Ottawa River Summit

Photo: Meredith Brown/Ottawa Riverkeeper

Experts from across Ontario and Québec gathered in Gatineau, Québec today to discuss ways to improve and preserve the quality of the Ottawa River watershed.

The first ever Ottawa River Summit began with a blessing by Peter Decontie, fire keeper of the Anishinabe Algonquin, and continued with a smudging ceremony and a song for the river.

He and other Aboriginal leaders talked about the cultural, spiritual and heritage value of the river.

Participants then heard from Ottawa Riverkeeper Executive Director, Meredith Brown, who outlined the many challenges facing the river.

The Ottawa River watershed is huge – 146,000 square kilometres and is home to more than 1.6 million people (living in 250 communities).

Ms. Brown talked about the many advantages of living within this watershed: it is a reliable source of drinking water (albeit after treatment), hydro-electric power generation, tourism and recreation and the jobs that are created as a result of all of those activities.

However, the river is under siege and Ms. Brown outlined many of the problems, including: point and non-point source pollution, agricultural run off, dams, altered shorelines, loss of wetlands and floodplains, low water levels, algal blooms, contaminated fish and inadequately treated sewage being dumped into the river.

Ms. Brown said there is a lack of baseline data about the Ottawa River and called for a more coordinated effort by all levels of government, non-governmental organizations, and aboriginal groups to work together to improve water quality.

Photo: While the Ottawa River Summit was going on, many were on the water enjoying it.

What to expect from the First Meeting of State Parties to the CCM

Photo courtesy Cluster Munition Coalition

Mines Action Canada held a webinar recently to celebrate the entry into force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM).

Banning these weapons has been a goal for civil society groups for many years – given the fact that the majority of cluster bomb victims are civilians.

Alex Hiniker, project manager, Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), participated in the webinar live from Vientiane, Lao PDR. The Internet connection was very poor and Ms. Hinkier's presentation was cut short, but not before she showed slides of the destruction caused by cluster bombs – both on humans and the environment.

She also outlined what civil society groups wanted from the upcoming First Meeting of State Parties, which will be held in Lao PDR in November 2010.

Ms. Hiniker said the CMC has three main objectives for the first meeting: to ensure wide participation from state parties and civil society; a comprehensive and co-coordinated action plan that shows how state parties will meet their treaty obligations; and to inform as many people as possible to about the problem of cluster munitions and the solutions that are available.

Lao PDR was the logical choice for hosting the first meeting, as it is the most heavily cluster-affected countries in the world. As many as 260 million cluster submunitions were dropped on the country during the 1960s and 1970s, according to Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor. Millions of those submunitions did not explode and remain in the ground waiting to go off.

To date, 108 countries have signed the CCM and 38 have ratified it. It became legally binding on August 1, 2010.

To see your country's position on the CCM, please click here.

World Press Photo exhibition in Ottawa

The winning photographs from the annual World Press Photo competition are currently on display at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa (until August 29).

As always, some of the photographs are shocking, disturbing and enlightening. Others make you question why they were selected in the first place.

Despite budget cuts to news organizations and a decrease in photo assignments, the jury waded through 101,960 images to select the winners in a variety of categories.

There are several highlights to the exhibition including: Eugene Richards' black & white photos of injured American soldiers, and a shocking series of photographs by Farah Abdi Warsameh of a Somali man getting stoned to death.

On a totally different level, Zed Nelson's photo of a young New York man looking at his freshly-waxed chest in a mirror says a lot about the desire to conform to the de jour standard of beauty.

World Press Photo was founded in the Netherlands in 1955. The annual exhibition is seen by more than 2.5 million visitors in 45 countries.

For more information please click here.

Going green and saving money

Photo: Annalea Krebs, owner of ethicalDeal.

If you like green products, a sustainable lifestyle and saving money, Annalea Krebs has a deal for you.

The Vancouver woman is just about to launch a green coupon website called ethicalDeal that will allow subscribers to purchase products or services in their own community and save anywhere from 50 to 90 per cent off the regular price.

"I have always been passionate about promoting the green economy," said Ms. Krebs, in a telephone interview.

After studying commerce at university, she combined her business knowledge and her personal commitment to ethical consumerism to start ethicalDeal.

What is ethicalDeal?

"It is an easy way for people to discover the best green stuff to do, see or buy in their city," said Ms. Krebs.

If enough people purchase the discounted product or service online, then ethicalDeal sends them a coupon, which the customer takes to the vendor in his or her community to redeem.

Ms. Krebs chose this business model because more people are shopping online today than ever before.

Ms. Krebs says the advantage of using ethicalDeal is not only the group discount, but also the fact that the consumer does not have to spend so much time looking for the green product or service anymore. The searching is done for them.

Ms. Krebs says that her group will verify each product or service to make sure they are legitimate and eco-friendly.

They are about to launch their first green coupon website in Vancouver. Victoria, Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton will follow.

"It's all about group buying power," said Ms. Krebs. "We go where people want us."

The group needs between 3,000 - 5,000 subscribers in order to launch an ethicalDeal site in each community. Membership is free.

Just how big is the ethical consumer market?

Ms. Krebs says that according to a 2006 North American survey, it was valued at $US 209 million and projected to grow to more that $US 420 million by 2010.

Although Canada lags behind other countries in terms of green purchasing and environmental awareness, Ms. Krebs is delighted that Vancouver has just been certified as a fair trade city.

She acknowledges that most green products are more expensive than products that are available at discount stores, but she believes ethical consumers are willing to pay more to buy products or services that match their lifestyle.

For more information or to sign up to win a $500 green shopping spree, visit www.ethicaldeal.com.