Post by Cheryl Gudz

There are so many merits to organic farming, but did you know growing organic veggies could also be really funny? When you permit veggies to grow naturally they often take on a life of their own…

The “Unloved Vegetable Photo Contest” was organized by the Canadian Organic Growers to foster a little love and appreciation for the oddities nature naturally produces. Winners are below and were chosen based on creativity, technical quality, composition, and overall impact.

Note: I reveal my fave at the bottom of the post. Now, you be the judge!

1st Place Winner: So that’s what they’re doing under the ground!

Grower: Stéphanie Pelot, Ferme du Covenant Farm
Photographer: Jean-Pierre Béland

2nd Place: Pig on a Stick

Grower: Daniel Hoffman, Cutting Veg Organic Farm
Photographer: Risa Alyson Strauss

3rd Place: The Tomato Sisters

Grower: Barbara Cooper
Photographer: Barbara Cooper

Honourable Mention: Zucchini Duck

Grower: Melody Allaire
Photographer: Melody Allaire

Honourable Mention: Potato Fish

Grower: Faith Mansfield
Photographer: Jim Porter

Come on now, “Zucchini Duck” is amazing. Definitely my pick for top prize.

post by Cheryl Gudz

April 22, 2010 marks the 40^th anniversary of Earth Day in North America – a day that helped put the environmental movement on the map. It is also the 20^th 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

Post by Prabhjit Banga

“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.

post by Cheryl Gudz

So Long March Madness, Welcome NBA Green Week!

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?

Watch the video:

post by Cheryl Gudz

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…

See for yourself: