Ecology Ottawa

News Clippings

Green bins rolling out this month for Feb. 1 start of North Grenville's new organic waste program

By InsideOttawaValley, January 11, 2021

The new waste management program for the Municipality of North Grenville will begin Monday, Feb. 1. The enhanced program includes organics collection (food waste and related items), seasonal curbside pickup of leaf and yard waste, as well as large and bulky items. Recycling remains the same.

Solid waste (garbage) collection will be bi-weekly (every other week).

“As we prepare for the new waste management program, we encourage you to carefully review the Solid Waste, Recycling and Organics Collection Guide to better understand the new waste management program,” said Mayor Nancy Peckford.

https://www.insideottawavalley.com/news-story/10305276-green-bins-rolling-out-this-month-for-feb-1-start-of-north-grenville-s-new-organic-waste-program/?s=n1?source=newsletter&utm_content=a06&utm_source=ml_nl&utm_medium=email&utm_email=6CF0E4C8DFED7B7E28F22E123857E24F&utm_campaign=ovhp_91142

Ontario students call on teachers to pressure pension fund to divest from fossil fuels

By the Canadian Press, CBC News Ottawa, January 7, 2021

An environmental coalition is appealing to Ontario teachers to pressure their pension fund to divest from companies that develop or transport fossil fuel products.

In a four minute YouTube video, a group of students from across Ontario read a letter to their teachers, asking them to push the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan to stop investing their retirement savings in oil, gas, coal and pipeline companies.

The coalition — which consists of activist groups Shift Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health, Fridays for Future Toronto and a group of working and retired Ontario teachers — demands that the pension plan halt all new investments in oil and gas and phase out current investments the industry by 2025, set targets for increased investments in profitable climate solutions; and invest in infrastructure and companies that help build a zero-carbon economy.

In the video, Grade 11 student Aliya Hirji urges teachers to "step up and take action now" and "stop investing your money in climate failure."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/ontario-pension-plan-climate-1.5865316?ref=mobilerss&cmp=newsletter_CBC%20Ottawa_1643_229552

Research shows Canada needs to re-evaluate protected areas

By Bob Weber (Canadian Press), National Observer, January 5, 2021

The natural regions Canada protects don’t line up that well with where Canadians actually need them, research suggests.

A paper published Tuesday concludes that the country’s vast network of parks isn’t adequately safeguarding areas that provide fresh water and recreation to nearby populations. It also saysover half of the areas Canadians rely on for those benefits are facing mining, energy or forestry pressure.

"We need to start considering those other benefits," said Matthew Mitchell, lead author of the paper in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

The paper looks at which parts of the country are able to provide fresh water, carbon storage and recreational opportunities, and where those benefits are most needed.

A remote watershed in northern British Columbia may filter a lot of water, but it all runs into the ocean. A stream in the Alberta foothills may not hold as much, but it all flows into rivers on which millions depend.

Climate denial mixing with other disinformation, analysis shows

By Carl Meyer, National Observer, January 5, 2020

A new coalition is monitoring the overlap of climate denial with other conspiracy theories online, and one of its founders says Canada is not immune from this new “wave of disinformation.”

Michael Khoo, co-CEO of Washington-based UpShift Strategies, helped start the group that has been tracking digital conversations in the United States in anticipation of pushback against any climate legislation introduced during the first year of U.S. president-elect Joe Biden’s upcoming term in office.

“Canada’s more historically polite national environment is not going to protect it from this wave of disinformation,” Khoo said in an interview.

Climate denial is the rejection of the global scientific consensus that the planet’s climate is changing, that it is being driven mainly by the accumulation of carbon pollution in the atmosphere from humans burning coal, oil and natural gas, and that there will be severe adverse impacts on health and safety unless that pollution is slashed.

Five things to watch for at city hall in 2021

By Joanne Chianello, CBC News Ottawa, January 2, 2020

Across much of the world, governments were preoccupied in 2020 with ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the powers that be at Ottawa City Hall were no exception.

