Toronto Star

Toronto wants to require every agency and division of the city to come up with ways to adapt to climate change in next year’s budget. The proposal was approved by the parks and environment committee yesterday, but still needs city council’s approval.

The Toronto Star

Are you for or against wind farms?

A thousand people who overflowed the auditorium of Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate on Guildwood Pkwy. last night debated the question at a meeting that mixed neighbourhood angst with debate over the pros and cons of Toronto Hydro’s proposed offshore wind farm.

The Toronto Star

Mayor David Miller wants Toronto to be among the greenest cities on the planet. Last week’s city council decision to ban the sale of bottled water at city-owned facilities and impose tighter curbs on plastic bags at retail stores are positive measures that push us closer to that vision.

Better, they set a template that will embolden other jurisdictions in Greater Toronto and beyond. Some will even exceed the city’s targets, pushing the goal of a green, sustainable planet closer to reality.

The Toronto Star

Toronto shoppers will have to pay five cents for every plastic shopping bag they get from stores in the city under a proposal worked out between the city and big grocery companies.

The Globe and Mail

Saving the economy and saving the planet at the same time were once considered two mutually incompatible goals. But not any longer.

A chorus of proposals from liberal-leaning think tanks and conservation organizations is suggesting that the best way to revive the faltering economy would be to finance solutions to pressing environmental problems.

The Toronto Star

Two new funds launched yesterday by the City of Toronto are expected to make it easier for schools, churches, hospitals and other not-for-profit sectors to reduce their carbon footprint.

The $42 million Toronto Energy Conservation Fund and the $20 million Toronto Green Energy Fund, created as part of the city’s climate action plan, make available zero-interest loans for projects that aim to make buildings more energy efficient or bigger users of green energy.

The Toronto Star

With only 3 per cent of polluters required to report their emissions, tracking the origin of most airborne toxins in Toronto is a hopeless enterprise. This is troubling, because when people don’t know what they’re breathing, it’s only natural that they worry about the health effects of the local atmosphere. And when governments have no idea how much toxic material a company might be spewing, it’s difficult to push that business into cutting back.

Media In Canada

Toronto-based EcoMedia has penned a three-year deal with the Canadian National Exhibition that will give advertisers further access to the approximately 1.2 million visitors who pass under the Prince’s Gates.

Starting this year, EcoMedia will gradually replace the 45-gallon garbage bins dotting the Exhibition grounds with branded recycling units.

Toronto Star

As other cities target plastic water bottles, Toronto is taking a broad look at a variety of packaging materials – including bottles – to cut down on its waste going to landfill.

A Green Fleet plan aimed at promoting the use of green fuels for the city of Toronto’s fleet gets unanimous approval from Toronto City Council yesterday.