Our Projects |
Moving is NOT an Option Environment Hamilton bringing Eco-Fairs to Schools! Environment Hamilton has partnered with a number of schools including St. Helens, St. Augustine's, Our Lady of Assumption, St Mark's and St John the Baptist to host "Eco-Fairs." What does an Eco-Fair look like? This day of excitement and educational activities has the kids attending different stations throughout the school to learn about water conservation, eating locally, recycling and more. But this day is not just for the kids - when the last bell of the day rings, parents and the community are invited into the schools to learn what their children have learned. Parents can find out about what organizations like Green Venture, Environment Hamilton do and can see what programs the City offers. In previous fairs, Union Gas have offered free BBQ's and energy saving kits for parents to take home, Horizons Utilities hand out key chains with little LED lights, energy-saving lights, etc. Every school that has hosted an Eco-Fair has received "Gold Status" under the EcoSchool Ontario program that started in 2002. Visit www.ontarioecoschools.org for more information. These eco-fairs are just one example of what the dedicated staff in schools across Hamilton are doing currently to increase green knowledge in their students. More ideas... Earl Kitchener School in the Kirkendall Neighbourhood approached Environment Hamilton for more greening ideas. They are already recycling and have a green team but they just wanted other activities that the kids could participate in. In a brain storming session with EH, the interest in highlighting walk-ability around the school emerged. The idea? Create a large map and use it as an educational tool - learning directions, identify places of interest in their community, math lessons on graphing are just a few examples. On the map, the school is highlighted in green and everything else is yellow. Each building has its address so that kids can see exactly which home is theirs. Thanks goes to Councillor McHattie for covering the costs of printing the 32inch X 36inch map. Need ideas or some support to help green your school? Contact Brenda Johnson at Environment Hamilton at 905-549-0900 or email: contactus@environmenthamilton.org Working With Community Members to Eliminate Industrial Emission Problems Environment Hamilton continues to work with local community members to ensure that emission problems at local industrial facilities are properly resolved. Our efforts include photo-documenting the problems we see. One of our community volunteers has started a blog called 'Hamilton Stacks' which regularly posts photos of stack emission problems taken by concerned Hamiltonians. You can visit the blog at hamiltonstacks.blogspot.com. We also watch industrial stacks on a regular basis. Most recently, we observed the major upset at US Steel/ Stelco's blast furnace. The company was forced to do what is referred to as a 'bleed' because of a pressure build-up in one of its blast furnaces. The result was a dramatic black cloud that wafted over the city. The incident occurred on August 7th, while the EH board was meeting. We saw the cloud float towards our offices, and were able to capture it in the photo below.
Dundas Residents Oppose Plans to Proposed Development at St. Joseph Villa In September 2009, Dundas residents and organizations concerned about the development proposal at the villa lined up at a Planning and Economic Development meeting to oppose the construction of two 10-storey condominium buildings at the St. Joseph's site. The residents were praised for their presentations, each arguing a different viewpoint against the development. The city councillors on the planning committee acknowledged they learned from the Dundas presenters that: Despite the direct conflict with the City's own development guidelines, a final decision has yet to be made. Councillor Russ Powers has been designated to create a plan that would be approved by both sides. Until then, the residents of Dundas and partners should be praised for collecting 1200 names on their petition and sending in 130 letters and emails to city councillors in opposition. The Keith Neighbourhood Environment Hamilton continues to provide support to the Moms group and the WE ROCK group in the North End. Currently, through an agreement with McMaster, EH is supervising four Social Work students to volunteer at both the Moms Group and WE ROCK. Home Depot and Environment Hamilton Build Birdhouses With Woodward Students Environment Hamilton (EH) arranged for Home Depot to visit Woodward Junior Public School to help the students take a break from their daily reading, writing and arithmetic, and…build birdhouses. A team of smiling EH staff and Home Depot employees arrived at the school, nestled in East Hamilton's industrial district, bright and early, to be warmly welcomed by the Woodward Elementary School Family. Of course, the handypersons in orange aprons, led by the enthusiastic Annie Kravitz, didn't arrive empty handed. They brought a birdhouse building kit for each student. Together Home Depot and Environment Hamilton staff led kindergarteners to grade sixes all day long as they sanded, screwed, hammered and assembled their birdhouses—with a few bent nails and rough edges here and there—just in time to take home for Dad on father's day, or maybe just the summer birds in the backyard. Passers-by would have noted the dozens of Woodward students in their little orange workshop aprons working together, one student holding the pieces steady for another, on the front porch of the school. Outside, the weather was perfect, and the hammering could be heard by the beleaguered ears in french class down the hall. While most of Home Depot staff were teamed with Woodward students, others were planting gorgeous new gardens just a few feet away; orange flowers for the Home Depot, and yellow for Woodward's own colours. At the end of the day, almost 175 birdhouses later, each student also took home an Energy Savings Kit, provided by Environment Hamilton, with energy-efficient light bulbs, shower-heads, and insulation, good for the bills and the environment. This isn't the first time Environment Hamilton has partnered with the school. In the past, EH has worked with Woodward students to reduce their daily waste by 95%. EH Project Manager Brenda Johnson, and Woodward principal Joyce Munroe said Friday's birdhouse workshop is proof that when local businesses, organizations and children get together, everybody ends up a winner, all look forward to the next partnership, even if there were a few slivers and sore thumbs.
In 2007, we visited Woodward Elementary School to talk about green projects that we could work on together. This school is situated deep in the city's industrial core, a stone's throw from the sewage treatment plant, the QEW, the Red Hill Expressway and the recently excavated Rennie Street Landfill. Little did we know that this school would nearly eliminate its waste sent to landfill. They reduced their garbage from 96 to 4 bags per month!
Environment Hamilton & the Hamilton Community Foundation Environment Hamilton's North Hamilton Project would not be possible without the generous support of the Hamilton Community Foundation. Through the Foundation's "Tackling Poverty Together" fund, we have been able to initiate innovative approaches to environmental enhancement and protection in North Hamilton neighbourhoods. For more information on the Hamilton Community Foundation, please visit www.hcf.on.ca. |
