From the Greater Toronto, Toronto Star, Wednesday, January 23, 2008, page A11, an article about birdwatcher Graeme Gibson and his concerns about the birds:
AND FEW BIRDS SANG
'If you are a birdwatcher, you know the Earth is in trouble,' says author Graeme Gibson, who sees their decline as bad for the globe - and our souls
Catherine Dunphy
Staff Reporter
The birdman of the Annex despairs at this time of year. The only sound from outside the plate glass of the Avenue Rd. restaurant where he sips his organic beer is that of the horns of motorists furious at the person making an illegal left at Davenport.
Birdsong?
Graeme Gibson's generous eyebrows rise behind his glasses.
"There are relatively few birds around town now," he says. "It's like creeping senility."
There were once many more cardinals, blue jays - even crows, which were decimated by the West Nile virus - about town. The best we can do now is salute winter's rough 'n' weather-ready starlings, pigeons, gulls - admittedly brown birds the colour of slush, ordinary birds, not the stuff of awe, wonder, colour and musicality.
The 82nd annual Christmas bird count held by the Toronto Ornithological Club on a balmy Sunday in December recorded 89 species, including 56,022 individual birds. Then again, 21,523 of them were European starlings, up from their 2005 tally of 12,000-plus.
On the bright side, there is a red-tailed hawk - "very big, very handsome" - lurking near a Richmond St. condominium.
"It's two feet when it stands on my friend's balcony. A marvellous bird. I've seen it."
He once watched it chase a flock of pigeons on Charles St. just west of Yonge. Thrilling. "They exploded into the sky," Gibson says.
He is often watching for birds. A respected author (Five Legs, Perpetual Motion) before he compiled the best selling The Bedside Book of Birds, in which he turned a passion begun at age 37 into an orgiastic, glorious - and award-winning - book not about birds but about people's relationship with them.
In it Gibson writes: "One of the rewards of birdwatching is the brief escape it affords our ancient and compelling need to make Nature useful. There may even be something of Thoreau's 'true knowledge' in that evanescent taste of freedom."
He also writes: "At its best, in its heightened moments, birdwatching can encourage a state of being close to rapture - the fogetfulness that blends the individual consciousness with something other than itself. Some people call it 'flow,' others enlightenment.'"
Gibson, 73, believes it might save the world.
"If you look out the window and don't see nature," he says, gesturing towards Avenue Rd., "all you see is culture. You are separated from nature."
Here connects by birdwatching in Toronto's ravings, the Summerhill reservoir, beside the Humber and Don rivers where migrating birds fly by, at Mt. Pleasant cemetery and in Rosedale's Craigleith Gardens. It grounds his activism these days. He was one of the founders of the Writers Union of Canada, the Books and Periodical Council, the Writers Development Trust, plus an early president of PEN Canada in 1987.
He is a founding user of Bullfrog Power, an alternative energy provider, at the Annex home he shares with his partner, writer Margaret Atwood. The pair are also joint presidents of the rare birds club of Bird Life International, a global alliance of conservation organizations.
"If you are a birdwatcher, you know the Earth is in trouble," he says.
He believes he first glimpsed the spectable of bird life in full flight as a 14-year-old in 1948, from the bow of the freighter that brought his family from Austrlia back to Canada and London, Ont., where he grew up.
He moved to Toronto to pursue teaching, then writing, and although he was an outdoorsy person keen on canoeing and hiking, he was pretty much oblivious to birds - until one day when, while walking in the Don Valley in the late '70s, he spotted a red-tailed hawk under the Bloor viaduct. Intrigued, he bought a bird book, then a pair of binoculars.
His birdwatching has since taken him all over the world. While sailing near Isabella Island, part of the Galapagos Islands, he spotted an albatross through an unexpected break in blinding rain. He felt as if he had received a gift, he says, and decided then to begin collecting writings and artifacts about how humans relate to birds.
For years he led birdwatching tours to Cuba, a primary source of his income, he notes.
Now, for about a third of every year, he and Atwood live in their home on Pelee Island, where he was instrumental in founding the Pelee Island Bird Observatory six years ago.
"Graeme has been critical to the (conservation) movement," says conservation theorist Elizabeth Agnew. "He and Margaret are both crack birders."
Agnew visited Cuba with Gibson. "Oh my goodness, it's like travelling with Mick Jagger," she says. "He's an entity and a quantity."
