modern life vs. human nature

Canadian politicians in Copenhagen were reportedly embarassed today because of a spoof press release that stated that the country’s governing party  would reduce emissions by 40% below 1990 levels. It makes their real plan look even worse now.

However, the general consensus among countries at the conference seems to be that Canada’s climate plan is a joke considering that the Tar Sands are rated as one of the planet’s worst areas of pollution.

For the entire story click here.

The issue I have with not putting together a practical emission plan for Canada is that it stands a chance of ruining Canada’s reputation around the world and forcing a seriously negative stigma on average Canadians who don’t make money from the Tar Sands and pay taxes to subsidize it. Now we will potentially be caused greater harm than just the destruction of the planet; destruction of our “nice” reputation by our Conservative government! I think it might be time to politely suggest we do something about it.  After all, who wants to tear off that Canadian flag on our backpacks when traveling in Europe.

Enjoy!

I am going to define a new category of people based on their lifestyles and perceptions (a psychographic class as they would call it in marketing speak) considering the new economy that is facing us and our old habits of doing things. It is an entirely useless term but it may help those of us who are trying to find out where we do, or don’t, belong in today’s over -marketed, under-achieving, instantaneously ungratified society. Also these marketing classifications were created so that it would be easier to sell ourselves stuff.

I think that the group might grow quite quickly once people realize that a) your yuppy life is over or b) you killed your yuppy life because it was shallow and useless or c) you are depressed and wondering why you and your friends are boring turds with no hope for the future.

Quite simply MUC means middle-aged, urban and cynical. Welcome to it. The age group would be 30-40 or even 35-45 depending on how long you hang on either way. Once you fall into the MUC in the first few years it’s a little overwhelming but then you kind of ease into it after a awhile and then midway through you may even start to get wise and realize that life isn’t about your ex-girlfriend being a bitch or your ex-boyfriend being a total douchbag. But more about that later, we’re only at the beginning here..and the beginning is  guys “god damn it I’m tired today and I don’t feel like doing shit.” and girls, well for girls it’s more internal, they just kind of look at the world in a different way and say things like “you know, there’s a lot of strollers around this neighbourhood. It’s kind of depressing sometimes.”  Honestly, I have no idea what girls are thinking. Maybe I’ll start asking…

Anyway, consider the fact that you have a good education, understand in small various ways how the world works, live in the richest part of the world and that we are all going to die from catastrophic climate change so there is no hope..oh, and you will probably make less money in the next few years while everything gets more expensive..and you are there. Welcome to the MUC years!

Enjoy…or not.

Fossil Fuels could be the death of us all; no seriously oil and coal are great sources of energy and economy but the downside is a little phrase that goes something like “the death of humankind”. Not a fun topic to discuss but I see it as more of a challenge. After all, what other causes do we in North America have besides complaining about too many commercials on tv, stupid hollywood movies and mean baristas.
So our newest cause can be fixing the economy and greening the planet at the same time.  So here’s the deal with coal. China is now the biggest polluter in the world. They need a lot of coal to make all the crap that we buy.  That same coal is what is going to kill us. So the more cheap, useless….(I mean come on..how big does your tv need to be?)…useless crap we buy from china the more we destroy the planet. But in North America we have better environmental policies so that we don’t pollute as much when we make stuff; we use less coal for energy therefore less pollution. So it costs more to make stuff here because China does not have pollution laws like we do. If we make China play on the same field..level playing field that is..then we will have a more competitive economy.  Forget about the cheap labour part because the cost of oil to ship useles crap to us is soon going to offset that advantage.
So how do we do it. We impose a carbon tariff on polluting countries who want to import crap and/or stuff into our countries..and we take that tax and put it directly into renewable energy. Sounds simple now go out and vote that way. Make politicians put up a carbon tariff…for a our future… existence and economy.
Oh and we also have to put a carbon tax on domestic polluters as well…Fort Mc Murray!!
Enjoy!

I have spent the last few years researching and building eco friendly clothing for clients and have decided that it is time to launch a new line of clothing that is performance driven, stylish and eco friendly and/or sustainable.  The line will be called Modern Nature or actually Modernature.  I changed it to one word because ..well because I like the way it looks.

Unfortunately, it presents a somewhat perplexing problem for the attention deficit minds of modern consumers; myself included. Most people will assume that the company name is spelled Modern Nature and therefore google it that way. How do I get around this and bring traffic to my site? I am not completely sure but this last paragraph is part of a new ongoing experiment called embedding. If anyone has any advice on how to optimize my site for the eco world I am open to suggestion.

Otherwise, stay tuned to www.modernature.org and .ca and all other derivatives of this name to find the best in sustainable gear.

Enjoy!

The Canadian Competiton Bureau and the US Federal Trade Commission have both come out recently to stop clothing makers from labelling garments as made of bamboo that is “eco friendly” claiming that the fabric is rayon and the process of making rayon with bamboo in it is not only “not” eco-friendly but very toxic. The FTC recently charged 4 companies in the US with improper labeling and making false claims.

Bamboo is actually polyester(rayon) fibers with bits of mashed up bamboo pulp attached to the fibers.

I have put in links this time because this information is very important to consumers and clothing makers.

The FTC states the case quite clearly here.  The Canadian Competition Bureau states it..well..not so succinctly here.

