Toronto Environmental Alliance

1. Tell candidates to make the priorities a part of their platforms.
2. Add your name to our list of Municipal Election Priorities supporters
3. Read more about the priorities or download them here [pdf]
4. Add your organization to our list of endorsers (email us)
5. Contact us if you'd like to volunteer, help spread the word, or if you would like to present these priorities to your organization  

Take Action below to make sure the environment remains a priority & that we continue to build a green Toronto.

For 10 years Toronto has worked hard to solve key environmental problems facing the city.

Over the coming months, Mayor and Council candidates will be speaking to Torontonians about their vision of the City. While there may be disagreements on other issues, everyone should agree we must continue to build on Toronto's environmental successes.

Below are 6 priority actions (read them in detail here) , in no particular order, that will build on 10 years of environmental success. Investments in each action won't just improve our environment, they will lead to better health and save us money as we avoid some of the huge financial costs associated with traffic congestion, waste disposal, climate change, and illnesses due to pollution.

The 6 Priority Actions

1. Build Transit City & Fund It
2. Achieve 70% Waste Diversion by 2012
3. Buy & Support Locally-Produced Green Products
4. Build Transportation Infrastructure Everyone Can Use
5. Implement the City's Sustainable Energy Strategy
6. Provide Tools to Prevent Pollution   

1. Tell candidates to make the priorities a part of their platforms

It is still early in this election and many candidates have not registered. For the time being we ask that you have a look at the list provided by the City of Toronto (updated as candidates register) to find the relavant contact information.

To find registered candidates and contact information (if they have made it available), go here.

Please CC/BCC tea@torontoenvironment.org

Sample Text for your email: 

"Dear ______,

I am writing to ask you to commit to working on 6 environmental priorities for the City of Toronto if you are elected. I am also asking that you speak about these issues over the coming months as you campaign in the election.

[First & last name]
[Address including postal code]"

2. Add your name to our list of Municipal Election Priorities supporters

By filling in the form below, you are adding your name to a growing list of Torontonians who know that the environment is a priority. You are declaring your support for the 6 priorities that we have put forward for this municipal election. You can see those priorities here

Transit City promises to bring light rapid transit service [pdf] to Torontonians across the city. This will go a long way towards cleaning the air, curbing climate change and relieving congestion on
our roads by making it easier and cheaper for people to keep their cars at home. Transit City once again makes it clear that public transit is a public good.

But who will pay for the operating costs of Transit City? Right now, TTC riders pay over 70% of TTC operating costs through fares, at a rate that is higher than any other transit users in Canada. Unfortunately, 62% of TTC riders don't have an affordable alternative to the TTC. This means further fare increases are not an option for low income Torontonians nor are they fair to TTC riders.

In the past, the Province paid 50% of the TTC's operating costs. It's time the Provincial and the Federal Governments joined TTC riders and Toronto property taxpayers in providing operating funds for this important public good.

Action: By 2011, the new Mayor and Council must work with the TTC and upper levels of government to develop an affordable, equitable and long-term funding strategy which covers at least half of the TTC's operating costs.

The City pledged to reach 70% waste diversion by 2010 but they only made it to 50%. The key culprit in missing the target was unacceptable delays in getting the Green Bin program into high-rise buildings. This means half of Toronto's households still don't have access to organic waste collection services. The delays also mean organic waste continues to take up precious landfill space. Achieving the 70% target will only happen when all Torontonians have equal access to the City's waste collection services.

Action: The next Council must ensure that all apartment buildings in Toronto have Green Bin collection service by the end of 2011. One year later, other waste diversion programs must be in place so that the City meets its 70% diversion target by 2012.

Toronto residents, businesses and governments are poised to spend billions of dollars on green products over the next decade. The City will have a significant impact on these expenditures both as a purchaser of green products (eg. Transit City, green power through Toronto Hydro, the Mayor's Tower Renewal) and through policy decisions (eg. implementing the Sustainable Energy Plan). If we do nothing, these local dollars will leave the City and Country. If we act, our local dollars can be used to support local green jobs, local green businesses and local green manufacturing.

Action: The next Council must require City purchases of green products to give priority to local workers and local manufacturing.

Cycling and walking are important forms of transportation that contribute to a healthier population and reduce negative impacts on the environment. We need infrastructure built to accommodate bikes and pedestrians as well as transit vehicles and cars. In the U.S. this is happening through "Complete Streets" policies that ensure the planning and redevelopment of streets are done with all users (pedestrians, cyclists and transit riders of all ages and abilities along with cars and trucks) in mind.

