I’ve worked on the EcoAction Teams program for over three years, and I’ve learned that taking positive environmental action in my life is not only simple but contagious. I’m not an environmental scientist or engineer, just a concerned urban dweller who decided she needed to mesh all her passions with environmental work. I also love words and social commentary, so blogging is a good fit. Born and raised in friendly Manitoba, I live in Toronto with my trusty bicycle.
Blogger: Prabhjit Banga
Since being captivated by the cartoon movie FernGully at the age of five, Prabhjit (Prabh) Banga has been an avid supporter of green causes. Prabh has over four years of experience working in the environmental sector on diverse topics, including conservation, waste management and environmental education. She recently received a Master of Resource and Environmental Management at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Born and raised in Toronto with roots in India, Prabh loves to travel and discover new places!
About ecoblogist
Like the tagline says, this blog is all about news, views and tips on living green. Read ‘em, share ‘em – we’re all in it together. Once you start doing a few things differently, it’s pretty hard to turn off that chip in your brain that says, “Should I be buying this? Should I be doing that?” Maybe it begins with remembering to bring your own bag when you go shopping, then suddenly you’re thinking about dual flush toilets, power bars, and energy efficient coffee makers before bedtime.
Ask Us
We won’t pretend to know it all, but we do know where to find the answers. Send us your green living questions and we’ll be happy to address them in an upcoming post.
“Climate change, global responsibility, SUV driving moms and a biblical flooding of the Greater Toronto Area”
Last weekend, I took in Kayak a new play written by Jordan Hall and directed by Tommy Taylor. The 60-minute play had my attention from the get-go with a strong script, a powerful lead actress and great direction considering the limited set resources. Toronto’s Summerworks festival hosted this, the North American premiere.
Synopsis
Annie (Rosemary Dunsmore), a suburban mother, recounts the events that led to her being stranded in her son’s old kayak. Reflecting on the past four years, she describes her turbulent relationship with Julie, her son Peter’s radical environmentalist girlfriend. As Peter and Julie grow closer, Julie’s black-and-white interpretation of environmental ethics clash more and more strongly with Annie’s middle-of-the-road politics. Annie fears that her son will be caught up in Julie’s increasingly dangerous attempts to make a difference in the world. Annie too is caught up in a global crisis, stranded alone on a vast stretch of water and is forced to confront the implications of her personal and political choices.
Lead actress Rosemary Dunsmore was seated centre stage in her boat for the entire production but produced a truly riveting performance from this challenging position.
Catch Kayak in Winnipeg this September as part of Femfest 2010 (Sept 25- Oct 2), Winnipeg’s festival of plays written and directed by women. Jordan Hall, one of Canada’s most up and coming female playwrights, will be doing a reading at the Vancouver Public Library on September 20
With the beginning of Ramadan on Thursday, Muslims across the world are beginning to prepare for the month of fasting from sunrise to sunset. At its simplest Ramadan is a welcome reminder of the basic but invaluable blessing of food and water, but it is also a chance for Muslims to re-affirm their faith and reconnect with god and all his creations. And what better way to do this then by ‘greening’ your Ramadan.
Historically, Muslims have long had a responsibility to be environmentally friendly. The Holy Quran states, “Now, behold! Your Lord said to the angels: I am placing upon the earth a human successor to steward it”(2:30). With that in mind, Ramadan is a great time to mesh spiritual practice with environmental action.
Here are some great tips I borrowed from thegreenprophet blog to help you green your Ramadan:
1. Eat healthy and buy local. After breaking your fast (iftar), there is tendency to have large feasts but do try to keep things to a minimum as you never eat as much as you think you will.
- Eat less red meat and chicken
- Eat more fresh and locally produced fruit and vegetables as opposed to processed or imported foods.
- Look for fair trade or free-range products
- This Ramadan could also be the perfect opportunity to switch to organic meats, vegetables and fruits
- Finally if you are organizing an Iftar, use reusable cutlery
2. Walk or ride your bike to prayers after Iftar (breaking your fast). Carpool if you need to travel by car, but remember that you are blessed for every step you walk to the mosque – not every mile you travel in a car.