He's bemused by this. And by the propensity of birdwatchers to keep competitive lists of sightings. The only list he keeps is of birds seen in his backyard - because he's competing with no one, only revelling in the whir and strobe light flash of the fleeting presence of the creature believed to represent all our dreams.
Showing posts with label conservation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label conservation. Show all posts
Friday, February 15, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Green Living
From the Wednesday, December 26, 2007, Canada section of the Toronto Star, page A36, an article about climate change and the need for environment friendly lifestyles:
IS NEW SOCIAL CLIMATE NEEDED FOR GREEN LIVING?
Eco-crusade gaining momentum, but rules, infrastructure lacking
Gregory Bonnell
The Canadian Press
It was the year of living environmentally, or at least being implored to go clean and green as politicians of all stripes took up the global-warming cause in the wake of Al Gore's climate-change crusade.
Amid messages of new technologies and altering lifestyles, Canadians looking to make a change in 2008 should take heart that it doesn't all have to be sacrifice.
Experts say an environmentally friendly lifestyle can mean not only lower household bills but also improved mental and physical health when forgoing the automobile.
Still, just how many people are willing to move beyond lip service is a pressing question.
"You have polls where people say, 'Yes, we're willing to pay more to be green.' I think this is a premise that has yet to be fully tested," said Clifford Maynes, executive director of Green Communities Canada.
Buying organic food, installing high-efficiency furnaces or going hybrid for the next vehicle purchase are all options that mean spending more than one would if they stuck with the status quo.
Ali Squire, 63, said she tries to live as green as possible, which has meant buying more expensive organic foods - something that wasn't always an option when her children were still at home.
Squire, who lives on her own in Advocate Harbour, N.S., buys organic, grows her own vegetables, reuses and recycles.
"Between myself and sharing other people's gardens ... in the summer, very much so, you really notice the different in the grocery bill," said Squire.
When recycling came to her tiny community several years ago, Squire said her efforts were buoyed. But the lack of public transportation in the area means she needs a car to get to work, which she says she feels guilty about.
The goal, said Chris Winter of the Conservation Council of Ontario, "is not to become perfect, just to become better."
The Toronto resident is launching a website, www.weconserve.ca, that asks Canadians to assess how green they're living and set a green resolution for 2008.
Winter, a married father of two young children who doesn't own a car, said nothing about his lifestyle leaves him wanting.
In the political realm, climate change went from a non-existent issue in the 2006 federal election campaign to seemingly the most pressing matter on Parliament Hill.
The Conservative government's performance, including its call for a 20 per cent emissions reduction by 2020, has not impressed activists.
"We also need Canadians to be taking the steps in their own lives that they possibly can," said Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. "It's not easy when all the signals are going in the wrong direction."
It's a point well taken by the environment movement - even if public will exists, fiscal and social infrastructure is sorely lacking.
"The whole ability to adopt a conserver lifestyle depends on having that support structure there," said Winter. "In Toronto, we have it in spades now and it's beginning to spread."
IS NEW SOCIAL CLIMATE NEEDED FOR GREEN LIVING?
Eco-crusade gaining momentum, but rules, infrastructure lacking
Gregory Bonnell
The Canadian Press
It was the year of living environmentally, or at least being implored to go clean and green as politicians of all stripes took up the global-warming cause in the wake of Al Gore's climate-change crusade.
Amid messages of new technologies and altering lifestyles, Canadians looking to make a change in 2008 should take heart that it doesn't all have to be sacrifice.
Experts say an environmentally friendly lifestyle can mean not only lower household bills but also improved mental and physical health when forgoing the automobile.
Still, just how many people are willing to move beyond lip service is a pressing question.
"You have polls where people say, 'Yes, we're willing to pay more to be green.' I think this is a premise that has yet to be fully tested," said Clifford Maynes, executive director of Green Communities Canada.
Buying organic food, installing high-efficiency furnaces or going hybrid for the next vehicle purchase are all options that mean spending more than one would if they stuck with the status quo.
Ali Squire, 63, said she tries to live as green as possible, which has meant buying more expensive organic foods - something that wasn't always an option when her children were still at home.
Squire, who lives on her own in Advocate Harbour, N.S., buys organic, grows her own vegetables, reuses and recycles.
"Between myself and sharing other people's gardens ... in the summer, very much so, you really notice the different in the grocery bill," said Squire.
When recycling came to her tiny community several years ago, Squire said her efforts were buoyed. But the lack of public transportation in the area means she needs a car to get to work, which she says she feels guilty about.
