Sustaining Our World - update

Here's an update on the details for the Sustaining Our World event coming up on October 27th!

For the Sustainability Fair in Gym D from 12-5pm, we have a great variety of people and organizations working towards sustainable solutions to come and share their efforts for our community, so come on down and see all the good happening in our world already!

Join us for hands on activities including a "Beat the Geek" gaming challenge with our friends from Free Geek, a creative recycling craft zone, marimba music fun, map out the green potential of our neighbourhood and enjoy workshops with the Urban Weavers and the Strathcona Green Zone.

If you and your friends or family enjoy a fun challenge, be sure to sign up for the 2nd Annual Britannia Race to Zero Waste which will have teams finding clues and working through activities together as they explore teh positive green world in our neighbourhood!

We'll end the day with a screening of the movie the Clean Bin Project from 7-9pm in the Britannia Secondary Auditorium. This film follows the ultimate zero waste challenge this community has ever seen and is bound to inspire you!

Any money raised from race registrations and donations for the film screening will be used for new green initiatives here at Britannia!

Stay tuned for more details on the event which we will post here as we get closer to the day, and we hope to see you there! :)

Please contact Kathy Whittam if you have any questions or feedback for this event at kathy.whittam@vancouver.ca

the Britannia Race to Zero Waste

The 2nd Annual Britannia Race to Zero Waste is shaping up to be a whole lot of fun for teams ready to race this year!

The race will begin at 2pm and will take approx one hour to complete. From the first challenge that will get you going, and clues that will take you the rest of the way, teams will get to experience adventure and a nice variety of green intitatives in and around our community. There are many opportunities to collect bonus points along the way and the team with the most points at the end of the race wins!!

Extra bonus points will be given to teams that come out for the race with some funky green attire to show their green team spirit (ie Team Gangreen came out for alst years race with great green capes decorated with the mobius loop!), and more bonus points for the group that shares the best green team cheer at the finish line!

"We're keen, we're green, and we leave the world clean!"

The route has been planned, the clues are ready and the challenges are set to go! Think you have a team of green keeners that can complete this amazing race with you?

Sign up now!!

Teams can be 2-3 adults/youth, or up to 4 people if one or more members are under 13yrs old.
(ie we had a team with 2 kids and 2 adults last year)

Cost per team is $20, and only the team captain needs to register.

Here's how:
Register with your online account at
http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/britannia-recreation-programs.aspxsearch for activity "65612.411BR"

or by phone at 604-718-5800(2)

or in person at Britannia either at the Info Centre or Pool cashier.
(if you would like to make a donation to register under $20, this must be paid in person)

Any questions? Please contact Kathy for more info: kathy.whittam@vancouver.ca or 604-718-5860

The Urban Weavers at Sustaining Our World!

The Urban Weavers will be leading free workshops between 1-4 as part of Sustaining Our World Festival! Here are some details for you:

* Joy and Todd will be teaching weaving spiders using English ivy with community - drop-in style so join in the fun anytime!

* Martin will be demonstrating processing flax into linen fibre and making natural dyes from park board green waste

* Sharon Kallis will lead a free (by registration) workshop on costume and disguise “Alternative green costumes”- registration open now: https://pbregister.vancouver.ca/safari_activitydetail.htm?activity_id=453397
An introduction to materials and techniques, Learn some basics and get inspired. Leave with a costume piece well underway and the knowledge to finish the project. Focusing on head, neck or shoulder adornment, there will be a group brainstorm on simple costumes. Supplies and tools included, bring along organic materials you would like to include. Ages 16 and up, limited spots.

Sustaining Our World 2013

The Britannia Green Team is hosting a Sustaining Our World event to wrap up Waste Reduction Week with a Sustainability Fair, a Race to Zero Waste, and a film screening on Sunday October 27th.

For the Sustainability Fair in Gym D from 12-5pm, we have invited people and organizations working towards sustainable solutions to come and share their efforts for our community, so come on down and see all the good happening in our world already!

Join us for hands on activities including a recycling craft zone, marimba music fun and workshops with the Urban Weavers and the Strathcona Green Zone.

If you and your friends or family enjoy a fun challenge, be sure to sign up for the 2nd Annual Britannia Race to Zero Waste which will have teams finding clues and working through activities together as they explore positive green initiatives in our neighbourhood!

We'll end the day with a screening of the movie Clean Bin Project from 7-9pm. This film follows the ultimate zero waste challenge this community has ever seen and is bound to inspire you!

Stay tuned for more details on the event which we will post here as we go, as well as registration information for the race, and we hope to see you there! :)

Please contact Kathy Whittam if you have any questions or feedback for this event at kathy.whittam@vancouver.ca

The Garbage Patch

Do you know where a bunch of plastic garbage ends up? Floating in the Pacific Ocean!

Here's a quick video that summarizes where it is, how it gets there, and why this is a very big problem.

Great Pacific Garbage Patch from Project GreenBag on Vimeo.

Visit www.greatgarbagepatch.org to learn more.

Recycle a bottle, flash mob style

Here's a way to make everyone feel good about putting garbage & recycling in its place - imagine a crowd cheering you on!



