Renfrew-Collingwood Community News

News stories from the Renfrew-Collingwood community in East Vancouver

Category Archives: Sports & Recreation


by Leave a comment

Buzzing into action: Youth invite bees to pollinate the ravine

BY CHITHA MANORANJAN

April 2016, Windermere youth will join beekeeper Brian Campbell to plant their precious seedlings in the Renfrew Ravine. Photo by Daisy Martin-Moore

April 2016, Windermere youth will join beekeeper Brian Campbell to plant their precious seedlings in the Renfrew Ravine. Photo by Daisy Martin-Moore

It takes just a short stroll along the trails of the Renfrew Ravine to realize that spring is here! Fresh leaves are unfurling like tiny flags hanging on once-bare branches and colourful blossoms burst into life celebrating the spring air. Now is the perfect time to dust off those gardening gloves and dig out your tools from the shed—the youth in Renfrew-Collingwood sure are!

The Grade 9 Leadership students at Windermere high school spent the last two months carefully tending to tiny little wildflower seedlings that will soon make the Renfrew Ravine their home. Still Moon Arts has been working with the class on stewardship and arts initiatives this year with their expanding Youth Engagement Project. Now, with the support of master beekeeper Brian Campbell, Still Moon Arts and the students are making the Pollinator Project their next big thing!

The keen teenagers spent a session with Campbell learning all about native bees and their importance to our ecosystem. The class got to look up close at old bee houses as they talked about suitable habitats for bees and got to look even closer at deceased bees as they continued finding out about the different types that exist in the Lower Mainland.

Bees are important for human survival and wildflower and pollinator gardens are spaces for them to thrive. Photo by Carmen Rosen

Bees are important for human survival and wildflower and pollinator gardens are spaces for them to thrive. Photo by Carmen Rosen

There’s a lot of buzz about pollinator gardens and bees—all with good reason. These creatures are intricately woven into the fabric of our survival but have seen an alarming decline in their population worldwide. Habitat loss and pesticide use are among the leading causes of their loss. But wildflower and pollinator gardens are spaces for bees to thrive. By creating more of these spaces, the positive impacts of a healthy bee population is transferred across the surrounding ecological system.

Come April, the youth will once again join Brian Campbell with their precious seedlings and plant them in the ravine. This is being done with the hopes of building a larger network of pollinator havens that will work alongside other stewardship initiatives to contribute to a healthier ravine ecosystem.

If you’re stinging with curiosity and want to find out more about pollinator gardens and bees, Brian Campbell will be speaking at the Still Moon Arts Society’s annual general meeting on Thursday, May 5, 2016. More information is available at stillmoon.org

Chitha Manoranjan is a resident of Renfrew-Collingwood and is the youth engagement coordinator at Still Moon Arts Society.

Copyright (c) 2016 Renfrew-Collingwood Community News


by Leave a comment

Windermere Leadership students lead Earth Day Parade 2016

Sunday, April 24, 2016

BY YOUTH FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE NOW

 

Earth Day

Windermere student organizers, community youth and cycling dinosaurs march for environmental justice in celebration of Earth Day. Photo courtesy of Y4CJN

For five years now, Vancouverites have been marching down Commercial Drive to the tune of The Carnival Band in celebration of our planet and Earth Day (which falls this year on April 22). Spirits are always high as youth and community members parade down the streets engulfed in a sea of banners and picket signs.

The marchers are accompanied by a giant windmill made from pop cans strewn together with chicken wire and a trio of fossil-fuel-loathing dinosaurs who are just as eager as the rest of the participants to express their environmental concerns.

Business operators and cafe goers drift away from their duties and conversations to gaze at the over 200-strong group of marchers headed towards Grandview park where speakers and entertainers await.

For the past few months, a new group of Grade 11 students from Windermere high school have been hard at work organizing the 6th annual Earth Day Parade and Celebration. The event is organized entirely by these students, together known as Youth 4 Climate Justice Now, along with guidance from their teacher Vagner Castilho. One student organizer, Gabriele Liessi, has been busy filling out event permits.

“I’ve been attending for the past three years and it’s always something I look forward to. I think the event is a great way for youth like me to get involved with climate-related issues and to show adults just how important having a sustainable future is to our generation,” Gabriele says.

The high school organizers aim to attract students from all over Vancouver out to the march and parade to educate and stand with each other in the battle for a greener future. Of course, people of all ages — young and old — who are concerned for the planet are encouraged to show up. In the past more than 1,000 people have attended the celebration and amazing environmentalists such as David Suzuki have even been guest speakers.

