Events

April 15, 2024, Mary Nash, a Board member of the Green Burial Ottawa Valley cooperative, will tell us about the principles and practices of allowing a human body to return to the earth naturally,  and will describe the recent creation and approval of a nature-friendly burial ground accessible to people in eastern Ontario. Mary has had two decades of expertise in this subject and has had the opportunity to compare green burial facilities in Canada, US, UK and the Netherlands. 

May or June, 2024, a group visit will be arranged to the Just Food Community Farm in Blackburn Hamlet. Details to follow. The farm supports farmers, provides public education on food issues and helps to create a viable, healthy and sustainable local food system.

Photo © justfood.ca

October 19, 2020, Dr. Emma Woolliams of the National Physical Laboratory in London, UK, told us about the way in which satellites measure what is happening on the surface of our planet, how scientists make predictive models from these composite measurements and how these models could be of value to decision-makers, as "powerful motivators for change". 

November 9th, 2020, we met the leader of the Ottawa Riverkeeper program, Elizabeth Logue,  who described a wide range of community-based projects to monitor contamination of the Ottawa River watershed. She also mentioned strategies to help conserve endangered aquatic species. 

N.B. the Pollution Hotline is 1-888-953 3737.

January 11th, 2021, Dr Marco Bertaglia spoke to us from Italy about the benefits of Agroecology. Dr Bertaglia is a Scientific Officer of the EU Commission (currently on sabbatical leave), researching and advocating for ecological agriculture and sustainable lifestyles. He warned that unless we change our agricultural policies, we are heading for extinction, but he also believes that there are viable solutions to feeding the world without destroying it. Tillage, monoculture, fertilizer and pesticides should be banned. The world needs smaller farms and more collaboration.

 February 8th, 2021, Rachael Jones, Project Manager, Environmental Services, gave us a comprehensive overview of the Solid Waste Master Plan for the City of Ottawa, and encouraged us to be personally involved in its 30-year development, by participating in Engage Ottawa.

March 29, 2021, Scott Demark of Zibi Community Utility spoke to us about the sustainable, 34-acre development within downtown Ottawa-Gatineau, currently under construction on the former Domtar industrial site: "Zibi, the Waterfront City."

April 12, 2021, Emma Langham, Outreach and Communications Coordinator of the City of Ottawa's Climate Change and Resiliency section, described the priorities for the city's Energy Evolution strategy, how Ottawa is attempting to meet its "net-zero" targets. She gave us suggestions for helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in our own lives, recommending, for example, that we take steps to make our homes more energy-efficient. 

May 10th, 2021, Natasha Jovanovic, Living City Program Manager, Ecology Ottawa, introduced us to campaigns for rewilding Ottawa's urban environment,  suggesting ways in which we can protect biodiversity in the city ourselves,  for example by planting native species of trees and creating pollinator gardens.

September 17, 2021, taking an active part in the City of Ottawa's Cleaning the Capital program, some of our group members met to clean up Bordeleau Park and the banks of the Rideau River. We picked up ~11 kg of litter.

October 18, 2021, Dr. Philip Porter of the University of Hertfordshire, UK, talked about glacier science in a warming world. He vividly described descending 60 metres into the ice, to monitor and observe the hidden passageways of a glacier's "hydrological system." He also described the changing environment of  the Svalbard Archepelago, at 78° North, where his research station is situated, and where tourism is becoming a significant industry. The melting of glaciers has worldwide consequences. The education of ourselves and others is the first step towards the mitigation of the climate change and his advice to us was to lobby our elected representatives and reduce our consumption of unnecessary things.

December 13, 2021, Laurel Carlton, an environmental activist and mother of a baby whose future is at risk from the climate crisis, joined our group meeting to discuss why individual actions matter, giving suggestions for taking action at a "systems" level and encouraging us to rethink our habits as consumers and investors. She left us with recommendations for books worth reading and websites worth exploring. Taking action empowers us, making us feel less paralyzed.a

January 17, 2022, Ashley Cheslock and Meike Woehlert of the City of Ottawa's waste management services gave us the latest news of the Master Plan For Solid Waste and answered our questions about garbage disposal and recycling. (Click on those links to see the videos we watched as part of the presentation.)

February 21, 2022, Arin de Hoog, Senior Communications Officer for Wetlands International, writer, teacher and press liaison officer, met us from Amsterdam to discuss the importance of strategic communications in today's world, encouraging us to tell stories about environmental issues to a targeted audience in creative ways, giving examples of how Greenpeace has done this successfully in its campaigns. He felt that media pressure is the best way to influence governments, and progress is best made through courts of law.

