Friday Feel Good News

It's Friday, and in my books, that means it's time to feel good. Let's set aside the doom-and-gloom stories for a moment and focus on some good news!

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Good news from the province of Quebec today as a new law will go into effect at the end of the month which will tighten the restrictions on the pollution that 5,000 institutions, businesses, and industries are allowed to release into the air.

The overhaul of Quebec's 32-year-old air quality law is expected to reduce smog and acid rain when regulations are made stricter and brand new standards are created. That includes controlling the release of 80 new substances that are linked to serious health problems - this is accomplished by requiring the affected companies to measure their pollution levels and report these to the provincial government. These new standards apply to the aluminum, steel, cement, and pulp and paper industries. Meanwhile, stricter regulations around the release of volatile organic compounds are relevant to paint manufacturers, printers, dry cleaners, and refineries.

The Quebec government wanted to update this legislation years ago but put it off until businesses had a chance to recover from the recession, considering the overhauled law will require them to invest in new pollution-reducing equipment. Despite such expenses, most companies are expected to comply within a year, and those that haven't by July 2013 will be fined up to $50,000.

This is great news for, well, everything that breathes. Air pollution impacts cardiovascular health, which is why those with heart problems are advised to stay indoors on smog days. Public health researchers estimate that over 1,500 deaths in Quebec are caused by poor air quality every year. These are preventable deaths, and I'm relieved that steps are being taken to improve this horrible statistic. If only we could convince other governments to follow suit, especially in those provinces and states with a greater density of polluting industries!


Photo used under Creative Commons from Uwe Hermann (flickr).

Films That Move: Hungry For Change

Looking for something to do this Saturday? Look no further than Hungry for Change, a free community event on the way we grow, buy, and learn about the food we eat. In addition to watching a short movie and sampling delicious local food, you'll also get to meet Toronto's community kitchens, neighbourhood gardens, chefs, farmers, and teachers. At the event you can learn about free community programs, local businesses, and volunteer and funding opportunities.

Date/Time: Saturday, June 18th, 10 am - 2 pm

Location: George Brown Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts, 300 Adelaide Street East

Agenda:

10:00 - 10:30 am: Reception

10:30 - 11:30 am: Welcome and movie clips

11:30 am - 12:15 pm: Panel discussion featuring...

• Mark Cutrara, Chef/Owner of Cowbell Restaurant
• John Higgins, Director of George Brown Chef School
• Chris Wong, Co-Founder of Young Urban Farmers and Young Urban Farmers CSA
• Darcy Higgins, Director of Food Forward and Member of the Toronto Youth Food Policy Council
• Olivia Rojas, Community Development Worker with Regent Park Community Health Centre
• Lauren Baker, Coordinator of the Toronto Food Policy Council
• Meredith Hayes, Senior Manager of Schools with FoodShare

12:15 - 12:30 pm: Announcements and urban farm funding raffle draw (2 recipients will receive $2,500 each towards an urban farm project).

12:30 - 2:00 pm: Community Market - free food sampling, meet and greet, networking, and social.

Please note that at this family-friendly event, the organizers will be shooting footage to produce Toronto's first film on the local food sustainability community. Register to get your free tickets here.


Photo used under Creative Commons from spelio (flickr).

Fresh Food in the City

Good news for students, staff, and faculty of Ryerson University: a brand new MyMarket® farmers' market is coming to you starting tomorrow!

The new Ryerson market will run weekly on Tuesday evenings throughout the summer and early fall. Featuring locally grown produce as well as meats, cheeses, honey, maple syrup, baked goods, artisanal breads, and skin care products, the Yonge & Dundas community will finally have a place to shop that is much more local and sustainable than the Eaton Centre mall!

Time: Tuesdays between 3:30 and 7:30 pm from June 14th to October 25th

Location: Gould Street just east of Yonge Street

Special Events: official grand opening and strawberry fest on June 28th, corn boil on July 19th, peach delight on August 23rd, and applemania on September 13th.

Volunteers: the market needs volunteers. Please get in touch with Diana at diana.mymarket(at)gmail.com if you're interested.

Three of my friends live ten minutes away on foot, and I'm excited that they'll have fresh, local food options that should keep their trips to the supermarket to a minimum. Congrats to Ryerson and everyone in the neighbourhood!


Photo used under Creative Commons from Thomas Hawk (Thomas Hawk/flickr).

