For sustainable solutions to preserve the environment of Milton.

MILTONGREEN NEWS
1. Miltongreen Event Series 2. Miltongreen Event News 3. Updates 4. Volunteering 5. Announcements 6. Resources Resources

Oct/Nov 2011

1. MILTONGREEN 2011 EVENT SERIES: GET YOUR TICKETS: charity movie screening Tuesday, November 22nd at 6:15 - 8:15 pm at Hugh Foster Hall (141 King St., Milton) Join Us - You can be going out and, make a difference! To get details & your tickets go to: www.lightofthelamp.com/eleanorhayward197 Ticket package may include: 1) DVD copy of Light of the Lamp 2) Light of the Lamp novel and Just Believe companion book for FREE - Gold packages 3) A movie night out, while helping a great cause; 50% of ticket sales go to Miltongreen. This fundraiser is hosted by Eleanor Hayward, LegalShield (formerly PPL).
Movie Screening - starring Louis Gossett Jr. In what seems to be the final days of their already strained marriage, Stanley and Lisa Walters are presented with a strange gift an old oil lamp. Along with the lamp, there comes a mysterious messenger and a question that causes them to search the depths of their hearts for what is truly important...

2. MILTONGREEN EVENTS NEWS: A) Greening Your Celebrations event held at the Milton District High School (MDHS) on Oct. 20th hosted guest speaker Mr. Rod Muir of the Sierra Club. He increased our knowledge of waste reduction needs and tactics for everyday life. Rod noted: Intent audience for Rods lively presentation. landfills are big greenhouse gas Photo Courtesy Margaret CoLangelo methane- producers. The reason: anaerobic breakdown of organic materials taken to landfill. Hence, the urgency to achieve 100% diversion of all biodegradable waste to your home compost heap, or green cart and yard waste pick-up program. In addition, many materials that go to landfill are divertible to re-use and/or recycle, thus managing our stuff and the resources used to create it more sustainably!
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Vendors displayed creative ideas/products, and generously donated educational and useful door prizes that lighten our footprint on mother earth thank you! Fun and stimulating workshops held on Outside- the-Box Gift Giving and Whats In-the-Box and On-the-Box. We had to interrupt the zealous interaction at the workshops to keep with our agenda. We will post ideas and outcomes on the Miltongreen blog www.miltongreen.info by Nov 15. Our interactive approach fully engaged the 50 participants to get thinking-of and acting-on an eco-friendly and meaningful approach to holiday events.
Rods 16 steps to waste diversion slide. Photo courtesy Margaret CoLangelo

B) Halton Student EcoCelebration event on Oct. 18 at the Milton Sports Centre hosted several community displays including Miltongreen. The celebration awarded school Eco Clubs for various levels of EcoSchool activity. Most Milton schools have Eco Clubs with a growing interest on the students part. The commitment and work of each school is very impressive, some have slogans and plans for school ground landscaping. Our feature, MDHS Eco Club hopes to reach gold in the Eco Schools program through projects including their role in our Greening Your Celebrations event! In Sept., 2009, two students asked to use the French classroom for environmental meetings, and 8 dedicated students initiated Eco School certification. With the guidance of Halton Region's Waste Education Coordinator and student commitment, MDHS immediately developed a MDHS EcoClub, Ramisha Farooq & friends student-lead waste diversion, recycling Photo courtesy Margaret CoLangelo programme. The next year, it was expanded to the green bin program. Now over 30 members aim to increase MDHSs environmental awareness. Submitted by Madame Paroyan, French Teacher, Eco Club liaison. C) Childrens Water Festival -Miltongreen helped make it a success assisting in running activities for the day long school field trips in late September.
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3. MILTONGREEN UPDATE A) Transportation News: No report this issue. B) Water News: Miltongreen supports Oakville- and Burlingtongreen in pressuring the Region to stop adding Fluoride to drinking water. Evidence suggests that it may be harmful if too much is ingested leading to dental fluorosis (mottled or yellowed teeth; see Google). But no clear evidence shows that hydrofluorosilicic acid used to treat water is beneficial and safe. The Precautionary Principal is worth invoking no clear evidence harmless, then use caution! At the Sept. 27, 2011 Halton Region Health & Social Services Committee meeting a summary by Sheldon Thomas was submitted (email us for a copy) and they recommended:
THAT the Medical Officer of Health prepare a report respecting water fluoridation in Halton Region for the January 2012 cycle of Committee and Council meetings, with appropriate notice to the public to enable full and fair consideration of all views on the subject.

