Yearly Archives: 2013

Peterborough Climate Change Rally

For Our Grandchildren in Peterborough is organizing a Climate Change Rally on Sunday, September 22, from 11 AM to 12 NOON at Millennium Park to kick off the Purple Onion Festival.  We are aiming at attendance of over 1,000 people, the biggest such rally in Peterborough’s history, to bring to the attention of our politicians the need for action NOW on climate change.  We know it is happening already, but we have to do everything in our power to minimize it, For Our Grandchildren! Wear purple for a photograph at noon to set the Guinness book of records for people wearing purple. Read about the Rally event on the 4RG web site. Visit the Rally Event on Facebook and share it with your friends.

The world’s atmosphere is almost at the concentration of CO2 to cause a 2 oC increase in the average global temperature.  At this point, climate change could spiral out of control.  Yet the amount of known fossil-fuel reserves would produce about FIVE TIMES the amount of CO2 required to reach this 2 oC critical point. We cannot let this extra carbon get burnt!

We will get 1,000 people to the rally if each of the 40 of us in the Peterborough section of For Our Grandchildren will commit to find 10 others who will commit to come to the rally, AND persuade each of them to commit to bring 2 MORE.  That is 40×10 = 400, and 400 + 800 =1200.  We can do it!  Better get started … we have less than a month to get there. Your personal contacts are going to get us there.

There are posters for the event at the Peterborough Resources link on the 4RG web site.  Please print and distribute them, or let Alan or Linda know if you need copies for posting; we have plenty of printed copies of the one with the purple background (for the Purple Onion Festival), but you can use the one with the white background if you want to print your own and save printer ink.  PLEASE advertise with every group you know, such as faith communities, service clubs, book clubs, ….

Visit the Rally Event on Facebook where people can indicate they are coming, to give us some idea of the number committed. Share the event with your friends. Like the event. Add links to it on your own Facebook page. Here is the Facebook Page Link all spelled out.
https://www.facebook.com/events/206767822823797/
Please put this link on your Facebook page and share it with everyone you know.

Also on the Peterborough Resources link there is a sheet of “tear-off” announcements of the rally that you can print, cut out, and give to everyone you meet.  Take some to the market with you; take them to your faith community, carry them with you everywhere.

Please let Alan or Linda know if you can help on September 22.  We need you for crowd assistance (tell people to stay off the road and where the benches are for the elderly), to hand out purple headbands, etc.

Thanks for your commitment.  We need to change policies in Peterborough, Ontario, and Canada and, together, we will!

City Achieved E-Waste Milestone in 2012

For the second year in a row, the City of Peterborough has achieved a milestone in the collection of used electronics. A total of 270,753 kilograms of e-waste was collected at our two facilities in 2012:

  • the Household Hazardous Waste Depot (Pido Road)
  • the Landfill Site (Bensfort Road)

Ontario Electronics Stewardship (OES), which the City partners with for this program, diverted 75,702 tonnes of this material province-wide last year.

OES sends congratulations to the residents of Peterborough for their obvious commitment to sustainability and a green economy.

Keep up the good work Peterborough and continue to recycle your used computers, televisions, cell phones and other electronics, for free, at one of the City’s facilities.

Call 705-742-7777 ext. 1657 for more information or go to the City of Peterborough’s website at www.peterborough.ca/waste.

Emerald Ash Borer

As part of its pro-active Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) Management Plan and working partnership with Peterborough County, the City of Peterborough has installed the first of its road signs (on The Parkway near Sir Sandford Fleming Drive) to remind visitors and the community about the danger of moving firewood.

“Monitoring the insect and public awareness of the dangers of moving firewood around the region are at the forefront of our management plan” said Paul Hambidge, Urban Forestry Specialist with the City.

Working with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the City has deployed 19 insect traps at high risk locations throughout the City.

“Early detection of the insect in Peterborough allows us to manage the impact of the EAB in an efficient and cost-effective way as outlined in the City’s EAB Management Plan” Paul Hambidge said. “Monitoring in this way allows us to detect the insect and act before it reaches damaging levels”.

Public awareness, with an exchange of information, is also high on the agenda with public information centers planned across the community throughout the summer.

Heritage Conservation Districts

During the May 7, 2013 Public Information Forum on the value of Heritage Conservation Districts in the City of Peterborough, many potential neighbourhoods were identified for consideration by residents who expressed an interest in the possibility of creating Heritage Districts in their neighbourhoods.

At the Public Information Forum, heritage consultant and architect, Catherine Nasmith spoke about the advantages and processes involved in creating Heritage Districts. She emphasized that each district is unique and that conservation plans for the area are entirely shaped by the residents to reflect their particular interests and concerns. After reviewing the areas proposed by residents at the Public Information Forum, the following areas are being considered:

1. The Avenues
2. The Dixon Mills area (the area north of McDonnel and east of Water St. to the river)
3. Old West End (the area bordered by Park. St., Charlotte St., Monaghan Rd. and Weller St.)
Residents of these neighbourhoods are invited to attend a follow-up workshop from 6:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. on June 18, 2013, at the Lawn Bowling Club Activity Centre, 577 McDonnel Street, Peterborough. The workshop will provide the opportunity for residents to meet and explore the advantages of Heritage Districts through in their neighbourhoods through a facilitated discussion with Catherine Nasmith and City staff.

Based on the outcome of this workshop, City staff will determine which neighbourhood will be the subject of the first conservation district study for the City. This project is being funded in part, by the Government of Ontario through the Creative Communities Prosperity Fund.

For further information please contact:

Debra Soule
Arts, Culture and Heritage Division,
Community Services Department
City of Peterborough
500 George Street North
Peterborough, ON, K9H 3R9
Phone: 705-742-7777 ext. 1442
Fax: 705-742-5218

Waking Up to Catastrophe

For Our Grandchildren is hosting a series of talks on Saturday, May 25, 2013. Please join them to hear experts discuss the impending effects of climate change and to discuss how our actions can make a difference.

Climate change is the defining challenge of our generation. Climate change contributes to extreme weather such as heavy rainstorms that have caused serious flooding in Peterborough on three occasions in the last ten years.

Everyone, but particularly grandparents and senior citizens, can help meet this challenge.

The first part of the event will be a Climate Change Forum, featuring these speakers:

  • The Honourable Jeff Leal, Minister of Rural Affairs and MPP for Peterborough
  • Gord Miller, Environmental Commissioner of Ontario
  • Alanna Mitchell, author of Sea Sick: The Hidden Crisis in the Global Ocean

The second part will be a Community Town Hall Meeting, featuring a discussion of concrete actions that we can take as individuals and groups. Participants who attend will network with each other, discuss the issues and develop a plan for action.

If you are a group that would be interested in partnering on this project, please contact us at .

To register for this event please click here.