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November 21, 2011

A Food Action Plan for Ottawa

Posted by greenlivingottawa under 100-mile, food, health, household, volunteering
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Written by guest blogger Denise Deby, who writes on local and global social and environmental issues.

The Ottawa organization Just Food is made up of a hardworking group of people who’ve been gathering some innovative ideas about how to make Ottawa’s food system healthier, more sustainable and accessible to everyone.

Many of us are trying to eat food that’s more nutritious, more local or grown more sustainably. And many Ottawa families can’t afford healthy food, according to the City of Ottawa. The Ottawa Food Bank helps address the gap, serving about 43,000 people a month. But it’s not a long-term solution.

Just Food has spent the last couple of years talking with Ottawa residents and food experts of different backgrounds about ways to bring about “Food for All.” In June they announced a Food Action Plan for Ottawa. The Plan consists of proposals on a range of issues. Ideas include improving access to land for community gardens, encouraging public institutions to “buy local,” bringing healthy food to schools, corner stores and transportation hubs, strengthening Ottawa’s local food-processing and distribution infrastructure, and enhancing income supports for people who need them. (These and more proposals are on Just Food’s website.)

The proposals “aren’t set in stone,” says Just Food, and they’re hoping that people will comment, and participate in “Kitchen Table Talks” coming up January through March next year.

Just Food is currently looking for people to help run the Kitchen Table Talks, and is offering training sessions for prospective animators. Three training sessions are scheduled so far, on November 21 at the Sandy Hill Community Centre, November 29 at the Centretown Community Health Centre, or December 5 at the Nepean, Rideau, Osgoode Community Resource Centre. You can check out the Just Food website for details and how to register.

Stay tuned for announcements about the Kitchen Table Talks themselves, and do check out the Food Action Plan proposals online.

 

November 15, 2011

Ottawa City Café

Posted by greenlivingottawa under flora and fauna, Ottawa, volunteering
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Written by guest blogger Denise Deby, who writes on local and global social and environmental issues.

Spacing Ottawa has created a very cool new series of events called Next City Café. Each month they bring together planners, community experts, “urban enthusiasts” and anyone interested at the Alpha Soul Café to talk about making Ottawa a great place to live. The first two Cafés were on “Everyday Cycling” (in September) and “The Future of Food” (in October).

This month’s Next City Café is on Reimagining our Community Green Spaces. It’s on Wednesday, November 16 at 7 p.m. at the Alpha Soul Café, 1015 Wellington Street West. Panellists will be Chris Osler, Community Developer of the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre and Aamina Bedran, Co-founder of the Ottawa Children’s Garden.

The Café will be a chance to dream up alternatives for some of Ottawa’s underused and neglected green spaces. The organizers say “Bring your imagination, a pen and your wish list for a local community space.”

 

November 14, 2011

Sustainable Food Events in Ottawa–Nov 2011

Posted by greenlivingottawa under 100-mile, health, household, organic, Ottawa, personal care, volunteering, waste reduction
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Written by guest blogger Denise Deby, who writes on local and global social and environmental issues.

Judging by the number of food-related events that keep coming up in Ottawa, more and more people are interested in sustainable, local and healthy food options—and they have more support than ever. Here are some events taking place this week:

Sustainable Food for Thought

CUSO-VSO hosts a discussion on sustainable farming with panellists from Nigeria, Southeast Asia and Ottawa. It’s Tuesday, November 15, 7-9 p.m. at the Cube Gallery, 1285 Wellington St. W. Free (suggested donation $5). Information at http://www.cuso-vso.org/event/34054/sustainable-food-for-thought—-ottawa.

Resilient Kitchen Workshop

Also on Tuesday, November 15: a workshop on Kitchen Cupboard Medicine: Healing Herbs and Spices, with Transition Ottawa and Amber Westfall. Learn about treating minor ailments with common herbs and spices. 7-9 p.m. at the Beaver Barracks, 464 Metcalfe St. Free (but bring your own mug). RSVP; details at http://resilientkitchen.wordpress.com/workshops/.

Food for All – A Food Action Plan for Ottawa
Just Food has developed an exciting new community vision and plan for food in Ottawa, based on consultations about local food issues and concerns. The plan centres on building a sustainable local food system, ensuring everybody has access to good food and promoting health through food security and nutrition. Just Food and Transition Ottawa are inviting “everybody who eats” to a workshop to help make the plan a reality. It’s on Thursday November 17 at 7:30 p.m. at Ecclesiax Sanctuary, 2 Monk St. (one block from 5th Ave. and Bank St.) More information at http://transitionottawa.ning.com/events/food-for-all-a-food-action-plan-for-ottawa-justfood and http://justfood.ca.

