Mr. Lister's Eco-Blog

Been Missing You

2011-05-05T14:03:00.000-04:00

Wow, I'm so sorry. I can't believe that I let two months go by without a post. There has been a lot of activity the last little while around school and the garden so I haven't been finding the time to update all of you.

Just quickly I should let you know that compost day at our school is May 13th. Yes, that's a Friday *insert scary sound.
We are so lucky to have Joe Mihevc as the councilor for our area. He's always up to something that supports the environment.

The school garden is coming along nicely these days. The garlic continues to grow and we now have 3 planting beds that no one has vandalized, yah!!!! I'm thinking of building a fourth bed, so I'll have to get more wood and soil. The students have also really enjoyed being part of the building process... it's starting to spread to other students as well. It would be great if one day we could have a planting bed for each class.

Now we planted some seeds indoors last week, but only a couple have sprouted so I'm starting to worry. We've got some money left in the budget so I may just have to go and buy some seedlings from a garden centre. Our planting day will be May 19th, but more to come on that.

Bottled Water Free Day

2011-03-03T08:33:00.005-05:00

March 10th 2011 will mark Canada's second annual Bottled Water Free day. You may remember this from last year's post, but I think this is an import event for us to recognize. Water comes free from our tap and is WAY more regulated than the bottled water industry.
If you'd like more information about the bottled water industry check out the documentary "Tapped"

I've also included some other short videos on the bottled water industry and my favourite from last year, The Skwirl's Eye View.

The Story of Stuff - Bottled Water

The Skwirl's Eye View

So lets remember to make sure we don't use bottled water on March 10th or any day for that matter!

Sweater Day

2011-02-14T10:57:00.005-05:00

WWF Canada has put together a great event that we'll be taking part in at school, SWEATER DAY!!!

The idea is that you pledge to turn down your home thermostat by 3 degrees and wear a sweater around the house... Hey, it's winter, it's supposed to be cold!

WWF-Canada is calling for change!
Climate change is the biggest environmental threat to life on Earth, wreaking havoc with the natural systems that regulate the earth’s climate: melting glaciers and ice caps on every continent, creating heat waves, dehydrating forests and wetlands, and affecting the lives and communities of everyone on the planet.

On average, each of us has a footprint 50% more than what the planet actually produces per person, per year. In other words, it would take 1.5 planets of productivity to support humanity each year. Half our footprint is carbon from fossil fuel emissions. Canada is one of the top 10 nations contributing to global climate change. While other leading countries of the world are pioneering green energy technologies and solutions, we are holding on to an old strategy based on developing increasingly carbon-intensive forms of energy in the Arctic and the tar sands.

Fortunately, we’ve got plenty of reasons to believe we can succeed. There is a solution to climate change – we caused it and we can solve it. We must value carbon more, consume less, insulate better, and hasten the switch to alternative fuels like wind, solar, tidal and hydropower. WWF Canada is calling on business and political leaders to drive this fundamental shift. Our success will ensure that Canada is on the right path for future generations, our economy and the planet.

Why should you participate?
Sweater Day is an accessible and simple way to get involved in the fight against climate change. By getting leaders like you on board, we can begin to make a real difference in our conservation efforts. Turning down the thermostat by a couple of degrees can make a big difference in fighting climate change, and save money. If every Canadian turned down their thermostat by two degrees in the winter, 2.2 megatonnes of carbon dioxide could be saved per year – the equivalent of taking about 350,000 cars off the road.

So, I'm now putting the challenge out to you. Check out the WWF website to register for your chance to win great prizes!!!

Seedy Sunday pt2

2011-02-13T19:57:00.009-05:00

[ just a taste of how busy it was ]

I can't tell you what a great time I had today at Seedy Sunday. I really wanted to stay there all afternoon and not come home. It was great to see and talk with a lot of familiar faces. I was also able to make some good contacts today regarding field trips for the garden/eco club and for volunteers in the garden. Dare I say that I'm becoming part of the urban agriculture community?

First things first. I got an awesome haul of seeds today. I would have gotten more, but thankfully I ran into a fellow teacher, who is also a parent at the school, and she let me in on some deals from Urban Harvest if I order through the school. Her and I are going to be in touch and put an order together and share some seeds and save some money too!

[ crappy photo = awesome haul ]

One of the faces that I always love to run into is Garden Jane. She's totally awesome and put on great workshops for community gardeners and anyone else who wants to learn about permeculture. She gave me some free bean seeds and some great ideas for activities to do with them. I felt bad taking all this stuff and knowledge without giving her anything in return, so I bought a seed ball kit from her. I'm planning on giving it away as a prize for some sort of event at the school.

[ seed ball kit ]

If you don't know what a seed ball/bomb is you need to go look that up. I think that we'll do something for International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day (May 1st 2011). I don't know if we'll do sunflowers, but we'll definetly do some kind of hardy, flowering, native plant.

In talking with people today I realized that there are a lot of people who want to volunteer in our little school garden to help the students grow food. There are also a lot of people who want community garden space and aren't able to get it. I know that I'd have to clear this with the administration, but I was thinking this could be an awesome trade off for some help watering in the summer and getting some people with more know-how than myself to really get our garden going. Volunteers may have to get a police check (more than likely they would) but it would be a small price to pay for some space to grow some veggies of their own.

For those of you interested in volunteering please email me or leave a comment with your email address (don't worry all comments need to be approved before they're posted so I'll copy and delete your email address so you don't get any random spam).

Seedy Sunday (Today)

2011-02-13T08:16:00.004-05:00

Sorry for getting this info out so late, but today is Seedy Sunday at Heart House UoT. From 12:30-6pm you can bring seeds from trading or you can just buy some yummy heirlooms for you garden.

If you can't make it out today don't worry there will be another Seedy Sunday in March 27th @ Lawrence Heights Community Centre (1-5pm). AND not to worry my Scarborough friends on March 12th @ Heron Park Community Centre (12-4pm) is where your Seedy Sunday will be.