While a "Complete Streets" policy is developed, key transportation infrastructure, such as bike lanes, need to be built, the Toronto Walking Strategy can be implemented, and all road users can be educated about road sharing and responsibilities.

Action: The next Council must develop and implement a "Complete Streets" policy by 2014, fully implement the Toronto Bike Plan by 2012, and launch a public education campaign targeting all road users about road sharing and responsibilities.

In November 2009, the City adopted the Sustainable Energy Plan. This strategy sets important targets for energy conservation and renewable power development to help the City meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets. The strategy also outlines what steps will be taken to meet these energy use targets.

A key component of the strategy is designing and delivering to homes, businesses and institutions across Toronto energy retrofits and renewable energy installations. The first step requires the City to establish a partnership with Enbridge, Enwave and our publicly-owned Toronto Hydro to deliver these energy efficiency and green power services to all Torontonians.

Action: The next Council must implement the City's Sustainable Energy Plan starting with getting the partnership between the City, Enbridge, Enwave, and our publicly-owned Toronto Hydro working and home energy retrofits underway by 2011.

In 2008, the City passed a precedent setting pollution disclosure bylaw [pdf] mandating thousands of businesses and industries to track and report their use of 25 toxic substances. The City began phasing in the mandatory reporting this year through its ChemTRAC program.

The next step is to help Toronto polluters -including the City of Toronto- reduce and eventually eliminate chemical pollutants covered by the bylaw that poison our water, air and land. The most effective way to reduce pollution is by developing and implementing pollution prevention plans. Small business is in need of the expertise, tools and education to help reduce costs, prevent dangerous pollution and be good neighbours in our city.

Action: By 2011, the next Council must have in place the tools small businesses need to devise pollution prevention plans with clear reduction targets.

List of Endorsers

Take Action on Unfair Fare Hikes!

On November 17th, 2009 the Toronto Transit Commission voted for an 11% increase in fares, tokens, and the Metropass. That means fares and tokens will go up by 25 cents, and the Metropass by $12 starting in January. Would anyone at City Hall recommend an 11% increase on property tax in one year? Never!

No other major transit system in North America expects its riders to pay for over 70% of the system’s cost.

We are calling on the TTC, the City and the Provincial Government to commit to fair funding for the transit system Torontians need. If you are tired of being taken for granted, send a message to the TTC, the Premier, and the Mayor’s office right now. Click here to see a sample message, or write your own.

Let’s make sure they know we don’t like unfair fare hikes!

What is TTCRiders.ca?

TTC Riders is a new organization created to give a voice to the
interests and concerns of hundreds of thousands of Torontonians who use public transit. We seek to ensure that our pubic transit provides good, dependable service and is accessible and affordable for everyone in our communities.

Drivers have the Canadian Automobile Association, homeowners have organizations in many parts of the city, and even cyclists have formed an effective lobby group. Transit riders also deserve to be well represented when decisions are being made about fares, service delivery, or transit priorities.

What are the Alternatives?

Almost every year, there is a TTC funding crisis. It usually results in a fare increase and last minute bailouts by the City and the Province. We are told there is little that can be done to fix the situation, that’s not true at all.

For years, the TTC won awards as the best transit system in North America, and it can again. It did that because there was guaranteed revenue from the Ontario government and the City that reflected a serious commitment to public transit. The support was slashed during the Mike Harris years, and is still not back to the levels needed.

The TTC has the least amount of support from senior governments than any transit operation in North America. And relies more on what is collected at the farebox than almost anywhere else in the world. More than 70% of the TTC’s costs are covered by the farebox. Other major North American cities only depend on riders to supply 50-60% of the revenue needed to run the system.

The TTC, the City and the Province are working together to build “Transit City” – a plan that will provide 120 kilometers of new rapid transit in Toronto. It will be the biggest TTC expansion in over fifty years, providing much needed service to Toronto’s suburbs.

But how will we pay to run these new lines when we can barely pay for the ones we have today? We need the TTC, the City and the Province to commit to long term plan to fund the transit service we have now and operation of the new lines that will be built over the next 10 years.

Here is what needs to be part of that funding commitment:

• The Province and the City should equally share the cost of the TTC’s operation. This level of cost share is what made the TTC an award winning system in the 1980s.
• A target should be set to cover no more than 60% of the TTC’s operating costs through fares. This would be accompanied by a forecast that lays out when fare increases are expected over the next 5 years.
• This funding plan must ensure that it will provide the subsidies necessary to maintain and improve service by addressing overcrowding, adding more frequent service at more times of the day, and building new service where it is needed.