 

November 10, 2011

Tree-planting Ceremony for Wangari Mathaai

Posted by greenlivingottawa under climate change, flora and fauna, media, Ottawa, volunteering
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Written by guest blogger Denise Deby, who writes on local and global social and environmental issues.

In Minto Park, at the corner of Elgin and Gilmour Streets downtown, there’s a new sugar maple tree. It was planted this week to honour environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Muta Mathaai, who passed away on September 25, 2011.

Wangari Mathaai never lived in Ottawa, but her life’s work has influence and relevance here—and throughout the world. Dr. Mathaai was a Kenyan environmentalist, scientist, human and women’s rights advocate, political activist and parliamentarian.

Wangari Mathaai founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977 as a grassroots community-based tree-planting program to address environmental degradation and empower women; it’s become a global movement working for human rights, democracy, peace and climate justice as well. Her work was challenging, at times dangerous, but she persevered. “It is the people who must save the environment. It is the people who must make their leaders change,” she said, “So we must stand up for what we believe in.” Professor Mathaai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 and has received dozens of other awards and recognitions.

To celebrate Wangari Mathaai’s life and achievements, the Nobel Women’s Initiative, an organization based in Ottawa that Dr. Mathaai herself helped found in 2004, along with Ecology Ottawa, hosted the tree-planting ceremony on Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at Minto Park, with the High Commissioner of Kenya, Simon Nabukwesi, the Ambassador of Norway, Else Eikeland, and Mayor Jim Watson attending.

For Wangari Mathaai, sustainability, human rights, peace and justice were interconnected. “She did not put women’s rights, democracy and the environment into separate boxes,” said Liz Bernstein, Executive Director of the Nobel Women’s Initiative, at the ceremony.

Mathaai also believed that every person could take action. Ecology Ottawa’s Trevor Haché summed it up this way: “May this tree that we will plant today in the ceremony serve as inspiration and an important reminder to all Ottawa citizens that we have the power to effect change and we will always encourage our elected officials to do more to protect the planet.”

 

Trailer “I will be a hummingbird”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGMW6YWjMxw&feature=player_embedded#! or

http://www.dirtthemovie.org/

 

Trailer for Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Mathaai http://greenbeltmovement.org/w.php?id=82

 

 

September 26, 2011

Ottawa Action to oppose the Tar Sands September 26, 2011

Posted by greenlivingottawa under climate change, energy, flora and fauna, health, volunteering, waste reduction, water
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Written by guest blogger Denise Deby, who writes on local and global social and environmental issues.

In case you haven’t heard, the Council of Canadians, the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) and Greenpeace Canada along with other organizations and individuals are calling on people to protest the tar sands industry with an action and rally in Ottawa on Monday, Sept. 26 on Parliament Hill. A planned sit-in and a solidarity rally at the Centennial Flame both begin at 10:00 a.m. (Organizers held a mandatory training session on Sept. 25 for people participating in the sit-in which is a civil disobedience action.) Be sure to check the Ottawa Action website for details if you’re thinking of getting involved or want to find out more.

Organizers say the action is necessary to send a message to the Canadian government that tar sands mining and other unsustainable forms of energy extraction like shale fracking are unacceptable – not only because of their harmful effects on people and the environment but because they extend our dependence on fossil fuels when we should be investing in alternatives. The Council of Canadians, for example, has called for a Canadian Energy Strategy based on principles of energy security and ecological sustainability.

The Ottawa Action follows the protest earlier this month in Washington, D.C. of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would transport oil from the Alberta tar sands to the U.S. Gulf coast. So far dozens of organizations have endorsed the Ottawa Action – including, for example, the Assembly of First Nations, the Dene Nation, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), Physicians for Global Survival (PGS) and the UK Tar Sands Network. Individual supporters include Bill McKibben (founder of 350.org), Gorden Pinsent, Graham Greene, Naomi Klein, Shirley Douglas, Tantoo Cardinal and Dave Thomas as well as scientists, First Nations leaders and other prominent Canadians.

You can also follow what’s happening through Ottawa Action on Twitter (@OttawaAction) on Twitter or Facebook (see OttawaAction.ca for details).

 

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