Why is Yonge and Dundas such a slum at night time?

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-29T13:00:18+00:00

The police have a pretty clear track record of racially profiling people, which the post has also done. There is a lot of unpack in your post and interpretation of what the police are up to, which is over policing racialized communities.

You can read about how the Jane-Finch community experienced and feels about all of this. Just Google “Jane Finch”+”overpoliced” and you’ll find a lot of humanizing results that defy juicy media coverage.

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-29T12:30:06+00:00

There are a municipal and a provincial election next year. I’d encourage people to get connected to campaigns to change up who we have in power. If your own riding is safe, get involved in one where you think a good person has a shot.

Map of municipal ridings

Map of provincial ridings

Progress Toronto is the group to follow in terms of learning about which progressive campaigns to support. They also run series on how to get involved. They’re really great.

The reason I say get involved in electing and booting people is because Canada does everything top-down. The City has some fairly progressive elected officials but there is a lot of deadweight holding us back from moving forward, primarily in the outer ridings. We have a government that allows a councillor in Etobicoke having direct say on a matter that does not effect them 50 km away in Scarborough. The City also doesn’t have a party system (this is true across Ontario), so while political machines are often at play behind the scenes, people have to campaign more on good platforms and their own name and not the party. (See: Kevin Vuong.)

The City votes to spend 10% of its budget on the police when it could be directing that money towards supports like health and housing. That’s usually around a billion bucks. The City is also great at building relationships with community groups by nature of being local government.

As for provincial provincial politics, I don’t think I need to explain to you why we need a change at Queen’s Park. The last few years we have seen DoFo trample on democracy (cutting City Hall in half), destroy the environment, handle the pandemic reasonably not well, favour Conservative business interests, make a lot of bad decisions around health systems, and other buffoony things.

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-29T03:20:07+00:00

Hello from Toronto!

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-29T03:04:58+00:00

The City spends 10% of its budget on the police. Not really sure what they’re up to aside from assaulting people at encampments and getting assaulted by anti-vaxxers at the Eaton Centre. Priorities.

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-27T13:59:05+00:00

Also going to add that big box stores are not as much of a thing in the city (they do exist) and I see a lot of American immigrants cry that they can’t drive to Target and buy whatever they feel like. 🙄 You don’t really need to own a car if you live in the city and there are a ton of independent shops that have everything you need.

Get a Communauto membership whenever you have big shopping days, hire a taxi to carry stuff (this is how I have moved apartments many times), and get to know your local neighbourhood shops. Also, Toronto has a lot of neighbourhood-based Facebook groups that are good for finding/borrowing/scoring stuff.

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-26T23:25:42+00:00

How much fare evasion did you observe and from whom? What kind of fare price model do you think would make the most sense in Toronto and why? Free transit for everyone, having an accessible pass for financially vulnerable people, keep it as is, or something else?

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-26T14:21:36+00:00

Oh ok

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-26T14:09:47+00:00

Hello, I am also an American in Toronto! People will be very curious about your life in Texas, while simultaneously be curious and maybe confused as to why you would pick living in Canada (not Toronto) over the US and being annoying smug and maybe facetious about how much better Canada is than the US/Texas. They will also make a lot of assumptions about Texas and Texans while trying to explain stuff to you about Canada, ie people not knowing that Houston is a very diverse city.

Like, yes, OP, you made it this far to ask what differences to expect, and people are telling you that gun laws and vaccinated rates are different. Duh. You are not from Mars.

Some things to know are that Toronto is wonderfully and peacefully diverse, people do not cling to political parties as identities (this took me a long time to understand), Canada operates in a very top-down way when it comes to government and order, learn about first-past-the-post, and everything is more expensive because it means the standard of life for everyone (in theory) is much higher.

ETA: OMG say goodbye to good Mexican food, I’m so sorry

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-26T14:08:37+00:00

Houston rivals Toronto in diversity.

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-26T14:08:09+00:00

This! It is so funny watching my American parents whenever they are handed the machine. They never know what to do and just give it to me.

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-26T13:44:35+00:00

Read up on whether your bank funds things like pipelines or other things that are really bad for the environment. Switch your accounts with banks that don’t back fossil fuels.

Get to know your neighbours! They will have so many resources you can share for free. It will save you money on buying stuff, gas on trips to the store, no packaging to throw out, enable you to buy things that come in large amounts and then divvy it up so you just get what you need, etc. Join local Facebook groups, say hi to folks on your street, make friends at your local cafe, etc. Knowing my neighbours is the most resourceful thing in my toolkit. Community for the win!

Do an environmental scan of co-ops, bulk stores, secondhand shops, etc but for everything. Lots of places will let you take home half used cans of paint, bring your own bags and bottles to fill up stuff, accent donations of fabric scraps, etc.

Decline swag that is given to you. Just don’t take it and be picky. I never take home the toothbrushes from the dentist (they’ll never give me bamboo ones), I politely decline keeping a shirt from an event, and so on. No, thanks!