The goal, said Chris Winter of the Conservation Council of Ontario, "is not to become perfect, just to become better."
The Toronto resident is launching a website, www.weconserve.ca, that asks Canadians to assess how green they're living and set a green resolution for 2008.
Winter, a married father of two young children who doesn't own a car, said nothing about his lifestyle leaves him wanting.
In the political realm, climate change went from a non-existent issue in the 2006 federal election campaign to seemingly the most pressing matter on Parliament Hill.
The Conservative government's performance, including its call for a 20 per cent emissions reduction by 2020, has not impressed activists.
"We also need Canadians to be taking the steps in their own lives that they possibly can," said Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. "It's not easy when all the signals are going in the wrong direction."
It's a point well taken by the environment movement - even if public will exists, fiscal and social infrastructure is sorely lacking.
"The whole ability to adopt a conserver lifestyle depends on having that support structure there," said Winter. "In Toronto, we have it in spades now and it's beginning to spread."
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Looking for a green event to participate in? Then check the calendar on ZeroFootPrint: http://www.zerofootprint.net/events . Events for November 10th, 2007, are listed below as an example of the worldwide listings.
2007-11-10
Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art
Greencastle, Indiana, United States
Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art explores how this design philosophy resonates with an emerging generation of international artists who combine a fresh aesthetic sensibility with a constructively critical approach to the production, dissemination, and display of art.
Organizer: Richard E. Peeler Art Center at DePauw University
Venue: Richard E. Peeler Art Center at DePauw University
2007-11-10
Wind Power Systems
Machynlleth, Powys, United Kingdom
This course is suitable for those interested in buying and installing an aerogenerator as well as for those with a general interest in the subject.
Organizer: Centre for Alternative Technology
Venue: Centre for Alternative Technology
2007-11-10
Les Respirations
Enghien-les-Bains, France
Speakers will debate around the theme of air quality, both indoor and outdoor at this event.
2007-11-10
Landscape Functions and People: Applying Strategic Planning Approaches for Good Natural Resource Governance
Bangkok, Thailand
The course offers participants an opportunity to familiarise themselves with current practices for landscape-level planning approaches.
Organizer: Wageningen International and Recoft
2007-11-10
PV Design Online
United States
This course is for the person who is interested in learning how to produce their own electricity from the sun.
Organizer: Solar Energy International
Venue: Online
2007-11-10
Forty-third Session of the International Tropical Timber Council and Associated Sessions of the Committees
Yokohama, Japan
Come and join the Forty-third Session of the International Tropical Timber Council and Associated Sessions of the Committees.
Organizer: International Tropical Timber Organization
2007-11-10
Advanced PV Online
United States
This course is designed to follow the PV Design & Installation workshop or the PV Design Online course with the next level of design criteria and maintenance issues.
Organizer: Solar Energy International
Venue: Online
2007-11-10
Celebrating Women & the Spirit of the Cranes
Delta, British Columbia, Canada
Nominate a women who represents the qualities associated with women and cranes-industriousness, loyalty, longevity, good fortune and gifted in handiwork. Nominations open in the Arts, Business, Community Spirit, Education, Science & Technology, and Fledgling Chick (women 30 or younger).
Organizer: Burns Bog Conservation Society
2007-11-10
Third International Conference on Rural Development
Kaunas City, Lithuania
Third international scientific conference on RURAL DEVELOPMENT 2007 This Conference is dedicated to the presentation of results in research of economical, managerial, social,technological, ecological, environmental aspects.
Organizer: Lithuanian University of Agriculture
2007-11-10
Ecomondo 2007
Rimini, Italy
Ecomondo has strengthened the original project - Ricicla - by in-depth coverage of the numerous issues linked with the concept of ‘environmental sustainability'.
Organizer: RiminiFiera
Venue: Expo Centre
2007-11-10
Euromoney and Ernst & Young Global Renewable Energy Awards
London, England
Now in its fourth year, the awards were established to recognise the projects, companies and individuals who contributed the most to take the industry forward and demonstrated best practice in renewable energy finance and development.
Organizer: Euromoney Energy Events
Venue: Riverbank Plaza
2007-11-10
San Francisco Green Festival
San Francisco, California, United States
What will you find at the Green Festival? Tasty food, great music, and 300 green businesses as well as films, workshops, yoga and other types of movement classes.
