From All of Us
Open Streets on Sunday!
It’s time for Uptown Waterloo Open Streets for August! 
There’s always lots to see and do at Open Streets. Check out their website for more details
Drop by the WRGreens booth at the Waterloo Square Marketplace and pick up a free Parks Canada Discovery Pass! (On a first come, first served basis.)
Cowspiracy at the KPL
Don’t forget to register at EventBrite for the Thursday evening special free screening of the “Cowspiracy” documentary tomorrow (Thursday, April 20th, 2017) at the KPL main branch.
an investigation of food industry sustainability
Doors open at 6:30!
There will be a fabulous selection of pre-film snackage before the movie (6:30 – 6:45pm) as well as wonderful door prizes from Cafe Pyrus, Black Arrow Cycles, Lucia’s Vegan Catering and The Avocado Co-op.
Film screening will begin promptly at 6:45.
See you tomorrow ~ they still have some room, so bring a friend!
6:45pm—8:45pm
Special screening of the documentary COWSPIRACY & Talk
Kitchener Public Library, Central Branch
85 Queen Street North, Kitchener
brought to us by Divest Waterloo, Citizens’ Climate Lobby Waterloo Region, Food Not Bombs, Climate Vegan
View map of library location
Bus Routes # 8 University – Fairview Park (View Route Map)
Please Register at EventBrite. This a FREE event but seating is limited
http://kwpeace.ca/event/cowspiracy-screening-and-talk/?instance_id=3224
Earth Month Plus
Here’s a sampling of things for Waterloo Region Greens to do in Earth Month and beyond. (I’ll update the calendar later tonight)
Tuesday, April 18th, 2017
2:00pm–4:00pm
Kitchener-Conestoga
Michael Harris MPP Town Hall
Breslau Community Centre,
100 Andover Drive, Breslau
michael.harris@pc.ola.org
226.750.1731
7:00pm–9:00 pm
U of W Sustainability lecture at Kitchener Public Library
KPL Central Branch,
85 Queen St N, Kitchener, Ontario
Canada N2H 2H1
http://kwpeace.ca/event/public-lecture-powershiftwr-transforming-energy-in-waterloo-region/?instance_id=3171
Thursday, April 20th, 2017
8:30am—1:00pm
Energize: Sustainable City Challenge
Sustainability Challenge at UofW
200 University Avenue West
Waterloo, Ontario
Canada N2L 3G1
http://kwpeace.ca/event/energize-sustainable-city-challenge/?instance_id=3170
6:45pm—8:45pm
Special screening of the documentary COWSPIRACY & Talk
Kitchener Public Library, Central Branch
85 Queen Street North, Kitchener
Divest Waterloo/Citizens’ Climate Lobby Waterloo Region/Food Not Bombs/Climate Vegan
View map of library location
Bus Routes # 8 University – Fairview Park (View Route Map)
Please Register at EventBrite. This a FREE event but seating is limited
http://kwpeace.ca/event/cowspiracy-screening-and-talk/?instance_id=3224
Friday April 21, 2017
7pm—9pm
WRGreens Meet & Greet with Provincial Leader Mike Schreiner
TWB Cooperative Brewing, 300 Mill St., Kitchener
Green Party of Ontario leader Mike Schreiner is visiting Waterloo Region as part of his spring leader’s tour.
Come meet Mike, hang out with your fellow Greens, share your thoughts, and discuss the local issues that matter to you.
The meet-and-greet will end with a no-holds-barred live interview about beer regulation hosted by local comedian Michael Masurkevitch of We Are Millennials.
Invite your friends!
Saturday April 22nd, 2017 ~ EARTH DAY #EarthDay
8:30am—12 noon
Woolwich Community Clean Up
Please contact Ann for a location near you. aroberts@woolwich.ca or 519 669-6027
http://calendar.woolwich.ca/Default/Detail/2017-04-22-Woolwich-Community-Clean-up-Day
9:00am—12 noon
Cambridge Community Clean Up: City Green Booths Open
Pick up your supplies from the City Green Booth nearest you and do your clean up when it’s convenient for you.
