CAMP COSMOS
RESOURCE BOOK FOR
COUNSELORS
WEEK 1: RECYCLING
Recycling is when objects are crushed, pulped, or melted down so that their constituent
materials can be reused to make new objects. If you would like to check out what
happens to the paper, plastics, aluminum and glass that you put into the recycling, go to
the Miron Quarry, which is in the Complexe Environnemental St-Michel.
RE-USE IS THE NEW RECYCLING
Recycling takes a lot of energy. Sending used materials to a recycling plant is a good last
resort, but the ideal is to first reduce your consumption and second to find ways to recycle
things on your own. By reducing the quantities of things we use consume, we establish a
more sustainable lifestyle. Reuse has a much smaller footprint than recycling, and there
are ways to reuse just about every category of objects you could need—including food!
CLOTHING
There are many alternatives to buying clothes in a store. The advantages far outweigh the
fact that a shirt or sweater may not be brand new.
Here are some options:
-Second-hand stores
Thrift stores are great for both looking trendy and spending very little
money. Second-hand stores outside of the main drags on the plateau are
usually less expensive. If you are trying to shop ethically, avoid Value
Village; it is now owned by Walmart.
-Clothing swaps
Swaps are not only an eco-friendlier, cheaper way to get “new” clothes;
they also make great social events. It is sort of like having a dress-up
party, where you all try each others rejects on. If you get together with
friends and friends of friends, it also means that you may acquire the
rejected clothes of someone you really like or care about—which makes
them that much more fun to wear!
-Bazaars
Churches and community centers sometimes sell clothes and trinkets at
bazaars. This is a great way to get stuff, because it is usually very cheap,
you are supporting a community cause, and you are making less of a
footprint.
CONTAINERS AND BAGS
-Bring your own bag to the grocery store
-Re-use yogurt containers and sauce jars in your lunch. Glass jars are great for
storing leftovers, or for dry goods like spices, grains and beans. They even look
nice when you wash off the papers.
THE CONTAINER CHALLENGE
Last summer, the Montreal City Mission instituted the “container
challenge,” where we all signed onto a list which kept track of all of the
disposable and reusable containers we used every day. This included
coffee cups and all take-out containers. It was amazing to add the numbers
up and to see how many containers we used or saved.
PAPER
-Make a scrap paper stash for your house to use. One-sided paper is still good for
another life; use the clean side to takes notes for class, or for phone messages.
You can make your own notebooks by having your one-sided paper bound at a
stationary store. For school this year, I reused last year’s notes and typed
assignments, and had enough not to have to buy any notebooks or looseleaf for an
entire semester.
TRANSPORTATION: RECYCLED BIKES
Here are a couple of alternatives to buying new:
-Instead of buying new parts, learn how to repair or recycle them yourself.
Concordia has a bike cooperative called Right to Move, which can show
you how to make repairs, and how to replace a problematic part that is
preventing you from using your bike.
-If you really need to replace your bike, there are alternatives to buying a
totally new one. As with other types of objects, it is better for the Earth if
you use something that has already been made rather than getting
something totally new. Bike shops like Vélo Villeneuve, Beaubien Bikes
and Révolution will build you a bike on a recycled frame. Another great
(and little known) place is the Belleville Coop, in the basement of 1000 St.
Antoine West. They will build you a bike, repair it, or replace parts very
cheaply. They are a fairly new place that serves mainly bike messengers,
but I think they do the best and cheapest job in town. And they deserve
your support! They will help you refurbish second-hand bikes from garage
sales or Craig’s list. Definitely check them out.
RECYCLING FOOD?!
Composting is a great way to “recycle” the organic waste your food generates.
Whether it is an outdoor heap or an indoor worm composter, the compost that you
make is great for plants, eliminates the volume of garbage your house creates.
Why throw apple cores and melon rind in a landfill when you can use it?
Dumpstering is a little more intrepid than composting, since it involves hunting
down your food. Once you get over the stigma or the intimidation, though, it is a
great way to “recycle” unwanted items.
There will be more on both dumpstering and composting below. For now, though,
the point is that nearly everything—including food—can be “recycled” or
“reused” in some way. With this in mind, give yourself the challenge of
generating as little “garbage” as possible.
MORE INFORMATION
For more information on reducing, re-using, and recycling, check out these Montreal
organizations:
-Find your Éco-Quartier
-3-RVÉ
WEEK 2: THE WORLD THAT GROWS
This week at camp is devoted to living, growing things that the campers can relate to the
way that they live and grow. Topics to discuss are plants and how they grow, the food
that we eat and where it comes from, and global food issues. These topics can be abstract,
but by doing things, they become more concrete.
GREENER EATING
ORGANIC vs. LOCAL?