The focus on keeping COVID-19 at bay will continue well into 2021 here in the capital, as elsewhere. But the new year delivers a new arsenal in the fight: vaccines began to trickle into the city in December, with thousands of doses expected to arrive over the first three months of this year.

(...)3. Expanding the city

COVID-19 delayed the urban expansion debate that was supposed to take place in March 2020 but didn't water it down, as 100 delegations presented to city council committees that met over 28 hours.

In the end, council approved adding 1,281 hectares of rural land to the urban area, which would make that property eligible for future suburban development. As many as 23,000 homes could be built there.

(...)5. The future of the Prince of Wales Bridge

(...)Now, however, the city appears on the cusp of converting the rail bridge into a pedestrian and cycling crossing. At its budget approval meeting in December, council set aside $540,000 for design work and an environmental assessment for the pathway, which is actually more than the bridge cost the city.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/5-things-to-watch-city-hall-2021-1.5852122

Changes to work culture and lower GHGs should inform city's long-term climate change plans, enviro chair says

By Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen, December 16, 2020

Cleaner air might be a positive legacy of the COVID-19 pandemic if the city can harness the momentum from seismic changes in work culture, according to council’s environment chair.

“I think that’s what people would want,” Coun. Scott Moffatt said Tuesday after a meeting of the standing committee on environmental protection, water and waste management.

The committee received the 2019 inventories of greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted by Ottawa’s municipal government and in the larger community.

The 2020 GHG inventories, which will be calculated in 2021, could be an extreme departure from past results because of fewer cars on the road and office buildings operating at less than full capacity.

“We want to take whatever benefit we’ve seen in 2020 from an emissions perspective and translate that into our long-term plans,” Moffatt said, though he added, “easier said than done, I think we all know that.”

NCC expanding winter trail network in Ottawa

By Laura Glowaski, CBC News Ottawa, December 17, 2020

After selling a record number of winter passes to Gatineau Park this year, the National Capital Commission (NCC) says it's turning its attention to its trail network in Ottawa.

The NCC has sold more than 15,000 season passes to Gatineau Park's cross-country ski, snowshoe and winter cycling trails, said spokesperson Dominique Huras. Last year, the NCC sold 11,305 passes.

As demand for outdoor recreation options surges during the COVID-19 pandemic, the NCC has announced it's adding 24 kilometres to its community-maintained winter trails in Ottawa, and will also widen the Sir John A. Macdonald (SJAM) multi-use pathway.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ncc-winter-plan-2020-2021-1.5844054?ref=mobilerss&cmp=newsletter_CBC%20Ottawa_1643_224751

Protruding screws possible cause LRT wheel cracks, TSB says

By CBC News Ottawa, December 16, 2020

The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada says protruding screws may have contributed to cracks found in the steel wheels of Ottawa's new light rail trains. 

The first crack was found July 2, prompting OC Transpo to launch mandatory daily inspections that reduced the number of available trains on the Confederation Line.

Within about a week, four cracks had been found and the TSB announced it would be investigating.

(...)While noting its investigation is ongoing and other factors likely led to the cracks, the TSB said all wheels that were shipped with the jacking screws installed should be removed from the trains.

"The preliminary TSB examination results demonstrate that some wheel hub cracks may go undetected and the development of cracks in the area of jacking screws installed in the hub of resilient wheels may be more widespread than initially thought," it wrote.

"Therefore, it is suggested that OLRT and Alstom expedite the removal of all Lucchini resilient wheels that were originally installed on the OLRT LRV fleet and were equipped with jacking screws."

In September, Ottawa's transit operations director Troy Charter said all original wheels would be replaced by spring 2021. In a memo Tuesday, the city said this had happened for 13 of its 38 vehicles.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-lrt-wheel-cracks-tsb-report-1.5841865?ref=mobilerss&cmp=newsletter_CBC%20Ottawa_1643_224294

Chinatown BIA slams study calling area 'food desert'

By CBC News Ottawa, December 13, 2020

The head of Ottawa's Chinatown BIA is blasting a new study that refers to West Centretown as a "food desert."

