Feature: How to make the perfect compost pile, a definitive guide

Two stakes and a net is all you need if you follow these easy steps

Here in Vancouver, 30 per cent of collected garbage is made of biodegradable materials. These materials can be easily composted, but are instead dumped into the trash. While the city has set its sights on a 70 per cent diversion rate by 2015 – meaning the goal is to have most of the waste avoid a landfill – it requires the willful participation of the population.

Constructing your own compost is actually an easy process, requiring very little expertise. Follow these simple instructions to put a dent in your waste contributions.

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Video: Vancouver tent city protest, Feb. 26, 2011

Check out the video section for mine and Celia Leung‘s coverage of last week’s 2011 Tent City protest. The morning of the action was a constant push-and-shove between activists and the security forces resisting them. Ultimately, the action fell apart as activists were refused the ability to set up their tents. The city has said housing remains a provincial matter and citing their plans to provide spaces for all of Vancouver’s homeless by 2015, denounced the demands of the group as unrealistic.

Click for Video Section

 

Police using creative methods to catch cell phone use while driving

Driving while operating your cell is not only dangerous, it can lead to some pretty harsh fines. Photo by Lord-Jim

This February, police in B.C. are working to step up their efforts to combat distracted driving.

Last year on Feb. 1, a new law prohibiting the use of cell phones and other devices while driving was passed. On this, the one-year anniversary of the new legislation, police are feeling that the public has failed to receive their message.

This comes after an estimated 32,000 tickets were issued under the new legislation.

Police concerns have also been bolstered by statistics. The BCAA Traffic Safety Foundation estimated that distracted driving was a contributing factor in as many as 48 per cent of the fatalities on our roads in the Lower Mainland last year.

Penalties for distracted driving in the province do not currently exceed a ticket of $169 combined with three Driver Penalty Points or DPP. With the public paying so little attention to the new law, could harsher penalties be coming?

In the following podcast, I speak with officers Sgt. Peter Thiessen and Cpl. Jamie Chung of the RCMP about the legislation and distracted driving month.

The officers detail their concerns about distracted driving, as well as providing some insight into the creative methods police will be using to catch violators.

For anybody who drives on B.C. roads, it’s worth a listen.

 

Click here for the podcast