By Kate Laing
Call it solastalgia or eco-anxiety, the feelings are the same – worry, concern, and grief about the future of our planet. Like many others, I am thinking daily about the climate crisis and how to manage its impacts, both globally and right here in our own community of Lowertown.
We have dedicated the feature in this issue to ideas for mitigating the impacts of the climate crisis here in Lowertown. From protecting our tree canopy to sharing the bounty of our backyard vegetable gardens, our contributors have prepared interesting and useful articles that, we hope, will provide inspiration to those who want to get more involved in climate action.
In addition to the resources provided in the various articles, here are five more things you can do to help our planet:
- Discover the impact each of us is having on the ecological systems that support life on Earth. Calculate your environmental footprint at www.footprintnetwork.org.
- Learn how the climate of Ottawa is expected to change in the years to come by exploring the interactive Climate Atlas of Canada at www.climateatlas.ca.
- Organize a Cool ‘Hood program to develop a plan for a climate resilient neighbourhood. Learn more at Cool ‘Hood Champs – Centre for Community Engaged Learning (ubc.ca).
- Use the 10-second rule – if your car is running but you haven’t moved for 10 seconds, turn it off! Idling generates an immense quantity of greenhouse gases. Doing it for more than three minutes when the temperature is between 5° and 27° C is in violation of City of Ottawa by-law 2007-266.
- And lastly, remember our pollinator friends, many of whom are having trouble adapting to higher temperatures. Bees, considered by leading scientists to be the most important living thing on Earth, struggle to survive when temperatures exceed 36° C. Providing garden plants such as bee balm, echinacea, milkweed, asters, and sunflowers, along with an accessible source of water, will help their chances of survival.
