First thing this morning my full attention was on Hungary and the toxic sludge disaster that happened yesterday. My relatives live in Budapest. My Aunt said that the Magyar Aluminum factory’s residue reservoir burst 160 km Southwest of Budapest and millions of cubic feet of toxic sludge spilled into the streets of the town of Devescer, and two neighboring towns. The sludge contains lye, which eats through everything. Six people are missing and another eight are in critical condition suffering from chemical burns, with more to be expected. According to the Daily Telegraph this morning in some places the torrent, which swept cars off roads and damaged bridges, was eight feet deep. With contamination this extensive, everything will need to be scraped up and shipped away once neutralized.

The biggest danger is the sludge seeping into the water supply. My Aunt said that one river is already pink and if it gets into Raba, Tisza and at the end Duna (Danube) then it would be disastrous, effecting many countries. Business week says that following the Marcal, the contamination would reach the Danube at Gyor (my sister taught English there for two years…it’s a beautiful little town), about halfway between Vienna and Budapest. The river reaches Croatia about 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of the Hungarian capital, then travels through Serbia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Ukraine and Romania before reaching the Black Sea.

The country has declared a state of emergency and could take up to 12 months and tens of millions of dollars to clean up and is considered to be “an ecological disaster” that is “unprecedented” in the world. My heart is with Hungary today.

Business Week Article

– Kathy

While watching television last night I saw the movie trailer for The Social Network movie in theaters October 1st, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake, and directed by David Fincher. It’s a story of the conception of Facebook – two friends – one a computer genius and the other a business expert – who began the wildly popular website that now has millions of followers, including myself. I actually don’t know anyone who is not on Facebook these days, do you? I am really looking forward to seeing the movie. I can’t even comprehend how one could go from being a student to being a billionaire in less than one year, at the age of 22. I think that’s simply amazing. Here is the movie trailer and the official website for you to view:

The Social Network – Movie Trailer

http://thesocialnetwork-movie.com/

– Kathy

Well, it’s September and that means we are all back to work. Speaking of work, this past Labour Day weekend as I was driving up North through Tweed and I saw a couple more of Engine’s creations along side the highway. We work closely with The Eastern Ontario Trails in conjunction with the Municipality of Tweed. I saw these two billboards and had to pull over to take some photos to show you. The first billboard is a welcome sign for the town of Tweed itself, and the second billboard is for the newly completed Tweed Recreation Centre dedicated to Erin Palmateer. It was a pleasure working on both billboards, and as I said a few weeks ago, it is definitely rewarding to see our work out in the public eye. I look forward to seeing, and showing you more in the future. Happy Trails!

www.thetrail.ca
twp.tweed.on.ca

– Kathy

There is always a lot of discussion regarding where it is best to shop. We often see campaigns telling us to buy locally owned, but how much difference does it really make?

The majority of consumers look for the cheapest prices when shopping, or the store they perceive to have the lowest pricing. While it feels great to save a few dollars on a shopping trip, lets take a quick look at the actual cost of buying cheaply.

It only takes the most basic economics to figure out that larger chains and box stores can usually undercut the prices of an local or independent store. Here is where it gets tricky, larger stores do incredible amounts of market research to figure out what products people price compare most often, then they make sure those items are priced low, and they make up for these loss leaders in other hidden expenses.

But lets look at the cost apart from the bottom line of your bank statement. What most people don’t think about is the costs to their local community, the environment and their country’s economy. I find it ironic that the same people who talk the most about recession and economic downturns typically tend to be those the most guilty of causing the problem.

Every dollar you spend locally, in a locally owned businesses more than triples in its monetary benefit to your local economy. Local business owners are making long term investments in their/your community, the least we can do is support them and in turn support our own community. The more your purchase locally, the more it also reduces our impact on the environment. Every product or service we import, burns fossil fuels and costs money to transport. Really no matter how you look at it, buying locally is a win-win. The cost of not supporting local companies is simply too high; we voluntarily destroy the future of our own community and country.

I recently got married and I challenged myself to see how much I could support friend’s businesses and local businesses. Where are you shopping?

Check out some people who helped me out with the big day!

Amanda Benton
Thompson Tents
Glamour Junkie
Dresses & Dreams
Richard Davis
Jenna Simpson
Polish Day Spa
Rob Rapino
Studio DK
Avondale Florists

– Sandra