These last couple of days were a harsh reminder that, on occasion, Ottawa weather likes to mess with you just a little bit. After a solid week of weather jet lag that made believe it was mid-June, we returned to late April without much warning. I got snowed on, albeit wet snow - and for all of five minutes. But during that five minutes, I was riding my bike. Figures.
I was dismayed not to have a Future Shop or Best Buy flyer this week. I though perhaps it was the deliverer, since they aren't exactly known as being a good pot of gravy. But no, a quick trip to FS's website quickly reveals that "We will not print a flyer for the week of April 25" to "support Earth Day." I felt kinda proud for them for about five seconds, until I realised that maybe they should have told me so in their flyer last week - the one that's good for two weeks. Or maybe they did and I'm just not as Sherlock Holmes as I thought I was. Anyway, I thought about just how much plastic their products ship in, and how much energy the use to keep their dozens (per store) of televisions powered to sway meandering customers and school them in the wonders of acronyms and contrast ratios. But maybe keeping only one cash open when there's a seven-person lineup is another quiet method of their to save the Earth, just like not printing a flyer once.
Personally, I didn't really celebrate Earth day. I forget it even happened, though in retrospect, I remember seeing a poster at my local grocery store made by grade school kids, telling people to turn their lights off. But these token "let's love the earth for a day" won't really matter until every day is Earth day. Recycling took a while to catch on; people laughed at the idea of separating their garbage when it was introduced. Resource conservation will catch on mainstream-style at some point. Maybe by the time my kids are in school.
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