The first time she came by, on a chilly May morning, she gave me a decisive thumbs down and kept on walking.  The next week she came she gave a tentative thumbs up and kept on her way. The following week she smiled and enthusiastically gave a thumbs and for the weeks after that she helped to weed, give tips and always a smile and thumbs up. My interaction with the women who picks up bottles in the morning perfectly exemplifies the power of a front yard food garden. She did not speak a word of English and I don’t speak a word of her language but we had lively (I have discovered the power of hand motions) chats about how to stake tomatoes, when to pick cucumbers, the importance of diligent weeding and how to share a private space (that also is very public) with an entire neighborhood. However, the garden lady never seemed to recognize me outside the garden, despite enthusiastic waves and smiles.

If it can’t be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold, recycled or composted then it should be restricted, redesigned or removed from production. -Pete Seeger It’s a warm afternoon as I head down to the Ravina Project to chat with Gord, Susan and Simon about their unique science experiment using their 1920s home. I was told to go through the side gate and as I do I get distracted by some healthy-looking potted tomatoes, lettuce, and other vegetables. Gord greets me from his lawn chair in a large backyard filled with plants; that’s when I notice the massive solar panel on the roof. The Ravina Project has been an ongoing initiative to create a less energy dependent and environmentally responsible home.

-Clouded Sulpher The city’s built form does not easily lend itself to habitats suitable many insects and we go to great lengths to keep ourselves and our homes bug free. Yet, insects also connect us with our natural space and its changing tides like the first butterflies of spring. Those same butterflies also connect us with countries far afield through migrations that no free trade deal could rival. I was interested in insects in the city and our relationship to them. Butterflies seemed like a great place to start that conversation since they are so visible and loved (monarchs) or disliked (Cabbage Whites leave garden greens in tatters).

Could you imagine a city without trees? Denuded streets baking under the hot sun in the summer and bleak(er) during the long winter months and eerily silent without birds with  nowhere to perch. That is how a tree-less city would look and feel like. A local organization, Local Enhancement & Appreciation of Forests (LEAF), is working with communities across Toronto to support the urban forest to prevent that kind of dark vision. I had to the opportunity to chat with Janet McKay, the Executive Director of LEAF, about the urban forest in Toronto.

It’s the summer solstice and a group of 18 guerrilla gardeners descend on a neglected and garbage-filled lot on D’arcy Street, just off Spadina Avenue. Armed with shovels, top soil and one thousand lilies plus some annuals donated by a neighbour the group gets started on transforming a space into something beautiful, having fun and gaining onlookers as they go.

It is 8 am on a cloudy Sunday morning and at Seton Park a hundred or so canoeists and kayakers mill around itching to hop in the Don River for the Annual Paddle the Don. These are only the early birds - approximately 630 paddlers will test the waters during the day. A mix of families, fit looking-couples with impressive looking kayaks, and enthusiastic young people, among others, jockeyed for a position in line to the launching point. My Toronto Regional Conservation Authority (TRCA) guide, Ryan, and I wait in line when we are gravely advised to take care round the first corner as a few paddlers had already tipped due to the unusually fast moving water this year. I looked nervously to Ryan, who would be steering (as I did not have the experience), who reassured me that he had canoed on lakes before. The first section of the river before the first portage was no lake today, but with his expert paddling we made it through dry and unscathed.

Edward Burtynsky is a well known photographer of the built landscape. In his exhibition, Oil, which opened April 9th and runs until July 3 at the Royal Ontario Museum, the viewer is invited to witness the life cycle of oil. From the extraction process, to the disposal of petroleum and its by-products, to what remains of oil fields when the earth has been sucked dry.  Each photograph is enormous in size and implication. Taking in all the detail enthralls the viewer. One photo, in particular, I was captivated by. The sun appears to be setting in the photo, creating a hazy orange glow so pervasive it seems to drift out of the photograph. A beach is deserted of people; instead pieces of giant ships occupy the space - spectres of a disposable age. The photo is called “Shipbreaking #13” and was taken in Bangladesh, where oil tankers and freighters are dissembled at the end of their useful life — out of sight, but with this exhibit, not out of mind.

The Toronto Beekeepers Cooperative is abuzz with excitement with their recent win at the Green Toronto’s Environmental Awards of Excellence in the Local Food category. The cooperative has grown to almost 60 members since it was established 10 years ago. Its honey is extracted, jarred, and sold at Foodshare, ensuring the most pure and local honey you can get. Urban bees are everywhere in Toronto: on top of the Royal York Fairmont Hotel, Four Seasons Centre, New College at the University of Toronto, on the Islands, and on Leslie Split — in addition to the individually owned and managed hives in backyards and rooftops. The Cooperative’s bees currently reside in Downsview Park after a few moves around and out of the city. Originally the hives were almost underneath the Gardiner Expressway — close enough to the Don Valley to give the bees access to a diverse range of pollinating plants. Favouring a diversity of plant life with few pesticides, urban bees have a place where they can thrive compared to those in rural, agricultural habitats, where monocultures (large plots of only one type of crop) and the use of pesticides are more common. In fact, the cooperative's bees were moved to a rural location after construction evicted them from the spot under the highway and the colony did not fare as well until it returned to its urban environment — first the Brick Works and now Downsview Park.

Walking towards Dufferin Grove Park on a chilly Sunday in March I could smell camp fire smoke and hear the sounds of kids laughing and, of course, an accordion. Stepping in to the hub of activity the first thing I noticed was a huge iron pot sitting atop the camp fire. A volunteer from Not Far From the Tree was stirring what appeared to be a pot of water. As it turns out it was the beginnings of Maple Syrup ...

There is no doubt that buildings make the streetscape of a city. Buildings hold infinite potential. They can create a welcoming space, a barrier, a source of pollution, or a beacon of sustainability. Toronto’s Scott Torrance Landscape Architects created a space that was beautiful, welcoming and a tool of sustainability – a green roof atop the ESRI building located near the Don Valley Parkway. The architecture firm is being recognised with the Green Roofs for Healthy Cities Green Roof and Wall Awards of Excellence at the Cities Alive: 8th Annual Green Roof and Wall Conference in late November 2010.