April 7th, 2024 · Comments Off on GREENINGS: A lament for the tree inventory (Mar. 2024)
As more people move in, more green space needs to be considered
Spring is my favourite time to get outside and enjoy what park spaces this city has to offer. Sadly, there really isn’t that much of it. In the Annex, we have a few strips north of Bloor where homes were taken out for the subway, there’s Taddle Creek Park, and then there’s Jean Sibelius. It really is scant green space for the 14,000 people who call this area home. In case you haven’t noticed, the Mirvish Village development on the old Honest Ed’s lot is near completion, and it won’t be long before 1000s more call this area home, competing to use the green space that’s available. The little green space we have is also losing its beautiful canopy coverage. Read more
December 13th, 2022 · Comments Off on GREENINGS: It’s time for climate truth not trinkets (Dec. 2022)
Support organizations that actually care about our children’s future
Usually around Christmas I like to write about ways to lower our personal environmental footprints during the holidays, but none of that matters in the face of the complete political failure we are facing. This year, rather than buying gifts for kids or grandkids, they need you to get out there and fight for them. Read more
May 24th, 2022 · Comments Off on GREENINGS: Vote this election (Provincial Election 2022)
A vote for the oil men is a vote for genocide; it is actively acknowledging our ambivalence about the suffering of others
By Terri Chu
We live in a sea of green, red, and orange signs here in University-Rosedale, and for all the things we might disagree on, our neighbours agree on a few key points: climate change is real, vaccines work, science can move us forward. Read more
February 4th, 2022 · Comments Off on GREENINGS: The disproportionate impact of inflation (Jan. 2022)
Examining the interconnectivity of consumption, labour, and the environment
By Terri Chu
The richest among us earned record profits during another COVID-19 year while the poorest among us are risking their lives in understaffed service jobs. Read more
December 17th, 2021 · Comments Off on GREENINGS: Avoid the stress of stuff at Xmas (Dec. 2021)
Do it for the planet, and for yourself
By Terri Chu
As an environmentalist, few things make me cringe quite like Christmas does. We are heading into the season when Canadians will each discard a staggering 50 kg of trash over the holidays. Read more
November 11th, 2021 · Comments Off on CHATTER: ARA’s ambitious tree audit planned for renewal in 2022 (Fall 2021)
This 400 year old oak tree off Spadina Avenue is one of the oldest trees in the city. The ARA is about to update its survey of all 10,000 trees in the Annex. New data will help protect the tree canopy from developers, says project lead, Terri Chu. GLEANER FILE PHOTO/COURTESY MICHAEL LOW
In 2009 the Annex Residents Association (ARA) took on the impressive task of cataloging over 10,000 trees in the Annex neighbourhood. A team of forestry students and numerous volunteers worked over the course of four summers logging the trees’ species, age, varieties and their ownership. Now, 12 years later, they’re looking to do it all over again. Read more
July 15th, 2021 · Comments Off on CHATTER: Annex Residents’ Association holds virtual AGM (June 2021)
Over 40 people were in virtual attendance at the Annex Residents’ Association’s (ARA) Annual General Meeting on April 22. Because of the pandemic, it was the first AGM in two years, but participation was up thanks to Zoom. Read more
June 15th, 2021 · Comments Off on LIFE: Enough with beg buttons (May 2021)
It’s time to give pedestrians their due
By Terri Chu
Steven’s Grocery is easily my favourite corner of our neighbourhood. Helen’s flowers are always a welcome sight as we walk by, but the one thing I HATE about that corner is the beg button. Read more
May 12th, 2021 · Comments Off on GREENINGS: More greenspace, fewer cars (Apr. 2021)
Let’s not go back to unhealthy “normal”
By Terri Chu
While we all wait for vaccines to bring us back to some sense of “normal” (don’t hold your breath as the variants might beat us at this game), let’s take a moment to reflect on how much normal really sucked: for so many Torontonians, “normal” meant sitting in the car for hours just to get to work. Read more
August 7th, 2020 · Comments Off on GREENINGS: What happens if we don’t want to go back to the “before” times? (July 2020)
Pandemic shows we can live on so much less
While many of us are enjoying cleaner air in the neighbourhood, undoubtably there are people up at night worried about what happens if the air never goes back to being as toxic as it once was. Trillions of dollars are at stake if we, as a society, decide we don’t really want to go back to the “before” times where people drove hours to get to work and mindlessly went shopping for entertainment. Read more
