Since May 22 is the International Day for Biological Diversity, I asked City of Burlington staff Meghan Hunter and Brian McKelvey to highlight some of the things that the city is doing to protect biodiversity locally. Before I start though, I should likely highlight what is biodiversity? Basically, biodiversity is the variety of life on … More International Day for Biological Diversity
Have you made plans for Mother’s Day on May 8? Are you looking for a unique and free event? How about a fun-filled, outdoor walk full of enlightening conversation about the things going on around Spencer Smith and Beachway parks? You’re in luck as members of the Burlington Sustainable Development Committee (SDC) have done all … More Discover Our Beach!
Clean Up Events to Celebrate Earth Day: April 18-23 Did you know that the first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970? Though we should be thankful for our wonderful planet every single day, April 22 is a day where many celebrate Mother Earth. A common way of acknowledging Earth Day is to roll up our … More Help Mother Nature with a spring cleaning and greening
Spring has sprung and even though it doesn’t feel like spring, there are a number of community events taking place. These include clean-up events (one of which will be profiled in an upcoming blog), an eco-film festival, events hosted by the city’s Sustainable Development Committee and Burlington Cycling Committee and more. Please visit http://www.burlington.ca/environment regularly … More Upcoming Local Environmental Events
Burlington’s newest and largest community garden will be constructed this spring. Located in Maple Park alongside Maple Avenue, north of the parking lot, there will be a minimum of 33 ground plots and two raised accessible plots available for $50 per season. People may commute by Burlington Transit (Route 10), walking and cycling. Parking and … More New Maple Park Community Garden Opening Soon
Earth Hour, an initiative of the World Wildlife Fund, began in Sydney, Australia in 2007 with over two million residents symbolically turning their lights off for one hour in support of climate change awareness. The following year, 35 countries participated in the event and in 2015 this grew to 172 countries. Many countries have been … More Celebrate Earth Hour 2016
Last night Tom Thomson Public School (P.S.) celebrated their fourth Eco Night. The City of Burlington was one of many groups invited to attend the event. City staff set up a display and spoke with teachers, students and parents regarding some of the city’s initiatives including: Idling awareness – Tell your parents to turn their … More Tom Thomson Public School Celebrates Eco Night
Acting Today, Shaping Tomorrow is province’s guiding document for environmental education. I was drawn to this title as it is “à propos” to what we strive for in the environmental field. Decisions we make today impact our future and who better to relay this message to than our youth? I reviewed Acting Today, Shaping Tomorrow … More Acting Today, Shaping Tomorrow
Idling Awareness in Burlington We’re back this week with more on idling. Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment or share their thoughts about our last idling blog. In 2014, Halton Region conducted an Air Quality and Climate Change survey to determine knowledge, opinions, attitudes and/or behaviours related to a variety of … More Idling Awareness in Burlington
If idling gets you nowhere, why do so many people idle their vehicles unnecessarily instead of turning their engines off? Myths: Idling is the best way to warm up a vehicle. Turning a vehicle on and off produces more emissions than letting a vehicle idle. Reality: The best way to warm up a vehicle is … More Idling Gets You Nowhere
On December 18, 2015, the Honourable Jim Carr, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, and Raymond Louie, President of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and Acting Mayor of the City of Vancouver, BC, announced a grant of $162,250 from the Green Municipal FundTM (GMF) for the City of Burlington, ON. The grant supports a study that … More Burlington receives $162,250 grant
In 1990, the City of Burlington declared itself a sustainable development community: a community that is in harmony with its environment and strives to provide its citizens with safe, comfortable livelihoods. The Burlington Sustainable Development Committee (SDC) was subsequently established as a volunteer citizen committee appointed by Burlington City Council to advise on issues that … More Celebrating 25 years!
Today, the City of Burlington’s sustainability team went to Aldershot High School to participate in a pilot speaker series designed to engage youth from two grade nine geography classes. The program is modelled after a successful initiative at Acton High School in partnership with Halton Region Health Department. Throughout the month of November, guest speakers … More Engaging Our Future Leaders
The City of Burlington adopted a Corporate Energy Management Plan in 2013. While work on energy matters was well underway before the plan was approved by City Council, the plan helped staff to focus their efforts on ongoing projects and initiatives resulting in continuous improvement in energy conservation and dollars saved. Since most of us … More Indoor Swimming Pools Energy Competition Winding Down
Welcome to Take Action Burlington’s first blog post! We hope you will visit the blog to learn about local environmental initiatives, actions that the city is taking, and tips for you on how to reduce your impact on the environment. About the name of the blog – Take Action Burlington In 2010, the City of … More Welcome to Take Action Burlington!
Take Action Burlington 