March 14, 2022, Dr. Jim Rollefson, former advisor at the NRC, gave a presentation entitled Challenges! Climate Change and Sustainable Development: A Case Study From Peru. Mentioning the COP26 agreement to curb deforestation and the latest IPCC report on climate change, he described the Montane rainforests of Peru, a highly vulnerable, "disappearing" landscape. We must make an effort to draw attention to such challenges. For encouragement, he recommended that we read Saving Us by Katharine Hayhoe and Thinking Fast And Slow by Daniel Kahneman.

April 6, 2022 — the first event of our public webinar series jointly planned by CFUW-Nepean, CFUW-Kanata and CFUW-Ottawa, attended by 235 people. 

Rebecca Prince-Ruiz from Australia, Executive Director of the Plastic Free Foundation told us the story of how the idea of a plastic-free July" developed into a global initiative.  See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqBUyCOKeNM

April 13, 2022 — the second event of our webinar series jointly planned by CFUW-Nepean, CFUW-Kanata and CFUW-Ottawa. Bill Steer, founder / director of the Canadian Ecology Centre (CEC) discussed the value of native forests with Dr. Diana Beresford-Kroeger, author of To Speak For The Trees. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErPwncR17oI. She urged us to "put fire under the politicians" who lack awareness of the climate emergency and said that we "have to be cunning" in the way we, as women, approach this challenge. Diana  was proud of her own achievements as an awareness-raiser, adding emphatically, "Don't tell me one person can't do a lot!"

April 20, 2022 — the third and final webinar of our series jointly planned by CFUW-Nepean, CFUW-Kanata and CFUW-Ottawa. Seth Klein, Director of Strategy with the Climate Emergency Unit and author of A Good War: Mobilizing Canada for the Climate Emergency, described what Canadians ought to do here and now to counteract the threats of climate change. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAdgNwpY2BY. He introduced the audience to Sabah Ibrahim, his counterpart in Ontario, who encouraged everyone to sign up to Ontario's Climate Emergency Campaign. Both CFUW National and the CFUW Ontario Council have done so.

May 16, 2022 — nuclear energy expert Dr. Andrzej Czajkowski of the University of Ottawa described fission reactors, discussing how they work as well as their benefits, and how they are kept safe. He also talked about the potential for fusion reactors. He said that adopting new science means taking risks and suggested that the world cannot afford to wait until we tap into nuclear energy production, a clean, affordable and unlimited alternative to fossil fuels. He believes that "the future will be bright!"

June 13, 2022 —  Peter MacKinnon and Peter Eggleton jointly gave us "A Peek into the Developing Hydrogen Economy" — discussing the potential for hydrogen as a replacement for fossil fuels, with particular reference to the railway sector where hydrogen-fuelled locomotives engineered in Canada are already being used.

June 15, 2022  — at Remics Rapids, four of us spent an hour clearing litter from the banks of the Ottawa River.

September 8, 2022 — members of our own group and of the CFUW-Kanata environmental action group, along with a few friends, met four representatives of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists Club for guided tours of the Fletcher Wildlife Garden, a wildlife refuge that demonstrates how to create wildlife-friendly habitat and gardens, using native plants. 

October 24, 2022 — new group member Mary Muduuli, an economist from Uganda, taught us how climate change affects African women and about efforts to modernize agricultural practices in Africa. She spoke of deepening poverty, worsening health, loss of food and work (due to extreme weather events and conflict) and a disrupted supply chain. But she reminded us that ''women are enterprising" and learn to cope. Technical aid and expertise, farming cooperatives, the sustainable use of natural resources without reliance on dangerous chemicals and the wide-scale planting of trees can help. For farmers, equipment, seedlings / seeds and animal stock, building materials or other infrastructure like water tanks or pumps and crop processors (e.g. for rice, maize, wheat, nuts) are important. For other businesses, sewing machines, bicycles and motor bikes and small trucks, to support transportation needs, have proved popular. Some African countries have put "revolving funds" into cooperative saving societies, so that as savers slowly repay their loans others get a chance to borrow. In the case of animal stock (exotic cow breeds, goats, pigs) the loans are paid back and distributed to other farmers in revolving programs. 

November 21, 2022 — Jake Rice, Research Professor and Professor Emeritus at Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans, explained the changing interaction of warm and cold ocean currents which move over the coastal bank where the fish feed and are in constant flux due to global warming. Colder water flowing over the banks off Newfoundland caused the cod fisheries' collapse. Heat and drought along the west coast have caused similar catastrophes for the salmon-fishing industry. These scenarios have long-lasting consequences. As the climate changes, our governments need to respond "more nimbly" to increasingly frequent extreme weather events that affect life off our shores, incorporating the knowledge of coastal fishermen, Indigenous peoples, government and scientists to develop mitigation plans that can be immediately carried out. We cannot afford to wait months and months to react to unpredictable weather and its consequences on the lives of coastal inhabitants and on the fisheries. We need integrated plans, ready for immediate implementation.

