Fresh Fuzz

Toronto’s Warmest Winter?

by samantha January 23rd, 2012 - No Comments »

As you may have noticed, Toronto hasn’t gotten the regular seasonal snow we always get every Winter year. If I can recall, last Winter we had more of a white Christmas than the one that just passed. So what is going on? After doing some research about this matter, I stumbled across an article from thestar.com which confirmed that it isn’t just me who feels this is odd.

In this article, it is basically said that Toronto’s wildlife is at risk due to the warm winter we’re having. This is definitely a concern seeing that “environmental experts say extremes like these stress out animals, invertebrates and plants used to one long winter freeze with a gradual rainy melt into spring (thestar.com)”. It is also stated in the article that “from wood frogs and salamanders to swallowtail butterflies and seed-bearing trees, species’ winter mortality rates can rise (lack of a snowy insulating layer means greater exposure to cold temperatures for meadow voles, for instance) or adults may produce stunted offspring. Trees, in particular, can be affected. While mild weather mitigates damage like broken branches from heavy ice, temperature swings can hamper reproduction at a time when provincial tree canopies, already considered too sparse, are being beefed up with millions of plantings (thestar.com).” Now is this scary or what?! As much as I love warm weather, I love nature and wildlife too!

You can read more about this information by visiting the article when you click here but why do you think we are having a warmer Winter this year? Most people will probably say global warming. Let me know what you think by leaving your opinions in the comments section below.

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Native Bus Tour of Toronto

by samantha September 26th, 2011 - No Comments »

On Thursday, October 13, 2011 become a part of the environmental movement change in Toronto by participating in the three-hour Native Bus Tour event in Toronto!

Get informed about various ethno-cultural and Aboriginal communities. According to the website, this tour will give you the opportunity to learn more about indigenous history and presence in this city through some pre-contact and historical landmarks that are still relevant to and used by Aboriginal peoples living in Toronto today.

The cost of the tour is $65 and will take you through various parts of Toronto. It will begin at the Native Canadian Centre located at 16 Spadina Road, north of Bloor Street. The tour will take participants to places such as Lakeshore, High Park, Casa Loma, Yonge Street, Rouge Hill, Old Fort York and more.

To get involved and get more information, visit the website to register. This event is brought to you by Toronto Green Community and the Sustainability Network.

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Start October Off Being Green by Attending this Event!

by samantha September 23rd, 2011 - No Comments »

The North Scarborough Green Festival is just around the corner so start preparing to dispose of your left over items!

Be sure to attend this first green annual event held at Norman Bethune Collegiate school called the North Scarborough GreenFest. You will have the chance to learn about the importance of recycling, composting, and energy conservation and so will your younger loved ones. You will also have the opportunity to meet local environmental organizations and businesses and have fun at the community garage sale.

This event will also feature door prizes, free hot dogs and so much more! Do you have kids? Not to worry, because there is a Kids Korner available with delicious treats to keep them busy!

This event is absolutely free to attend so come with your family! It will take place on October 1, 2011 between the hours of 10:00am-2:00pm at Dr. Norman Bethune Collegiate. Once again, you are welcome to bring any items to dispose of such as old cell phones, batteries, old eyeglasses and more. Visit the website for more specific details.

This event is brought to you by The Bethune Environmental Action Team (BEAT) and Live Green Toronto.

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My 2 Cents

by Mike June 8th, 2011 - No Comments »


The summer has arrived and you can be sure that the Gardiner and DVP will be closed on the weekends throughout the summer such as the past weekend.  The 2 major arteries into the Downtown core are shut off at various times for fund raising walks, runs and biking. The fund raising from these events are truly important but come at a cost to the downtown commuters.   A normal 20 minute commute to and from the city will easily be turned into 1 1/2 hours. While the walkers, runners and bikers are on the DVP and Gardiner there are thousands of cars sitting idle in traffic mostly on Lakeshore Blvd traveling west out of the city or east into the city. This type of traffic has a huge effect on the environment as you could imagine as well as an economic one for the businesses who thrive on weekend traffic.  In my opinion and it is only my opinion there is no reason that these fund raising events can’t take place on roads east, west or north of the city where it wouldn’t be such an inconvenience for the weekend commuters.  Keep up the good work fund raising for those important charities but Toronto needs to start looking at other roads that can be used that don’t cut off the city to the rest of us.

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