Power Up! Rally, Saturday 4 November 2023 at Carl Zehr Square, Kitchener

What: Power Up! Rally
When: 1:00pm on Saturday, 4 November 2023
Where: Carl Zehr Square, Kitchener City Hall
Location: 200 King Street West, Kitchener Map

You and your family are invited to the Power Up! Rally where we’ll bring clarity not only to the anticipated near to medium term impacts and implications of climate change on Southwestern Ontario, but also explore the progress being made on Waterloo Region’s Transform WR Plan (to achieve 50% reduction of fossil fuel use in the Region by 2030). In addition, there will be brief presentations by experts in solar power,heat pumps and geothermal projects to highlight clean energy options, and a local federal Member of Parliament about federal initiatives and programming. The Rally will end with ‘what WE can do NOW’ presentations by a variety of local activists and experts.

This Rally is being organized by 350 (left-pointing arrow to the left of numbers 350, white on a blue background)350.org in partnership with 50×30, Council of Canadians, Citizens’ Climate Lobby, and Faith Climate Justice. We hope you’ll encourage your children and grandchildren to have fun creating signs, solar panels and heat pumps out of craft materials that they could bring and showcase. Also, please feel free to share this invitation and the graphic below widely through your personal and professional networks. The impacts of climate change are coming at us faster than we may have ever imagined but, together, we can work to ensure the ongoing security and quality of life of people in Waterloo Region.

Edit:
Our first Speaker is Kathryn Bakos from the Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation. She will talk about the expected climate impacts for Southern Ontario, the urgency for transition off of fossil fuels, and steps we can take to enhance energy efficiency, flood and fire protection, while saving money on energy and home insurance premiums.

A variety of speakers will highlight local or nearby climate solutions, such as West 5, which is Ontario’s first mixed-use Net Zero community, and Heather McDiarmid about the potential of Air Source Heat Pumps. We will also have Aislinn Clancy and Deb Chapman give their perspectives on local initiatives, and Mike Morrice, MP, will talk about Federal initiatives.

The rally will end with “What We Can Do Now” to support local initiatives and join local groups. One action is to sign a petition calling on the Federal Government to apply a 15% windfall profit tax on fossil fuel companies operating in Canada, and directing that revenue to support further action on climate change and improve affordability for Canadians, such as investments in public transit, retrofitting buildings and greening the electricity grid.

November 04, 2023 | Join us at Carl Zehr Square, 200 King St W at 1:00pm | Be part of a global day of action calling on our leaders to speed up the shift to renewable energy | Power Up for Climate Solutions! | Find out more at globalpowerup.org/canada

Climate Rally at Willow River Park on Saturday 16 September 2023 at 2:30pm

Join 50by30WR for the Global Rally

What: Global Climate Rally: Protect our Environment, Protect our Greenbelt
Where: Willow River Park at the Clock Tower (aka Victoria Park) Map
Website: https://www.50by30wr.ca/event-details/climate-rally-protect-our-environment-protect-our-greenbelt
RSVP: with 50by30WR; with Green Party of Canada

A coalition of environmental and climate groups will stand together for the future of our Earth.

After a summer of smoke, fires, and devastating extreme weather events worldwide we will be calling out all levels of government to pass legislation and recognize the importance of our environment, that acknowledges how interrelated health care, land development, and future jobs are, and takes action to ensure the safety of our future. The lives and livelihoods of millions are being impacted, particularly Black, Indigenous, and racialized communities in Canada and the Global South.

On September 16th, we rally, we march, and we demand change!

We will meet at the Clock Tower in Victoria Park at 2:30 pm

Speakers will start at 3:30 pm until 4:15 pm. Come and listen to climate groups, activists, and environmental advocates from Waterloo Region and surrounding.

Local groups will be at the event to share information about their efforts.

Speaker List: 3:30 pm

  • Opening – 50by30WR – Stephanie Goertz
  • Smudging & Indigenous Opening – Cheryl Baker
  • Kitchener South Green MP Mike Morrice
  • Council of Canadians – Marilyn Hay
  • 50by30WR & Ontario Climate Emergency Campaign – Barbara Schumacher
  • Faith Climate Justice – Kai Reimer-Watts
  • Kitchener Councillor and NDP MPP Candidate Debbie Chapman
  • Waterloo Region Labour Council – Ramzi Abdi
  • Kitchener Councillor and Green MPP Candidate Aislinn Clancy

…additional speakers will be added shortly…

This is a great way for you and your family/friends to get more involved in local initiatives.

