905-355-3000

Earth Day At Earthwalk - Our 2009 Presenters

Earthwalk speakers have a reputation for talent and experience. Our workshop presenters, and course leaders are among the best around and you can have a sampling of many of them at our Earthday Celebration. Come and enjoy a full day of seminars and workshops on many aspects of Sustainable Living on April 19 from 9am to 9 pm. Earthwalk will also be showcasing films, local musicians and artists during a day of celebrating all things green.

However seating is limited for the workshops and films so please call 905-355-3000 to pre-register for workshops or films you want to see.

EARTHDAY SPEAKERS BIOS

Garnet McPherson - Sustainable Society

Garnet is a photographer, writer and filmmaker from Northumberland County on the north shore of Lake Ontario. After graduating in communication arts, Garnet taught at Sheridan Colleges School of Visual Arts for a few years before spending the next two decades developing a very successful communication company.

Throughout his career he has been a dedicated naturalist and environmentalist. He is a consultant for the Natural Health Network and has donated his time and expertise to a number of other organizations. In recent years he has served as the education and communications director for both the Canadian Natural Health Association and the Green Planet Foundation. He has also worked on numerous sustainable economic development projects with the Green House Enterprise Centre and dozens of natural habitat and biodiversity projects across Ontario.

A few years ago, Garnet decided to devote majority of his time to supporting environmental and natural health causes. and in 2007 he turned his expertise and experience toward building an eco education center called Earthwalk Sustainable Living Center near Colborne Ontario.

Today, Garnet is happily developing eco educational programs at Earthwalk with the aim to facilitate the creation of a new and more sustainable culture, including programs on eco home design and construction, healthy home solutions, organic food production, natural health strategies as well as waste management and eco transportation solutions.


Trent Rhode - Permaculture

Trent background is in journalism, online publishing and communications, and recently joined Peterborough Green-Up, an environmental education and stewardship organization, as the Communications Coordinator.

Although Trent loves writing about sustainability, his real passion is natural gardening. Trent is a Permaculture Design Course graduate; he has been avidly and continually studying and writing about permaculture and ecological agriculture techniques for the past four years. He has experience working on and designing various gardens, including forest gardens, and is presently implementing his own permaculture farm for specialty crops.

Recently, Trent helped to form the Permaculture Canada group, an ecological design group with members across Canada focused on spreading permaculture design through meet-ups, workshops and online tools. He is currently enrolled in the part-time Sustainable Landscapes Certificate program at the University of Guelph. He is a founding member of Transitions Town Peterborough.

Gerri Baker - The Worm Factory: Vermicomposting

Gerri Baker and Ray Cooper are sustainable farmers on Foley Mountain, just outside of Westport. For many years now, they have been studying soil science, and worms; as well as, the studies of Rudolf Steiner, and biodynamic Procedures.

Gerri and Ray add worm casting, which is a by- product from the worm, to provide nutrients to their produce. Worm casting is the perfect nutrient for all stages of growth, from germination, through vegetation to blooming, and fruiting.

The farm on Foley Mountain is certified under the organic auspices of OCPP, and Gerri and Ray are dedicated to learning and sharing their knowledge of Vermicomposting, with other organic farmers. They work with the Stewardship Councils, and Schools Boards, Horticulture societies, and environmental groups who approach them to assist them in establishing Vermicomposting on site.

Gerri is a member of the Nation Farmer’s Union, The Canadian Organic Farmer’s Association and the Compost Council of Canada. The Foley Mountain Farm welcomes school tours, and visitors to the farm. Guests are given the chance for a “Hands on experience” to organic farming. Visitors are asked to call ahead of time to book a visit, because the farm is a working operation.

For more information please visit: www.thewormfactory.net
info@thewormfactory.net
Phone: 613-273-7595

Bob Garthson - Organic Gardening

Bob has worked in many different fields. He was a tobacco farmer, a teaching assistant at eh University of Waterloo, a cattle rancher, a social worker, a federal officer, a teacher of: history, law, environmental studies, political economy, and philosophy. He also worked as an Educator Union Executive.

Bob is now an organic farmer at the Valley Pines Organic Farm, where he grows over 200 varieties of vegetables, herbs, edible flowers, and fruits on approximately two acres. The 26 acre property, mostly treed, has never been farmed commercially, making it an ideal site for an organic garden.

When Bob is not in his garden he enjoys reading, research, philosophy, cooking, wine making, ocean exploration, travel, and environmental and political activism.

Bob is a current member of the Central Region President of the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario, which focuses on promoting ecological agriculture, on educating farmers and members of the public on ecological practices, and on facilitating a sense of community. Other memberships Bob is involved with include: Ontario Nature, Ontario Secondary Teachers Federation (Life Member), Society for Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening in Ontario, Seeds of Diversity, Wine Tasters, Heritage Alnwick/Haldimand, Grafton Horticultural Society, and Valley Voices Residents Association (Director).

Bob has practiced organic gardening since 1956, and he says that his maternal grandparents, Robert Rodale, Scott Nearing, his son Josh, and daughter Chloe, are his main influencers who make him want to continue organic gardening.

For more information or to arrange for a visit, please contact Bob
Garthson at bgarthson@sympatico.ca or 905-349-3807.

