“Connect the Dots is a project of 350.org and our partner organizations, to shine a spotlight on the connections between extreme weather and climate change…We’ll kick off the project with Climate Impacts Day on 5/5/12, when thousands of communities around the world come together to take action to Connect the Dots and call for urgent action to stop the climate crisis” Bill McKibbon

”There is a spiritual corollary to the way we are currently deforesting and denaturing our planet. In the end what we must most defoliate and deprive is ourselves.” John Fowles’ “The Tree”

On May 5th Georgian Triangle Earth Day Celebration and 350.org will be joining Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority to plant trees. Many of you may remember the work that 350.org does to bring the world’s communities together to combat the  spectre of climate change that confronts our communities, by creating actions that are meant to mitigate the impact of climate destabilization.  In the past there have been several protests with hundreds of people in the Collingwood area on International Day for Climate Action and over 50 slide presentations at the schools that vividly showed the social justice and ecological impacts of accelerating climate change.

Although our area has so far been spared extreme weather such as flooding or drought it is certainly possible for that to happen. (The Great Lakes have lost 71 percent of their ice cover since 1971. The consequences of this loss are great.)  Planting trees is always an important part of risk management for drought and flooding as well as capturing greenhouse gases. The May 5th tree planting will take place at Black Ash Creek. We will meet at 9AM in the parking lot of Wal-Mart in Collingwood on Mountain Road. Please bring comfortable clothing, closed-toe shoes/rubber boots, rain gear, bug spray, sunscreen, hat, gloves, shovel (if possible). We’ll be planting white cedar, white spruce and tamarack till noon.  If you wish to have information sent directly to you and your family, please write to celebrateearth@yahoo.ca  Please sign up your organization and the number of participants who will be showing up on the 5th.

The huge conference, ‘Planet Under Pressure’, has just ended in London.  It coincides with the highest temperatures for March ever recorded across the globe.  ‘Planet Under Pressure’ brought thousands of scientists together including many young professionals.  The final declaration, entitled “State of the Planet” leaves no doubt that we must make immediate transformative changes to how we interact with Earth if we are to overcome the many crises that are upon us. “Research now demonstrates that the continued functioning of the Earth system as it has supported the well-being of human civilization in recent centuries is at risk. Without urgent action, we could face threats to water, food, biodiversity and other critical resources: these threats risk intensifying economic, ecological and social crises, creating the potential for a humanitarian emergency on a global scale.” Please read the rest of declaration at: http://www.planetunderpressure2012.net/pdf/state_of_planet_declaration.pdf

Connecting the dots between climate and severe weather has been established.  Just this last week Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a long awaited report entitled, “Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance climate Change Adaptation”. It speaks about the urgent need to understand the emerging risks brought on by climate change and manifested in extreme weather events that are now accelerating and reduce the vulnerability and exposure of people throughout the world.  Another scientific report from the University of Exeter links the tremendous loss of sea ice since 2007 in the Arctic with a tipping point for an ice free Arctic Ocean.

Our May 5th tree planting will be one of several Earth Month events in our area to celebrate our green planet.  The March 31st climate change awareness campaign, strikingly demonstrated in Earth Hour, was a global success.

* 10 October 2010 – 10:00am- 12:30pm

We will be at our new community garden on October 10, 2010 helping to prepare it for its first full year in 2011. We’ll have some shovels and hoes but please bring extra ones. Also, we’d like to show how push lawn mowers are great for climate stabilization and we hope to have a few of these ready for our community to try out. Our hope is to hire youth for the spring/summer to cut the lawns of people, going from one house to the next by bicycle with the push mowers at the back to transport them.
As well, we’ll be signing people up for our clotheslines to be installed in the spring of 2011.
Event Website: www.georgianbayearthdays.org
How to Get Involved Planning the Event: Write to celebrateearth@yahoo.ca or phone 519 599 5461
Event Host: www.georgianbayearthdays.org and www.elephantthoughts.com

Location Information
795847 Grey Road 19 (also called Osler Bluff Road) Collingwood, Canada
Directions To Event:Turn south at the corner of Mountain Road and 19. there is a “Tee Please” golf range there and go 1 Km to the Community Garden sign; alternatively, when coming from Collingwood, take 6th Street west of Rona and turn right on 19 for 2 Km

On October 24 at 3:50 PM

RAIN/BAD WEATHER CONTINGENCY DETAILS FOR OCTOBER 24 MARCH: If it is bad weather, please meet at 4:30 pm at New Life Church where our drummers will be ready to greet us. For those who wish to walk rain or shine, the march still starts at 3:50 PM at Loblaws and Hurontario for 4:30 PM arrival at New Life Church. We will be drummed around the large foyer and the gym at that time. The rest of the day will go on as already planned with a 350 photo in the gym instead of being outside. That photo will be part of the 350.org collage of photos shown in Times Square, New York City for the next few days after the Day of Action.

Postcards to our Prime Minister, urging his government to ACT NOW on climate mitigation, will be distributed- no postage stamp required. Also, we will be asking the Canadian, Ontario and municipal governments to do more to stop global warming. (Download Postcard)

Since youth will be most affected by climate change in the next 30 years, they will play an important part in the walk. Our banner will be held by many people. A photo will be taken of our group at the end of the march; we’ll be in the shape of 350. For those who wish to get back to the start of the march , where you left your cars or bicycles, a van or the Collingwood biobus will will take you back at 6 PM. From 5 PM to 6 PM there will be educational and fun activities for all age groups. David Lawless, a youth delegate from the recent September UN Climate Conference in Geneva, will speak about climate change and ACTION to youth at 5:30 PM. The concert starts at 7:30 PM.

