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 in Ontario. #OBS2012 is the brain child of Share the Road [www.sharetheroad.ca]. This year Share the Road set the following mandate for the conference (partial):

• To share information on how to develop a “Share the Road’ campaign in partnership with local law enforcement, media and other community partners
• To demonstrate innovative methods for mobilizing community resources, creating momentum and achieving success
• To share research and information on the connection between public health and the built environment
• To share tips and ideas on how to work more effectively with local governments to advance cycling – including strategies for securing more support from the province
• To share data and research that you will help you “make the case” for enhanced cycling
• To Inspire bicycle friendly cities on the 5 “Es” of a Bicycle Friendly Community: Environment, Encouragement, Environment, Education and Evaluation and Planning

Here are some of the great things I learned at the Conference:

1.  CAA Bike Assist Program: Have a CAA membership? Good news, it covers you on your bike! “If you run into a problem that cannot be fixed on the spot, CAA will transport you and your bicycle to wherever.” More on the CA Bike Assist program can be found here
2. More people would ride more if cycling was Safer and there was more cycling Infrastructure (i.e bike lanes, shared lanes, etc). Some numbers from CAA: 60% of members and non-members from CAA want to see more cycling infrastructure in cities, 70% of Ontario’s population thinks more needs to be done for cycling (i.e. Share the road campaigns, safety, awareness, etc). Share the Road is asking the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) to dedicate $25M (1/8th of 1% of MTO’s budget) of their budget to cycling infrastructure.
3. Cycling safety and an increase in infrastructure will only be improved through collaboration. Partnerships must be formed with municipal, provincial and federal governments. Governments must work together and not in silos; health care, transportation, planning, municipal housing and affairs, culture, tourism, etc. Partnerships must be made with the public and private sectors.

Ask The Tough Questions:

I challenged the members of parliament on their current cycling strategy. A lot of the discussion on Wednesday circled around the ‘war on cars’. I know that it has been at the forefront of discussion in Toronto because of Mayor Ford. I challenged the MPPs to move away from the polarized discussion of cycling commuters and cars. I asked why cycling as a recreation was not a part of their discussion. I tabled my question stating that I was an engineer, an environmental planner, occasionally a cycling commuter but I was asking the question as a recreational cyclist.

What I heard back. Recreational cycling used to be a part of the discussion, but cycling was not a popular sport at the time. The shift was then to commuters since they were the most visible. But no MPP answered the question! Share the Road Board Members and a few other key speakers really appreciated the question. The idea of bringing recreational cycling back into the conversation is on the horizon. Let’s see what happens next.

Share the Road:

Learn more about Share the Road and sign up for their newsletter here. Share the Road’s goal is to make Ontario more bicycle friendly for everyone by: Enhancing access for bicyclists on roads and trails, Improving safety for all bicyclists, and Educating citizens on the value and importance of safe bicycling for healthy lifestyles and communities. Share the Road represents all cyclists – children, tourists, commuters, recreational riders, mountain bikers and racers.

I had a great time at #OBS2012 and look forward to attending again next year. If you have any other questions about the conference send me an email and I’d be happy to try and answer your question.

Happy Cycling.

(A slightly different version of this blog post can be found on the Morning Glory Blog Site)

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 one of my favourites. It is one of my ‘go-tos’ to get motivated videos; The Surprising Science of Motivation. Or watch a slightly different version on  the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, Drive (also the title of Pink’s book).

Forget the traditional thinking, rewarding people for the work they do. The science, the facts, demonstrate this funky inverse relationship, the more you reward people the lower the performance in return. What?! You mean you’re not going to reward me for working hard?

No, that’s not what Pink is arguing.  Pink and the research he has done argue that you have to pay people fairly, ‘take money off the table.’ Ever heard of ROWE? Results Only Work Environment. Not being monitored for the hours you sit at your desk (you know those idle hours where you wonder what you’re going to do since you’ve read every headline, every magazine and every tweet you can imagine!), but instead being paid for the results you produce. Technology has changed everything, who needs to be in a desk all day to be effective. More importantly what a great way to kill creativity; force people to sit at a desk until they feel suffocated. Not sure ROWE is effective? Encarta vs Wikipedia. Managed, micromanaged vs created for free.

Autonomy: The urge to direct our own lives

We all want to be our own bosses these days. We want control. We want to do things when we want to do them. We do not want to be told when to arrive, when to go home, when to eat lunch. Technology makes that possible. Bureaucratic, conservative institutions make it impossible. Give a deadline, demand the results, expect the unexpected and allow a little flexibility and freedom.

