Saturday March 22nd was a busy day for the BEA supporting two community tables.
In the morning, the Bramalea Community Network hosted a Health and Wellness Day at the Knightsbridge Seniors Centre. About 30 neighbourhood residents attended including seniors from the Centre as well as families from the surrounding community.
March 2025 Health & Wellness Day Knightbridge Seniors Centre
The event featured presentations on nutrition, mental health, and overall well-being by expert speakers from William Osler Health System and B.L.O.O.M. Empowerment Group.
It also included a short chair yoga session.
Brampton Bike Hub’s Sonia Maset , Health and Wellness Day
About 10 community service organizations, including BikeBrampton and the BEA, were invited to set up information tables around the room’s perimeter.
Feedback on the resources and information provided was positive.
Busy tables at Health and Wellness Day
That evening, the BEA attended an Earth Hour event in the Caledon East Community Complex. This first ever event was organized by Eco-Caledon and sponsored by the Town.
Caledon’s Earth Hour Event
Almost 300 attendees and 25 exhibitors spent the evening celebrating sustainability, environmentalism, and our collective efforts to protect the planet!
Caledon Earth Hour Event
Exhibitors were encouraged to include interactive activities at their tables and they delivered. Magicians, kale smoothies, blue planet cookies, bean bag tosses, and heat pump demonstrations were all part of the mix.
Locally grown winter vegies from Mount Wolfe Farm
The BEA’s activity was a One-Planet Pledge. Participants were invited to select one of the ten principles from the One Planet Living Framework® and then pledge to take two actions that would help fulfill that principle.
Caledon Earth Hour participant makes a One Planet Living pledge.
Join the Contest, take the One Planet Living Pledge for Earth Day 2025
Leo O’Brien is a community advocate in the Heart Lake community of Brampton and the administrator for Heart Lake Happenings, an on-line community Facebook group that has over 4,000 subscribers. Leo also looks for ways he can give back to his community. Enter the Eco Heart Lake Community Outreach Project.
The Brampton Environmental Alliance hosted its annual member meeting this past Wednesday March 19th at Greenbrier Recreation Centre. Thirty-one people, listened to the keynote address by Dr. Franz Hartmann, coordinator with the Alliance for a Livable Ontario, (ALO).
Canada’s Food Guide, produced by Health Canada, is a resource that provides practical, evidence-based recommendations to help Canadians make healthy food choices and develop healthy eating patterns. The guide aims to help Canadians meet their nutritional needs while reducing the risk of chronic disease and contributing to overall health and well-being. The first guide was introduced in 1942 and the recommendations have evolved over the years to reflect the latest scientific research.
Meeting was held on Jan 30, 2025 at the main City Hall building and was attended by approximately 20 people from various organizations.
There was quite a bit of discussion regarding the Litter Charter endorsement event. Approximately 50 people and organizations signed the Charter and those who attended felt it was good to meet so many like-minded people. The types of organizations that signed were non-profits like the BEA, religious groups, and the Brampton Board of Trade. I asked if there would be a public listing of the groups that signed the charter and if there would be any commitments from those who did sign. Publicly listing the groups was being looked into and a follow up with the signatories will offer active measures that they can take to reduce litter and waste. There will be a request for some measure of what was accomplished.
The Board of Directors for the Brampton Environmental Alliance is pleased to invite members and guests to the Annual General Member Meeting.
When: Wednesday March 19, 2025, 7:00-9:00pm Where: Greenbrier Recreation Centre, Community Room, 1100 Central Parkway, Brampton
Keynote presenter: Franz Hartmann. Franz is the Coordinator of the Alliance for a Livable Ontario and former Executive Director of the Toronto Environmental Alliance. He also served as Chair of the Greenbelt Alliance and was Jack Layton’s Environmental Advisor in Toronto and Ottawa. Franz will be speaking about the 5 ways that political parties can build affordable homes in Ontario without impacting the greenbelt or destroying the environment.
Brampton is the fastest growing city in Canada. This year its population surged past Mississauga’s and it is now the third largest in Ontario. Growth is putting extreme pressure on housing. healthcare, transit, infrastructure and the environment. These pressures, combined with the impacts of climate change, will lead to further degradation of our eco-systems and will have both direct and indirect impacts on the quality of life elements that make this city such a great place to live.
