Day 3: Care Canada's Walk In Her Shoes

On day 1 I ran into a problem; my step counter broke. I wore it on my apron at work, forgetting that I'm very clumsy, so naturally it got knocked onto the ground enough times to stop working. Not awesome. However, about 2 weeks ago I wore the step counter at work (attached much more safely to the pocket of my pants), and in 9 hours on a slow Monday I walked over 13000 steps.

 I figured it would be safe to assume that my steps would also be well over 8000 during my busier 8-9 hour Friday and Saturday night shifts, so I waited until today to buy a new step counter.

I didn't have to work today, so I walked around downtown for a few hours. I haven't reached 8000 steps yet, but I'm going to take the stairs to do laundry tonight (to the basement from the 12th floor, and vice versa) so hopefully that will be enough.

Why am I walking 8000 steps per day for 8 days? To raise money for Care Canada's work empowering girls, women and communities around the world to overcome poverty and adversity.Want to know what YOU can do to help? Click here to go to my personal page and make a donation, or sign up to do the walk too! Any amount helps, and donations over $10 are tax deductible!

Until next time, keep calm and step on.

Day 1: Care Canada's Walk In Her Shoes

Today is the first day of my pledge to walk 8000 steps a day for 8 days as part of Care Canada's Walk In Her Shoes. I've been awake for almost 6 hours today and I'm only at 89 steps. My day has consisted of sitting at my computer and on my couch doing homework, so it's not surprising that the number is so low. I'm hoping that my walk to work and 9 hour shift tonight will bring my steps up to 8000. I'm a server at a bar so I do a lot of walking. I will post an update tomorrow and let you know if work was enough or if I had to go up and down my building's stairs a few times afterwards to get to 8000.

Why am I walking 8000 steps per day for 8 days? To raise money for Care Canada's work empowering girls, women and communities around the world to overcome poverty and adversity. Here is one example of what Care Canada does:

Today is International Women's Day, what can YOU do today to positively impact the lives of women? Click here to go to my personal page and make a donation, or sign up to do the walk too! The event is flexible, you can choose any 8 days between now and the end of June. They will send you a pedometer, a lovely t-shirt, and give you lots of help and encouragement with fundraising.

Until next time, happy stepping!

Care Canada's Walk In Her Shoes

It's almost March 8th, International Women's Day, and the day I will begin my challenge to walk 8000 steps a day for 8 days to fund-raise for Care Canada's efforts to empower women, girls and communities around the world to overcome poverty and adversity. 

I will be posting updates from March 8th-15th so you can share this experience with me. Want to know what YOU can do to help? Click here to go to my personal page and make a donation, or sign up to do the walk too! Any amount helps, large or small, whatever you can manage would mean a lot to me, and even more to the women who live the reality of walking at least 8000 steps a day every day just to get the basic necessities for their families. Thank you.

Manning Road/Adelaide Avenue Connection, Whitby and Oshawa

Dear Doug MacKay and The Region Municipality of Durham Works Department,

As a Whitby resident who lives very close to the proposed road connection, I completely oppose this project. I have enjoyed the trails in this area since I was a child and it would be heartbreaking to lose them. Connecting Manning and Adelaide is not worth destroying the pedestrian and cycling trails, breeding grounds for at least 26 bird species, at least 6 endangered Butternut trees, and the habitat for hundreds of animals. The amount of forest that will remain after this project is not adequate to provide habitat for the displaced animals. This area already has issues with coyotes, foxes, raccoons, rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks being hit by cars, as well as entering private properties, getting into garbage containers, ruining gardens, and on occasion killing pets. If these animals have even less habitat near by they will become even more of a presence in the neighbourhood, endangering themselves because of traffic and pest control.

I completely agree with a fellow resident's recommendation published on DurhamRegion.com, "Instead of building a road, make the area into a regional conservation area and trail system. This would encourage families to get outdoors and foster an interest in nature. If the forest was protected then garbage bins could be installed and restoration of habitat could occur. Protecting the woodland would also create the opportunity for environmental stewardship programs in schools." (Breanna Hall, Oshawa, May 22, 2012).