If you are concerned about your food “footprint” (the effect your actions have on the
environment), you may find yourself troubled over the organic vs. local debate. Eating
organic is safer to the other species in that crop’s ecosystem—but sometimes it may be
greener to eat food grown by a local farmer, who has not had to drive their food across
North America to get to your grocery store. It can be difficult to weigh the pros and cons :
is it better to eat food that may have been grown with chemicals or genetic modifications,
or to eat food that has none, but that has caused much more air pollution and consumption
of fossil fuels? The ideal would be to eat local and organic, but sometimes this can be
expensive—and in the winter choice can be very limited. Besides—certification that a
food item is organic does not always meant that it is legitimately organic, or organic
according to your standards. And many farmers choose not to be certified even though
their practices are what we might call “organic.” It is hard to eat 100% ethically all the
time. But by keeping all of the factors in mind, it is easier to make the choice you feel
most comfortable with.
Check out this site about eating local : 100milediet.org
EATING GREENER IN MONTREAL
Montreal has lots of food alternatives.
-McGill Organic Food Co-op
If you are a student, this is a great way to get weekly produce that
is mostly local—and Ethiopian treats baked by Berhanu, organic
farmer par excellence. See organiccampus.blogspot.com for more
information.
-Co-op la Maison Verte
This NDG co-op does not carry organic produce themselves, but
they do have a weekly basket delivery that you can sign up for.
www.cooplamaisonverte.com
-Local markets will usually have local or organic produce, but you should
ask vendors where the food comes from, since not all of what is sold is
local—or organic.
-Le Frigo Vert
This Concordia Coop is great for local, fair trade, and organic
goods. It is not that expensive to become a member, and it is totally
worth it. Check them out at 2130 Mackay, (514) 848-7586.
-The People’s Potato
Le Frigo Vert supplies much of the ingredients used by the
People’s Potato, a vegan soup kitchen at Concordia. During the
school year, the Potato serves a comprehensive vegan lunch. It is
by donation. The People’s Potato is a great way to get ideas for
earth-friendly recipes.
GROWING YOUR OWN FOOD
If you want to know exactly where your food comes from, the best way is to grow
it yourself. You can do this on your balcony, in neighborhood community
gardens, or you can team up with Montreal’s urban agriculture aficionados, who
cultivate crops in different locations throughout the city. For more information,
ask the people at MUCS (Montreal Urban Community Sustainment). They have
urban spaces where they grow food.
Santropol Roulant has rooftop gardens all over the city; there is a rooftop garden
installation on the big steps of the McGill campus. Santropol uses much of the
food it grows to cook meals for people in need in the community. It is very easy
to get involved, gardening, cooking or delivering! Check out the website at
http://www.santropolroulant.org/
DUMPSTERING
Dumpstering may seem like a marginal activity at first glance, but it becomes less
so when you see it as a way of minimizing food waste and your ecological
footprint. Dumpstering may also seem strange for people who have the means to
buy food; but in Montreal, there is such a huge abundance of food in the
dumpsters, that often, there is enough to supply both those who need it and those
who don’t necessarily.
CBC recently aired a feature on dumpster diving. An expert was quoted as
saying that over 30% of edible food gets thrown out before it can be eaten.
Grocery stores –especially fancier ones—throw out huge amounts of food that is
perfectly healthy; that may have a small blemish or bruise that may make it
impossible to sell, but fine to eat.
Something is very wrong with a system that generates so much waste; in
the meantime, we can help reduce the amount of garbage by recycling it, and
dumpster diving is one way of doing just that. The ideal would be for all of the
grocery stores and markets to simply give their rejects away to people who need
them, but that infrastructure is not in place yet.
Markets are a great place to start; many don’t even use real dumpsters, and just
put their refuse in big waist-high bins that are very easy to access and to assess.
FOOD WASTE: GETTING BACK TO WHERE IT ONCE BELONGED
Composting is a great way to get your leftover organic waste back to where it belongs:
the Earth. Composting allows you to generate less garbage, and to make great food for
your plants. There are several composting techniques that you can try, depending on your
living situation.
-Vermicomposting (A box of worms that turn your organic waste into “black
gold” for your plants. Eco-Quartier has more information.)
-A compost heap if you have a backyard with enough room. Eco-Quartier also
has composter kits that are very inexpensive.
-If you do not have room to compost at your home, community gardens
sometimes have compost heaps. Some Eco-Quartiers also have compost dropoffs. Gorilla Composting is a downtown/Plateau area group that picks up
compost; during the year, they pick up at McGill. Compost drop-off is in the
SSMU building, on the South side of the large cafeteria.
WEEK 3: WATER AND ENERGY
Water and energy are
inextricably
linked,
especially in Quebec.
