2011 350 Events
2011 November 4, Friday, 7:00pm
Climate Reality – It’s better to change laws than light bulbs
Royal Botanical Gardens
680 Plains Road West, Burlington
presented by Grant Linney, Al Gore trained presenter
Free Admission
2011 November 7 – Monday at 7:30pm
The First Unitarian Church, 170 Dundurn St. , Hamilton
The Annual Spirit of Redhill Valley lecture has Dr. Pamela Blais who will present “Perverse Cities, Hidden subsidies, wonky policy and urban sprawl”
Dr Blais 2010 book – Perverse Cities: Hidden Subsidies, Wonky Policy and Urban Sprawl – has won critical praise including being short-listed for the Donner Prize. She suggests that urban planning has focused on curbing sprawl by treating its symptoms and failing to recognize the market distortions and flawed policy that drive sprawl. As a result of crude public policies, a wide range of urban goods and services are subject to inaccurate price signals, including housing, non-residential properties, transportation and utilities. Mis-pricing creates hidden, perverse subsidies and incentives that promote sprawl while discouraging more efficient and sustainable urban forms. More information is available at perversecities.ca.
2011 September 23, Friday – Cycle to Nanticoke
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5066898
Cycle to Nanticoke to support closing the coal-fired power station – the largest in North America and among the biggest single sources of greenhouse gases on the continent.
Additionally, we will visit the ExxonMobil refinery in Nanticoke. ExxonMobil is currently involved in an $11 billion project in the Alberta Tar Sands. This project will result in additional carbon emissions as well as excess energy and water usage and possible chemical releases to extract this bitumen.
The 70 km ride (each way) from Hamilton starts Friday September 23, and follows rail trails and back roads to Nanticoke for the action there.
Overnight camping at Selkirk Provincial Park.
Return to Hamilton on Saturday morning, September 24, to arrive for an afternoon rally and walk to the Federal Building at Bay and York.
For detailed route to Nanticoke, go to:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5066898
CARBON CYCLE
A 150 km bike ride to Oppose Tar Sands and Coal use, and End Dirty Energy
And a Rally for everyone on September 24 – global day of action on climate change.
The ride begins at Hamilton City Hall at 8:30 am on Friday, September 23. It follows rail trails and back country roads 70 km to the shores of Lake Erie where brief demonstrations will be held at fossil-fuel facilities (see below). Riders will camp overnight at a conservation area campground, and cycle back to Hamilton on Saturday morning, September 24 to participate in a rally at Gore Park in downtown Hamilton (1 to 4 pm) that is part of the Global Day of Action on Climate Change.
Riders need to register their participation by emailing contact@hamilton350.org to allow camping and food arrangements to be finalized. Other cyclists can support the Carbon Cycle by helping to escort the Nanticoke riders out of the city on Friday morning and/or back into the city on Saturday afternoon. Others can participate in the Gore Park rally which will include live music and other activities.
Why this destination?
The rural village of Nanticoke 70 km south of Hamilton hosts three massive fossil fuel facilities and now appears likely to be on the receiving end of tar sands oil from Alberta. The ExxonMobil refinery at Nanticoke produces a quarter of Ontario’s gasoline. ExxonMobil is the largest private oil company in the world and a major exploiter of the ultra-dirty Alberta tar sands. The company is also a major financer of climate change denier groups set up to create confusion and block real action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In late August it was also revealed that an application has been filed to pipe Alberta oil (likely including tar sands oil) to the ExxonMobil refinery in Nanticoke.
Ontario Power Generation operates the largest coal-fired electricity generation facility in North America near the ExxonMobil refinery. At full capacity it is the largest single source of greenhouse gases on the continent. It is also a huge source of air pollution that is carried by the prevailing south-west winds to Hamilton and the Greater Toronto Area. Production has been cut back at the OPG facility, and the provincial government is promising to close it by 2014, but the original promise was to close it several years ago.
What are we trying to achieve?
