Dear Friend,
In this May edition of Climate Network Lanark news, we have been thinking a lot about how community gets created over distances - how do we meet together, joined by a love of place when we cannot meet? This month we focus on the gathering that is possible.
In this issue:
- Website Launch
- CNL update: What we have been meeting about?
- Personal Action: Carbon Gardening
- Working Group Spotlight: Youth Group Pollinator Project
- Events
- Volunteer
- Compost Survey
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We are thrilled to launch www.climatenetworklanark.ca — our portal for Lanark-specific climate change issues and practical actions. Designed from the get-go for users: our community and our Working Group members, we hope the site will serve as a powerful tool for education and outreach on the climate crisis — for driving local action in our community, a home for the many local organizations and people and projects addressing this problem, a virtual gathering place.
Site Features include
- Local Action Topics: The site currently dives into electric vehicles, heat pumps and climate change in Lanark. Each is organized around Learn, Act and Join. Our working groups are currently creating more content based on their research
- Working Groups: Find out more about each of our 7 working groups: their actions, their news and who’s who in the Group.
- Calendar: Stay informed and in the loop through the calendar of climate education and action events. To submit your events here
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CNL update - What we have been meeting about?
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- Our Executive have been meeting with County staff and Councillors to develop the new County Climate Action Plan Steering Committee. Municipalities are naming their representatives and we’ll have more news next month
- Our working groups have been meeting monthly to research and solidify plans, and are now moving towards the action phase.
- The CNL Steering Committee met on April 29, along with leaders of our Working Groups — the first in a series of meetings to collaboratively develop a strategic plan for CNL, build on our solid foundation, going forwards
- ALUS — Alternative Land Use Services — pays farmers to provide ecological services: create pollinator strips, fence cattle out of waterways, plant trees, and more. CNL is brokering a partnership of conservation authorities and the County to bring ALUS to our region.
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Personal Action: Carbon Gardening
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Ah May, if you listen hard you can maybe hear the dulcet sounds of brood X cicadas emerging after 17 years underground. As the COVID tunnel grows shorter, we can perhaps identify with them. Their emergence is a reminder of the micro-eco-systems that exist right on our doorstep, with the potential to serve as a small-scale Nature Based Climate Solutions. As No Mow May comes to a close, and the dandelions you left out for the bees are turning to puffy clouds, it's a good time to turn to Carbon Gardening.
Overworked agricultural lands bordered by disturbed natural areas are often over-run by invasive species, but due to the increased popularity of Native species, plant diversity has been found to be GREATER in urban areas. This is good news for pollinators and your zucchinis, but also for carbon sequestering.
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Are you already a part of a group or initiative that is working on small or large scale planting projects that help sequester carbon? We want to know about it. Send us an email at lanarkclimate@gmail.com and we will add it to our web resources.
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Working Group Spotlight - Youth Group Pollinator Project
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The Youth Climate Action group has launched the Be-a-Bee-Bud Pollinator Garden Initiative. Interested citizens have already sold out our Buy-1 Plant-2 program, where, for a minimum donation of $50, a youth member plants a patch on private property, and uses the funds raised to plant larger public community patches in the Perth and Mississippi Mills region. If you would still like to help, we are looking for the following
- Donations of native perennials, soil, straw, compost
- June 6th Perth area volunteers - a truck/trailer owner to volunteer to do some soil drop offs, and some enthusiast community plot diggers
- Pictures of your existing pollinator patches to add to our Lanark Pollinator garden map
If you are interested and would like to learn more, please contact us at lanarkpollinatorgardens@gmail.com
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Events: Learning Together
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As restrictions ease, we are looking forward to populating this area with so many gatherings, But for now, we recommend the following online options.
Did you hear about the woman who sat on a tripod to stop oil trains? Or the people who turned off tarsands pipelines at the US-Canada border? Or the kayaktivists, youth suing their government or climate marchers? Race to Save the World is a documentary that takes a close up look at some of the folks who take drastic actions to draw attention to the urgency of the climate crisis. The trailer and access to the documentary are found here
The $10 donation to watch the documentary and panel discussion is in US dollars. CNL member Anita Payne participated in the Great March for Climate Action; if you don't blink, you may catch glimpses of her
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Do you have a deep curiosity or specialized knowledge about people taking Climate Action in our community? We would love for you to join our Communications Working Group. Members are invited to follow their interests by participating in the following:
- help research key issues or topics for our website
- interview people taking action and write their stories for our local media and social media
- edit stories, content for the website, etc.
- apply your science aptitude to the science of climate change in our region
Contact Sue Brandum for details
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Our Compost and Waste Reduction Working Group is looking for your input so we can understand people’s experiences with composting in order to tailor our future initiatives. Whether you compost or not, if you would take 2 or 3 minutes to fill out the following survey, it would really help us out. BONUS - "What happened when the gardener fell into a pile of fertilizer and suffocated?" Finished surveys get the punchline!
Photo credits - Dandelions and Seat of Gov c/o Charlotte Pragnell, Be-a-Bee Bud c/o Jordan Anne Rich (also pictured)
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