Three members of Heart Lake Turtle Troopers (one of whom is a Home Depot associate), pose with two other Home Depot associates along with donated merchandise
With support from the BEA, Heart Lake Turtle Troopers was honoured and grateful to receive a generous donation of merchandise from The Home Depot (Brampton #7006, located at Steeles & Hwy 410)!
We received an assortment of tools and materials that will be used for building and installation of nest-protection boxes, as well as totes that will be used for transporting injured turtles to the Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre in Peterborough.
Heart Lake Turtle Troopers will be engaging with ~20 volunteers from the Home Depot team later in May, when we show them the nest-protection work we are doing at Loafers Lake Park. They will also help us do a park clean up at Loafers Lake.
Heart Lake Turtle Troopers is a Brampton-based volunteer group. Our mission is to support the protection and monitoring of the local turtle population through a citizen science volunteer program, by working in partnership with community stakeholders to raise community awareness, recruit and engage citizen volunteers and organize and deliver public engagement activities. Visit our Facebook page to learn more about our activities or join our group.
By: Rosemary Keenan, Sierra Club Peel Chapter Chair and David Laing, President, Brampton Environmental Alliance
Earth Day Activities
It was a brisk, enjoyable and energizing day at the first ever Grown Green Awards Celebration held at Norton Place Park this past Saturday April 23rd. Norton Place Park is a hidden gem in the heart of the City with a small lake beautifully surrounded by trees and trails. The Earth Day event was about celebrating the Brampton City’s and its residents contributions to a more environmentally friendly world.
An article in last month’s BEA Weekly described the ecosystem services provided by Brampton’s tree canopy and invited residents to offer their opinions on the City’s Urban Forest Management Plan. The City is also interested in public feedback as it works to update its Parkland Dedication by-law by this fall to conform to changes in Provincial regulation. Why is this important and why should you care?
Brampton is under tremendous pressure to accommodate population growth and maintain or increase the availability of affordable housing within its boundary limits. At the same time it strives to maintain, or improve, the quality of life for its residents and to keep Brampton as a city where people want to come to work, live and play.
An effective way to improve life quality for people living in urban settings is by providing easily accessible parkland. Access to the outdoors and communing with nature are critically important to our mental health. Providing parks and natural settings for recreation and exercise is an effective way to promote healthy active living. This is especially true in times of emotional stress, such as dealing with the effects of a global pandemic.
A December 2021 Chinese study, published in the National Library of Medicine concludes, “To achieve the goal of promoting mental wellbeing through urban planning and design during the future pandemics, policymakers and planners are advised to provide more well-maintained and accessible parkland and encourage residents to use them with proper precautions.”
Adequate parkland is an important part of economic, environmental, and social sustainability of any urban centre. In addition to supporting better health outcomes, naturalized outdoor spaces also provide a myriad of eco-system services, including air purification, temperature regulation, water filtration and flood management.
Brampton’s 2040 vision calls for the establishment of an “Eco-Park” to conserve and enhance natural systems within the City while optimizing the balance between environmental conservation on one hand and public accessibility on the other. The concept of the Eco-Park is that it will enhance Brampton’s reputation as a “green city” by evolving the natural heritage system into a network of “Eco Spaces” consisting of, parks, green spaces, green infrastructure streetscapes, utility corridors, and the front and back yards. All these spaces conforming to a set of established principles as defined in the City’s Eco-Parks strategy.
But where does the land come from to support all of these parks and recreational facilities? It turns out that much of it comes from developers through a process called “Parkland Dedication”.
Parkland Dedication is a city by-law under the planning act that requires a portion of land being proposed for development, (or re-development), to be conveyed (given) to the City for parkland. The amount depends on the land’s intended purpose. For commercial or industrial development, 2% of the property must be given to the city to be used for parkland. If the property is to be used for residential purposes, then the greater of 5%, or one hectare for every three-hundred dwelling units must be made available for parkland. This amount is exclusive of valley lands, (floodplain), water courses, buffers or easements.
