Mushroom Workshop: Back by Popular Demand!

With Tom Nagy!
Saturday, March 29th, from 1 to 2.30 pm
Grace Lutheran Church 1107 Main St. W. Hamilton
This event has been sponsored by Grace Lutheran Church and Greening Sacred Spaces at Environment Hamilton.

This event will consist of an approximately one hour powerpoint presentation and hands-on demonstration of the proper methods, techniques and materials necessary for successfully cultivating and propagating delicious, nutritious edible mushrooms out of easily accessable and/or waste materials. This will be followed by a brief question and answer period.

The two species that will be focused on are the oyster (Pleurotus spp.) and king stropharia (Stropharia rugosoannulata) mushrooms. Both are very aggressive and adaptable species that are great for beginning mushroom growers. Oyster mushrooms can be coaxed to grow in used coffee grinds, sawdust, wood chips or brewery grains and can be grown indoors straight through the winter. The king stropharia on the other hand prefers outdoor conditions and grows prolifically from hardwood mulch and sawdust.

A suggested $5 donation will help to support future presentations and workshops in your community centered around similar topics including upcycling waste materials, encouraging local food consumption, nutrition and environmental sustainability. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.

Environment Hamilton AGM with Guest Speaker Dr. Laurence Parker to talk on bee-biodiversity.

Annual General Meeting: March 18th. 7pm. All welcome. 

Hamilton Room. Central Library. 55 York Blvd. Hamilton.

KEYNOTE SPEAKER - Dr. Laurence Packer (York University) will speak about bee biodiversity. 

 Packer is the author of Keeping the Bees and is a decade long member of the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign.

Building a Geo-Thermal Church: TOUR ***NEW DATE***

Meadowlands Fellowship Christian Reformed Church in Ancaster is the only exclusively geo-thermally heated and cooled church in North America. Denise Neutel will give a talk and tour of this building constructed in 2005.

Saturday,  April 5th 2014
10 am to 11.30 am

211 Stonehenge Drive, Ancaster

Registration is required 

For more information contact Beatrice Ekoko at 905 549 0900 or bekoko@environmenthamilton.org
Event is sponsored by Greening Sacred Spaces (Environment Hamilton) and Hamilton Association for Renewable Energy (HARE).

Divestment or What? Economic Tools for Creation Advocacy in a Time of Crisis.

Save the Date:  6th Annual Forum,  March 1, 2014

Faith & the Common Good: Greening Sacred Spaces and the Toronto United Church Council’s Green Awakening Network invite you to join us for our 2014 Annual Forum.

The theme of the 2014 forum is "Divestment or What? Economic Tools for Creation Advocacy in a Time of Crisis."  Its purpose is to create a space where we can openly explore the dilemma presented by our personal and institutional enmeshment in a fossil-fuel based economy. The "‘Do the Math" campaign has highlighted for many of us the disastrous environmental consequences of continued reliance on fossil fuels – and yet many of our private and institutional investment strategies are built around that reliance. What is the way forward?

• Is there a moral imperative for faith communities to divest from fossil fuels and invest in a clean energy future?                                                                 
• Are there alternative green investment strategies open to Canadian institutions that rely on return on capital to fund good work?                                              
• What are some of the practical, economic and fiduciary restraints facing charities, faith communities, and individuals that need to be understood?

 

Date/Time/Place:

March 1, 2014, 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m., Beach United Church, 140 Wineva Ave, Toronto

Registration Cost:  $15 (includes light refreshments)

Highlights: Confirmed keynote speakers include Rev. Fletcher Harper, Executive Director of GreenFaith, and Jane Ambachtsheer, Partner and Global Head of Responsible Investment at Mercer.  The forum will also include a screening of "Do the Math" and an Eco-Fair featuring local green social enterprises.

This will be the first forum of its kind to target Canada’s faith sector in an exploration of the economic tools available to us to help shape a clean energy future for the next generation.  We hope you can join us for what we know will be an informative and frank conversation on the topic. 

Watch this space for registration and event details!
Peace and blessings to all,

Mushroom Workshop: He rocked it.

Marvellous Mouth-watering Mushrooms

Happy New Year to you all!
There's lots to do to protect and enhance our wonderful planet and its inhabitants of all sorts. There is also lots of fun to be had and we are kicking off the new year with a workshop on growing your own mushrooms at home. Yay! I love mushrooms, being part Hobbit.
Our volunteer Tom Nagy will be leading the workshop and here's what he says:

Ever been interested in growing your own crop of delicious or medicinal mushrooms, either inside or outside of your own home? Come and learn a variety of efficient and creative methods for growing your own varieties of mushrooms and how doing so can enhance your physical and mental health and our relationship with food, crops and the environment.
This presentation will begin with a short analysis of what mushrooms and fungi actually are, how we understand them, how they behave, and also how they differ from other kingdoms of life. Understanding fungi at least on a basic level is critical to effectively nurturing them just as one would do a plant in the garden or inside the home.
Next, you will learn the basic ways of which to grow mushrooms both indoors and out, including the importance of humidity, sterility, substrate and a number of other key components necessary for successful mushroom gardening. Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus ostreatus) will be the main focus, but other simple and delicious mushroom species will also be covered, and how some of them can be used in combination to increase the productivity of your vegetable garden.

When? January 25th, 2014
What time? 10-11.30 am
Where? Grace Lutheran Church.
1107 Main St. West Hamilton, Ontario

Now folks, this event is free but donations are welcome so that we can get Tom to host more of these workshops.

Revolution! The film screening.

Revolution is a film about changing the world.
In an effort to uncover the truth and find the secret to saving the ecosystems we depend on for survival, Rob Stewart  (Sharkwater) embarks on a life-threatening adventure. From the coral reefs in Papua New Guinea and deforestation in Madagascar to the largest and most destructive environmental project in history in Alberta, Canada, he reveals that all of our actions are interconnected and that environmental degradation, species loss, ocean acidification, pollution and food/water scarcity are reducing the Earth's ability to house humans.

How did this happen, and what will it take to change the course that humanity has set itself on?
LOCATIONS:
Monday, Nov 18
Hamilton Central Library
55 York Blvd, Hamilton.
Wednesday, Nov 27
Burlington Central Library
2331 New St. Burlington.

CONTACT:
Beatrice Ekoko bekoko@environmenthamilton.org
905-549-0900

FREE ADMISSION
Doors open at 6.30pm. Film starts at 7pm.