I'll be at UoT today so if you want to meet up leave a comment and let me know that you're coming so I can keep an eye out for you. I may also try to get out to the Lawrence Heights event as well.

This year Seedy Sunday is a joint venture between Food Share, Toronto Public Health, Green Thumbs Growing Kids

Food Share Inspirations

2011-02-11T11:11:00.016-05:00

Last week I had the privillage of attending a conference on school/community gardens and student nutrition at Food Share. I got hear about the ups and downs of the market garden at Bendale Collegiet. I was also able to speak with some school gardeners about what they've done at their schools to get some real plant growth of the their gardens... we're really going to have to do planting beds this year if we want anything to grow. The soil at the school is just way to compacted and has way too much clay. I'll have to buy some soil with the money we have left and get the board to deliver some more compost. I also saw some amazing and simple ideas for activities I can do with the students and for some things that I want to put in my classroom.

[Native Bee House]

The first thing I saw when I walked in and thought would an amazing and simple crafty activity for the Eco-Club students to do would be to build bee houses. These aren't for honey bees, but would be for miner and other native bee species. I'm thinking that I can head down to China Town and get some bamboo to bundle together (the bees would nest in the hole) and we could build frames out of some old clementine boxes that I have kicking around in my classroom and at home. The student could then bring them home to hang in their backyards. The idea being that you'd be able to attract more bees to your garden and they would inturn help to pollinate all of you plants. I think that this would go a long way to help the plants in our school garden too. As well, bee populations are on the decline so giving them more habitat will at least give the little guys a bit more of a chance. With out bees food production on this planet will become very difficult and expensive.

[Aquaponic System]

Above is a mini aquaponic system. I have just about everything on my classroom to make this and I'd like to give it a try. I've found some plans online and it seem simple enough. Basically the bacteria in fish poo is used to fertilize the plants about. The plants above in turn filter the fertilizer out of the water and it goes back into the tank completing the cycle.

[Window Farm]

I think that I may have mentioned Window Farming before, but here is a much simplified version that I don't think will cause any safety concerns if I were to build it and install it in a classroom with a window... something which my office is seriously missing :(

Needless to say it was a great conference and I got some great ideas. I going to try and stay positive and motivated over these winter months and try to put at least one of these systems together.

Spring is coming...

2011-01-30T19:22:00.003-05:00

Well spring is just around the corner and I can't wait!!!

I want to get out of the coffin aka office and out into that garden with the students.

Last week I had the students go online and look at plants they wanted to grow to see if we'd be able to grow them in our garden. The students really want to try growing the three sisters (corn, beans, and squash) as well as raspberries. I think that there would be great. We have a little over $500 left from the grant we got from Metro Grocery Stores and most of the original amount went to tools, which we don't have to buy again this year. GO TEAM!

In the fall we planted some garlic and I really hope that the squirrels didn't eat all of it. But come the spring we're going to have to build planter boxes and cover them with chicken wire to keep the furry tailed rats out!

In the mean time the Eco-Club will just have to keep learning about the importance of recycling and energy conservation.

2010-12-17T10:21:00.002-05:00

Sorry that I haven't been around lately. Things have been totally turned upside down, but I'm starting to get my life back in order and will begin posting events in the new year.

Please continue to keep checking for updates. I will repost my October message... it was written in haste so I pulled it.

Jamie Oliver's Speech at the TED Awards

2010-07-10T22:50:00.013-04:00

I'm sure that you've see or heard about Jamie's mission to get children to not only eat better but know more about their food and where it comes from.

I really liked Jamie's idea of having food ambassadors in grocery stores to show people what they can make from local ingredients in their store. I'm sure that we've all been to the grocery store or farmers market and seen something and had no idea what it is let alone what it tastes like. It was a little scary see all those kids trying to identify the foods that he brought in.

The video is about 20 minutes long. So sit back, relax, and enjoy.

Keeping It Cool Without A/C

2010-07-05T12:27:00.005-04:00

{Iceman}

Every summer the heat and humidity in this city kills me. At least it's a good excuse to take a cold shower and get that really refreshed feeling.

I own a small air conditioner that I use in my bedroom at night to cut down on the humidity and cool the room so that sleep is at least bearable. But since I don’t want to spend this whole summer or heat wave in my bedroom I searched the internet for tips on how to keep my house cool. Here are some of the best tips that I was able to find.

1) The first and most important step is to keep the sun out. You can do this a few ways:

a) Make sure that your curtains are drawn during the day to block the sun from coming in and heating the place up.

b) Bamboo mats for the exterior of the window. I thought this was a neat idea because the mats are cheap and will still let some sunlight through the gaps in the weave. In the evening you can just roll them up.

c) Awnings over the windows. The idea is that they are short enough to block most of summer’s direct sunlight and not winter’s. This option is the most expensive of the three. It isn’t always the best looking, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

2) During the hot humid days it’s better to keep your windows shut so the outside air doesn’t come in. When it begins to cool in the evening and the outside temperature is cooler than inside then you should open your windows to allow the cooler air in. If you’re one of those people who need to feel a breeze I recommend setting up a small fan. The breeze from the fan will make you feel several degrees cooler.

3) Direct sunlight and hot air will heat up your home quickly, but there are other culprits at play too. Lights get really hot when they are on and will therefore heat your home. If you have to have the lights on make sure that they are LEDs or CLFs because they give off very little heat. Halogen and incandescent lighting produces a lot of heat.

4) When doing your laundry do it at night when it’s cooler out. If you have to do the wash try not to use the dryer and take advantage of the heat drying properties of the sun. Running the dryer is like running the oven, it gets really hot!

5) Speaking of running ovens, don’t they get really hot! Plus summer time is BBQ season. If you don’t have the space for a full-sized BBQ there are many smaller options available for grilling on balconies.

6) Since we live in the northern hemisphere we get the sun’s hottest, most direct, rays to the south and west sides of our homes. If you live in a condo you won’t have to worry about this because chances are they are building another condo to block the view from your condo. But if you live in a house you’ll want to do some landscaping. Planting evergreens or other trees to the south of your home will help block the sun. If you have paving or stone work or are thinking about installing some remember that it will reflect a lot of the sun’s heat onto your home. So shading the pavement will not only make your home look nicer it will also make it a lot cooler too.

