Keep Winnipeg beautiful
Winnipeg, MB
The largest city of Manitoba, Canada, is the capital Winnipeg.
Winnipeg was incorporated 1873 and has a population of ~635.000 UPDATE: I must take this opportunity to thank Ken Friesen of the CBCRA (Canadian Beverage Container Recycling Association) for their marketing approach in encouraging our citizens/community to recycle in their new ad campaign RecycleEverywhere.ca. As a Winnipeg Transit driver and author of "Recycle Day" name change I am blown away to drive a bus that has Recycle Everywhere written on the side of it. Now that this is done we now need to see other business/community and government departments joining with their own marketing campaigns to get Winnipeg to be among one of Canada's top recycling cities. I am confident that this would be a step in the right direction to ensure a cleaner, healthier and a more sustainable environment for our children's children. Read more on this pdf-file Don Woodstock  On March 22nd, we had experienced the consciousness of Winnipeggers' efforts to go green. Following up from our success of our Plastic Bag Day where we gave away over 3,000 reusable bags we have all the major retail outlets in our city and province fulfilling part of their corporate responsibility to help us to be among Canada's top green cities. Reusable Bag Day is just that; a day where our shopping public will be encouraged to use reusable bags instead of plastic bags. We are all aware of the damning effects to the environment that plastic bags cause so this is truly one sure way of moving us away from the habit of using plastic bags. I am confident that this one day will save in excess of $3 million plastic bags entering our landfill and contaminating our ground and water supply. Surely, another big day for the environment. Thanks to Debra Green from Polo Park Shopping Centre, her efforts ensured all of our major malls/shopping centres joined our efforts in encouraging a sustainable approach to shopping. Thanks to Andrew Long of Curve 94.3 FM for his vision in supporting this worthy event. I'm sure other media houses will give us all the support they can. Reusable Bag Day in Winnipeg and throughout Manitoba is a joint effort of members of the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors, Retail Council of Canada, Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, Multi-Material Stewardship Manitoba and individual stores and malls throughout the city/province. So remember, when you go shopping please take your reusable bag. Thank you Don Woodstock Just in case, someone had asked YOU about all the snow in the US-Northeast and where Global warming is: Did you find a quick intelligent response? Extreme weather is 'Climate Change'! Not only does all that snow and ice not disprove global warming, it actually matches scientific predictions that climate change will increase extreme weather events of many kinds, including heavy snowfalls in regions like the Northeast. Ask the guy who gave these remarks: Did you hear about the snow record? Can you explain what record means? Do you think breaking a record is normal? Record heat in South America, Record floods in Mexico Record snow in the US-Northeast All that confirms what we published in our studies: How Climate change will change our life, how climate change is endangering humans and all life on Earth! To get more information, please visit our website   NASA satellites measure temperatures and the amount of arctic summer days. Can you see the trend? Don Woodstock on Feb. 24, 2010 One of the hot topics last week was dealing with/looking at giving our citizens a chance to increase their garbage input to the landfill. While I agree with the notion that everyone has the right to decide whether or not to recycle, I am sure we can all agree that without the consciousness and willingness of most of our citizens to recycle as much as possible, our city will remain at the bottom of the ladder among cities that are moving towards a more sustainable future. I am confident that we have not truly examined the effects of last week’s action by City Council, and we still have some tweaking to do with the subject. Council in my view has done their best with the situation at hand however; here is a different angle that I would humbly ask His Worship the Mayor and Councilors to consider. The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce has been embarking on this concept to sell our beautiful city to the world as a Green Sustainable City in an attempt to attract Green businesses. What will the headline read with this vote to allow our citizens up to 360 liters of garbage to be placed in the dump? It may be viewed by others that we clearly have no interest in promoting recycling as a way of life to ensure that our children’s children will have a more sustainable future. In the late 60's, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau embraced multiculturalism which paved the way for me, a country boy