Strawberry and asparagus season is about to arrive in Toronto, Canada and there is no better way to welcome the deliciousness than with the Strawberry and Asparagus Festival at Cedarvale Park (map), which promotes public space, local and organic food, local sustainable business, nature appreciation, music, and fitness & health.

When: Saturday June 20th from 11.00am to 5.00pm

What:

• healthy snacks and solar ice cream
• free activities for children and adults
• live music on our solar stage
• a marketplace for green businesses and environmental organizations

This not-for-profit event is organized each year by Chris Chopik of EvolutionGreen.Com and human capital partner Green Neighbours 21, and numerous other ENGOs. There is also an Inorganic Market™ taking place – you can drop off used or broken electronic items for free recycling. Laptops, desktops, iPods, mp3 players, cell phones and more will be collected. Come out, meet the community, and enjoy the fun!

With terrifying stats about fisheries being depleted around the world, sushi lovers are faced with difficult questions about their favourite treats. The challenge for responsible fish lovers is three-fold: knowing which types of fish are sustainable, ensuring that the fish they are eating is actually sustainable (traceability, mislabeling), and ensuring that fish are protected in the long run through regulation and market initiatives. 

There are several challenges to determining what makes up a sustainable fishery: abundance, stability, reproduction rates, bycatch, climate change, habitat and more. The Vancouver Aquarium has partnered with a number of restaurants to create a standard for more sustainable fish in Canada: Ocean Wise. There are dozens of restaurants in Vancouver and other parts of the country that have committed to sustainable fish sourcing under this standard.

Earth Day (Wednesday April 22), is an opportunity to reflect on being green in a world in economic (and pirate) crisis. Do we value the greener things in life or were they a luxury or passing fad? I would like to hope that the Earth is more important to us than we sometimes show. This year learn about how to make better choices and greener choices through lots of fun, green and fair actions! Earth Day Canada has a great map to help you identify events near you: Map.

The Canadian Organic Growers bring us the second installment of their consumer-focused organic conference Saturday, February 21, 2009 at the University of Toronto Conference Centre:

Growing and Eating for Nourishment, Nourishing the Future

Growing and Eating for Nourishment, Nourishing the Future has keynote speaker Carlo Leifert, leader of the largest, most sweeping organic food study ever done to date (http://bit.ly/171JG, http://bit.ly/gPZd). Over 30 research organizations, businesses and universities worldwide were involved in using science to get to the bottom of things. You will learn about the truth of what makes real good and healthy food at this one-day conference on Saturday, Feb 21st at the U of T Conference Centre (89 Chestnut St).

Organic tomatoes have shown that they have nearly 2 times more antioxidants compared to your typical store bought one. “Still No Free Lunch (2007)”

The conference includes a mini-market and a delicious organic lunch created by Chef Jaco Lokker. Panels include Growing for Nourishment, Pregnancy and Organic, All About Your Meat, Organic Restaurants, Importing DDT, Organic Makeover, Preserving and Canning, The Organic Wine Story and more. For a complete agenda, see http://bit.ly/sGRV