But we all must remember we cannot be Chiefs all the time, sometimes we need to play the role of Indian.  It’s ok to work for, or even better with, someone. One can still maintain autonomy. Produce the results, work hard and you can be rewarded with a ‘flexible work schedule.’

Mastery: The desire to get better and better at something that matters

Something that matters. Matters to me? No, what matters to you. For self-direction and creativity it has to be important to you. It’s why there are so many people who practice a musical instruments. It’s why there has been a rise in masters level sports and intramural sports. It is your desire to be the best you can be at something you think is important… It’s why I ride my bike at 5:40am with a giant group of enthusiastic riders.

It is the birth of creativity. It is the desire for all of us to do something that is important to us. And do we need monetary reward? Not necessarily. Recognition is often enough.

Purpose: The yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves

Ok it would be pretty cool to be like a Steve Jobs, a Warren Buffet, a Bill Gates, but for the majority of the planet we will have to settle for something a little less. Although you can argue they did what they did in the service of us, in the service of something larger than themselves. And working for someone doesn’t mean you have to be unhappy. Ski Coaching brings me some of the greatest rewards in life; being out on the slopes with the under-11 athletes, watching the engage, learn, ski better, ski faster. There is no where else I would rather be on a wintery weekend morning than on the snow.  I am part of the growth and development of the young ones; something larger than myself.

What brings me purpose and fulfillment in life may not be for you. You may find purpose in developing policies that protect the citizens around you or in building something that makes ones life easier or in developing something to bring enjoyment to others. What drives each and everyone of us to be part of something larger than ourselves is completely individual.

Can we compare to 3 Pillars of sustainability, People, Plant, Profit to Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose?

My sustainable brain light bulb turned on after watching these videos again. How does Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose relate to People, Planet and Profits?

People: It is easy enough to see that most people want a life of fulfillment, they want some form of Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose.  To do something larger than yourself? Protecting the planet for future generations is definitely outside the scope of oneself.

Planet: Protect the planet. Do it more efficiently. Do it with fewer resources. Do something that leaves a smaller footprint. I can see how purpose ties in here. And mastery, the idea of being able to do what we have done before with a smaller impact. You will need several masters to tackle this art!

Profit: Efficiency. People want autonomy, people want to be paid fairly, people want self-satisfaction from their jobs. Pay the right person for the result you are trying to achieve. Hire someone for their skills (mastery), because they are passionate about what they do (purpose) and let them achieve that result, whatever path they chose to follow (autonomy). You would be surprised at the efficiencies. It might mean less office space, less wasted time, a different product (good or service) that meets your goal or objective.

Lululemon prints their manifesto on the bags they sell their products in. It is a collection of slogans, sayings and words that Lululemon believes in. “Creativity is maximized when you’re living in the moment.” To live each moment to it’s maximum potential one needs a life of autonomy, mastery and purpose.

As with most of my blog posts I had an incident that sparked this conversation. While riding to work yesterday I jumped on the sidewalk at the York Mills and Yonge Intersection. It is a busy intersection that has a subway/bus interchange to the east, to the north is the main highway corridor, Highway 401, and it’s at the bottom of a large valley. Add to that motorists and buses like to park in the westbound right hand turn lane to drop off and pick up passengers from the subway stop. As I approached the intersection a Canar bus was parked in the right hand turn lane. I had essentially come to a stop on my bike and was politely asking the passenger and driver if they could ‘excuse me’ and let me pass. The passenger boarded, the driver blocked the sidewalk to inform me that I wasn’t allowed on the sidewalk. Thanks but I’d rather not get squished by a car because your bus is blocking the intersection!

Tristin Hopper confessed to doing the same in the National Posts Urban Scrawl: Confessions of a Sidewalk Cyclist. At least I’m not the only one! If there is a bike lane I’ll be in it. If the road is free and clear of cars and safe I’ll be on it. But sometimes I need to be on the sidewalk too.

And when I’ve been on the sidewalk and seen the police no one has stopped me. In Toronto it is illegal to ride on the sidewalk if your wheels are greater than 61.5cm/24″. It costs you $110 if you get caught on the sidewalk or in a cross-walk. Don’t get caught!! Or ride respectfully and remember that the pedestrian has the right of way; slow down, make eye-contact, use a polite and respectful voice.

For now I’ll practice safe-cycling! I’ll use bike lanes where they exist. Stay on the roads where it’s safe. And use the sidewalk as a last resort when I feel the situation is too high risk!

