Nourishing Hamilton: Food Faith and Our City

Feb 2nd 2012

Hamilton Eat Local's February is Farm Month had a great kick off with Greening Sacred Spaces, 'Nourishing Hamilton: Food Faith and Our City' event at the Freeway Coffee House.

We screened 'Nourish Peterborough,' a documentary film that follows ten unique community groups from Peterborough who are advocating for food security and sovereignty. These are programs that have a substantial influence on many people's lives, though many of them go overlooked and/or underfunded. Nourish Peterborough provides a platform for these organizations, giving members, participants, volunteers and staff, a louder voice in the community. 

The screening was followed by a panel discussion on nurturing the growing organic food movement in Hamilton. 

Crystle Numan, from Environment Hamilton's Good Food Box Network and Neighbour to Neighbour's Building Better Futures talked about how advertisement and the media have us thinking that 'healthy' means blemish free, symmetrical, polished etc when in reality this means unhealthy pesticide use, or transportation over great distances.

Crystle has been involved with community gardening since starting Hill Street Community Garden (5 churches initiated this) in 2010.

Loretta Jaunzarins, pastor at Grace Lutheran church talked about how her church got involved with food security issues by starting a good food box program ( veggies and fruits at a very low cost, once a month and available to everyone who wants one). She's experimenting with straw bale gardening on church grounds and so far, good things are happening. She is also looking into growing fruit trees at the church.

Bill Wilcox, with Hamilton Victory Gardens ( a faith based initiative) spoke about the work he and his organization are doing to fight poverty in Hamilton. They have already secured sites to raise more garden beds across the city.

Bill talked about the Cuban example of urban agriculture and how much we can learn from these masters of simplicity.

Clare Wagner, Community Garden Program Coordinator at Green Venture showed us a map of community gardens in Hamilton. She talked about the need to collaborate with one another as community groups in order to get the best results.

we also heard from pig farmers Tanya and Mark Veenstra who shared with us photos of their ethically run farm (Boar and Chick farm).

We enjoyed organic chili at $2 a bowl and a very kind person from the audience brought a large bag of delicious apples that he shared with the crowd!

Otesha Play Morning Choices; Auditions

Environment Hamilton Youth Group is organizing a play. It's the OTESHA play: Morning Choices.

Synopsis: Careless Consumer and Hopeful Hooligan are 2 average teenagers getting ready for school in their respective homes. Each teen goes through 6 sets of choices: water use in the bathroom,
clothes to wear, leisure time entertainment, buying coffee etc. Each set of choices have significant, tangible impacts on the Earth and its inhabitants.
Carless' choices have negative impacts. Hopeful's choices are a number of small, thoughtful efforts to consciously make choices that have positive impacts.
Mother Earth enters after each time Carless and Hopeful make a set of choices. She clarifies the situation and dispels myths with additional facts regarding each issue.

I have included the poster with the audition information and hope that you can encourage your youth to try out for some of these fun parts.
Auditions are February 2nd at Centenary United Church, 24 Main St W.
4-6pm.
This is open to grade 7-12

Please let others know about this opportunity as well! The play will be shown at that Bay Area science and engineering fair at the end of March. There will be a good 1,500 students who will see it! Maybe after this we can find other venues in which to perform it.

Nourishing Hamilton: Food, Faith and Our City

A Greening Sacred Spaces/Canadian Organic Growers Event in partnership with Hamilton Eat Local's FEBRUARY IS FARM MONTH


Come out and for a screening of Nourish Peterborough followed by a panel discussion on nurturing the growing organic food movement in Hamilton.
About the film
Nourish Peterborough is a documentary film that follows ten unique community groups from Peterborough who are advocating for food security and sovereignty. These are programs that have a substantial influence on many people's lives, though many of them go overlooked and/or underfunded. Nourish Peterborough provides a platform for these organizations, giving members, participants, volunteers and staff, a louder voice in the community. 


Panel discussion: Growing the organic food movement in Hamilton.
About the panelists: 
Crystle Numan works with Environment Hamilton's Good Food Box Network and Neighbour to Neighbour's Building Better Futures. She has been involved with community gardening since starting Hill Street Community Garden in 2010.
Loretta Jaunzarins is pastor at Grace Lutheran church. She's experimenting with straw bale gardening on church grounds.
Bill Wilcox's vision is fight poverty in Hamilton. To do so, he wants to expand his program 'Hamilton Victory Gardens" across the city.

