April 29, 2014 at the University of Ottawa's Desmarais Building, 12th floor. (just steps from the Transitway at Laurier)
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You're invited to attend on April 29th when Ecology Ottawa teams with the University of Ottawa Centre on Governance to bring you the panel discussion Sick of Climate Change? Local Health Impacts in a Warming World
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Panellists:
- Councillor Diane Holmes, Chair, Ottawa Board of Health
- John Stone, Adjunct Professor, Carleton University and Lead Author for the IPCC Working Group II Report
By Mike Fletcher, February 28, 2014
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A copy of the doorhangers distributed by Ecology Ottawa's volunteers.[/caption]
When Ecology Ottawa volunteers went door to door with thousands of flyers this past summer and fall, they came with a simple question:
“Are you prepared for an oil spill in Ottawa?”
![[INFOGRAPHIC] Health Impacts of Climate Change](https://cdn.nationbuilderthemes.ca/ecologyottawa/tr:w-990,fo-center,ar-3-2,q-85/pages/6643/attachments/original/1396550486/infographic-health-impacts-of-climate-change-r-825095bf789e4d1b9944e475ed332abc.jpg?1396550486)
Register here for the April 29 event Sick of Climate Change? Local Health Impacts in a Warming World.
This infographic gives an idea of some of the ways climate change makes us sick, and what it is about climate change that causes those health problems.
For each of the ovals above, the following give specific examples. Many of these are drawn from the book Fevered: Why a Hotter Planet Will Hurt Our Health and have been confirmed by comparison with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report, Working Group II, Chapter 11, Human Health: Impacts, Adaptation, and Co-Benefits
On Wednesday, February 19, City of Ottawa representatives and local community members met for the second time to discuss the traffic calming and greening project that is to be happening on Sunnyside Avenue later this year. The turn out was pretty good standing at about 20 local community members some of whom live on Sunnyside Avenue.
The city plans to put three rain gardens in at various intersections along the stretch of the street that will not only provide a calming aspect for traffic but will also serve as a bio-retention area for excess surface runoff. A big concern with regards to the rain gardens as green stormwater infrastructure, was the question of who would maintain them. The city of Ottawa representatives said that they are working with other sectors with in the city of Ottawa to coordinate the seasonal upkeep, which would be minimal. They encouraged residents to play a role in helping maintain the rain gardens .
Recent Study out of Finland
This study results released in December 2013, investigated the psychological (perceived restorativeness, subjective vitality, mood, creativity) and physiological (salivary cortisol concentration) effects of short-term visits to urban nature environments.
Seventy-seven participants visited three different types of urban areas; a built-up city centre (as a control environment), an urban park, and urban woodland located in Helsinki, the capital of Finland.
On January 20, 2014 at the home of one of our community network volunteers the ward’s City Councillor, the riding’s Member of Provincial Parliament, and the riding’s Member of Parliament gathered with 40 or so neighbours to talk about the Energy East pipeline planned to carry Alberta bitumen within the city limits of Ottawa.
The gathering was sociable and pleasant but the point was made to these elected officials that many people in the Champlain Park neighbourhood are concerned about this issue. Further, that we’d like our elected officials to think of ways to engage with the issue to protect both against the possibility oil spills and the certainty of climate change contributions that the pipeline implies.
A report released today by Ecology Ottawa argues that Tuesday’s budget is an opportunity for the federal government to help Ottawa residents clean up the Ottawa River. The report, entitled Cut the Crap and Fund the Plan: 2014 Should be a Breakthrough Year for Ottawa’s Rivers, argues that the federal government is out of excuses when it comes to the $65 million in federal infrastructure funding that the City of Ottawa needs to stop dumping untreated sewage into the river.