from Jamaica and so many others from all over the world, to hold our heads up high and say without fear of contradiction, THIS IS MY WINNIPEG, MY COUNTRY TOO. I'm sure there are other noted politicians that have been known to step out on a limb to do the right thing despite criticisms and the possibility of a loss of votes. This may be one of such moments, similarly when we had the controversy of a “No Smoking” Ban or the building of the Flood way. Please let us take advantage of this moment to put our city on the recycling path and reduce the amount of garbage to our landfills. Besides, who needs to dispose of 240 or more liters of garbage each week? Winnipeg police with all it's hardworking men and woman need our help cracking down on criminals using our neighbourhoods as cover for grow ops or meth labs. One indicator of this, is excessive weekly garbage disposal, which means that you could be doing something, chikeeny, hanky panky or illegal. If you generate more than 240 liters of garbage each week then the police dept should be at your door checking what are you disposing of. For those who may need to throw away more than 240 liters of garbage, you should be paying $140 or more, an inconvenient amount not $33 . We should all know by now that there are huge economical and environmental benefits to recycling. Let’s face it, when compared to the rest of Canada, we have cheap labour, cheap land and cheap hydro, the perfect model for a successful recycling plant with us selling the finished product right here in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I GET IT,in Jamaica we say " Yes Ayah, I an I man see it star, Yeah". Council is made up of various political factions, Right, Centre, Left and somewhere in between. But could it be that the Provincial NDP government is trying to find a way to prevent the City of Winnipeg from looking green and to be among the top cities in Canada that recycle because this imagine goes against their core beliefs and principles? Shouldn’t we have a green sustainable agenda without any political backlash – whether you are from the conservatives, liberals, green or NDP parties? I believe the time has come for us to rise above any and all hidden agendas and think about how we can alter our consumption habits in order to bring about a healthy, clean and sustainable environment for our children's’ children with great economical benefits. Recently The David Suzuki Foundation’s Finding Solutions news letter “Winter edition” featured what we have accomplished with the name change from garbage day to Recycle Day, and we are reminded of the importance of the fruit fly, “IT'S AN HONOR TO BE CALLED A FRUIT FLY.” We have the attention of The Marine Conservation of UK and other International environmental groups. Your Worship, councilors -- the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, our citizens and the international community awaits your decision. Don Woodstock is a member of Bear Springs Blossom Nature Conservation, an international non profit organization. On Tuesday Feb.09, 2010, in a presentation at city council's public works committee Don Woodstock said .. 'size does matter and we need to encourage the citizens of Winnipeg to recycle more and with a 240 litres recycling cart instead of 60 litres we will increase our recyclables'. The vote : Unanimous Decision. As the author of the name change from 'Garbage Day to Recycling Day" Don Woodstock is VERY PLEASED with the progress and is confident Winnipeg will be among Canada's top Greenest Cities. Vision can become Reality. Keep Winnipeg Beautiful! Thanks to Mayor Sam Katz, Councillors Mike Pagtakhan and Gord Steeves for their support in making the name change from 'garbage day' to 'RECYCLE DAY' a reality. In 2006, my passion to get our city moving towards a greener more sustainable environment propelled me to educate myself on environmental issues. I found that recycling is a 'way of life' and we all have a role to play in order to leave a healthier future for the next generation. “Your World and Mine” documentary was made and copies delivered to civic and provincial governments, electronic and print media. Shaw Cable and the Free Press answered the call with a 'Green Page' in the Free Press and “U, Me and the Environment” co-hosted and produced with Jeremy Valance and myself, became a reality. My first presentation at City Hall in 2008, I asked the Executive Policy Committee to help reduce the amount of plastic shopping bags we send to our land fills because they are a bi-product of petroleum. It takes hundreds of years to break down and when they do, they leave harmful toxins, which will only contaminate our water supplies and marine life. They agreed unanimously which resulted in our retail stores now charging for plastic shopping bags in an effort to break our need for plastic shopping bags. In my second presentation, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes 'The world won't get much better if we