Information Tables:

Canada is burning. Time to act. | Global Rally | For our Environment | For our Greenbelt | Kitchener | Sat. Sept. 16 (2023) - Victoria Park, at the Clock Tower | 2:30 - 4:30pm | Bring your Signs!! | www.50by30wr.ca | www.endfossilfuels.ca | Faith Climate Justice WR | 50% emissions reduction by 2030 (white lettering with green and red highlights on a dark gray background to look like smoke clouds, red&white image of people marching carrying signs, with an illustration of a bullhorn near the bottom of the poster)
 

Greenbelt Rally – Kitchener – 4pm on Friday 8 September 2023 at Bingemans Park

Hands Off The Greenbelt! | handsoffthegreenbelt.caEnvironmental Defence is planning a rally on Friday, 8 September 2023 at Bingemans Park in Kitchener. Doug Ford will be attending a fundraising event at 5:00pm so plan to assemble at 4:00pm

What: Greenbelt Rally
When: 4:00pm on Friday 8 September 2023
Where: Entrance to Bingemans Park
Location: Shirley Drive and Bingemans Park Drive Map
Website: https://environmentaldefence.ca/handsoffthegreenbelt/#rallies

We will meet at the entrance to Bingemans Park on Shirley Avenue.

All the unions, teachers, nurses, political parties, health coalition, and environmental groups are most welcome to come with their signs to share the local concerns.

Save Ontario’s Farms, Forests and Wetlands

Rally Against the Big Sprawl: 2pm Sat 29 July 2023 in Waterloo Park

When: 2:00pm to 4:00pm on Saturday 29 July 2023
Where: Waterloo Park
Rally Location: University Ave between Westmount and Seagram Map 1
Picnic Location: The Bandshell Map 2
Website: https://stopsprawlwr.wixsite.com/rally
Email: nvecoboosters@gmail.com

Rally Against the Big Sprawl | Saturday, July 29, 2023 | Rally 2-3pm * Picnic 3-4pm | University Ave. W., between Westmount and Seagram | Waterloo Park, Waterloo | www.50by30WR.ca * nvecoboosters@gmail.com

In the midst of our affordable housing and environmental crises, the Provincial government is removing land protection legislation to enable the construction of inefficient and expensive detached houses on precious farmland, the Greenbelt, and other natural spaces. This housing is not affordable for most people nor is it usually accessible by public transit.

Furthering the devastation of Bill 23, the Ontario government has already overridden the successful and strongly supported sustainable Waterloo Region and Hamilton Official Plans, forcing thousands of acres of additional unnecessary farmland loss. Now the province has proposed allowing every farm and rural property across Ontario three severances with up to 12 building lots and homes on each and every farm — forever devastating our agricultural system, impairing our ability to produce food, and threatening our groundwater aquifers.

The province is proposing full-throttle sprawl that undermines sustainable, transit-supportive, affordable communities. They want to cut policies requiring efficient growth and eliminate policies protecting environmentally sensitive areas and wetlands. The government even wants to delete the Provincial definition of “affordable housing.”

The facts are that municipalities already have enough land allocated to build over 2 million homes.

Focusing only on housing supply without considering affordability or sustainability will not fix the Page 1housing crisis. There is no need to force unsustainable boundary expansions, destroy irreplaceable farmland, remove environmental lands from the Greenbelt, and threaten our water supplies.

Concerned groups and representatives from community, environmental, affordable housing, climate change, and agricultural organizations are planning a community rally this coming Saturday, July 29th starting at 2pm along University Avenue West in Waterloo, followed by speakers and a picnic at the nearby Bandshell in Waterloo Park. Confirmed speakers include Waterloo NDP MPP Catherine Fife, Green Party Candidate Aislinn Clancy, NDP Candidate Debbie Chapman, National Farmers Union President Jenn Pfenning, and representatives from Hold The Line and ACORN.

Citizens are urged to join the rally on Saturday at 2pm with creative signs at the corner of University and Seagram Drive in Waterloo and submit comments to the Environmental Registry of Ontario prior to the August 4th deadline to help ensure numerous improvements to the proposed PPS — most importantly the full and complete removal of any sort of rural severances — upholding the No Rural Severances Policy that the Region of Waterloo and other municipalities have had in place for decades.

In summary, our members and groups want to ensure a future with sustainable, affordable, transit-supported development in complete communities on already approved lands within our current urban boundaries across Ontario.

More Info

Learn more about the event at Stop the Sprawl Rally or www.50by30wr.ca

About:

Grand River Environmental Network (https://www.gren.ca) is a grassroots community group that is a proactive voice for the environment in the Grand River Watershed.

The Nith Valley EcoBoosters (www.nvecoboosters.com) is a not for profit, non-partisan volunteer group committed to achieving and supporting a long-term healthy environment in Wilmot and Wellesley Townships through education, action and collaboration.