Cambridge City Green booth locations :
1. Holiday Inn Drive Tim Hortons parking lot
2. Galt Arena Gardens
3. St. Benedicts/Clemens Mill Library Branch
4. Victoria Park (Salisbury Ave corner of the park just before Highland Public School)
5. Monsignor Doyle Secondary School
https://www.meetup.com/Cambridge-City-Green/events/237639111/
1
2:30pm
March For Science
Waterloo Town Square
75 King Street South, Waterloo ON
http://marchforscience-kw.ca
#marchforscience
75 King Street South, Waterloo ON
http://marchforscience-kw.ca
Saturday April 29th, 2017
12:00 Noon
People’s Climate March Ottawa
Confederation Park• Laurier Ave W & Elgin St, Ottawa, Canada K1P 5J2
https://actionnetwork.org/events/ottawa-peoples-climate-march
Tuesday May 2nd, 2017
6:30pm
Waterloo Green Party of Canada EDA AGM
Right before the Pub Night
TWB Cooperative Brewing,
300 Mill St., Kitchener
https://www.facebook.com/events/205769696588910
TWB Cooperative Brewing,
300 Mill St., Kitchener
https://www.facebook.com/events/205769696588910
7:00pm—9:00pm
Waterloo Greens Pub Night: Discuss International Trade Deals
TWB Cooperative Brewing,
300 Mill St., Kitchener
300 Mill St., Kitchener
Would “developing” countries be better or worse off without free trade?
What benefits has NAFTA brought to Canadian workers?
Learn and discuss questions like these with our international trade learning community. Join us for some beer and casual conversation about this thorny topic.
* The event is free, purchase of beer is not neccessary, and the space is wheelchair accessible. No food available for purchase but feel free to bring your own. If you have any questions, please email the organizer, Julia Gogoleva, at julia.gogoleva@gmail.com.
Thursday May 11th, 2017
7:00pm—9:00pm
The Case for Divesting from Fossil Fuels in Canada
CIGI
67 Erb St W
Waterloo, ON N2L 6C2
Divest Waterloo/CIGI to host an evening with Jeff Rubin, a world-leading energy expert and former chief economist at CIBC World Markets. As a senior fellow CIGI, Jeff has written extensively on the future of the Canadian oil sands and the financial imperative to shift our economy away from fossil fuel dependence. Jeff will be speaking at CIGI to address pension fund managers, members of the finance and insurance industries, and the general public about the financial case for divesting from fuels.
http://kwpeace.ca/event/the-case-for-divesting-from-fossil-fuels-in-canada/?instance_id=3216
Saturday June 3rd, 2017
1:30pm—4:30pm
Alliance Against Poverty Free Transit for Low Income Individuals – Community Forum
in the fully-accessible downstairs hall of Historic St. Paul’s Lutheran Church
137 Queen Street South, Kitchener, Ontario N2G 1W2
Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1889874274570672/?notif_t=plan_user_invited¬if_id=1492300444693992
Tickets available at Eventbrite
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/free-transit-for-low-income-individuals-community-forum-tickets-33236845299?aff=efbevent
Go Green on Social Media
The Green Party doesn’t have a massive “war chest.” We don’t have corporate or union donors and the big advertising budgets they bring.
Our strength is in our grass roots… ordinary Canadians who think green thoughts. People who want a greener future. Not just for us, but for our kids. And posterity.
What we do have is ideas. Ideas worked out by members. Ideas expressed in policy, blogs, and multimedia. Because the Green Party doesn’t have big advertising budgets, it is very hard to get green ideas reported in Main Stream Media (MSM).
But we can get our ideas out there— if we work together.
You can help these ideas take root and grow by sharing them with your social media network.
Some people hesitate about sharing links to articles & videos. We worry that talking about politics online will alienate our family and friends. Let’s face it: we all have family and friends with different ideas. Some support other parties, and certainly many — probably even most — don’t support any party or even consider themselves political.
The Internet is still new enough that it’s easy to forget the reason it exists is to make it easy to exchange information.
Social Media is for sharing our interests with our family and friends. Maybe you’re a Green Party member, supporter, or even voter. But maybe you’re not, maybe you don’t like the Green Party candidate in your riding, maybe you don’t agree with everything in Green Party policy. But chances are good that anyone reading this is interested in at least some green ideas.
If we each share one green idea, article, or video on social media each day, we aren’t likely to alienate anyone. Especially as Facebook and Twitter have taken to limiting which of our posts our friends and family actually see. The beauty of social media sharing is that there is no need to argue or try to convert anyone. By sharing articles that resonate with us, we’re giving our friends and family an opportunity to learn what’s important to us — very often information they won’t see in the MSM. If they aren’t interested, they won’t read that article or watch that video. But maybe they will.