7) Electrical appliances have motors and motors give off heat. If you have a dishwasher hold off on running it until it’s cooler out or when you’re going to bed. You could also unplug you’re fridge, but then your food would last very long.

8) Electronic devices also give off heat and for the most part are always using electricity, even when turned off. I’ve found the best option is to put all of your electronics on powerbars. That way you can just flick the switch on the bar and everything is actually off.

9) Computers and monitors are another heat culprit. Your computer and monitor both give off heat. At the very least turn off your monitor. If you’re not using your computer turn it off too.

10) Modems. These suckers get hot. I can understand leaving your computer on because it takes forever to boot up. But if you’re not using your internet unplug the modem. Not only will this save you money, it will also keep you cool.

This wasn't meant to be a top ten list, but has turned out that way.

Cartoons and Food

2010-06-23T16:26:00.004-04:00

Here is a link to an interesting article about the effect that children's cartoons have on the way food tastes. The study looked at how unhealthy food is covered with branding. They looked at how branding affected what kids chose and how it tasted. In the end the branded food won out, even with carrots!

I guess it's up to healthy food to come up with the cash for mainstream cartoon characters on their packaging. Shrek's Oven Roasted Green Tomatoes? It could happen and I bet it would be a lot tastier than Twinkies filled with neon green cream (yuk!).

Movie Screening - pay what you can

2010-06-08T11:19:00.012-04:00

If you didn't get a chance to see this documentary last summer I strongly suggest that you see it now. If you're not able to make it out to Hillside Outdoor Education Centre (HOEC) you can rent this film at most video stores, but why not get out and support Friends of the Rouge with a great screening.

This documentary is about to be released in Japan, but there have been many threats to theatre owners not to screen this film. It seem like there are some people out there who don't want the Japanese public to find out about what is going on in this quiet little community.

Event Info
Documentary Screening of the Movie The Cove and discussion hosted by Friends of the Rouge Watershed at Hillside Outdoor Education School

Wednesday June 9th, 2010 @ 7:00 p.m.

Join us at Hillside School, 2259 Meadowvale Rd, one block north of the Toronto Zoo.

RSVP at 416 208 0252 or email laurencbarrett@gmail.com

Pay what you can - popcorn and drinks provided

THE COVE
Flipper was one of the most beloved television characters of all time. But ironically, the fascination with dolphins that he caused created a tragic epidemic that has threatened their existence and become a multibillion dollar industry. The largest supplier of dolphins in the world is located in the picturesque town of Taijii, Japan. But the town has a dark, horrifying secret that it doesn't want the rest of the world to know. There are guards patrolling the cove, where the dolphin capturing takes place, who prevent any photography. The only way to stop the evil acts of this company and the town that protects it is to expose them....and that's exactly what the brave group of activists in The Cove intend to do. Armed with state-of-the-art surveillance equipment, the members of the small group, led by the most famous dolphin trainer in the world, devise a covert plan to infiltrate the cove to document the horrifying events that happen there. Along the way, they uncover what may be the largest health crisis facing our planet— the poisoning of our seas. Part environmental documentary, part horror film, part spy thriller, The Cove is as suspenseful as it is enlightening. The final result is a heart-wrenching, but inspirational, story that shows the true power of film in the hands of people who aren't afraid to risk everything for a vital cause.

Bike Month pt2

2010-05-31T20:10:00.001-04:00

Looks like Bike Month got off to a great start! There were quite a few people at the CBC this morning and City Hall was packed!
It was good to see some familiar faces. I hope everyone can check out some of the events going on this month. Check out the City's webpage for more info on all the events.

Matt G. interviewing cycling activists and a driving instructor about what drivers and cyclists can do to keep the roads safe for everyone.

The Toronto Cyclist Union all set up at City Hall.

Just a small glimps of the hoards of cyclists at City Hall this morning.

Bike Month

2010-05-28T13:52:00.005-04:00

Toronto's Bike Month is starts on Tuesday, but there are plenty of pre-events going on too (I plan on going to the Brick Works this weekend and getting that free bike wash).
Download the pdf or visit your local bike shop (LBS) and pick up a brochure filled with all the events going on. There is a lot of stuff going on from group rides to workshops, so check it out!

It all kicks off on Monday (May 31st) with a group ride down to city hall for a free pancake breakfast and a free t-shirt (while supplies last). Here are some pics of some sweet custom rides that showed up at last year's group ride. You can also stop by the CBC between 5:30-8:30am for coffee, muffins, and watch a live broadcast of CBC's Metro Morning, click here for more info.

I'm going to try to hit up one of these events before making my way to work. Hope to see some of you there too!

Garden Links

2010-05-28T13:37:00.003-04:00

Well I've been finishing around the internet these days to find out some good gardening tip and get some info around school gardens.
Here is just a few links that I thought you might be interested in:

Toronto Balconies Bloom - Toronto has acres of untapped growing space on its balconies, and an opportunity for creating a peaceful and pleasurable living environment while at the same time improving the air we breathe. Just because you don't have a backyard doesn't mean you can't be a gardener.

The Locavore's Garden - Here you'll find some great tips on starting and maintaining a food garden.

Growing for Green - A Ward 21 garden blog group that offers various workshops and volunteer opportunities.

Green Neighbours 21 - A grass-roots, action-oriented group of people who live in ward 21 (and beyond) who are working together on solutions to climate change and other environmental problems.

Green Garage - This private company specializes is green roofing, keeps your house cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

Pin It for the Planet

2010-05-28T13:15:00.003-04:00

Sorry for totally slacking off with the updates, but here is a quick one to let you know about an event that starts on Monday (May 31st)

I know that I mentioned this event in an earlier post about the Green Living Show, but now there is a little more going on.
The WWF has created a website where you can sign up and track how many kilometres you've travelled with out your car.