Isn’t that how you build a case? You load it with proven fact

Our ability to predict the weather, actually our ability to predict almost anything long-term, is feeble at best. I just finished Dan Gardner’s Future Babble: Why Expert Predictions Fail – and Why We Believe Them Anyway and it was loaded with information and statistics about how our predictions about the stock market, housing values, human demographics … pretty much anything and everything, fail. Most of the time we would be as successful if we flipped a coin when making these decisions.

Towards the end of the book Gardner starts discussing climate change, a favourite topic of mine. Gardner believes in climate change but he is skeptical of the climate models to forecast changes in our climate years, decades or centuries out.

“Climate scientists are quite blunt that there is lots about climate that science does not understand, which is precisely why scientists find the field exciting to work in. Combine that ignorance with the almost indescribably complex interactions at work in the massive, non-linear systems that make up climate and there are huge uncertainties woven into every climate prediction. … These models may overestimate the extent of climate change and the damage it does. But the may also underestimate it…”

But even if science is underestimating climate change there are still some other benefits to doing projects that lower ones carbon footprint. Gardner argues the economics, social and environmental cost of carbon accounting schemes. ‘Carbon sequestration’ (pumping CO2 into the ground) will be a waste of money if our climate predictions do not pan out. But he argues the opposite case for methane capture off landfills – it’s win-win-win. Economically you make/save money by capturing a resource naturally emitted from a landfill. Socially, the harmful methane is captured from our atmosphere and has decreases our negative health impacts. And environmentally one reuses a gas that would otherwise be harmful to the atmosphere for electricity production.

Carbon taxes actually have a similar effect, or they can. Raise the carbon tax and cut other taxes. Under this scheme one then also raises the “effective price of fossil fuels thus making alternative energy more competitive.” Europe got it right. After the price crash of oil in the mid-80’s Europe decided to keep fuel prices artificially high with taxes. Thus research and development in conservation and alternative fuels continued. And what do we see today? Alternative energy in Europe is competitive, and they now rely on it and have to rely less on fossil fuels.

I enjoyed Gardner’s book. At times it was a little overwhelming with the amount of data he presented debunking our science of predictions, but again that was the point. He wanted to hammer the point home that we cannot make predictions about our future. The future is chaotic, non-liner … unpredictable, and as a scientist/engineer I find that exciting.

I go by the ‘Sasha Diet,’ it is sustainable, affordable  and most importantly delicious!

What is the ‘sasha diet?’ It’s a mix of local foods, what’s affordable at the local grocery and convenience stores and what I feel like eating. It’s an attempt to eat a balanced diet of fats, proteins and carbohydrates and the essential nutrients and minerals. It’s not that I count my calories or scrutinize food for specific nutrients, but I figure if I eat a variety of foods I’ll be able to capture the essentials.

This what I’m thinking about when I’m planning my meals:

• Meats: Opt for organic, grain fed, etc. And as much as possible try to source out local meats. Make sure you include a variety. Remember red meat is rich in iron and if you’re like me, you’ll need lots of it
• Fish: I try and eat fish once a week. I’m always checking out what’s local and try to eat a variety of fish. One of my favourite things to do in the summer is go for sashimi, it’s light, refreshing and packed with protein.
• Nuts and Legumes: Snack on nuts instead of chips and candy. Make or buy your own dips; hummus, bean dips and bring some veggies along to snack away. I prefer to make my own dips, since you can eliminate the chemically preservatives, I make small batches or larger batches that I share with friends!
• Veggies and Fruit: I try and eat a variety of both each day. As much as possible I try to buy what is in season and local or local greenhouse. There are always exceptions, like bananas; you cannot exactly grow a banana in southern Ontario! I try and eat fresh fruit over dried fruit. The fresh fruit provides you with the added water and most of us do not drink enough water in a day. I’ve also heard that consuming fresh fruit over dried fruit makes you feel fuller.  For those of you cutting calories fresh fruit is the way you should go; compare the calories on a cup of fresh vs. dried fruit and you’ll see why.
• Grains: while I try to minimize my bread consumption, you do need to eat some grains every day. I’ve recently started eating oatmeal, red river cereal and cream of wheat again. It’s a great start to the day or even try it as a snack. Add some nuts, raisins, dried fruit etc. And I always add a touch of maple syrup for some sweetness! When I do consume bread I try to pick breads packed with nuts and seeds over conventional white and whole wheat bread.
• Dairy: My favourite recovery snack is chocolate milk! I consume one to two glasses per day depending on the number and intensity of my workouts. I also try to consume some yogurt and fruit as my mid morning snack. Cheeses are not big on my list, not because I don’t like them, they don’t like me. Goat cheese seems to sit ok so I consume a lot of it, and it’s lower in fat than most cheeses.
• Water: Part of a healthy diet is to stay hydrated. Coffee and soft drinks don’t count, they’re laden with caffeine and can be high in calories. Fruit juice is ok, but try to pick the more natural ones with less sugar and less ‘fake’ stuff.