The by-law also allows the developer to provide cash in lieu of handing over a portion of development project land. The cash in lieu concept is designed for the city to pool funds to buy larger tracts of land to create a smaller number of larger parks rather than having little parkettes associated with each individual development project.
Historically the Parkland Dedication by-law has allowed the city to amass significant parkland. But the approach to parkland dedication is coming under increasing criticism.
First, there is growing pressure from the development industry to cap parkland funding. The arguments are that the cost of cash in lieu of parkland is added to the home purchase price making it less affordable. It also tends to discourage higher density development where the parkland cost can be a significant portion of the overall cost of the development project based on the one hectare per 300 residential unit formula.
The second issue is that the city can sit on the reserve cash for years without finding the right opportunity to buy land suitable for parkland development. Today the reserve exceeds $100M!
The third issue is that parkland is not expanding as fast as the city is growing. Brampton currently provides 6.3 hectares of parkland for every 1,000 residents. That compares favourably to larger cities like Toronto, or Vancouver that have less than half of what we currently enjoy. But, Brampton’s population is expected to grow more than 50% in the next two decades and this growth will see increasing pressure on Brampton’s parks and green spaces unless park space is added at the same rate.
Parkland dedication is a complicated issue that will require complex solutions. The most important thing you can do is to let city staff know you care a proper ratio of parkland to people as the City grows in population and that parkland should be accessible to all by being equitably distributed across the city. Please take a moment to provide your opinion on the City’s park strategy by completing the Park’s Survey.
Recent reports from the International Panel on Climate Change paint a grim future for our planet in the coming years unless we make dramatic changes in how we produce and consume energy. That scary analysis should be enough to mobilize us to take action. But what can we, as individuals, realistically do?
Carbon emissions are a waste by-product from our production and use of energy. We can lower emissions either by using less energy or by using energy from less wasteful sources. It turns out that one of the most effective things we can do here in Brampton to reduce emissions is to use our cars less and our bodies more.
A 2019 energy audit completed for the city’s Community Energy and Emissions Reduction Plan, found that Brampton’s cars and trucks account for almost 60% of the city’s carbon emissions. And a 2016 transportation survey found that, of the 2.3M transportation trips taken in Peel Region by car each day, the median distance is just 6.3 km. That’s an hour’s walk but less than a 20 minute bike ride.
The human body uses energy very efficiently to move itself, especially when travelling by bicycle. The calories contained within a glass of orange juice will carry a cyclist about 5km. That same amount of energy derived from gasoline burned in a car’s engine, typically won’t carry the driver to the end of their driveway.
Creating a cycling culture Katie Whittmann (2015)
Adding costs to the equation makes the case for travelling by bicycle even more compelling. Brampton drivers spend just under $1B per year on gasoline and diesel fuel. That’s on top of the costs for, licensing, road construction and maintenance as well as the vehicle capital and repairs. Overall, a typical motorized vehicle costs more than $6,000/year to own and operate, whereas the average cost of ownership for a bicycle is less than $100 annually.
Barriers to cycling
Access to a bicycle, perceived distance, perceived comfort, lack of skill or concerns about theft, weather and arriving sweaty to the destination are among the many reasons cited for why more people don’t use a bicycle for transportation. A barrier not often discussed, however, is a lack of cycling culture.
Cycling for transportation is considered the norm in many parts of the world where conditions are similar to those here at home. But, in many North American cities, cycling behaviour has been discouraged to the point where a person who uses a bicycle for anything other than recreation is considered second-class or more than a bit odd. Eleanor McMahon, a past Ontario cabinet minister, past Board Chair of Share the Road Cycling Coalition, and the current President and CEO of the TransCanada Trails Association, once said that, “cycling is known as a rich man’s sport, and a poor man’s second choice.”
Fortunately that perception in Ontario and specifically in Brampton is beginning to change. There is no question that cycling popularity is on the rise, especially since the pandemic began encouraging more outdoor activities. Bike retailers have had a hard time keeping up with demand and long wait times for new bicycles have only recently begun to ease.