Most
of
Quebec’s
electricity comes from
hydro-electric
power,
which also generates a
fair amount of income in
exports. Though hydro
power
is
more
sustainable than using
fossil fuels, it can have
ravaging effects on the
ecosystems
associated
with dammed rivers. It is not usually necessary for citizen consumption to dam
new rivers, but Hydro Quebec is continually creating new damming projects,
mainly to satisfy the metals industry (especially aluminum) and to increase profit
from export to the U.S.
RIVERS
One of Hydro’s most recent damming projects is to be located on the pristine
Romaine River, which begins in Labrador. Damming will devastate the
ecosystem, and destroy the balance that allows for the survival of many plant and
animal species. Alliance Romaine is campaigning to save the river; the point is
sustainable energy use and production over unsustainable energy use. For more
information, check out their profile at www.thebigwild.org , or e-mail Fran at
[email protected].
RIVERS AND ENERGY
Alliance Romaine’s point – and the point here – is that our bodies of water are the
source of the energy we use in our everyday lives and produce the things we use
in our everyday lives. And this knowledge can be an incentive to use less energy,
and to place less demands on these energy sources.
HAVING A SMALLER ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT
Here are a couple of ways:
-use lights only when necessary; turn off lights when they are not being
used
-turn your thermostat down one or two degrees – this will save a lot of
energy, and will also help you to cut costs
-use caulking to seal your windows in the winter
-put insulating film on your window panes to keep the heat in
SAVING WATER
Quebec uses the most water per capita in the world. This may be because we have
so many bodies of water. In a way, water is almost a renewable resource; but it
takes a lot of energy to purify water after it goes down the drain, and water does
not just go right back to where it came from after we use it. It is much greener to
limit our water use.
START A GREY WATER SYSTEM
A great way to save water and to become aware of how much water you are using
is to set up a water-reuse system in your house or apartment. There are more
sophisticated systems, but if you are not a plumber or an engineer, you may want
to keep it simple.
A rudimentary grey water system does not require much effort of many materials.
1. COLLECTING WATER
-Get your hands on a square or rectangular basin that fits inside your sink
-Do all “low-grime” washing and rinsing in it, so that you collect all of your
“cleaner” used water. (The problem with collecting all water is that the food bits,
when they sit around, start to smell bad and attract fruit flies.) By “low-grime,” I
mean washing fruits and veggies, rinsing dishes, washing hands, etc.
-Another way to collect grey water is in the shower. Bring a bucket or a basin into
the shower with you. The most efficient way to collect water is to use more than
one bucket.
- You can also keep buckets outside to collect rainwater.
2. USING THE WATER YOU COLLECT
-Flushing the toilet:
When I first began to flush the toilet with water I had collected from a
bucket in the sink, I was surprised at just how much water it takes to flush
the toilet. Having a grey water system—albeit a very rudimentary one—
not only saves water; it is also a constant reminder of how much water
we use, and how much water we waste.
-When you have to flush the toilet, dump the grey water you have
collected directly into the hole at the back of the toilet. It should all go
down the drain if you aim right. The toilet will not fill up again, but you
can just pour some grey water in if you like.
-Watering plants
Use only your cleanest grey water/rain water for indoor plants; if you use
dishwater, they may get moldy! (And smell bad…)
The point, though, is to simply use less water to begin with: to limit the water you use
when you do dishes, to take shorter showers, to wash clothes or dishes in one big load at
a time.
WEEK 4: INSECTS AND LITTLE CREATURES
FUN INSECT FACTS
Insects are the original recyclers: they keep
our planet clean by recycling natural waste
like leaves, stumps, logs, animal carcasses,
and manure.
Flies can taste with their feet, which are 10
million times more sensitive to sugar than the
human tongue.
The fastest known insect is the dragonfly, which has been clocked at 58 km an hour.
The longest insect is the walking stick, which can be up to 33 cm long.
The heaviest insect in the world is
the Goliath beetle from Africa. It can
weigh up to 100 grams.
A cockroach can live up to a week
without its head!
A flea can jump 130 times its own
height. If you could do this, you’d be
able to leap over tall skyscrapers.
Ants can carry objects that weigh 100
times the weight of their own bodies.
The total weight of all the termites in the world is greater than the weight of all the
humans in the world.
BIRD WATCHING
If you have never birded before, it can be an exercise in attentiveness, quiet and patience.
But if you are in the right place at the right time, you can see some beautiful species. It is
also a great way to generally notice the living things around you. Here is some info about
birding sites in Montreal: http://www.sparroworks.ca/birding_montreal.html
For everything you could ever want to know about birds and birdwatching in
Quebec, look up the PQSPB. They hold talks, go on birding outings, and work to protect
bird species. If you are interested in going birding, they welcome members of the public
to come along with them.