People who pick up after others deserve applause daily :)

Sustaining Our World - Final Update

We are ready for a wonder-full day tomorrow for the Sustaining Our World event! We predict a nice break from the rain between the hours of 12-5 pm over Britannia Community Centre and the surrounding area for every one keen to get out and celebrate all things green with us! :)

Our Sustainability Fair will be held in the cafeteria of the Britannia Secondary school, and the entrance is right off the oval track & field. Here you can:
* enjoy some Sustainability shorts - a random sampling of amazing short videos to inform and inspire
* make seed bombs to spread new growth around your community
* create something beautiful from recycled materials
* help us map out the best green places in the neighbourhood
* chat with great people from Free Geek and BC Hydro
* support the Britannia Secondary Environment Club by bringing down your bottles, cans, cell
   phones, Ipods or mp3 players to contribute to their drives


Registration for the Britannia Race to Zero Waste will finish at 12:30pm so we can be prepared for the race to begin at 1pm. Teams can be 2-3 adults/youth and up to 4 members if 2 are under 12 yrs old. Recommended donation for the race is $20/team.

For teams who are not pre-registered, to be able to earn the most bonus points it will be helpful if you have a camera (or phone with camera capability). Prizes are for the teams who
* win the race with the fastest time
* earn the most bonus points
* show the most keen-to-be-green team spirit!! : )

See posts below for other information, or better yet just come on down and join us as we highlight all that is good and bright green in our community!

Sustaining Our World - The Sustainability Fair

This weekend is fast approaching and it's time to share some more details on the Sustaining Our World event to be held on Sunday Oct 21st.

A family fun Bike Parade will begin at Grandview Park with a decorating station set up with Kickstand for those who want to get festive with their bikes. The parade will end at the Britannia Secondary School Cafeteria.

Between 12:00 - 5:00 pm the cafeteria will be home to our Sustainability Fair which will feature a few green groups willing to share inspiration on ways we can save power, consume less and reduce our waste.

We will have a viewing area for people who are interested in watching short clips on sustainability issues, and an area for creative people to have fun making art with an array of recycled materials.


Please come on down and support the Environmental Club from Britannia Secondary by bringing along your refundable bottles & cans for their Bottle Drive with Return It!





The students will also be collecting used cell phones for the Recycle My Cell Challenge, and another drive for Ipods and mp3 players. Don't let those small unused techno gadgets clutter your drawers anymore!


Our event will also be solar powered with thanks to a portable power pack from the Vancouver Renewable Energy Cooperative!

A space for fun, learning, supporting students from your community and getting rid of your stuff - who could ask for more?

Well, the Sustaining Our World event does have another way to participate for those who are really green keeners - the Britannia Race to Zero Waste! Details on the race and what registered teams need to know are coming up next.

Waste Reduction Week

The upcoming Sustaining Our World and Britannia Race to Zero Waste events on October 21st are a wonderful way to wrap up Waste Reducation Week in Canada which runs from October 15- 21st!

Visit www.wrwcanada.com for resources and events from across the country if you are keen to reduce waste like we are!

Download your own copy of Atlas (below) and encourage everyone in your work site and community to help ease his load...his back is getting tired after shouldering the burden of our world for so long. ;)

Celebrating our super staff

My favourite thing about Britannia is how quickly amazing things happen when everyone believes in it. Last week was a perfect example when a handful of people from a few areas pulled together an amazing idea in just over a week. The outcome was a staff appreciation event with a harvest theme and a whole lot of awesomeness.

Why is this noteworthy for the Green Team blog? Because it was a successful Zero Waste event! Everything but a couple of drinks (that were offered in recyclable containers) was compostable!

Yummy chili served in compostable bowls with compostable spoons. Fair trade hot chocolate served in compostable cups. Corn on the cob, scrumptious corn bread, and napkins.

No garbage - hooray!

And it is always a bonus to have some great live music for listening pleasure while hanging out with good people and good food.  : )

random recycling we do

In the spring I took a walk around to talk staff in all the areas of the complex and find out what was happening with our recycling for starters.

Here are some photos of some of the random recycling we have around our centre. Aside from the paper recycling bins, the majority of recyclable stuff saved from the trash has been going home with staff as it is not picked up by the City here on site.

The Preteen Centre

The Skating Rink

 In the lane

Hastings Education Centre

The library has an all-star team who not only minimize the waste in their area, they compete on who is reducing their waste the most at home! That's the kind of green team spirit we love!!

Pool

Info Centre

For us to improve on all this we need some new containers to keep things organized, and for staff to do their part in making sure things are put in the right containers. Cross contamination and pest problems (like ants!) are easily mitigated by taking amoment to think about what you are putting where and making sure food and drink containers are rinsed. None of us need to be green police keeping a watchful eye on each other if we all take responsibility for what we put in the containers ourselves!

The City of Vancouver is working on transitioning 30 libraries and community centres into Zero Waste zones very soon, and one day Britannia and all the other public sites will be set up too. For now we are implementing things on a trial basis so we can see how much work this actually creates as well as make the transistion easier when its time for us to join in.

Busch Systems is the company that the City has chosen to purchase these waste reduction zone bins from, and they have created a little video to showcase the ease of their systems.

Before we order our bins and get things going, I've been making my way around to all of the various areas of our centre to make sure each area will get what it needs, and looking into various means of pick up for the waste reduction streams to travel off site. I will post more when the system is ready to roll!

One thing the Green Team would love to hear some comments on is how we should deal with bottles and cans?  Currently we have an informal economy of recyclables like these just being left outside for binners to collect as they pass through. (Gone in no time) This is efficient and fulfills a need in our community...so do we bother trying to implement bins and recycle pick up for them?
The students also set up collection programs to make money in the school year, but sometimes this leads to bags of cans accumulating and leaving sweet trails for ants to follow and no one wanting to take responsibility for them while students are out of school...so should we put all of our cans outside for the binners instead?
Don't bottle up those feelings on cans! Please share your thoughts in the comments!