News & Events

Thanks to everyone who made it out for our event at the Branch on August 8th. It was a great evening with lost of great feedback and discussion!

For everyone interested in the film itself, as well as the various water related issues raised we have included some resources and links below:

We look forward to seeing you all at our next event. Stay tuned for details!

Planeat is an independently produced British documentary that is educational, entertaining and empowering.  It tells the story of a group of leading, international scientists, doctors and professors, who have spent their lives trying to find the best way for people to eat to improve their health & athletic performance. They have discovered an empowering solution that is changing lives.  Applying the same principles that will improve our health can also dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions & provide more food for the planet.  Chefs from around the world share their delicious discoveries for producing & preparing the food, which the scientists and doctors featured in Planeat say, we should be eating more of daily.

The message of Planeat is so powerful that it was screened in Parliament in London, England as requested by Willie Bain, Shadow Minister of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, to an audience of Members of Parliament, industry peers and NGOs with an interest in sustainable food policy.  A panel discussion followed with Head of One Planet Food Mark Driscoll, Tom MacMillan of The Food Ethics Council and Dr. Mark Sutton, lead author of the recent European Nitrogen Assessment, which concluded with plans to begin the effort behind asking government for a change in UK food.

View the trailer at:  www.DonnalynMurphy.com/planeat or http://planeat.tv/watch-the-trailer .

Brought to you by Body & Soul Health Coaching & Donnalyn Murphy, the only Canadian licensed to host screenings of Planeat.

The Giving Garden would like to extend an invitation for Saturday, June 4th at 9:30 am to plant vegetables. Coffee and doughnuts and a lot of goodwill will be available. Hope to see you there! For more information about the Giving Garden please visit http://www.givinggarden.ca.

The Bishop’s Mills Community Association is partnering with RainBarrel.ca to organize a rain barrel fundraiser. The price is $50 per barrel, $10 of which will go to support the BMCA. Orders are now being taken for a Saturday, June 4th, 2011 pickup date between 10 AM and 1 PM at the Bishop’s Mills Community Hall.The same barrel sells for $119.99 and $149.99 at local retail stores. contact: Victor Desroches at 613-258-2115.

The Kemptville Kinsmen Farmer’s Market will be open for the 2011 season starting May 29th. The Market will run every Sunday from 2 to 4 pm until Thanksgiving. As part of the Dandelion Festival on opening day the hours will be extended to 11 am to 4 pm, and stalls will be set up along Clothier Street. Enjoy fresh, locally grown and produced items all season long!

Click here for more information about the Market go to http://www.kemptvillefarmersmarket.ca/

It is once again time to celebrate local art, music & culture at the Dandelion Festival—May 27th to 29th. Have fun with the entire family while supporting your community!

Sustainable North Grenville will be joining other groups, vendors and artists that will be lining the streets of Old Town Kemptville on Saturday and Sunday. We look forward to seeing you at our booth!

For more information about the Dandelion Festival please visit http://www.thedandelionfestival.ca

*Sustainable North Grenville is always looking for volunteers. If you are interested in helping out during the festival or at other future events please contact us at info@sustainablenorthgrenville.ca

Simple actions..BIG impact! For the second year, local resident Clare Weissflog approached North Grenville elementary schools for Earth Day 2011 to get students to think about actions they could do to improve the health of our planet. Her assignment was to get them to draw a picture of their promise to the planet.

Ideas to get the kids thinking include:

• Use a reusable drinking bottle
• Support local farmers by buying local produce and products
• Start a vegetable garden
• Turn off lights, computers and games when not in use
• Take the 3-Minute Shower challenge and use less water
• Hang wet laundry outdoors to dry in the wind and sun
• Save trees: use both sides of your paper.

*Update:

Click here to view the winning posters from Earth Day 2011.

Sustainable North Grenville would like to thank all of the businesses, organizations, volunteers, and community members who participated in North Grenville’s Sustainability Festival on April 17th 2011.  Over 320 people attended the event. Each year has shown a significant increase in attendance by members of the North Grenville community and also from members of neighbouring municipalities.

Visitors were able to enjoy concession-style, local food from Kemptville’s organic restaurant the branch, purchase bread and early vegetables from the Kemptville Kinsmen’s Farmer’s Market, and talk to a variety of community organizations about their initiatives such as natural history and ecological monitoring, gardening, transportation, water conservation and well protection. Local businesses had products and information about energy alternatives and reducing energy consumption, green household cleaning, re-usable moving equipment, and decorative art made of re-used glass and organic material.

For those wanting to reduce their household waste, there were vermi-composting kits and information about waste reduction and diversion from the NG Waste Committee. Local trail organizations offered maps and a range of botanical and geographical pointers for trail walking in and around the community. The Dandelion Festival had information about its upcoming arts and culture event scheduled for May 27^th – May 29th (http://www.northgrenville.on.ca/dandelion.cfm). Outside the Municipal centre, the Kemptville Youth Centre had organized an electronics drop off.

Families also had a chance to have some fun button-making, painting a mural, listening to music, and learning about the Arctic, traditional knowledge, and how local communities – whether far off or here in North Grenville – monitor their communities and take action on the effects of climate change.

Sustainable North Grenville would like to thank the sponsors of the event, Eco-Gen Energy and TD Graham & Associates. We would like to thank the Municipality of North Grenville, Community Living, North Grenville District High School, St Michael Catholic High School, R&B Heating and the NG Waste Committee for advertising the event and the EMC, the Advance, the Record News and the Community Newsletter for photographs and articles. To those who generously volunteered their time by putting up signs, helping with kid’s activities, playing music, helping to set up and take down tables, photographing the event, and welcoming visitors, a very grateful thank you, and to the vendors and organizations that attended the Festival – thank you for your community spirit and sustainable actions.

Congratulations to the 2011 “Promise the Planet” prize-winners, whose posters were on display at the fair. 1st Abigaile Gagnon (Holy Cross); 2nd Alexandra R-L (K.P.S.); 3rd Kendra Beanish (K.P.S.); 4th Natasha Gill (K.P.S.); 5^th Alysha W. (K.P.S.); Honourable Mentions, Alena Abbott and Ireland (K.P.S.) and Tatiana Weissflog (Holy Cross). Many thanks to Pioneer Nursery, To be Continued and The Canadian Museum of Nature for their fantastic prize donations and to EcoGen Energy Inc. for their sponsorship of the remaining prizes. Thanks also to Geronimo and Home Hardware for their door prize donations.

Finally, many thanks to members of the North Grenville community who attended the North Grenville Sustainability Festival out of interest – we are green and growing!

The next event hosted by Sustainable North Grenville will be an Evening Exchange: Home Energy Savings – Energy Conservation, Efficiency & Renewable Energy on Monday, May 16th from 7:00-9:00 pm @ the branch (Kemptville). This is a FREE event.  Please see www.sustainablenorthgrenville for more details.