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March 2nd our Prime Minister and Premiers meet with First Nations, Inuit, and Metis leaders to discuss climate and environmental threats. March 3rd the meeting between the Prime Minister, Premiers, and Indigenous leaders is part of the follow up to the commitments made on climate change last year in Paris, and discuss the national Climate Change Strategy, and check whether those commitments are on track. The First Ministers will consider all policy measures at their disposal to make sure Canada can take advantage of the significant appetite for expertise in the clean growth economy. March 22 is the date Canada should announce new, more ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets.
This month International Women’s Day is on March 8. World Water Day is observed on March 22, and World Meteorological Day on March 23rd.
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Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai
Free movie screening
Tuesday, March 08, 2016 @ 6:15 pm
Jane/Dundas Libary, 620 Jane Street
This International Women's Day, join Green 13 for a free screening of a movie which tells the dramatic story of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai whose simple act of planting trees grew into a nationwide movement to safeguard the environment, protect human rights, and defend democracy—a movement for which this charismatic woman became an iconic inspiration. Wangari Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement. Read more
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Earth Hour in Ward 13
Co-sponsored by Green 13 and Heritage York
Saturday, March 19
Gather at Lambton House, 4066 Old Dundas St. by 7:30 pm
Weather permitting, Madeleine McDowell will guide a walk by the Humber River or in Warren Park, followed by light refreshments, music and story telling at Lambton House. Bring your own candle, lantern or flashlight, as well as a poem, song, reading or story to share.
Directions by transit: Warren Park bus #55 from Jane station stops at the door.
Volunteers are welcome - to • prepare and serve beverages • marshall if weather permits a walk at 7:30 pm • take photos • tidy up - sweep, wash floors. Contact: volunteers@green13toronto.org
Please check Green 13 event page for more info and updates.
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Treemobile is back!
People planting resilience
Delivery & pick-up - May 1st
Perth-Dupont Community Centre
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The Treemobile is rolling again for 2016. Looking to bring food-bearing trees, shrubs and vines to your yard? Visit the Treemobile Webstore to place your order. Tree delivery and pick-up will be May 1 ’16 at the Perth-Dupont Community Centre.
Treemobile in collaboration with Orchard People offer The Edible Community Garden Grant - Spring 2016. Your school, faith group, community garden, or non-profit organization can apply for this grant, and help grow your community’s sustainability!
Treemobile, a project of Transition Toronto, is 100% volunteer run and not-for profit. People love it.
Green 13 partners with Treemobile and is happy to promote this wonderful opportunity to boost local food.
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Green 13 monthly planning meeting
Exception of the rule this month!
Monday, March 21, 6:15pm-8:15 pm
Annette Branch Library
Usually we meet the 4th Monday of the month. This month, however, as it would fall on Easter Monday, we are meeting on the 3rd Monday of the month. Please come with your ideas for initiatives you’d like to work on, and be prepared to take the lead! There are many opportunities to volunteer. We are actively seeking assistance with our newsletter and social media at this time. If you would like to volunteer, kindly contact us at volunteers@green13toronto.org.
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Events organized by other groups
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Paris Climate Agreement - COP21
What’s Next for Canada?
Panel and Roundtable Discussion
Wed, March 2, 5-8 pm
Debates Room in Hart House, U of T
Climate and its intersections with human rights, indigenous rights, the 2015 Sustainable Development Goals, and health - what are the next steps we as a country and as individuals should take to make sure the measures decided from the negotiations are implemented fully and successfully to secure a sustainable future, free of the worst consequences of climate change? Read more here.
Special Guests: Executive Director of Environmental Defence, Tim Gray; Professor at the School of the Environment, Douglas MacDonald: Climate and Energy Campaign Co-ordinator for Greenpeace, Keith Stewart; Toronto 350 Activist, Ben Donato-Woodger; City of Toronto Councillor, Gord Perks
Refreshments and light dinner PROVIDED! Tickets are free on Eventbrite.
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Climate Change: Ontario’s Path Forward
Organized by Professional Engineers Ontario
Sat, March 5, 8:30 am - 6 pm
Reichmann Family Lecture Hall, Room 1050, UofT Earth Sciences Centre, 33 Willcocks St.
