This past Saturday October 21st, 6 seniors, 9 students and 2 teachers braved the strong wind and cool temperatures to attend the second Rooted in Hope tree monitoring training session at Batsman Park located off Father Tobin Drive, beside Louise Arbour Secondary School just west of Bramalea Road. Alice, Sadia and Sedi, from ACER were there to once again lead the session. Participants who had attended the first session in August were assigned leadership roles to train the others in basic tree measurement .
September was a beautiful month weather-wise to enjoy outdoor events as part of the BEA’s Graceful Aging Through Connecting with Nature and Rooted in Hope Projects. In case you weren’t able to participate, here is a summary of what you missed!
Fourteen people including 5 seniors, joined members of People Against Littering, (PAL), for a Park Clean Up at Lillie Roberts Park this past Sunday September 17th. Lillie Roberts is located just north of Countryside Drive and just west of Goreway Drive.
The group started with a tai chi warm up exercise which was welcomed by the participants.
The Brampton Environmental Alliance hosted two tree-planting events at Gore Meadows Recreation Centre this past two Wednesdays. The events were supported by the Associations of Seniors Clubs Brampton as well as students from Louise Arbor Secondary School and Castlebrook Secondary School. Members of Sierra Club Peel also attended as did employees from Hydro One along with other community members.
Thirty participants attended the September 6th event despite hot, humid weather. Thirty-eight attended on September 13th under much cooler conditions.
On June 7th, 2023, Brampton Committee of Council approved a motion directing staff to make Brampton the first litter-free City in Canada. Achieving this objective will be a monumental task involving the entire community.
The Community Safety & Well-Being Office is holding a forum next Tuesday September 19th to raise awareness of the effects of litter, and create a charter with actions for all participants to reduce litter. The Brampton Environmental Alliance has been invited to be a participant along with businesses, conservation authorities, park sponsors, places of worship, government officials, community organizations, and other interested parties.
We would like your feedback on how to solve this unsightly and potentially unhealthy problem in our city. The following survey will take just a few minutes to complete and your answers will help inform our position and suggestions to the group. Please take a minute to complete the survey. It’s anonymous.
Ontario is currently facing a multitude of environmental challenges due to changes in policies by the Provincial Government. Now, more than ever, our collective voice is crucial in protecting the Greenbelt.
The Community Climate Council (CCC) is organizing a Climate Strike for next Friday September 15th, from 3-6pm at Gage Park in Brampton, (45 Main St. S). This event is an excellent opportunity to come together, express our concern for the Greenbelt and show our support for climate action.
Contact Community Climate Council if you want to volunteer to help organize the event.
There are also three Zoom sessions for public feedback on highway 413 coming up. If you know of residents in York or Halton they can have their say too! Depending on where you live, click on the appropriate link below, enter your name and email and ask a question that will be addressed during the session.
This is an opportunity to ask questions about the impact the proposed highway on the Brampton community, specifically the planned Heritage Heights Community. The Brampton Environmental Alliance believes building this highway is an expensive project that is unnecessary, will do nothing to relieve traffic congestion but will do irreparable ecological harm and prevent Heritage Heights from being built as a sustainable community. See here for past BEA articles on the negative impacts of the 413.
The Heart Lake Turtle Troopers were busy during the end of July and August as turtle hatchlings dug themselves out from their nests. The Troopers collected many of these newborns and helped them find nearby water where they would be more likely to survive.
The Rooted in Hope project was officially launched on August 19th in the parking lot of Gore Meadows Recreation Centre. Sonia Maset, Program Administrator for the Brampton Bike Hub trained four senior team leads on bike safety and skills training.
Sonia then took them for a short ride to familiarize them with riding on the roads in and around the recreational facility. Another training event with the “uncles” is scheduled for this Saturday August 26th.
This past Monday August 21st, another training event took place. This time it involved students from local high schools who are to be the team leads for tree planting and monitoring along with a teacher from Louise Arbour Secondary School.
The training event was led by Alice Casselman – President, Association of Canadian Educational Resources (ACER), and Dr. Sadia Butt ACER’s Project Manager who is also an ISA certified arborist with over 20 years experience as an urban forest practitioner, researcher, and environmental educator. Together, Alice and Sadia provided a full day of training to the participants about tree monitoring, tree species identification, knowledge of equipment used in tree monitoring and an introduction to online software that identifies how much carbon a tree is storing based on the data collected.
Data collection is a big part of this project and will be used to help inform the City of Brampton’s urban forest management plan.
The Rooted in Hope Project currently involves three Brampton high schools, Harold M. Brathwaite S.S., Heart Lake S.S, Castlebrooke S.S., with Louise Arbour S.S. expected to join this fall.
Hopefully we will see everyone at the tree planting events on September 6th , September 13th, and September 20th. All events run from 3:30-5:00pm @ Gore Meadows Community Centre! These events are free and open to anyone, especially seniors and students from the community. Click here to register and receive more information.
The Rooted in Hope project is designed to engage both youth and seniors in understanding the importance of urban trees by planting young trees and then monitoring the growth and health of both new and mature trees in their neighbourhoods. It will also use cycling, a form of active transportation, as the primary means of travel to tree monitoring sites thereby keeping carbon emissions to a minimum. Rooted in Hope is funded through the Ontario Seniors Community Grant Program.
One of our volunteers has graciously put together a 13 minute video describing the benefits of urban tree canopy as well as the challenges and threats facing Brampton’s urban forest. See the video below.
July 23rd was another successful P.A.L. event with, Brampton South MP Sonia Sidhu visiting and presenting an award for organizing the event to BEA and to PAL. On the award she said, “Cleanliness and respect for our environment is important, and I commend you for reminding us about it.”
