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Hemmingford Environment Committee 2022-2023 June 2022
In 2022, the Hemmingford Environment Committee celebrated its 32nd year of involvement in the community. The effects of Climate Change are becoming more and more prevalent, making actions to help the environment even more pressing. Here is a summary of the dossiers the Environment Committee has been working on, during the last two years of the pandemic.
There are two kinds of actions described here. You don’t need to be a member of the Environment Committee to put these actions into practice.
The Hemmingford Environment Committee held it AGM virtually on May 1st. 7 members participated as well as a representative of the Ambioterra research group from St Chrysostome. A call was put out for nominations for the Board positions, but as no new nominations were made, the present Board will continue its functions for another year. The Board of directors for the coming year are: Benoit Bleau, Aiden Hodgins, Janet Rokas and Catherine Stratford.
The actions described here fall into two categories:
- Actions we can all take part in as individual citizens.
- Collective or Municipal actions
In the first category, we find Roadside Clean-ups. Several cleanups took place this spring, along the roadsides, in school yards and along the bike path. This activity can take place from April to November. Get together with friends or neighbours, wear highly colourful clothing, or even better, a reflective safety jacket, to be very visible and avoid accidents. If you do take part in a clean-up, send a photo to us and we will put it in Info-Hemmingford!
Reduction at the Source: We can all improve in reducing the amount of garbage we generate. The best garbage is the garbage we do not produce! There are many different ways of doing this, here are a few suggestions: Use re-usable containers, or use containers that you can return for consignment. Avoid single-use containers. Reduce packaging by buying in bulk, using your own containers. Reduce consumption by resisting the temptation to buy the newest gadgets. Share items with a friend/neighbour, or buy them second-hand at the Friperie. Bring the things you no longer use to the Friperie instead of throwing them out (if they are still in good condition).
Articles in Info-Hemmingford : The Environment Committee published several articles in our community bulletin, sharing useful tips and information. We would like to remind you that you do not need to be a member of the Hemmingford Environment Committee to write about an environmental subject for Info-Hemmingford. If you have an idea, or tip to share, send us an article.
Lucy Savage, a local Dietician, offered children in both of Hemmingford’s schools, Nutrition and Food workshops. Lucy also offered fresh fruit and vegetable platters to each class in Hemmingford Elementary on Fresh Fridays, once a month. We are all invited to participate in the Healthy Recipe Exchange. If you send your healthy recipes to us, we will pass them on to Lucy and may even publish them in Info Hemmingford.
The yearly Tree Giveaway took place on May 14. Every year volunteers from the Environment Committee distribute a variety of trees to local schools and to the population of Hemmingford. 1400 trees were given out this year.
In the category of Collective/ Municipal actions, HEC participates in the Community Garden Project. Every year this project encourages gardeners young and old to gather round the raised vegetable beds situated at the corner of Route 202 and Industrial Blvd. New gardens have been established at Hemmingford Elementary and at the Recreational Center. Most of the harvest was transformed by volunteers into foods to be used in the Christmas Cookie Walk Project.
A flyer promoting local food farms was also produced and delivered by mail. Planting workshops are also being organized in the two schools, in the Day Care and at the Day Camp. The Municipality also helps with repairing the boxes, watering and mowing. Great Team work!
Although we can always practice composting at home, the Municipalities of the Village and the Township of Hemmingford are working with the other municipalities in the MRC to organize a door to door compost pick-up service (It should be operational in 2023). If you would like to learn more about composting to start up a home compost, let us know and maybe we can organize a workshop. Several of our members have been composting for years, it is relatively simple and is good for the environment.
Re-Using and Recycling: We sometimes take this service for granted, but we all can improve the quality of our recyclables, by sorting and preparing them properly. Elsie Séguin discusses the problem of mixing glass into the recyclable material in our Blue Bin. Over 30 years ago, we had a program where people voluntarily dropped off their glass containers at the Depot. Strangely, we recycled more glass at that time than we do now. Let your councillors know that we will participate in separate glass recycling if they are willing to install Municipal Glass Bells.
EV Charge-station: HEC has been encouraging the municipality to install an EV charge-station in the Village to encourage tourism and to modernize our services.
Are you interested in the environment? Write to us at envir.hemmingford@gmail.com and we will add your name to our mailing list to hear about our latest activities. Thank you for getting involved!