Keep the Greenbelt Promise (www.greenbeltpromise.ca) is a network of grassroots organizations working together to stop development in the Greenbelt, on farmland, and in natural areas.

Media Inquiries:

Rally in support of Wetlands and Conservation Authorities! 1pm Sat, 4 Feb 2023

Rally in support o wetlands and Conservation Authorities. | And against Bill 23, dismantling of the Greenbelt and Conservation Land sell-offs. | 1-2pm, Saturday February 4, 2023 | Dumfries Conservation Area | South-west corner of Hespeler, & Dunbar, Cambridge | Rain or shine! (black text on a light green background, a small image of a poster in the bottom left corner "Doug Ford: Keep your Greenbelt Promise greenbeltpromise.ca" and an image of a wetland along the right with the World Wetlands Day logo and wordmark in the top right corner)
Doug Ford: Keep Your Greenbelt Promise: https://greenbeltpromise.ca/

Can you spare an hour to stand up for our wetlands?

Our wetlands support us in many ways including:

• Filtering and cleaning our water,
• Preventing flooding, erosion and landslides,
• Offering trails and recreation opportunities that contribute to public well-being, and
• Supporting biodiversity by accommodating endangered and threatened species.

Now we need to stand up for them. 72% of wetlands in south-central Ontario – including swamps, marshes, bogs and fens — have already been lost. Bill 23 and other recent legislation threaten our wetlands further by:

• Treating each wetland in isolation without considering the system as a whole,
• Making protected status harder to achieve and subjecting existing protected wetlands to re-classification,
• Permitting previously prohibited development on wetlands,
• Barring Conservation Authorities from considering land conservation and pollution in their decisions, and
• Requiring Conservation Authorities to identify their lands that could be sold off for development.

This World Wetlands Day, let’s stand together in support of local wetlands and our Conservation Authorities. And against Bill 23, dismantling of the Greenbelt and Conservation Land sell-offs.

Bring a creative sign or wave one of ours.

Transit stop at Hespeler and Dunbar.
Local parking available, including on nearby Briarwood Drive.

Rain or shine!

Questions? Connect with Colleen Cooper at colleencoopwa@gmail.com

Global Strike For Climate, Noon on Friday 25 March 2022

What: Global Climate Strike: People not Profit
When: Friday, March 25th, 2022 , 12pm (~1hour)
Where: Waterloo Town Square, 75 King Street South, Waterloo Map

Global Climate Strike: People Not Profit (black letters over a globe, all on a yellow background)
https://fossilfreeuw.ca/
Join us to stand up against those who are profiting off of climate chaos. On Friday, 25 March 2022, people worldwide will be striking from school and work to demand that the climate crisis be confronted as the emergency that it is.

Rules: Please make sure that you follow local and regional COVID-19 safety protocol in your area. We recommend wearing a mask and remaining physically distanced throughout the event.

Climate Strike Waterloo Region

Fossil Free UW

Community climate evening with film and discussion, 7pm Sat 4 Dec 2021

Kitchener-Waterloo Climate Save | Climate Save Movement (words black on purple in a circle surrounding a B&W illustration of a bee on a flower with a little red heart over the bee) What can we do about climate change as a community, as leaders, and as individuals? Given the United Nations’ “Code Red for Humanity,” it’s difficult to not feel hopeless. But together we can build resilience and gain momentum to achieve our climate goals. Join us online with people from our region to discuss how climate, food, and community are interrelated.

Mark your calendar for either:
Tuesday, 30 November 2021, 7:00pm – 9:30pm; or
Saturday, 4 December 2021, 7:00pm – 9:30pm

We’ll begin by watching Eating Our Way to Extinction, a film featuring leading scientists, physicians, and academics that explores how our global food system contributes to some of the major issues of our day: climate breakdown, environmental racism, and food access inequality.

The voices from Brazil are particularly compelling in the film. One man making a living from clearing the rainforest says, “You can’t tell us what to do!” and an indigenous woman says, “We don’t consider ourselves as owning the forest, rather we are a part of nature, a part of it.”

We are pleased to have Gerard Wedderburn-Bisshop, one of the documentary’s scientists, available for Q&A. Wedderburn-Bisshop is a former Principal Scientist with Queensland Government Natural Resources in Australia, and a member of Climate CoLab at MIT’s Center for Collective Intelligence. We have invited local political leaders from Waterloo Region and Wellington County to join us in the discussion.

These events are presented by Kitchener-Waterloo Climate Save, Guelph Climate Save, and Waterloo Region Citizens’ Climate Lobby

To sign up for this free evening, please complete this Google form:

Sign Up

If you have any difficulties with the form, just write us at markham_marion@yahoo.ca.

