' . Freebies
REMAX REALTY’S Don Boychuk delivered 500 pumpkins
trom Save-On-Foods to Upper Lynn Elementary Schoo! on
Wednesday afternoon. Grede seven students (including left

to sight, Tanya Faurot, Ellzabeth Raffaele and Katherine
we rd) distributed the haul to their classmates.

Neighbourhood House
holds pumpkin carving
contest at Cap Mall

WITCHES, ghosts,
goblins, and assorted
creatures of the night are
invited to come out - of
hiding for just long enough
to participate in the first
annual North Shore Neigh-
bourhood House Pumpkin
Carving Competition, which
takes ‘ place at Capilano
Mall en Saturday, Oct. 31.
From 12 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Hal-
loween day, businesses and fami-
lies from all over the North Shore
will roli up their sleeves for a
“spirited”? competition, which
promises to deliver some wild and

wacky results.

CBC aational weatherman Phil
Reimer, along with several fellow
carvers, will headline the celebrity
category of the contest. Prizes will

be awarded for a host of different
categories.

“This is a first for the Neigh-
bourhood House,’’ explains exec-
utive director Don Rutherford.
““We wanted an event that would
include the whole community,
from our seniors, to executives, to
kids. Halloween provides the
perfect opportunity for something
like this. A chance to get together,
have fun and make a big mess!”

In addition to the carving com-
petition, there will be face paint-
ing, cookie icing, costumes and
balloons.

The entry fee is $10 for families
and $100 for businesses, All pro-
ceeds will go to North Shore
Neighbourhood House, which is a
non-profit organization operating
in the Lower Lonsdale area for
over 50 years,

For more
987-8138. —~

information, cali

Society seeKs volunteer leaders

THE ARTHRITIS Society of
‘B.C. and Yukon Division is seek-
ing 15 persons to be trained as
leaders for the highly acclaimed
Arthritis Self-Managment Pro-
gram. ;

The program gives people with
arthritis new information and
teaches new skills that allow them
to take a more active role in their
arthritis care.

The volunteers will attend a
three-day free-of-charge
workshop in Vancouver at the Ar-
thritis Centre, 895 W. 1th Ave.,
on Saturday, Nov. 7, Sunday,
Nov. 8, and Monday, Nov. 9

from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Workshep participants will
learn group facilitation skills,
concepts of self-efficacy and how
to enhance it, plus practical ways
of helping themselves and others
with arthritis care.

Mo previous teaching experience
or medica! knowledge is required..
The total volunteer commitment
after training is 24 hours per year.

To register, and for futher in-
formation, call the Arthritis Tele-
phone Information Service at
879-751), Iccal 300 or 301 be-
tween 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., Mon-
day to Friday.

RL

Friday, October 30,

1992 — North Shore News - 24

ENVIRONMENT |
Examining pros and cons of
choosing ‘car-free’ lifestyle

WITH THE sstart of the
rainy season, I have become
contemplative and reflec-
tive.

I am not pondering the turning
of the leaves, the cyclical nature
of the seasons, the spawning of
the salmon or the imminent death
of the year. .

I am re-examining the decision
I made five months ago to leave
my Honda uninsured and parked
underground. (Driving rain and
cold bus-stops tend to make one
rethink such fundamental life
choices.) .

In truth, Iam not so lily-livered
as I sound. There are a few other
factors at work that are making
my ‘‘car-free’’ lifestyle less con-
venient of fate, and they prompted
me to list the ‘‘pros’’ and ‘‘cons”’
of being without instant transport.

PROS

@ Given the nature of this col-
umn, I had better acknowledge
the environmental benefits first.
Depending on which statistics you
believe, I have already kept any-
where from 700 kg to well over
one tonne of carbon dioxide out
of the atmosphere. .

Carbon’ dioxide emissions are
the primary cause of the enhanced
global warming that our planet is
beginning to experience.

Every decade, we have been in-
creasing our carbon dioxide out-
put by 5%, thereby increasing in
our atmosphere the amount of gas
that is able to trap heat energy as
it radiates from the Earth.

Other harmful emissions from a
car’s tailpipe include nitrogen ox-
ides and volatile organic com-
pounds, which react together
(especially in the presence of
sunlight) to form ground-level
ozone, a serious pollutant that is
reportedly responsible for $10 mil-
fion in Fraser Valley crop damage
annually.

As car ownership in British
Columbia has doubled over the
past 10 years, and as the number
of cars in the Greater Vancouver
Regional District (GVRD) area is
growing twice as fast as the
number of people, it’s important
that everyone begin to take more
responsibility for their transporta-
tion habits.