Even if they just skip over that Tweet or Facebook post, the fact you’ve shared it increases how far Twitter or Facebook will share. Even if our family and friends don’t read our blog articles, or look at our videos, or look at our graphics, you’ll help WRGreens increase our “Google juice” just by sharing.
Especially in a world where the first official act of the new American president was to take down the American Government Climate Change page, it becomes more and more evident we can no longer afford a way of life that puts corporate interests ahead of the public interest. We can’t put profits ahead of clean air and fresh water. So please, help us make social media work for us.
Let’s work together to change the world.
Welcome 2017
There are several important events coming up in the new year that may be of interest to Waterloo Region Greens. Our calendar will keep you up to date on any WRGreens events, as well as events put on by other organizations that may be of interest to local Greens.
Provincial Basic Income Consultation
Friday January 13th, 2017
6:30 – 9:00pm
Kitchener City Hall
200 King Street West
Kitchener, ON
N2G 4G7
Register for the Kitchener Consultation here.
You can make an online submission until January 31, 2017
“Basic income is an idea which provides a different approach to income security and reducing poverty,” the statement said. “It’s important we hear as many views as possible to ensure we get this right.”
The ministry says it’s particularly interested in thoughts about how the pilot program is designed, including who should be eligible, which communities to include, and how it will be evaluated.
“What they’re doing is trying to collect information in order to build a position. It’s very difficult (for us) to take a firm position at this point because we don’t actually know what the province is going to end up doing,” Bartholomew-Saunders said. “They’re collecting information to determine what they’re going to be doing.”
— Kitchener Post: Public invited to have say on basic guaranteed income
Guaranteed Livable Income was an important part of the 2015 GPC platform, and remains as party policy, so we are pleased to see the Ontario Liberals proceed with this program. The danger is that it could actually make Ontario poverty conditions worse if implemented badly.
Find out more about Basic Income from our own long time local advocacy group, Basic Income Waterloo Region.
GPC Federal Council Meeting
Sunday 22 January 22nd, 2017
6 to 8 pm EST
Any Green Party member (in good standing) is welcome to attend GPC Federal Council Meetings online. The next meeting will be on Sunday, January 22nd from 6 to 8 pm EST.
If you wish to attend, you can register here.
Trusted Clothes Swap at KCI
Saturday, January 28th, 2017
10:30am – 1:00pm
Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate and Vocational School
787 King St W,
Kitchener, ON N2G 1E3
Bring your gently used, clean clothes that you don’t want any more and leave with new (to you) stuff! We will be accepting donations beginning at 10:30am, event starts at 11. The event is COMPLETELY FREE and aims to raise awareness about textile waste and how our clothes affect the environment. No under garments or lingerie accepted please! There is free parking available at the KCI lot, just off King Street. Public transit also available via route 7 from Uptown Waterloo. You can swap men’s wear, women’s wear, kids clothes, jackets, shoes and accessories. Please share this invite with your family and friends. No tears or stains. Just bring items you would bring home. Our past clothing swaps have been featured on CBC, CTV, and various newspapers and magazines within the Waterloo Region.If you or someone you know is interested in helping out at the event please send an email to events@trustedclothes.com.
There is free parking available at the KCI lot, just off King Street. Public transit is also available via route 7 from Uptown Waterloo.
[Note: the school was formerly Kitchener Collegiate Institute, and is still known locally as KCI]
GPC Online Ratification Vote
Finally, there is the online vote to ratify the policy adopted at the December SGM in Calgary. All GPC members can (and should) participate in the ratification vote until February 6th, 2017.
Don’t leave it until the last minute!
You’ll find these — and more as we hear about them— in the WRGreens Calendar you can always find in the menu bar at the top of the page.
Be sure to keep an eye on this calendar for future Green events and outings (movie nights, learning communities, etc.) in Waterloo Region.
Subscribe to the blog (click the green “follow blog” button at the top of the sidebar) for regular updates.
This is going to be a very good year!
Ontario’s Basic Income Pilot: public survey
One of the most important Green Party of Canada campaign issues was the Guaranteed Livable Income. The idea was piloted in Canada under the name “Mincome” under the first Prime Minister Trudeau. What happened then is what happens all to often… the government fell and its successors had no interest in implementing policy based on their predecessor’s pilot project. Here in Waterloo Region, we have our own Basic Income Waterloo Region advocacy group that’s part of a Canada-wide grassroots movement to make a basic income guarantee the next great innovation in social policy.
