Summer Camp Kids Learn about Energy Conservation

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009

On Tuesday, August 18th, Environment Hamilton went to visit with the St. Augustine's youth camp in Dundas.
Student interns Jordan Bowman and Alessandra Gage led an interactive presentation about saving energy and helping the environment, in addition to running some activities and a seed planting session where children were able to plant local vegetables and herbs at the Church. Campers learned about how to save energy in their everyday lives and why it's important to eat locally grown produce. After the presentation and activities, everyone left with Passport to Hamilton maps, Fox 40 whistles, and energy saving night lights.

Celebration of Local Foods

www.dundasstarnews.com/news/article/185057


Eating locally produced food is an act of stewardship. That's the message attendees heard (and ate) at Greening Sacred Spaces Hamilton's 'Celebration of local food' brunch that took place at St James Anglican church last weekend.

A project of Environment Hamilton and Faith &the Common Good, the event was a reminder of the call to protect and honour the Earth and the bounty which it produces-a call that resounds across all faiths and religions world wide. The relationship between food and the sacred is recognized in many philosophies.
"Currently, our eating practices cause environmental degradation, destroy habit and livelihood and cause untold suffering to animals. Water, air and land are polluted because of the way we do business as usual," said Rebecca Birtch one of the key organizers of the event.

Today, in a time where the decisions we make about how we relate to and treat the Earth and the life on it will impact directly and inexorably the future well being of our planet, eating locally produced food is a significant step in the right direction.

Over pancakes, sausages, muffins and blueberries participants were made aware of the hunger that resides in the very heart of our community and the measures that are being taken by some local groups to help alleviate a worsening situation.

Bill Wilcox of West Highland Baptist Church demonstrated that growing a beautiful vegetable garden on church grounds and giving the produce to the hungry is a good use of space and he challenged others to do the same.
Karen Burson spoke eloquently about the need for healthy food for children to grow properly; Environment Hamilton's eat local project is involved with building effective and equitable food systems through institutional purchasing.

Tapestry Bistro's Sam Robertson impressed upon listeners Hamilton's amazing amount of resources already in place for procuring locally grown food.

"We must get to a level of green house gases that provides safety for our planet," spokesman Don Mclean of Environment Hamilton reiterated, wrapping up the event.

Mclean's invitation for participants to join the world-wide 'Day of climate action' on October 24th (an event that is part of the 350.org campaign to get levels of carbon in the atmosphere down to a safe level of 350 parts per millions) was also a call to action to all attendees.

For more information about the 350.org campaign and Hamilton's involvement please call Environment Hamilton at 905 549 0900.

Breakfast of Local Foods Celebration

Greening Sacred Spaces Hamilton and St James Anglican Church

present

A Celebration of Local Food

Join as for a tasty brunch of locally produced foods. Local food consumption is a vital form of stewardship and creation care. Learn how you can make eating locally a part of your everyday lifestyle from seasoned speakers in the movement. This is an opportunity for members of the Hamilton and area faith groups to network together and to share in the bounty of our community.

Speakers: Don Mclean and Karen Burson of Environment Hamilton; Don will talk about getting to a level of greenhouse gases that provides safety for our planet and how that connects to what we eat. Karen will talk about building effective, equitable local food systems through various forms of institutional purchasing. Also chef Sam Robertson of Tapestry Bistro will speak about resources in Hamilton that allow you to eat locally. Bill Wilcox of West Highland Baptist church will be talking about growing food on church grounds to feed the hungry.

When: The morning of Saturday August 8th 2009

Where: St James Anglican Church, 137 Melville St, Dundas

Time: 10-12am

cost: $12 per person

To order tickets email Beatrice or call Environment Hamilton at 905 549 0900

Worship Without Your Car

BRIEFS TheSpec.com - - BRIEFS

(Jul 18, 2009)

Going to church? Leave the car at home

Prizes are being offered to Hamilton churches with the most congregants who walk, cycle, take the bus or carpool to worship this weekend.

