Green Neighbours 21: Green Action Groups & Events in the Summer

Green Neighbours 21 is a grassroots, action-oriented group of people living in Ward 21 area of Toronto (and beyond) in Ontario, Canada, who are working together to respond to climate change and other environmental issues.

As an environmental group, Ward 21 (St. Paul’s) residents of Green Neighbours 21 have been actively installing solar energy projects on their own roofs for years.

Here are great Green Neighbours 21 green action groups & events in the summer:

1.  Green Neighbours 21 Green Action Groups

“There will be no regular Green Neighbours 21 meetings over the summer.

Our next meeting will be in September – details to come.

In the meantime we are hard at work preparing for the two major events in the fall. There’s lots to do. Your ideas and energy will help make the following events a success, so if you’re willing to help out, please get in touch with the team leader:

1. A Candidates’ meeting for the provincial election focusing on environmental issues – Team leader Jim Eager jeager@sympatico.ca.
2. A winter festival (an eco energy fair with lots of fun, participatory, family friendly and arts-related activities) – Team Leader Judy Vellend greenneighbours@yahoo.ca“

Also, Green Neighbours 21 has formed five green action groups.

You are invited to participate in any or all green action groups that interest you.

Please have a look at the five green action groups’ projects, and contact the group leader directly about getting involved. Your participation can help make the following green projects successful:

• Home Energy Efficiency Teams (HEET) and Green Apartment Living
  • Group Leader: Jim Eager (jeager@sympatico.ca)
  • The following two projects are temporarily combined due to participant numbers and overlap of interests:

1. Home Energy Efficiency Teams (HEET) is a grass roots neighbour-helping-neighbour, or “barn raising,” project meant to assist home owners and renters alike in making their living spaces warmer–and cooler–by sealing up the draughts using simple techniques such as caulking and weather stripping of doors and windows, installing sealing pads in electrical outlets, covering leaky windows with heat shrink plastic, switching from hot incandescent light bulbs to cooler CFCs, and the like. If you have the applicable skills and experience that you’d like to share, or want to learn those skills and tighten up your home, this is the project for you.
2. Green Apartment Living – Attention renters, co-op and condo dwellers: we need your ideas and energy! This group aims to organize and empower multi-unit building residents to green both their personal living spaces and their buildings in general. It also aims to develop ways to engage fellow residents and persuade building management/owners to green their buildings by showing them how they can reduce operating and energy costs.

• Winter Festival (Eco-energy & Arts Fair)
  • Group Leader: Judy Vellend (greenneighbours@yahoo.ca)
  • This group will plan a festival for the fall that will include:
  1. an eco-energy fair
  2. with vendors of energy- saving products and services
  3. fun,
  4. participatory,
  5. arts-related, and
  6. family-friendly displays and activities.
• Candidates’ Meeting Fall Provincial Election
  • Group Leader: Jim Eager (jeager@sympatico.ca)
  • This event will provide an opportunity to ask the candidates in Saint Paul’s riding to focus on the critical issues of maintaining the provincial green energy plan, transit funding and expansion, and other environmental issues.
  • The election will be on October 6, so we will need to start work on this *before* the summer holidays are over.
  • We will need people to serve on a planning committee as well as help out on the day.
• Eco-Tour of Caledon Area
  • Group Leader: Ron Graner (rgraner@trebnet.com)
  • This group is planning a tour of eco-sites (green energy co-op, solar farms, wind turbines) and historic mills in the Caledon area, and
  • aims to liaise with eco-groups in the area.
• Collaborative Vegetable Gardening
  • Group Leader: Nelson Wong (nelson@nwai.ca)
  • This group aims to share resources, ideas, labour and materials for urban gardening in different settings, ranging from apartment balconies to back yards of homes.

2.  Ontario’s Mega Quarry

At our June 13^th meeting we learned about efforts underway to stop a mega quarry in Dufferin County that would be located on prime agricultural land at the headwaters of five rivers.”