The world has become aware of the damaging effects of climate change, and is now determined to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases. Ontario is part of this international campaign to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases. The government of Ontario has pledged to reduce Ontario’s GHG emissions to 37% below 1990 totals by 2030. How can Ontario reduce its emissions? Who are the experts who can guide Ontario through the necessary changes in our technology? Join 5 prestigious organizations in a one-day symposium on the path to greenhouse gas reductions in Ontario.
More info and registration here. Fee: $10 + Eventbrite fee. For fee discount options (e.g. seniors and students) please contact organizer at: peo.events.wtchapter@gmail.com or 647-965-8636.
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Park Summit 2016
Sat, March 5, 1-5:30 pm
Daniels Spectrum, 585 Dundas St. E.
Cost: Free! Register at Eventbrite.
Join Canada’s largest gathering of park leaders and champions, planning and design professionals and city builders. At Park People Park Summit, be inspired by innovative approaches and proven practices to address social, economic and environmental issues through the power of parks.
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Ontario’s Environmental Bill of Rights: A Citizen’s Toolkit for Change
Sunday, March 6, 2:30 pm
Emmanuel College, 75 Queen’s Park Cr., Rm. 001
Free. Organized and hosted by Toronto Field Naturalists.
Deputy Environmental Commissioner of Ontario Ellen Schwartzel discusses your rights to participate in ministry decision and to hold the government responsible.
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Synthetic Genomics: Security and Ecology
Free public lecture
Wed, March 9, 7-9pm
Room UC144, University College, 15 King’s College Circle
Clement Kent is a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Biology at York University.
Organized and hosted by Science for Peace. More info here.
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Lessons from Fukushima for Ontario - 5 years after the worst nuclear disaster
Film Screening of "A2-B-C" + Panel Discussion: The risks of Ontario’s nuclear reactors, emergency plans, and plans to rebuild our aging nuclear fleet
Fri, March 11, 7-9 pm
Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham St. (Bathurst subway station)
About A2-B-C: Since the nuclear disasters in Fukushima, Japan, in March 2011, local childhood thyroid cancer cases have risen to about 20-50 times above normal. Citing a lack of transparency in the official medical testing of their children and the ineffectiveness of the decontamination of their homes and schools, the children’s mothers take radiation monitoring into their own hands. The film has won 12 awards internationally. 71 min. English subtitles.
Speakers: Erica Stahl, Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA); Shawn-Patrick Stensil, Greenpeace Canada; Angela Bischoff, Ontario Clean Air Alliance (OCAA)
Sponsored by: Canadian Environmental Law Association, Durham Nuclear Awareness, Greenpeace and Ontario Clean Air Alliance.
Suggested Donation: $5-10. Facebook event page.
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Cowspiracy
Free screening and discussion
March 14, 6:30 pm
Runnymede Library, 2178 Bloor St. W.
Screening of Kip Andersen's documentary about the most destructive industry facing the planet today.
Hosted by High Park Vegetarians, highpark@veg.ca
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Water Docs Film Festival
March 22-26, ‘16
Daniels Spectrum, 585 Dundas St. E.
Cost: Various
A documentary film festival about all things water, Water Docs presents features and shorts, discussions with special guests and filmmakers, and opportunities to take action to protect water. The festival informs, educates and activates about water and water issues. Learn more here.
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Growing Food, Not Lawns - 101
Thu, March 24, 7pm
The Big Carrot, 348 Danforth (Chester subway station); Room 212
Learn about balcony gardens using pots and recycled containers, raised beds, straw bale gardening and more. Free.
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Town Hall meeting featuring Avi Lewis
Tuesday, March 29, 7:00 pm
Bishop Morrocco/Thomas Merton Catholic Secondary School, 1515 Bloor Street West
Avi Lewis, the director of the documentary, “This Changes Everything” will be speaking on the Leap Manifesto.
Avi Lewis is a documentary film maker on social and political struggles, Naomi Klein’s collaborator and partner, a former television host and a former journalist for Al Jazeera. His documentaries include “The Take” (on workers in Argentina taking over factories abandoned by their employers) and “This Changes Everything,” a documentary based on Naomi Klein’s book of the same name which became the inspiration for the Leap Manifesto.
