What's in a name, a rose by any other name.....?

We like labeling concepts in the "Ecofriendly" 21st century such as:

• Green (I had to start with the big one!)
• Ecofriendly
• Organic
• Sustainable

What do we mean by these labels? Do we even understand them? Or is it just cool to be green? In legal terms it is something that can't be proven, but yet in this age of litigation we freely use these terms in most areas of modern society.

Anyway, rant aside, i asked myself these questions because we are trying to build a cabin and want to go "off the grid" and pandoras' box opened........

What is "off the grid"? The easy anser is that it is away from the power grid. Nice and easily defined. But what is the power grid? Electricity - obvious answer - but what about petrol? natural gas? How "off the grid" do we want to be, and how can we do it? What would be "EcoSensible" in terms of cost, environmental impact, impimentation schedule, usability?

I hope this is going to be the first blog of many about our cabin, and as we start to define our version of "off the grid" and research how to build and service our cabin.

Too posh for poultry.....

West Vancouver is too Posh for Poultry.

Vancouver passed a bylaw allowing (with restrictions) backyard chickens. Burnaby, New West and Surrey also allow back yard chickens, even North Vancouver allow them in the "District of North Vancouver" but West Vancouver do not. It begs the question, is West Vancouver too posh for poultry?

According to West Vancouver bylaw you are allowed to keep birds as pets, as long as they are not classed as "Poultry". What is the difference?