The Little Paper

At the risk of dating ourselves; I’ll just say that several Little Paper mums remember the environmental movement as (very young) children of the seventies. Endless sorting, crushing, bundling and hauling to the lone recycling depot and the backyard compost were cornerstones of the movement. Fast-forward a decade or three and green is the new black. With door-to-door recycling and compost pick-up and a veritable array of earth-friendly products, being environmentally savvy has never been easier. So lets raise a big glass of green juice to Earth Day and read on for the products, services and goings-on, which support and sustain our planet. If you plant the environmental seed early, your wee one’s will soon be calculating your carbon footprint. April is a great month to grab your brood, garbage-bags and some gloves and help clean-up the City. Friday 24 April, 2pm is the 20-minute Toronto Makeover and Saturday 25 April is Community Clean-up day. Organize a neighbourhood party or go by your lonesome, there is no shortage of garbage to be picked. See for details. And don’t forget to check out one of the many neighbourhood environmental days – a great occasion to get rid of your household hazardous waste, score some free compost and search through leftover and unused paint cans for the perfect colour. After lying somewhat dormant over the winter, things are heating up at the Sorauren Park Fieldhouse in Roncesvalles Village. Leading the offerings is the 4 April Kite Works Community Arts Festival. Taking place from 1-3:30pm, Kiteworks is full of guerilla performances and ad-hoc exhibitions. An all ages weave-off between two trees on the lawn of the High Park Library, an embroidery stitch-in on the Sorauren Park baseball diamond and a massive 3pm Kite Flight in the park are among the highlights. Stainless steel, now the sippy cup of choice with the playground set, has clearly come out of the cupboard; if you’ve yet to take the plunge, it’s well worth the effort, cleaner, cooler and BPA free. The canisters are available pretty much everywhere, but we like the Grassroots stores at 408 Bloor St W in the Annex and 372 Danforth Ave in Riverdale. Ready to go a step further, an intrepid publisher I know scooped up some tiffins for a steal at Tap Phong in Chinatown, the India Bazaar area on Gerrard St East is also a good bet. If you are looking for more earth-friendly goods, take a peek at www.kaikids.com, a Toronto couple’s online store brimming with organic finds such as teething products, nursing wear and delightful lotions and potions. They’re hosting a Spring Shopping Day and Sale, 4 April from 10am to 5pm at 1390 Danforth Ave. There is no shortage of inspirational sites on the net to help families adopt a greener lifestyle. Greenmom, founded by Monique Fabregas is one of our favourites. We also love a book from Storey Publishing called Don’t Grow it, Grow it. We bought at goodegg www.goodegg.ca in Kensington market. It is a great source of ideas for sprouting your own little kitchen garden (right in the kitchen!) One of the highlights of childhood is digging in the dirt so give your child a small plot to plant whatever they want. If, like most Torontonians, you have just a sliver of green space this article by Now’s Ecoholic columnist Adria Vasil column about city gardening and, in particular, an approach to small space farming called square foot gardening, might help. Another exceptional resource is guerilla gardener Gayla Trail’s You Grow Girl. If you can’t hold off until May when most of the farmers markets open, Dufferin Grove’s market runs year-round on Thursdays, from 3-7pm and he Stop’s Green Barn Market, located in the historic Artscape Wychwood Barns at St. Clair & Christie runs every Saturday from 9am-12pm. And finally, a shameless plug for our neighbour, Steven Frei, who left the rat race to start Green Limousine, Canada’s first car service to use only fuel-efficient, ultra low-emission hybrid vehicles. Give them a call at 416-931-3644 or visit the website before your next trip to the airport.