Lloyd Alter
@lloydalter.bsky.social
Author of"The Story of Upfront Carbon," reformed architect and developer, teacher of sustainable design at Toronto Metropolitan University. https://lloydalter.substack.com
It's Black Friday, but I am waiting for Small Business Saturday, and supporting those businesses that keep our main streets alive and vibrant, that create jobs for our kids in our communities, and this year, keep our loonies in Canada instead of shipping them south.
This Small Business Saturday, reoccupy Main Street and shop local
This year is different, particularly for Canadians who want to avoid American products and services.
lloydalter.substack.com
November 28, 2025 at 4:00 PM
It's Black Friday, but I am waiting for Small Business Saturday, and supporting those businesses that keep our main streets alive and vibrant, that create jobs for our kids in our communities, and this year, keep our loonies in Canada instead of shipping them south.
Doug Ford has blood on his hands after only 13 days
Pedestrian struck by motorist on Parkside a block from the speed camera that vigilantes kept tearing down that caused ford to remove them from all Ontario. Drive as you wish Ontario. Nobody matters. This is what you voted for.
November 28, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Doug Ford has blood on his hands after only 13 days
Reposted by Lloyd Alter
Say what you will about the Conservatives, but at least they would have stabbed you in the front.
November 27, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Say what you will about the Conservatives, but at least they would have stabbed you in the front.
Wave of backlash indeed!
November 27, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Wave of backlash indeed!
Mark Carney’s disgraceful sellout of every one of us who voted for a climate leader instead of an arsonist includes: “working with oil sands companies to strike a deal by April on implementing the Pathways project, which focuses on carbon capture and storage.” Pathways is a greenwashing scam
No, the Canadian oil sands are not making "clear strides to net-zero."
The companies are running all these big ads making promises, without explaining what they are. It is all a fantasy.
lloydalter.substack.com
November 27, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Mark Carney’s disgraceful sellout of every one of us who voted for a climate leader instead of an arsonist includes: “working with oil sands companies to strike a deal by April on implementing the Pathways project, which focuses on carbon capture and storage.” Pathways is a greenwashing scam
I lent him my vote for this? I have lender’s remorse and won’t be fooled again.
November 27, 2025 at 5:41 PM
I lent him my vote for this? I have lender’s remorse and won’t be fooled again.
Doug Ford finally destroys one of the world’s best recovery and refill systems. Beer store commits to having a location within 10 km of the population- that’s the distance from the CN Tower to Yorkdale. Everything this man touches turns to shit.
November 27, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Doug Ford finally destroys one of the world’s best recovery and refill systems. Beer store commits to having a location within 10 km of the population- that’s the distance from the CN Tower to Yorkdale. Everything this man touches turns to shit.
US politicians wonder why Canadians aren't visiting as much, given how welcoming they are! "Grand Canyon Nat'l Park the cost of driving in a private vehicle is $35. Non-U. S. visitors now would have to pay an extra $100 per person on top of that, making admission for a family of four $435”
November 26, 2025 at 1:28 PM
US politicians wonder why Canadians aren't visiting as much, given how welcoming they are! "Grand Canyon Nat'l Park the cost of driving in a private vehicle is $35. Non-U. S. visitors now would have to pay an extra $100 per person on top of that, making admission for a family of four $435”
This Black Friday, help ensure your nation’s economic dynamism and competitiveness and buy that new phone. Your country depends on you! open.substack.com/pub/lloydalt...
Buy a new phone and save the economy!
How about no, the world will survive if I don't have M5.
open.substack.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:34 PM
This Black Friday, help ensure your nation’s economic dynamism and competitiveness and buy that new phone. Your country depends on you! open.substack.com/pub/lloydalt...
Why am I not surprised. “Senate Republicans in January plan to criticize requirements for safety technology, arguing they are ineffective and will unnecessarily drive up the cost of cars, according to people familiar with the situation.” Pedestrian lives, on the other hand, are cheap
November 25, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Why am I not surprised. “Senate Republicans in January plan to criticize requirements for safety technology, arguing they are ineffective and will unnecessarily drive up the cost of cars, according to people familiar with the situation.” Pedestrian lives, on the other hand, are cheap
I would have saved myself a lot of grief had I just said this
November 25, 2025 at 12:49 PM
I would have saved myself a lot of grief had I just said this
It used to be that if you were trying to reduce carbon emissions, you insulated and sealed, what's called "fabric first." Now that we have heat pumps, many are questioning whether fabric-first was the right approach. It's complicated... lloydalter.substack.com/p/what-the-h...
What the hell happened to "Fabric First?"
A very good question. Has heatpumpification crushed insulation?
lloydalter.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 1:22 PM
It used to be that if you were trying to reduce carbon emissions, you insulated and sealed, what's called "fabric first." Now that we have heat pumps, many are questioning whether fabric-first was the right approach. It's complicated... lloydalter.substack.com/p/what-the-h...
Who is responsible here? The engineer who designed the road? The construction industry that uses these killer trucks? The government for refusing even to make sideguards mandatory, let alone regulate truck design as they do in Europe, where the rate of killing and injury has been cut in half?
A crossing guard dies in Hamilton, Ontario, due to regulatory failure and bad design
Meanwhile, in London, the government says, "safe vehicles save lives."
lloydalter.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Who is responsible here? The engineer who designed the road? The construction industry that uses these killer trucks? The government for refusing even to make sideguards mandatory, let alone regulate truck design as they do in Europe, where the rate of killing and injury has been cut in half?
It's World Toilet Day, a United Nations reminder that toilets should be accessible to all. In honour of the day, here's a roundup of some of my recent posts on toilets: lloydalter.substack.com/p/bonus-post...