It may seem like just a bike with a big white water bottle attached to it but it’s not that simple. Actually it is that simple, except that the white water bottle is an electric engine with a rechargeable battery that weighs virtually as much as a big white water bottle. Well, not really but soon enough? As I have been researching eco performance garment making I have come across a constant problem. I have mastered the water repellency issue for eco fabrics. I have been able to add stretch to the fabric for comfort as well. But the one factor that keeps people off bikes for such things as everyday use is sweat! People work up a sweat when they ride and therefore don’t want to ride to work, to the grocery store or any other place where they want to be comfortable and/or look good. Two Canadian companies have come up with a high performance solution. The end result is Bionx. (Note: I have had compalints that I don’t put enough links in my blogs and my simple response is this…I don’t get paid to do this so if you are interested in finding out more do some research on your own or send me some money and I’ll do it for you. I have discussed our spoiled, lazy consumer culture in earlier articles.)

Where was I before I was so rudely interrupted?

Oh, yes, to make a long blog short you can now ride a bike and not sweat. Problem solved. The only other issue you have to overcome is the $1500 price tag that comes with having a Bionx equipped bike. However, I am sure there are starving people somewhere in the world willing to work for less than most North Americans to build these engines so eventually the factories will move there to make them cheaper so the average canadian can afford to buy these bikes after they lose their jobs at the engine factory and realize they can no longer afford a car which directly pollutes the environment thus helping to save the planet in the process. Cynical maybe but it seems to work out in the end don’t ya think?

P.S. If I have offended anyone’s taste in any of my blogs….good..made you think!

Riding a bike makes you healthier. It is a simple fact. If you ride more you feel better, look better make love better and well..isn’t that all that matters. Well, no. The indirect benefit is that you are actually being good to the planet and to others by not polluting their air. While that is no reason to feel bad about driving a car for long errands or work related trips, it is definitely a reason to feel bad about those short trips. Just think by getting on a bike every so often you are less likely to get a “beer gut”  guys and/or “thunder thighs” ladies.

But what really got me back to this topic was this fantastic article in the New York Times about biking.  The two things that hit me about this article were this:

1) Someone else agreed with me that helmets are a not a necessity for riding.

2) Bike zealots are not helping to increase the idea that biking is for everyone.

In short, I will never wear spandex when riding because no one needs to see the shapes of my private parts dangling around a bike seat. I will never wear a reflective orange and yellow “X” style vest because I will look like an idiot. I will not ride an expensive bike and talk about the cranks, brakes, rims or any other tiny, absurd details that make my bike a “pretentious toy”.

To all those people who do these things I say read this article and stop being so judgemental. You will enjoy the ride much more if you understand that anyone on two wheels is your compatriot.

Enjoy.

OMG have you seen this mess? I was in the Vancouver airport and happened to walk by the Olympic store and…my jaw dropped. I had to take pictures. I had to ask the store clerk if I was now living in Finland..ah..or Greenland because the colors were lime green, light blue and dark blue I think… or some kind of blend of all of them in a child’s cartoon dream of heaven and snowy white sheep grazing in a field!

Look below…

My next WTF? moment was when I realized there was no red or brown anything in the store? Had I forgotten the color of our flag? Wait, that was my third WTF? moment; no maple leafs? I was stumped. I could not buy anything with either red, brown or a Canadian flag so I left empty handed and confused.

My fourth WTF? moment was that everything was made in China! Now, for those of you not aware of the clothing industry in Canada there are literally thousands of manufacturers and designers in this country that are going out of business everyday because they don’t have enough work. Plus, most of those companies and designers are really good at one thing; designing “Canadian” and “Canadian looking” sportswear. They are good at things like jackets, performance fleece tops and pants, hoodys and every other sportswear style known to the world because Canadian designers invented most of them!

Not to say that Canadians didn’t design the abominations that are the Olympic garments. I would call these designers retarded but I would be offending retarded people everywhere..so maybe blind is better?

However, I can’t really blame the designers because they are taking direction from the high ups at HBC who obviously live in Finland, have sheep grazing in their back fields and live in some sort of cracked out cartoon ferryland where bubbles come out of their butts and rainbows out of their ears as they talk about the kind of garments to make for the Olympics held in “pretty, pretty land” BC.  As a designer you either do what your boss says or quit. If I was an HBC designer I would have held a big meeting with everyone and then jumped up on the boardroom table and stabbed myself to death on top of all the designs! I couldn’t live knowing I made these designs. Maybe then the blood from my wounds would have inspired some red!

In the end, the travesty that is the Olympic program is indicative of what ails the Olympics in every aspect; greed. HBC threw bags of money at VANOC and without any regard for quality of design, integrity or national empathy VANOC sold the right to represent Canada to design hacks!

At this point, the only thing we, as Canadians can do to show HBC just how out of touch they are with the public is to not buy; which won’t be particularly hard..ha!

Enjoy.

This is really just a plug for the new Modrobes site and store that just launched this weekend.  I put the site together with some help from a great tech guy jamie at Vertical Grain Design.  Designing websites has become as easy as taking a night course and spending hours pouring over your computer reading manuals and randomly trying things…kind of like being in school again.  The difference is when you are finished you actually get something useful; a digital storefront in the Modrobes case.

Patience and persistence is the new technology.

It is amazing to see that the internet has almost reached it’s goal of democratizing(is this a word?) the world. I mean, with enough due diligence anyone with a computer and a web connection can become part of the new business paradigm that is exploding on our screens today.

However, though we are lucky enough to have a a computer and a web connection some people consider themselves lucky to live out the day without being bombed, shot, jailed or worse; so maybe it’s not the complete package but it’s a good start. It also allows people like me not to have to work for large, multi-national corporations and have a chance of competing against them. In case you were wondering these corporations won’t hire me anyway.

So the plan is to bring back the “pants” and then add my knowledge of “eco” apparel and apply it to what was once a great brand and then take it to you, the humble customer and hope beyond reason that you will like what we are doing.

Maybe I’ll see you around. Here we go again.

Enjoy.