We are working with people from Collingwood, Barrie, Orangeville, Thornbury, Meaford and Owen Sound. Please participate and be the change. Humans and other species need to return to a safe planet.

At 7:30 PM the Drumming Ensemble will give a concert and dedicate some music to this important Day for Climate Action. There will be Nature displays in the foyer of New Life Brethren Church (28 Tracey Lane & Hurontario Street), where the concert will be taking place. People under 35 (those who are to be most affected by climate change) who attend the walk in the afternoon can come to the concert for free- free passes will be given out at the end of the march!

Please see www.collingwoodmusicfestival.com and www.georgianbayearthdays.org for more information. We are encouraged to hear that the other 350.org Collingwood 100 Mile Green Meal is pleased to support the 3:50 PM walk for climate ACTION. In order to have a large turnout, we will be spending the next few weeks before October 24 giving the power point slide show that 350.org has on its website as a launch for further discussion in schools, libraries and other community centres. For example, Collingwood Library had a 350 slide presentation on Saturday October 17 at 2PM. The presentations look at how a target of 350 parts per million of CO2 encompasses many directions for civilization and a return to a stable holocene era. As well, the Library is giving out our 350 flyer as book marks when you take out a book.

Please join us and help us make a banner at the Library all week long till October 24!

Douglas
519 599-5461

“The Silver Creek Wetland is an example of a very important coastal wetland. It is in the north-west corner of the Town of Collingwood north of Highway 26 but also extending south of Highway 26 and west into the Town of Blue Mountains. Wetlands are very important for two reasons: first, 70% of southern Ontario’s original wetlands have been lost and second, they provide a unique home for many species that are in danger of extinction. In the Silver Creek Wetland area, five species of reptiles and amphibians have been identified that are either endangered, threatened or of special concern. In addition, there are at least three provincially significant botanical species.”

Don Kerr, for Blue Mountain Watershed Trust

World Wetlands Day commemorates the signing of the Convention on Wetlands on February 2, 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar. This international treaty, now ratified by 158 countries, protects more than 165 million hectares. The world’s largest Ramsar wetland is the 6,278,200 hectare Queen Maude Gulf Migratory Bird Sanctuary in Canada. (See www.ramsar.org) World Wetlands Day is meant to raise public awareness of the acute need to expand a conservation ethic for wetland areas including peatlands that are critical to conserve if only to not allow huge amounts of carbon dioxide to be released.

Each year World Wetlands Day focuses on a global concern: 2007 had “Fish for Tomorrow?; 2008, “Healthy Wetlands, Healthy People and this year we look at the how wetlands affect all of us through “Upstream….Downstream… Wetlands connect Us All”.

Bogs, fens, swamps, rivers, lakes estuaries, peatlands, coastal areas, mangrove forests and coral reefs are all essential for our planet’s biodiversity, water purification, flood control and ground water recharge and climate regulation. They also provide a home for indigenous peoples and wildlife ranging from tigers to crocodiles. In most instances wetlands are one of the last places where development has not started because of its inaccessibility.. Ramsar tries to encourage governments to protect these vital pristine areas.

Peatlands are wetlands that are characterized by the accumulation of organic matter-peat- derived from decaying and dead plant matter that is continuously saturated in water. They will be the subject of another article but by briefly looking now at its relationship to climate change safety we can begin to acknowledge its vast importance here in Canada, and make a difference in protecting it.

Peatlands represent at least one third of all wetlands. While peatlands only cover 3 percent of the Earth’s land area they are the most efficient means of sequestering carbon dioxide in the world. Peatlands have been doing this for thousands of years. We now know that they contain more carbon than any other terrestrial biomass, twice as much as all forest biomass and about the same as the atmosphere. Only the oceans sequester more carbon! Unfortunately peatlands across the world are being degraded. When they are drained large emissions of carbon dioxide are emitted. The melting of permafrost peatlands and the desertification of steppe peatlands are already visible. Vast fires are now common in Indonesia and elsewhere. Ten percent of all global fuel emissions are now being caused by the destruction of peatlands.

In our country and the United States it is the commodification of peat that is a major problem. We use peat moss (sphagnum) for pots, mulch, lawns, amending heavy soils and for water retention, but peat moss is essentially a nonrenewable resource as it takes around two thousand years to produce a meter of peat! There are alternatives that can help us restore our Canadian bogs. Fallen leaves, straw, weathered saw dust, grass clippings, compost, coir and farm land manure are all renewable. They can be obtained at little cost and retain more nutrients than peat. Use coconut coir which is a byproduct of coconut fiber in place of peat pots or make your own pots with newspaper.

Our area will be celebrating World Wetlands Day by going over to Silver Creek Wetlands on February 2 at 3:30 PM; join us on highway 26 and Princeton Shores to look at this wetland that is threatened by development. Although ongoing negotiations with a developer and the Town of Collingwood are hopefully going to bring about the protection for much of Silver Creek, residents need to be vigilant. For those who are interested in celebrating World Wetlands Day by visiting the Wye March on February 2, please call them at 705 526-7809 to learn more about their celebration.

Several articles will be appearing in local papers regarding his “On the Origin of Species”.
But why not celebrate his birthday on February 12 at 7:30 PM at the Dam Pub in Thornbury with us!
Darwinian drinks all around: just don’t die! Please write and let us know if you will be coming.

Call for information
Douglas
519 599-5461