Compressed, Condensed, and Canadian — Michael Snow gets in touch with nature

October 19, 2009
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By Daniela DiStefano

It’s a warm summer day amidst lush green trees and tall wild grass. You marvel at the interplay of sun and shadow, fog and mist. The sea rushes in, crashing against the jagged rocks of the cliff and gently caresses the sands of the cove over and over again.

After 10 minutes or so you get up from the bench, grab your coat and bag, and venture back outside into another London, Ontario day. But in those mere minutes you’ve witness the vivid sights recorded by one of Canada’s foremost contemporary artists – Michael Snow.

“As far as I know, there isn’t another landscape film like this in existence,” Snow says.

Condensation: A Cove Story is a three-meter, high-definition projection of a natural landscape. Recorded over two summers with a digital time-lapse still camera, a photo was taken every 10 seconds resulting in thousands of photographs tracking the landscape’s weather patterns.

Snow then turned the collection of photographs into moving images, compressing time in the process into a 10-minute silent film. It is now making its Canadian debut at the …

Rethinking your food

October 19, 2009
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 By Marika Motiwalla

Seeking a healthy, environmentally friendly and affordable lifestyle within your community seems like a daunting task for regular Ontarians. But Londoners may be starting to realize that it does not have to be.

“There’s a movement going on in the [London] community…people are trying to get control of their food supply,” said Gil Warren, a community activist in London.

Warren has a plot of land in a community garden in downtown London where he can grow his own food, herbs and flowers. He is one of many Londoners who are leaning towards local production and sharing of food.

The Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition (OHCC) is an organization that

Roundabout way to reduce carbon footprint

October 19, 2009
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By Geoff Turner

If you’ve ever driven in Europe, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve driven through a roundabout. Roundabouts are those big circular intersections where multiple lanes of traffic converge without the aid of signals or stop signs. To Canadians, they sometimes seem like the embodiment of anarchy.  Here, we’re accustomed to the strict order of the green, yellow, red. The idea that thousands of vehicles could merge and flow seamlessly without stopping seems preposterous and even scary.

Yet there is mounting evidence of the environmental and safety benefits of replacing signalled intersections with roundabouts. Several jurisdictions around North America have already begun to adopt them as a way to reduce congestion, traffic fatalities, and carbon output. The U.S. federal government has even made funds available for local governments to develop roundabouts as a means of meeting reduced emissions targets.

The environmental logic of roundabouts is simple. The circles allow traffic to flow continuously, reducing the amount of stopping and starting and wasteful idling. Cars are able to cover more ground in less time, at lower speeds. The result is quieter roads, …

Waste reduction and guilt

October 19, 2009
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By Joel Tiller

Waste Reduction Week is less than two weeks away and I am left wondering how I can get involved. You see, I am already a conscious recycler – thanks to my overbearing mother – and I have even jumped on the re-usable-bag bandwagon for those weekly trips to the supermarket. Yet, I still don’t feel like I am doing enough. Admittedly, I have brought on this added pressure myself, but when you take into consideration that we, as Ontarians, left close to one million tonnes of refuse along our curbsides in 2008 alone, I feel this newfound obligation for wanting to make a difference is nothing short of warranted.

So, where do I begin? Well, first off, I thought it be wise to fill my head with as much information as I could about Waste Reduction Week: What is it? Who’s responsible for implementing such an initiative? And, why get involved in the first place? After only a little digging, it turns out the Recycling Council of Ontario – a Toronto-based NGO spearheaded the nation-wide Waste Reduction Week campaign …

Her favorite creatures

October 19, 2009
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Howard.batCloseUp.DSC00048By Steve Howard

Juliet Nagel has spent the last two months living in a trailer along the shores of Lake Eerie and Lake Ontario.
The small unit contains a pull-out bed along one side where Nagel spends her nights next to her dog Zeus. The opposite wall of the cramped space is lined with computer equipment. Monitors display readings taken from radar sensors outside. Nagel and Zeus have spent long hours in the tailor working well past sunset and into the morning.
Juliet doesn’t mind the long hours though, or the cramped trailer. She gets to share her nights with her favorite animals: bats.
“Bats are awesome,” Nagel says.
Her interest in bats began when she was a student at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point studying wildlife. During her degree she did a tropical ecology trip in Costa Rica where she held a bat for the first time. “They bad a little nectar feeding bat and a fruit bat with a nose leaf and white stripes on his face. I …

Tracking the night creatures

October 19, 2009
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By Brittany Seki

When everyone else is sleeping, Juliet Nagel is out tracking the night’s leathery-winged creatures under the protection of her wiener dog Zeus.

