Environment Canada Nature Matters! Essay Contest

I was notified of this cool contest by the lovely @suzemuse on Twitter. Read more below:


Environment Canada is celebrating 2010 International Year of Biodiversity (IYB) with a national contest on why nature matters to Canadians. IYB 2010 is a celebration of life on earth and of the value of biodiversity for our lives. To help raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity, they would love to hear from Canadians between the ages of 9 and 35.

You can take part in these exciting celebrations by telling Environment Canada why nature is important to you! Entries can be EITHER video essay OR written essay.

English and French winners in 3 age categories (both written and video) will be guests of honour in Ottawa (prize includes airfare and hotel) for the Grand Reopening event of the Canadian Museum of Nature, on International Biodiversity Day on May 22, 2010, where their achievement will be honoured. Additionally, all grand-prize winning written and video essays will be displayed at the Biosphère in Montreal during 2010.

The event is a great opportunity for people (contest is open to ages 9-35) to be creative and spread their own messages about biodiversity.  More information including contest rules and judging criteria can be found here, with the Facebook event here.

The contest deadline is March 28th, so get essay-in!

Retire Your Ride

Remember 1995? Ah, those were the days. Kiss from a Rose by Seal topped the charts. Ross and Rachel kissed for the first time.  Yahoo! was founded in California. O.J.Simpson was acquitted in the murders of his ex-wife and her friend. But if 1995 is monumental for you as the date you bought the car you're still driving, then know this:  That car produces 19 times more air pollution than a car bought in 2004 or later. It's time to Retire Your Ride.

An initiative of the Government of Canada, Retire your Ride is designed to enable people to get their high-polluting cars off the road and reward them for doing so. The program is committed to improving air quality by responsibly recycling vehicles and aims to retire at least 50,000 vehicles per year until March 31, 2011.

Eligible participants must be owners of 1995 or older model year vehicles that are in running condition and have been registered and insured in their names in Canada for the previous consecutive 6 months.

When you Retire Your Ride, the program will ensure that it is recycled responsibly. You'll also receive rewards that encourage you to use environmentally-friendly transportation, including a public transit pass or a membership to a car-sharing program, $300 cash or a rebate on the purchase of a 2004 and newer vehicle. Nice!

For more information visit Retire your Ride.
 

ECO Canada: Give them your best shot!

Are you a photographer? Do you take wonderful photos (or at least you think so?) And do you take them of the gorgeous beauty of Canada? Then submit them to the ECO Canada photo contest, and you might win a $400 Best Buy gift card (whooo hoo!) From their website:

ECO Canada invites you to participate in its inaugural photo contest to celebrate the natural beauty of Canada’s environmental landscape and the dynamic people in the environmental workforce.

All contest entries must be submitted by February 12th, 2010. It doesn't need to be a new photo - dig through your piles of digital images and pull up that gorgeous shot you took last winter, or during that perfect summer on the lake. But if you want to go shoot Canada in Winter - that's awesome too. Prizes will be awarded in four categories - Working in the Environment, Environmental Industry/Sites, Abstract Nature and Landscapes.

So get shooting - and good luck!

Green Toronto Nominations are open

Hey gang! The lovely folks at Green Living are looking for the greenest people you know - read on!

Who’s the greenest of them all in Toronto? Nominations are now being accepted for the 2010 Green Toronto Awards, the City of Toronto’s environmental awards of excellence. The City of Toronto, in partnership with Green Living, invites residents to nominate local individuals, companies and organizations leading the way to a greener Toronto.

A winner in each of nine categories will receive an award and $5,000 to donate to a registered charity of their choice:
• NEW! Local Food — leadership in creating, managing and promoting local food.
• Community Projects — volunteers in action to green our neighbourhoods.
• Energy Conservation — systems and technologies which reduce and conserve energy.
• Environmental Awareness — leadership in raising eco-awareness.
• Green Design — leadership in innovative and sustainable green design and architecture.
• Green Roof — leadership in green roof and living wall projects.
• Leadership — individual leadership which transforms our environment.
• Water Efficiency — leadership in managing and reducing water use.
• Youth — Toronto youth (18 and under) leading by example.

The deadline for nominations is Friday, February 12, 2010. Nominations may be submitted online at www.toronto.ca/greentorontoawards.

