Green Calgary's Blog

Summer in Calgary has officially kicked off! This means that market season is now upon us. There are tons of markets scheduled for the rest of summer and even multiple ones happening this upcoming weekend. As mentioned in one of our previous blog posts , shopping local is a great and easy way to be green. At the markets, you will find a variety of goodies ranging from vintage clothes, to farm fresh produce, and maybe even some beeswax wraps to reduce your plastic wrap consumption. Shopping local has plenty of benefits including helping the economy. Did you know that spending $100 locally ensures that $68 stays in the community? This article explains this notion in more depth and also talks about the importance of supporting your neighbors and becoming an active member of your community. These local businesses also tend to have a smaller carbon footprint than their big brand counterparts, which is another reason to spend your money locally. There are also advantages to buying loca...

June 15th is Neighbour Day, a yearly celebration of Calgary's ability to come together. It was started in 2014 as a way to commemorate the way Calgarians helped one another during the 2013 floods. It's that spirit that makes Calgary feel like a big city with small town charm. Green Calgary serves communities through its rain water harvesting programs, its support of community events, and its workshops and products. In the 41 years that Green Calgary has been around, we've seen Calgary change and grow, along with the challenges to our urban environment. Those challenges are constantly shifting but at the heart of them all are people who are trying to make a difference. So, we encourage all Calgarians to get out in their communities this Neighbour Day. Find an event, go for a walk, shop at local businesses, and connect with the other people in your community. We are all integral to our neighbourhoods and the actions we take in our communities affect those around us. S...

A whopping six million tonnes of organic wastes in Canada is produced annually, according to Waste Management World. Fortunately for the good of the earth, all of this waste can easily be converted to compostable fertiliser for your garden. With Earth Day not too far away, there are plenty of hacks to  turn your garden into an eco-friendly paradise . Help our city of Calgary  go green with these easy to implement  changes to your garden. These five simple tasks will leave you with a stunning backyard paradise, giving the nature around you the chance to grow happily. 1. Solar Lamps to Light The Way One easy eco-friendly swap is to implement solar-powered lights and lamps. No need to reach for an outdoor outlet with the  convenience of solar-powered lamps . With a variety of solar lamps, you can light your pathways, driveways, even your back porch sitting area. This eco-friendly hack not only saves electricity, but  uses sustainable power sources . ...

It's rain barrel season for Green Calgary again, and we have so much going on at the rain barrel sites other than just rain barrels! So what can you expect from the sales dates? Bag Share: The Bag Share is back! With such a huge success of the program last year, we're repeating it this year. We'll be collecting your extra reusable bags on site at each Rain Barrel Sale and redistributing them to others! We thank everyone for their donations! Activities: At each of our Rain Barrel Sales we will have activities on site for children and youth to get involved and learn about sustainability. They can participate in Environmental Jeopardy, Spin the Enviro Wheel, and much more! Rain Barrel Repair: We will have Dirk Struck, the Barrelman himself, onsite to repair your rain barrels. Bring old barrels down with you to get repaired. It's $15 per outlet repaired and Dirk takes cash. Thanks! Partners: Each site will have some of our community partners on-hand to provid...

Happy Earth Month everyone! We're all getting a bit of spring fever here at Green Calgary as we prepare for our busiest month of the year! Here are a few things we're up to throughout the month, as well as some Earth Month actions for you to take! For us it starts (and ends) with Rain Barrels! Our annual rain barrel sales are back and we start selling online right now! Our rain barrels are a great deal at $65 per kit, and our composters are on sale, too, at $45! You can preorder yours today or come to one of the four sales locations across Calgary in the coming months (more info on these below). Then, later this month we'll be celebrating Earth Week and Earth Day by participating in environmental awareness events across Calgary! You can even book us to come to your business or community association throughout Earth Month as our Lunch and Learn series is on special for $250 per session or 5 for $1000! You can find more info about those on our website . As Earth Mo...

It's 2019 and another World Water Day is upon us. Water is such a vital part of our lives. We drink it, eat it , wear it, use it, bathe in it, and more every day. It seems odd that we only celebrate water on a few days every year! Each year, the UN declares a theme for World Water Day. This year's theme is clean water for everyone. Surprisingly, there are many communities - even in Canada - that don't have access to clean water. It goes to show that we still have a ways to go in terms of managing this precious resource. Here are other reasons we should all respect our waters! Calgary gets floods. We all remember the big flood of 2013, but there's flooding fairly regularly. The City has plans extending far into the future to help lessen the impacts of floods. Learn about how to mitigate flood risks for you and your neighbours on The City of Calgary's website . It takes a lot to manage our water. The City of Calgary has its job cut out for it! Betwee...

We all know that water is a precious resource and most of us take care not to waste it, but there are some amazing facts about water that can help you conserve even more in your day-to-day life! Here are 5 amazing things you never knew about water! 1. Water conservation isn't just about water. When we talk about saving water, we're not just talking about the wet stuff itself. Water conservation is about domestic water (the stuff you use at home) and virtual water, which is the water that we don't see - this refers to the water that is inherent in products we buy and use. 2. Domestic Water. The water we use at home for cleaning, cooking, and washing is called our domestic consumption. In Calgary, our average water consumption each day (per capita) was 387 litres in 2017 . That's much higher than the 223 average for Canadians in 2013. Overall, both of these averages are very high on the global scale. 3. You can cut down on your domestic water with choices ...