FROM DECEMBER 2020 ISSUE OF WEST END PHOENIX

The pandemic has shown us how a lack of control over our supply chain could have big (and small) or serious (or merely irritating) consequences. So let’s say we build a factory of our own here in the West End, to crank out the one thing we need most, no matter what’s happening globally. What exactly should it be that comes rattling down its line?

Mushrooms

“About 10 years ago, suburban chain restaurants across the country discovered that you could slide a grilled portobello onto a bun, put a little leaf icon on three or four menu items and become a place with ‘vegetarian options.’ Now we’re realizing that mushrooms can do a lot more. These creepy growths [develop] fast, produce no carbon emission, and they can be used to make everything from lightweight bricks and packaging to medication, and even a cute little outfit that decomposes your body when you’re buried in it. There’s also a growing body of research supporting the use of mushrooms in the remediation of contaminated environmental sites.”

— ALIYA PABANI, HOST OF WE ARE NOT THE VIRUS PODCAST

Benevolent leaders

“If Toronto could have a factory that produced one thing, it would be an assembly line that prototyped educated individuals with a strong grounding in history, a compassionate view of humanity and a mission to infiltrate society as leaders who would create and popularize progressive, productive and cohesive solutions. I would call this factory ‘school.’”

— SIRI AGRELL, AUTHOR OF THE LOSS LEADER NEWSLETTER

Fuel made from poop

“Harvesting fuel, fertilizer and food from our collective discharge may seem sci-fi, but it has been happening around the world for at least 100 years. From Bangladesh fish farms – where sewage-fed fish have become a potential solution to sustainable food production – to Nova Scotia’s waste treatment plants to Harvard’s Solar Aquatics System (SAS) technology for purification, communities are benefitting from seeing their ‘waste’ becoming a resource rather than a toxic burden.

Such an innovative facility in Toronto could provide fuel, fish and fertilizer – and make Lake Ontario cleaner. Rather than dumping partially treated sludge into the lake, these facilities could alchemize poop into gold.

We could enlist a series of bacteria, algae, zooplankton, phytoplankton, snails, plants, and fish that feed on the former filth, [leaving us with] drinkable water, and methane for fuel – all by mimicking nature in a controlled environment.

A huge urban flagship facility of this type in Toronto would benefit, educate and inspire all – showing that by studying nature and being innovative, we can upcycle ourselves out of any muck we may think we are mired in.”

— DON KERR, DRUMMER, PRODUCER, BANDLEADER OF COMMUNISM MUSIC

Magical talismans

“Ones that would force billionaires to pay 75 per cent of their wealth in taxes as they once did, thereby providing the rest of us with free tuition, free childcare, free pharmacare, free dental care, housing and social assistance rates you can live on.”

— CHERI DINOVO, UNITED CHURCH MINISTER

Hemp derivatives

“Toronto should be establishing its own industrial hemp-derivatives processing plant. There are countless ways to employ the stubborn and bountiful hemp plant and its steely, indomitable fibre. As the son and grandson of a seamstress and tailors, I’d like to see Toronto become known as a hub for manufacturing and exporting durable, more sustainable fabrics and garment materials [like hemp]. I mean, aren’t we all sick of our trousers being worn out after only one season of cycling?”

— JIM TERRY BRAVO, FINE ARTIST AND MURAL PAINTER

Swimming gear and ’70s snowsuits

“How about a factory that produces Toronto-designed swimming gear, water flasks and fishing gear? By 2040, every Torontonian will be able to enjoy their rights to swim in, drink from and fish in Toronto’s rivers and Lake Ontario without any concern about pollution. I’d also endorse a factory that makes 1970s-style snowsuits for everyone so we could just zip them up over our clothes and be warm whenever we hang outdoors. A true Toronto fashion breakthrough that finally resolves the stupidity of walking around in business wear in a northern climate.”

— MARK MATTSON, PRESIDENT & CEO WATERKEEPER SWIM DRINK FISH

Doughnut support products

“A bag that prevents your Boston Cream doughnut from sticking to it and losing all the icing, cause that shit is annoying.”

— DIJAHSB, RAPPER

Free tiny homes

“Free housing for people facing homelessness due to poverty, addiction and mental health issues. The city is having a huge surge in homelessness due to the pandemic. I live by Trinity Bellwoods and seeing the number of encampments that have gone up in the last six months, and the lack of humanity given to these folks during this period, is something our city needs to list as a priority. Not just in a utopia, but now.”

— LUCAS SILVEIRA, MUSICIAN

Holographs!

“My factory would build a virtual platform that would allow the convening of groups in holographic 3D virtual reality. The product would be available to everyone with the goal of replicating in-person discussions across a diverse range of groups. Artificial Intelligence would remove cultural and ethnic biases in translation of body language and voice. Participants would receive a ‘fact patch’ to be more informed. Participants will also be given equal time and space to have a voice, facilitating more inclusive dialogue. The pandemic has enabled groups to be swiftly brought together, but not everyone has been able to equally participate in the Zoom world. This product would require public-private partnerships to deliver access to 5G+ networks, regardless of your income or education level. Civic engagement in 2040 will combine this with other traditional means to allow disparate and conflicting groups improved ways of finding common ground.”

— LESLIE WOO, CEO, CIVIC ACTION

Magic 8 Balls

“Ones that don’t have the answers to your questions, but tell you who does. How many ounces are in a cup? Signs point to your neighbour two doors down. Is it really necessary to still be physically distancing? Without a doubt, ask an epidemiologist. What would we even do without the police? As I see it, the abolitionists got you covered. Making Toronto a utopian city means recognizing that our collective wisdom is enough.”

— NAHOMI AMBERBER, PUBLIC SPACE FELLOW, THE BENTWAY

Nothing

“We won’t be able to live in the year 2040 if we don’t stop littering as much as we do in 2020. We don’t need any other factories to mess the world more than we have; we need logic and a right mindset instead.”

— YASI KAMALI, FOUNDER OF THE HOUSE KAMAL FASHION BRAND

Vaccines

“Maybe a little too on-the-nose for 2020? But Toronto once had a non-profit vaccine developer and manufacturer, Connaught, started in 1913 by a Toronto doctor. He was outraged that children were dying of diptheria not because of inadequate vaccine supply but because the shot was too expensive for many families. Connaught produced affordable alternatives until the 1980s, when it was privatized by Brian Mulroney and sold in 1984. A vaccine facility of the future could do exactly what the old one did: develop and sell vaccines to the provinces at cost and worldwide for profit, making it economically self-sufficient.”

— JANET MORASSUTTI, WEP MANAGING EDITOR

Optimism

“In Copenhagen, they have a mandate where if you have an idea and go down to city hall they have an obligation to listen and – this is the shocking part – say yes. It is not up to you to prove that it works or that you’ve filled out all the forms and tried it in other cities and have all the credentials; the obligation is on the government to try to make it work. So: In the spirit of Copenhagen, and Yoko Ono and the collective effervescence of Torontonians, I propose a factory for optimism that makes good ideas into yeses.”

— JASON LOGAN, FOUNDER OF THE TORONTO INK COMPANY