"For us it was shocking and unbelievable," Grace Xin told CBC's All In A Day on Thursday. "Instead of being a food desert, I would think it's a food oasis."

In late November, the Somerset West Community Health Centre published a study on food security in the neighbourhood and concluded the closure of the Loeb grocery store on Booth Street in 2006 left a gap that's never been fully filled.

The report found accessing food is particularly difficult for low-income residents who have to travel long distances, sometimes by bus, to reach grocery stores, or who resort to shopping at convenience stores that tend to be "higher priced, have lower quality and selection, and are less likely to offer culturally appropriate food choices."

Xin said the report ignores the many offerings available at family-run grocery stores in the neighbourhood, not to mention take-out options at a range of different businesses including Chinese, Indian, Latin and Middle Eastern restaurants. 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/chinatown-bia-west-centretown-food-desert-1.5836606?ref=mobilerss&cmp=newsletter_CBC%20Ottawa_1643_223899

Trudeau to unveil new green measures aimed at meeting goal of net-zero emissions by 2050

By National Post Staff, Ottawa Citizen, December 11, 2020

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will unveil new climate measures on Friday aimed at ensuring Canada will meet its net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target by 2050, bringing its environmental policies closer in line with European allies.

A source familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the announcement could include new spending measures aimed at meeting the 2050 goal and surpassing Canada’s 2030 environmental commitments.

The announcement comes as the Trudeau government looks to project a credible image on the climate change file, after promising a long list of climate commitments and delivering on only a few. Critics point out that Ottawa is projected to fall short of its 2030 Paris commitments, first agreed to by the Harper government, only for the government to commit to even stricter emissions reductions coming due two decades later.

Montreal's climate plan includes ban on non-electric cars downtown by 2030

By Lynda Gyulai (Montreal Gazette), Ottawa Citizen, December 11, 2020

The city of Montreal will plant 500,000 trees, ban non-electric cars downtown, remove parking around métro stations, adopt the most stringent regulations in Canada for greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, and impose a “climate test” on itself when it makes decisions, according to a 10-year climate plan unveiled by Mayor Valérie Plante on Thursday.

The Climate Plan 2020-2030 also calls for the city to develop incentives for the public to adopt environmentally responsible habits, such as by providing municipal funding to businesses that deliver goods with bikes since they produce zero greenhouse gas emissions.

“Even if the pandemic isn’t over, it’s important for us to present this plan today,” Plante said at a news conference. “On the eve of having a vaccine (for COVID-19) … there’s a glimmer of hope there, there’s light at the end of the tunnel, so it’s the best time to recall a fight that’s even bigger, more immense and more mammoth than the pandemic, which was a challenge, and it’s climate change.”

These OC Transpo routes are starting to see more riders again during the COVID-19 pandemic

By Josh Pringle, CTV News Ottawa, December 9, 2020

OTTAWA -- OC Transpo's boss says while there are still some empty buses and O-Trains running during the COVID-19 pandemic, there are signs of "optimism" with the transit service.

During a discussion on ridership projections and the possibility of route cuts in 2021, Transportation Services General Manager John Manconi told Council that ridership is at 30 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

"This is optimism and this is proof that the long view is the right thing to do. There are some routes in your communities that are almost at 50 per cent ridership," said Manconi.

• Route 11 Parliament/Bayshore is at 47 per cent of pre-pandemic levels
• Route 12 Blair/Parliament is at 43 per cent of pre-pandemic levels
• Route 14 St. Laurent/Tunney's Pasture is at 43 per cent of pre-pandemic levels
• Route 85 Gatineau/Bayshore is at 43 per cent of pre-pandemic levels

"That ridership is coming back," said Manconi, adding OC Transpo and the City of Ottawa want to have service ready when ridership increases next year.

In September, Council was told ridership was down 72 per cent this year due to COVID-19 measures and more people working from home. In June, OC Transpo reported ridership plummeted by 70 to 90 per cent in the first few weeks of the pandemic.