.:the be sustainable weblog:.

Strawberries and Asparagus… how to kick off your own summer harvest celebration

wiseman — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:02:36 +0000

June 20th , 2009 marks the date of this year’s Strawberries and Asparagus Festival in Cedarvale Park in Toronto. The event which has run for a number of years (having been re dubbed S&A 2 years back) brings together Toronto residents to celebrate the first harvests of the season and to learn/share/talk green/gardening/food and more.

After attending the festival for the past few years (even after moving away form Toronto) we have made the decision this year to not make the trip. Instead of renting the car and carbon… we have decided to spin off our own homegrown version of Strawberries and Asparagus here in Owen Sound Ontario. When I mentioned to Chris Chopik of Evolution Green that we would rather start our own festival than travel to his this June it took about a third of a second to agree it was the right thing to do.

In the following interview/conversation Chris and I discuss the details of the Cedarvale Park event and I get some practical background and organizational details needed to make our own festival a success. If others are interested in holding a Strawberries and Asparagus of their own this audio should serve as good place to get started and as Chris mentions… we should likely get around to publishing some guidelines and resources to see if we can’t get a few more community festivals to bloom next spring!

Download audio file (strawberries_and_asparagus.mp3)

A quick video post from the Toronto Green Living Show

wiseman — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:51:55 +0000

Here is one of many audio and video intereview we conducted this past weekend at the Green Living Show in Toronto. Chris Chopik of Evolution Green speaks with Martin Liefhebber of Breathe Architects (heads up …there is an autoplay audio track on the site!) about sustainable design, the future of building and the insane way we as a society live many aspects of our lives.

We will rerelease this video shorlty (when we find a little more editing time…)

Green Energy, Living and Realty

wiseman — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:45:46 +0000

The Sounds Sustainable podcast caught up again recently with Chris Chopik for a discussion of the Green Energy Act, the upcoming Green Living show and more. Chris is a Toronto Realtor with a focus on green buildings and home energy use and instructor with the Toronto Real Estate Board. Much of what Chris is up to can be followed at EvolutionGreen.com

Sounds Sustainable Podcast - Green Energy Act, Green Living show and Green Realtor Chris Chopik (right click, save as to download)
Download audio file (triple_green_ssp_09_01.mp3)

Additional Info:

The Toronto Green Living Show

The Green Energy Act

The Green Toronto Awards

A bit of Green from IT360

wiseman — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:22:19 +0000

The Sounds Sustainable podcast had the opportunity to drop by the IT360 conference a couple of weeks back to check out what’s new in GreenIT.

The Conference…

“IT360° Conference & Expo 2008 is an interactive experience for IT professionals and business executives. Faced with the challenge of shrinking budgets and limited time to test or evaluate, IT360° provides a conference of 80+ educational sessions and an informative exposition where professionals can compare applications and solutions while learning first-hand from leading companies and their experts in this immersive arena.”

Green IT…

The conference this year took a good look at what is happening in the GreenIT space

“New this year, the IT Green Feature spotlights green or sustainable information systems and technology programs throughout the industry. An IT Green seminar series will be offered at the conference, and vendors will display green initiatives on the trade show floor. Among the topics addressed at IT360° will be energy efficiencies in servers and data centres, green business leadership, hazardous material reduction, and environmentally responsible IT asset disposal.”

While in attendance we managed to record a couple of sessions to share with you from the GreenIt content stream.

Recycling Council of Ontario addresses electronic and electrical wastes

You can download the file here (right-click save as) or use the player below. Run time is 11min:30sec

Download audio file (IT360_RCO.mp3)

Aron Hayes

You can download the file here (right-click save as) or use the player below. Run time is 36min:30sec

Download audio file (IT360_Aaron_Hay.mp3)