What would you do without power for your clothes dryer? Using a clothesline can save electricity or gas costs, as rates will continue to sharply rise. Even during wintertime clotheslines will partially dry laundry and help you to save electricity.

“We have single mission: to protect and hand on the planet to the next generation” - Francois Hollande

Changing weather patterns have increased the amount of snow fall. Excess amounts of snow can contribute to runoff pollution as there can be greater amounts of salt within these snow banks.

We use fabric bags instead of plastic for buying produce.

Image by Walker Lucchese. See full booklet of local youth climate art here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z_dM9ynM4RJgo1iXv0C0aeS2TgBCyk_L/view?usp=sharing

When I see a street construction project I’m often reminded of how expensive road infrastructure is to develop and even more expensive to update at the end of its lifecycle. Research (and basic accounting) help demonstrate that roads and infrastructure in suburbia is not only a substantial GHG emitter…

Food security is becoming increasingly important in a world with a changing climate. Although Thunder bay does not presently have a by-law that allows for backyard chicken, many residents still provide local food for their families and neighbours. Will we see a change someday soon?

Warmer winters due to climate change allowed the increase of tic reproduction which can carry Lyme disease.

Seedlings in spring. Taking root..

To me these photos embody a healthy and resilient community; one that is knit together with a strong sense of neighbourhood connectivity and trust. A community that knows each other is a community that can depend on one another in times of need and crisis. Strong social communities can ‘weather storms’ much better than communities in social isolation. City planning, zoning, and engineering all play a big role in how close a community will feel to each other. Regardless of the shift these past decades to an individuality mindset, let’s resist the trend and keep building neighbourhoods that are conducive to strong social connectivity.