True Left

Mind-blowing side-by-side photos reveal the hidden cost of mowing your lawn
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The photo of the unmowed area showed the thermometer reading 25.5 degrees Celsius, or just under 78 degrees Fahrenheit. But the temperature of the mown part of the lawn was a whopping 34.3 Celsius (around 94 degrees Fahrenheit) — almost 10 degrees hotter in Celsius and almost 20 degrees higher in Fahrenheit.

As the planet gets hotter, more people use air conditioners to keep cool. Running these takes lots of energy, which means emissions that then further speed up global warming. Rethinking our architecture and using more efficient cooling technologies could help us break this vicious circle.

#PlanetA #AirConditioner #GlobalWarming

A couple in an affluent midtown Toronto neighbourhood is asking the city to remove the heritage designation from their century home because they say the original owner was racist.

The two-and-a-half storey 9,000-square foot house in the Yonge and St. Clair area, was built in 1906 for Stapleton Pitt Caldecott, a former Toronto Board of Trade president who was opposed to immigration, a University of Toronto historian says.
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The board turned down the couple's request
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A city staff report to the TPB concluded the home's designation had little to do with its association with Caldecott. Instead, the report says the home is worth preserving because it was designed by prominent Toronto architect Eden Smith and because of the unique structural qualities he brought to the building.

"Staff maintain that the property is valued as a fine representative example of an early 20th century house form building designed in the Period Revival style influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement,"

Akladios said that within weeks he told the couple that if they wanted to object to the house's heritage designation, they'd be better off focusing on the building's architectural merits than on Caldecott, because he felt they'd have a better chance challenging the designation on those grounds.

Another board member, Paul Cordingley, told last week's meeting the Mahesan-Earle application raises significant points about what a heritage designation means.

"I think we have to find a way of disengaging preservation from celebrating," he said. "Because I would not want anyone to think that if we're trying to maintain the designation of this house, that we are celebrating or downplaying what goes along with that."

As for whether the couple is looking to renovate or demolish the house, Earle told CBC Toronto they're not looking to have the designation removed "as a tactic."

"I have no plans of developing this house or changing this house," she told CBC Toronto.

Disappearing fast... but traditional Indian rural homes designed around a central courtyard (aangan) embodied a perfect harmony of functionality, sustainability and strong family bond..... Adding multiple floors for increased space & modern needs and improving aesthetics can still bring them back.