April's Green TEA Night

After a long and REALLY cold winter an awesome display of new life is just what makes April the perfect month for Earth Month! And here in Caledon we celebrated it in appropriate style. We experienced an amazing Green TEA Environmental Speakers Night on the 16th that drew almost 70 people.

Guest speaker Kate Agosta gave a down-to-earth (pun intended) presentation about alternatives to the traditional grass lawns for those of us who are no longer enthused with watering, fertilizing, aerating, spraying, weeding, overseeding, and then FINALLY mowing down GRASS! Carrole Blakeman gave a real eye-opener of a talk about chemical-ridden cosmetics and, at audience-demand, agreed to do a workshop for us in early June on how to make your own cosmetics with natural ingredients. Take note ladies - this workshop will fill up fast so when you hear the word....register fast!

Paddy Running Horan was on hand to offer up some pesticide and herbicide alternatives now that the Ontario-wide Pesticide Ban is taking effect (as of April 22nd) and 3 wonderful ladies from the Town of Caledon gave us updates about the Ban plus the Bolton Farmers Market and the Town's own Environmental Progress Report. Thank you Noreen Knight, Sandra Dolson and Sara Peckford!

Lastly I want to thank the folks that came out and participated on the Green T-eam for the April 19th MS Walk - we did great! Final figures yet to come but I know we raised somewhere in the vicinity of $600 - not too shabby for a first-time team!

Workshops were a hit!

Well our Alternative Lawn Workshops are over and the feedback from our audience was wonderful. Landscape design expert Deborah May Forbes left no stone unturned (pun intended) and delivered a fun, informative set of workshops that were chock full of tips and creative ideas. It was Green T’s first foray into something other than our usual environmental speakers’ nights and we’re giving it an “E” for effort, excellence and environmental inspiration. Our sincere thanks to the Town of Caledon Community Green Fund for helping us make it happen!

Speaking of inspiration, I had a few moments to speak to some of the Green T members in the audience too and their personal stories never cease to motivate and encourage me. I actually spoke to a new member who commutes to work, from Bolton to Toronto, by bicycle. I believe his perspective on the environment would be amazing insight for a feature story in a future Green Thoughts newsletter. I’ll see if he agrees so stay tuned!