"Torontonians are environmentalists by nature and we celebrate those who are making a real difference in our city," said Mayor David Miller. "I encourage residents to make a nomination and help us recognize the individuals, organizations and companies that are leading the way to a greener, more liveable Toronto."

The Green Toronto Awards ceremony will be hosted by Mayor David Miller and Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone on Friday, April 23 on the Main Stage at the Green Living Show, Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place.

Toronto is Canada’s largest city and sixth largest government, and home to a diverse population of about 2.6 million people. It is the economic engine of Canada and one of the greenest and most creative cities in North America. In the past three years, Toronto has won numerous awards for quality, innovation and efficiency in delivering public services. Toronto’s government is dedicated to prosperity, opportunity and liveability for all its residents.

WWF Canada Adoption Kits - Do some good and warm a heart.

ecochick almost dropped the ball on this one. Blame the non-sleeping ecobaby. She's lucky she's so cute.
You know the World Wildlife Fund. They are the dedicated conservation organization whose noble goals are To stop the degradation of the planet's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by:

* conserving the world's biological diversity,
* ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable,
* promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.

During these days of Copenhagen and climate change discussion, the role of the WWF in raising awareness and promoting great ecological programs are more important than ever. One of the many ways in which the WWF promotes their programs is to sell items in their store that bring their customers closer to nature themselves - such as their awesome (and adorable) Adoption Kits. I just love these. From their press release:

The WWF-Canada Adoption Program offers the chance to symbolically adopt a threatened species and support critical work to protect nature at the same time. More Canadian animals are available for adoption than ever before, including the caribou, polar bear, grizzly bear, Arctic fox, monarch butterfly, Atlantic cod (I had to laugh at this - adopt a cuddly Cod for Christmas!), northern leopard frog, common loon, meerkat, blue shark and the black-footed ferret. Alternatively, you can select from popular international species such as the emperor penguin, Asian elephant, giant panda, orangutan, tiger and snow leopard.

Each adoption package costs $40 and contains a 12.5 cm stuffed animal of your choice, a personalized adoption certificate, a letter identifying you as the gift giver, a brochure about the species you are protecting and the work you will be supporting, as well as a $30 tax receipt – all wrapped up in a great reusable WWFCanada tote bag. Gift givers looking to make a greater contribution to wildlife can also adopt a family of polar bears, orangutans, Arctic fox or pandas.

What an awesome initiative, and what a great gift idea for the animal- or planet-lover in your life. But here is the caveat. If you want to give a kit for Christmas you need to order it by midnight December 17. Missed the holiday delivery deadlines? NEW this year: Email an adoption certificate right away to tell your loved ones their adoption kit is on its way. The link is here, and orders from the WWF store that include adoptions qualify for free shipping - just enter Special Offer Code: shopwwf during checkout. (This offer ended December 17th, 2009 at 11:59pm EST). So if you think there's someone in your life who'll love one of these under the tree - go check it out right now. They also have plenty of other great gifts for the ecologically-minded giver, so make sure you browse around.

And. AND. The lovely Sara at WWF Canada has given me three WWF Adoption Kits to give away to you, my amazing, wonderful readers. We have a Polar Bear, Penguin and a Caribou kit ready to go. Here's all you need to do to enter the giveaway: Go to the WWF Store and tell me which animal you're ready to adopt. It doesn't have to be one of the ones we're giving away, pick your favourite (I'm partial to the Leopard Frog myself!) Put your animal in the comments by 5 pm Monday, December 21 (This means the animals will not reach you by Christmas, but will be a great way to start the New Year!) Please ensure you leave a way for me to contact you in your comment.

Until then, happy ecoshopping!

Whole Green Catalog: 1000 Best Things For You And The Earth

Never judge a book by its cover, people.

In the stack of books sent to review from Rodale Publishing was one thick, telephone-book-like book, with a plain, simple cover. Immediately I thought, ugh. Some tradeshow-like publication where it lists green vendor after green vendor in miniscule text and borring.

Mea maxima culpa, people. I was so wrong.

The Whole Green Catalog is a gem among green guides. Within its sustainably managed pages are sections on greening your everyday life in areas like housekeeping, energy, clothing, gardening, electronics, travel, on and on and on. Not just a list of green products or vendors, each section is laid out rather like a magazine, with informative columns, articles, green tips, sources and lots of other great info. There's ideas on how to green your everyday life, segments comparing green products to one another and the pros and cons of each, and tips on where to find out more green info. There's also features explaining lots of green fundamentals, such as explaining the confusing "numbers in triangles" system of labelling recycled plastics, a glossary of chemical terms such as "biodegradable" and "phosphate free" and more.