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Make the Leap - Leap Year 2016: The Leap Manifesto
Last fall, many of Canada's most prominent artists, authors and musicians, together with a diverse group of organizations from Idle No More and Oxfam to Black Lives Matter Toronto and The David Suzuki Foundation - launched an inspiring declaration for a country based on caring for each other and the earth.
If you have not already done so, please consider joining us in supporting the vision for a justice based transition away from fossil fuels by signing the Leap Manifesto. Read more here.
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Toronto for Green, Empowered Neighbourhoods (TorGEN)
TorGEN is a new initiative designed to bring residents, businesses and community groups together to track emissions, find resourced to green their homes and businesses, and work together with the goal of making Toronto Centre Canada’s first urban carbon neutral community. Launched by MPP Glen Murray’s office, the TorGEN Project is the second phase of the Toronto Centre Community Planning Process. Check out the website for more details.
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Join the conversation for a low-carbon Toronto!
Residents are invited to help shape Toronto’s future as a low-carbon city by participating in our of our four community conversations. The goal is to find ways to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Toronto by the year 2015 and create a plan to get there. The conversations are part of TransformTO: Climate Action for a Healthy, Equitable, Prosperous Toronto, a City initiative in collaboration with Toronto Atmospheric Fund. The conversation will build and expand on these ideas. The events will begin with an Open House from 6 pm to 7 pm (dates to be confirmed). Conversations will conclude at 9 pm. Learn more, register for a conversation, and sign up for the Transform TO newsletter at toronto.ca/transformto.
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World Meteorological Day (Global)
March 23 ‘16
With the goal to contribute to a better understanding of climate variability and climate change, as well as to the development of much needed climate applications to address some of the major challenges of this century, World Meteorological Day is celebrated on 23. March by the World Meteorological Organization and the worldwide meteorological community. More info here.
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Is it too extreme to talk about climate change and human extinction?
Leaders say they accept climate change, but don't act like they understand it. We recap the worst threats, and talk about how bad could it get if we keep going as we are. Read more. By Daryn Caister
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Ideas Worth Spreading
Al Gore’s talk of February 23 ’16 in Vancouver, B.C.
In his latest TED talk, Al Gore, founder and chairman of The Climate Reality Project, poses three questions that will determine the future of our planet – and why there’s good reason to be optimistic.
Under the rubric “Ideas worth spreading,” each year, the TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) conference brings together a collection of the world’s most compelling, surprising, and original thinkers to connect and explore the themes, factors, and forces shaping our world today – and pointing to our world of tomorrow.
Al Gore outlines why he’s optimistic and why – even in the face of rising seas and melting glaciers – we can dare to dream of a safe and sustainable future planet.
1. Do we really have to change?
2. Can we change?
3. Will we change?
“When any great moral challenge is resolved into choice between right and wrong, the outcome is preordained because of who we are. That is why we are going to win this.” "The will to act is a renewable resource.”
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New Report by Parliamentary Budget Officer : Estimate of the Average Annual Cost for Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements due to Weather Events
February 25, 2016
Due to the increasing number of extreme weather events, a new report shows the federal Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangement (DFAA) can expect to dish out over $900 million annually over the next five years to Canadian provinces.
The report released by Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) Jean-Denis Frechette on Thursday, shows the DFAA's yearly transfers to the provinces have been much higher than its annual $100 million appropriation. The PBO estimates on average $229 million a year will be spent to deal with hurricanes, convective storms and winter storms. In addition, it is expected flooding will cost $673 million annually, which represents 75 per cent of DFAA's weather expenditures. Read the report. See also The Weather Network article.
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Let’s keep microbeads out of Canada’s waterways, for good
Plastic pollution is one of the greatest threats to fish and the Great Lakes. That’s why the federal government is working to restrict the use of microbeads in cosmetic products. If you have something to say on Canada's ban on microbeads, you have until March 10, 2016 . Details
Waterkeeper thinks the ban is a good idea, but cosmetic products aren't the only products that contain microbeads. We will be reviewing the proposed regulation and offering our own comments before March 10. Stay tuned. Read more.