As part of its Greening Sacred Places Hamilton program, Environment Hamilton is partnering with Faith and the Common Good to urge faith communities to participate in the July 17 to 19 Worship Without Your Car: Get to Your Faith Centre A Greener Way initiative, supported by the Trillium Foundation.

For further information, phone Environment Hamilton at 905-549-0900 or e-mail bekoko@faith-commongood.net.

http://thespec.com/article/602302

Worship Without Your Car

Church crowd urged to bike this weekend
Environment Hamilton urges faith communities to leave cars at home

Gord Bowes, News Staff, Hamilton Mountain News, Jul 17, 2009

Everyone heading to their place of worship this weekend is being asked to go green.

Faith groups across the city are being asked to encourage their congregations to pedal, walk, bus or car pool as part of Greening Sacred Spaces, an effort to get faith groups in the city to move toward sustainability.

Prizes will be awarded for the group with the highest percentage of participants during the July 17-19 Worship Without Your Car: Get To Your Faith Centre A Greener Way initiative, a joint project of Faith and the Common Good and Environment Hamilton.

“This is one of the ways we felt would be fun to get faith groups involved,” says Beatrice Ekwa Ekoko, Greening Sacred Spaces project facilitator.

“We’re just trying to find ways to encourage people to leave the car at home.”

Ms. Ekoko says she had heard about the idea being implemented in other cities and thought it could work locally.

It also makes for a good prelude to the Pedal for the Planet initiative, a cross-country environmental awareness tour which will stop at Fifty Point Conservation Area on Aug. 31.

As of Monday, 12 faith communities had signed up, including Church of the Resurrection, Barton Stone Church United and Emmanuel United Church, Meadowlands Fellowship Christian Reformed and Bethany Gospel Chapel.

“I was hoping to just have five, so I’m quite happy people are getting on to this,” says Ms. Ekoko.

She says she already considers the initiative a success by having more than one dozen faith communities signed up, but an even bigger success would be to get 20 per cent of a congregation to use an alternate means of transportation this weekend.

[Caption: Stephen Murray, pastor at Church of the Resurrection, is encouraging his congregation to take part in this weekend’s “Worship without your car” event organized by Environment Hamilton and Faith and the Common Good. Rev. Murray rides about 15 kilometres each day.


http://www.hamiltonmountainnews.com/news/article/182136

Worship Without Your Car

Worship Without Your Car: Get To Your Faith Centre A Greener Way

Traveling green is an important way we can be stewards of our planet.
Over the weekend of July 17th, 18th and 19th, Greening Sacred Spaces Hamilton invites people of all faiths to travel to worship that Friday, Saturday, and Sunday on foot, by bike, by public transit or carpool.
Faith groups will be competing against each other for a chance to win a prize for their place of worship.

The groups with the highest percentage of participants get the prizes.


A joint project of Faith & the Common Good and Environment Hamilton with generous support of the Trillium Foundation.

Worship without your car event is supported by the City of Hamilton Alternative Transportation.

Climate Action For the People of Faith

As noted on the Faith page at 350 website (www.350.org Click on PEOPLE and click on Faith), "350 represents more than just a scientific benchmark for a safe climate – there are also deeply moral and spiritual reasons for getting the world back below 350 ppm CO2. Social justice, creation care, stewardship, earth community, beloved community – there are many ways we can name and express our moral and spiritual perspectives on this issue. We invite people of all faiths and all traditions to join with us action for 350."
All it takes to get started is to attend Environment Hamilton's meeting on Monday July 13. In particular, you'll learn about ideas your faith group can use between now and Oct. 24 to inspire the participation of its members. You may even wish to share a few ideas of your own.

The location of the meeting is the boardroom of Environment Hamilton at 1130 Barton Street East, Suite 207. That's located across the street from the Centre Mall near Ottawa Street (just east of the Beer Store - but on the other side of the street). It's a two storey fairly new red brick building with adjacent parking lot, also accessible by the HSR's Barton 2 service.

We truly look forward to meeting you on Mon., July 13 at 7:00 p.m.

Check out this page at 350.org

The Sound of 350 from 350 Faith on Vimeo.