3. Conserve water. Although it is really important to keep hydrated during Ramadan, don’t waste your money on bottled water — use tap water instead. Also be frugal when making wudhoo (washing solution used before prayers), the prophet made wudhoo with only half a litre of water and teaches us to conserve water.
4. Waste less. Buy less, use less and then recycle what’s left behind. As it says in the Qur’an: “Eat and drink but waste not by excess, for Allah loves not the wasters.” – 7:31.
5. Spread the message! Ask your imam to do a public speech (khutba) on the issue of caring for the environment.
6. Proof it can be done: According to the 2008 Greening Sacred Spaces report, the Islamic Foundation of Toronto switched to using biodegradable cutlery at events and also encourage attendees to separate waste into composting and recycling.
Ramadan can be transformed to be a truly green month, and Muslims, with all people of faith, can live up to their responsibility to be the true stewards on Earth.
Ramadan Mubarak! (Blessed Ramadan!)
Did you know?
In Chicago, a ‘Green Ramadan’ initiative was launched by the Council of Islamic Organization of Greater Chicago in 2009 which encouraged Muslims to eat locally, drink tap water, recycle and to educate themselves about climate change and what they can do to save the planet.
Oh, Canada… it’s nearly time again to celebrate this great country of ours with parades, parks, food and fun as the 2010 Canada Day celebrations kick off tomorrow. It’s a great time to come together and enjoy the sense of community that is so much a part of everyday Canadian life.
Besides celebrating Canada, it’s also important to go a step further by celebrating part of what makes Canada so great — our environment and our achievements in protecting the environment. EarthDay Canada’s Hometown Heroes program recently recognized Heather MacFadyen of Canmore, AB and GreenHere of Toronto, ON as environmental leaders. Heather’s work has been instrumental in seeing a functional wildlife corridor established between Wind Valley, Bow Valley, Spray Valley and Banff Park. GreenHere is a not-for profit organization dedicated to planting trees and developing tree stewardship programs in Toronto in order to protect urban ecosystems and long-term air quality. Thanks to the efforts of Canadians like them, we have made some great strides to protect Canada’s natural heritage.
Canadians have always celebrated the spectacular natural bounty that makes us one of the most beautiful and prosperous nations on Earth—from oceans and coastlines to mountains and foothills to prairies and grasslands. If we continue to work together, we can ensure that we and our children and grandchildren will have much to celebrate long into the future. Give back to Canada this year by thinking green and reducing your impact!
The World Cup is a celebration of the world’s favorite game (go Brazil, go!) and an opportunity for people to express their national pride. It’s also the planet’s largest sporting event.
With the world’s eyes focused on the opening game today, I decided to take a look at the environmental initiatives of the host cities in South Africa and FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association).
The “carbon footprint” for this year’s tournament is estimated at 2.75 million tons of carbon dioxide, nine times higher than the World Cup in Germany in 2006. This massive footprint is a consequence of air travel, inter-city transport, energy use and stadium construction and materials.
Organizers, teams, NGOs and certain countries, are attempting to offset the carbon footprint through various programs. For example, since November 2009, many cities have committed to solar and wind energy projects spurred by FIFA’s Green Goal commitment to use green energy to power sport venues during the tournament. Over 1,200 recycling bins were installed in Cape Town and in the airports of host cities for the games with plans for tens of thousands of such bins to be installed around the country over the next few years.
Additionally, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) has provided $1 million to help retrofit solar panels on public street lights, traffic lights and billboards around stadiums in the six cities hosting the games.
Many local NGOs and environmentalists feel that all of these initiatives will not be enough to offset the 2.75 million tons of CO2 produced from the event – what do you think?
How many of you are planning to celebrate Mother’s Day with a good ol’ fashioned war protest?
Seems a little out there, doesn’t it? A little political for a day that’s supposed to be about sweet cards, pretty flowers and maybe breakfast in bed.But it might surprise you to learn Mother’s Day started largely with the poet Julia Ward Howe’s 1870 “Mother’s Day Proclamation”, a pacifist reaction to the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War.
