Dec
16/07: On Saturday, December 15th, the United Nations climate talks
ended in Bali Indonesia. Counter to what was expected, the Canadian
government delegation did not block the negotiations from moving ahead.
This is due to a huge groundswell of public concern. Please watch the
video below for a personal message of thanks from the Canadian Youth
Delegation to Bali.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YJDT8pmLKk
Dec 14/07: At the Bali Summit
John Baird
Federal Minister of the Environment in the Harper Government
accept targets on harmful carbon emissions. The draft agreement
changes every hour, with carbon targets dropping in and out. We now
have just over 24 hours left for an all-out push to get Harper to do
the right thing. Let's ramp it up and hit 100,000 voices by Friday! If
you haven't yet, please click below to sign up, see our ad, and then
forward this email to everyone you know:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/another_canadian_climate_crime/9.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YJDT8pmLKk
Dec 14/07: At the Bali Summit
John Baird
Federal Minister of the Environment in the Harper Government
It is touch and go
with almost the entire world vs.
Canada and the US over whether toaccept targets on harmful carbon emissions. The draft agreement
changes every hour, with carbon targets dropping in and out. We now
have just over 24 hours left for an all-out push to get Harper to do
the right thing. Let's ramp it up and hit 100,000 voices by Friday! If
you haven't yet, please click below to sign up, see our ad, and then
forward this email to everyone you know:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/another_canadian_climate_crime/9.php
Dec 10/07: My partner, Marie Van Schie, is re-vamping her website, "The Demonsmonkey" who is the original recycler and once again will be re-focussing on jewellery from recycled copper, photography and humour. Bookmark her site and check back for new content and to see some examples of her work see Collaborations.
Nov 13/07: Added a new section, "Commissions" in the Gallery. A few private pieces and a corporate work for the moment.
Nov 6/07: Just completed a whole lot of uploading to "This Old Guitar"
website most importantly the Audio page. Have a listen!
Nov. 2/07: Read the most exciting and the SHORTEST issue of the Environ Mental Newsletter
Oct. 19/07:
Photo
by Marie Van Schie
Recycling Council of Ontario Gold Ontario 2007 Waste Minimisation Award for Excellence and Committment to a Sustainable Environment!!
Recycling Council of Ontario Gold Ontario 2007 Waste Minimisation Award for Excellence and Committment to a Sustainable Environment!!
This recognition is a giant step for Alter Eco for which I am truly thankful to my creative partner and wife, Marie Van Schie, for her years of committment to the effort and initiating the recycling of copper for her jewellery making. We would secondly like to express our appreciation to Rhonda Nolan Designs for promoting us to the RCO. And to Diane Blackburn of RCO for your business, support and encouragement over the past two years.
Pictured above is Joanne St. Godard, Exective Director, the Recycling Council of Ontario presenting the award to Alter Eco.
Oct. 17/07: The BIG story, of which we are extremely pleased and honoured, is that we have been asked to be part of an advisory council at the Recycling Council of Ontario, for matters relating to the arts. This is the first year that they have expanded their Awards categories to the arts.
From their website -
“The Recycling Council of Ontario is a not-for-profit organization committed to minimizing society's impact on the environment by eliminating waste. RCO's mission is to inform and educate all members of society about the generation of waste, the avoidance of waste, the more efficient use of resources and the benefits and/or consequences of these activities. Since its inception in 1978, RCO has actively assisted municipalities, corporations, other organisations and individuals in reducing their waste.”
And bigger and more exciting yet is that we have been nominated for an Award to be presented at their Gala Event Thursday, Oct 18th. So by the time you read this history will have unfolded as it should!
Upcoming shows we are doing:
Planet in Focus International Environmental Film and Video Festival, Community Eco Exchange, Saturday, October 27th & Sunday, October 28th, 11:00am – 5:00pm, Innis College (2 Sussex Avenue, in the University of Toronto) - Free Admission CBC Christmas Crafts Sale Thursday, November 29th, 10am – 5pm. It is located in the CBC Atrium at 250 Front St W. – Free Admission
We look forward to seeing you there!
Cheers as always,
John
May 3/07: Played ***live*** at the Lakeview Lunch! It was an open mike and I got to play all the songs on the CD in 2 sets. Also launched the new music website, "This Old Guitar" with pics an other content. Check it out!
click pic
Jan 17/07: Enfin! At Last! It's Finished, fini, vertig, finito! The CD titled "Trying to Keep an Open Mind" has been completed in time for Groundhog Day! Check out some samples: The Groundhog Day Slaughter
Wintertime
Standing Still Sun
Night Trains The Best Things in Life are Found or This Old Guitar
For the rest of the news Check out the latest Environ Mental Newsletter.
