This junk car was turned into a mini playground in Ireland.

A group in Alberta is preparing to climb Mount Kilimanjaro for charity!

The first successful climb of Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro in 1889 took six weeks.

Italian Bruno Brunod literally ran to the top in five hours, 38 minutes and 20 seconds in 2001. Native guide Simon Mtuy made it up and back in eight hours and 27 minutes in 2004.

Gretta and Garnet Cummings aren’t out to set any records. They just want to reach the top, a trek of 25 to 30 kilometres one way. If all goes according to plan — Garnet’s artificial left hip and right knee hold out, and altitude sickness doesn’t stop them — the Edmonton couple will be standing on the snow-capped summit of the world’s tallest free-standing volcano and the highest point of Africa 5,895 metres (19,344 feet) above sea level on Aug. 17, seven days after starting the climb, slightly longer than the five or six days it takes the average climber.

Read the full article here.

Love this simple illustration on why it is better for you to go green.

We had a chance to snap a few pictures at the Urban Hero Awards last night in Scarborough.  The Urban Hero Awards is an annual awards program that recognizes those community members and grassroots level ‘heroes’ whose personal efforts, sacrifices or contributions have made a significant impact to a cause, a person or a group in our local community.

Above is our representative (and presenter) David Gold from Standard Auto Wreckers (www.StandardAutoWreckers.com).

You just might see some of these donated to charity soon rather than later, as the Indian automaker Tata is to test the European markets for the potential of launching one of its tiny vehicles.

The firm, which famously produces the Tata Nano, the world’s cheapest car, is reportedly set to unveil a three-door, four-seat vehicle at this week’s Geneva Motor Show, to see how European audiences react to a small Indian-built city car.

Tata has repeatedly said that it is considering bringing the Nano to western markets but has been faced with a slew of problems with the vehicle, along with the task of completing the considerable modifications necessary to bring the safety standards up to European or North American standards while maintaining the low cost.

Last year, it was forced to defend the Nano’s safety after a series of fires affecting the vehicles, offering free upgrades to win back the affection of the Indian market.

Last week, the Nano finished bottom of a customer satisfactions survey from global market research firm TNS Global, with the company saying that “the owners of Tata Nano expect more in terms of design.”

My guess is that the Tata won’t make many in-roads into the UK market just yet.

At charitycar.ca we support charitable giving along with helping to make the earth a greener place.  We would like to send kudos out to OARA for putting together such a great  video on the contribution auto recyclers make to a helping consumers save money while at the same time promoting a green environment.

We have all heard that going green will help save the planet but how about saving a couple of local teenagers?

A pile of recycling likely saved the lives of two Vancouver teenagers who plummeted down a seven-storey building shaft on Canada Day. A boy and girl, both 18, along with two friends were hanging out on the roof of a heritage apartment building at 1601 Comox Street in Vancouver’s West End on Thursday night.

The teens were leaning against a wooden structure on the rooftop of Grace Court apartment building when it gave way, sending them down an abandoned shaft, according to a statement released by the Vancouver Police Department..

A heap of recycling broke their fall and saved them from “life-threatening injury,” the statement said. The teens, who don’t live in the building, sustained several injuries, including a broken leg for the male.

Jake, a building resident who did not want to give his last name, said he heard a huge crash just after 8 p.m. “It sounded like someone dropped an armoire down the stairs,” he said.

He left his apartment and saw a teenager running up the fire escape. “He just kept saying, ‘I think my sister is dead. She fell through the roof ’.” He followed the teen up to the roof, where he saw a large hole where the building’s light shaft lies. He looked down the hole and saw a girl crumpled and crying at the bottom of the shaft and a boy who was motionless. “My heart sank,” he said.

The shaft ends in what looks like a closet near the laundry room – a space that happens to house the building’s recycling. The building’s property manager is a dedicated recycler and residents collect their cans and bottles and return them for cash, which is donated to charity, he said.

Police consider the incident an assistance call and are not criminally investigating, police spokeswoman Constable Jana McGuinness said in an interview on Friday.  These are two lucky kids, hope they support green initiatives their whole lives.