Decades later, Anna Jarvis, inspired by her own mother’s efforts to heal post Civil War divides, envisioned a day where we could show our appreciation with simple gestures. (She herself preferred a white carnation and a heartfelt letter.) Jarvis campaigned for the day’s official recognition, until U.S. President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation in 1914 calling for the observance of Mother’s Day. Canada followed suit the following year.
Jarvis was keenly aware of the potential for commercial exploitation. “I wanted it to be a day of sentiment, not profit,” she said, and derided greeting cards as “a poor excuse for the letter you are too lazy to write.”
In 1912, she trademarked the phrases “second Sunday in May” and “Mother’s Day”, and created the Mother’s Day International Association. She then spent the rest of her life and inheritance fighting the commercialization of the day.
So how do you think she’d feel about Mother’s Day in 2010?
I’ve lost track of all the stuff I’m supposed to buy: a digital camera, a laptop computer, a coffee gift card, a cashmere scarf, diamond jewellery, a digital music player, a bouquet of flowers. It goes on and on. The vision of my Mom sitting in a café, downloading pictures from her camera onto a laptop, headphones in, bouquet on the table, cashmere scarf draped across her shoulders, diamond earrings glittering, sipping her latte just doesn’t seem much like the Mom I know and love.
One year I did what Anna Jarvis suggested and wrote my Mom a letter for Mother’s Day. It was a bit surprising to see her get so misty-eyed — and the hug that followed might have cracked a rib.
If you want to celebrate Mother’s Day, dig a little deeper than your wallet. Find the time, words or simple gestures that let her know how much she’s appreciated and loved. Less “stuff” isn’t just good for the environment; it’s also good for reminding us what’s real and important in our own lives.
*Brad Pearson is the staff web site and graphic designer at Earth Day Canada, and despite this post, definitely no “Mama’s Boy”. Got it?
Images courtesy: WikiMedia, West Virginia Archives & History, and Flickr user “galfridus73/Geoffrey Sperl”
April 22, 2010 marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day in North America – a day that helped put the environmental movement on the map. It is also the 20th anniversary of Earth Day Canada; that’s 20 years of important environmental education, action and recognition.
We’ll Be Sky High, Come Celebrate with Us!
Earth Day Canada and Green Drinks Toronto are inviting environmental professionals and green Torontonians to come together at the CN Tower for an Earth Day like no other.
For $25, ticket holders will enjoy sensational views of Toronto from the CN Tower Horizons Lounge (normally $33 to access), and some Earth Day birthday cake.
On Thursday, April 22nd, the CN Tower will turn green from 7:30 to 10:30, and Bullfrog Power will offset the event with clean, renewable electricity. Get your tickets today and join the party!
Nowhere near Toronto? Search for events in your hometown
Throughout April, Earth Day events and activities will engage over 6 million Canadians and virtually every school-aged child in the country. To participate at a local event, or to plan your own celebrations, visit EDC’s events page
“Air is the Guru, Water is the Father, and Earth is the Great Mother of all.”
- 8:10, Guru Granth Sahib (Sikh Scriptures)
With the arrival of spring and the month of Vaisaakh* (in the Sikh calendar) and their collective celebrations of nature, I decided to contemplate my faith tradition, Sikhism, and what it says about the natural environment.
Today more than ever, people of all backgrounds are coming to realize the importance of ‘being green’. So how can Sikhs make a place for this green ethic in our way of life? What does the environment have to do with spirituality? To find these answers I turned to the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh scriptures.
Once I started reading the scriptures, there was no denying the relationship between spirituality and the environment. Our scriptures tell us that God resides within natural creations. God pervades in the air, water, earth, trees, wind, and we have close familial ties with these elements. So when we disrespect our environment, we are in actuality disrespecting God and ourselves.