Here is their website: http://www.pqspb.org/
WEEK 5: ECOSYSTEMS
Ecosystems are made up of energy, matter and life, and to get a feel for an ecosystem is
to understand how all of these elements interact with one another. What that can mean is
to think about where our energy is coming from (sun, heat, fossil fuels, food, etc), and the
species involved in the process. The “matter” in an ecosystem is any form of air, earth or
water involved in the processes of life.
AIR
Our air is most polluted by carbon dioxide emissions produced largely by
industries and automobiles. Using public transit (bus, metro) is a great way to
contribute to valuable public services and to cut down on emissions produced by
individual automobiles. Public transit is better than driving your own car, but
having no greenhouse gas emissions at all is even better. That is what makes
biking the ideal mode of transportation. It is also the cheapest, and the best for
your body. Don’t forget to wear a helmet! Biking in the city can be dangerous and
although helmets may not be the most aesthetically pleasing, they will protect you
from minor accidents that could be paralyzing. See the “bike” section of Week 1
for a couple of good bike shops.
All-weather biking
If you are game, you can bike in any weather in Montreal, rain or snow, winter or
summer. Rain pants are key for biking on wetter days; you can also get relatively
inexpensive booties for your feet if you are very afraid of getting your feet wet.
Winter
Biking in the winter can be arduous, but totally worth it. If you dress properly, it
is not as bad as it might seem. Long underwear or polypropylene leggings are
great to wear under a pair of pants, and will keep you warm when you ride.
Winter biking is very hard on your bike, so be sure to take care of it. This involves
cleaning the salt and grime off more often than you would in the winter, and
lubing your chain more often as well. You may want to switch gears less,
especially on slushy or very snowy days, to place less strain on the parts of your
bike. Winter biking is not as hard as it looks, and it is better for you and the
environment!
WATER AND EARTH
The chemicals within consumer household cleaning supplies are very toxic for
ecosystems. Here are some homemade, green cleaning products which will have
less of an impact on the water table, and which are healthier to have around.
Making them yourself allows you to know exactly what is in them.
HOMEMADE SUBSTITUTIONS
There are many inexpensive, easy-to-use natural alternatives which can safely be used in
place of commercial household products. Here is a list of common, environmentally safe
products which can be used alone or in combination for a wealth of household
applications.
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•
•
•
•
•
•
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Baking Soda - cleans, deodorizes, softens water, scours.
Soap - unscented soap in liquid form, flakes, powders or bars is biodegradable and
will clean just about anything. Avoid using soaps which contain petroleum
distillates.
Lemon - one of the strongest food-acids, effective against most household
bacteria.
Borax - (sodium borate) cleans, deodorizes, disinfects, softens water, cleans
wallpaper, painted walls and floors.
White Vinegar - cuts grease, removes mildew, odors, some stains and wax buildup.
Washing Soda - or SAL Soda is sodium carbonate decahydrate, a mineral.
Washing soda cuts grease, removes stains, softens water, cleans wall, tiles, sinks
and tubs. Use care, as washing soda can irritate mucous membranes. Do not use
on aluminum.
Isopropyl Alcohol - is an excellent disinfectant. (It has been suggested to replace
this with ethanol or 100 proof alcohol in solution with water. There is some
indication that isopropyl alcohol buildup contributes to illness in the body. See
http://drclark.ch/g)
Cornstarch - can be used to clean windows, polish furniture, shampoo carpets and
rugs.
Citrus Solvent - cleans paint brushes, oil and grease, some stains. (Citrus solvent
may cause skin, lung or eye irritations for people with multiple chemical
sensitivities.)
Trisodium phosphate (TSP) - a mixture of soda ash and phosphoric acid. TSP is
toxic if swallowed, but it can be used on many jobs, such as cleaning drains or
removing old paint, that would normally require much more caustic and
poisonous chemicals, and it does not create any fumes.
Check out http://www.eartheasy.com/live_nontoxic_solutions.htm for more information
on how to use these ingredients to make non-toxic cleaning products.
GETTING A FEEL FOR YOUR ECOSYSTEM
If you would like to get a feel for your ecosystem as a whole, and how you can
live intentionally within it, then Steve Leckman is your man. He is mainly
interested in “primitive skills”—but what that means is basically getting back to
how things were before they were modified by human industry. Whatever your
beliefs are, Steve’s primitive skills classes are useful for seeing the
interconnectedness of the world around us. He usually gives workshops about
once a week or every two weeks on a variety of topics, including birdwatching,
animal and plant identification, shelter-building, survival skills, etc etc etc. For
more information, contact Steve Leckman at [email protected].