The Carbon Cycle carries the message and sets an example of Moving Away from Fossil Fuels – an essential part of reducing climate change and adapting to its unavoidable effects, many of which are already evident. The Gore Park rally has the same message, and all participants are urged to attend without using fossil fuels – arriving on foot, by bike, roller blades, or other means of transportation that are carbon-free (or at the very least relying on public transit rather than automobiles). The Global Day of Action on Climate Change has the same message of Moving Away from Fossil Fuels. Thousands of actions are planned around the world, organized through 350.org and others who led last month’s massive civil disobedience action in Washington that saw the arrest of over 1250 peaceful participants.
Cycle in style
Pedal the Planet / Don’t Peddle the Planet spoke cards are now available at bike shops and cafés around Hamilton including:
- Downtown Bike Hounds
- Skydragon
- Mulberry Café
- Pieriks Cycle
- Domestique-Café
- Mountain Equipment Coop (Burlington)
- Environment Hamilton
- OPIRG McMaster
- Mountain Top Bikes
- My Dog Joe’s Café.
Donations for the cards, and their installation on your bike, help support the September 23-24 Carbon Cycle – a two-day 150 km ride to Nanticoke.
Carbon Cycle to Nanticoke Poster (pdf)
Cycle To Nanticoke Poster (doc)
2011 September 24, Saturday – Moving Planet global day of action
The Moving Planet global day of action on climate change will see thousands of actions take place in nearly every country of the world. Mark your calendar to participate in the Hamilton action, and contact us immediately if you can help in the preparations. Also contact us to receive more details as they are finalized.
Hamilton’s latest 350 campaign is part of the global Moving Planet global day of action organized by 350.org.
2011 September 12, Monday – Climate Change
Hope & Resolvevs
Fear and Inaction
with Climate Project presenter Grant Linney
Monday, September 12th at 6:00 p.m.
Sky Dragon Centre
27 King William St., HAMILTON, ON
Food & drink available for purchase
Presentation followed by a showing of the film Petropolis
Free Admission
2010 350 Events
The Climate Carrot
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- Climate Carrot in Dundas
- Climate Carrot at Picone’s
- Green is in!
The Garlic Bus
Help us plant a message on aerotropolis lands…with garlic!
Date: Sunday, October 10, 2010
Time: 10:00 AM
Departure Point: TBA
Cost: $3
Hamilton lost 20 percent of its agricultural land between 1991 and 2006. On October 13, 2010, city council votes to convert an additional 2000-plus acres of foodland around the airport into an “aerotropolis industrial area.”
Garlic is a symbolic crop for our campaign. Not only is it is planted in the fall, but most of the garlic available in Hamilton is imported from China. By planting garlic on lands designated for aerotropolis development, we are sending a strong message to city hall: Productive agricultural land should be used to grow food, not warehouses.
Without a protected and supported local food system, Hamiltonians will be vulnerable to global price fluctuations and world food shortages. It’s about an individual’s fundamental right to food security. It’s about our community’s need for food sovereignty. And it’s about climate change. Our leaders need to guarantee access to locally-grown food so that we can reduce the number of miles our food travels from farm to fork-thereby reducing the contributions our food makes to greenhouse gas emissions.
Passengers on the Garlic Bus will have the opportunity to plant garlic on lands designated for industrial development. These may not public lands and we may be trespassing. We are looking for peaceful radicals!
Want more information about aerotropolis development plans? Check out Hamiltonians for Progressive Development.
Hamilton’s latest 350 campaign is part of the global 10/10/10 movement, organized by 350.org.
If you didn’t catch The Garlic Bus on 10/10/10, here is what you missed:
Hamilton Spectator: Protest with a bite
Watch the video
2009 350 Events
The 350.org campaign is planning a Global Day of Action on Climate Change on Saturday, October 24, 2009. The Hamilton 350 Committee has planned the following events to raise awareness locally of this international campaign.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
- 12:00 PM – Climate Change Festival in Gore Park (King and Hughson).
- 1:00 PM – Workshops and presentations in multiple locations, starting at Gore Park.
- 3:00 PM – Walk to the Federal Building on Bay Street to deliver a message to our political decision-makers.
