New Bike Rack on Sudbury Transit Bus

Look for the demo at the Earth Day Festival of this new transportation option...

GREATER SUDBURY TRANSIT INTRODUCES “RACK AND ROLL” INITIATIVE

Beginning June 2, 2008, Greater Sudbury Transit riders will have the opportunity to bring bicycles on Route 703 - Val Caron / Hanmer / Capreol. Known as the 'Rack and Roll” initiative, each bus travelling this route will be equipped with a bicycle rack on the front.
The bike racks, which are currently available as a pilot project, will be in use from approximately May to November each year. Each rack can accommodate two bicycles, and there is no additional cost involved – riders must simply pay regular Transit fare.
'I am pleased that we are able to introduce this initiative, which has been so successful in municipalities such as Ottawa, Toronto and Kingston,” said Mayor John Rodriguez. 'Through the efforts of the City's Bicycle Advisory Panel, the leadership of our Transit Committee and the staff at Greater Sudbury Transit, more residents will have access to excellent cycling trails throughout the community and can reduce their impact on the environment by leaving their cars at home.”
Demonstrations of the racks will be available at the Earth Day Festival, taking place at Market Square on Saturday, April 19 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Citizens are invited to learn more about the 'Rack and Roll” initiative and try the bicycle racks during the festival.
For more information, please visit www.greatersudbury.ca/transit or call 675-3333.

Scrap Metal Drive - This Sunday!

The Sudbury Regional Hospital Foundation's 3rd Annual NIM Scrap Metal Drive is this Sunday (April 13th)!!!

Don't forget to drop by one of their 3 locations! SRHF and NIM volunteers will be at the following locations from 9 am - 5 pm:

Battiselli's YIG (in Lively)
Loeb Val Est (in the Valley)
Parking Lot at York and Paris St (in Sudbury near Bell Park)

This is the 3rd year for this great event. Not only are they raising money to buy much needed patient care equipment, but it's also a great way to keep recyclable material out of the landfill. You can help our hospital and our planet! At no cost to you! Last year the event raised over $8000! In the past they received many different items including: aluminium siding, bicycles, snow mobiles, lawnmowers, trophies, cast iron tubs, sinks, tools, nails/screws/bolts, stoves, dishwashers, doors, bbq's, tables, pots, pans, and much more. All scrap metal, including Freon-free appliances, will be accepted!!

If you have any questions please feel free to contact them at:

Kristy Lewis
Business Development Officer
Sudbury Regional Hospital Foundation
(705) 523-7133
klewis@hrsrh.on.ca
http://www.blogger.com/www.srhf.ca

Is the Earth Day Festival itself green?

With this incarnation of the Greater Sudbury Earth Day Festival (in its third year), the organizing committee continues to be strongly committed to keeping the festival's environmental footprint as light as possible. This primarily involves climate, waste, food, transportation, electricity and equipment considerations. Here's our report on what we are doing this year:

• purchase renewable energy to power the event from Bullfrog Power (which you can do too for your very own home or business by the way, as some of our committee members have)


• provide recycling and composting stations throughout the event for waste disposal, and have volunteers police these stations to ensure their maximum use


• to help reduce the climate impact of those attending the event, both provide free admission to the event to those not driving (ie. walking, biking, taking the bus) and have the City agree to provide free bus service to anyone coming to the event (show your transfer at the gate)


• require all of our food vendors to use at least one major locally grown ingredient in all of their food


• encourage our vendors to be responsible with the amount of paper handouts they give


• borrow or rent all of our equipment from local sources to minimize the energy needed to transport them or the need to manufacture new ones for our use (this includes primarily the tents, stages, chairs, table clothes, dishes and cutlery)


• provide and require the use of only real ceramic and metal dishes and cutlery for all our food vendors so as to prevent the use of disposable versions


• have our volunteers be identifiable by locally handmade brightly coloured arm bands, made with reused wool fabric


• focus on almost all local performers to minimize their transportation impacts

In order to make it more economical and practical for all local festivals to share equipment rather than purchasing, as we've tried to do, we are also very supportive of creating an "Events Network" in Sudbury. These networks have been established in many other communities in Ontario, under the umbrella of the provincial "Festivals and Events Ontario", and are extremely successful at increasing the capacity and sustainability of local festivals through providing a forum for coordinated equipment and knowledge sharing.

If you have any more ideas on how to green the event even more, just let us know!

Feature Article II: Green Renovations

The following is the second in a series of four environmental articles appearing in local papers in the month leading up to Earth Day...

Thinking of Renovating Your Home? Think Green.

By: Aaron Dent, LEED AP, P.Eng, Halsall Associates Ltd., Sudbury

There are many reasons why people renovate – to make a room more functional, to get rid of that 1970s wallpaper or carpeting, to get ready for a new family member, or to raise the value of your home before selling. Better yet, you might be renovating to improve the energy efficiency of your house – a great step. But is making your home “green” the same thing as making it energy efficient? There are other important questions besides those related to energy efficiency that you should ask yourself before starting your next renovation. Are the materials you plan to use healthy for your family? Will they last a long time, or are you going to have to repair or replace them in the next 5-10 years? Are they made from vinyl? Do they come from forests that are managed properly? All of these are important questions too.
While making your home more energy efficient is the most important thing you can do - both for your pocket book and for the environment - there is already much existing information in Sudbury about how to make your home more energy efficient. Visit www.city.greatersudbury.on.ca/earthcare and click on Efficient Sudbury for more information. Also, a great program to help you pay for the upfront costs of improving your home is the government’s ecoENERGY program, found at www.ecoaction.gc.ca/ecoENERGY. You can contact Canspec Inspection Services (693-5587) in Sudbury to book your home energy audit today.