Motor vehicles are, after all, by
far the largest cause of air pollu-
tion in the province.

@ To date, I’ve probably saved
around $2,000 by leaving my car
parked. What with parking, in-
surance, maintenance and gas it
has been estimated that people
who commute into Vancouver can
pay 2 good five grand a year for
the luxury of sitting in rush-hour
traffic,

® I've saved additional money by
cutting down on my impulse
shopping trips. Wanderlust can be
expensive when it ends up taking
you to money-draining destina-
tions.

@ The vast majority of my day-
to-day work commitments and er-
rands are only a short bus ride
away. Once I made the point of
buying some bus tickets ‘to allevi-
ate the last-minute desperate coin
search, the use of public transit
became generally very easy.

@ My income tax records are
much easier to keep. I don’t have
to keep track of mileage and gas
costs, or try to break down what
percentage of my transport costs
are legitimately business and what
are personal. Now if I’m on a
business errand, I just keep my
bus transfer for my file. No
sweat.

@ | truly enjoy not scrounging
for parking spots or driving ia
torrential downpours, [It’s nice to

Peggy
Trendell-Whittaker

ECO INFO

sit back and let someone else do
the work.

@ The walk to and from shop-
ping, and even to the bus stop,
has to be going at least a little
way to increasing my fitness level.
T hope.

CONS

@ It’s not as easy to see people
when you don’t have the use of a
ear throughout the day. Some-
times this is good — it keeps me
at home and, hopefully, in front
of my computer where I belong.

Other times I miss the easy ac-
cess to contact with friends or
work acquaintances.

@ I don't know how exasperated
my friends — especially Deb, my
cafe latte pal — are becoming
with me. They are all very polite,
but one does. worry about being a
continual nuisance when you need
a lift somewhere.

@ A major ‘‘con’’ is looming —
while I have been taking some
correspondence courses at home,
I'm going to be taking some fur-
ther courses on campus at SFU
beginning in January.

I remember very well what a
miserable bus commute that is
from Lynn Valley. I did it for two
years as I finished my degree from
"85 to '87, and recently repeated
the experience when 1 had to go
up to the campus on various er-
rands. :

Nothing has changed. You still
have to take three buses. They still
don’t meet up very well on the
return trip. F still hate ‘Kootenay
Loop. It stil! bugs me that the trip
often takes a good hour when the
drive is a quick 20 minutes.

Fortunately, Simon Fraser is a ~

success story when it comes to
carpooling. Using the ride-sharing
software developed by Deep
Cove’s Dave Harms and offered
by the university’s traffic and se-
curity division, students, faculty

WOMEN’S WEEKENDS

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bodywork, sauna, yoga,
creativity workshops 8°
RELAXATION ,
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Nov. 20-22, Women's Weekend
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: Delicious vegetarian food

The Salt Spring Centre
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(604) 537-2326

Phone for a free brochure.

and staff have formed over 350
carpools, .
Along with the standard carpoo}
benefits, these groups enjoy pref-
erential parking on a campus that
usually has close to 2,000 names
on the waiting list for a parking
permit.
@ This is a ‘“‘pro’’ as well as a
“‘con.’’ Because many of my trips
are for short errands, I often
spend nearly an hour in transit for
a half-hour errand on Lonsdale.
However, the ‘pro’? is that 1
can often return home on the
same time-limited bus transfer, so
I only have to pay for a one-way
trip. .

@ee

So far, the pros still outweigh
the cons by a long shot. And even
if busing becomes tess convenient
on a personal tevel, that doesn’t
justify ceasing to think on a
globailevel: = *

it’s hard to go car-less cold
turkey, so for major trips I some-
times borrow a car.

But when I look at all the day-
to-day driving I’m no longer do-
ing, sitting at the wheel of.a car
now doesn’t give me the pangs of
guilt that it used to.

‘LOHNBON DRUGS.
PARK ROYAL
APPOINTMENT

SENIOR ASSISTANT BAKAGER
LONDON DRUGS PARK ROTAL

London Drugs is very pleased to
announce the appointment of
Marie Kuttnick to the position of
Senior Assistant Manager — Sez-
vice/Systems of their largest store
ever: the new London Drugs Park
Royal (Grand Opening: Tuesday,
Nov. 17).

Marie is now in her eleventh year
with this aggressive and innovative
drugstore chain, with most of that
time spent in supervisory roles.

She is an avid reader and loves
swimming, traveling and the out-
doors. No doubt the Ambleside
Seawall will become a favourite
route for this active walker.

London Drugs, widely recognized
as an industry leader, is a 100%
Western Canadian owned and
operated chain. ,