just let it be” helped make the case for renaming garbage day to 'RECYCLE DAY', in an effort to encourage our citizens to recycle more. I met with the former Minister of Industry Science and Technology Jim Rondeau and his Dept Minister Doug Smith in March ‘09 with three independent entrepreneur dealing in tire recycling, composting and Gasifire ( Green business that turns our waste into valuable commodity and energy/heat). I said then that with Barack Obama as President of the USA, the world will be a greener place and we should use what we have to gain a competitive advantage for our Province. From October 09, the University of Manitoba's goal is to establish Canada as a leader in the production of bio fuels and bio plastics made from agricultural waste. Our first International Day to ban plastic bags was on the 12th of Sept., 2009 and Winnipeg citizens really showed how much they cared about the environment by dropping off over 45,000 plastic shopping bags and taking over 3000 reusable bags home. Thanks to Sobeys, Curve 94.3, Power 97, Shaw TV, The David Suzuki Foundation, Bear Spring Blossom Nature Conservation, other media, and Volunteers. The day was a tremendous success. I'm truly pleased with our progress thus far and we are indeed a greener city. Another Vision becoming a reality. Now that we are here, how can we as elected officials and citizens help push for our city to become Canada's top greenest city?.I believe we would have double digit economic growth, what do you think? What does green mean…to me it's visualizing the world our children will inherit and having a social conscience and the courage to leave a cleaner, healthier and a sustainable environment for them by altering personal consumption habits while influencing others in my home, office and community to do the same. It's up to you and me and no one else. My ultimate VISION is that our citizens will demand more from our elected official which will motivate them to make decisions that will ensure a safer, cleaner, healthier environment for our children's children.  Don Woodstock Winnipeg MB 350 Climate Action Rally We have met at the legislature at 1:30 to join the Global Day of Action on Climate Change. Our rally has included different speakers, music, and an hopefully an audio link to Ottawa's "Fill the Hill" event. Our message to Ottawa is simple: Canada must negotiate seriously and constructively in Copenhagen. 1.We need real emission reduction targets not "intensity" targets 2.We need to stop waiting for other countries like China and get on with it ourselves This past year, Canada's climate change performance ranked 59th among the 60 countries with the highest CO2 emissions, worse than every country except Saudi Arabia. Canada persisted in blocking even the meager measures of the Kyoto protocol. Our Kyoto target was a 6% reduction from 1990 emission levels by 2012. Our newest commitment translates to a 2.7% reduction from 1990 levels by 2020. (Dressed up in new language as 20% below 2006 levels.) By contrast, Norway, another oil-exporting nation, is planning a 40% reduction by 2020. Winnipeg's Climate Action Rally is part of the Global Day of Action on Climate Change. People in thousands of communities in 150 countries will gather to show their concern for our climate crisis and to call for real action at the U.N. climate talks in Copenhagen. Photos of the thousands of events will be displayed to global media on Oct. 24 via the giant screens in New York's Times Square. Then they will be hand-delivered to diplomats and delegates at U.N. Headquarters. 350.org has chosen to center this campaign on the number 350 because most policy discussions are still based on the goal of staying under a limit of 450 ppm atmospheric CO2 and 2 degrees warming, as suggested by the data in the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2007 Report, which greatly underestimated the pace of climate change. Current science suggests that 350 ppm and 1.7 degrees warming are more likely the threshold to prevent irreversible runaway warming. Cheers Don In October 2009, the NDP Government was asked to do a simple but very significant act for the environment, BAN PLASTIC BAGS We have given the Government 45,000 reasons, the amount of plastic bags collected at our 'Plastic Bag Day ' event, why banning plastic bags is a very progressive thing to do for the environment and our children's, children future. Together we can and will create a more sustainable environment for all. Please encourage all your friends and family who can make it to be there, Government will only do what the people wants. Thanks, Don Woodstock **************************** September 12th, 2009 was truly the Day we Broke Our Plastic Bag Addiction at the Manitoba Legislature Approx.45, 000 PLASTIC BAGS WERE COLLECTED (44,674), OVER 3000 SOBEY'S REUSABLE BAGS HANDED OUT. A VERY SUCCESSFUL DAY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT. Thanks to POWER 97, CURVE 94.3, Shaw