Clare Wagner is the Community Garden Program Coordinator, Green Venture.

When: Thursday February 2nd 2012

Where: Free Way Cafe (FRWY) 333 King Street East, Hamilton

Time: Doors open 6.30pm- 10pm 

This event is free of charge. Everyone is welcome!

Contact Beatrice for more information

bekoko@faith-commongood.net

905 549 0900

Building Renewable Energy Co-operatives

The Hamilton Halton Energy Awareness Team (HHEAT)

Presents

Building Renewable Energy Co-operatives 

2012 Workshop Series

Overview of the co-op model/Technology and Site Selection.

You will learn about how the community renewable energy co-operative business model works and the basics of renewable energy installation technology and site selection..

Bill Thompson, Hamilton Coordinator Blue Green Canada.

Martin Ince, Project Developer, M.K. Ince and Associate Ltd, Renewable Energy and Environmental Consulting 

Halton: Tuesday, January 24th 2012 Oakville Town Hall from 6.30-9.30 pm.

Hamilton: Wednesday, January 25th 2012 Laidlaw United Church from 6.30-9.30 pm

Happy New Year!

      This year, Greening Sacred Spaces/Environment Hamilton is planning all sorts of learning opportunities for people of faith to green their sacred spaces, their communities and live in more sustainable lifestyles.
Our resources are constantly being updated, and new partnerships are in the developing stages. For example, in the area of food, we are working towards helping make fresh food available to all people through the Good Food Box. The GFB is a non-profit fresh fruit and vegetable distribution program. It makes healthy fresh food affordable and accessible to everyone. For only $15 you receive a box of fresh quality produce worth $25 or more. The food is bought at wholesale prices, often from local farmers.The Hamilton Good Food Box Network delivers directly to various locations all over Hamilton. You could be a drop-off/pick up spot.
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   Have you considered growing a vegetable garden at your place of worship? Many faith groups have and we can learn from them. In Hamilton, Bill Wilcox of the Hamilton Victory Gardens is doing wonders to help fight poverty. Bill spent many summers helping to organize and manage the West Highland Baptist Church’s “Victory Garden” – a ministry wherein fresh produce is grown and harvested by a group of volunteers, and then donated to the numerous food banks and soup kitchens in the Hamilton area.
Bill and his team have already created two new Victory Garden sites around Hamilton and has much to share with us on how to get started at your place of worship.
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    In other GSS news, we are ever eager to see your places of worship conserve energy. That's why we will continue to guide and provide resources and contacts for your convenience. Renewable energy such as solar panels for those lucky faith groups facing south is another 'greening' possibility through the FIT program and through creating a co-operative. See the HHEAT project at Environment Hamilton to see how you can get involved.

   Lastly, and maybe most importantly there's youth. If we are serious about greening our lives, we have to include young people in decision making and the work we do. That's why, this year it's the youth we want to focus on. Does your faith group have a youth group already? Are you a youth reading this? Are you interesting in engaging youth to environmental action? Contact Beatrice at

 

bekoko@faith-commongood.net
905 549 0900

We are back!

Environment Hamilton and Faith and the Common Good are thrilled to announce that the Greening Sacred Spaces program has received funding from the  Ontario Trillium Foundation to continue in Hamilton for the next three years.

While the bulk of the project funding is to support the current green teams within our Hamilton faith community network and adding some new ones each year as well as maintain the steering committee that we have established, we will be focusing particularly on sustainable food and youth. We will work with your faith group on capacity-building within your network and help support the work you are doing towards these ends.

Of course, the Greening Sacred Spaces project will continue to encourage and support working towards more energy efficiency and solar for your faith building and other themes that your community decides on (non-polluting transportation, non toxic cleaning products etc).

Please get in touch with Beatrice at bekoko@faith-commongood.net.

Greening Sacred Spaces Awards-2011

Left: Representatives from the Eco Churches of West Hamilton (Eco-Wham) receive the Green Sacred Spaces Award 2011. Presenting the Award is Chief Energy Conservation Officer for Horizon Utilities Corp. Brian Smith. Bringing greetings from the City is Councilor McHattie.

