Happiness in every step

With spring well underway (finally!), folks will start getting more active outdoors with the fair weather.  Most people don't realize that physical activity, even something as simple as walking, not only helps keep a healthy body but also strengthens the mind.  As the old adage goes, if you don't have your health, you don't have much — this goes for both physical and mental.

Our society's affection with the sedentary lifestyle appears to intensify with each passing year:  just think about how many screens most families have in their homes (and no exception for yours truly) — between computer monitors, televisions, mobile phones, and tablets — and one sees more opportunity to sit and stare at moving pictures instead of interacting with the surrounding "real world".  While productivity and entertainment delivered via screens certainly has its place to satisfy our brain's desires, we all need to remember that our bodies also deserve proper interaction.

According to Ravi Gupta, a Londoner who established the fundraiser called Hike for Happiness, "Physical exercise, like walking, is one of the most important aspects of mental-health treatment. Londoners are lucky to have access to over a 100 kilometres of hiking trails and walking paths through parks, woods, and along rivers. Hiking and walking can truly contribute to one’s happiness and wellness."

Mr. Gupta hopes to see Hike for Happiness achieve the following:

1. Raise money for mental-health patients to enable those with limited financial means to be able to continue treatment.
2. Encourage more people to show their support for family, friends, colleagues, and even strangers with mental illnesses. 
3. Encourage more business to support their employees with mental illnesses. 

The first Hike for Happiness takes place on Saturday, June 7, 2014, with two hikes starting at 9:00 AM.  Participate in a one-hour walk or a two-hour hike, with both taking place at the Medway Valley Trail.

If you like to walk, or want to see spring burst forth in the Medway Valley, register for this event and help a worthwhile cause at the same time.

To learn more, check out these links:

• Web site: hikeforhappiness.ca
• Facebook: facebook.com/HikeForHappiness
• Twitter: twitter.com/HikeForHappines

Let's make some noise!

Thank goodness for today's break from Winter: it gave me the opportunity to swap out the all-seasons for proper winter tires (the November squalls caught me unawares).  If you drive, make sure you have your vehicle properly equipped for our the impending snow and ice.  Today's respite will not last long, so I hope you can take advantage of today's higher temperatures to do whatever needs doing before the snow's return.

In my previous post about the proposed removal of mandatory composting at festivals in Victoria Park, I mentioned that we received much more information beyond that important topic. On the evening of Tuesday, October 22, the Special Events Public Consultation Meeting took place at the Civic Garden Complex.  Scott Stafford and Krista Kearns of the Community Services Department did an excellent job of going over the policies and procedures that will change in the 2013 manual for the 2014 season (with Ms. Kearns's assistant taking minutes). 

Ms. Kearns informed us that 180 events (including road closures and events at off-city property) in London attracted over one million people (locals and visitors) over the past year.  Of those, four events broke the noise policy outlined in section 13 of the manual by exceeding 90 decibels (dB): Rockin' New Year's Eve, Pride London Festival, Sunfest, and Rock the Park.  This means that they lost their $500 security for exceeding the noise level, and left themselves subject to by-law prosecution.

Ms. Kearns also announced that two of the organizers of Rockin' New Year's Eve, Ed Holder and Bruce McGuffin, made a request to have a complete exemption for noise during their event.  The existing exemption for this event reads:

• New Year's Eve Event will be limited to the hours of 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 midnight
• Announcements for the gathering of participants, on your mark, get set go and the singing of the national anthem at sporting events (not sound level not to exceed 90 db between 8 am - 9 am). All other amplified sound (ie: music) could not begin until 9 am)

It sounds like a reasonable request:  a vast majority of folks celebrate New Year's Eve in some fashion.  Music and other exciting noise coming from the bandshell to bring in the new year should pose no threat to anybody's enjoyment of the downtown.

A public participation meeting to discuss the proposed noise exemption (click for report from City staff) for the Rockin' New Year's Eve event at Victoria Park takes place on Monday, December 9 at 7:00 PM (19h00) at the Community and Protective Services Committee meeting, taking place at City Hall.  If you wish to have your input, don't miss this meeting.