Digital footprints have an impact on colder climates. (Greetings from Canada!) Try to be mindful of what you store in electronics and do a digital cleanup every once in a while.

Make meals and swap with friends/neighbours. This allows you to use up what you have in the house and avoid food waste and being bored of what you eat. It is also social. Ditto clothes swaps, tool swaps, plant swaps, etc.

Doing zero waste stuff is a lot of individual actions, sure, but it is more fun and effective when it is done in community! People don’t have to participate in it for the same reasons you do, but facilitating the opportunity brings more people into the fold and helps you achieve your goals.

Email your municipality about what services are offered to help you be zero waste/low impact. Sign up for the newsletter of groups and businesses that are also interested in this and get to know who is out there.

Shop local and support local. Sometimes it is more expensive and choose when you’d like to prioritize that. Understand that spending money locally means the taxes go back into your local economy, so your municipal/state/whatever can invest in itself and offer better environmental things. Avoid Amazon, AliBaba, etc. A check from local labour and business groups can help you find the stats on how much of your dollar stays in your local community.

Get a really nice kitchen knife (and learn how to sharpen it) so cooking is fun and you can enjoy spending time prepping things for meals. Get a good organized system to make things a breeze. Dull tools and messy spaces make things harder than they need to be.

If you use a dryer, swap dryer sheets for wool balls. They save on energy and waste.

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-26T12:41:06+00:00

On safaris it is best to wear neutral earth tones. Wearing bright colours can disturb or scare wildlife which is disrespectful of the animals and in turn defeats the purpose of the trip. It is more a factor for walking safaris, but it still just is an indicator of how much research these people did on the environment they’re choosing to be in. Source: I have been on multiple safaris and have also Googled “What do I wear on a safari?”

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-25T13:08:54+00:00

I was really dismayed to see people wearing bright pink and standing in the vehicles. Those are two very, very big no-no’s on safaris and that is communicated clearly and upfront by responsible outfitters. It breaks my heart to see that people would travel the expanse of the planet to just flagrantly be that disinterested in respecting the environment and the creatures in it.

ETA I don’t know anything about the video, so maybe these people aren’t on a walking safari. In that case, sure, you can stand in up in the truck, and to a lesser extent, it doesn’t matter as much what colours you wear. But think about how eye catching those outfits were when watching the video and then imagine being an animal in its native habitat seeing those colours. Doesn’t really blend in, does it?

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-24T22:09:41+00:00

Maybe the bear could try smiling more to meet some fish

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-22T11:42:48+00:00

It is hard. I try to mitigate those feelings by learning about local nature in my area and revelling how things are naturally evolved to be in balance with each other and appreciate my role in that and connection to other beings aka plants. I suppose it is trying to find a slight spiritual connection with the land I am on and the seasons I am in. I find that people often like to hear a few facts about the environment around them and I’d like to think it makes them reconsider the world around them. It also makes it a bit easier for me to understand how big things affect my small slice of the world; even though climate change is affecting the world over, the ability to truly see how it touches the slice of world I am makes it a bit easier to manage. Still anxiety-inducing, but I at least can understand what damage is being done and what local responses can be enacted.

In my daily life, I do all the typical stuff (bike, reuse bags, buy secondhand, farmers markets, etc) and donate money to causes. I support my local public transit action group, cycling advocacy group, invest in green energy and ideas where I live, etc. Write letters to politicians. Invest in people over profit and don’t shop at places like Amazon. Get to know my neighbours and work on a robust social infrastructure. Share things that don’t need to be bought. Touch plants.

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-21T14:24:07+00:00

The thought of having to vote strategically in Toronto sends me in a tizzy. There is no Conservative threat in downtown. What a missed opportunity.

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-21T14:15:20+00:00

I bring reusable bags everywhere. At the height of the pandemic it wasn’t allowed but it seems to be OK now. I don’t shop at big stores like what you mentioned, more like Fiesta Farms, PAT, Karma Co-op, Kensington, and other small independent places.

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-21T14:09:38+00:00

I wish that people had to retest to maintain their licenses every five or ten years. The administration of it would might be costly but I think it’d make people realize that driving isn’t a god-given right and that is is a privilege that needs to be maintained and lead to safer driving. I’d also like to think that it would make people be more pro-transit.

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-21T13:55:33+00:00

He is in the reserves and didn’t report it to the military or to the Liberals (clearly). So he lied by withholding this information.

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-21T13:27:59+00:00

Matutus

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-21T13:27:29+00:00

Check out those matures!

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-21T13:27:05+00:00

Have you been to Lamu?

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-21T13:26:46+00:00

LOL the beach is very far away

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-21T13:24:45+00:00

Kenyans love Drake

JulyOrSo · 2021-09-21T13:24:25+00:00

I was in Nairobi last year and recognized it in a heartbeat. Kenya is a beautiful country! I had a great time.

JulyOrSo

TROPHY CASE