Now when you see someone with car keys pinned to their shirt you'll know what it's all about and you can give them a high 5 for being car free.

Oh, I nearly forgot to mention that bike month will be starting on Monday too. If you're working downtown don't forget to take advantage of a free breakfast outside the CBC on Front St. if you're on your bike

Bottle Water Con't

2010-05-17T09:30:00.002-04:00

Sorry I haven't been able to update in the last little while, things around here are getting busy.
The cheque from Metro finally came through (yaaa!) and we're looking at what we need to get to make sure we have a happy garden.

I just wanted to give a quick update about my bottled water post because I came across another link from the Story of Stuff creator. If you're not familiar with the Story of Stuff you should really check it out.
I'm not sure if I posted this link NFB link for bottle water free week, but here it is again WaterLife.nfb.ca. There are some great short videos about how people use water. This site is really well done and lots of fun to explore.

I'll be sure to keep everyone up to date on the garden as it unfolds. In the mean time if you have any garden tools kicking around that you no longer use or want to replace, please feel free to get in touch with me or the school and donate them to our project.

How To Eat Fried Worms

2010-04-28T09:29:00.015-04:00

Okay, so I won't be eating these little critters, but I'm hoping that they'll eat all of my food refuse and leave me with some top notch worm castings (poo) for the garden.

The workshop was put on by Food Share and I only had to shell out $10 bucks. I feel really bad that I can't remember the name of the man who ran the workshop, aside from being a wealth of knowledge and giving up his time for cost he was also full of awesome teacher/dad jokes.

I had no idea how easy a tower system vermicomposter would be to build. The only hard part would be getting the worms. There are a few people who sell them online (Cathy's Crawly Composters), but if you know someone with a manure pile there should be some wiggling around in there just remember to take a deep breath before digging in.

The materials:

* 5 plastic shoe boxes - they come in a 5 pack at Canadian Tire

* A small piece of landscaping fabric to cover holes in the bottom lid - this stops the castings from falling through the holes and still allows you to collect the liquid (compost tea) at the bottom.

[That's it!]

The plastic shoe boxes that we used had these three circles on the top of the lids that were perfect for marking the spots for drilling the large holes. We put the lid under the box to make sure the holes would line up when they were all stacked. The heat from the drill will melt the two piece together so we had to carefully pull them apart so as to not break them. We used a smaller drill bit (1/8") to drill some ventilation holes in the top lid.

Once all the drilling was done it was time to fill them up with bedding (damp shredded newspaper), worms, and a little top soil.

[Red wigglers and some melon rind]

[Inside the finished product]

Right now I only have the first level of my tower working, but in about 3 months it the other four levels should be operational and I'll have double the worms I started with. The fifth bottom box is for collecting the compost tea (it does not have holes in the bottom of it). Once the box I'm filling with organic food scraps becomes full I'll add the next box to the top and so on.

This is totally going to be a project for Eco-Club next year. I had considered doing it this year, but I'd like to make sure it works and become a bit of an expert at it before I go sharing my knowledge.

Dandelions 101

2010-04-27T15:08:00.013-04:00

Today we started the solarization of the school garden. I hope that no one steals or messes with the tarps. The tarps will have to stay on for four weeks and then the planting will begin! But this isn't what I wanted to talk about.

As you may have noticed over the last few weeks the dandelions have started to flower and are likely taking over your yard. I have to be honest and say that I think dandelions (Taraxacum) a quite pretty and when they're done flowering there is nothing more fun than blowing all the white seed pods into the wind, making for some good pictures and a great way to make wishes.

But aside from all of that dandelions are really good for you and a lot of insects too! The yellow flower is an important source of nectar and pollen for early honey production. Dandelion pollen is also great for making bee pollen. If you find that you have allergies in early spring you may want to consider taking local bee pollen to help alleviate some of the symptoms (itchy eyes, runny nose, asthma, etc.). Butterfly larvae use dandelions as a food source and without food for the larvae there would be no butterflies! The numbers of both these insects are decreasing rapidly because of the way we effect their environments.

Okay, so they look pretty and they're good for insects, but I know that you're asking yourself "what do I get out of them?". I'm glad you asked this question. There are many ways you can use dandelion and it has quite a few medicinal properties too. Many naturopaths use dandelion to purify the liver and gallbladder of toxins. The leaves have large amounts of vitamins: A, C, D, and B-complexes. It also contains the following minerals: iron, magnesium, zinc potassium, manganese, copper, choline, calcium, boron, and silicon. I also find the leaves to be quite tasty. The leaves can be juiced or put into a salad and if you are able to pick them before they flower the leaves will have a less bitter taste. The root of the dandelion can be used to make teas and I've recently learned how to make dandelion jelly from the flowers, some people even make dandelion wine. I never knew that there were so many ways that one could prepare this plant for eating!

If you're living somewhere and don't have access to dandelions you should be able to find them at your local health foods store and your local grocer may carry them too. Since you're eating the leaf I would highly recommend that you buy organic to avoid all the unwanted toxins from pesticides. If you're living in Toronto I'll remind you that the city and the TDSB do not spray any chemicals to control weeds or pests, so take a walk to your local park or school field with big reusable bag and start foraging some organically grown delights!

Composting

2010-04-26T15:48:00.004-04:00

I came across this on the internet today and had to share it with all of you.

Nature Mill is a company out of San Francisco that make composter for your home.

This awesome little unit can fit under your sink or in a cabinet. I think that this would be perfect for people living in apartments, condos, or don't have the ability to compost in their backyard.

The unit can do about 50lbs of organic waste a week, which work out to a family of four according to their website. In about three weeks you get soil that's perfect for the garden or topping up house plants.

I know what you're thinking, don't composters smell? This unit comes with a charcoal/carbon air filter that claims to last 5 years.

What a neat little invention.

Green Living Follow Up

2010-04-26T09:19:00.006-04:00

On Sunday I decided to take advantage of the crummy weather and take in the Green Living Show. I ended up not checking out the 4hr wine tasting because the description was to vague to justify spending $40 bucks to learn about growing grapes organically in Southern Australia. At any rate I was happy to recycle my old cell phone for free admission, guess I'll have to find a new paper weight.