The city of Brampton responded in 2020 initiating a “Streets for People” campaign that is building bicycle infrastructure as part of an Active Transportation Master Plan. Last year 15km of linear bicycle infrastructure was added including, multi-use paths, urban shoulders and on-street bike lanes. This year city plans call for an additional 31.5km that will flesh out a significant portion of the city-wide cycling network.
Safe infrastructure, is only one of the required elements leading to the cultural shift necessary to get folks out of their cars and onto their bikes. Education and encouragement are two other important factors. That’s where BikeBrampton and the Community Cycling Program comes in.
BikeBrampton is a volunteer group advocating for better and safer active transportation choices in Brampton and Peel Region. As the name implies active transportation is the term used to describe destination type trips that are mostly or entirely human powered including, cycling, walking, skateboarding, etc. But BikeBrampton also partners with PCHS (Punjabi Community Health Service) to deliver the Community Cycling Program (CCP) on behalf of Peel Region.
The purpose of the CCP is to increase cycling mode share by creating a cycling community and normalizing cycling as a legitimate form of transportation. The program increases access to a working bicycle through a bike lending library and by teaching basic bike maintenance skills. It also helps build familiarity, comfort and confidence for riding on existing infrastructure by teaming new and experienced riders as well as through skills training programs and group rides.
One of the more popular aspects of the program is the series of ‘BikeWrx’ pop up events at different sites in both Brampton and Caledon throughout the spring, summer and fall.
Last year’s pop ups proved very popular. According to Sonia Maset, the Brampton and Caledon Bike Hub Program Manager working for PCHS, “Our goal at the beginning of the summer of 2021 was to provide 100 hours of service to 2,000 residents between July and October at 13 different locations, 10 in Brampton and 3 Caledon. In four months, we delivered 120 hours to 2,348 residents over 46 events spanning 17 locations in the two municipalities.”
Services at these events included free bike bell and light installation (courtesy of the Region of Peel), free bike inspections, basic repairs, bike and helmet fittings, route planning, trail etiquette, group rides, obstacle courses, and one-on-one rider education.
2021 Professors Lake Pop-up
The BikeBrampton Bike Hub team is preparing once again for a full slate of outdoor events for this year in both Brampton and Caledon. Bring your bike for a free inspection and minor tune-up. Learn about route planning and bike safety. Get a free bell or bike light while supplies last. Check out the schedule on BikeBrampton.ca. Sign up to the BikeBrampton News to stay up to date on the latest event information including Bike the Creek, Brampton’s signature cycling event.
The Region of Peel is currently undertaking a municipal comprehensive review which is the technical process for updating the Region’s official plan. The main purpose of the update is to accommodate the projected growth in population through the year 2051. The proposed changes include a settlement area boundary expansion that would allow housing and other developments to be built on what is now agricultural land, mostly in southern Caledon. The changes are progressing as if no other options are available and are marching swiftly to a provincially driven schedule. These are, however, profound changes that would irrevocably alter the landscape of vast swaths of Peel Region. This article explores the implications of these changes on the food security of the Region.
Caledon Farming
Access to sufficient quantities of nutritious reasonably priced food is perhaps the most important factor in maintaining peaceful and productive societies. For those of us living in southern Ontario the past 70 have been the goldilocks years for food, with plentiful quantity, tremendous variety, and relatively low cost.
Now, changes are occurring that threaten the foundations on which our food security is built. COVID –19 supply chain issues combined with the war in Ukraine are obvious threats that are shocking the patterns of food sourcing and food distribution, causing intermittent bare shelves, limiting choices, and raising costs that continue taking ever bigger bytes out of consumer paycheques.
Yet climate change will likely be the biggest long-term disruptor. The current trends indicate the goal of keeping the increase in average global temperature to 1.5C is rapidly slipping through our fingers. Under the more likely 2-2.3C scenario, Canada will look and feel like a very different place within the time horizon considered within the Regional growth plan.