Organizer: Global Exchange and Co-op America
Venue: San Francisco Concourse Exhibition Center
2007-11-10
Sustainable Innovation Summit
Glendale, Arizona, United States
The Thunderbird Sustainable Innovation Summit is pleased to host global thought leaders from academia, Fortune 500 companies, and sustainable development organizations to shape the future of sustainable innovation.
Organizer: Thunderbird School of Global Management
2007-11-10
Califia Sketchbook Design Competition
United States
The purpose of developing the Califia Sketchbook Design Competition is to express to a wide variety of people what life will be like in Califia, a proposed next generation eco-city.
Organizer: Green Century Institute
2007-11-10
Off-Grid Systems for Professionals
Hopland, California, United States
This two-day advanced class in off-grid PV covers the complex world of hybrid power systems, which integrate multiple energy sources (PV, wind power, small hydro, and generators) to satisfy the electrical demand of off-grid sites.
Organizer: Solar Living Institute
Venue: Solar Living Center
2007-11-10
Black Creek Pioneer Village is Open
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Activities and events take place all year long at the historic village.
Organizer: Black Creek Pioneer Village
Venue: Black Creek Pioneer Village
2007-11-10
University District Farmers Market
Seattle, Washington, United States
The University District Farmers Market is Seattle's oldest and largest "farmers-only" neighborhood market. Founded in 1993, this Saturday market offers a place for more than 50 Washington State farmers to sell their fresh produce and quality products each week.
Organizer: Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance
Venue: University District Farmers Market
2007-11-10
HomeStreet Bank Tree Challenge
Puget Sound, WA, US
The HomeStreet Bank Tree Challenge is a program to plant trees in the Puget Sound region.
Organizer: HomeStreet Bank, Cascade Land Conservancy, Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, Capitol Land Trust and Friends of the Hylebos
2007-11-10
Launch of Kerr Village Organic Farmer's Market
Oakville, ON, CA
Launch of new Oakville market! An open-air market featuring fresh in-season produce from sustainable farms, all within 150 km, prepared artisanal meats, & cheeses,holitics, arts & crafts, speakers and info tables on sustainable living, food preparation, preservation & nutrition, social issues and plety of children's activities.
Organizer: Canadian Organic Growers, Slow Food Canada
Venue: Kerr Village Organic Farmer's Market
2007-11-10
Laughter Gone Wild!
Banff, Alberta, Canada
Laughter Gone Wild! is Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative's signature comedy night.
Organizer: Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative
Venue: Eric Harvie Theatre and Banff Centre
2007-11-10
Whole Village Ecovillage Workbee
Caledon, Ontario, Canada
Work Bees are held monthly. All members, friends, guests and anyone interested in spending a day doing a variety of hands on work with genial forks in a gorgeous country setting are welcome to attend.
Organizer: Whole Village
Venue: Whole Village
2007-11-10
Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art
Greencastle, Indiana, United States
Beyond Green: Toward a Sustainable Art explores how this design philosophy resonates with an emerging generation of international artists who combine a fresh aesthetic sensibility with a constructively critical approach to the production, dissemination, and display of art.
Organizer: Richard E. Peeler Art Center at DePauw University
Venue: Richard E. Peeler Art Center at DePauw University
2007-11-10
Wind Power Systems
Machynlleth, Powys, United Kingdom
This course is suitable for those interested in buying and installing an aerogenerator as well as for those with a general interest in the subject.
Organizer: Centre for Alternative Technology
Venue: Centre for Alternative Technology
2007-11-10
Les Respirations
Enghien-les-Bains, France
Speakers will debate around the theme of air quality, both indoor and outdoor at this event.
2007-11-10
Landscape Functions and People: Applying Strategic Planning Approaches for Good Natural Resource Governance
Bangkok, Thailand
The course offers participants an opportunity to familiarise themselves with current practices for landscape-level planning approaches.
Organizer: Wageningen International and Recoft
2007-11-10
PV Design Online
United States
This course is for the person who is interested in learning how to produce their own electricity from the sun.
Organizer: Solar Energy International
Venue: Online
2007-11-10
Forty-third Session of the International Tropical Timber Council and Associated Sessions of the Committees
Yokohama, Japan
Come and join the Forty-third Session of the International Tropical Timber Council and Associated Sessions of the Committees.
Organizer: International Tropical Timber Organization
2007-11-10
Advanced PV Online
United States
This course is designed to follow the PV Design & Installation workshop or the PV Design Online course with the next level of design criteria and maintenance issues.