The image is a sketch by group member Sandra Marshall.

 December 12, 2022 — The group met for a strategic planning session led by group member Susan Carlton. The antidote to fear and frustration about the state of the planet is to do make small, positive changes in our lives. Group members brainstormed environmentally friendly habits we might want to adopt.

January 16, 2023 — Dr. Mili Roy, Chair of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) Ontario and Co-chair of the Ontario Climate Emergency Campaign (OCEC), explained how air pollution from transportation, manufacturing, energy generation and forest fires has severe effects on all body systems, not just the respiratory system. 99% of humanity live in places where healthy air quality as defined by the WHO is not met. She also stated that climate change is "the single greatest health crisis of our time." Extreme heat, forest fires, flooding, windstorms, agricultural crop damage and loss of electrical infrastructure take a terrible toll. Finally she gave us recommendations for advocacy and action, especially in response to  Bill 23, Ontario's More Homes Built Faster Act.

Sketch by Sandra Marshall.

February 27, 2023 — Cheryl Randall, Climate Change Campaign Organizer of Ecology Ottawa made the case for neighbourhoods that prioritize people over motor vehicles. A 15-minute neighbourhood includes small shops, cafés, libraries, parks and community gardens that can easily be reached on foot or by bicycle, reducing the need to drive to a mall.  Building lower-rise multi-family homes and apartment buildings on single family lots within the city would encourage the development of such communities, reduce air pollution, build social connections and improve  our health.

March 20th, 2023 — Janette Niwa of Safe Wings Ottawa told us about the dangers to wild birds in our urban environment, and how they can be protected through public education and preventative measures, in particular by the  installation of bird-safe window panes or by modifying existing panes of glass. The transparency or reflectivity of glass is hazardous for birds.

April 25th, 2023 — In honour of Earth Day we hosted a structured online discussion of the documentary film, "Before They Fall" with members of other CFUW clubs across Canada taking part. The film showed how Indigenous land-defenders, conservation groups, and scientists joined forces to try to protect the last unprotected old growth forest in the valley known as Ada’itsx (Fairy Creek) on Vancouver Island. We honour the work of Dr. Suzanne Simard and her involvement in this campaign.

May 31st, 2023 — our group members had the opportunity to visit Berit Erikson's urban corner garden that has been turned into an ideal habitat for butterflies, birds and bees. She writes a blog at https://cornerpollinatorgarden.net with the subtitle: "Plant it and they will come." 

Berit recommends that we support Wildlife Preservation Canada and the David Suzuki Foundation’s Butterflyway projects like the one she has launched in her own neighbourhood.

September 15, 2023 — several of us joined the Climate Strike demonstration on Parliament Hill calling for an end to the use and production of fossil fuels in Canada and throughout the world:

“We recognize the harm and danger posed by the use of fossil fuels and seek an end to them not only in our cities but in every city, town and neighbourhood across the globe. We are showing up in solidarity with all other climate strikes that are happening internationally in and around the month of September, together with our partners, volunteers, activists, neighbours, and like-minded friends both national and international.”

October 23, 2023 — we met Angela Keller-Herzog, Founding Executive Director of the Community Associations for Environmental Sustainability (CAFES), a network of local environmental and climate leaders in the city of Ottawa. She described how CAFES helps to accelerate the implementation of Ottawa's climate change mitigation plans and gave us recommendations for how to engage in local advocacy and activism. She said that making contact with municipal Councillors should be a top  priority for all who care about the city's future.

November 27, 2023 — Mike Nickerson, author of Living on Earth as if We Want to Stay – More Fun, Less Stuff, told us that, when we acknowledge that our planet has limits and accept responsibility for living within them, we are capable of redirecting our efforts and securing well-being for the next seven generations and beyond. Our capitalist society implies that in order to be good and make progress, we have to make a lot of money and spend a lot of money, overlooking the social and environmental consequences of living in this way. We need to change that. We need to consider that “being good” means “living lightly”. The most important things we can do are to use reliable sources of energy, develop a circular economy and find joyful activities to fill our time on earth.

January 30, 2024 ­— Norma Domey, VP of the Professional Institute of Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) and one of the speakers at the Climate Strike rally on Parliament Hill in September 2023, discussed the need for fossil fuel divestment from the Canadian Pension Plan. 

February 26, 2024, Mary Sarumi talked about Reducing our Environmental Impact from Food. A global Plant Based Treaty would combat the climate crisis by halting the widespread degradation of the natural environment caused by animal agriculture and by promoting a shift to plant-based diets. Implementing this treaty could reverse some of the damage food systems have done to planetary functions and biodiversity. Mary encouraged us to endorse the treaty and to eat less meat and fewer dairy products. Our exchange of ideas included recommendations for healthy, vegan meals.