Sean Smukler, a professor at University of British Columbia in the faculty of land and food systems believes that food shortages resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic should help the general public realize the importance of building resilience into the agricultural system, preserving local food production and protecting the country’s food sovereignty.
The fact is, our traditional sources of food are becoming far less stable. Climate change will ensure they will continue to do so. At the same time, Peel Region is converting prime agricultural land to residential, commercial, and industrial uses more rapidly than ever before. The irony in the proposed settlement area boundary expansion, (SABE) should be obvious to all, calling for a phased approach to development that would allow “agriculture and agricultural activities to continue for as long as possible”. The interpretation? Significant agriculture within Peel Region will be all but eliminated by 2051 just as our food supply from traditional sources may have reached a critical stage.
We are living in rapidly changing times. The historical assumptions guiding our plans need to be challenged. While growth and affordable housing must remain priorities, we must also be realistic about the future of housing in the GTA. The aspiration of single-family home ownership, complete with picket fence and generous yard may no longer be a viable option for all. Urban sprawl type development is neither environmentally nor economically sustainable. Land is the most precious thing we have, arable land even more so.
Peel Regional Council needs to take a bold decision and freeze urban boundary expansion beyond its current limits. Planners and developers must be challenged to create higher density solutions that would accommodate population growth within existing boundaries while leaving room for greenspace and sufficient agricultural land which could supply locally grown food for residents in Peel and the GTA. Locally grown food is not a panacea. It should however, be a significant part of the food sourcing equation. Anything less is just not prudent.
Come out from hibernation, meet your environmental neighbours, and celebrate Earth Month!
Join Brampton’s first ever Environmental Celebration and Grow Green Awards.Attend the BEA Member Meeting at the same time.
Your BEA events team has been busy with Brampton city staff organizing an Earth Month celebration! This family oriented event includes earth friendly activities for both kids and adults including interpretive walks, rides, litter clean up, and more. Leo will be putting on a unicycle show. Who knows, he may even let you try it out!
We will also be recognizing environmental volunteers and leaders during an awards ceremony followed by a short BEA meeting.
Urban Forest Management Plan Art Contest – Hirnakshi Joshi, second place winner
The City of Brampton is looking for citizen feedback on its urban forest master plan. The urban forest encompasses all the trees on both public and private lands, including parks, valleylands, and woodlots. It also includes street trees, trees in parking lots, trees on institutional/employment lands and trees on residential property. Residents and stakeholders are being asked to complete a survey available until April 1, 2022.
Trees are a very important part of the city-scape. According to the Government of Canada, “Urban Forests increase our quality of life by promoting mental well-being and encouraging physical activity.” Trees, produce oxygen, filter out air and soil contaminants, support biodiversity, reduce heat loss in the winter and cool temperatures in the summer. Their shade and majesty beautifies neighbourhoods and increases property values. As many tree species can live for hundreds of years, they connect us to our past and help build our sense of community.
For Brampton, trees are critical to the city’s 2040 Vision and the achievement of the Community Energy and Emissions Reduction Plan, (CEERP). Brampton’s trees absorb over 7,700 tonnes of carbon each year which is like taking more than 1,500 cars off Brampton’s roads. Large trees store 75 times as much carbon as smaller trees so the maturity of the forest is also an important factor.
The presence of trees also helps reduce Brampton’s energy requirements by slowing the rate of heat absorption in the hard surfaces of nearby roads and buildings. Urban locations with lots of tree cover can be as much as 10-12 degrees cooler than those with lower amounts of natural vegetation.
Brampton boasts an inventory of 3.6 million trees with an estimated economic value of $780 million. Yet, despite its reputation as a green city, Brampton’s urban forest falls short in several key areas including, canopy coverage, species diversity, and forest maturity. The tree canopy covers only about 18% of the city’s total land mass. This compares to a 25% average cover for other selected communities in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). Three tree species, maple, ash and, spruce account for almost half of the total cover. And Brampton’s forests are dominated by smaller younger trees.
