On Friday, the Region of Peel officially opened their new Composting Facility, destined to compost the organic resources from about 280,000 households in Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon, Ontario.

On Friday, the City of Calgary recommended that the organics residuals collection program proposed for 2009 implementation be put on hold.

And thus ... we celebrate and mourn at the same time.

280,000 households are given the curbside-collection-means to be environmentally responsible. 330,000 households are not.

One city identifies composting as a priority; another faces the political pressure of a Fall election and the potential ire of the taxpayer and voter... and has the benefit of a 30+ year life left in their nearby landfills.

Perhaps the voters for this decision should be the "10 years and under" age-group of Calgarians --- who, among other enviro-issues brought about by not being mindful of the benefits of composting and compost usage, will be living with the Calgary landfill crisis of 2037 ... and wondering the real merits of Friday's recommendation.

Posted by Susan Antler at 2:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March usually stands out as our extra busy month. Everything points to Spring and the start of the gardening season. And it's in March when so many pre-garden plans and events happen.

It is also the month when we usually implode. Too many demands, not enough resources and our ever-focused intent on being of help.

We are on our last end of Regional Workshops --- Alberta (Calgary) and Moose Jaw (Saskatchewan) in the week ahead, followed by our joint Ontario event with the Association of Municipal Recycling Coordinators (AMRC) in the Region of Durham in early April.

Canada Blooms and our Garden Ecotopia (this year known as "Backyard Ecotopia") has now become a beyond glorious memory. I already miss our magical garden that was created by many hands and organizations, all focused on helping to show how being mindful of the environment doesn't mean that you have to sacrifice beauty in the garden --- you can have both at the same time.

The crowds at Canada Blooms were amazing ... line-ups to see our display were almost constant. Thank goodness for our many volunteers and the group of organizations who banded together.

The composter that the Region of Peel created was a great, great hit. Dave Bruno did more of his share of time at the show to help answer questions, both about backyard composting as well as the curbside organics collection program that is about to be launched in the Region.

And Peter Secord of Miller Compost also spent oodles of time helping to get the display ready as well as to support Ecotopia's communication efforts.

And it is equally inspiring that we are already talking about next year's display as well as working towards the intent to create a permanent Garden Ecotopia at the Toronto Zoo.

Another inspiring initiative happened this week, thanks to an invite from the folks at the CN Tower to contribute to the events of their March break activities. They have just launched a new ride, Himalamazon, and themed this past week as "EcoWeek".

We created a learning activity that we called "For the Love of the Earth". It involves the "waste race", "getting to know your composter" and "soil and seeds for planting". Pam, Bouchra, Danielle, Maite and Tyrone all helped to create a lesson plan that turned out to be incredibly well-received. The folks at the CN Tower were so gracious and supportive. What an equally amazing team of people.

This ties in so well with the program that we are just introducing for Plant a Row - Grow a Row ... a JUNIOR version to help teach and encourage children and their families to garden and more specifically, vegetable garden. This is going to be great for all kinds of right reasons ... it teaches a life skill, incorporates environmental understanding and action, is an inexpensive activity, builds confidence, encourages community outreach through the sharing of the harvest and studies show that children who are not that keen on vegetables become much more inclined to eat them if they have grown them themselves. I'm really excited about the many possibilities and good things that can come from Plant a Row - Grow a Row JUNIOR.

Given the unexpected snowfall from last night, I guess that the leprechauns were really on our side when the tree planting with the Minister of the Environment for Ireland, The Honourable Dick Roche, did not happen today. How great it was that there was both interest and effort from Minister Roche, his staff and the Irish Embassy in Canada to try to make it happen. It's pretty exciting as we start to think about the plans for next March and, with more advance leadtime, work towards including an extra special green happening for St. Patrick's Day 2008.

Posted by Susan Antler at 8:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

And where exactly does the time go? How can it be March 1st already?

Someone told me that the reason that time scoots by so much quicker as the years go by (a.k.a. "as we get older") is that we focus more and more on what we want to do rather than all the extra requirements. And 'cause we are doing what we love to do, time flies.

Kind of makes sense to me.

Last week was one of those ultra "time flies" weeks. Thanks to the graciousness of both the European Compost Network and the Composting Association of Ireland, I was able to attend their joint composting conference in Dublin.

For the first time, I got to meet many of the members of what I have considered to be the "European Compost Dream Team". We have corresponded and helped each other for many years but except for Josef Barth (Executive Director of the European Compost Network) and Jane Gilbert (Executive Director of the UK Composting Association ... and who was in India last week "spreading the compost" message), we had never met.

And the sessions were all just simply top drawer. It was an absolute pleasure to listen, learn and hear how comparable the thoughts of the Canadian composters fit with our colleagues internationally. We have more in common than not .... and such great opportunities to do more together.

And then mid-week, we had our regional workshop in Vancouver, held at UBC thanks to the support of our long-time member, Dr. Anthony Lau. We had the first of our soon-to-be-often compost facility operator certification exams --- four composting facility operators took the exam (proctored by Scott Gamble from CH2M Hill). Post the completion of all this round of exams across Canada, we'll be announcing our first group of certified composting facility operators. A great new addition to continuing to enhance the credibility of our composting facilities and the folks who operate them.

We had our quarterly Board of Directors' meeting on Friday (also in Vancouver). Our Board gets neither pay nor their expenses covered. We are very fortunate to have their support and commitment.

This week has involved the final touches to our plans for next week's Canada Blooms and our Garden/Backyard Ecotopia display as well as Friday night party. The Region of Peel has built a giant compost bin that everyone can walk through and see the layers & life of a compost pile. And Miller Compost has done a gigantic job of coordinating the compost message (and many others) for the display. We will definitely be making sure that Dave Bruno (Region of Peel) and Peter Secord (Miller Compost) have their glasses always topped up at our Friday party.

And then ... on the depressing side of things ... The issues in Ontario continue to be difficult. Compost, or at least a portion of it, continues to be in the definition for the Municipal Hazardous and Special Waste Regulation plan. This whole thing came totally out of left field. We have been told time and time again that compost is not "in". And yet, certain compost products continue to be captured. Everyone is so polite in the discussions. It really is beyond comprehension. Quite honestly, maybe we should just fist-fight-it-out.

Posted by Susan Antler at 7:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)