I was impressed with this year's show. I'm not sure if it was any larger than in previous years, but there seemed to be a bigger focus on food and if you know me you know that I love food.
I was able to check out some interesting booths and get some great information on community eco-events coming up in the future, which I'll be sure to share with you. The World Wild Life Fund was promoting Pin It For The Planet (May 30th - June 5th), going a week without your car and pinning your car keys to your shirt to show your support. I'll be sure to remind you closer to the date about this one, but if you see someone with car keys pinned to their shirt give them a thumbs up and know that it's not the newest fashion trend.

Okay, I've got to make a stop at a hardware store tonight! I slacked off this weekend and didn't get a drop sheet for solarizing the garden. I'm also going to a workshop tonight put on by Food Share where we will be building our own vermicomposters!!! I'll take some pictures and share them with you.

Still waiting to hear from Metro about getting our grant money, what a pain this has turned out to be, grrr!

Food Not Lawns

2010-04-22T10:28:00.004-04:00

First off I should let all of you know the school garden has been approved, yeah!!!
Now we have to start prepping the planting bed, which means that we're going to solarize the ground (covering the ground with black plastic to kill/cook all the weeds and their seeds). Now were the heck can I get all this plastic? I'm thinking that I may be able to use heavy duty garbage bags, but I may have to check out a hardware store for some construction grade plastic, or a tarp. Anyone have any ideas???

Today the grade 1s and 2s planted some seeds that they'll grow in their classroom. We've got chard, romaine, arugula, pumpkin, watermelon, sugar peas, and snow peas. I hope that most of the seeds germinate and start to grow soon so that we can enjoy a salad before the end of the school year. Now I know that there is more than likely to be some vandalism or theft, but I'm going to keep my chin up if any of that happens. If we can keep the pumpkin and melons to the back of the garden maybe people wont notice them.

I've got to get ready for Eco-Committee meeting, then I'm off to hockey, and then I'm off to pick up my chest freezer (bought used) so that I'll have tons of space to freeze all the fresh local foods that are available at the farmers market this summer.

Things are looking good!

Green Living Show

2010-04-20T09:04:00.002-04:00

This weekend is the Green Living Show at Exhibition Place. I was planning on skipping this year's show because I didn't feel like it was worth the cost of admission, even with all the freebies from the vendors. But this year if you bring a electronic for recycling you'll get in for free. I can finally do something with my old busted up cell phone, I knew that I should hang on to it for something. If you don't have an electronic for recycling admission is $12.oo for adults, students (13-17) $9.oo, and children under 12 are free.

Now if you're like me and you like organic wines you may want to check out the biovino. A 4 hour wine tasting and seminar. If you buy your tickets online they are $39.95, if you buy them at the door it's an extra 5 bucks. But this ticket price includes your admission. Maybe I should just hang on to that ol' cell phone of mine for another time. I don't see my favourite vegan organic wine, Frogpond Farm, on the list but I'm sure they will have some sort of representation there because they are Ontario's only certified organic winery. I've noticed that a few LCBOs are now carrying cab' franc in the vintages section.

Enough with the booze. I was checking out the website for the Green Living Show and found some cool links that might interest you. The first is the farmers market shopping list give a decent run down of what you may find at farmers markets and when. The second one I found is for all you iphone and ipod touch junkies out there, 5 apps to keep you green.

That's all for now, I've got to get ready for the garden approval meeting today. Cross your fingers!

Design Consultation

2010-04-19T09:28:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow is going to be the big day. Will the garden get approved or not? I'm not sure why we have to get the garden approved again, but it seems like somewhere in the plans the idea got left out, even though a work crew was sent here last summer to clear out all the vegetation that was growing in the bed. At any rate I will make a drawing or model of how the garden will look and talk about our plan for watering it.
After the approval process it will be time to get working. This week I'll be working with the grade 1/2 class to start our seedlings. I'll also start spending some of this money that is yet to come from the Green Apple Grants.
I hear that it's going to be a hot summer, so the sooner we can get started on this the better. Watering the garden this summer will be a big job. I know that there are a few parents in the community who are on board, but the more the merrier. I'll be able to do some watering too and maybe I can get one or two other teachers to help out with that over the summer.

Solar Over Pics

2010-04-16T09:33:00.004-04:00

I know it has been a long time coming, but here are some of the photos from our Earth Hour event.

ummm, pizza

yummy and messy, s'mores!

our solar oven array

building our solar ovens

The School Garden

2010-04-12T12:25:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to give everyone a quick update about the garden. We've been told that we are receiving a grant from Metro Grocery Stores, but I'm waiting to hear if we spend that money first and they give us a cheque or are we to wait on the money? I've sent a few emails and am yet to receive a reply, grrr! I think that I'm going to start spending money on tools and just hope that the cash comes through.

The grade 1/2 class is going to start germinating the seeds that I picked up at Seedy Sunday. It looks like we'll have about four plots going: one grade 5/6 class, the 1/2 class, the eco-clubs, and the day care. GO TEAM!!!

We will be having our design consultation next week, so I'll have to gather up the plans and make it look nice for the design consultants. It's really great that all of this is coming together so nicely right now. I'm going to try and twist the Home School teacher to get a plot for her class too.

I know that some people have spoken with me and others about donating plants to the garden. I think that is totally awesome, but I need people to hold off on plant donations until everything is finalized. As well, we are going to try and keep this garden for native plants and food. We will also do companion planting so there will be a need for some flowers, but lets wait and make sure everything is okay before we get our hands dirty.

I hope that everyone else is as excited about this as I am!

