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www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Thursday, November 24, 2011 · 6 The Oakville Beaver 467 Speers Rd., Oakville Ont. L6K 3S4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5566 Classified Advertising: 905-632-4440 Circulation: 845-9742 The Oakville Beaver is a member of the Ontario Press Council. The council is located at 80 Gould St., Suite 206, Toronto, Ont., M5B 2M7. Phone (416) 340-1981. Advertising is accepted on the condition that, in the event of a typographical error, that portion of advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged for, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. The publisher reserves the right to categorize advertisements or decline. Editorial and advertising content of the Oakville Beaver is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. Letter to the Editor NEIL OLIVER Vice-President and Group Publisher, Metroland West DAVID HARVEY Regional General Manager JILL DAVIS Editor in Chief DANIEL BAIRD Advertising Director ANGELA BLACKBURN Managing Editor RIZIERO VERTOLLI Photography Director SANDY PARE Business Manager RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: Ontario Community Newspapers Association MARK DILLS Director of Production MANUEL GARCIA Production Manager CHARLENE HALL Director of Distribution SARAH MCSWEENEY Circ. Manager WEBSITE oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver is a division of Waste diversion strategy g is the right way to go We must provide for a more sustainable future I am a first-year planning student in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo, and I am replying in regards to the article published recently in the Oakville Beaver about new waste diversion strategies up for approval in the Halton Region. I agree with these new diversion strategies. Back in my hometown of Burlington, I live with my brother and both my parents. Ever since the beginning of the Green Cart program, we have produced steady amounts of recycling and compostable materials: approximately one and a half 18 gallon recycling boxes and half a green cartful per week. Garbage-wise, we throw out a bag of garbage every other week. If it were up to me, I would even allow two bags of garbage every two weeks as a limit if the new garbage tag proposal is approved. Increasing the volume of recycling bins is also a great idea since it will encourage us to recycle more. If I may make a few suggestions, I would suggest that we include electronic waste in more of our recycling programs. In my household, we usually forget the days for big garbage collection, and we end up waiting another month for the next pickup. Instead, things like old technology can be implemented in our recycling collections and provide more recyclable material. Another suggestion would be to implement green cart options in colleges, universities, public schools, and high schools. I have witnessed a lot of my friends waste food in my residence and throwing it into garbage either at the cafeteria or even in their own rooms. Having young children learn how to throw out compostable materials at an early age will be better for our future generations. In schools for teenagers and young adults, it is important that we do recycle and throw out food in green carts to provide a more sustainable future. All in all, I do agree with the proposed waste diversion strategies and I know that they will be as successful as the Green Cart idea. Canadian Community Newspapers Association Suburban Newspapers of America THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FOR: United Way of Oakville ATHENA Award SUBMITTED PHOTO A KNIGHT TO RING BELLS: Oakville's Grant Blackmore, right, president of Guelph-based Eden Energy Equipment Limited, which focuses on green technologies, was present to ring the bell to open the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) Nov. 16. Eden Energy Equipment is North America's largest distributor of WaterFurnace Geothermal equipment, which has been recognized on the Corporate Knights' Cleantech 10 list of the 10 pre-eminent, publicly -traded, clean-technology companies in Canada. At left is Corporate Knights' CEO Toby Heaps. Chris Asuncion Undergraduate Student, University of Waterloo Burlington Editor's Note: the waste diversion strategy was ultimately approved by Halton Region council. Visit www.oakvillebeaver.com for details. Expert says space colonization gives hope to the hopeless If this is our last hope. I guess we're doomed, and I'm hopeless. Last week, Stephen Hawking, renowned astrophysicist and sagacious Big Thinker, suggested that it will be increasingly difficult for humankind to "avoid disaster in the next 100 years," and said the colonization of outer space is our only real hope. Assuming that he meant "disaster" in the true sense of the word and not the diluted form we've come to employ ("Damn, the Internet is down, this is a disaster" Or, "First Kim and Kris split, now Ashton and Demi, this is a disaster"), then this "leave Earth or perish" proclamation is indeed dire. Particularly for those of us inclined toward claustrophobia, and disinclined toward air travel. (Editor's Note: for the more sensitive souls in the readership, be warned that we believe this editorial is on an inevitable collision course with a meteorically bad Uranus joke.) According to Hawking, "Our population and our use of the finite resources of planet Earth are growing exponentially... Our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain lurking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space." Hawking favours "personed" space flights with an eye toward making space colonization viable. And because I so marvel at Hawking's incredible intelligence and laudable vision, I worry about his doomsday thesis on so many levels -- mostly, I just lack confidence in mankind's ability (or generous lack thereof) to pull off a coup as visionary and epic as space colonization. No, humans tend to be a tad myopic. Andy Juniper With the onset of the world economic crunch, the budgets of space programs around the globe were cut, if not altogether axed. Only to be returned some time in the distant future if prosperity returns and there's money to burn. Further, what hope is there for mankind to colonize, say, planet BoogaBooga (third planet from the sun; 17th galaxy from Earth) when modern air carriers can't get us from Toronto to Cleveland, direct flight, without a four-day delay and an inexplicable loss of luggage? Consider the difficulties we encounter in regular flying and then multiply them by how ever many million kilometers BoogaBooga is from Earth. We're talking insurmountable mess-ups. Finally, to bring this entire missive back to where it belongs -- that, is, back to me (because, as regularly readers of this column know: It's all about me) -- how in heaven's name could I ever get up the nerve to strap myself into a spaceship for the 56-day flight to BoogaBooga? I mean there is not enough swill or sedatives available on planet Earth to get me through such an ordeal. You know, this all reminds me of a joke. A greeter at an intergalactic space station meets an incoming visitor. Their conversation goes like this: "Welcome to BoogaBooga, Dr. Butt. It is our privilege to have the galaxy's premier proctologist visiting our tiny planet. I trust your flight from planet Earth went well." "It went fine, thank you, although Air Earth lost all my colonoscopy equipment somewhere in Uranus." Hey, I told you right up front: space colonization is our last hope. I guess we're doomed, and given that last joke, I'm hopeless. Andy Juniper can be contacted at ajjuniper@gmail.com, found on Facebook http://www.facebook.com, or followed at www.twitter.com/thesportjesters.