The downside for Canadian ecochicks is that the guide is primarily targeted towards US consumers, and therefore it's a toss-up as to whether many of the products or initiatives mentioned are available or accessible to the Canadian consumer. However, there is still enough information within the book to make it a great reference text and give you some new and innovative ideas as well.

One criticism of the book is that it doesn't seem to explain how the products within its pages were selected - did they compare lots of products and only list the ones that came out on top by some criteria, or did they simply select things that they liked? I wanted to see more about their selection criteria and how things ended up in the book. But aside from that, the book is a great resource and would be an excellent gift for the green neophyte or eco-junkie alike.

There's also an awesome website for more information. The Whole Green Catalog is available at Chapters and other book retailers.

Our Choice: Al Gore

In the pile of delicious books I received for review from Rodale Publishing, the second one on the review list was the new book from Al Gore called Our Choice. The former US Vice President and high-profile environmental activist has followed up his tremendously successful and enlightening first book, An Inconvenient Truth, with a work that tells us what we can do to change the truths and realities exposed in that book: a new book called Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis.

In Our Choice, Gore tells us the realities of how we're living on this planet right now: what are the sources of the energy we use? And knowing our appetite for energy, how can we change those sources and move to something more sustainable? What are the challenges of moving to those technologies - and what are the challenges of *not* moving?

In this exhaustively researched yet compellingly written book, you'll see beautiful images of the world we live in and how it's changing due to the impacts of human energy consumption (including fossil fuels, food, and much more). You'll learn about the realities of solar, wind, geothermal, nuclear and biofuels, including the way they work as well as the challenges involved in using them (eg. the requirement for a new power grid to distribute the power in a smarter way).

In the end, Gore poses us a choice. It is still possible to fix the damage we've done and to halt the progression of the problems we've created. And in 20, 40, 100 years, how will we explain what we've done? How will we say to our children, this is how we fixed it - or this is why we didn't? Ultimately, Our Choice is a testimony to the reality of the climate crisis - that it is not insurmountable, that it is fixable, and that is within our power to do so.

You can pick up Our Choice at Chapters/Indigo and other retailers.

The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone

The phenomenon of celebrities becoming activists is becoming increasingly more common. Bono campaigns for Africa and runs Edun. Sean Penn has made himself a thorn in the side of many. And now, Alicia Silverstone of Clueless fame has recently jumped into the fray as a spokesmodel for PETA, and recently releasing her cookbook The Kind Diet. I was recently offered a copy of several books from publisher Rodale Books to review, including this one. Always one to try out a new book (much to my husband's chagrin), I eagerly said "yes please!" and have spent the last couple of weeks flipping through the pages of some great texts.

The Kind Diet is a combination of vegan treatise, instruction, and cookbook. The book covers a lot of ground including why a carnivorous/non-vegan diet is not "kind", and a vegan diet is. On one hand, Silverstone doesn't seem to have strayed far from her Clueless background, with phrases like "soooooooo good!" and "organic apples are so cute!" peppering the book. There's an air of, "save the animals because they're just so sweet!" in the book, and while someone less cynical or more enthusiastic than myself may find it energizing, I found the tone slightly grating.

On the other hand, if you can get past the ditziness, the book has an excellent amount of informative content. If you're a carnivore who's interested in changing your diet, either whole or in part, the book gives you good information on how to make that change as well as what to expect as you're making the transition. And the best part: Lots of delicious looking recipes and mythbusters about food that will make switching to a more Kind Diet something to look forward to. She's documented lots of interesting foods including legumes, grains and meat substitutes for you to easily incorporate into your new menu and created meal plans so that the new vegan has some help navigating their meals. Personally, while I'm not planning on going vegan, I do want to cut down on our meat intake and this book is going to be exceptionally valuable to this household in doing that - I'm heading to the grocery store today to pick up the fixins for a Sweet Potato-Lentil Stew, Pumpkin Bread and Black Soybean and Kabocha Squash stew (if I can find a Kabocha squash - like I said, this book is introducing me to lots of interesting new foods!)

The Kind Diet would make an excellent gift to someone who's looking to make a diet and holistic lifestyle change, especially for someone who's got the same kind of energy and perkiness as Silverstone herself. You can pick up a copy at Chapters and other retailers.