Methane Digesters on Dairy Farms...

This is something that may not be feasible at the moment, but definitely worth some thought.

Install Methane Digesters on every dairy farm (and large beef operations) in the Province. This has the potential to take every one of those farms, (possibly other animal farms with more research), off the power grid in Ontario. We have already felt the consequences of not being able to produce enough hydro during peak usage times in the form of rolling black outs. Well, I would think that taking every dairy farm (and others) in the province off the grid would result in a very substantial reduction in overall hydro usage. The other benefit of this idea is that you would be reducing the methane (also important if we are going to try to meet the Kyoto protocols) that these farms are producing. Right now the methane simply enters the atmosphere adding to the greenhouse effect. As many of you know, methane is much worse for the atmosphere than carbon dioxide (which is what is produced when you burn methane to produce hydro and heat). Livestock currently represents 35% of all methane emissions from anthropogenic sources (that being produce from human activity). Even cutting that number in half would significantly reduce the methane we produce. This project again represents a dual benefit to the environment in the sense that we would be reducing the amount of electricity that would have to be produced to feed the grid as well as converting a highly harmful greenhouse gas like methane into a milder gas like carbon dioxide.

Right now, as it states here, the economics of methane digesters only work on farms of 500 plus cattle. I think the potential benefits of something like this necessitate further research and funding geared towards making it not only financial viable but more efficient and financially advantageous to implement Methane Digesters on a mass scale. I think the potential is there for Methane Digesters to have a significant positive impact on both the environment and farm economics in general.

Other possible advantages of Methane Digesters could be:

• Feeding the gird with excess hydro production. (Decreasing grid strain even further)
  
• Using the heat generated as a source of hot water instead of using a hot water tank.
• Heating Greenhouses to grow fruits and vegetables. (Negating the need to burn other gases to heat them, which are also very costly)
  
• Heating the primary residence of the farm.
  

Coal Fired Power Plants...

This is more of a national problem but I will focus on how it affects Ontario since I live close to the Nanticoke generating station. The amount of CO^2 being produced from coal fired hydro plants is astonishing and Nanticoke is #1 on the list of polluters overall. I remember reading somewhere that if you were to shut down Nanticoke that it would be the equivalent to taking 6 million cars off the roads of Ontario. (I will post the link later if I can find the story referencing that number) Now that is just a massive number and it sounds great in theory to be able to do. However the problem is where then do we replace that power generation? Any viable projects I have read about would take nearly a decade to complete. So basically what that leaves us with is, "Is there a viable solution to reduce the output that could be completed relatively quickly?"

I think the solution could found from a company by the name of GreenFuel Technologies Corp. You absolutely have to check these guys out. The technology seems to good to be true but to sum it up briefly, basically they use scrubbers to harvest the CO^2 coming out of smoke stacks and use it to grow a variety of Algae that in turn can be converted into a bio fuel and then further process into ethanol to be used to power cars. This would be like double dipping from burning coal, not only would you get the electricity generated but you'd end up with a lot of bio fuel when you were all said and done. They say that as much as 40% of the CO^2 can be repurposed into the algae, with the Nanticoke plant alone that would be like taking 2.4 million cars off the road. This is a significant number by any measure (imagine taking every car in Toronto off the road). Also based on their ratio of approx. 100 million gallons of bio fuel per 1,000 megawatts of generation at a coal fired plant, extrapolating that over Nanitcokes 7,500 megawatt production means that Nanticoke would also produce approx. 750 million gallons of bio fuel a year (which could simple be added to gasoline at the Esso plant next door to make e10 or what ever those ethanol/gas mixes are called). So overall the environment would be benefiting twice from this green solution, not to mention how much closer it would get us to complying with the Kyoto protocol.

I'll finish it with an interesting little mathematical evaluation.

In 2003, the province of Ontario consumed approx. 15.5 billion litres of Gasoline. If you convert the 750 million gallon possible output into litres, you get approx. 2.8 billion litres. So right now Nanticoke supplies about 25% of Ontario's hydro. With this modification, at it's current level of operation, it would not only supply the 25% of hydro we, Ontario, needs, but it would produce 40% less CO^2 while also supplying nearly 20% of our gasoline requirement. If that's not wow enough for ya, I don't know what is.

Life Skills Course...

Here's a novel idea, let's teach kids things that they will actually use when they grow up.

High school is suppose to be a general education tool that all children in Ontario have access to and find useful. Alright, I know, teaching kids trig functions, physics, etc. helps you score well internationally, or at least it should, but why waste the resources teaching most kids things they will NEVER use. Also, too many people in this province get screwed cause "they didn't know any better", now back in the "day" a lot of this stuff was passed down from parents and/or friends, but with the degradation of the family unit and the increasingly busing lifestyles that we all enjoy, I think there is a lot of basic stuff being missed.

So here's my proposal, you setup a general life skills class to be taken during high school that is mandatory for everyone. Now maybe you break it down into 2 classes, a basic level that every grade 9 student would have to take and an advanced level class that would be offered in either grade 11 or 12. I am not really picky on that point as long as things like the following are covered:

• Legal Rights - Things like basic labour laws that protect workers, especially blue collar workers which is where most kids are gonna end up. Contractual law, what your rights are, when is a contract legally binding, what constitutes a contract, etc.
  
  
• Identity Protection - Techniques that can be employed to protect your identity (ever important in an increasingly digital world).
  
  
• Employment Skills - How to find jobs, write good resumes, perform well in interviews, and how you should act as an employee.
  
  
• Banking - How to open an account, how to choose the proper account for your lifestyle. Things to watch out for (like hidden fees). How to obtain a loan, what to look for in a loan, what kind of loan works best for your lifestyle. The do's and don'ts of credit cards.
  
  
• Buying a Car - What you need to know about buying used, things to watch out for, what your rights are when it comes to purchase agreements, should you buy or lease? is new or used better?
  
  
• Licensing - What you need licenses for? How to get them, and why they are important. (everything from driving to hunting)
  
  
• Housing Options - Buying a house or renting/leasing. How to obtain a mortgage. Ins and outs of mortgage or rental agreements. What are you rights. What to look for when buying a house. (main structural problems, how to maximize value)
  
  
• Personal Finance - How to develop a personal budget. What are your savings options? Cover stocks, bongs, mutual funds, RRSP's, general savings accounts. Taxation, why it is important, when to do it, what you need, and how to maximize your return or minimize your payout.
  
  
• Social Edicate/Interaction - How to successfully and enjoyably interact with everyone around you. How to be tactful and courteous, also generally accepted behavior patterns for interaction (hand shakes, eye contact, etc), also personal hygiene as it relates to smell and grooming and how it affects your day to day human interaction.
  
  
• Insurance - When you need it. Why you need it. What are your rights.
  

I personally believe these are all things that are becoming greater areas of concern for today's youth. Flip through any major news publication on almost any given day and there is a tragic story about someone either being taken advantage of or falling on hard times, and a lot of the time it can be traced back to a simple lack of knowledge. Finally ask yourself this? How many of the areas that I just mentioned did you personally have to make a mistake at before you found out some important aspect about that thing. Something as simple as making a fool of yourself in public, or not being aware of your rights until it was too late to do anything about it, or maybe something as serious as not being properly covered by insurance in a certain situation or getting burned in a bad financial deal. Even some of the highly educated among us can relate to at least one or two of these areas. What would be so bad about equipping our youth with real tools to navigate the increasingly complex world in which we all live. I am not saying that books smarts are not important but isn't it about time that everyday life skills garnered a little attention and respect.