Upcomming Events

2010-04-12T12:08:00.007-04:00

Here are some upcoming eco-events for ward 21. I tried to find a list of all these events on Joe Mihevc's webpage but they don't seem to be listed yet. Anyway, here are a few highlights:

Sunday, April 18th (noon to 4pm) Solar Energy Fair at the barns

Saturday, April 24th (9am to 11am) Community Clean-up Day
9:00-10:00 @ Cedarvale Park (meet under the footbridge)
10:00-11:00 @ Kay Gardner Beltline Trail and Old Park Road

Free Compost Days:
April 30th 5-7pm @ McMurrich P.S.
May 3rd 4-6pm @ St. Bruno Catholic School
May 4th 4-7pm @ St. Alphonsus Cathlock School
May 5th 4-6pm @ Cedarvale Community School
May 7th 4-6pm @ Humewood Community School
May 13th 4-6pm @ Wychwood Barns
May 14th 4-7pm @ J.R. Wilcox P.S.

Saturday, June 12th (11am to 5pm) Strawberries and Asparagus Festival (Cedarvale Park)... Bring a blanket, some picnic food, and stick around for one of my favourite movies screening in the park at 8:30pm

Sunday, June 13th (10am to 2pm) Community Environment Day (Wychwood Barns Park)

Meatless Mondays

2010-04-08T08:15:00.002-04:00

I chose to become vegetarian because I wanted to eat lower on the food chain and reduce my environmental foot-print. Now the Toronto Vegetarian Association is promoting Meatless Mondays. The goal of this campaign is to get all the omnivores out there give up meat for one day a week. It was also featured in The Toronto Star.

Now you may be asking yourself how not eating meat can reduce your impact on the planet. Well it's easy. It takes around 6-9lbs of corn to grow 1lbs on beef, you can take this the next step and think about how much water would be needed too. The commercial farming industry has grown so big that fecal matter from farms is starting to pollute ground water and neighbouring farm crops... ever wonder how spinach can get E Coli?
Here are some interesting facts and figures about meat consumption and the environment:

1)
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) calls the meat industry “one of the most significant contributors to the world’s environmental problems,” including acid rain, deforestation, water and land pollution. According to the FAO, animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of global climate change, more than all forms of transportation.

2)
In 2000 alone, 40 billion chickens – more than six times the human population – were transported using massive amounts of fuel and generating tonnes of pollutants in the process. Going vegetarian would eliminate 1.5 tons of CO2 equivalent gas emissions per person, per year — an even bigger difference than switching from a SUV to a hybrid.

3)
In Canada, it takes seven times more land to feed a non-vegetarian than a vegetarian. With one-third of the world’s cereal harvest and 90 percent of the world’s soy harvest being raised for animal feed, the energy required to grow those crops is a major factor in toxic gas emissions. In the United States and Canada, half of all synthetic fertilizer is used for feed crops.

I'm trying to keep this strictly a green eco-blog, but I want to take this time to mention that even if you are an omnivore there isn't anything wrong with that. I just think that you should take the time to find out as much information as you can about the factory farming system. Chances are the meat on your plate didn't come from a place even remotely resembling what you think of when you think of a farm. If you're going to eat meat you should really be buying from local organic farmer and buy beef that has been grass fed, not grain.

If you're interested on finding out more facts and interesting information on vegetarianism, factory farming, organic farming, GMOs, and the environmental impact they have check out John Robbins book "The Food Revolution".

I guess this big long post makes up for my absence.

Please feel free to leave comments, lets get a dialogue going.

The Story of Food

2010-03-27T18:16:00.004-04:00

This will have to be a quick one before I shut everything down for Earth Hour tonight.

This video was sent to me recently and I thought that you might be interested in checking it out.
USC is a Canadian seed/organic/sustainable small scale farming advocacy group with a global focus. Check out their website for more information about who they are and what they do. They have an awesome seed map that I saw at Seed Sunday and am totally ordering.

Okay, I've got to get ready for my electricity free evening. I hope everyone has a family fun filled Earth Hour, I'm playing Catan with friends.

Solar Ovens Con't

2010-03-26T15:14:00.002-04:00

Wow, what a great time that was!!! The students had a blast building their solar ovens and making the s'mores, but what they loved the most was eating them!
There were some people from the media here as well; OMNI, The Mirror, and I took some photos for the Town Crier. The student were really excited for the media and I can't wait to see what it looks like tonight on the news.
I'd like to thank everyone that came out, it was great to see everyone turn out.
I don't have the pictures yet, but I will be sure to post them this weekend.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Solar Ovens

2010-03-26T10:31:00.002-04:00

Today we're going to try out all of our solar ovens and have the Eco-Clubs talk to the students in the school about thermal heat and how our solar ovens work.
We will be on the field from 2-3pm, so please feel free to come by and check it out.
I'll post some pictures later.

Earth Hour & Solar Ovens

2010-03-23T13:51:00.003-04:00

The TDSB will be taking part in Earth Hour on Friday March 26th from 2pm-3pm. Eco-Schools has put out an Earth Hour challenge to all schools to create solar ovens or do some sort of electricity free activity.
After school our Eco-Club will be making solar ovens for Friday's Earth Hour. The ones we will be making are made from pizza boxes, aluminium foil, oven bags, black construction paper, news print, and a little tape.

I built one the other day so I would have a finished product to show the students and was surprised at how easy they are to make. Unfortunately it has been over cast and rainy so I haven't had a chance to test it out and see how hot it can get. I'm sure that we'll be able to melt cheese, but would we be able to boil water or cook an egg?
If Friday is a sunny day you're welcome to come and check out our Earth Hour Solar Oven Event!!!!

Toronto will be participating in Earth Hour on Saturday March 27th from 8:30pm-9:30pm

Bottled Water Free Week Warp-up

2010-03-12T15:46:00.003-05:00

March 11th was Bottled Water Free Day. I challenged all the students at our school to not bring bottled water for the whole week. We also added the challenge of using a reusable container for all their drinks. I went around at lunch time giving out prizes to students that were able to meet this challenge.
I have to say that the students at our school did really well with this challenge. I nearly went broke giving out prizes! The primary students (and their parents) are doing an amazing job not only with re-usable drinking containers, but also with waste-free lunches. Now it's just getting them to bring anything that is waste home so it can be disposed of properly. The junior students on the other hand are another story. Though many of the students are good about re-usable water bottles their lunches are another story. This got me to thinking that each week students should be given a challenge to make their lunches more environmentally friendly. I'm also looking into what we can do for next year to make sure students are doing their best to bring waste-free lunches everyday. Maybe on curriculum night we can set up a waste-free lunch display and sell some inexpensive, re-usable containers.

