Archive for Ecology & sustainability

Portlands soil and the Don Mouth

On Thursday, March 11, WATERFRONToronto held an open house to discuss their proposed new soil recycling facility on the Portlands. I’m cautiously supportive of this one, with some reservations.

The good news is that all the soil in question is already on the Portlands. The other good news is that it’s being cleaned up from its current toxic state in order to enable more human uses of the Portlands area. This includes making way for the Don Mouth revitalization project that’s really kind of inspired. Read more »

— Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu on 2010 Mar 25
in Ecology & sustainability, News, Participatory democracy — Add a comment »

Streetcar troubles

Public Consultations into the New Streetcar Yards at Leslie/Lakeshore
Thursday, 2010 April 8, 6:30-9pm
Fire Academy, 895 Eastern Ave

On Tuesday, March 9, I was invited to help out and listen in to a meeting where Leslieville residents got together to begin forming an association. The issue that galvanized the community into action was the proposed new streetcar yards at Leslie and Lakeshore on the Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant site. It was a packed hall and strong opinions were voiced from many angles.

The plan is to have almost 100 streetcars leave the new site every morning between 5 and 7 am and slowly spread throughout the city, way up to St. Clair, downtown to King Street, and all along Queen, College/Carlton/Gerrard, Dundas, Spadina and so on. The Connaught and Roncesvalles yards will also be maintained, though the Connaught yards will have to be changed to accommodate the new design. The streetcars will be four times the length of the current non-articulated models, or double the length of the articulated designs on the street today. Read more »

— Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu on 2010 Mar 24
in Ecology & sustainability, Green paperclip, News, Participatory democracy, Portlands development — Add a comment »

2010 Mar 27: Earth Hour 2010

— Charlie Halpern-Hamu on 2010 Mar 19
in Ecology & sustainability, Fun, Videos — Add a comment »

2010 Mar 22: Why the economy is shrinking and what to do about it

Richard Heinberg will be speaking on Monday, hosted by Post Carbon Toronto.

Richard Heinberg: Life after Growth
Monday, 2010 March 22, 6 pm
Trinity St Paul’s United Church
427 Bloor St West, west of Spadina
RSVP at Meetup.com Read more »

— Charlie Halpern-Hamu on 2010 Mar 12
in Ecology & sustainability, Green paperclip — Add a comment »

Arithmetic, population, and energy

Made from a film by Albert Bartlett, this video is 10 years old. The story begins in Boulder, Colorado, is a little tedious at the outset, and takes 80 minutes broken into 8 ten-minute segments. The content will be valuable for another 50 years.

It’s a clear explanation of exponential growth and its consequences. I recommend it.