Workshops and Presentations
Workshops will be held between 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM in multiple locations downtown.
Register in Gore Park (corner of King and Hughson Streets) between noon and 1:00 PM.
You can also read more detailed descriptions of the workshops.
- Life, Money and Illusion – Living on Earth as if we want to stay, with author Mike Nickerson
- Greening Sacred Spaces – Faith and Climate Change
- Transition Town Movement – Building community resilience to peak oil and climate change
- The Power of Community – Film: How Cuba survived peak oil
- Solar Water Heaters – with Peter Ormond
- Raw Food – with Barbara Maccaroni
- Make your own 350 t-shirt – bring a plain t-shirt
- Climate change and food – Local eating solutions
- Heritage buildings tour
- Make Your Own Rainbarrel – with Sean Burak
- Carsharing
2009 Workshops
From raw food to transition towns, you’ll learn the steps we can take as individuals as well as pressure points for government action.
All workshops start at 1:00 PM and will end in time for participants to reconvene at Gore Park and then march to the Federal Building.
Sign up for your workshop at Gore Park starting at noon on the 24th. Then, take in some of the activities at Gore Park, maybe grab a bite to eat downtown (restaurants that feature locally-sourced food can be found on this list) and head to your workshop for 1 p.m.
We’ll provide maps to get to the venues, most of which are near Gore Park.
See below for a description of the various workshops being offered.
Transition Towns: A Community Response To Climate Change
Peak oil. Climate change. Environmental destruction. Economic crisis. Social inequity. What are we doing about these visible signs of economic, environmental and social collapse occurring at the same time? Governments are not doing enough fast enough. We cannot depend on corporations or technology.
Creating a “Transition Town” is the only viable option for a better and sustainable world. The Transition Town concept inspires and empowers us as individuals to adopt lifestyles of voluntary simplicity and to work together in community to build local resilience. Be the change you want to see in the world. Join us as we explore how as individuals we can make the world a better place for all.
Workshop Leader: Kenrick Chin, a long time resident of West Hamilton and Dundas and employee of McMaster University, has devoted himself to helping to build the global Transition Towns movement. He is a founding member of Dundas Ontario in Transition (DO-iT). Dundas is one of six official Transition Towns in Canada, along with Peterborough, Guelph, Victoria, Nelson and Ottawa.
Intro To Raw Food
Visit the certified kitchen of raw food chef Barbara Maccaroni. There isn’t even a stove! However, there are dehydrators and other food preparation devices to discover. The shelves are lined with fruits, nuts, berries and seeds that are packed with life. Always remember that “you are what you eat”!
Workshop Leader: Barbara Maccaroni is a raw food chef and owner of B.Love, which is believed to be Hamilton’s first raw food catering business.
Solar Hot Water Heating Systems
Engineer Peter Ormond will review the components, installation and performance of one of Hamilton’s few residential solar hot water systems. Discover why every home in Hamilton and across Canada should have this proven renewable energy technology on their roof-top.
Workshop Leader: A mechanical engineer with a Masters degree in Environmental Engineering and a Queen’s MBA, Peter Ormond has worked throughout Canada and overseas. He has taught courses related to engineering, business and the environment at Mohawk College and McMaster University, and has consulted on many innovative projects related to conservation, renewable energy, climate change and sustainability.
Greening Sacred Spaces
Greening Sacred Spaces (GSS) is a practical program to assist faith communities in taking concrete actions to create a more energy efficient place of worship and to educate members of the community about ecological issues.
GSS will help people of faith live out the call to protect our planet home within their own context. It also provides an opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations about the spirituality of eco-sustainability and save money too! Join us and learn about the program, see a short GSS video and take home a resource sheet.
Workshop Leader: Beatrice Ekwa Ekoko is the facilitator of the GSS program for the Hamilton area. She has been working with the Hamilton faith community for over two years on various projects that have as underlying theme conservation and sustainability in the place of worship and within the home.
Movie Must-see: The Power Of Community
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba’s oil imports were cut by more than 50% and food by 80%. This film tells of the struggles as well as the community and creativity of the Cuban people during this “Special Period” of economic hardship. Cubans share how they transitioned from a highly mechanized, industrial agricultural system to one using organic methods of farming and local, urban gardens.