Hope everyone has a great March break!

The Numbers

2010-03-05T11:51:00.003-05:00

Prices from www.grocerygateway.com

A 12 pack of 330ml water bottles is $3.99. A reusable container can cost anywhere between $1.00-$15.00 depending one the type you buy. Considering that you pay for the water that comes out of your tap the reusable bottle pays for itself after 1-4 cases of water. After that it's nothing but savings!

A 8 x 200ml tetra pack (juice box) of Allen's apple juice costs $2.99 ($0.19/100ml).
The Del Monte "Grab N Go pouch" costs $3.49 for 10 x 200ml ($0.17/100ml).
The 1.2L can of Allen's apple juice costs $1.29 ($0.11/100ml).

Not a huge savings between these options, but the savings will add up over time. You should also consider the waste from each of these options. The 1.2L can is 100% recyclable, where as the only the paper part of the juice box is recyclable (the straw and inner lining go to waste). The Grab N Go pouch is 100% waste, not a single part of it can be put in your recycling bin.

Bottled Water Free Day

2010-03-05T11:22:00.003-05:00

Bottle Water Free Day will be March 11th, 2010. I encourage everyone look at the website and read the information they have. Lets see how many people can make the pledge to be free of bottled water on March 11th.
On Monday I will make the challenge to all students at our school to go without bottled water for the whole week. I will also extend this challenge to include juice boxes, terra packs (Kool Aid Jammers), and other on non-reusable drink containers. Not only are non-reusable containers wasteful in the long run they will end up costing you more money!!!

Here is a fun video about Bottled Water Free Day.

Why are you paying for water when it is already hardwired into your house?

Eco-Assembly

2010-03-04T15:36:00.004-05:00

What an awesome assembly we had today!!! I'd like to thank all the parents who were able to come out to watch. I'd also like to thank the day care for performing and showing their recycled art as part of our Eco-Assembly.
The Wee-cyclers preformed a song and short skit about what we should be recycling at school and at home. The Jr. Eco-Club presented their posters about what we can do around the school to be greener and we will be displaying them throughout the school as a reminder to the students.
I think that the whole school got really pumped today about the assembly! I'm hoping that they will take it back to the classroom and start to make sure that they are doing everything they can to be eco-responsible.
We're going for gold this year and I think that we can do it!!!

Food Imports

2010-03-02T08:31:00.009-05:00

These days eating locally has becoming more and more popular. So much so that now Hellmann's (the mayonnaise) has put together a video about Canadian food imports, the economics of eating locally grown food, and how that affects our environment. I know that no one wants to eat root vegetable sandwiches all winter, but we should be making an effort to buy locally grown organic produce whenever possible.
I've included the video and a link to their website, but I'm always weary of big companies jumping on board with the latest trends. I wonder how many of the ingredients Hellmann's uses are locally sourced for each factory?

Eco-Posters

2010-02-23T20:05:00.005-05:00

Today the Eco-Club began working on the final copies of our posters for the March 4th assembly.
The students seem to be having a lot fun coming up with ideas and creating posters to help other students and our school become more green.
I hope there will be a good turn out for the assembly. Not only are the posters going to be displayed, but the Wee-Cyclers have been working on a song and a brief skit about littering. I'm sure that it will be really cute!
The Eco-Club will present the entire school with our bronze Eco-schools certification sticker from last year. I really want to take this chance to get students pumped about going for gold this year.
Litter and lunch time waste are a big problem at our school. With any luck students will start to think about where their waste should go: in a garbage can, recycling bin, or take it home for composting.

Tree Workshop

2010-02-23T15:32:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow I'm going to a tree workshop being put on by Eco-Schools. I'm really looking forward to it. The last one was great. I've done all my homework and maybe we'll get a chance to update our tree tours with photos.
You should be able to find our school's tree tour if you type the school name into Google with the words "eco-schools tree tour".

I'm hoping to come back from this workshop with more activities to get students outside. I think that we're also going to get a tree cookie (a cross section of the trunk)

Seedy Saturday (Sunday)

2010-02-22T08:26:00.007-05:00

Wow, what a busy and jam packed place the barns were on Sunday. I would have liked to have spent more time looking around and talking with vendors, but it was just way too packed for me.
It was great to see Garden Jane there. I first met her when I worked out in Scarborough, back when I first started teaching and got involved with Eco-Schools. Jane has a great program going on with beans and I hope to get in touch with her to find out more about it. Jane is the woman who gave me the recipe for seed balls.
While it's on my mind I'll have to remember to make seed balls with the Eco-Club for Easter and/or Mothers Day. That way students can go out with their families and drop balls all over the neighbourhood.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the main reason that I went to Seedy Sunday... to get seeds!!! There were tonnes of plants to choose from and lots of vendors. I was looking for plants that would either come up early in the season while students were still in school or late in the season when students have come back to school.
I managed to get some pumpkin seeds, chard, peas, and arugula. I can't help but think that maybe I should have tried to get some corn and have a Three Sisters section in the garden. I was also able to get native butterfly plants; they're in my freezer right now being tricked into thinking that they're in the ground ;)
I wonder if I can do the same thing with garlic?

Go Green: Climate Change Action Plan

2010-02-19T12:06:00.003-05:00

The TDSB is taking a direction on climate change.
On Feb 3rd the TDSB's Board of Trustees approved the "Go Green: Climate Change Action Plan". I encourage everyone to read through this document to see what the school board has planned for the future. It outlines how the board is looking to reduce carbon emissions through the use of Solar PV systems, electric vehicles, waste pick up, and a very long term goal of market gardens.
It also includes what is already happening through the Eco-Schools program, which means that eco-literacy is still a big piece of the picture. There really isn't any point in doing this if we don't continue to educate our students about why being green is important.