Bill Venn - Thermographic Imaging

Bill is a retired election and thermographer; he worked in the automotive industry for over 30 years. He started his own business, Hot Flash Thermography, to assist home owners and manufactures on ways to conserve and maintain energy. Using thermal imaging Bill is able to identify areas that are loosing heat, and find ways to keep it in. In 2007 Bill published a paper titled Calculating Radiating Heat Loss in Dwellings, Ovens and Other Structures – A Quick and Dirty Method, and presented his work at a conference for infrared thermographers.

The paper outlined the uses of templates he developed to quantify power being lost from thermal radiation. The paper is featured on the Infrared Training Centre, InfraMation 2007 Proceedings, book.

Bill was awarded the Presidents Award for energy savings from General Motors in 2007, for the money he saved the company.

Today, Bill devotes his time educating home and business owners, on ways to utilize their energy, and save money.

Brenda Stillman - Weatherization

Brenda Stillman has been the owner and marketing manager of Zerodraft Peterborough since 2004. Brenda was born and raised in Peterborough, but in 1992 she and her husband, along with their 3 children moved to a large farm near Collingwood. Here they owned and operated an on-farm market selling local fruits and vegetables, along with their own raised beef, pork, chicken and turkey. In 2003 they returned to Peterborough where Brenda had the opportunity to work in the insurance cleaning industry. Unfortunately after the constant exposure to harmful cleaning chemicals and moulds from the 2004 Peterborough flood, she decided to leave the cleaning business and steer her life towards a future that she could be proud of.

Her favorite quote is " I am not an environmentalist. I'm an Earth warrior. ~Darryl Cherney, quoted in Smithsonian, April 1990

Don Chisholm - Sustainable Economics and its Impact on our way of Life

Don was born near Goderich, Ontario. After graduating from Ryerson Institute of Technology in 1958, from Electronics, Don worked on repair and design of electronic computers and peripheral equipment systems.

From the year 1967 to 1982, Don opened, and operated aircraft electronics sales, and service in Dorval Montreal. He served as Director, and then Vice President of the Canadian Region of the Aircraft Electronics Association.

The company was sold, and Don moved to Ontario, where he moved to a Toronto Company doing market research, design, development and marketing of automated test equipment, for avionics on airplanes. The project was very successful, and was sold to a US company, who still supports and has expanded the product line.

In 1986 Don joined the Transport Canada, Airworthiness Division, Avionics section, dealing with avionics manufacturing.

In 1990, Don became interested in the Problematique, which is a concept created by the Club of Rome. The Problematic concept looks at crucial problems facing humanity.

In 1996 Don was invited to join the Canadian Association for the Club of Rome, he has articles published in CACOR Proceedings in Futures Journals, and in 1998 he was listed in the Canadian Futurists publications.

Don retired, in 2001, and moved to a rural area near Picton Ontario; although, Don is retired, he has not slowed down. He is involved with a group called CREEK, for Country Regional Environmental Coalition, which is a group concerned with the growth of industrial livestock operations, in Canada and locally.

Don also enjoys sailing, and playing bridge, and still enjoys the exploration of the Problematique.

For more information go to www.magma.ca/donchism.

Elma Parker - Council Of Canadians

This fiesty leader of the local chapter of the Council of Canadians alway manages to wrinkle an eyebrow or two as she says it the way she sees it. We love her irreverant and direct approach to the issues of our time.

Getting involved with the Ontario Farmers' Union (NFU) back in 1955 brought Elma to realize that if farmers wanted a better life, they had to fight for it. The government was quite content to let farmers be the suppliers of cheap food for the nation. To get rid of the rabble rousers, the government solution was to get rid of them by "get big or get out" policies. As you can see by driving throught the countryside today, their policy was quite successful, as smaller family farms have been gobbled up by larger farm operations or factory farms. Even the larger farmers are now facing the financial crunch with increasing input costs, debt and cheap imports and the "get bigger or get out" policies continue.

During her time in the OFU from 1955-63, Elma was secretary of the Roseneath local and Northumberland County Lady Director for 4 years and 3 years as Womens' Vice President of the provincial OFU. During that time she was also editor of the Ontario Union Farmer, an 8-page monthly publication.

During her involvement with the OFU, our local subscribed to Hansard, a free publication of every speech in the House of Commons and provincial legislature. so we could keep track of what was being planned for farmers. One thing became obvious, the old parties were too accustomed to getting votes by family tradition, not because they were working for us and most members realized this needed to change.

"We left the farm in 1963 due to my husband's poor health and had to get used to town living. But interest in politics and social justice followed me, prompting letters to the editor once in awhile."

Maude Barlow and the Council of Canadians made the scene in 1985 with narional issues such as water, pensions, environment, health, corporations wanting to take all. etc. "So I found the organization I could get involved in. Our Northumberland chapter now boasts 529 family memberships, but unfortunately, like so many organizations today, only a few turn out to do the work. In my opinion, it's part of the "dumbing down" process of the working class, to keep people so busy trying to make ends meet and raise families, they have no time to stick their nose in what governments or corporations are doing to us."

"I'm presently the contact person for Northumberland chapter and put out a monthly newsletter by e-mail to anyone interested in receiving it. This keeps people aware of what's happening on the federal - provincial- national scenes, even if our corporate-controlled media ignore it."

"Being aware of what's happening all around us demands constant attention and action, otherwise,we'll have to be content with the crumbs the corporations leave on our plates and, regrettably, that will fall hardest on our future generations."

Enjoy the benefits of Earthwalk Membership

www.ecoearthwalk.ca