Dec 10/06: In time for the holidays? The long-awaited CD, Night Trains? Maybe. Yes, just maybe. I've got one more song, the dirty blues number, Undercoverman, and might have it done today. Note that I have licensed all the material on this site, unless otherwise attributed, as Creative Commons License.
Aug 28/06:
It is
positively chilling to receive a letter back from Prime Minister's
office (Stephen Harper) within 12 hours of sending this email:
" Dear Mr. Warren:
On behalf of the Prime Minister, I would like to acknowledge receipt of your e-mail regarding the situation in the Middle East.
Please be assured that your comments have been carefully reviewed.
Thank you for writing to the Prime Minister.
L.A. Lavell
Executive Correspondence Officer
" Dear Mr. Warren:
On behalf of the Prime Minister, I would like to acknowledge receipt of your e-mail regarding the situation in the Middle East.
Please be assured that your comments have been carefully reviewed.
Thank you for writing to the Prime Minister.
L.A. Lavell
Executive Correspondence Officer
Mar 27/06: OK - further notice! For the time being I am busking down at the St. Lawrence Market and have given over our space at the market to the Demonsmonkey! She is a digital artist and is showing and selling her digital art prints. She is also showing/selling photographic prints of Karen Hutton, the co-founder of the "PhoTOclub". Not only cool but awesome!!! So for now explore the website and stay tuned.
Feb 17/06: All Saturdays, until further notice, we will be at the St. Lawrence Market once again from 9am - 4pm.
See the map for our exact location in the South Market, lower level.
Come
down to say hi and get your veggies!
Feb 1/06: New shop for T-shirts, etc. on the Gear section.
Jan 31/06: By popular demand and savings to you, and in honour of Wiarton Willie II, we have decided to make the quiz ongoing. Happy Groundhog Day!
also
We have confirmed 2 dates
for the
Ontario Government CSS Show, Thurs. Feb 9th and Wed. Feb 22. See Schedule
for details.
Eh!?
Did Harper get your shorts in a knot on Monday, Jan 23rd and you can't afford to launder them?
Not to worry!!
63% of Canadian voters didn't even vote for Harper!
Murray Dobbin wrote in the Tyee, Not So Bad, Eh?. It'll get you some perspective on what we might expect. Pretty much a lame duck Conservative Government.
Even the Americans were watching this one with more than a bit of interest. This is from an article on Alternet.org by Joshua Holland, "Cry in your Molson". There are many comments on the post by reasonable people and I, yours truly darthcricket, couldn't resist the Molson's!!! So I posted
"Molson's is American!"
It was a sad day for hockey when the frothheads at Molson's got guzzled by Coors. This is a prime example of "deep integration" which was a boilingfrog deception for the right Liberals and is a wet dream for the Harper Conservatives. Deep Integretion is the same as a stealth, fifth column, invasion of Canada. Now that the two major players are onside with this one, we have to be very watchful of this, not to mention the exponentially valuable commodity of WATER!
and further down:
One other BIG irony! John Molson, the founder of Molson's, was part of a group of wealthy Montreal business men in the 1880's who were pressuring freer trade and for eventual annexation to the US. There is a book written by David Orchard who is a Conservative, but NOT a Harper Conservative (and that is another wild story in Canadian Conservative history),
The Fight For Canada: Four Centuries of Resistance to American Expansionism.
Canada has always been a target for American Manifest Destiny, either by force of invasion - none successful, trade policy - potentially successful, or just plain political interference - regime change, eg. JFK's operatives in Canada to defeat the Diefenbaker Gov't and install a gov't that soon allowed the testing of US Bomarc Missles over Canadian air space.
And for another perspective on Canadian values, 63% of us for sure, for our southern friends, read this interview with David Orchard, Canada, Nationalism, and Empire".
So that being said and that being read, we can be sure of one thing, it his improbable that the sky will fall. It would be more likely to be bird shit!
>}-)
Nov 6/05: Walmart take notes! Have fun and save! Quiz ongoing to the end of 2005. (see above)
Nov 3/05: Announcing the 2005 CBC Annual Christmas Charity Craft Sale. Go to Schedule: It is open to the public and you just might rub elbows with a TV celeb! It's on a Thurs because that's when the CBC staff get paid and we're all hoping that they have some extra money what with having been locked out and all. Help us support the CBC to support the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.
