Nourishing Hamilton Fair

This Earth Day: I AM

This EARTH DAY: What if the solution to the world's problems was right in front of us all along?
I AM  (A life altering documentary).
The shift is about to hit the fan.

As our guide, Tom Shadyac (Director of Ace Ventura, The Nutty Professor, Pet Detective) confronts the most serious crisis humanity faces and reveals transformative solutions. Asking the questions "What's wrong with the world?" and "What can we do to fix it?", Shadyac interviews scholars, scientists, authors, activists,and spiritual teachers who disclose truths about ourselves  that prove that we have the power to change and transform our lives and the world around us.

Please join us for the movie screening

Monday, April 22 at 6.30pm. Movie starts at 7pm. Event goes to 9pm.
Hamilton Public Central Library -Hamilton Room. 55 York Blvd. Hamilton.
Light refreshments will be provided.
Sponsors:  KAIROS, Greening Sacred Spaces, Hamilton Pubic Library, A Tiny Shift, Environment Hamilton , IDEA Burlington, Hamilton 350

Sponsors: KAIROS, IDEA Burlington, Greening Sacred Spaces, Hamilton 350, Environment Hamilton, Halton Environmental Network.

GSS at Sacred Heart of Jesus R.C. School

April 02-We had a great time chatting with exuberant children about food security and why it is important for Hamilton to have a food charter that promotes a just food system for all. Thanks to Religion Studies, McMaster student, Natalie for helping us out today!

Carrots tell it like it is!

We invited the youth from New Hope Community Bikes to be part of the fair as well as Revwear and they certainly brought excitement to the table. As in attendance with the Organic Waste Leaders from the City of Hamilton and Green Venture and smart commute. The principle from St. Augustine came out and shared about the work her school has done  depave parts of the school grounds!

Sustainapalooza!

April 01- And the race begins with countless events to attend in the busy month of April!
We kicked of outreach by attending the Sustainapalooza eco-fest at Mohawk College where we connected with many, many students interested in Greening Sacred Spaces and planning to come out to the Nourishing Hamilton Fair (yay!).

Thanks to our volunteer Juby for helping at this event!

Coming Soon: Nourishing Hamilton Fair

Food Security at Thinkfast (St. Jean de Brebeuf High School).

THINKfast is program that provides an interactive way for high school and university students to learn about the serious issues of injustice in the world and to raise funds for Development and Peace.
We (myself and Julie Dwyer, the Peace and Development and volunteer co-ordinator at two high schools) weren't sure what to expect. Our last experience with THINKfast (we screened the I Am documentary a month ago at Cathedral Highschool) had not been as well received as we had hoped. In hindsight, it had been too long for a teen audience on a Friday night; after a week of school and who had been fasting since morning; were still fasting and had no hope of eating anything until the next day.

At St. Jean de Brebeuf school, we took a different approach.This time we brought in Farmer Dan who shared with the students shocking information about have terribly food insecure most of our communities really are: that if you had a plate of food and divided it into two parts, 15% would represent food grown in Canada, and 85%, food imported from the US. It was scary to know that if borders closed for any reason, we would be left without food.

Dan Morreale works at Plan B Organics.

We learned about the injustices linked to food production (farmers get very little pay for what they do, are often migrant workers working under harsh conditions).
Farmer Dan asked the audience how many of them were gardeners. One or two timid hands went up. He asked how many had parents who gardened. A few more hands. He asked then, how many had grandparents who kept a garden and nearly half the room had their hands up.

Dressed in carrot outfits (the Climate Carrots) Julie and I sneaked into his presentation, to the delight of the students, and had a short talk with Farmer Dan about which carrot (local or imported) was healthiest and happiest. We talked about the Hamilton Food Charter and efforts groups are involved in to get that underway to inform policy makers. These young people had questions which was heartening to hear.We shared resources and volunteer/engagement opportunities at Greening Sacred Spaces, Environment Hamilton and in the community. We encouraged youth to get involved in the large school garden they already have but draws too few volunteers.

After the break, we all watched a new film called A New Leaf: confronting a food crisis, that showed food distribution issues and concerns in Sahel, West Africa and how the famine there was averted.

As we were leaving the school, carrot costumes visible through the plastic bag they were in, some of the youth approached: "Ms. Can we use the carrot costumes to do  a Harlem Shake?" they asked.  Harlem Shake is an Internet meme (concept that goes viral on the internet) in the form of a video in which a group of people performs a comedy sketch accompanied by a short excerpt from the song "Harlem Shake."

"Absolutely!"  I agreed. What better way to get the message forever more engraved in young minds about the need to support and eat locally produced food than to witness two carrots shaking it up to the roots, surrounded by dancing, giddy teens?

A Musical Celebration of Creation: April 21st at Westdale United Church.