Register for the 2025 BEA Annual General Member Meeting

2024 BEA AGM attendees

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: UNIFOR Union Hall, 23 Regan Rd #1, Brampton, ON L7A 1B2

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).

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2024 BEA Year-end Review

2024 Litter free city workshop

It was difficult to write this year-end review for the Brampton Environmental Alliance. Not because we didn’t work very hard to make a difference but because several things conspired to make this a very challenging year, environmentally speaking.

Among the issues we faced: the Province prioritizing building Highway 413, and the efforts of the Emerald Energy From Waste company to expand its garbage burning operations in Brampton without appropriate environmental controls being in place. Of greater concern is the general apathy of the public towards environmental issues and the vitriolic response to public policies aimed at climate change mitigation, notably carbon pricing and rebates. The fact that we seemingly cannot have an adult conversation related to these important topics is deeply troubling.

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Ontario Climate Emergency Network Town Hall

OCEC Town Hall infographic

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.

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Brampton’s Climate Change Adaptation Plan

Brampton 2013 Ice storm damage

Not to start 2025 on a downer note but, the climate crisis is upon us. 2024 will likely be the warmest year on record, the first to surpass the 1.5 degree Celsius mark set by the Paris Accord as a “safe” threshold to avoid the worst effects of a changing climate. In Canada, 2024 was a year of unprecedented climate related property damage, over $7B worth.

That said, we must realize that, even if we could reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels to zero today, the earth’s temperature would continue rising for many decades accompanied by increasing weather-related risks. While carbon emissions reduction efforts are still critical to maintaining a livable future, steps must be taken now to prepare for the increasing hazards due to anticipated weather extremes both now and in the future.

Working with community stakeholders, City of Brampton staff have prepared the “Climate Ready Brampton” plan to address anticipated climate impacts on the City’s infrastructure, economy and natural systems. This plan defines the blueprint for action that will better equip the City to manage the changes and increase resiliency to recover quickly from adverse climate impacts.

The development of the plan has gone through three phases over the past 2 years, Research, Investigation, and Development. During the Research phase, staff along with expert consultants reviewed how Brampton’s climate has changed over the past 75 years. During the investigation phase the team solicited external expertise along with stakeholder engagement to define future climate scenarios, assess climate risks, and identify prioritized climate adaptation actions. The plan also includes financial cost analysis of those actions compared to doing nothing. Finally, the plan outlines performance targets, collaborative implementation approaches, and a framework for monitoring and reporting.

How climate events will affect Brampton
How climate events will affect Brampton

The plan identifies 6 Goals, 5 Themes, 15 Objectives with 55 supporting actions.

Climate Ready Brampton Vision

“Brampton will be a climate leader fostering resilient, low-carbon, and adaptable communities, with thriving natural systems, climate-ready infrastructure, and a robust economy that advances equity, innovation, and quality of life both now and for future generations”.

Climate Ready Brampton Goals

  1. Brampton is adaptable to predicted climate change impacts using best available science and climate data,
  2. Climate action will prioritize the most vulnerable people, communities, and places in the City,
  3. Climate resilience is the new normal where city staff, partners, neighbourhoods and generations work to protect each other,
  4. Climate change preparation adaptation occurs within the context of a robust economy,
  5. Climate resilience actions become more efficient and effective through collaboration and strong partnerships,
  6. Progress is transparently reported against clear, measurable targets.

Climate Ready Brampton Themes and Objectives

  1. Collaborative Leadership,
    • Brampton will be a leader in climate resilience
    • Municipal staff are prepared, informed and have all required tools
  2. Protected and Connected People,
    • Equity-deserving groups are prioritized,
    • Moving around the city is safe and simple in all conditions,
    • People are prepared for climate disasters through emergency planning
  3. Resilient Infrastructure and Buildings
    • Essential infrastructure is resilient
    • Community is safe in their daily life,
    • Buildings and homes are climate proof
  4. Resilient and Healthy Natural Systems,
    • Naturalized spaces help protect Brampton from climate impacts
    • Natural systems are healthy and intact
  5. Community Involvement and Communication
    • Brampton is prepared for climate emergencies
    • Emergency communications keep the community safe
    • The community is involved in climate action

The 55 actions are assigned to each of the objectives noted above. They cover different aspects from addressing climate risk, to protection and enhancement of forests and wetlands. Here a just a few examples:

  • Hiring a Climate Risk Officer,
  • Staff training on climate adaptation strategies and risk assessment,
  • Climate emergency preparedness training,
  • Creating a climate toolkit for businesses,
  • Vector-borne disease management,
  • Extreme weather traffic impact notification system,
  • Shading standards for public spaces including bike parking and bus stops,
  • Tree planting and natural cover target including survivability rates
  • Heat management plan for public events
  • Development of an urban agriculture strategy
  • Look for opportunities to acquire additional land for greenspace
  • Enhanced building codes for energy efficiency and resilience to severe weather,
  • Minimize hard surface ground cover that impedes water absorption,
  • Provide flood plain models to assess flood risk,
  • Implement emergency water supply program

Please visit the City’s website for more information and to download the draft plan. Provide your comments to growgreen@brampton.ca by January 15th.

Record Severe Weather Costs Canada $7 Billion: TAF’s 2023 Emissions Report Show Us What’s Next

GTHA Emissions Map

Summer 2024 shatters records for severe weather damage: Over $7 billion in insured losses from floods, fires and hailstorms.” That’s the headline from a recent Insurance Bureau of Canada blog post. The post highlights the unprecedented number and severity of natural disasters across the country that resulted in a 406% increase in the number of property insurance claims compared to the 20-year average. “These events are escalating at a shocking rate and Canada is simply not prepared”, said Celyeste Power, IBC president.

Continue reading “Record Severe Weather Costs Canada $7 Billion: TAF’s 2023 Emissions Report Show Us What’s Next”

BEA Participates in Rally & Ride Event

Rally & Ride Poster

This past week the Ontario government introduced legislation that will be incredibly damaging to Ontario’s environment. Bill 212 will fast track construction of highway 413 by removing the requirement for it to go through an environmental assessment. The bill will also will allow the province to override municipal planning departments and limit the installation or force the removal of bike lanes in Ontario’s cities and towns. While this bill may be brilliant politics, it is terrible public policy. Here’s why.

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Province considers bike lane ban

Vodden St. Bike Lanes

Last week at a news conference , Premier Doug Ford confirmed that his government is considering a province-wide ban on bike lanes where their installation would require removal of a vehicle lane. This proposal may be good populist politics. The topic of bike lanes is contentious. It often elicits visceral negative reactions, from business owners who see them as a threat to commerce, from neighbourhood groups who see them as a threat to what they believe is their God-given right to on street parking and, from drivers in general, who see bike lanes as a loss of their allocated road space and an addition of complexity to their already mentally and emotionally challenging commute. Yet the installation of bike lanes, as part of a broader vision for allowing more choice in how we travel, is a potential antidote for many of today’s environmental, social and economic challenges.

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BEA participates in fall Ecofest event

On Saturday September 14th, the BEA participated in a fall Ecofest event in support of the Credit Valley Conservation Authority. Organized by Unifor’s GTA West Environmental Council, the event boasted food, live music, kids games, and local beer supplied by Goodlot Brewery. All proceeds from the beer sales as well as a silent auction went to supporting the Credit Valley Foundation.

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Heat Pump Chronicles Vol 8.

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.”