Good to Know

  Canadian Carbon Tax info from Peter Bursztyn from Barrie, Ontario Here’s how the carbon tax worked for us in 2023. On home heating, hot water and cooking (all gas) the carbon charge was $200.45. Fuel for our car is harder to work out because we travelled in USA and Quebec. Assume our driving (11,179km) was in Ontario and fuel bought here. Our average consumption was 5.56litres per 100km, so we burned 621.5 litres of diesel over the year. The 2023 carbon charge on that was $108.03. (If our car had used gasoline, the carbon charge would have been less per litre [$0.143/litre instead of $0.174/litre], but a gasoline-powered vehicle would have used more fuel.) Adding the two together, we paid $308.48. There is a carbon charge embedded in many goods representing fossil fuel used to make and transport these and the tax paid by a retailer to heat their premises. I have no way to calculate these, but this would be a much smaller number than what we paid directly. I will sugge

  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                     City launches online poll to select Barrie’s official bird   (Barrie, ON) – The City of Barrie is looking to the public to help select Barrie’s official bird. Residents are invited to visit  buildingbarrie.ca/BirdPoll  to cast their vote for which bird should officially represent the City of Barrie.   The following short-list of birds were chosen by the Barrie Bird Friendly City certification team in consultation with  Nature Barrie :   Barred Owl Belted Kingfisher Downy Woodpecker Pileated Woodpecker White-breasted Nuthatch American Goldfinch Red-winged Blackbird   To read descriptions of each bird and vote, visit  buildingbarrie.ca/BirdPoll . Voting ends on March 31, 2024, and the City will reveal Barrie's official bird on World Migratory Bird Day (May 11, 2024). 

  World Migratory Bird Day's Slogan for May 11, 2024 is “Protect Insects Protect Birds.” The State of the World’s Birds Report released every 4 years shows globally 49% of bird  species are declining and 1 out of 8 is threatened with extinction! And, most of the decline has been by birds that depend entirely on insects. Terrestrial birds that rely mostly on insects for their food sources have declined by an astounding 2.9 billion in the last 50 years. And it turns out that the birds that do not rely on on insects for their main food sources have actually gained by 26.2 million! Birds provide us with more than a dozen benefits! One of the most important ecological benefits of birds is the fact they play a huge role in the regeneration of forests. When they fly here and there, the tree seeds they have eaten are dispersed through their droppings. The fertilizer from the poop helps new tree saplings to grow. It turns out, birds are the very best animal

  This Week Is Kindness Week Be kind to yourself.  Be kind to others.  Be kind to all wildlife. Be kind to Mother Earth. Kindness cost nothing. Kindness is contagious. You can be a carrier. You can easily spread kindness.  Let’s start a kindness revolution.  Let’s hope it turns into a global pandemic.