Monthly Archives: August 2011

Aug 26: Bloomfield Centre Update and MVA Changes for Bikes

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This Week’s Features:

Interview: Jennifer McGowan, Active and Safe Routes to School

Veronica Simmonds speaks with Jennifer McGowan, a community advisor for Active and Safe Routes to School program of the Ecology Action Centre. Jennifer tells us about those changes, and also lets us know how we can give our input on the process to change the Motor Vehicle Act.

Interview:  Susanna Fuller, Imagine Bloomfield
Erica Butler met longtime Imagine Bloomfield member Susanna Fuller at the site of the Bloomfield Centre, to get a tour and discuss the latest news on the future of the Bloomfield buildings, including a failed bid by the current school board to take over the site, and a new community greenhouse expected to be completed this fall.

The future of the Bloomfield Centre  has been a topic of discussion among city staffers, councillors and community members for about 7 years now.  The former junior high building was made surplus by the Halifax School board in the 80’s, and then became a defacto community centre for Halifax’s north end, with a variety of tenants from the Halifax Amateur Radio Club, to Citadel Boxing, to MLA offices.  In 2004, there were 54 tenants in the centre. But then, citing a conflict with the city’s mandate, staff began to clear out the buildings, leaving only a handful of tenacious tenants today.

In response to the threatened closure of the Centre, community residents formed Imagine Bloomfield in 2005.  Since then, the organization has helped change attitudes among city staff and councillors about the possibilities for the site, and have kept the site active, with a community garden and events.  Recently they announced the construction of a community greenhouse to accompany the garden.

Aug 19: Cities and the natural world, protecting Lake Ainslie

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Interview: Daniel Rothstein

Erica Butler chats with Daniel Rothstein about cities and the natural world.  Daniel graduated with a Degreee in Urban Geography at McGill University has been a contributing writer for Spacing Montreal and Spacing Atlantic and is soon heading to Europe to continue pursuing his interest in Urban Issues.  Two weeks ago he spoke at Halifax’s Fuller Terrace Lecture Series on the relationship between cities and the natural world.

Interview: Rebecca Parkins, Protect Lake Ainslie

Erica calls up Rebecca Parkins to find out about the group’s concerns over a recent approval for oil drilling near Lake Ainslie in Cape Breton.

 

Aug 12: Spiddle Hill wind turbine, Culture Not Convention

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Interview:  David Stevenson, Colchester-Cumberland Wind Field Inc.
A new wind turbine is generating power on Spiddle Hill near Tatamagouche — the first in Nova Scotia to be owned and operated by a community group.  About 200 area citizens put up the $2 million needed for the project, which will produce enough electricity to power an average of 300 homes per year.  The turbine feeds into NS Power’s local distribution system for the Tatamagouche area, which is also fed by 22 turbines on Nuttby Mountain, making Tatamagouche almost entirely serviced by wind-generated power.  The project is NOT part of the governments recently announced COMFIT feed-in tariff program.  Habitat spoke to David Stevenson of the Spiddle Hill project to find out about how it came together and what’s next.
Interview: Catherine Abreau, Culture Not Convention
Starting this Monday evening, the Culture Not Convention photo exhibition will open at the Khyber.  The project asked 50 artists, activists and community boosters how they would spend the $375 million in tax dollars the government proposes to spend on the convention centre. Habitat’s Veronica Simmonds sat down with Catherine earlier this morning to learn more about the project.

Aug 5: Open Farm Days, The Flooded Earth

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Interview:  Jen Greenberg, Red Fox Farm

Jen Greenberg talks about Red Fox Farm, farmland conservation easements, the state of farming in Nova Scotia, and Open Farm Days, opening this Friday at Red Fox Farm.

Interview: Peter D. Ward, The Flooded Earth
*Produced by Barry Vogel of Radio Curious, rebroadcast under Creative Commons license

Barry Vogel of Radio Curious talks with author Peter D. Ward about what will happen when the polar ice caps melt and sea levels rise.   Peter D. Ward is a paleontologist and professor of biology and earth and space sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is the author of “The Flooded Earth: Our Future in a World Without Ice Caps,” in which he describes expected conditions in 2050, 2300 and 2500.