TV, Sobey's, Bio bag Canada, Biosak, The David Suzuki Foundation, Bear Springs Blossom Nature Conservation, NCI FM, CJOB, HOT 103, Kick FM, CKUW and all other media who send out emails and blogs encouraging everyone to take their plastic bags to the grounds of the Leg. Thanks to Coinamatic for demonstrating that we need to wash our reusable bags. To the Principal, Staff and Students at Weston School who's efforts saved 2,300 plastic bags from contaminating our water and the environment, "WAY TO GO GUYS, GOOD JOB". We had children 3 to 12 dropping off their plastic bags and collecting reusable bags. Tyler and Sam, 8 and 11 years old, dropped off 485 plastic bags. Kathy dropped off 970 plastic bags. To all here in Winnipeg and those who came from out of town your efforts have capture Canada and the World attention. "Don't stop" - the advice David Suzuki gave me in 2007. Our Dogie Poop Bags was well received by all and clearly a very marketable product. This was a great day for the environment and a positive step in our community journey on becoming one of Canada's top Greenest City. To our volunteers a Million thanks you, our children will remember September 12th, 2009. Plastic Bag Day at the Manitoba Legislature Building Winnipeg, MB September 12, 2009 A day to end our addiction to plastic bags. Many brought their bags to the steps of the Manitoba Legislature Building Winnipeg, MB One thing is for sure, Don Woodstock will always aggressively look for ways and means to help promote green consciousness. To Don, green means visualizing the world our children will inherit, and having a social conscience and the courage to leave a cleaner, healthier, and sustainable environment for them by altering personal consumption habits while influencing others in one’s home, office, and community to do the same. Every little bit counts, and together we can make a difference. Don Woodstock |
Below are photos created by Chris Jordan,
the artist that allowed us
to show the following art photos
Depicts 60000 plastic bags,
the number used in the US every 5 seconds..
Depicts 60000 plastic bags,
the number used in the US every 5 seconds..
Chris Jordan
Depicts 60000 plastic bags,
the number used in the US every 5 seconds..
Depicts 2 million plastic beverage bottles,
the number used in the US every 5 minutes..
Chris Jordan
Depicts 2 million plastic beverage bottles,
the number used in the US every 5 minutes..
Depicts 2 million plastic beverage bottles,
the number used in the US every 5 minutes..
Chris Jordan
Depicts 426000 cellphones equal the number of cell phones
retired in the US every day
www.chrisjordan.com Chris Jordan
Click here to have fun with our
Environmental QUIZZES:
When you know more about our Earth
You and your children will have a better life.
When you know more about climate change
you will know how to prepare
and save money!
We inform you, we give tips how to save money!
We are a volunteer organization
nobody gets a salary -
our most important task is to help our members.
Join us and you will understand Nature!
JOIN our international charitable
non profit organization 501(c)(3)
Bear Springs Blossom Nature Conservation
POB 63295, Pipe Creek, TX, 78063
© Keep Earth beautiful.org -BSBNCG Inc.
charitable-Non-Profit-Inc. 501(c)(3) 2009
Want to hear another song composed
by Christoph Durchschein?
Click here to hear his song
Beautiful Sunrise
a praise for the beauty of Nature
 Sprechen Sie Deutsch? 
 ¿usted habla español? 
 Look at all the links on both sides Use these links as Nature Encyclopedia Write us Get answers!  Our members from North + South America, from Canada, Asia + Europe support Nature Conservation                   Nature Encyclopedia All about WATER            Have Nature questions? Want answers? Nature Encyclopedia All about AIR          Quizzes     Education               You can save Earth         Renewable Energy Solar Power          Help us to protect Nature! |
 WHY should you be part of our international charitable non-profit organization? Our environmental information + education helps You to understand and to deal with coming changes and challenges! Better in-depth knowledge helps YOU to preserve and not destroy Earth - as we know it -  <!-- Inject Script Filtered --> Support Earth Support Your Education   
         Bandera Texas        Nature Trails TX Hill Country   Nature Encyclopedia All about flora + fauna                       Nature Conservation      Photos Bear Springs Blossom Nature Preserve  BSB-indexWildflowers animals Nature Preserve  Make a difference! Together we can make a mark on our generation that cannot be erased! See how BSBNCG members save money Bear Springs Blossom Nature Conservation is supported by: Bandera Bank Smart Center San Antonio Reagan Peterson Robert House Bob Taylor Jack Nickel Medina Garden Club  and Microsoft Protect your family Join us! Marianne Bonenberger Peter Bonenberger Master Conservationists Lone Star Land Stewards welcome YOU in our family of Nature lovers!   |