My name is Louis. I am 24 years old and I grew up in Thornhill, Ontario, a suburb north of Toronto. To sum me up in a nutshell: I love food, improv and working out. I went to university and I’ve done a bit of travelling. You know, the kind of stuff many regular North American suburban children do. But this summer I’ve done something that most people have never done: I toured Ontario promoting tire safety, maintenance, and recycling on behalf of the Ontario Tire Stewardship (OTS) as part of the 2012 Tire Life Check Tour (TLC). It was a great experience. Since you last heard from my fellow TLC team member Ansh, we’ve been busy. From Fergus to Kapuskasing this “Thornhillian” has seen and experienced Ontario in a truly unique way. Towards the end of July, Joe (my TLC partner in crime) and I travelled to Kapuskasing for the Lumberjack Heritage Festival, or the Festival des bûcherons as the locals say! Little did I know that much of Ontario’s population north of North Bay is actually francophone. For the first time, I wished that I had paid more attention back in grade 8 French class. Fortunately for me, the majority of people in Kapuskasing are bilingual.
 Louis in the TLC booth at Kempenfest |
We have been very impressed with people’s general knowledge of tire maintenance. Of all the places we travelled to, people in Kapuskasing were the most knowledgeable about tires. What we were able to share with folks from Kapuskasing was our Tire Derived Products (TDP’s). At first, many people did not believe us when we told them all the products we had on display were made from used tires. A local Kapuskasing woman was most impressed by the diversity of the products – she had seen rubber flooring before, “but rubber mulch, rubber bricks? Now that’s some outside the box thinking right there!” After seeing my first live bear in the wilderness on the way out of Kapuskasing (I’m such a city boy, I know!) Joe and I headed to Barrie for Kempenfest. I have one word to describe Kempenfest – busy! Over three days we talked to thousands of people about the importance of recycling their used tires. We performed tire pressure checks in the parking lot where we met Ross and Nancy, a couple with twin boys and a daughter. The twins were curious about what I was doing to their family vehicle—perhaps even suspicious—but their dad encouraged them to pay close attention to what I was doing. It felt great to know that what I taught them that day could have an impact on these boys when they grow up and have vehicles of their own. Our next stop was the land of kilts and bagpipes – the Fergus Scottish Festival! Between the hundreds of pipers, strongmen (and woman—wow!), haggis pies, Scottish highland dancers and family clan booths, it was like this small Ontario town had been transformed into medieval Scotland. As an avid fan of strongman events myself, I was bursting with excitement! Needless to say in Fergus we would meet a lot of colorful characters, including Malcolm who immigrated to Canada nearly seven years ago from Scotland. He was really interested in the tire recycling process as well as our TDPs on display. Malcolm brought two of his friends to our booth on the second day and said to them, “See, I wasn’t lying! They’ve got shingles and bricks made from old tires.” To have someone come back to our booth to show their friends our TDPs gave me a great feeling; it meant we had made an impact on them, and hopefully encouraged them to purchase more eco-friendly products. I still wake up to the ringing of bagpipes in my ears, but if people in Fergus are recycling their tires and are more environmentally friendly because we stopped by, then I consider the permanent damage to my ear drums a small price to pay! I can wholeheartedly say this experience has changed me. When you’re on the road every week teaching people about how they can better their communities, their province, and ultimately their planet, you realize you have a responsibility to actually make changes in your own life. Travelling across the province this summer has shown me just how amazing Ontario truly is: seeing the lakes, wildlife, and natural beauty that exists here makes me realize how important it is that we keep it that way. For me, promoting “reduce, re-use, recycle” of tires has been the start of my environmentally conscious awakening. Our last stop on the road is Burlington for Canada’s Largest Ribfest! I’m so excited I can’t sleep! (Seriously, I’ve been pumped up about this event since June, ask anyone). If you haven’t seen much of Ontario, maybe you should, because then you will realize that doing small things like recycling your tires can play a big part in helping to keep it beautiful. Louis – Member of the TLC team
