Come visit us at the Ottawa Folk Festival
this weekend (August 13-15) at Britannia Park. Listen to some great
music and while you're at it, stop by and say hello. Learn about our
election campaign, find out how you can get involved, and more. Just
look for our giant 8-foot banner!
See you there!
Radiant City - An Outdoor Movie Event
Join Ecology Ottawa for a movie under the stars as part of the 10 year anniversary for the Centretown Movies Festival.
Film Summary: Radiant
City is a National Film Board of Canada film released in 2006 at the
Toronto Film Festival, about suburban sprawl and the fictional Moss
family who live in the suburbs.
Details: Location: Dundonald Park (Somerset & Bay) Date & Time: Friday August 13, 9:00 pm
Admission is pay-what-you-can. Don't forget to bring something
comfortable to sit on.
For more info, click here to view the Facebook event page.
Visit us at Projet ECOSPHERE this weekend!
Come
visit the Project ECOSPHERE, Ecological Fair this weekend (July 31st to
August 2nd) at Confederation Park. We will also be there so stop by and
say hello. If you'd like to volunteer to help us out at this festival,
please email .
Come visit us this weekend at the Ottawa Turkish Festival!
Ecology
Ottawa will be at the Ottawa Turkish Festival this weekend (July 24-25)
at Confederation Park to take part in the festivities so stop by our
table and say hello!
See you there.
If you'd like to to help out by volunteering with Ecology Ottawa email: .
For more information about the festival click here.
2010 Great Glebe GREEN Garage Sale - Our most successful
yet!
Ecology Ottawa would like to thank all the many volunteers
and donors for their help in making this year's Great Glebe GREEN Garage
Sale a success! Of special note, a big congratulations goes out to
Josh Snider whose tireless efforts ensured that this year's edition was
the best yet.
Thanks
to everyone who wrote to city council about the 2010 city budget.
Thanks to the interventions of you and other concerned Ottawa residents,
council reversed the proposed cuts to transit service, the
U-Pass transit program for university students, and maintenance of city
trees!
Also included in the
final 2010 budget is the Smart Energy Initiative, which focuses
on energy-efficiency improvements to city-owned buildings, and increased
funding for the Ottawa Cycling Plan and Pedestrian Plan. The
city will construct new cycling lanes and sidewalks, and
pedestrian/cycling bridges over the Rideau Canal and the Rideau River.
For
more details on the final budget that was passed, see the news coverage
here.
Do developers run city hall?
An Ecology Ottawa report released today reveals that developers
donated $120,000 to city councillors and the mayor in the last
municipal election. This report sheds new light on developer influence
at city hall at a crucial moment, with council preparing to re-draw
Ottawa's urban boundary in June as part of their revision of the
city's official plan.
"It seems large developers and their
interests are being put first—ahead of the broader public
interest—in key decisions about how our city will grow," says Trevor
Haché, Ecology Ottawa steering committee member. "What is most revealing
about this report, however, is how widespread the acceptance of
political contributions from these influential vested interests is."
City council fails to make the grade on environment
Ecology Ottawa released its annual report card
on the environmental performance of Ottawa's mayor and city councillors.
In this year's report, seven council members scored D or lower --
including Mayor O'Brien, who received a failing grade.
The report
reviews 14 key environmental decisions made by council over the past
year and assigns a grade to the mayor and each councillor based on the
votes he or she cast.
We had many excellent nominations for
our inaugural Ecology Ottawa Community Leadership Awards. It is great
to see so much excellent work happening for the local environment. The
award winners for 2009 are:
Community Leader of the Year: Rebecca
Aird
High School of the Year: Gisèle Lalonde High School
Green
Team of the Year: Beechwood Village Chiropractic Centre
Ecology
Ottawa Volunteer of the Year (tied): Josh Snider and Andrew
Hawryshkewich
Presentation to city on proposed changes to
official plan
Ecology Ottawa is warning residents that changes
to the city’s official plan that have been proposed by municipal staff
would lock Ottawa into sprawling, unsustainable development patterns.
The group will present their position Tuesday to the city’s
planning and rural affairs committees, who are meeting to review the
proposed amendments. The plan goes to city council for approval in May.
For
more information, or to read our submission to the city on this
plan, clickhere.
