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
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?
Picking up where we left off on the subject of fossil fuels (and fossil fools!) is this neat five-minute video featuring Tom Rand. Rand, a self-described “engineer, philosopher, and venture capitalist” is certainly no fossil fool when it comes to clean, sustainable fuel solutions…
A 15 foot tall replica of the CN Tower made from discarded coffee cups.
Who’s responsible for this educational beacon of waste?
2nd Nature, A campus environmental group at the University of Toronto, created both a CN tower and a Rogers Centre with over 2000 cups that they handpicked out of trash cans and washed themselves.
The structures were displayed next to signs that read “USE A MUG” and “Don’t be fooled. These cups are not recyclable.”
Thanks Saadia for sharing this with us! Hope the kids at school make bringing their own mugs ’second nature’…
April 22 isn’t about a single action you can do to support a healthier environment. No, Earth Day is a catalyst for change and a day to renew a personal commitment to support a healthier environment.
To encourage further environmental action, Earth Day Canada’s EcoAction Teams program (the ecoblogist’s conservation program of choice) offers the Top 10 Actions for Earth Day to help you reduce their impact on the environment every day.
Following on the heels of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ announcement to its members to take action against bottled water, the University of Winnipeg has become the first university campus in Canada to ban the selling of bottled water.
“While plastic bottles are not environmentally sustainable, they also undermine the quality of public water,” said Vinay Iyer, University of Winnipeg Students’ Association President (pictured in red). “We encourage our students to drink safe and free public drinking water as an alternative to expensive bottled water.”
Located in downtown Winnipeg, UWinnipeg is a progressive, liberal arts-minded university with a history of supporting ecological and social activism. [It also happens to be the ecoblogist's alma matter...]
During student elections held last month, The University of Winnipeg Students’ Association held a referendum on campus asking students if they would support the elimination of plastic water bottles. Almost three quarters, or 74.8 per cent, of those who voted said, “Yes”.
Each year, approximately 38,400 plastic water bottles were being sold in the cafeterias and vending machines on campus. Now, the Students’ Association will partner with the University to provide all first year students with free reusable bottles in their orientation package.
The water-bottle ban builds on other important green initiatives including the campus-wide composting program introduced last August. Now, with its recycling program, UWinnipeg is diverting over 70% of materials that would otherwise be lost to landfills as waste.
I was startled by this headline, when I read it in the Toronto Star yesterday.
Startled, but supportive. Until I realized the actual headline was a little misleading. The article ended up inciting a small firestorm on the comment boards as readers began to hypothesize what a world without bottled water might look like…
photo by Kristin Slota
Yes, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities spoke out against bottled water this past weekend encouraging Canadian cities and towns Saturday to phase out the sale and purchase of bottled water…on municipal property.
Kudos FCM, for promoting the drinking of tap water over bottled water and leading by example on your turf.
When it’s your business to do right by the environment sometimes a company can fall short in other areas… Environmental employers may expect their employees to live and breathe ‘the cause’ creating an overworked or underpaid staff; job security and benefits may depend on funding from year to year; and workplace safety is another valuable concern for companies that render construction, retrofitting or recycling services to name a few.
Yes, employee satisfaction is incredibly important to the culture of a workplace and to the services the company provides. With that in mind ECO Canada wants to recognize the employers who get it right with their 2009 Environmental Employer of the Year Awards. This year, the final six were chosen based on results of a company employee satisfaction survey. A committee of HR professionals then evaluates both the organization’s HR practices and employee satisfaction results to determine a winner. Want to know who’s been shortlisted?
Awards season is upon us and I have one special film for your consideration…
Fast forward a few hundred years into the future. What would life on Earth look like? Actually, there would be no life on our dear planet, or so goes the premise of Pixar/Walt Disney Picture’s inventive film WALL-E.
One lone robot roams the desolate Earth, compacting and stacking piles of trash left by wasteful humans and the mighty multi-national Buy ‘N Large corporation. Incredibly, the first 30 minutes of the film features no dialogue, as we follow WALL-E going about his daily routine in a wasteland.
Yes, WALL-E is a cautionary tale about mass consumption and greed, but it is also a story about following your heart and overcoming great adversity. (WALL-E may also be the best date movie of the year…)
The film makes environmental problems relevant and accessible to a wide audience in a way that serious enviro-documentaries like An Inconvenient Truth and The 11th Hour could not. The charming leading robot speaks to the shy and hard-working soul who seeks companionship and a meaningful existence. WALL-E just wants to live in harmony with all living things in the universe.
The film just picked up a Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature and has been nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Animated Feature and Best Original Screenplay. The nod for screenplay hints at the Academy’s strong appreciation of the film, but the fact that it didn’t get shortlisted for Best Picture annoys me.
Since the Oscars instituted the Best Animated Feature category in 2001, no animated film has been nominated in the night’s biggest category. Even though the Academy claims a film can get the nod in both, many believe (including me) that psychology keeps voters from counting a film twice at the expense of another fine film.
You’ve waited a long time for this. You’ve wanted a dependable resource that not only tells you what to do with old paint cans, antifreeze, batteries and other hazardous materials, but tells you the nearest place to take them.
Stewardship Ontario’s new online resource www.dowhatyoucan.ca can tell you where the nearest depot is, including more and more retailers like Home Depot, RONA and Jiffy Lube, not just municipal take-back sites.
Go to dowhatyoucan.ca and type in your postal code or municipality. You’ll find out which products you can return and where.
BUT…do note that this online resource is a work in progress. Currently in phase one, the program allows for returns of paints and coatings and their containers, solvents such as thinners for paint, lacquer and contact cement, paint strippers and degreasers, used oil filters, oil containers of 30 litres or less, single-use batteries, antifreeze, propane tanks, fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides and pesticides.
The next stage (up by the summer) will include more items such as aerosol containers, fluorescent light bulbs and tubes, switches that contain mercury, thermostats, thermometers and barometers.
The last phase will address items like corrosive cleaners such as ammonia, and pool and photo chemicals.
Thanks to Keith McArthur for the tip and for reading ecoblogist!
post by Cheryl Gudz
When it’s your business to do right by the environment sometimes a company can fall short in other areas… Environmental employers may expect their employees to live and breathe ‘the cause’ creating an overworked or underpaid staff; job security and benefits may depend on funding from year to year; and workplace safety is another valuable concern for companies that render construction, retrofitting or recycling services to name a few.
Awards season is upon us and I have one special film for your consideration…