Anyone who has seen Fluorosis in their children email miltongreen.ontario@gmail.com the info to add it to our presentation in January, 2012; use email Subject: Fluorosis Reports. Change Municipal Well to Lake Ontario Water: To fulfil requirements to increase density in downtown Milton, last fall the Region worked on plans for some homes in older Milton to be switched. Carol Gustafson spoke before Regional Council and Staff and learned that those areas (Timberlea Rd and Dorset Park Dr) are now, not to be switched. It was found that old Milton isn't taking as much water as was thought last fall. However, the Region has determined that they will be switching Kingsley Court to lake water. Some residents are currently talking to the Region about this. C) Waste News: Coffee cups and lids - what's right? You may have noticed in the various coffee shops around Milton that they don't seem to recycle onsite to separate organics (green), recycle (blue) and garbage (bins). We understand that most companies in Milton use 3rd party waste collection services. In some cases they say these separate the garbage into their respective waste "streams". One said it's okay to put the lids and cups in the same receptacle.
Tips: paper coffee cups can be useful in the kitchen for collecting greasy and wet items, one can reduce waste (& greenhouse gas emissions due to engine idling) by going into the coffee shop and asking for a ceramic cup coffee grounds (some outlets may provide) can be used for augmenting compost and we understand to repel ants! Its aromatic too!

We need to be sure, and to encourage socially responsible waste management, and to engage action! We do know that Halton Region waste pickup can only accept paper cups in the Green Bin and not plastic coffee cup lids those can only go to the garbage stream. Reports on Waste Issues: We noticed the Milton Champion is actively reporting check out Trash Troubles (3 articles) at http://www.metroland.com/page/Trash%20Troubles.
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4. VOLUNTEERING MILTONGREEN 2012 Events Planning Committee seeking VOLUNTEERS Contact: miltongreen.ontario@gmail.com We ran a display at the Milton Volunteer Fair on Nov. 5th see more about volunteering:
http://www.insidehalton.com/community/article/1231378--plenty-of-ways-to-help-out

5. ANNOUNCEMENTS MILTONGREEN MONTHLY meet-and-greet, discuss Events, Projects. Nov. 14th (6:30 8:00pm), directions: 905-878-0995.

Submit Events & News info to Miltongreen Newsletter at: miltongreen.ontario@ gmail.com

BUILDING COMMUNITY POWER BY H.H.E.A.T. (Hamilton, Halton Energy Awareness Team) Wed., Nov. 16 at 7:00-9:30 pm at Landscape Ontario, 7856 5th Line South, Milton Learn benefits of renewable energy (solar, bio-, wind, geo-); local decentralized energy systems; and community-owned renewable energy coops. Contact Anuja (HHEAT): here.anujar@gmail.com; 647-880-4656. Visit: http://hheathub.blogspot.com/.

WATER CONFERENCE Nov 16-18, Alliston, Ontario - www.latornell.ca 2011 AD Latornell Conservation Symposium-Current state of Ontarios water resources. MILTONGREEN OTF GRANT 1st year report submitted goals met, foundation laid for year 2; further outreach and organization capacity building as well as education event series. Join us to make a difference in this important work for Miltons growing citizenry. Send your ideas to Miltongreen.ontario@gmail.com about projects, movies for movie nights and info sessions, local issues and projects. 6. RESOURCES Check links to helpful organizations and companies: Acceptable green-cart and blue box items lists clearly show www.miltongreen.info how the Region diverts waste www.Halton.ca. Ecoclubs can collect & recycle print cartridges & cell phones for cash rebates using the Fundraising Program: http://www.thinkrecycle.com/page.asp?name=About-ThinkRecycle.
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