The Sikh scripture also declare that the purpose of human beings is to achieve a blissful state and to be in harmony with the earth and all of God’s creation. It seems then, that the path of the truly spiritual is from the very same as the path of the environmentalist. By learning how the environment is central to the Sikh faith, we need to come together as a community to become more environmentally conscious and aware.
This Sikh New Year, take the time to reflect on what you can do for the environment. Happy Vaisakhi!
* Vaisaakh- Vaisakh is the second month in the Sikh calendar. This month celebrates the harvesting season in Punjab. During this month is also Vaisakhi, the Sikh New Year. It takes place on the first of the lunar month of Vaisakh, which falls this year on April 14.
Acknowledgement With excerpts from an article written by Jagtaran Singh, the Green Facilitator for his Gurdwara (temple), Gursikh Sabha, for the 2006 -2008 Greening Sacred Spaces program.
In addition to being the ecoblogist, I’m also a HUGE basketball fan. So you can imagine my delight when the NBA took steps to making professional basketball in North America (and its fan base) a little more aware of their impact on the environment.
This year’s NBA Green Week (April 1-9) is wrapping up , but players and management accomplished a few worthwhile community projects and definitely rose awareness about being more green-minded. Here are the Top 10 things teams did to “Go Green”
Maybe now more players will follow Phoenix Suns’ guard Steve Nash and make a commitment to taking eco-action every day. Canada’s own, Nash speaks out regularly on energy conservation, renewable energy options (solar power), and doesn’t drive if he can help it. How many professional athletes can claim that?
The flowers are blooming and the air is fresh – spring has finally sprung! And with the season come the religious celebrations of Passover feasts and Easter bunny treats.
This year Passover begins on Tuesday, March 30 and lasts until Monday, April 5. Preparations for Passover include getting rid of leavened bread, preparing a large meal, and trying to make your home as clean and fresh as possible. As you prepare for Passover, review our more detailed suggestions for celebrating the ritual with consideration for the environment: http://www.ecoactionteams.ca/pub/resources/green_scene_2010.03.26.php
As for Easter, if you’re fasting on Good Friday, there is a good chance you are also avoiding meat. Why not go meat-free the entire weekend? When it comes to decorating your home, choose reusable Easter baskets. Not only will your baskets get used over and over again, you can be put to good use during the rest of the year as napkin holders or even as fruit bowls. If you and your children are dyeing your Easter eggs, use natural dyes from items you might already have in your refrigerator. This could include turmeric for yellow, cranberry juice for red, or red wine for purple.
Easter candy is a tradition so instead of grabbing the standard individually wrapped chocolate eggs, go for organic and natural candies. You can help the Easter Bunny leave a smaller footprint and make your children happy at the same time.
A very happy Passover & Easter to you all.
Have your own eco-friendly family traditions during this important time of year? Send us your suggestions
Today, March 8, marks the 100th celebration of International Women’s Day. IWD is recognized around the world to appreciate the advances and accomplishments of women and to promote awareness that women’s rights everywhere is a constant struggle.
photo credit: UN photo/Tim McKulka
Women and the Environment
Gender equality and environmental progress are not often talked about in the same breath, but there are many reasons why they should be. Women can support sustainable development through increased access to education and economic opportunities, and involvement in governance and decision making. In their online toolkitClimate Change Connections: Ensuring women contribute to and benefit from equitable climate solutions, Women’s Environment and Development Organization demonstrates how women are uniquely positioned to curb the harmful consequences of climate change.
Another resource to learn about how women and the environment are connected can be found at United Nations Women Watch.
Women’s Issues in Canada
Some of the best research on gender equality is produced by CRIAW – the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women. Find numerous helpful factsheets on issues like: women’s experiences of social programs,violence against women and girls, and women, health and action. This year, National Union of Public and General Employees points to the links between women’s care giving responsibilities, stress, and stress-related health issues in their 2010 campaign.
Moving Forward
To me, International Women’s Day is a time to recognize the unheralded contributions of women around the world, and to remember (as I work for environmental education and engagement) that women’s economic status, health and safety, and the health of our environment are all so connected.
post by Cheryl Gudz