Pick foods that are local. Pick foods that are bright colours. Eat a variety of different things. Shop the perimeter and avoid things that come in a cardboard box. It’s healthy and it’s sustainable. Pick foods that you like and that you’ll eat. Throwing out food is a waste of money and resources.

My diet also includes a lot of physical activity. Compared to most people I do a lot (my Tuesday was an early morning 40k road ride and ultimate frisbee that evening!). I’ve been called everything from dedicated to crazy. While it is not necessary to workout as much as I do, I think part of a healthy diet is being active daily.

As I continue with my blog I think I’ll add a page on recipes. Hopefully it will inspire you to make healthy choices each day.  Check out today’s recipe Summer Spinach Salad.

Why is flying the most sustainable?

The triple bottom line analysis consider the economic (the raw cost of travel), the environmental (my carbon footprint) and equity (the social cost).

The Economic Cost

I decided to redeem some travel rewards so the flight cost me $161.88 (for taxes, security and admin fees). The least expensive ticket one can book according to Expedia this morning was $499. When I looked earlier in the week both Air Canada and Porter had seat sales on; flights were $338. Given that I booked the flight earlier in the week I’ll use the $338 value in my analysis.

Via rail is Ontario’s only rail carrier. You can take the GO train within the Greater Toronto Area but it does go beyond the GTA borders. When I looked at booking it was $155, but when searching today it was $202.50. (And knowing me I would have bought my ticket at the station today!)

If I was going to drive I’d have to spend $117.68. According to fueleconomy.gov my car requires premium gasoline and goes 11.5km/L on the highway. The round trip distance is 888km and for simplicity I’ll say that the drive is all highway kilometres (10km total is not on the highway). Thus it will require 78L of fuel (round up to 80L and ignore any congestion encountered on the way). Gas was $1.47.1 at my corner gas station according to Toronto’s Gas Prices this morning.

Summary: Flight: $161.88, Train $155, Drive $117.68

The Environmental Cost

The carbon footprint cost. How much damage am I doing by going to Ottawa? According to Carbon Finance one could sell a tonne of carbon on the European market for €12.32 or $16.64CAD today.

When I booked my flight Air Canada stated me that the total carbon footprint for my portion of the flight round trip was 0.21tonnes of CO2 emissions for a value of $3.49.

According to CarbonFund.org each km of long distance rail travel emits 0.49lbs/mile or 0.12kg/km. The Toronto Travel Guide says it’s 446km, which totals 107kg (.107tonnes) of CO2 emissions round trip or $1.78.

The footprint of my car is 174g/km according to NextGreenCar but that is based on a combined urban and highway driving. For simplicity I’ll use this value, so for my 888km my calculated footprint would be 154kg (.154tonnes) of CO2 emissions, bringing the total cost to $2.56.

Summary: Flight $3.49, Train $1.78 or Driving $2.56.

The Equity Cost

It comes down to what I value my time at. I remember when I wrote my thesis (in 2007) that the average value for an hour of work was $20. I could have valued at what my current salary pays me at, or I could have been a little more conservative and used my ski coaching salary. Both of these were greater than $20 so I think I’ll stick with that (Note: I do value my time more than $20/hr! )

Ignoring the time it takes to get to each mode of travel here is what the cost breakdown is for travelling to Ottawa.

My flight is 1hr gate to gate, probably 40mins in the air. Roundtrip, $40.

The train varies between a 4 hr&24min trip and 4hr&48min trip, for an average of 4hrs&36mins. Cost of my time to take the train roundtrip is $184.

For the drive lets assume I drive the speed limit, the 444km trip would take just under 4.5hours. Round trip the total cost would be $190.

Summary: Flight $40, Train $184 or Drive $190.

From the table you can see that the cost of flying is by far the cheaper option. Even if I only valued my time at $10 it is still significantly cheaper to fly, driving is $30 more than flying and taking the train is more than $60 more. However, if I’d had to pay for the full price ticket (at $338) it would make flying the least viable option; I guess that reminds us all to collect and redeem those travel miles!

(Note: This was a quick, basic way to calculate my triple bottom line total cost of travel. I do not claim that it is the most accurate method to calculate the cost of traveling. This exercise was merely meant to demonstrate the ability to account not just for economic costs but also the environmental and equity (social) cost).

