Blog Archives

Princess Street Promonade - Solar ovens

7/28/2014

Want to Build Your Own Solar Cooker!?
By Brooke Gilmour

Join Hearthmakers at The Princess Promenade on Saturday, August 2nd, 2014. We’ll be running two workshops to teach kids how to build their own solar cooker! Get there early to register for one of the workshops. If you can’t make it, here’s how you can do it on your own!

You can use a solar cooker to harness the power of the sun to cook s’mores, hot dogs, and simple cookies! Building a pizza box solar cooker is easy, fun, and eco-friendly; it’s the perfect summer craft for kids. And you probably already have most of the materials you need around the house.

Materials:

Ruler
Empty Pizza Box
Plastic Wrap
Black Construction Paper
Aluminum Foil
Tape and white glue
Scissors or Box Cutters
Pencils or Straws (to prop cooker open)

Step by Step Picture Instructions:

Courtesy of http://old.solar-aid.org/

Step 1
Use the ruler to measure a frame (~1-2 inches) around the top of the pizza box.
Step 2
Take scissors or a box cutter and cut three sides of the frame, so it opens.
Step 3
Cover the underside of the flap you just cut with aluminum foil.
Step 4
Line the inside of the pizza box with black construction paper.
Step 5
Cover the empty frame of the pizza box with plastic wrap so it’s like a window.
Step 6 & Step 7
Close the box. Add newspaper around the outside for additional insulation (optional).
Step 8
Use a pencil or plastic straw to prop open the foil lid.

Now, you’re ready to start cooking! Solar power is a wonderful way to cook food because it doesn’t burn fossil fuels, draw on biomass resources, and it’s fun and safe for kids!

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Stormwater outreach!

7/23/2014

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by Liz Cooper

It’s a sultry, cloudy day – a typical mid-summer day in southern Ontario. Rain is in the forecast and a powerful thunderstorm would be a welcome relief from the humidity. After working on stormwater pollution prevention programs for over three years, I sometimes think that rain can seem like a double-edged sword. Water sustains life. Rain recharges our aquifers, nourishes our food and waters our gardens. As we continue to develop our landscape and cover it with impermeable surfaces like buildings and parking lots we block the water cycle. This reduces ground water quantities but it also sends pollutants running over land into lakes, rivers and streams. Each rain storm brings water, which we require for life, but also a potential influx of pollution. As we know from our RAIN workshops and Depave Paradise projects, this type of pollution, non-point source pollution, has significant ramifications for water quality, aquatic life and the people who depend on that water.

We've delivered workshops to help homeowners reduce their stormwater runoff and protect their properties from flooding. We’ve also completed demonstration projects like rain gardens and the removal of asphalt. We love advocating for green infrastructure projects like bioswales and rain gardens on individual properties. However, we’ve recently embarked on a new project which will help us affect stormwater management on a municipal level. Soak it Up Ontario is a new project from our friends at Green Communities Canada. They’re helping us make connections with key stakeholders in our community so we can have an open dialogue about green infrastructure projects in Kingston. It’s been an educational and energizing experience to speak with city and utilities staff; storm sewers, sanitary sewers and municipal water management is an incredibly complex system which relies on dozens employees from several departments, hundreds of kilometers of infrastructure and a great deal of money. When we started this project, I thought we would have a difficult time “selling” green infrastructure to city and utility staff. In fact, the complete opposite has been true: those who work on the front lines are already well aware of groundbreaking (pun intended) green infrastructure technology that could make our systems more efficient. They’re also aware of the limitations which exist in the current system and how implementing green infrastructure projects will be a challenge. We're excited and encouraged by the reception and we're eager to continue the dialogue.

We’re continuing our talks with individuals from the city, the community and the construction industry. We’ll keep you updated on how this project is going and this fall we’ll be publishing a report and a stormwater action plan based on our findings.

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Depave Paradise hits the heights!

7/11/2014

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This year, we teamed up with Rideau Heights Public School (RHPS) for another exciting Depave Paradise project. On May 31st, 2014 almost 40 volunteers came together to depave 96m2! We planted roughly 350 native plants and 10 trees!

It was an incredibly successful day and it would not have happened without the assistance of some generous local contributions. Landscapers Paul and Brenda at Stone and Maple Landscaping and Safety Guys donated personal hours, the site design, plants, trees, and expertise to this project.

Cruickshank Construction assisted us by liaising with many members of the construction community which resulted in the donation of bins for asphalt removal, trucks to remove the bins and an excavator. They also loaned us pry bars and donated safety goggles and gloves! Jason Makin, VP of Materials and Logistics at Cruickshank was an invaluable contact and a great volunteer on the day! Hughson Barriers provided the bins and trucks for the asphalt and CRS Rentals provided us with the excavator.

The teacher committee at RHPS is made up of enthusiastic and dedicated teachers. Tina, Laurie, Traci, Sarah and all the other teachers and staff involved were the true driving force in this project. It is because of their hard work that we had so many great volunteers on the day of the event. They were also great at getting awesome press, evidenced by this great article in the Kingston Whig Standard and this segment on Station14.ca.

Last, but definitely not least, we have to mention the Depave Paradise major funders. RBC Blue Water and Intact Insurance have provided support for this project!

* Photo credit: Lars Hagberg

The site before the depave.

The volunteers were second to none. They were incredibly hard working. Thank you! *

Mayor Mark Gerretsen paid us a visit and helped turn over a few slabs of asphalt. *

It was a beautiful day, but a hot one! *

As per the Depave Paradise mantra - we got a little dirty! *

We filled two bins with asphalt - totally 14 metric tonnes. This was all accomplished by hand in one morning! *

Teachers at RHPS flipping over the last slab of pavement. *

There was some debris in the ground - made it difficult digging holes for the trees. *

The dedicated teachers, like Tina, came back on day two to make sure everything was planted and ready for their students. *

A bug's eye view of the sensory garden. It's wheelchair accessible and filled with plants which are nice to touch and smell.

The brand new sandbox! It was used almost immediately.

Garden #1 - with three birch trees.

Garden #2 - with three more birch trees. Some of the starburst locust trees are visible in the background.

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Princess Street Promonade - Solar ovens

Stormwater outreach!

Depave Paradise hits the heights!

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