Organizer: Solar Energy International
Venue: Online
2007-11-10
Celebrating Women & the Spirit of the Cranes
Delta, British Columbia, Canada
Nominate a women who represents the qualities associated with women and cranes-industriousness, loyalty, longevity, good fortune and gifted in handiwork. Nominations open in the Arts, Business, Community Spirit, Education, Science & Technology, and Fledgling Chick (women 30 or younger).
Organizer: Burns Bog Conservation Society
2007-11-10
Third International Conference on Rural Development
Kaunas City, Lithuania
Third international scientific conference on RURAL DEVELOPMENT 2007 This Conference is dedicated to the presentation of results in research of economical, managerial, social,technological, ecological, environmental aspects.
Organizer: Lithuanian University of Agriculture
2007-11-10
Ecomondo 2007
Rimini, Italy
Ecomondo has strengthened the original project - Ricicla - by in-depth coverage of the numerous issues linked with the concept of ‘environmental sustainability'.
Organizer: RiminiFiera
Venue: Expo Centre
2007-11-10
Euromoney and Ernst & Young Global Renewable Energy Awards
London, England
Now in its fourth year, the awards were established to recognise the projects, companies and individuals who contributed the most to take the industry forward and demonstrated best practice in renewable energy finance and development.
Organizer: Euromoney Energy Events
Venue: Riverbank Plaza
2007-11-10
San Francisco Green Festival
San Francisco, California, United States
What will you find at the Green Festival? Tasty food, great music, and 300 green businesses as well as films, workshops, yoga and other types of movement classes.
Organizer: Global Exchange and Co-op America
Venue: San Francisco Concourse Exhibition Center
2007-11-10
Sustainable Innovation Summit
Glendale, Arizona, United States
The Thunderbird Sustainable Innovation Summit is pleased to host global thought leaders from academia, Fortune 500 companies, and sustainable development organizations to shape the future of sustainable innovation.
Organizer: Thunderbird School of Global Management
2007-11-10
Califia Sketchbook Design Competition
United States
The purpose of developing the Califia Sketchbook Design Competition is to express to a wide variety of people what life will be like in Califia, a proposed next generation eco-city.
Organizer: Green Century Institute
2007-11-10
Off-Grid Systems for Professionals
Hopland, California, United States
This two-day advanced class in off-grid PV covers the complex world of hybrid power systems, which integrate multiple energy sources (PV, wind power, small hydro, and generators) to satisfy the electrical demand of off-grid sites.
Organizer: Solar Living Institute
Venue: Solar Living Center
2007-11-10
Black Creek Pioneer Village is Open
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Activities and events take place all year long at the historic village.
Organizer: Black Creek Pioneer Village
Venue: Black Creek Pioneer Village
2007-11-10
University District Farmers Market
Seattle, Washington, United States
The University District Farmers Market is Seattle's oldest and largest "farmers-only" neighborhood market. Founded in 1993, this Saturday market offers a place for more than 50 Washington State farmers to sell their fresh produce and quality products each week.
Organizer: Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance
Venue: University District Farmers Market
2007-11-10
HomeStreet Bank Tree Challenge
Puget Sound, WA, US
The HomeStreet Bank Tree Challenge is a program to plant trees in the Puget Sound region.
Organizer: HomeStreet Bank, Cascade Land Conservancy, Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, Capitol Land Trust and Friends of the Hylebos
2007-11-10
Launch of Kerr Village Organic Farmer's Market
Oakville, ON, CA
Launch of new Oakville market! An open-air market featuring fresh in-season produce from sustainable farms, all within 150 km, prepared artisanal meats, & cheeses,holitics, arts & crafts, speakers and info tables on sustainable living, food preparation, preservation & nutrition, social issues and plety of children's activities.
Organizer: Canadian Organic Growers, Slow Food Canada
Venue: Kerr Village Organic Farmer's Market
2007-11-10
Laughter Gone Wild!
Banff, Alberta, Canada
Laughter Gone Wild! is Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative's signature comedy night.
Organizer: Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative
Venue: Eric Harvie Theatre and Banff Centre
2007-11-10
Whole Village Ecovillage Workbee
Caledon, Ontario, Canada
Work Bees are held monthly. All members, friends, guests and anyone interested in spending a day doing a variety of hands on work with genial forks in a gorgeous country setting are welcome to attend.
Organizer: Whole Village
Venue: Whole Village
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