These short-comings make the forest vulnerable to climate change risks. Invasive insects such as the emerald ash borer have all but wiped out the city’s stands of large ash trees. The 2013 ice storm killed more than 30,000 trees, with larger mature trees experiencing the most damage. Mature trees are particularly important in terms of the eco-system services they provide. They store 75 times more carbon than small trees and filter out approximately 10 times the amount of pollution from the air. Larger trees also provide more shade and wildlife habitat.
Fewer than half of Brampton’s trees are considered to be in good or excellent condition. The Urban Forest Management Plan’s purpose therefore is to outline a vision for the future of Brampton’s urban forest, define the targets necessary to achieve that vision and then implement a process to monitor progress towards those targets. Click here to see a draft of the city’s urban forest management plan.
In a unanimous vote at this past Wednesday’s Committee meeting, Brampton Council said yes to the updated implementation schedule of the Active Transportation Master Plan for 2022. This includes an $8.6 million budget for education, programs and infrastructure including, bike lanes, pedestrian crossings, counters, initiating a bicycle friendly business program, updating the city’s cycling map, and providing support for a return to live events such as the Bike the Creek signature cycling event.
The motion did not pass without debate. The installation of cycling infrastructure often creates controversy, particularly in suburban cities, like Brampton, where cycling for transportation is less common than in larger urban centres. A recent study found that most drivers don’t like sharing the road with cyclists because they believe the cyclists are inconsiderate. It turns out the vast majority of cyclists treat the road rules with respect yet the impression lingers. Local politicians are a target of vocal opponents who don’t want to compete for road space with cyclists or who see bike lanes as taking away valuable road space that otherwise could be used for more traffic or on-street parking.
The fact is bike lanes can often improve traffic flow by defining a clear space where cyclists are supposed to be on the road. They also tend to calm traffic, reducing average speeds, making the road safer for all but especially for vulnerable users such as pedestrians and cyclists. Safer infrastructure also encourages more pedestrian and cycling behaviour, thus reducing the number of cars on the road. As communities become more active, there are corresponding improvements in health outcomes and the sense of well-being amongst practitioners.
Despite these public benefits, the controversy remains. Residents may object to a bike lane being installed in front of their house because it would take away their on-street parking. Yet it is often the same residents who complain about high speed drivers and who want calming measures put in place.
Quelling the controversy is possible. Communication is the key, letting residents know about the coming infrastructure, educating them about the benefits and listening to their concerns. Once the infrastructure has been in place for a few years, it becomes the norm. Strangely enough, when that happens, residents will complain bitterly if a civic leader proposes they be removed.
Brampton’s Transportation Planning and Road Engineering staff listened patiently as Council raised complaints received from constituents. They agreed to do a better job of contacting those residents to ensure their concerns were heard and addressed without compromising the integrity of the planned active transportation network. Satisfied with this approach, in the end, all 10 Councillors and the Mayor voted to support the updated implementation schedule.
At last week’s Committee meeting, Brampton Council voted unanimously to urge AMO, to formally request that OMERS provide clear targets and timelines for eliminating its fossil fuel related investments and improve its climate risk reporting. This motion was in response to a delegation from Laura McGrath, Pension Engagement Manager for Shift: Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health, a delegation from Pat Burns, a former municipal employee, OMERS beneficiary and Pension Engagement Volunteer, and a recommended motion submitted to Council from the Brampton Environment Advisory Committee that resulted from their February 11th meeting.
The AMO, (Association of Municipalities of Ontario), is a not for profit organization representing nearly all of Ontario’s 444 municipal governments. Its mandate is to support those governments in matters of federal or provincial nature that could affect municipal services and finances. Therefore, the AMO has influence over how OMERS does its job.
OMERS, (Ontario Municipal Employees’ Retirement System), is the pension organization for the Province’s 500,000 plus active, deferred and retired employees, including 3,500 city of Brampton employees. OMERS manages $121B in assets and is one of Canada’s largest pension funds. According to Ms. McGrath, currently about 15% of OMERS assets are n the oil and gas industry.
