Green Guelph

It was a great time had by all at the Organic’s Show held at the University of Guelph this weekend! Many people stopped by my booth wondering what I was all about. Many businesses were exited to have the opportunity to get free advertising and links to their sites through greenguelph.ca

I have a few pictures that I’ll post later on for everyone. Please check out the “Your business” section as 2 companies have posted there for you.

Also, feel free to comment on the plastic bags issue as that topic was a hot one throughout the weekend!

Keep spreading the word about greenguelph.ca folks!

Cam

China’s on board. What about Guelph? Here is article below for you folks…

Here is an interesting article from the Toronto Star that I found today. These are a few of the recommendations put forward by an advisory group formed by the government on how to battle climate change. What do you think? Does it make sense to you? Please feel free to comment in the “comments” section at the end folks…

Finally, Canadians are getting the straight goods on global warming. But the information is not from Ottawa. Rather, it is from an advisory group that the government created to inform Canadians on the best ways to pursue the goals of a healthy environment and a strong economy.

The National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, a group comprised of businesspeople, academics and environmental experts, released a report Monday that offers a blunt assessment of what must be done to reach the government’s climate change targets. Those targets call for a 20 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, and a 60 per cent to 70 per cent cut by 2050.

Under the government’s current green plan, Canada won’t even come close to those targets, the panel says.

That’s because the government plan does not make Canadians pay much at all for the environmentally destructive emissions they pump into the atmosphere. The result is neither businesses nor consumers are making the changes needed to lower their emissions significantly.

The surest and most effective way to change behaviour and promote research and investments in clean technologies, says the panel, is to put a significant price on carbon emissions. And the faster that is done, it says, the lower will be the price needed in future years, and the lower the overall cost to the economy.

The report suggests that the best way for Ottawa to build a price for emissions into our economy is through a combination of a “carbon tax” on consumers and a “cap-and-trade” system that allows companies that produce less carbon than their caps permit to sell their unused quotas to companies that exceed their caps.

This is a sensible proposal because, while the purpose of a carbon tax would be to promote the use of carbon-free fuels and increased efficiency in the use of fossil fuels, it would also generate extra revenues that government doesn’t really need. Accordingly, the introduction of a carbon tax should be tied to an offsetting reduction in income taxes, so that Canadians who conserve energy find themselves no worse off than they would have been without a carbon tax.

And imposing definitive cuts for big polluters, or letting them trade their quotas in the marketplace, would allow some flexibility for industries that must make huge cuts in their current emissions.

Because this approach is the best way to fight climate change, not just for Canada, but for other countries as well, Ottawa should also be pushing for these ideas in negotiations on a new climate change treaty to go into effect when the Kyoto agreement expires in 2012.

I’m excited to announce our first public appearance at the largest organics conference and exhibit in Guelph at the end of January. Well over 2000 people attend this conference and it has many excellent workshops that you can attend. Today in the Guelph Mercury there is a article about this event. Here is the article for you…

This is an excellent article from one the youth community editorial members out of the Guelph Mercury. This is the type of stuff we need to hear about. Not the “doom and gloom” message that a lot of radical environmentalists throw at us. This is a normal girl, doing a small thing that will make a big difference. That’s what we all need to do. Start with the small things! Change a lightbulb, start composting etc… When you get your own home in order, then you can start making suggestions to me. This article is a perfect example…enjoy.

By: ANNA BISHOP

Where do New Year’s resolutions come from?A couple of months ago, I had the chance to help build a boardwalk in the Hanlon Creek Conservation Area. It was an immensely satisfying experience that sparked my New Year’s resolution.

We started early in the day and spent the morning carrying huge planks of wood to the boardwalk sites. One site was near the wood pile and the other was not.

Hefting the boards on our shoulders, we had to bushwhack for several minutes to the second site, using the sounds of hammers to guide us through the forest. We hammered in hundreds of nails by hand because the nail gun was at the other site — why they got to use it and we didn’t, I’ll never know.

Also, I am proud to say that I single-handedly raked wheelbarrows of wood chips into a trail that ran for a good 100 metres. I was not a pretty sight at the end of the day — hot, sweaty, and tired, with dirt everywhere, even between my toes.

But I had spent that Saturday with my friends, and we sweated and worked together to transform an inaccessible, marshy patch of forest in suburbia into an area of nature that people will be able to walk through and enjoy for years to come.

I don’t know about you, but I find that much more satisfying than spending an afternoon at the mall.

That day I understood what being “green” is all about. Day in and day out we’re pumped full of advertisements — messages telling us what to do or who to be. And I’m sure you’ve noticed that recently there has been a huge trend in products and corporations becoming “green.” There has even been a new term coined — “eco-chic”: products that are cool because they’re environmentally friendly.

Everyone wants to follow this new style and businesses are milking it for all it’s worth. I’ve seen “green” dishwashers, washing machines, and kitchen appliances. American Eagle even came out with a line of T-shirts that featured the words “natural” and “green” on the front.

But what practices really benefit the Earth? Is it buying a whole new wardrobe that advertises the fact that you’re eco-friendly, or is it buying used clothes from the local thrift store and not using up more resources or creating more waste? Or is it even deciding that you don’t need new clothes and are content to stay with the ones you have?

Is it buying a whole bunch of “green” grocery bags and throwing out your plastic ones, or reusing your plastic ones until they fall apart? Instead of consuming, sometimes it’s better to give the Earth’s resources a break and purchase nothing at all.

I think in this age of consumerism we forget that everything we buy has come directly or indirectly from the Earth and that eventually, it will have to go back into the Earth. This is an important concept to remember when thinking of the word “green.”

Instead of buying something new to become environmentally friendly, why don’t we find ways to reuse? Think of the tried and true environmentalist’s three Rs – reduce, reuse, and recycle. I think they show that the term “green consumer” is hopelessly ironic.

The new year is a time for change and reflection. In addition to the usual aspirations like exercising more or losing weight, keep the many shades of green in mind.

That Saturday when I built a boardwalk off the Hanlon, I realized what being “green” really is. It’s not buying something. Being green is hard work and is about making small changes that affect the Earth in a big way. Being green is working together to make the beauty of nature accessible and appreciated by everyone. Being green is everyone making enough differences on a small scale to make a difference to the Earth on a large scale. Being green is not defining who you are by buying things, it’s defining who you are by action.

And being green is a perfect new year’s resolution for me.