“I quite like the night,” she said. “I have my dog, and even though he’s small, he lets me know when something’s around.”Seki.DSC05694

Nagel, 28, is a bat biologist with EchoTrack Inc., a company that uses radar and acoustic technology to track the night migration of bats and birds. Currently, she is working with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) to measure the affects wind turbines have on the airborne species.

Nagel records migrating birds and bats using radar to reveal the height, speed and direction the animals are traveling. She also uses ultrasonic frequency microphones, which can record bats’ echolocation and identify each species.

Seki.DSC05700“This particular project (involves) getting more information about bat migration, which is largely unknown,” said Nagel, who is completing her field research in Port Burwell. “It’s pretty important when you’re looking at where to place (wind) turbines in order to avoid mortality.”

Wind turbine companies are building wind farms on the migration paths of bats. As a result, windmills are killing up to thousands of bats each fall.

One Tree at a Time

October 19, 2009
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By Maria Ionova

Londoners and university students from Western Serves threw on their rubber boots, grabbed their shovels and prepared to be covered in dirt from head-to-toe in the spirit of ReForest London’s fifth annual Plant a Tree event.  Even the final and gloomy September weekend was no match for these volunteers. They were determined to plant 400 trees – come hell or high water.    

“In an urban setting I think it very important that people are involved in physically planting trees, because what we hope happens here then will be taken home. Attribute after 1st sentence We want this experience to be empowering so that it raises people’s awareness about their own power to continue planting in their homes,” said Julie Ryan, the executive director of the organization.

According to Worldwatch Institute’s essay Reforesting the Earth, the planet needs approximately 321 million acres of planted trees to sustain its soil productivity and water resources as well as meet third world wood fuel needs. Ionova.reforest

The essay suggests that transformative change can only result from communal effort. It argues that individuals cannot solely rely on the government and international lending agencies for support. Instead, people from various communities must unite and form local activist groups to drive a widespread fight against deforestation.

A new buzz for London restaurants

October 19, 2009
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By Jess Brady 

A London ON  restaurant is taking a do-it-yourself approach when it comes to making a naturally sweet treat.

Garlic’s of London quite literally set downtown London abuzz this spring when they installed their very own beehive on top of their restaurant in order to harvest their own honey supply.

The move is anything but conventional as Garlic’s is the first establishment in London to take on such a project. But it does speak to the commitment of the restaurant’s management and head chef to use as much locally produced food as possible.

Since Chef Wade Fitzgerald came to Garlic’s just over two years ago, using local produce and foods has become central to the operation of the popular London restaurant, says Garlic’s manager Emma Pratt 

Buying from local suppliers wasn’t always a priority, but when Fitzgerald took over the Garlic’s kitchen it became one, says Pratt.

“It was a gradual introduction, but it’s something he (Fitzgerald) felt passionately about,” she says.

Pratt says purchasing produce and goods from local vendors makes Garlic’s food taste better. She also points out all of their dishes are …

London Hydro brings energy efficient lighting

October 19, 2009
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By Laura Schober

For small, commercial businesses, reducing their carbon footprint is not always a top priority. But London Hydro is pleased so far with the positive response it has received towards the Power Savings Energy Blitz, an energy conservation program that provides environmentally efficient lighting retrofits to local businesses.

Hans Schreff, London Hydro’s project manager of conservation activities, says that the majority of participating businesses did not initially have the resources or money to make the switch to the latest energy saving options.

“We like to call them the mom and pops or the storefronts and those are typically a very difficult segment of our marketplace to get involved in conservation measures. They’re typically owner operated, they’re small, they have little employer resources. Everybody’s a jack of all trades,” Schreff said.

Businesses that qualify receive $1,050 worth of lighting retrofits. All of the old materials get recycled, according to Schreff.

“As far as the materials go, the fluorescent lamps have much less products in it, such as mercury and phosphorous. But on the other hand, the waste stream has now …

Bat migration studies may mitigate wind damage

October 19, 2009
 | by ontariogreen
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By Alana Power JoyNagel.by.Power

 Wind turbines in Ontario have the potential to kill thousands of bats every spring and fall.

Bat biologist Juliet Nagal is studying the migration patterns of bats along Ontario’s shores so that she can suggest locations for turbines that would be less harmful to the nocturnal creatures.

Nagal, 28, works for EchoTrack Inc., a company that tracks migrating birds and bats using radar which detects height, speed and direction. Microphones allow for species identification. The focus of Nagal’s research is to find out if bats are migrating in the same pattern as birds along Ontario’s shores.

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