Archive for Ecology & sustainability

From the Ground Up: How Viable Urban Agriculture Can Empower Citizens and Feed Them Too (Will Allen and Erika Allen, Growing Power)
Tuesday, 2007 April 3, 7 pm
Innis Town Hall, University of Toronto
2 Sussex Ave (corner of Sussex and St. George), Free.

At this public talk Will Allen and Erika Allen from Growing Power (Milwaukee and Chicago IL), will share their experiences using urban agriculture as a tool to advance food security and to build stronger, more inclusive, sustainable communities.

The City-Builder-in Residence is a joint initiative of Ryerson University and the Metcalf Foundation. For more information about this event, please contact Pamela Robinson, School of Urban and Regional Planning, Ryerson University, p6robins@ryerson.ca, 416-979-5000 ex. 6762.

Presented by Engineers Without Borders, U of T Chapter

Wednesday, 2007 April 4
7 pm screening, 8:30 pm discussion
William Doo Auditorium, 45 Willcocks St. (New College, New Residence — Basement)
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Deborah Coyne has been nominated as the Liberal Party candidate in Toronto-Danforth for the next federal election.  Her nomination speech, in which she expressed her support for the Portlands Energy Centre, has me quite worried that a Dion-led Liberal government won’t be any better than a Martin-led Liberal government at addressing climate change.     Read more »

Here’s a bit of background on why I joined the Green Party.  I moved into Riverdale in 2002 in part because our family was expanding with our infant son, newly arrived from Korea.  Just after we moved in, little Loren developed a rasp in his voice that concerned me.  He sounded a bit like my asthmatic eldest son had sounded when we adopted him in Brazil many years ago and before we were able to treat him.  In Loren’s case, the rasp was minor and disappeared over time, but I was not surprised to hear that the air in Riverdale is bad.  Toronto’s air is the worst in the country, with the most annual smog days by far, but Riverdale’s air is bad even by Toronto’s standards.

Which is really unfair.     Read more »

Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy (CIELAP) has just released a new report: Ontario’s Waste Management Challenge “Is Incineration an Option?”

This paper suggests that any discussion of incineration should only take place for waste that is truly residual, within a waste hierarchy framework that primarily seeks to prevent and reduce the generation of waste, and then seeks to achieve the highest possible rate of diversion.  The paper concludes with 11 recommendations for Ontario.  It, as well as our recent news release, can be downloaded from the CIELAP website.