Canada is the only federal government among OECD nations not to have a national transit strategy. We need Ottawa to step up to the plate with a National Transit Strategy that provides real, long-term commitments to affordable public transit.

Learn all about the Good Neighbour Campaign here

1. Background
2. Waste Campaigners Tips
3. Your Tips (updated frequently!)

1. Background

The Toronto Civic Employees' Union Local 416 (CUPE) and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 79 have announced that they are on strike. The locals were in a legal strike position as of 12:01 a.m. on Monday, June 22, 2009.

See the City of Toronto Website for more details: http://www.toronto.ca/labour-relations/

2. Waste Campaigners Tips

Below is a Quick List prepared by our Waste Campaigner Heather Marshall of what you can do to reduce, reuse, and store waste during the strike. 

After originally posting this list we had a great response from our members and Toronto residents.  With their permission we have posted their own tips and suggestions below.  Check them out and feel free to send your own to heather(at)torontoenvironment.org.

Packaging

• Leave wasteful and bulky packaging at the store if you can.
• Buy items in bulk.
• Carry groceries home in reusable containers or bags.
• Try to buy items sold in refillable containers [examples: refillable milk and yogurt containers have deposits]
• Return your LBCO and Beer Store bottles and containers to the store and get back the deposit.
• Pack a waste-free lunch with reusable containers and a lunch bag.
• Make sure you rinse all your food packaging before putting it in the recycling bin or garbage bag to prevent smell.
• Make sure you flatten or break down recyclables or garbage before you throw it away to save space. [examples: pop cans, plastic jugs, milk/juice cartons, cardboard boxes, Styrofoam containers, etc.]
• Find other uses for the containers and packaging you brought home [examples: crafts, pots for plants, bird feeders].
• No one is picking up litter during the strike, so think twice about buying on-the-go packaging like pop cans, water bottles, candy wrappers, take-out food/beverage containers. 
• Buy a refillable coffee mug.  Toronto uses over 1 million disposable coffee cups every day. What a waste!
• Buy a refillable water bottle.
• If going to a park or beach, pack litter-free snacks and bring a small bag to store any garbage to take home with you. Remember, litter bins are not in service!

Organics

• Throw away less organic waste by wasting less food. Buy only what you need for short periods of time and freeze leftovers if they will otherwise go bad.
• If you have space, buy a small composting bin to turn your organic waste into healthy soil for plants.
• If you do not have space, try to find a nearby location to compost with your neighbours or contact a community garden that may be able to take it.
• Store small amounts of organic waste in a bag in the freezer so it won't rot or smell.
• Some high-rise buildings in Toronto have composting on-site, but very few.  Talk to your property manager or building association about it!
• Vermicomposting is a form of composting that uses live worms to break down organic material.  Kept in space saving containers that can be stored indoors or outdoors, they provide a viable option for high-rise residents!
• If you are throwing your organics out with your garbage, wrap it in some newspapers to soak up some of the liquid.

Other

• Donate items that are gently used [examples: clothing, dishes, furniture, etc.]
• Wait out the strike by carefully storing waste that needs special handling [examples: paint cans, batteries, electronics, bulky items like furniture]

3. Your Tips!

Thank you to those who sent in the following tips.  Feel free to send us your own, by emailing heather(at)torontoenvironment.org.

Terrel Wong, a TEA member and Environmental Architect, says: "The Giblet Bag: Anything smelly and organic that can’t go into the composter can go in a small bag which is keep in the freezer for the green bin weekly. During the strike we have chosen meat with less bones to reduce the volume of waste.  With all the other composting we have only a 3L milk bag every two weeks.  It does not smell – no critters in the green bin – the green bin stays sanitary. "

Loree P says: "I've gone back to composting vegetable matter (including eggshells) back into the tall plants in the front yard as well as tossing it amongst the plants in the back yard....although it is not a proper 'composting bin' it has been working just fine and only attracting fruit flies The racoons have no desire for it. The other stuff like cheese, meat bones are still going into my green bin----family of 4, I actually still have room to fill it"

Anna Luengo, a TEA member, says: "I just want to say, though, that I have found absolutely no coverage of the issue with disposable diapers and wonder why this is the case.