Friday Feel Good News

It's Friday, and in my books, that means it's time to feel good. Let's set aside the doom-and-gloom stories for a moment and focus on some good news!

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Exciting news today about a project that will not only generate clean electricity and fix broken school roofs, but potentially also teach tens of thousands of kids about the value of renewable energy: the Toronto District School Board has signed a deal with AMP Solar Group Inc. to build, install, and maintain solar panels on up to 450 school rooftops or 12 million square feet of roof space.

Incredibly, AMP will be responsible for all project costs, presumably because they will generate a lot of additional business through this deal - if my child attended one of these schools I'd turn to AMP for solar panels on my own roof! Not only will the TDSB avoid the huge expense associated with a project of this size, but they will also gain $120 million worth of roof repairs and generate $1.1 billion in clean, renewable energy over the next 20 years.

That translates into 58 - 66 megawatts of electricity per year, which could power 6,000 homes! This energy could be sold into the local grid, 14.5% of which would be used by the schools themselves. As electricity rates continue to rise, the TDSB will be able to use the money it saves to support programs that benefit the students directly, whether academic, athletic, or extra-curricular, and this is the message I hope they get across to the kids: green power makes environmental and economic sense! Building roofs are unproductive spaces with the potential to generate electricity (or grow food, but that's another post) that could help so many people without compromising anyone's health. When students see this first hand on their own school roofs and learn to value it, I have some hope for the next generation!

Would you like to see solar panels on school roofs in your area? Are there any downsides to this plan?


Photo of solar panels used under Creative Commons from Kevin T. Houle (kevinthoule/flickr).

Get Your Share of Locally and Sustainably Grown Veggies

Take some seeds, one part rain, two parts sun, and a generous amount of heat, and all that's missing is you: it's time to purchase your share in Young Urban Farmers Community Shared Agriculture program!

It only costs the equivalent of six lattes a week to get your hands on a bounty of the freshest, most locally grown veggies in Toronto. This is Young Urban Farmers CSA's second year growing food in backyards in the Wychwood, Lawrence Park, and Riverdale neighbourhoods, and it's going to be a great season. I've already told you how thrilling it was to receive and cook with veggies grown minutes from my home (especially considering I don't have a garden of my own), and I've alluded to my rewarding volunteer involvement with YUF CSA; now it's time to fit you into this picture. I am shamelessly advertising this great opportunity because I've benefited so much from it and really want to see the organization thrive.

What do you get? Only the tastiest GMO-free, organically grown heirloom varieties of leaf lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, kale, broccoli, radishes, beets, carrots, leeks, garlic, spring onions, shallots, tomatoes, bell peppers, hot peppers, eggplant, beans, peas, zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers, and herbs. Southern Ontario simply overflows with food in the summer months; why would you want to buy imported veggies trucked in from far away to the supermarket? Even a farmer's market can't beat this freshness - you take home your share mere hours after it was harvested, often in the very same garden it was grown in.

Support your health, the environment, and the local economy by investing in YUF CSA today. If you don't live in Toronto, please pass this on to those you know that do, and click here for a list of CSAs in Ontario.

Do you own a share in a CSA? If not, what's holding you back?

How Cool is the Centre for Green Cities?

In a previous post I shared with you some of the great features of the LEED Platinum certified Centre for Green Cities building at the Evergreen Brick Works. It turns out this place is even cooler than I thought - pun absolutely intended.

Just as the heat and humidity took over from the cold and rain last week, Evergreen kick started their state-of-the-art cooling system. Using six different but interrelated strategies, traditional air conditioning use will be minimized and energy will be saved.

Keeping the Heat Out
Not only are the building's external walls well insulated, but the windows themselves keep heat out with a special film that redirects heat away from our offices like a mirror. Additionally, all windows are equipped with blinds - sometimes the simplest strategies are the best!

Natural Cooling - Open Windows
In the spring and fall, and on cooler summer days, tenants can open their windows (the type you crank open with a hinge at the top so that a slot opens at the bottom). In the past we've had our office door slam shut because of the cross ventilation from our windows to those on the opposite side of the building. Clearly the windows have been strategically placed to encourage a breeze to run through the building. Ceiling fans enhance this air movement on non-windy days.