Bonus Post: I almost missed World Toilet Day!
Here's a bonus roundup of some of my recent posts about toilets.
lloydalter.substack.com
November 19, 2025 at 8:38 PM
It's World Toilet Day, a United Nations reminder that toilets should be accessible to all. In honour of the day, here's a roundup of some of my recent posts on toilets: lloydalter.substack.com/p/bonus-post...
I have never liked kitchen designs with big kitchen islands that became continents and archipelagos, and I do like this retro trend to kitchen tables. lloydalter.substack.com/p/the-kitche...
The kitchen island gets tabled
The big old kitchen table makes a comeback.
lloydalter.substack.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:05 PM
I have never liked kitchen designs with big kitchen islands that became continents and archipelagos, and I do like this retro trend to kitchen tables. lloydalter.substack.com/p/the-kitche...
Strictly speaking, it's not a façade that's cracking up at 432 Park Ave. in NYC; it's a "load-bearing, concrete exoskeleton." This makes the problem much harder to fix. The engineers called it back in 2012, but hubris and vanity overruled them. lloydalter.substack.com/p/schadenfre...
SchadenfreudeTower in New York City is cracking up
The problems at 432 Park Avenue never end.
lloydalter.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Strictly speaking, it's not a façade that's cracking up at 432 Park Ave. in NYC; it's a "load-bearing, concrete exoskeleton." This makes the problem much harder to fix. The engineers called it back in 2012, but hubris and vanity overruled them. lloydalter.substack.com/p/schadenfre...
Funny because in Toronto, the trees get legal protection but you can knock down every 100 year old building. They both deserve to be saved.
November 14, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Funny because in Toronto, the trees get legal protection but you can knock down every 100 year old building. They both deserve to be saved.
Two pages apart in the @thestar.com : 9 year old killed by driver of SUV jumping curb, and Ontario bans speed cameras. Yes they are related, because Doug Ford inculcates a culture that the world is made for drivers, but kids and cyclists? Too bad.
November 14, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Two pages apart in the @thestar.com : 9 year old killed by driver of SUV jumping curb, and Ontario bans speed cameras. Yes they are related, because Doug Ford inculcates a culture that the world is made for drivers, but kids and cyclists? Too bad.
My first ghost bike installation was in 2006 for a rowing buddy hit by a dump truck. I have been to far too many of these, and construction vehicles were the cause of most of them. open.substack.com/pub/lloydalt...
November 14, 2025 at 1:15 PM
My first ghost bike installation was in 2006 for a rowing buddy hit by a dump truck. I have been to far too many of these, and construction vehicles were the cause of most of them. open.substack.com/pub/lloydalt...
More Death by Construction Industry driving ridiculous trucks in urban environments when there are safer alternatives.
Devastating news out of Hamilton. Crossing guards are on the front lines in the fight for safe streets. That job is truly terrifying. Distracted to contemptuous drivers, the full range of road violence on display all day, just so we can cross the street safely...
www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/arti...
www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/arti...
52-year-old crossing guard dead after being hit by dump truck in Hamilton
Hamilton police are investigating after a 52-year-old crossing guard was struck and killed by a truck at the intersection of Mohawk Road and Upper Wentworth Street.
www.ctvnews.ca
November 14, 2025 at 1:11 PM
More Death by Construction Industry driving ridiculous trucks in urban environments when there are safer alternatives.
Tomorrow is America Recycles Day, where cigarette and bottled water companies pat us on the head for picking up their debris. We should rename it “Deposits on Everything Day” and and demand returnable and refillable packaging. lloydalter.substack.com/p/its-americ...
It's America Recycles Day, sponsored by cigarette, plastic and bottled water companies
There is a new twist this year with a campaign to get us to switch to aluminum cans.
lloydalter.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Tomorrow is America Recycles Day, where cigarette and bottled water companies pat us on the head for picking up their debris. We should rename it “Deposits on Everything Day” and and demand returnable and refillable packaging. lloydalter.substack.com/p/its-americ...
I used to think that the city was my gym; I walked and ran and cycled. But sometimes you need a bit more. lloydalter.substack.com/p/its-my-bir...
It's my birthday, and I am off to the gym
The gym is actually the biggest present I gave myself this year.
lloydalter.substack.com
November 12, 2025 at 12:23 PM
I used to think that the city was my gym; I walked and ran and cycled. But sometimes you need a bit more. lloydalter.substack.com/p/its-my-bir...
Flying Officer Lloyd George Speyer; I am named after him. Also, his grave in a Commonwealth cemetery near Berlin. His memory is still a blessing.
November 11, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Flying Officer Lloyd George Speyer; I am named after him. Also, his grave in a Commonwealth cemetery near Berlin. His memory is still a blessing.
There are many reasons to have all-gender bathrooms, but the main ones are biological, and we never get the balance right. Also, as men age, they take longer, skewing the balance again. lloydalter.substack.com/p/should-all...
Should all public washrooms be all-gender?
This is a biological, not a political problem: women have different needs than men, and everyone's needs are changing as we age.
lloydalter.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:03 PM
There are many reasons to have all-gender bathrooms, but the main ones are biological, and we never get the balance right. Also, as men age, they take longer, skewing the balance again. lloydalter.substack.com/p/should-all...
Nobody in this country is serious about climate change. Billions to double Pearson capacity in 20 years? How about trains instead and limiting flying to over oceans
November 8, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Nobody in this country is serious about climate change. Billions to double Pearson capacity in 20 years? How about trains instead and limiting flying to over oceans