Here’s some additional information:

“Paint In”: Come Paint The Beauty Of The Hills At Risk

Sunday, July 3, 11:00-5:00 pm

Cosack Family’s Peace Valley Ranch (Rawhide Adventures)

638135 Prince of Wales Rd. (south off Dufferin County Rd. 21), beside the Bruce Trail

In Support of Art Tourism, NDACT & CAUSE

Escorted Tours to the Proposed Quarry site, Food and More …

Non-Painters and Volunteers are Welcome

To register and get info, please contact Martha Bull marthaartist@gmail.com 416-546-2555

Articles

http://www.homemakers.com/blog/ecologic/2011/05/09/community-fights-mega-quarry/

http://www.foodinthehills.ca/2011/05/departments/you-can%E2%80%99t-eat-aggregates/

http://rabble.ca/news/2011/06/monster-mine-plan-cuts-deep-ontario-farmland

Website

www.ndact.com

3.  Interesting Articles

Here is a couple of articles of interest:

Extreme Weather Moves onto the Agenda (Toronto Star, June 19)

http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/1010988–extreme-weather-moves-on-to-agenda

The Earth is Full, Thomas L. Friedman (NYT June 7)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/opinion/08friedman.html?scp=1&sq=the%20earth%20is%20full&st=cse

Green Neighbours 21
http://www.gn21.ca/

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You may also like:

Please Request an Environmental Assessment on Ontario’s Mega Quarry Before July 11, 2011

You're Invited to Green Neighbours 21's Springing into Action

Come and get to know your great, caring Green Neighbours 21 and what they are up to in regards to your green community!

Green Neighbours 21 is a grassroots, action-oriented group of people living in Ward 21 area of Toronto (and beyond) in Ontario, Canada, who are working together to respond to climate change and other environmental issues.

As an environmental group, Ward 21 (St. Paul’s) residents of Green Neighbours 21 have been actively installing solar energy projects on their own roofs for years.

Green Neighbours 21 invites you to:

SPRINGING INTO ACTION

Monday, May 9, 7:00-9:00 pm

St Michael and All Angels Church
(southeast corner of St. Clair Avenue West and Wychwood Avenue, enter off Wychwood Avenue, through wooden gate, top floor)

If you are concerned about the environment and want to get involved in a neighbourhood project, this is the meeting for you.

Our recent Open Space event saw enthusiastic discussion about a variety of possible projects.

Come and hear about our ideas and join a working group.

Green Neighbours 21
http://www.gn21.ca/

Toronto Mediatheque

At the NFB (National Film Board of Canada) Mediatheque in Toronto, Ontario, Canada,  the following free Green Screens  event will occur:

FREE

GREEN SCREENS presents WORST CASE SCENARIO

September 1 at 7 pm

Location:
NFB  Mediatheque
150 John Street
Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3C3
416-973-3012

Also, you can watch 5,500 NFB films, all for free, all the time on the Internet

Green Screens is a monthly program at the NFB Mediatheque which highlights a different environmental issue each month, in partnership with the  Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy (CIELAP). The NFB Mediatheque selects the NFB (National Film Board of Canada) films to screen, and the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy  provides the panellists and experts.

If you are interested in the environment, Green Screens will entertain and inform you!

Free Green Screens Animation Workshop for Adults

REMIXING OUR WORLD
A special Green Screens animation workshop for adults

August 4 at 7 PM
NFB MEDIATHEQUE
FREE!

In Toronto, Ontario, Canada, you can create your own short animated film about the environment and bring your vision to life! Participants will arrange cut-out images from magazines to critically address environmental issues and superimpose them on an untouched landscape – remixing the portrayal of our environment and challenging how we think about it. A fun hands-on experience with stop-motion animation, whether it’s your first or fiftieth time!

Green Screens partners films from the NFB (National Film Board of Canada) with experts and panellists selected by the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy (CIELAP). If you are interested in the environment, Green Screens will entertain and inform you.

FREE – REGISTRATION REQUIRED. For participants 18 years of age and older.

Call 416-973-3012 to register.
NFB MEDIATHEQUE | 150 John St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada | 416-973-3012 | NFB.ca/mediatheque