Green Neighbours 21

2010-02-18T08:10:00.005-05:00

Green Neighbours 21 is a local community group for ward 21 and just beyond. They are a group of volunteers helping their neighbours reduce home energy use.
This program is different from a home energy audit done by a certified auditor because its role is to compliment the energy audit process. They can help you arrange an energy audit, connect you with neighbours who have done similar work, offer you a list of contractors who have been used and rated by the member community, and most importantly calculate your actual energy savings.
They also offer tips on things that you can do to seal air leaks in your home. Air sealing and draft proofing can reduce your energy bill by as much as 20%.
I know it's a little late in the season for this information, but there are still many cold weeks ahead and there isn't much time to be part of this program (it wraps up this summer for evaluation).

Two posts in one day, who'd have thunk it?

Seedy Saturday... ON SUNDAY!!!

2010-02-18T08:03:00.007-05:00

I was reminded to post this after I heard about it again on Metro Morning. I hope that it has doesn't get too busy after being on the CBC.
Seedy Sunday will be taking place this Sunday (Feb. 21st) at the Wychwood Barns, barn #2. Aside from a great chance to get native and heirloom seeds there will also be interesting workshops and presentations.
The day starts at 12:30pm, with the workshops starting at 1pm, and runs until 6pm. Looks like that will give me a half hour to get the seeds I want before spending the rest of the afternoon attending workshops. There is a suggested donation of $2 and they are still looking for volunteers.

I guess this means that I'll have to finalize a list of the plants to grow at the school this year. Any suggestions of plants you'd like to see?

Tapping Urban Trees

2010-02-17T11:45:00.004-05:00

Not Far From the Tree is a local organization that you may have already heard about, or from, if you have a fruiting tree in your backyard. This organization started by picking fruit that would have otherwise gone to waste rotting on trees. They send volunteers to pick fruit from trees growing around the city with permission from the owners. 1/3 goes to the owner, 1/3 goes to the volunteers that picked the fruit, and the final 1/3 goes to a community organization.
They're always looking for volunteers and owners of fruiting trees ;)

I was excited to find out that they are now tapping local maple trees in Toronto. So if you have a maple tree in your backyard I urge you to get involved. You could end up with some great tasting maple syrup from your own backyard tree!!! If you don't have a tree that's okay, you can volunteer and still end up with some yummy syrup. Here's the link if you want to find out more information and take part in this great opportunity

Kool-Aid Jammers

2010-02-10T08:15:00.010-05:00

I was sent this link the other day about a fundraising program for schools. In a nut shell, the school collects Kool-Aid Jammers and Del Monte terra packs to receive 2cents for each one collected. That equals 20 dollars for every thousand collected. TerraCycle then uses the drink pouches to make tote bags, pencil case, etc.

Maybe this is something that our school should do?
I thought about it and realized that this recycling program doesn't really deal with the root of the problem. Our students should be bringing drinks to school in reusable containers. Also, there is little to no nutritional value in any of these drinks. 1 pouch (200ml) contains 24 grams of sugar, that's a little less than 6 teaspoons of sugar mixed with a little water. That's 90 empty calories of sugar water, how do think that would affect your ability to learn? Once all of these drink pouches have been collect they have to be driven to a UPS pick-up location where, I can only assume, they take another drive to a factory... seems like a lot of energy to recycle something that isn't good for so many reasons.

It would be nice to be part of this fundraising campaign, but I don't want to encourage students to consume a product and think that they're doing something good. How about people don't buy them and then we don't have to worry about how to recycle them or worry about taking up space in land fills?

The P.I.N.E Project

2010-02-09T15:30:00.003-05:00

Wow, here is a great organization in the West end of the city that is putting on extra-curricular programs for kids and their parents. They also host activities during the day for home schooled children.
The mission of PINE is to inspire healthy lifelong connections between people and nature through outdoor-based learning and play. They offer various activities that take place in High Park.

It seems like the cost of the program is donation based and works on a sliding scale.
There are no school programs offered yet, so I'll have to keep my fingers crossed... if only I could borrow some children just to check out what the programs are all about.

They are featured in the current issue of spacing magazine, but here is the link to their website.

Super Power Bloke - 5 Ways to Save the Planet

2010-02-04T18:33:00.007-05:00

Here is a fun British video about global warming with 5 tips for you to do at home to reduce your carbon footprint

The Food Terminal

2010-02-01T21:46:00.006-05:00

I caught wind of this CBC interview playing Sunday morning. Thankfully the CBC posts a lot of their content online so you can listen to it later or share it with other people.

Anita At The Food Terminal
Sunday, Jan. 31, 2010 | 06:00 AM AT
Anita Stewart
For Anita Stewart, LOCAL is where it's at. Local FOOD, that is. But finding FRESH local food at this time of the year can be a challenge. Unless you know where to look. And our culinary columnist DOES know. Anita joined guest host Karen Gordon to lift the lid on something called the Ontario Food Terminal.
Listen (runs 13:33) to their conversation.
And visit Anita's website to get up to date on all manner of food-related topics.

What Can I Recycle?

2010-02-01T20:57:00.010-05:00

It seems like there is a lot of confusion out there about what you can and cannot put into the city recycling bins. It looks like the city has caught on to this and retooled their web page to make it easier to figure out what goes where.
Follow this link for more information.

Dirt!

2010-01-29T15:55:00.011-05:00

Sorry for the late notice, but here is a great doc playing tonight at the Bloor Street Cinema. Check out this link for more info.

Getting Things Started

2010-01-27T08:15:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone, this is my first ever blog.

I've created this blog for the purpose to communicate with the school community about what our school is doing environmentally through the Eco-Schools committee and the Environment Club. This blog will also contain tips and useful information about what families can do at home to help reduce their environmental impact, as well as interesting events going on around the city of Toronto.

Thanks for reading and please check back frequently for updates,

Mr. Lister