I am old enough but not too old to remember using only cloth diapers for my son right through winters and summers without any problem whatsoever and without a dryer -- I actually still don't have one.  It was very easy and there were very few diaper rashes.  And this was when a lot of people were using disposables so I was quite different in that respect.  I didn't believe in having all of this garbage to deal with and cloth was a good, tried and true, way of coping. 

To give a few messy details:

Once the main mess of the diaper was flushed down the toilet and the diaper rinsed by just holding the edges of it while the toilet flushed, you could squeeze it out on the side of the toilet (without having to wring it with both hands), put it into a solution which I used to use call "NapiSan".  It was an Australian product that was baking soda based, I think, and you just put some of the powder into a diaper pail of water.  By the next day, once you had a bunch of diapers soaking in the NapiSan, you simply drained the Napisan water off and threw the diapers into the washing machine with a soft detergent like Lux.  The Napisan took away the toxicity of the urine and basically sanitized the diapers for another use.  I hung the diapers out in my basement with a fan on them and they would be dry in about 5 hours or so.  I did this for almost three years, while working full-time with another older child.  It worked very well.  Perhaps researching a product that is like Napisan would be a good idea.  Perhaps it is not environmentally friendly."

Suzanne, a TEA member, says:  "I have been drying my organic waste. I spread some organics on a pan to dry them before putting them in the green bin.

Peels and vegetable bits dry up rather than rot if left in the open air and they don’t smell.

If you allow much of the water content to evaporate you don’t end up with a bag of smelly brown water."

@MMiddleton, suggests via twitter: "If you have a garden, dig around your plants and bury your veggie scraps for free fertilizer."

1. Office and Outreach Assistant
2. Archival and Communications Contact Assistant
3. Research Assistant 

Please write your local Councillor and ask them to take action to practice the 3Rs for gravel use and help save our countryside.

Below is some sample text you can consider using for your letter.

Please CC us at tea@torontoenvironment.org.

Read more about our campaign here

Executive Summary

The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is literally made of stone, sand and gravel, collectively known as aggregate. Aggregate is in the cement we use to make sidewalks, bridges, large buildings, sewers, the foundations of our homes, and the underground tunnels for subways, cars, and pedestrian walkways.  Large amounts of aggregate are also used to make our roads, both the beds on which they sit and the asphalt we use to pave them. Put simply, aggregate is everywhere.

For a material so vital to our cities, it’s strange there is so little publicly available information about how much aggregate we use to build the various types of urban infrastructure we rely on.

The aggregate industry has revealed that, each year, the GTA consumes 40%[1] of the aggregate produced in Ontario. Over the next 25 years, the GTA will continue to use large amounts of aggregate as urban infrastructure is renewed and as new urban infrastructure is built. According to industry estimates, the GTA will use about 1,500,000,000 tonnes (1.5 billion) of aggregate over the next 25 years.[2]

Most of the aggregate will come from pits or quarries marking the countryside around the GTA, hidden from most of us until we fly over them. To date, the pits and quarries that have largely “fed” the GTA are right in the middle of some of the most precious ecological and agricultural land in Ontario: the world-renowned Greenbelt. For example, Canada’s largest aggregate quarry is in the middle of the Niagara Escarpment, designated by the United Nations as a World Biosphere Reserve.

If the future imitates the past, the GTA will get this 1.5 billion tonnes of aggregate from environmentally sensitive lands in the Greenbelt, like the Niagara Escarpment. To put this in context, the land disturbed to get 1.5 billion tonnes of aggregate is about the same size as a 60 foot deep (20 metre) hole from Toronto’s Bloor Street to the waterfront between Greenwood Avenue and the Kingsway.

If we don’t change our current aggregate usage, renewing and building the GTA’s infrastructure will destroy precious agricultural land and world-renowned natural spaces in the Greenbelt.

The key recommendations of this report call for GTA municipalities to individually and collectively adopt a 3Rs approach -- reduce, reuse and recycle -- to aggregate consumption in order to ensure GTA infrastructure does not destroy the ecological integrity and agricultural livelihood of the Greenbelt. It also recommends that municipalities urge the Province of Ontario to develop new aggregate policies that mandate the 3Rs and promote the production of “sustainable” aggregate.  

[2]OSSGA’s About Aggregates #5 publication – Importance of Aggregate. “The projected consumption of aggregate in Ontario for the next 25 years is 4 billion tonnes.” 40% of 4 billion is 1.6 billion; to be conservative this report uses 1.5 billion tonnes as the GTA’s 25 year projected aggregate demand.