November 2, 2006
Hotter Than He Should Be
On the heels of making his final campaign pledges, David Miller stopped by the massive balloon installation at Metro Hall earlier today. Among other things, Miller asserted that the federal government "isn't showing leadership" and that the fight against global warming would come from the world's cities, which are now working together in the face of apathy from other orders of government.
The volume of the helium in the 3,000 (biodegradable) balloons is equivalent to the amount of carbon dioxide produced by the average Canadian in a single day. Multiplied by the number of people living in Toronto, those 6 billion daily balloons would literally block out the sun.
The World Wildlife Fund Canada is liveblogging the event all day, as well as photocasting some of the day's highlights. Check out some Miller videos on WWF-Canada's YouTube.
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While I understand and support the point you are making I'm afraid the balloons are probably an unfortunate choice of mode of expression. Yes they are "biodegradable", latex is after all essentially tree sap, but these aren't going to get the chance to biodegrade, once you're done they are going to be driven to Michigan and buried in a encased landfill. Add to that the environmental impact of slash and burn rubber plantations, and the energy/pollution expended to transport the latex from the tropics and process it into balloons and these are a really unfortunate choice as an ecofriendly symbol.
Remember Miller's ad's that boasted that he had great hair? Someone on his campaign team is a smart-ass, knows it, revels in it, and has Miller's trust. It's probably the same person behind the flip-flops ad. Smarty-pants. It worked: I still remember the ad. And yes, I voted for him last time.
I'm not sure about how the installation makes me feel (as Chester Pape noted, they'll be creating nasty garbage), but I am sure about one thing:
This tshirt+this man=
Liveblogging and photocasting? But not, er, youtubizing or torrenting? Why does the internet hate English so much?
> but these aren't going to get the chance to biodegrade
As mentioned on the blog, every balloon and string will be composted and every weight (also biodegradable and made from natural materials) will be reused.
The balloons themselves came from Mexico, where rotational shifting cultivation of the renewable rubber tree actually preserves biodiversity.
Every watt of electricity used was Bullfrog Powered, every ink made from vegetables, every card from 100% post-consumer recycled paper...
Believe us, this event was completely green and there is no doubt in our minds that the environmental footprint will be offset by the great work WWF-Canada is doing via their new website, saveourclimate.ca
Ah, yes. Must be election time. More hot air.
How come our beloved transit/enviro Mayor cannot save something as air-friendly as the BikeShare program?
That would be popular would it not?
How about dealing with our carrupt downtown?
He brags about his BioDiesel Buses. Right. Ever
try breathing behind one of those while you ride your bike. Last time I checked BioDiesel is nothing to be proud of.
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2005/12/06/worse-than-fossil-fuel/
Carbon monoxide. Carbon dioxide is natural, we exhale it.
I stopped by on my way home. Maybe if there was more of a mass of balloons rather than balloons scattered throughout on the grass the installation may have attracted more attention.
Great job on the efforts to be as envrionmentally friendly as possible. A lot of thought to the smallest of details.
Fair enough, I knew that shredded balloon bits disintegrate when exposed to the elements, I was a little surprised that they can be composted en masse but it turns out they can, provided you mix them with other more conventional compostables and keep high moisture and aeration.
You used bullfrog power but the people who processed and vulcanized the latex...
Fair enough. I knew little bits of balloon left from mass releases will disintegrate when exposed to the elements, I didn't think you could compost then en masse but I'm wrong, I found out you can (provided you mix them with enough other conventional compostables and keep the moisture and aeration high). You used bullfrog power, but I doubt the people who processed/vulcanized the latex did, still that's a necessary evil hopefully offset by the other benefits of the event.
! It looked so amazing (especially before all the balloons were moved to the grass- a regrettable occurrence)! The giant painted panda was totally spectacular and the sea of balloons un-ignorable!
I'm wondering how many pigeons and other park critters will die from ingesting little shreds of rubber post-event. Looks awesome though.
Think I was wrong about the dioxide/monoxide thing- sorry about that.