For many of us, Boxing Day implies unbeatable sales, early morning line ups, and crowds of people anxious to find a bargain. Retailers open as early as 5:00 am to draw us from our warm beds only to stand in the cold waiting for stores to open. Once inside, we are faced with a restless frenzy of shoppers all rushing to grab as many rock bottom priced items as they can. Sound familiar?
This hasn’t always been the case. The origin of Boxing Day dates back to the mid 19th century where traditionally, efforts of village service workers such as maids, drivers or those of humble life were given gifts of food, clothing, or money- all neatly placed in a box for ease of transportation. It was a day to express gratitude to the community and those in need; a time to be spent with family and give thanks to the many that helped through out the year.
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Thank You for your Support throughout 2009 and Happy Holidays!
The staff at Green Calgary would like to extend a deeply heartfelt thanks to all of the wonderful Green Calgary volunteers who gave so cheerfully and generously of their time to us this year. In 2009 we were able to expand the role of volunteerism at Green Calgary to include many new areas of much needed support. It is a pleasure to work with you and every one of our programs is stronger and more effective because of your efforts and commitment to creating healthy homes and communities in Calgary. Thank you so much!
We would also like to thank the many, many donors – some of whom are also volunteers! – who responded to Green Calgary’s funding drive this fall. Your donations made a enormous difference in maintaining our momentum into the New Year. We could not have done this without you and your show of support. Many thanks to you!
Green Calgary’s work in made possible by the support of many contributing organizations. We would like to take this opportunity to give special thanks to those who have provided a high level of financial support to Green Calgary throughout 2009 – The City of Calgary, The Alberta Real Estate Foundation, The Calgary Foundation, Alberta Ecotrust, William Joseph Communications, Elements The Patagonia Store, ConocoPhillips Canada, Bentall, and Dundee. We appreciate the support of all of our funders and supporters. Thank you to all!
Finally, thank you to everyone and all of the companies and organizations who participate in Green Calgary’s programs, shop at the EcoStore, read our newsletters and website, stop by to say hello, offer suggestions and encouragement. We feel a wonderful, strong connection with all of you.
Best wishes, happy holidays, and we’ll see you in 2010!
EcoLeaders 2010
(formerly EcoLogic 201)
Are you passionate about the environment and interested in developing your ability to effect change in your community shoulder to shoulder with other Calgarians?
EcoLeaders 2010 is a 20 + hour course for individuals who are aware of and committed to reducing their eco-footprint, but are interested in doing more. The EcoLeaders course investigates our roles as ecologically aware individuals through the lens of integrated community development. It is for anyone who feels compelled to make a sustainable difference in their community; whether that community is of business entrepreneurs, like-minded mothers who want to make change in their neighbourhood, students at their university, green-minded community members, friends, family or any group of people who simply want to make a difference.
If you are a teacher, or know someone who is, read on about this free program opportunity:
HSBC Clean Air Achievers is a dynamic interactive program that brings a National or Olympic-level athlete into your classroom to talk about clean air and active transportation. The program gets students to track their modes of transportation now, and compares it to their modes of transportation after active suggestions are implemented. It is also an on-line learning opportunity. This program is still opened to registration for the 2009/2010 school year. Please registeryour class on the website as space is very limited.
For Grades 6-9 * Cost: FREE.
Calgary Premiere of "In Transition 1.0"
Sunday, December 13, 1pm
Come help us kick-off Transition Calgary with this film, a video of some of Calgary's existing Transitional projects, and pledges to take action.
250 communities around the world are recognized as Transition Towns; strengthening the culture of local food production, energy conservation, and sustainable economics.
Sunday, December 13, 1pm $10 door, Calgary Dollars Accepted The Plaza Theatre, 1133 Kensington Road NW.
Friday, November 27th was Buy Nothing Day in North America. Created by Canadian artist Ted Dave, the date was selected to coincide with Black Friday - the day after the US Thanksgiving. Black Friday marks the beginning of the traditional holiday shopping season and is similar to Boxing Day in Canada, as it is one of the busiest retail shopping days of the year. Since 1995, Adbusters has been promoting this day as 'Buy Nothing Day' - a time to raise international awareness about consumption. According to Buy Nothing Day:
“When it comes right down to it, it's not that we believe a single day without shopping makes a big enough impact in itself, but if we stop and think about it for a day, we might find out that we're more deeply tangled in the dragnet of consumerism than we imagined. This knowledge could be life-changing. If we dissect our spending habits we'll see how we have a significant local effect, but we are part of the big picture as well, and if we take a stand others will join us, and we can see that impact on a global scale. If we buy nothing for just one day, perhaps we'll realize the true value of watching HOW we spend.”
I am seeing a lot more items in the grocery store labeled “fair trade” and this, to be quite frank, confuses me. Isn’t the point of free trade to make everything fair? Politicians are always suggesting we need more free trade agreements to deal with poverty, so the whole fair trade argument seems counterintuitive. Can you provide some clarity on this?