The Ontario Liberal Government is considering running its own pilot program, and it would be enormously helpful to fill out their
Basic Income Pilot: public survey
While on the surface it may seem that such a program would be prohibitively expensive, ironically research shows the effect of a properly managed basic income guarantee is actually a savings to government, as well as a boost to small business and innovation. Check out Basic Income Waterloo Region’s Frequently Asked Questions page.
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Waste Reduction in Waterloo Region
Waste Reduction Week in Canada is a national environmental campaign that builds awareness around issues of sustainable and responsible consumption, encourages choice for more environmentally responsible products/services, and promotes actions that divert more waste from disposal and conserve natural resources.
The program’s educational resources and “take action” messaging empower all Canadians to adopt more environmentally conscious choices. Waste Reduction Week in Canada further provides information and ideas to reduce waste in all facets of daily living, creating the solutions to the many environmental challenges we face including climate change, water pollution and preservation of natural resources.
Waste Reduction Week in Canada: Oct. 17 – 23, 2016
The University of Waterloo has a full schedule of activities to celebrate Waste Reduction Week. To find out what’s happening across Canada, check out their Event List and/or follow @WRWCanada on Twitter or Facebook
Although we have don’t have an event scheduled, WRGreens area always keen on ways to preserve the environment.
The 5 Rs
There used to be only 3 Rs, but as we’ve become more attuned to the environment, now there are 5 — at least that I know of!
Refuse
- Unnecessary packaging, which is almost always disposable plastics.
- cloth and clothing made in third world sweatshops
- disposable (usually) plastic products
- cheaply made products that will break and fill up our landfills
- ask suppliers to take back packaging materials for reuse
Reduce
- Before we buy, ask ourselves… do we really need all that stuff?
- Reduce what we buy through community sharing … join a community toy library
- Do you really need to buy a car or even a bike when there are Community Car Share and Community Access Bikeshare?
Reuse
- Choose reusable glass or metal water bottles
- hand-me-downs are the new black! Used clothing can be
- donated or traded through Trusted Clothes clothing swaps
- reused
- repurposed
- sold at yard sales, auctions
- donated
- establish a place to collect used packaging, cord binding, envelopes and other materials that can be reused
- Start a Little Library
- Reuse packaging materials for arts & crafts, or gift wrapping
- newspaper comics
- some photocopier paper is packed in decorated wrapping paper sleeves
- cloth gift bags
- pretty tea towels can serve as kitchen giftwrap
- Reuse equipment parts and fixtures and repair furniture to reduce waste
- Compost kitchen waste into rich composted using a worm composter if you are in an apartment or bear country, if you have a back yard get a composter, but if you don’t wish to compost your own, get a green bin do your food scrap waste will be composted and reused instead of landfilled.
Recycle
Recycling is a last option because unlike aluminum and glass, which can be recycled indefinitely, plastics will not be converted into new, similar objects. They will be turned into other products such as doormats, textiles, plastic lumber, etc. This is not recycling, but down-cycling. These products will still end in the landfill or as debris in waterways.
- scrap paper, toner cartridges, plastic bottles, aluminium cans, etc
- Donate old computers to Computer Recycling
- appliances, electronics, appliances and furniture to charities or second hand shops
Replace
- paper or plastic cups and plates with glass, ceramic or metal reusable dishware
- paper towels with cloth towels,
- plastics with biodegradables and/or durable well made products of glass, wood or stainless steel instead
- plastic seedling trays & planters with biodegradable peat or pressed paper (like egg cartons)
- salt to melt snow & ice with sand for traction or mild fertilizer to melt ice instead
- replace plastic bags with biodegradable bags
- solvent-based paints with water based paints
- Replace hazardous chemical products with environmentally friendly alternatives
Community Access BikeShare
The first time I heard about the Working Centre’s CAB (Community Access Bike “bike share” was back in 2015 when I spotted the rank of bicycles in front of Kitchener City Hall.
Although we tend to view bikes as a recreational toy, the reality is that bikes make a lot of sense as a vehicle in urban settings. Riding a bike isn’t just environmentally friendly, it is great excercise, too. Owning and maintaining your own a bike is certainly more economical than owning a car, but joining a bike share program may suit your needs even better as you’re relieved of the hassle of maintenance, and you don’t need a place to store your bike, either.
The idea is simple; bikeshare bicycles are there for the taking; all you need is a membership. Membership is $40 + HST per year for a season that runs from April through November… but apparently the fee is reduced to $25 +HST since we’re well into the season.
For more information you can always find out more from The Working Centre.
