Brampton Environmental Alliance
Exercise, yoga, meditation, well-being, volunteering, community events.
A reminder that the Brampton Environmental Alliance, along with Environmental Defence and Sierra Club Peel will co-host a community information session tomorrow night starting at 7:30pm at Century Gardens Recreation Centre. See the BEA Events page for more information and to register to attend this important event.
In the summer of 2023, BEA member Bill Godfrey pitched an idea to Brampton City Council that the City should develop a strategy to become the first litter-free city in Canada. Bill is the founder of a local community group, People Against Littering. Since 2019 he and his enthusiastic volunteers have organized and participated in hundreds of clean-up events across the City and have documented picking up over 3,000,000 pieces of litter! Despite these efforts litter remains a persistent problem that is both an eye-sore and a health hazard to visitors and residents alike.
Continue reading “Litter Reduction Charter Launch & Signing Event”
The City of Brampton is updating the current 2015 Transportation Master Plan. The revised Mobility Plan will guide City investment in transportation infrastructure over the coming years. The Plan will move the City towards the 2040 Vision to be “a mosaic of safe, integrated transportation choices and new modes, contributing to civic sustainability, and emphasizing walking, cycling, and transit.”
Source: 2016 Transportation Tomorrow Survey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_1kC3WTsHU
This is the eighth in a series of posts on our journey to navigate government grants and loans available for home energy retrofits and to replace our natural gas furnace with a cold-climate heat pump. Click here to see all articles in the series .
I want to share our first experience with our heat pump now working as an air conditioner. In a word, FANTASTIC!
Once the weather gets consistently milder my habit has been to turn off the furnace and open the windows to bring in some fresh air. This year we were able to do that in early May. I have typically only turned the A/C on when we experience hot weather over multiple days.
Continue reading “Heat Pump Chronicles Vol 8.”
The Emerald Energy from Waste facility has been operating in Peel since 1992, initially built and operated by Algonquin Power. The Region cancelled a waste burning contract with Algonquin in 2012 but the facility was sold to Emerald shortly thereafter and has been continuing operations by consuming waste from industrial, commercial and institutional sources.
In 2016, the Region considered building its own waste burning facility but cancelled those plans due to concerns about the pollution a second facility would emit. Instead it embarked on a plan to divert 75% of its waste by 2034, through a combination of improved policies, procedures and, technologies related to waste reduction, reuse, recycling and, composting.
Continue reading “BEA delegates to Peel Regional Council”
This summer, with financial support from TRCA’s “Building a Healthy and Connected Bramalea” project, the BEA is providing 3 programs to the residents of Brampton – specifically aimed at engaging residents living in the E,F and K sections of Bramalea. This area has been highlighted as part of TRCA’s Sustainable Neighbourhood Action Plan (SNAP). The objective of Bramalea SNAP is to foster neighbourhood revitalization that integrates local community interests and sustainability objectives under the overarching theme of working together for a green, healthy, and welcoming Bramalea SNAP neighbourhood.
Continue reading “BEA and Partners to Deliver Summer Programming”
The smell of clean clothes pulled from the dryer, may rival that of brewing coffee or freshly baked bread as a “comfort” aroma. Of course that excludes clothes that have been soaked in fabric softener or dried with dryer sheets for that is both a personal and an environmental turnoff subject to an article for another day. Beyond that though, we all want to wear freshly laundered clothes. Most of us wear our clothes only once before tossing them in the wash basket. And more than 60% of the clothing we wear is made from synthetic materials derived from fossil fuels. Aka, it’s made of plastic!
Continue reading “Your Washing Machine has a Dirty Secret”May has been a busy for BEA involvement in environmental events.
On Saturday May 11th, the BEA participated in Reconnect Brampton’s Clothing Swap. Remember that most of our clothes today are made of plastic. Fabrics such as Nylon, Polyester, Spandex, and many other man-made products are derived from fossil fuels. Keeping these clothes in circulation rather than having them become garbage in landfill is very important. These fabrics take decades to break down in the environment but when they do, they end up as microplastic pieces that travel by water and air all over the world and are now ending up in almost every living organism including unborn babies.
Canada alone dumps 500 MILLION kilograms of clothing into landfills each year! Clothes swapping is a far better alternative that saves money and contributes to a healthier planet! If you missed the event but please visit Restyle Boutique – a local family-owned clothing store that sells chic lightly used items.
Continue reading “BEA May 2024 Past Events”
The Rooted in Hope 2023-24 project hosted its final event on Sunday April 21st. About a dozen and a half participants, one third seniors and two thirds secondary school students, enjoyed the bright sunshine yet below seasonal temperatures for the final tree monitoring training at Gore Meadows Community Centre.
Continue reading “Rooted in Hope 2023-24 Project finishes”
by: Liz Benneian Ontario Zero Waste Coalition
[Editor’s note: Emerald Energy From Waste, a Brampton based company recently submitted a proposal to the Ontario Government requesting permission to increase its incineration capacity up to 5 times from current levels. Peel Region Council cancelled its contract with Emerald in 2012 meaning the waste burned in the Emerald plant is imported from other municipalities. If allowed to proceed this expanded plant would be the largest mass burn facility in Canada with a capacity to consume 1/3 of all of Ontario’s garbage.]
After years of bad press about failed incineration/waste-to-energy projects, plants polluting their communities, municipal bankruptcies due to “put or pay” contracts, fires at various sites, stiff opposition to new plants from citizens and an end to some lucrative government subsidies, incinerator proponents largely disappeared from the Canadian landscape. Now, however, they are back.
Continue reading “Is Your Community About To Get Burned?”