The most recent report from the International Panel on Climate Change indicates that the window of opportunity to maintain the earth’s temperature within a safe range is closing rapidly and there is an urgent need for actions that will lead to reduced emissions. Brampton Council has been taking climate action seriously. It declared a climate emergency in 2019 and set aggressive carbon reduction targets through its Community Energy and Emissions Reduction Program, (CEERP). Most recently Council approved seed funding for the Centre for Community Energy Transformation, (CCET), a new, not for profit organization to develop projects aimed at decarbonizing Brampton homes and businesses.
Pension funds manage vast asset portfolios and their investment strategy can be another form of climate action. For example, New York State Pension Fund and the Quebec Pension Plan are selling their stakes in oil and gas related industries and making climate friendly investments instead.
Divesting from fossil fuel investments is not only good for the environment, it is also a good economic decision. Ms. McGrath cited a recent analysis of ten pension funders over a ten year period that indicated higher returns had the pension funds not held oil and gas assets as part of their portfolios. In OMERS case this would have improved asset returns by more than 60% over the 10 year analysis period.
OMERS has committed to eliminating fossil fuel investments from its portfolio by 2050 but has yet to publish a credible plan for achieving that commitment. As municipalities across Ontario pressure AMO, it is likely they will in turn apply pressure on OMERS to be more aggressive and transparent in their plans.
This approved motion by Council is another example of how citizen advisory committees like the Brampton Environment Advisory Committee can impact Council decision making and positively influence public policy.
We can’t seem to catch a break. Just as the world begins to emerge from the grip of the pandemic, more uncertainty strikes with a vengeance as the horrific images of the war in Ukraine stream across our phones, tablets and televisions.
With all that bad news on every channel, it’s little wonder the report from the International Panel on Climate Change, released on February 27th, received little in the way of coverage. Two hundred and seventy representatives and climate scientists from 195 countries, including Canada, authored or approved this report.
The report is warning in the strongest terms yet, that we are not on track to keep temperature levels from rising above the safe limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. It’s also telling us that we are woefully unprepared to deal with the consequences of climate impacts that the science indicates can no longer be avoided. According to the report’s authors, “Any further delay…on [climate change] adaptation and mitigation will miss a brief and rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all”.
When faced with bad news from seemingly every direction our natural reaction is to seek shelter and then focus on the immediate threat. For most of us, we are already doing what we can to reduce the COVID risk. We continue to wear our masks, socially distance and exercise caution in our activities, even as health mandates are eased. As far as the war in Ukraine is concerned, other than sending prayers and money to the Red Cross, (or other legitimate charity), there is little most of us can do to affect the course or the outcome.
The threat from climate change to our freedoms and our livelihoods may not be as apparent as war or disease, but it is just as real. We are already seeing the changes. For instance our fruits and vegetables are now coming from farther afield as climate related disasters, including wildfires in California and frosts and floods in Florida hit familiar sources.
Small changes make a difference In the case of climate change, there are things we can do right here in in Brampton to slow down the rate of change and to prepare for the likely scenarios resulting from a warming world.
According to Ko Bennett, a vice-chair and senior advisor for climate at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, the IPCC report emphasizes the importance of doing everything that we can to give us time to make the shift to a sustainable energy future. She says, “Every fraction of a degree of warming matters and every action helps.” 1
That could be as simple as not idling your car or warming it up in the morning before you leave. Deciding to walk or ride a bicycle to go to the local store. Taking transit instead of driving. All these little things add up to a big difference if everyone does it.
It also means being aware of things going on in your community that are either threats or benefits to the environment. That’s one of the reasons why the Brampton Environmental Alliance was created. To make it easier for the average Brampton resident to stay informed on local environmental issues and actions.
So please, stay tuned to the BEA Weekly newsletter and encourage your friends and family to subscribe. We will do our best to keep you accurately informed on the important environmental issues facing our community, on the actions you can take and, on the successes we can all celebrate!