Thermal (Solar) Chimneys
Imagine a fire place with the fire at the top: making use of convection, three chimneys run from the second to fifth floors, heated at the top by the sun to draw the building's warm air up and out. Solar-powered fans are used on days when the conditions aren't right for the natural convection process to occur. Brilliant.

Night Cooling - Closed Windows
On cool evenings and nights, the windows are opened and fans are used to cool the concrete slabs that form the building's floors. The next day, with the windows closed again, hot outside temperatures take longer to heat up the building because it was pre-cooled overnight.

High-Efficiency Scroll Chillers
As a last resort, a very efficient staged mechanical air conditioning system can be used at partial or full capacity on the hottest days when the other methods just don't cut it.

Building Control System
An automated system has been programmed to respond to a variety of scenarios based on outdoor air temperatures. The simulation model used to design the system has predicted an energy savings of 30-40% over conventional buildings!

We must collectively begin to recognize that insisting on feeling cool on the hottest summer days is absolutely unsustainable. It is possible to be productive at work while saving energy. I used to hate having to change into pants, closed shoes, and a sweater at my desk at the hospital because the A/C was so cold! A moderate temperature is much more comfortable when you're dressed in shorts or a skirt and a loose-fitting top. Enjoying a Mega Mr. Freeze works, too.

What are ideal working conditions for you? Do you need cold, dry air to be productive at work?


Photo of air conditioners used under Creative Commons from Peter Morgan (pmorgan/flickr).
Photo of Mega Mr. Freeze used under Creative Commons from Christa (Christaface/flickr).

To zoo or not to zoo, that is the question.

I celebrated my birthday this past weekend. Seeing as I was turning 5, I decided to go to the zoo.

Seeing the big cats at the zoo is a guilty pleasure of mine. Why not just a pleasure, without the guilt? Because most of the cats at the zoo (tigers, lions, cheetahs, leopards, cougars, and jaguars) aren't native to southern Ontario, and part of me believes they don't belong here, not even in the trusted hands of expert zookeepers. There's the standard philosophical issue around whether it's fair to keep animals on display in enclosures, even if they were found injured and wouldn't have survived in the wild, or if they're part of breeding programs to bring back the species from near extinction - but I don't really want to get into that here. My concern stems from the resources required to keep animals in confinement, and whether our reasons for doing so are strong enough to justify the financial and environmental expense.

From feed to medication to staff, large (especially carnivorous) animals require lots of resources. For any of you who own medium to large sized dogs, this concept is likely familiar to you. How much chicken, pork, and beef does a typical zoo use on a daily basis to keep its animals well fed? How many vets and drugs does it take to keep them healthy? How are all of the droppings disposed of?

Most of the animals at the zoo can't handle this climate. Subsequently, they spend the late fall, all winter, and early spring indoors. My mind immediately races through the additional costs associated with that kind of a setup: building construction (materials, energy), heating (energy), lighting (energy), and cleaning (materials, probably toxic ones). I can't help but think about the world's impoverished living in slums, shantytowns, favelas, and tent cities - imagine what all of these resources could do for them!

There are other issues, such as the gas-powered zoomobile, which runs seven to ten hours a day, 364 days a year. Most visitors come by car because the public transit route is extremely long. The picnic tables are underused these days with so many families buying food on site in disposal containers. Don't get me started on the worthlessness of the gift shop!

Enough whining. What's the alternative? After all, zoos serve three important purposes: educating the public, conserving endangered species, and promoting better stewardship of our natural environment. My suggestion is to stick to those goals, but go local. In Montreal, there's a wonderful place called the Ecomuseum Zoo. The animals featured in this zoo are all indigenous to Quebec's St. Lawrence Valley, and the website says...

The animals that reside at the Ecomuseum zoo are all animals that could not survive in their natural environment. Most of our animals are here because they have injuries that would prevent them from surviving in the wild (i.e. They are unable to escape a predator or to eat on their own). All our animals come from accredited rehabilitation centers and zoological institutions. The Ecomuseum zoo is also a refuge for orphaned wildlife and other wild animals born in captivity. In these cases the animals have not acquired the knowledge or learned the behaviours necessary for their survival in the wild, so we offer them protection against predators, food, care and lots of love!

I'd like to see more of these types of zoos, even if it means no more tigers for me! I'm happy to settle for an Ontario bobcat or lynx, and of course the two little cats indigenous to my living room.