The Social Responsibility of Business

** Written for Dr. Robert Mittelman, STNL 331: Strategy for Business and Sustainability, Royal Roads University, October 23, 2020. In his classic 1970 opinion piece, “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits”, Milton Friedman complains about...
Canada Day in the Strange Times

Canada Day in the Strange Times

Canada Day was sort of cancelled this year.   It’s usually my favourite holiday. Downtown Victoria is shut down to car traffic as thousands of tourists flood the Inner Harbour for a concert on the Legislature lawn. Usually it’s local bands, one year it was Sarah...
Build an open closet out of gas pipe

Build an open closet out of gas pipe

My partner and I both own a full apartment’s worth of stuff. When we first talked seriously about living together, we realized that combining into either of our tiny apartments was a bad idea. Besides, each of us had sworn wouldn’t move our of current...

Faking It

When I was five I found out that I can’t hear. I didn’t notice anything wrong but my parents, teachers, they noticed. I was acting out. I got hearing aids and some assistance, but for the most part, I went through all of school without ever knowing what was going on....
Bottle Depot vs Recycle BC

Bottle Depot vs Recycle BC

This poster went around recently. It says that Bottle Depot, the biggest recycling company in Victoria, won’t accept Blue Box materials anymore. It was a real kick in the gut when I saw this, and for a lot of other people as well. We try our best to recycle...

Extended Producer Responsibility

As a human living in a progressive, west coast city where everyone brings their own bags and mugs and has gardens and chickens in the backyard and rides their bike, I feel like we are already doing as much as we can, and at the same time not remotely enough, to stop...