A co-worker was going on mat leave so we all decided to have lunch together. We picked a restaurant close to work and agreed to meet at the lobby 15 minutes before our reservation. We congregated in the lobby chatting, waiting for the stragglers to come down from their offices, and then the debate over who was going to drive began!

Drive!? ‘You want to drive?’ I asked. I was absolutely adamant that I was walking. It was a beautiful sunny day. I wanted to stretch my legs. But my friends insisted on driving. I overheard ‘I want to make sure I’m back in good time.’

I just GoogleMaps’d the location and it is 850m! I think I arrived one minute after they did. Returning back to the office, with the left turns and the lights, I was back at my desk before my office mates.

We relate our cars to efficient, time-saving machines, but sometimes they are quite the opposite.

I decided to look up what the average distance people are willing to walk to amenities.

In order to get the points for being close to amenities under the CaGBC/USGBC LEED for New Homes one has to construct within a half mile/800m of a frequent transit stop or community resources. I also did a quick Google search and found on average people are willing to walk between 1/4 mile/400m and 1/2 mile/800m.

Physical and mental health is on the decline and obesity is on the rise. A simple way to help combat this is to walk to lunch.

The book is divided into 5 sections: Gaia’s tools, One in Ten Thousand, The Science of Prediction, People in Greenhouses and The Solution. Personally, sections 3, The Science of Prediction, and 5, The Solution, were my favourite. Unless you’re a science or climate geek (like myself) the book can seem a little dry, but it is possible to read a section and put it down while you entertain yourself with something a little lighter.

I read the 2005 edition and from what I can tell online the book has not been updated. That’s not to say it’s out of date; the information presented is still relevant. I recommend this book to the climate enthusiast and the climate rookie; there is something for everybody in it.

Gridlock isn’t the issue. The issue is lack of a provincial public transportation network. People live in the suburbs because it’s cheap, they have more space and can afford bigger homes.

Isn’t that the tradeoff? One trades the freedom of space for the freedom of time?

But the fault doesn’t lie entirely with the commuters. They are forced to drive their cars to and from work since there is no viable transportation network in and around the cities. By downloading public transit infrastructure to the municipalities the result is a disjointed  system. Transit systems should be uploaded to the provincial governments and a costsharing agreement should be worked out between the provinces and the municipalities, based on ridership demographics.

While I endorse gridlock as an election issue, it should not be a standalone issue. It should be raised with public transit and land use plans; it should be a part of the connectivity issue.

The conference started out with David Miller’s last appearance of the Mayor of Toronto. He spoke about the initiatives Toronto was undertaking to reduce their carbon footprint, including the waste diversion programs and gas collection from landfill sites. He spoke passionately about being the leader of the C40 cities. Miller was honoured by the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, Donna Cansfield, and Stockwell Day, the Minister of the Asia-Pacific Gateway. Toronto can only hope that the succeeding mayor will be as passionate about sustainability (ha!).

Sustainable Electricity. Sustainable Transportation. Sustainable Cities. Building Sustainable Lives for all citizens

… Was the theme of the first day. Barry LePartner, somewhat of an alarmist, spoke about the failing infrastructure in the US. He predicts that the Minneapolis bridge disaster might just be the first of many. Dalton McGuinty lunch speech was about Ontario’s leadership in sustainable energy, with the FIT program and promotion of electric vehicles. His speech may have been more credible had he left the new Harry Potter movie out of his speech.

The second day was about the past/current (?) financial crisis, and was disappointing in comparison to the first day. Speakers skirted the main topics ‘Have we seen the bottom?’ and ‘What are the fundamentals for Sustained Growth?’. Perhaps these issues were avoided because commenting on them would be insulting both the Canadian and American Economic Advisers.

The highlight for me over the two days was an interview between Amanda Lang and Martin Wolf. Wolf spoke to the failing US economy and the reliance of the Canadian Economy on the US (given that 75% of Canadian exports go to the US). But it was not just the hard facts that he laid out, he also shared his views that the Developed Nations are naive to think they can continue on the path their on; the Developing and Emerging Countries will not only overtake the Developed Nations but they will surpass and leave them behind in their dust. He couldn’t repeat enough that we have to change the way we currently conduct business. He eluded to the fact that we value the ‘wrong’ things, we are too much of a commercial society that consumes meaningless goods. His candor and enthusiasm were welcomed by the crowd, especially in comparison to the high-level, reluctant speeches of his peers.

A more inclusive summary of the conference can be found here (shortly )