Month: November 2012

The EYA has been shortlisted for a $10,000 grand prize through the BC Hydro Community Champions program, and we are relying on daily votes from supporters, friends, family, and the community to help make this happen. Daily voting on behalf of individuals can be completed here.

Even better news!! There is also an option for classes to register as support schools, which would provide you the opportunity to win $1000 towards a sustainability project at school. Each class can apply separately and essentially pool your chances of winning. Definitely don’t miss out on this opportunity here.

Pass on this information We need lots of daily voting for another two weeks (which is indeed tedious), but it is really easy! So please help the EYA spread the word about our pollinators project, spread this link around to everyone you know, and get voting!

Thanks so much. The EYA relies on donations, grants, and funding like this to continue our work with schools like yours, and we are grateful for your support.

Vancouver Neighbourhood Food Networks (NFNs) are particularly unique in helping to nurture a neighbourhood-based and city-wide food systems change. Most importantly they operate at a neighbourhod scale, which can link organizations and the public with initiatives in a way that meaningfully maximizes the assets of the community in addressing local food security.

Neighbourhood Food Networks support a “right to food” philosophy – equitable access to food that is healthy and nutritious, affordable for all, culturally appropriate and sustainably produced. In so doing, we each work to promote health, wellness and positive change for our communities and the environment.

NFNs are a neighbourhood-based model that focuses on developing a localized and accessible food system which integrates local decision-making and skill sharing about healthy and affordable food.           —Vancouver Coastal Health

Recently, at the Sustenance Festival held at the Roundhouse and corresponding to World Food Day, the NFNs created a display, shown in the photos below, that highlighted a range of programs particular to each geographical neighbourhood and community while at the same time connecting these networks to the city-wide scale.

Together the NFNs are helping to foster food systems change by: increasing levels of food security among vulnerable and marginalized populations through capacity building approaches; incubating community volunteers and leaders; advocating for policy change in the interest of more just, sustainable, and healthy local food systems; increasing the number of community food assets; utilizing food as a tool for community development, promoting inclusion, and a sense of belonging; and continuing to build partnerships with other community coalitions, non-profits, government, and the business sector.

With a focus on health and nutrition, food justice and the environment, the richness of the NFN movement is a demonstration of the energy, passion, interest, and collaboration in the food movement today.

A consequence of the city’s plan to remove the Dunsmuir and Georgia Viaducts is a plan to divert traffic from Prior Street to a widened Malkin Avenue – the “Malkin Connector” – which will be extended west to Main Street and east to Clark Drive via an overpass across the railroad tracks.

Malkin Avenue is the right-of-way for the downtown freeway that was never built. This right-of-way is 12 lanes wide and parts of Cottonwood Garden, Strathcona Garden and Strathcona Park have all been developed on this unused right-of-way. Cottonwood Community Garden will be most affected if the plan to widen Malkin goes ahead.

If you feel like we do, that Cottonwood Community Garden must not be sacrificed to facilitate traffic to the downtown core, please let Mayor Robertson and City Council know! You can write to them at City of Vancouver, 453 W. 12th Ave, Vancouver. BC V5Y 1V4 or e-mail them at mayorandcouncil@vancouver.ca. You can reach them by phone by calling 3-1-1. You may want to remind the Councillors of their commitment to make Vancouver the Greenest City in the world — see their ”GreenestCity 2020 Action Plan.” If you would send us a copy of your letter, that would cheer us up immensely: cottonwoodgarden@gmail.com.

Please sign our online petition. Go to our website, cottonwoodgarden.com and
click on the “sign petition” button at the bottom right.

Please forward our petition and/or download the PDF and print out a hard copy to pass around for signing

We urgently need to get the word out about what Cottonwood is up against. Pass on our leaflet to friends and family. Join us on Facebook at “Save Cottonwood Community Garden“ and “like” and share that page widely. We feel sure that the more people know about what a unique ecological green space Cottonwood Garden is, the more they will want to join us in protecting it.

We’re doing free tours of Cottonwood Garden every Saturday morning at 10 a.m. to show the great variety of trees, shrubs and plants planted and the rich bird, bee and insect life. And to share its over twenty-year story, how it began and how it was created by many hundreds of dedicated volunteer gardeners over the years. We meet at the east entrance on Raymur Avenue, across from the dog pound. Please join us — and do bring friends and family along. If you belong to a group and would like to arrange a group tour at another time, please call Beth at 604-253-7036.

If you’re not able to take the tour, but would like to learn more about the garden read Oliver Kellhammer’s article in the Vancouver Observer entitled,“Oasis in Peril” www.vancouverobserver.com/city/cottonwood-community-gardens-oasis-perilWe welcome all ideas and offers of help to make our campaign successful!

Please write to us at cottonwoodgarden@gmail.com