Oct 15/05: Oxfam Canada is hosting a World Food Day event on Mon Oct 17th at 6:30 pm. NOW writer Wayne Roberts will be talking on food as well there is entertainemant and a silent auction which we have dontated a copper chainlink necklace with pendant titled, "The Child". If you get the chance it's being held at the Camera Bar at 1028 Queen W.
We are also happy to support an organization that supported Alter Eco the biz - SEDI 2nd Annual Awards Ceremony to be held Nov 10th at The Westin Harbour Castle Convention Centre, Toronto. We have donated a small sculpture titled, "Windy".
Oct 12/05: OK the mp3 is ready! "Red Rocket Roll"
Sept 22/05: After a long wild ride on the learning curve here is what's been occupying me for a few months, "Red Rocket Roll"*. This version is the first take and is a 9.6mb download. I'm about to ride the 'streaming audio' learning curve which will result in a normal download and a better sound. All comments welcomed and maybe even appreciated... cheers!
Sept 7/05: A new sculpture titled, "Hanging Bush" can be found here in the Decorative Sculpture page. Who in their right & just mind can keep quiet?
Sept 4/05: To the victims of
Katrina - A new meaning of the Delta Blues. This design is part of a
Cafe Press fundraising drive. Please join me in support of the
victims of this diaster. Alter Eco & Cafe Press profits on the
merchandise bearing this design will be donated to a fund being
currently organised by Cafe Press. I will have the details in about a
week. Please keep checking back for details, or email me if you want to
know as soon as I have the info.
thanks
Aug 18/05: We are doing the Planet in Focus Eco Fair at the beginning of Oct. Check out the schedule.
Here's another way to get the message out: a few small sales in Gear have sparked me to do some pretty funny political stuff.Two more shops have been added ! Check out the all the designs and products. Also I just got some great books, many of them art books. I'll post them in the next couple of weeks.
July 24/05: Hey - Rip Van Winkle here. Where did all that time go? My apologies for such a long time between updates. I have been taking a little time from this art and have been spending time on an old 'art' of mine - singer/songwriter. I used to do this sometimes, off and on, over the most part of my life and was recently sparked to taking it half seriously when there was a TVO (TV Ontario, our PBS sort of thing) to submit a song. I was encouraged by friends to enter a song I wrote when I was travelling in Europe. It is called "Night Trains". I'll upload it soon to the site soon so you can see that "the dog didn't eat my homework. But in the meantime I am in the process of recording 7 or 8 other songs for a cd. And for the record (no pun intended) I claim title to "Tacotta and Blues in E Minor". Back soon!
* John Warren Productions. All rights reserved. Unauthorized copying of this recording strictly prohibited.
June 7/05: We have added some more books, and to give you an example of what you can find in the Bookstore, here are the latest titles:
(Culture - Literature - Canadian Fiction)
Atwood, Margaret: The Handmaid's Tale
(Culture - Canadian Literature - Fiction)
Highway, Tomson: Kiss of the Fur Queen
(Culture - Canadain History - Economics)
Innis, Harold A: The Fur Trade in Canada
(Culture - Society - Spirituality - New Age)
Arica Institue: Interviews With Oscar Ichazo
(Science - Culture - Society - Evolution - Linguistics)
Smith, Curtis G: Ancestral Voices - Language and the Evolution of Human Conciousness
(Culture - Politics - American)
Applebone, Peter: Dixie Rising - How the South is Shaping American Values, Politics and Culture
(Culture - American)
Isay, David (Wang, H): Holding On - Dreamers, Visionaries, Eccentrics and other American Heroes
(Culture - Politics - American - Womens - Bio)
Flinn, Susan K(edit): Speaking of Hillary - A Reader's Digest Guide to the Most Controversial Women in America
(Culture - Society - American)
Fussel, Paul: Bad - Or the Dumbing of America
(Culture - Politics - American - Culture - Music - Bio)
Garment, Leonard: Crazy Rhythm - My Journey from Brooklyn, Jazz, and Wall Street to Nixon's White House, Watergate and Beyond...
And many more Great Books!!
May 5/05: We have added a new feature to the Bookstore. If there is a book you are looking for, we can search it for you.
Apr 24/05: 40% of the sale of good used books is going to charities having added some more interesting book titles. I have been working on some light hearted graphic designs depicting "Jolly Roger's Scurvy Crew".
Apr 22/05:
EARTHDAY!
Did 2 things to celebrate today. One -
I picked up litter from the
parkette at the end of the block, and two, I cleaned up all the little
details on the new website. I can modestly say it works! Try it!!