As a BEA member you can help the Alliance determine its priorities for 2025 and beyond, helping protect the natural heritage of Brampton for present and future generations. Participate in a workshop on being a good environmental citizen. Learn what personal actions you can take and how you can help hold our leaders to account for the actions they take that will either protect or destroy our environment.
The meeting is free and open to everyone whether you are a BEA member or not. (Only BEA members are allowed to vote on BEA business matters).
The Ontario Climate Emergency Campaign, (OCEC), is a non-partisan group promoting awareness on the climate crisis and environmental issues in the Province of Ontario. It’s aim is to empower citizens and urge political leaders with the power of democratic voice to drive the urgent transformational changes needed for the present and the future climate security of all Ontarians.
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Christmas Bird Count is one of the world’s oldest and longest running citizen science efforts. It began out of a barbaric practice, known as side hunts, where families would go into the forest and see who could kill the most birds.
Frank Chapman, an early Audubon Society member, proposed the idea of counting birds instead of killing them. He organized 27 observers in 25 places, both the U.S. and Canada, to count all the birds they could on Christmas Day 1900. According to Wikipedia, 90 bird species were observed and 18, 500 individuals were counted that day.
Since then, the counts have been held every December/January with more than 50,000 observers in about 2,000 locations across 17 countries. The data from each count is submitted to the National Audubon Society which helps inform population counts and conservation practices.
Christmas Bird Count Circle
Counts can be held on any day from December 14 to January 5. Individual counts are done in a “count circle” with a diameter of 24 kilometers. Each circle has a “compiler” and at least 10 volunteers. Some volunteers follow assigned routes within the circle that remain essentially the same each year. Others count all the birds they see on their backyard feeders from the comfort of their homes.
For many years BEA member Bob Noble has been organizing a Christmas Bird Count in a count circle that covers the eastern half of Brampton and parts of Vaughan, King and Caledon including, Tullamore, part of Caledon East, and all of Bolton. Bob is an amazing naturalist and nature photographer. You’ve likely seen some of his incredible insect pictures posted on Facebook, Instagram, and on his own website . Each year a selection of Bob’s best shots are compiled into a calendar which is published and given to City of Brampton and Toronto and Region Conservation Authority volunteers.
Nomad Bee
Photo: Bob Noble
Bob describes the December 15, 2024 count. “The temperature stayed around freezing for the day with a bit of light snow. The smaller ponds were completely frozen but there was some open water in the larger lakes. Thirty field observers and seven feeder watchers managed to count 10,859 individual birds. This is below the average of about 12,000.
We set a new species record of 62 with the previous record being 61 even though the general consensuswas that it was a tough day to find birds. We didn’t find any new species this year leaving the total number of species observed in all counts at 120. Good birds included Green-winged Teal (3rd record), Bald Eagle (3rd record), Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (3rd record) and White-crowned Sparrow (4th record). Record high numbers were recorded for Common Goldeneye (6), Cooper’s Hawk (10), Red-bellied Woodpecker (18), Merlin (3), Eastern Bluebird (6) and Northern Cardinal (180).
A number of regular species were missed including Ruffed Grouse (34 previous counts), Pine Siskin (33 previous counts), Snow Bunting (33 previous counts) and Swamp Sparrow (27 previous counts). Low numbers were recorded for Wild Turkey (2), Rough-legged Hawk (1), Cedar Waxwing (22) and Common Redpoll (1).”
Thanks to Bob for organizing and being a compiler for this important annual event!
Ontario Bill 212 will sadly result in more road violence deaths on unsafe streets. More than 34 cyclists from Brampton and Toronto gathered on Jan 25th to rally, ride and install a ghost bike to symbolize this prediction.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority has teamed with City of Brampton, the Federal Government’s Healthy Communities Initiative, United Way, and various community partners, including the BEA, to deliver projects in Bramalea’s K, E, and F sections. This is all part of the Bramalea Sustainable Neighbourhood Action Plan (SNAP). The Bramalea SNAP integrates local community interests and sustainability objectives under the overarching theme of working together for a green, healthy, and welcoming Bramalea neighbourhood. The Action Plan is made up of six themes, each with their own integrated initiatives:
