As a planning partner, BurlingtonGreen is pleased to announce "Take Action Burlington" as this City's first Community Climate Change summit!

The day-long summit being held at the Royal Botanical Gardens on Thursday, May 6, 2010, aims to bring together local residents, businesses and community leaders to discuss climate change at the local level.

Jeffrey Simpson, regular columnist with the Globe & Mail, will open the summit as the keynote speaker. Simpson is co-author of Hot Air, Canada's Climate Change Challenge and will speak to why we in Burlington should be concerned about Climate Change.

Expert panel sessions will focus on various topics, such as healthy communities and sustainable transportation, green buildings and renewable energy, and energy conservation. Each session will highlight why these areas are important and showcase local sustainable actions that are already taking place in Burlington. Summit participants will work together in roundtable sessions to identify how we as individuals and a community can build on existing actions to respond to the changing climate and take action to make a difference.

Visit the Take Action Burlington webpage for more information, regular updates and to register.

BurlingtonGreen is pleased to present an exciting line-up of award winning films for the 2010 Eco-film festival!

The festival will begin on Thursday, March 11 with the screening of "Blue Gold: World Water Wars" which is an extremely engaging film about water as a basic human right & the various powers that are trying to take control of the public's water for profit and control.

We believe this film to be the perfect "fit" for Bottled Water Free Day and at this event we will be discussing how this issue affects us locally and will share updates on Burlington's latest efforts to address the bottled water issue.



The event will take place at 7:00 pm sharp (doors open at 6:30) at Central Library, 2331 New Street.

Admission is $5/person or festival pass $20 (5 films - save $5) at the door

Complimentary refreshments will be provided and free eco-prizes will add some fun to the night!

Please help us to host a GREEN event by bringing along your own mug and by trying to carpool or take public transit if you can.

CHECK OUT OUR 2010 FILM FESTIVAL LISTING & GET READY TO WATCH, LEARN & TAKE ACTION !

Commission votes 13 - 1 to send Nelson Quarry re-designation request to Provincial Cabinet

Commissioners of the Niagara Escarpment Commission (NEC) voted nearly unanimously last Thursday to support "the protection of the Mount Nemo Plateau", an environmentally-sensitive area located on the Niagara Escarpment in Burlington, Ontario.  Speaking in favour of the motion were Protecting Escarpment Rural Land (PERL), Burlington Mayor Cam Jackson, and Burlington Ward 3 Councillor John Taylor.

Mayor Jackson had previously moved a Halton Region amendment calling on the McGuinty government to stop a proposed Joint Board hearing and put the rightful designations on this ecological area.  That motion carried 18-1, and was approved by all four of Halton's Mayors (Burlington, Oakville, Milton and Halton Hills). The Joint Board hearing, so called because it includes both the Ontario Municipal Board and the Environmental Review Tribunal, is scheduled to start in September 2010.

"For over 100 years, Mount Nemo has served as a primary source of aggregate for the Greater Toronto Area; it's time to let Mother Nature heal herself," said Mayor Jackson, speaking to the NEC. 

"This decision from the Commission is the latest in a long line of support to protect Mount Nemo from future quarries. Now, the Ontario Cabinet should follow suit," said Dr. Rick Smith, Executive Director of Environmental Defence. 

Mount Nemo is under threat from a proposed quarry. The Nelson Aggregates quarry license application falls squarely within one of the most sensitive parts of the Greenbelt, in a headwaters area that contains Provincially Significant Wetlands, Regionally Significant Woodlands and the habitat of the provincially and nationally threatened Jefferson salamander.  There are only 27 known locations of this critical indicator species left in all of Canada.

In supporting the motion, Councillor Taylor recited the NEC Staff Report that states, "some lands on the Mount Nemo Plateau do contain Escarpment slopes and related landforms, either existing or proposed to be designated as environmentally sensitive by the municipalities in their official plans which may, after further review, fit the Escarpment Natural Area or Escarpment Protection area designations in the Niagara Escarpment Plan (NEP)." Both the "Natural" and "Protection" area designations prohibit quarries.

PERL legal counsel David Donnelly presented the case for re-designation to the Commissioners.  "Nelson pleaded guilty to the serious offence of altering a watercourse without permit on November 26, 2007 thereby waiving any expectation it may have had to have its new quarry application assessed against a decades old land use designation," Donnelly told the Commission. "There is precedence for Cabinet to re-designate the proposed quarry site, for example the Milton Outlier, and other areas like North Leslie, Boyd Park and the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve.  Mount Nemo should be added to this protected list."

Conservation Halton, Region of Halton, the City of Burlington and the Niagara Escarpment Commission have all voted against the quarry application, citing serious concerns relating to the loss of provincially significant wetlands and significant woodlands, species at risk (the Jefferson salamander and the Butternut), and changes in flow contribution to downstream watercourses.

"The serious fear is that the millions of dollars that are needed to restore Mount Nemo will be spent on a hearing that should not take place," said Sarah Harmer, Co-Founder of PERL.  "After Mount Nemo's 100 years of service to the aggregate industry, Premier McGuinty and the Ontario Cabinet must stand with PERL, Burlington, Halton, the Niagara Escarpment Commission, the Conservation Authority, and dozens of local and national environmental groups to act, so that nature can reclaim this exceptional area."

 For more information, visit PERL (Protecting Escarpment Rural Lands).

BurlingtonGreen is pleased to announce that we have been selected by the producer of an annual Earth Day Fundraiser to host a very special event in Burlington on Sunday evening, April 18, 2010.

This inspirational event will feature performers and musicians honouring Margaret Atwood’s “Payback” - a written parody of the famous Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol” but with an environmental twist. In the final chapter of her book, she presents a modern –day Scrooge encountering the spirits of Earth Day Past, Present & Future.  The focus of the piece is on the environmental issues that are facing our planet today, presented in a humourous but pointed manner.

FEATURING OUTSTANDING CANADIAN TALENT !The two hour gathering will include entertaining readings from Payback by CBC Radio's Paul Kennedy, nine time Gemini and Genie nominated actress Janet-Laine Green and Tyrone Savage, star of CBC TV's "Wind at My Back". The incredible music of Jory Nash , Laura Bird and Katherine Wheatley will be sprinkled throughout the evening and copies of Margaret Atwood’s book will be on hand for purchase.

This unique event was first held in Caledon for Earth Day 2009 and was a terrific success and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to offer it here in Burlington to celebrate Earth Day’s 40^th Anniversary.

 "....It was great to hear such an action-packed environmental message delivered in this unique way.  The event appealed to a really broad market and was highly entertaining.  It`s sure to go viral!"
(Nicola Ross, Executive Editor, Alternatives Journal, Canada`s national environmental magazine.)

This year’s event will take place at Port Nelson Church at 7:30 pm (doors open at 7:00 pm) Advance tickets  at $15 are available from Event Producer Andrew Welch on-line here on-line purchase here or $18 at the door. All event proceeds will support the important environmental work of both BurlingtonGreen and the David Suzuki Foundation.

We are very excited that Margaret Atwood herself supports this opportunity and that everyone involved will be volunteering their time and talent recognizing the value of community action to help our shared planet.  

We hope you will choose to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day with us at this special event. Check out the event POSTER.