’t the issue. The issue [...]

Last week I had the opportunity to attend The International Economic Forum of the Americas – The Toronto Forum for Global Cities. It was a two day conference highlighting the success and failures of the North, Central and South American Countries. The theme was supposed to be about energy, infrastructure and financial sustainability, but seemed [...]