This year, the parade and celebration will be happening on Sunday, April 24. Bring your family, friends, signs, banners and spirit! Costumes are encouraged as well so don’t be afraid to dress up. For more information, please visit www.earthdayparade.ca

 

Windermere Leadership program wins Earth Day Canada award

November 2015, the Leadership program at Windermere Secondary School won the Group Hometown Heroes Award from Earth Day Canada for their environmental work. The prestigious award comes with a $10,000 cash prize to support their work.

Over the last 10 years, the Windermere Secondary Leadership Program (WSLP) has spearheaded a number of large-scale and far-reaching environmental initiatives and events.

WSLP’s most notable environmental accomplishment is the education and empowerment of students across Vancouver through three major community events: the annual Climate Change Conference (C3), that brings over 300 students from across Vancouver together for a day of presentations, workshops and hands-on action; the annual Earth Day Parade and Celebration, a community event that has attracted up to 1,000 people and shut down Commercial Drive; and a film screening of two environmental films, Directly Affected and Spoil, with a special panel to address students and educate.

In addition, WSLP’s accomplishments include a garden with 25 large garden beds, 30 fruit trees, 20 perennial berry bushes, greenhouse, aquaponics system and a composter that can hold up to two tons of food waste; a grassroots program where leadership students present sustainability lessons and mentor Grade 6 and 7 students; car free day; a bike program with a fleet of 30 bikes for physical education classes to use; and a successful campaign and fundraising initiative that reduced the number of plastic water bottles going to landfill by over 50,000 to date, through the purchase of three special water fountains.

The Leadership program also had 50 students attend the Global Climate Race in Stanley Park last year and raised $1,000 for solar panels for the Stanley Park nature house.

Copyright (c) 2016 Renfrew-Collingwood Community News


by Leave a comment

Skytrain 30 years ago

Skytrain Upgrades January 2016

The east side of the Joyce Station where upgrades are taking place place. Photo courtesy of Loretta Houben

BY LORETTA HOUBEN

The year 1986 was the year of Expo, a world fair to celebrate Vancouver’s 100th birthday. The year many things changed in the Joyce Collingwood area.

For one thing, SkyTrain opened for service on December 11, 1985. Do you remember the excitement of riding for free that month? My husband and I tried it out one foggy day, travelling from Joyce Station to Metrotown Station. The huge mall wasn’t complete, and we got off at Patterson Station by mistake and decided to walk the rest of the way as the trains were so packed. We nearly got lost in the maze of old warehouse buildings which were still standing at that time.

Do you remember the fare was $1.15 for single zone and $2.20 for three zones for adults? And do you remember having to push a button to open the doors when the SkyTrain stopped, as not everyone got off at all stations?

What a change in the Collingwood area since then! Have you been keeping up with the new development planned for this area in the coming years? There have been a few open houses at Collingwood Neighbourhood House.

Exciting and innovative changes are coming for the Joyce SkyTrain Station, too! I live in the area, and since January 2016, the old exercise gym near the community gardens on Translink property has been taken down, along with a few trees including a lovely Kanzan cherry blossom tree, in order for equipment and mobile housing to be stored while the massive upgrades are done.

Loads of gravel have been put in to replace the boggy land along the old suburban pathway. An elevator for the east side will be installed, along with escalators and bike lockers.

SkyTrain’s name was coined for the BC Transit ALRT (advanced light rapid transit) system in 1986 because the first Expo line runs on an elevated guideway, giving passengers a scenic view of the city. Be sure to check out On Track: Early SkyTrain Project Film from 1983 on Youtube, provided by the Buzzer. Going to Town—1985 is another fantastic YouTube clip, showing the changing skyline of our city.

Work began on the SkyTrain line in the spring of 1982. I can remember the huge cement pillars going up in the Joyce area, and I was pleased that such a modern means of transportation was available, although doubtful about riding on a train without an actual person driving on board. In fact, when the trial run took place for free at Main Street station, one of my sisters refused to get on as she thought the train would fall off the track!

SkyTrain was such a new and novel idea, that a pamphlet was printed to show how to use it.  Please see:  http://buzzer.translink.ca/2010/03/flashback-to-1986-join-the-skytrain-team/

If you have memories of SkyTrain and the way it’s affected your life, please share them with us. We’d love to read them. Email rccnews-editorial@cnh.bc.ca

Loretta Houben is a long-time resident of Collingwood. She coordinates the Seniors Connection page of the Renfrew-Collingwood Community News.

Copyright (c) 2016 Renfrew-Collingwood Community News