Looking forward to seeing you online!
Mo Markham for Kitchener-Waterloo Climate Save

Photos from the #SchoolStrike4Climate on Friday, 1 March 2019 — #FridaysForFuture

On Friday, 1 March 2019 school students in Waterloo held a protest rally in front of Waterloo City Hall.

Pictures © 2019 by Tamara Lorincz, used by permission.

#Bill66 — @BobJonkmanGPC’s submission to the Environmental Registry of Ontario

Stop Bill 66 | They say it's red tape. | To us, it's precious farmland. Bill 66 was introduced in the Ontario legislature just before the Christmas holidays. The short timeframe for discussion and consultation makes me think the legislators are trying to pass it before people have a chance to understand its effects. It is an omnibus bill, affecting dozens of different pieces of Ontario laws and regulations, many items of which are hidden behind indirect references, and all of which are to be voted on en masse. Omnibus bills tend to carry deleterious clauses which would never stand on their own, but which get passed only because of some other items in the same bill that are perceived to be more beneficial than the rest of the bill is bad.

A summary of Bill 66 is at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario website, called Bill 66, Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act, 2018

Commentary on Bill 66 is plentiful:

Bob Jonkman at the podium in the Woolwich Township Council Chamber, with Councillors, the Mayor, and staff in the background
Bob Jonkman Bill 66 delegation to Woolwich Township Council Committee of The Whole, Tuesday January 8th, 2019
Many groups joined together to provide information on Bill 66, and to make a concerted effort to bring our dissatisfaction to local municipal and provincial leaders. I made two delegations to Woolwich Township Council urging them to pass a resolution to reject Bill 66 and to pledge that if passed, not to use this legislation to bypass the environmental regulations currently in place. Woolwich did pass a resolution, but stopped short of adding the pledge not to use it.

The consultation period at the Ontario Environmental Registry ended yesterday, and below are the comments I made.

Bill 66 is a direct affront to the citizens of Ontario. Doug Ford made a pledge in May 2018 that the Green Belt areas would be not be subject to development. Now that Doug Ford is Premier of the Government of Ontario, I expect that pledge to be honoured.


Bill 66 affects existing laws and regulations at many Ministries, not just the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. It detrimentally affects the protections for workers in many separate regulations, detrimentally affects the protections for children in childcare, detrimentally affects seniors and patients in long-term care, and detrimentally affects consumers protections from wireless carriers. This is not an exhaustive list.


Bill 66 detrimentally affects environmental regulations more than any other. Under Schedule 10 municipalities no longer have to follow the regulations under the Clean Water Act, Great Lakes Protection Act, Greenbelt Act, Lake Simcoe Protection Act, and the Oak Ridges Moraine Conservation Act, among many others.


Ontario and its municipalities have experienced the greatest prosperity in the last ten years, without needing to circumvent the environmental protections put in place by previous Conservative and Liberal governments. Removing these protections now will pit one municipality against another — if one municipality allows development in a protected area, it creates pollution for all the downwind and downstream neighbours, both in that municipality as well as surrouding municipalities. There will be increased infrastructure costs for those municipalities that receive the extra traffic from the development, but none of the anticipated revenue. Bill 66 is not something municipalities have asked for for, nor is it something municipalities need.


Speculators may have purchased land in the currently protected areas. Just having Bill 66 on the table has affected land values. Currently permitted uses for protected areas will become unaffordable, and the pressure on local governments to bypass environmental protections will be great. I’m happy to see many municipalities have passed resolutions rejecting Bill 66.


The citizens of Ontario are clear: Bill 66, with all its recissions of existing laws, must not be passed. I hope the elected representatives in the Legislature will fulfill their mandate and represent their constituents’ demands to reject Bill 66.

THREE climate events in Waterloo!! from @Eleanor70001

Eleanor Grant Eleanor Grant@Eleanor70001 writes:


7:00pm, Tues 8 Jan 2019 at Waterloo Square:
SOLIDARITY with BC First Nation!
Background: Gidimt’en in northern B.C. anticipating RCMP action over anti-pipeline camp (CBC)
Event: Solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en (Facebook)


12:30pm, Fri 11 Jan 2019 at Waterloo City Hall:
FRIDAYS FOR A FUTURE
Youth Climate Strike, All welcome!
Event: Fridays for Future Climate Strike: Kitchener-Waterloo (Facebook)


7:00pm, Tues 15 Jan 2019 at Kitchener City Hall:
Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner DIANNE SAXE
Background: Ontario environment watchdogs say Doug Ford just gutted a law that protects your rights (National Observer)
Event: Stewards of Our Future: Protecting What We Love (Facebook)


AND A PETITION to save the Greenbelt:
Sign to STOP BILL 66: https://ontarionature.good.do/schedule10/sign/ (Do Gooder)


Thanks All, and please forward!
Eleanor Grant