Representatives from the Hill St. Garden Churches  receive the Green Sacred Spaces Award 2011. Presenting the Award is Chief Energy Conservation Officer for Horizon Utilities Corp. Brian Smith. Bringing greetings from the City is Councilor McHattie.




It was a day to celebrate.
While outside the sun shone soothingly and early summer displayed it's brilliant colours in all it's glory, inside Westdale United Church another celebration was taking place in keeping with the mood outdoors and in honor of the environment.

After years of working hard to green their places of worship and their practices, two community faith collaborations received the much coveted Green Sacred Spaces Awards for 2011.

Started in 2006-2007 in Ottawa, the Green Sacred Spaces awards recognize faith communities who have made great efforts to reduce the environmental impact that they have on the earth.

The awards are chosen by the facilitators of the Greening Sacred Spaces program-itself is a practical program designed by the interfaith network- Faith and the Common Good. Chapters of Greening Sacred Spaces can be found all over Ontario and in Hamilton, the program is rolled out by Environment Hamilton.

Greening Sacred Spaces works with faith communities, helping them make their buildings more energy-efficient, and their members more environmentally aware.

This year, Eco Churches of West Hamilton (Eco-WHAM) and The Hill St. Garden Churches received the awards at a reception organized by Greening Sacred Spaces/Environment Hamilton.

Partnering with the group was Horizon Utilities Corporation. Chief Conservation Officer, Brian Smith of the utility company was on hand to present the awards.

In order to win the GSS Award, there are 3 stringent criteria that must be met and they are as follows:

1. Practical actions such as completing an energy retrofit, microfit or community garden;

2. Engagement in numerous local sustainability and energy conservation educational events  3. Involvement in outreach programs in the community at large; educating and engaging other faith communities to take actions in their communities and households at large.

10 GSS awards are granted in areas across Ontario where Greening Sacred Spaces programs are active (Hamilton, Waterloo Region, Wellington County, Toronto, Ottawa and Eastern Ontario and Peterborough).

In past years, Green Sacred Spaces awards have been presented to faith communities in Ottawa, Toronto, Peterborough and Waterloo Region.  This year – for the first time – the GSS awards are being awarded in Hamilton.

Councillor Brian McHattie shared greetings from the City of Hamilton and the audience was rightly impressed by the presentations given by the award recipients.

The Eco Churches of West Hamilton (Eco-WHAM) Churches include Westdale United Church in Hamilton and Knox Presbyterian Church,Christian Life Assembly, St. Augustine’s Roman Catholic Church, St. James Anglican Church, St. Paul’s United Church in Dundas.

Their mission statement: To practice and advance ecological sustainability in keeping with Christian principles of stewardship.

The team meets regularly to learn, exchange ideas, plan public events, distribute newsletters, support local environmental events, and provide encouragement to like-minded community groups.
The congregations are doing energy audits, installing compact florescent lighting and LED lighting, weather-proofing, eco- film screenings, climate change action,eco-walks offering water and energy conservation workshops, using rain barrels, using programmable thermostats, green and blue carting, growing community gardens, using green cleaning products and more.

Since July 2008 they have produced newsletters for EcoWHam.

The entire collection can be found on the website: http://www.knoxdundas.com/newsletters.html

The Hill St. Garden Churches include First Hamilton Christian Reformed church, New City Church, St. John the Evangelist Anglican, Central Presbyterian and First Unitarian.

The garden has well over 40 different households utilizing the space. They built the raised beds in mid April 2010 with over 100 volunteers, including nearly all the gardeners, their friends & family, and volunteers from the partnering churches.

Besides the community garden the faith groups are doing energy upgrades, getting to worsEco Churches of West Hamilton (Eco-Wham)hip without vehicles, canning workshops, hosting meetings for the Green West Hamilton Group, using fair trade products, xeriscaping, hosting many green community events, putting up solar panels and retrofitting their buildings.

Showing great leadership, hard work and perseverance, our award winners the Eco Churches of West Hamilton and the Hill St. Garden Faith group are making a difference in the communities where they live. We will be watching these faith communities as they continue to inspire and lead by example.