In 2009 the Calgary Public Library launched its first three-year eco-action plan. Although the Library has been in the business of “reuse” since 1912, a formalized plan was needed to establish far-reaching targets, provide a framework that was congruent with the organizational culture, and articulate the Library’s commitment to sustainability.

How did we do? Well, a few of our achievements include:

• Implementation of a corporate sponsorship program to engage for-profit businesses in programs, events and services with a goal of “Reaching Calgarians To Engage, Educate And Inspire Action to Create A Sustainable City and World”
• Established eco nooks and eco champs at Library locations
• Hosted a very successful environmentally themed children’s’ summer reading program, Eco Heroes, and connected with over 50,000 school children
• Established the annual Ecopalooza Family Fair (now in its second very successful year!)
• Expanded green programming: in 2010 over 110 green programs were offered at the Library
• Elimination of plastic bags at the checkout, and introduction of a stylish, reusable library bag made of recycled material
• Completed a LEED renovation of Signal Hill Library and aspiring for LEED Gold Saddletowne Library (opening in 2012)
• Recycling expanded to include plastics, batteries, fluorescent and CF lamps and compost
• Energy reduced by over 18% and increasing use of green power
• Paper use decreased by 4% since 2009

This year the Calgary Public Library was very proud to be a finalist for the environmental Emerald Award, sponsored by the Alberta Emerald Foundation. Here is our CEO, Gerry Meek, profiling the Library’s role in greening the community:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNUfBOAFmDk

We are now drafting our eco-action plan for 2012-2014. We are excited about the possibilities, and welcome comments and suggestions from the community.

I know, you just sent the kids back to school and the holiday countdown is upon already. Scary!

According to Statistics Canada, we spent over $196 million in 2004 on Hallowe'en supplies, with all the wrappers and waste than ensues.

Try greening your Hallowe'en this year:

If your house didn't come with metres of fun fur stuffed in the ceiling like ours did (?!) you may want to run to the Calgary Kids Costume Swap this Saturday, September 10 at the South Calgary Community centres. Go to www.calgarykidscostumeswap.com for details.

If you can't attend, consider using paperless social media to organize your own informal event with friends and neighbours whose children may have outgrown their outfits. Second hand stores often have fun finds and kids may enjoy using found items such as carboard boxes and tubes to make their own costumes, and the library has great books available.

Pumpkins are bulky but compost down nicely. Go to Map Downloads at www.calgary.ca for the city's leaf and pumpkin composting drop off locations if you don't do your own backyard composting.

Parties can cut down on wrappers if you offer unpackaged treats such as baked goods, flavoured popcorn, or fruit and chocolate dip (not so good at the door). Remember that the library has great Halloween craft and recipe books.

Use solar lighting whenever possible in your outdoor displays. Tiny plastics bags hanging from the trees are scary, but not in the way intended. Go for re-usable good looking, high quality and least-toxic, or hand-made items that you can enjoy for years.

What do Margot Kidder, Darrell Hannah and Naomi Klein have in common? Unless you’ve been avoiding the news lately, you’ll know that they were arrested at the White House protesting Calgary-based TransCanada Corp.’s proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline. The 1,700-mile pipeline would cut through six U.S. states to deliver crude oil to the refineries in the Gulf of Mexico. President Obama has until November 1^st to make a decision on the project.

This is a huge project that has people predictably polarized. A total of 1,252 people were arrested over two weeks in the largest environmental civil disobedience effort in decades. More protests are planned for Ottawa beginning September 26^th.

Proponents say the negative impacts will be minimized and that the project will create much needed jobs, while providing a reliable and friendly source of oil for the U.S. The protestors say that the project will endanger water supplies of millions of people and that the oilsands are “the dirtiest fuel on the planet” for their carbon emissions and the pollution they generate.

In a way, even Oprah has weighed in. The Oprah Winfrey Network recently started airing pro-oil sands “Ethical Oil” ads for which she came under fire.

How do you separate fact from fiction? Who do you trust? Read up! Get informed at the library.

Imagine a Calgary street festival that celebrates cycling culture, with tons of live music from local bands, fitness and yoga classes, belly dancing, bike tune-ups and workshops, a kids area, mandala painting, a fun bike procession AND a slow bike race with five Olympic athletes, all along the length of a beautiful river. You’ve just imagined Bow River Flow, as planned for this Sunday, August 21^st.

This is the third year for the festival, which takes place largely along Memorial Drive, and which is designed to get communities out on their bike, skateboard or scooter, celebrating local culture, and re-envisioning how we use public spaces, like roads.

All you’re consuming is the experience – it’s not a shopping event; it’s totally non-commercialized, without a vendor in sight. That lends a really different dynamic to the day, putting the focus squarely on fun activities and meeting people in your community – and celebrating human-powered transportation!

Check out these two amazing books on feats of human-powered travel:

Beyond the Horizon: the Great Race to Finish the First Human-Powered Circumnavigation of the Planet by Colin Angus

Pedaling to Hawaii: A Human-Powered Odyssey by Stevie Smith

Have you ever heard of global buckets? I hadn’t, until I was at an event at the Area, a great new community space in Inglewood. While a band played, and a campfire crackled, a friend took me over to a line of buckets, out of which grew various veggies. The neat thing about global buckets is that they require very little water, because they are irrigated from the bottom (less evaporation), and they are all connected with a tube, so all you have to do is water one bucket, and atmospheric pressure will ensure every bucket (and every plant) has water.

Check out the website by the two teenagers who thought up the idea, as a way to grow food cheaply and anywhere.

This Friday at 5:30 p.m. and Saturday at 11:00 a.m. Robert McWilliam, a local permaculture enthusiast will be hosting a free workshop on building Global Buckets at the Old Y Community Centre. Check it out, meet some new friends and enjoy the Old Y’s new backyard patio and garden! Email philip_mcc@hotmail.com for more details.

Learn how to garden affordably and using containers with these books:

The Small Budget Gardener: All the Dirt on Saving Money in Your Garden by Maureen Gilmer

Garden Anywhere: How to Grow Gorgeous Container Gardens, Herb Gardens, Kitchen Gardens, and more – Without Spending a Fortune by Alys Fowler

Incredible Vegetables from Self-Watering Containers by Edward C. Smith