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Also of note from this meeting, a gentleman who lives near the river in Blackfriars (making 66% of the audience residents of that neighbourhood - him and myself) suggested that Gibbons Park get used for festivals as an additional option.  Of the 92 days in June, July, and August, Victoria Park hosts events for 44 of those days.  The events schedule allows time (an "administrative week") to give the grounds a chance to recuperate.  Existing turf protection requires replacement, which allows this extended use of the park.

What do you think about opening Gibbons Park to festivals, to either give relief to Victoria Park or to facilitate even more events?

De-Greening of the festivals

Remember in 2007 when "EcoStations" started popping up at the festivals in Victoria Park?  The initiative—dubbed "Greening of the festivals"—aimed to reduce waste by diverting recyclable and compostable materials from the garbage dump, and it came in endorsed by organizers of some of the heavy hitters such as Sunfest, Home County Folk Festival, and RibFest.  Championed by the City of London thanks to the efforts of Waste-Free World and Thames Region Ecological Association (TREA), the initiative targeted reducing the environmental impact of the festivals.

Greening of the festivals encouraged folks to bring their own dishes and drink containers or use the on-site reusable dishes, while also keeping in mind the three streams of waste disposal:  recycling, composting, and garbage.  The EcoStations provide an enormous number of volunteer hours, allowing citizens (particularly high-school students) to help out by instructing festival attendees how to properly dispose of their waste.  These volunteers  keep down the cost of running the EcoStations.

Photo courtesy of TREA

On Tuesday evening, the Special Events Public Consultation Meeting took place at the Civic Garden Complex.  Scott Stafford and Krista Kearns of the Community Services Department did an excellent job of going over the policies and procedures that will change in the 2013 manual for the 2014 season (with Ms. Kearns's assistant taking minutes).  Unfortunately, the ratio of staff members to audience participants was one to one:  for those who don't like mathematics, that means three staff at the front of the room and three of us in attendance.

Regardless of the turnout, the meeting proved very informative.  When Ms. Kearns began describing changes to "Section 9: Procedures for the use of Victoria Park", she started by noting that mechanical rides can no longer sit on the grass (instead they need to situate on the road), and trailers and vehicles must also locate on the road or another paved surface.    This all provides relief for the much-trampled grass in the park.

The bombshell followed:  EcoStations will henceforth only have two streams – garbage and recycling.  Unless the event organizer requests the third stream (composting), the City of London will only provide EcoStations with two types of containers for garbage and recycling, and event organizers no longer need to provide staffing.  The standard garbage cans already situated in the park will have blue bins twinned during the festival, with emptying of both a duty of the City.  Emptying the (two or three) bins at the EcoStations remain the responsibility of the event organizer.

When I asked for the reasoning behind removing the compost stream, Mr. Stafford explained that the original idea of having the EcoStations—with three streams and volunteers—came with anticipation of a green-bin program forthcoming by the City.  Volunteers in the EcoStations instruct festival-goers how to dispose of waste properly into three streams so that residents can repeat the same process at home:  garbage can, blue box, and green bin.  London citizens become more aware of the three-stream process and don't have to think as much about it when bringing in the green-bin program.  Pure and simple, no?

Now with no green-bin program on the horizon (the pilot project in Pond Mills concluded nearly a year ago and the current council appears to have no plans to implement a city-wide program), the staff conclusion aligns with not implementing green bins rather than continuing to make a progressive step toward waste diversion at these festivals.  The policy will continue to require one EcoStation for every four food vendors.  The City provides everything included in the EcoStations, while the event operator used to staff them (no longer a requirement).

Mr. Stafford also noted too much cross-contamination of materials for reaching the decision, with the efforts and costs going into the three-stream system not giving desired results.  They have decided to not look at re-introducing the third stream for composting until the City implements green bins (i.e. following the City's garbage-collection policy).

My final question to the staff members asked about where the compost went after collection.  Mr. Stafford didn't know for certain, but knew that the compostables went to an appropriate collection site (not Jay Stanford's backyard!), and promised to get the information to me.

I encourage the festival organizers to request the three-stream EcoStations going forward, while also continuing to recruit volunteers to run them.  The learning process must continue, lest the lessons of the past seven festival seasons become for naught.  This important initiative must not die because of inaction at City council to implement green bins.

Other topics included noise levels in Victoria and Harris Parks, which I shall cover in a future post.