Ottawa
festivals getting greener
Ecology Ottawa has released a
report assessing the greening efforts of 15 local festivals. The report
is based on Ecology Ottawa's second annual survey of festivals,
conducted this past spring. It explores the steps being taken by
festivals in 2009 to reduce waste, cut emissions from transportation and
energy use, provide sustainable food & beverage options, and limit
consumption of water, paper, and other materials.
Ecology
Ottawa has released a report that outlines a three-part strategy
for the city to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, and waste
from Ottawa's buildings. Building Ottawa's Energy Revolution: How
the City of Ottawa Can Encourage Greener Building Practices
calls upon the city to adopt several policies that have been used by
other cities to increase environmental standards in new construction.
Thank you for signing the petition to end the transit strike
Ecology Ottawa thanks everyone who signed our petition to city council to end the transit strike. In only 7 days, over 4,600 Ottawa residents signed the petition, which was delivered to city council on Wednesday, January 28th.
The social and economic upheaval experienced during this strike serves to underscore the importance of a strong public transit system
to our city's ability to function. So let's make sure that 2009 isn't
the year that short-term thinking about economic woes pushes a sustainable transportation future off of the city's agenda once again!
Speak up for public's right to participate in planning decisions
Please help defend the public’s right to challenge environmentally questionable development decisions made by the city.
An Ontario court has ordered to the non-profit Greenspace Alliance
responsible for the city's legal costs from an earlier court case in
which the alliance had challenged the city's approval of a housing
development in Ottawa South in an effort to protect the provincially significant Leitrim Wetland.
On Tuesday, February 3, city councillors will consider a motion for the city to cease pursuing the Greenspace Alliance for these legal costs. Please support this motion by writing to the mayor and your councillor.
On December 3, Ecology Ottawa made a presentation to city council, urging our mayor and councillors not to scrimp on environmental initiatives while slurging on sprawl in the city's 2009 budget.
Ottawa mayor and councillors dragging feet on environmental progress
In a repeat of last year's lukewarm performance on the environment, Mayor O'Brien and the majority of city councillors coasted through 2008
without decisively pursuing the strong environmental actions that are
needed to tackle Ottawa's environmental challenges. Find out who scored
well, who failed, and what the key environmental decisions made at city
hall were in the 2008 Council Watch Report, released today by Ecology Ottawa and the Ottawa Local Group of the Sierra Club of Canada.
Tell the city to cut new road projects, not transit
It's
budget time at city hall, and once again councillors are considering
slashing transit service, along with funding for everything from
recreation to public health. What isn't on the chopping block, however,
is the one thing that should be: the city's extravagant budget for new
roads.
Now's the time to sign Ecology Ottawa's petition for a five-year moratoriumon new roads.
We want to see the money that the city has earmarked for extending and
widening roads shifted instead towards transit and pedestrian and
cycling infrastructure. With your help, we can send a strong message to
city council that we want a city built for sustainable, healthy modes of transportation -- not the dead end of an ever-expanding road network.
In our ongoing efforts to lead Ottawa toward a more sustainable, clean and green energy future, Ecology Ottawa has worked out a special offer with Bullfrog Power, Ontario's only residential retailer of renewable green electricty. Sign up and receive $25 off the first bill. We don't receive any money in return, just the satisfaction of knowing the air will be cleaner.
Simply visit www.bullfrogpower.com.
Enter: ecology (one word, lower case) in the promotional code field,
and to sign up to one of Canada's cleanest electricity producers! And be sure to spread the word about this special offer to your neighbours and friends.
Ecology Ottawa introduces "greenprints" for a sustainable city
Ecology
Ottawa has introduced its first set of "greenprints" for a sustainable
city. These policy papers propose zoning regulations to reduce the size
of parking lots and to ensure residents' access to solar energy. They
are the first in a series of a dozen greenprints to be released by Ecology Ottawa
throughout the year. Each will identify a specific action that city
council can take to make Ottawa a more sustainable city. The
greenprints are based on environmental best practices in other North American cities, many of which are leaps and bounds ahead of Ottawa when it comes to sustainability.
Ever wondered what's making your electricity bill so high?
You can find out just how much energy each of your appliances is using, with a “Kill-A-Watt” power meter
– available for loan from any branch of the Ottawa Public Library. The
power meter is a simple device that plugs into an electrical outlet.
You can then plug any appliance into the meter for a reading of its
electricity use. Reserve one online, and get ready to start saving some watts!
Check out Ecology Ottawa's Top 10 Action Steps
Find out what you can do now to reduce your ecological footprint. Check out our Top 10 Action Steps