The film opens with a short history of peak oil, a term for the time when world oil production will reach its all-time peak and begin to decline forever. Cuba, the only country that has faced such a crisis – the massive reduction of fossil fuels – is an example of options and hope.
Location: the sanctuary of Centenary United Church, 24 Main St. W. (at MacNab).
Life, Money and Illusion: Living on Earth as if We Want to Stay
Mike Nickerson is the author of Life, Money and Illusion: Living on Earth as if We Want to Stay. His book launches a review of economic expansion and points the way to a sustainable future by showing how the economy can be restructured to remain within planetary limits. It’s an engaging and empowering vision of the future that celebrates humanity’s extraordinary ability to adapt and evolve.
Nickerson’s Hamilton 350 talk is one of over 40 he’s doing this fall in southern Ontario. Mike’s objective: with each person who grasps that we cannot grow forever on our finite planet, the conventional wisdom shifts a little farther toward the point when society, as a whole, will be working toward sustainability.
Workshop Leader: Mike Nickerson.
Impending Disaster Or Manageable Crisis? What Difference Do Our Food Choices Make Anyway?
Our food supply has become one that places convenience before taste, cosmetic appeal over nutrient value, and worst of all profits before people. Awareness of the impact of climate change on our current unsustainable global food system is growing, while the cheap resources and economic conditions that have supported it are abruptly shifting.
Our food security isn’t something that we can take for granted anymore. Can our individual food choices and habits make a difference – and a significant one – before climate change reaches that certain ‘critical’ point and becomes permanent climate disorder? Add your voice to the growing global, national and community-wide conversations about the future of our food.
Workshop Leader: Karen Burson is a chef, caterer, food writer, Slow Food lover… and the chick with the brownie obsession! She is the founder of the Bread & Roses Caf at Skydragon Cooperative, named “The Best Restaurant in Canada Serving Organic Food” by the Canadian Organic Growers in the cafe’s first year of operation. In 2007, she established Slow Food Hamilton and currently co-chairs the organization with food writer Barbara Ramsay Orr. Karen currently works as the Project Manager for Hamilton Eat Local.
Spread the Word
Print off a few copies of the 350.org Poster [PDF link] and post them in your neighbourhood, workplace or recreational spots.
You can also print off our two-page information letter to provide people with more details on the campaign, its organizers, and the science behind 350.
Tell Parliament
Print off our letter to the Prime Minister of Canada and Members of Parliament [PDF link] stating your support of the Global Day of Action and asking the Canadian Government to commit to a goal of 350 ppm of greenhouse gas in the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference.
Sign Up Your Organization
The more organizations participating in the Global Day of Action, the better! Print off our letter of participation, commit your organization to support the Global Day of Action, and kindly send it to the Hamilton 350 Committee.
Handouts
- 350 Campaign Poster [PDF] – letter-sized poster promoting the 350 Campaign with contact information for the Hamilton 350 Committee.
- Information Brief [PDF] – A two-page handout that provides details on the campaign, its organizers, and the science behind 350.
Civic Engagement
- Letter to Prime Minister and Members of Parliament [PDF] – 350-branded letter that states support for the Global Day of Action and asks the Canadian Government to commit to the goal of 350 ppm atmospheric carbon dioxide at the Copenhagen Conference.
- Letter of Participation [PDF] – Local organizations can fill out this letter and submit it to the Hamilton 350 Committee stating the organization’s commitment to 350 and what the organization is doing to promote the campaign.
Community Partners
- Interfaith Call [PDF] – A call for local communities of faith to state their support of the 350 Campaign.
- What is Target 350 [PDF] – Two-page explanation of the science bahind 350, produced by the Mission Committee of Knox Presbyterian church, Dundas, for the Eco churches of West Hamilton.
350.org Resources
- 350.org – The site has lots of posters, fliers, stickers, organizing guides, educational tools and more.
Last edited – 2011.06.21 (kc)