Apart from energy efficiency, making your home a healthier place to live is one of the best things you can do at your house or apartment. One of the most common renovation projects at your home is simple – painting. Anyone who has painted their house knows about that “new paint smell”. This smell is the paint releasing harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air, creating poor air quality in your home. VOCs have been linked with headaches, skin irritations, lung damage as well as increased chemical sensitivities. Thankfully, there are many paint companies that have created paints that are just as durable, washable, and colourful as regular paints, but do not release any VOCs into the air. While the big hardware stores often do not have environmentally friendly paints, any specialty paint store in town, like Barrydowne Paint and Wallpaper, will have low VOC paint, like Benjamin Moore’s EcoSpec. With these paints, there may be some colour restrictions, as dark colours have more VOCs. If you can’t find a colour that you are happy with, there are some special paints that have no toxic chemicals in them, and can be made in any colour. These often come at a cost premium and must be ordered from outside Sudbury, but they are the most eco friendly paints available. You can order these from an Ottawa store, the Healthiest Home (www.thehealthiesthome.com), which carries many environmentally friendly products.

This is just one way to renovate green – there are hundreds more. If you are interested in learning more, check out the book Your Green Home by Alex Wilson available at most bookstores. Or, visit the Greater Sudbury Earth Day Festival at Market Square on April 19th, 2008 from 10-5 and speak to representatives of green businesses specializing in products and services for your home. See you there!

Earth Day Feature: Stop the Flow! Putting rain water down the drain.

The following is one of a series of four environmental articles appearing in local papers in the month leading up to Earth Day...

Stop the flow! How you can help stop money from going down the drain.

By: Allison Muckle
Coordinator, Junction Creek Stewardship Committee

Every time it rains in Sudbury money is flowing down the drain. This is because many homes (especially those built before 1984) are connected to the sanitary sewer system where they shouldn’t be. For example, many basement sump pumps, weeping tiles or even downspouts from eaves troughs are connected to the sanitary sewer system in Sudbury. This means that relatively clean rain water is required to be treated as if it was sewage (a problem called “inflow and infiltration”) – at the expense of citizens and our environment.

During rainfall and snow melt events, the volume of water heading to the wastewater treatment plant can increase by several times the normal volume! That adds up to wasted money; plus, treating this excess water overburdens our sewer systems, meaning that we all pay for additional capacity, extra maintenance, and the reduced lifespan of the system in the long run.

But the problem of inflow and infiltration doesn’t only hurt our pocket books. In Sudbury, certain sewage treatment facilities, such as the sewage lagoon in Garson, are used primarily to address the extra flow of wastewater during spring and fall – the rainy seasons. As a result, the Garson sewage lagoon discharges into Junction Creek each fall. This leads to high nutrient (such as phosphorous and nitrogen) loads in the creek that in turn result in algal blooms and declines in the quality of fish habitat. In addition, funneling rain water and snow melt into the sanitary sewer system prevents it from naturally re-entering groundwater, streams and lakes the way it should to maintain water levels.

The City of Greater Sudbury is currently working on various “inflow and infiltration” reduction initiatives. In the meantime, you can take action to make sure you’re part of the solution:

ü Disconnect your downspouts! By-laws prohibit the connection of downspouts to the sewer system. However, if your downspout is an offender, you can easily disconnect it yourself so the rainwater flows into a rain barrel or onto your lawn/garden. But make sure you plan where you want the water to go! You don’t want it to flow towards the foundation of your home. Visit http://www.junctioncreek.com/ (Stop the Flow!) to link to a handy do-it-yourself guide from the City of Toronto’s Downspout Disconnect program.
ü Disconnect your Sump pump! If your sump pump is connected to the sewer system, you can disconnect it so that it discharges instead onto your lawn or garden. Again you must make sure the water flows into a suitable area where it can drain naturally into the soil rather than pooling.
ü Cap your cleanouts! A cleanout pipe leads from the sewage system up to ground level so you or your plumber can access the sewer for cleaning. However, if the cleanout pipe is uncovered, has a loose cover or is located below the surface of the ground, storm water can get in. You can purchase a sealed cover and easily install it onto your pipe to make a big difference.
ü We all win! Redirecting storm water away from the sewer system is good for your lawn and gardens; will help to replenish our groundwater system; and will help maintain surface water levels in our creeks, rivers and lakes!
For more information about inflow and infiltration and other issues that affect our streams, lakes and rivers, visit the Water Education Area at the Greater Sudbury Earth Day Festival on Saturday April 19th from 10:00-5:00 at Market Square. http://www.earthdaysudbury.ca/

Earth Day Festival - Priceless!

Check out our new ad for the Earth Day Festival...

Earth Day Film Festival Feature: Fridays at the Farm

Today, a feature on one of our Earth Day Film Festival films...



Fridays at the Farm
(click for teaser trailer)

Richard Hoffmann
USA, short, 2006
19 mins.

“I eat food every day. I don’t know where it comes from or how it’s made.”
Most of us don't think twice about the chemicals being sprayed on our food, but the Hoffmann family does. Through a personal visual diary of his experience on a community farm, filmmaker Richard Hoffmann examines the natural practice of food production. Using a digital still camera, Richard took roughly 20,000 pictures of vegetables and herbs, insect life, and human activity on the farm with the hope of staying connected to the food he and his family eat. Fridays at the Farm is a cinematic portrait of organic community farming and the enrichment of life for all those who participate in such practice.
After graduating from New York University in 1996, Richard Power Hoffmann began creating a variety of personal and work-for-hire projects. The script for his feature film debut, Invisible Mountains, was awarded a 2002 screenwriting fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. The completed film went on the win Best Feature at the 2003 DV Film Festival and a 2005 PCA media arts fellowship. More...