This road connection may have been considered a necessity in 1970 when it was first proposed, but conditions have changed and plans should change accordingly. Since Whitby is one of the fastest growing communities in Canada, and most available natural spaces have been used for housing or retail, it is important to protect the few wild spaces that are left. Watching my hometown develop without taking environmental sustainability and conservation into account has been very upsetting, and I hope Durham Region will do the right thing and reverse its classification of this option as the recommended solution, because it is the option that causes the second most harm.

Please keep me informed about this project and any public information sessions or discussion forums on the issue.

Thank you,
-Colleen Bain

For more information, click here.
To sign the petition against this road connection, click here.
To submit your own comment on this project, email Doug MacKay, doug.mackay@durham.ca.

Why vegan?

I want to use this blog to help people adopt a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle whether their reasons are for animals, their own health, the environment, or simply because they find meat icky. In order to understand where I'm coming from in my advice I thought I should share my own story of how I became a vegan, and some of my reasons for keeping it up.

When I was 16 I stopped eating red meat. I never really enjoyed eating it, but to be honest I can't really remember what caused me to give it up. However, I have a vivid image in my mind of why I stopped eating poultry and fish as well. I was on a weekend trip with my high school's drama club, and in the parking lot of the hotel we were staying at there were several dead deer in the bed of a pickup truck. That was the first time I had ever seen an animal that had been intentionally killed by a person, and that image made me re-think my relationship to animals.

Over the next 9 years of vegetarianism I was blissfully ignorant about the egg and dairy industries. I thought, "the animals aren't killed to give us eggs and dairy, so it's okay." I thought that keeping cows and chickens in captivity was the big issue for vegans (as well as the poor treatment of cows and chickens in captivity, which I tried to convince myself was better than the fate of cows and chickens killed for meat). Then I went to China. I saw some horrible things there including a box of skinned dog heads, a man shocking hamsters in a tiny cage to demonstrate a pest control product, exotic animal furs being sold in every shopping district, a circus with animal acts including a tight rope walking bear that had to be beaten on stage to perform, among other things. While these things aren't related to the dairy and egg industries, they opened my eyes to what goes on in places that value animals less than we do in North America. That got me thinking about what is permitted in our culture that I wasn't aware of. So I decided to take the blinders off and I read an article about the link between the dairy and veal industries. And then I read an article about what happens to male chicks born on egg farms. And then I watched Earthlings. What I saw in China cannot be unseen, and what I know about how animals are treated so that people can have meat, dairy products and eggs cannot be unknown. So I made the decision to no longer draw a line saying, "it's okay to use animals in this way, but not in that way." It is no longer okay for me to use animals in any way.

I should add that I am fully aware of the place of privilege I come from as a Canadian. I have an abundance of food to choose from, and can enjoy a healthy vegan diet. I am aware that many people around the world do not have an abundance of food to choose from, and cannot afford to be picky about what they eat. That being said, we are facing a global food shortage and one of the best things we can do is to consume less meat. This would reduce the amount of water and fossil fuels we use and forests we cut down. Below is an infographic explaining the carbon footprint of one hamburger patty:

Furthermore, over 1/3 of the world's grains are fed to livestock. The following infographic explains the impact of livestock farming on the environment, as well as the inefficiency of feeding so much food to our food:

My health reasons for being a vegan are much less fleshed out (pun?). While I believe that eating a plant based diet that covers all nutritional bases is the most healthy choice for me (and something I am working towards), I also recognize that simply not eating animal products does not equal a healthy diet, and vice versa. However, I'm striving to be an example of a healthy vegan because the reasons above are compelling enough for me to keep going. 

Now that you know my story, I will do my best to provide advice for people at any level of interest in consuming less animal products- whatever the reason, I support you! :)

Feel free to comment below! If you have a veggie story to share I'd love to hear it!