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Safe Rail Communities’ online e-petition for rail safety
Every day, the movement of dangerous goods by rail through our communities puts thousands of Canadians at risk. In 2014, there were about 140,000 tank cars carrying crude oil across Canada. This is 280 times the number of tanks that travelled in 2009. The projected number for 2016 is 510,000 tank cars. Safe Rail Communities (SRC) is a non-partisan initiative that advocates for safe, transparent, and regulated rail. It is our Federal Government’s responsibility to regulate the transportation of dangerous goods by rail. They must set the standards for industry to follow in order to mitigate the risks to rail communities across Canada.
Over the past couple of years SRC has worked with experts to develop the list of recommendations in our petition.
With the federal government’s recent implementation of online e-petitions, we have created an online rail safety e-petition. Many of you have already signed our paper petition, and for that we thank you. Signing our paper petition doesn’t preclude you from signing this new online petition. It is a completely new petition. In order for an e-petition to be presented in the House of Commons, it must receive 500 signatories within 120 days of being posted on the government website. Given this deadline, we would very much appreciated your support in promoting our e-petition by sharing it with you family, friends and any other contacts you think may be interested.
To view and sign the e-petition, please click here.Pour le francais cliquez ici.
Thank you.
Helen Vassilakos & Patricia Lai
Co-founders
Safe Rail Communities
www.saferail.ca
www.facebook.com/saferail
@safe_rail
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A Report from Julie Gelfand, Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable Development
March 2, 1-2 pm EST
The report deals with Canada's commitment to:
- Pesticide Safety
- Oversight of Federally Regulated Pipelines
- Departmental Progress in Implementing Sustainable Development Strategies
- Environmental Petitions Annual Report
Please note that the Commissioner will be tabling 2 other reports this year:
The Spring 2016 report:
- Safety of Consumer Products
- Federal Support for Sustainable Communities
- Adverse Weather
The Fall 2016 Report:
- Departmental Progress in Implementing Sustainable Development Strategies
- Enforcement of the Fisheries Act
- Oversight of the Nuclear Sector
- Review of the 2016 Progress Report of the Federal Sustainable Development Strategy
To register, contact: pegi_dover@cegn.org
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Searching for the Wild in the Age of Man
March 10, 3:30-4:30 pm EST
Have humans really tamed every inch of the world? Despite more than 100 years of stewardship and protection from agencies like the National Park Service, America’s wild places are still vulnerable to commercial and residential land development. In the Grand Canyon, uranium mining and increasing rates of tourism not only threaten land and air quality, they also undermine a social balance that Native Americans and other local groups have worked hard to maintain. Read more and register here.
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Flint and Lead: The Water/Public Health Connection
March 16, 1:00-2:30 pm
Susan Buchanan, MD, MPH, Stephen J. Randtke, PhD, PE, Ella Greene-Moton, and Melissa Essex Elliott
Recent reports of elevated blood lead levels in children in Flint, Michigan, have brought national attention to the role of drinking water in lead exposure. Important questions are being raised about changes in drinking water chemistry, what can be done to control lead exposure through drinking water, and how local water utilities and the public health community can work together. Join APHA and the American Water Works Association for an interactive discussion about the current state of science related to the health risks posed by lead and the value of engaging the water systems sector.
Register for this webinar here.
1 CPH continuing education credit is available for this webinar. Recordings of APHA webinars are made available after the live event. Register to receive notifications.
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Health and Environmental Hazards in a Wireless World
Archived
Featuring Joel Moskowitz, Director of the Center for Family and Community Health, UC Berkely School of Public Health. Read more.
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From Intent to Action After COP 21
Archived Webinar
Critical commitments emerged from the 21st Conference of Parties (COP 21) December 2015 meeting in Paris where developed and developing nations were able to bridge their economic-based differences and forge a landmark global greenhouse gas mitigation agreement. The accord sets a course for an historic transformation of the world's fossil fuel-driven economy within decades with the goal of keeping global temperature change below 2 degrees Celsius from preindustrial levels.
The agreement is the easy part of the Paris Accord. The hard part is maintaining the intent of the goals when the actions necessary are not binding.
Join the Security and Sustainability Forum and Arizona State University's School of Sustainability in our first webinar on next steps after COP 21. This session examines the policy, legal and social justice challenges in the transition from intent to action and how success can be gauged along the way.
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