Photo courtesy of blurasis from the Apartment613 Flickr group.
In the first of hopefully many Apartment613 podcasts, Editors Trevor, François and myself recorded live from a picnic table perched in the middle of the beautiful Britannia Beach. We offered our take on the festival so far, chatted with Frank Turner (UK artist and Jim Bryson super-fan) and Folk festival board memeber Peter Zanette. Please be patient with poor transitions and editing… we’re still new at this. Enjoy!
Photo courtesy of Farfando in the Apt613 Flickr pool.
Apartment613 loves its very talented readers. The blog wouldn’t be the beautiful thing it is without your gorgeous photo contributions to Apartment613’s Flickr pool. So we’re encouraging you to spread your wings, and gain even greater recognition by competing in the Gatineau Park Photo Contest hosted by the Ottawa Valley chapter of CPAWS.
Any “beautiful” photos taken within the park are welcome. 12 winning photographs will be chosen and published in a 2011 calendar, the proceeds from which will go towards saving the park from wide-spread development.
Click to continue reading “Photo your heart out for Gatineau Park”
Courtesy of alroyfonseca on flickr
Editorial by Sabrina Bowman.
This coming Saturday July 17th marks another event in which people will be rallying to in support of Canadian civil liberties and in peaceful protest against the actions of police and other security in Toronto at the G20 protests in June at the G20 summit.
Most of you will now have heard about the controversy surrounding the security at the G20. From the lines of riot cops along Queen street downtown to the accusations of police brutality to the mass arrests (the most Canada has ever seen at one event), democracy and freedom of expression took one hell of a shot to the nuts last weekend.
Click to continue reading “Ottawa Rally for Civil Liberties in Solidarity with Toronto”
Courtesy of Wagboy from the Apartment613 Flickr pool
Bottled water is kind of silly. We have some of the cleanest water in the world and an advanced system for delivering it safely to our homes. The regulatory requirements for testing are higher for municipal water - making it safer than any bottle.
The real forehead-slap moment comes with the cost. According to Ottawa Riverkeeper the average price of a glass of water in Ottawa is $0.0001, where the price of a bottle hits an average of $1.06.
During festival season in Ottawa however, getting tap water at festival venues can be challenging.
Click to continue reading “Toast Canada’s birthday with a crisp, cool refilled bottle of water”
Photo courtesy of Chrissylong on Flickr
As much as I may be committed to the idea of buying food locally - through purchasing from eastern Ontario farmers and frequenting Ottawa’s plentiful markets - I’ve never been much into producing food myself. The nature of an apartment-dweller’s life means that my home-grown agriculture tends to be restricted to a small fire escape herb garden, if anything at all. There are, however, those among us who are far more committed to finding creative ways to create sustainable and economically viable food systems - like the folks at Cluck Ottawa.
Cluck Ottawa is an organization committed to creating a legal environment that’s friendly to the raising of backyard chickens. Apartment613 caught up with group founder Lyssa Rhodes to find out the benefits of keeping hens on-hand.
Apt613: Can you give us a “state of the union” on backyard chicken policies in Ottawa right now? What can a homeowner get away with, chicken-wise?
Cluck Ottawa: Right now in Ottawa chickens are classed as “livestock,” which prohibits anyone to own a small flock of hens. However, it is legal to own up to 40-70 pigeons, depending on the time of year. There are a few “underground hen keepers” that have had hens for a long time within the city with no complaints from neighbors, and no visits from bylaw officers to deal with smells/noise/chicken-at-large activities of any kind.
Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) will host the city’s second annual Bikefest at LeBreton Flats, on Sunday, June 20, starting at 9:00am until 4:00pm. The free family-oriented event is open to anyone who enjoys cycling and wants to celebrate and share its joys and benefits with their fellow cyclists.
Bikefest will feature information from cycling advocacy organizations and local bike clubs as well as a unicycle trial competition and workshop, clinics for basic bike maintenance and cycling safety. Special activities like bike crafts, Kids Bike Safety Skills Course and a tricks area will be especially appealing to kids.
The will be a mountain and hybrid bike donation site for Bicycles for Humanity in addition to a Bike-Gear Swap for used goods and bikes.
Refreshments will be available on site, and music will lend a festive note to the event.
LeBreton Flats is located next to the Canadian War Museum. It will coincide with the Parkway closure to Booth St for Sunday Bike Days.
More information about Bikefest, look online at www.mec.ca or call the store at 613.729.2700.
Bikefest is a series of urban cycling events developed by MEC to celebrate the benefits, culture, and growth of cycling in Canada.
Photo Courtesy of ishiiloan on Flickr
Taste For Justice is basically the foodies’ constructive response to slacktivism: eating out at great local restaurants while also supporting Amnesty International’s work defending human rights. Restaurants participating in the campaign, which has been going on since 2005, pick a night or two (or sometimes more) and donate a portion of their sales to the cause. You can find a list of the nearly two dozen Ottawa restaurants taking part this year - as well as dates and other information - online here.
Apartment613 caught up with Dave Loan from ZenKitchen, which is hosting their Taste For Justice night this evening, to find out why they’re lending support and what the campaign means for their business.
How did you get involved in Taste For Justice? Have you been involved with Amnesty International in the past?
Like most Canadians, we’ve been aware for many years of Amnesty International’s incredible record of human rights work around the world. I’ve attended many Amnesty events and been part of letter writing campaigns in the past. We were very proud to be approached by Amnesty about helping support their Taste for Justice campaign, raising funds for their programs to help women.
Click to continue reading “Craving dinner without the bitter aftertaste of injustice?”
Photos courtesy of seamesse, Jim Watson for Mayor and mbpowell on Flickr.
For a long time, Apartment613 has been interested in doing more than just writing and cracking jokes about municipal politics. With the upcoming elections this Fall, we thought it would be the perfect time to step up our game.
Apartment613 is partnering up with Ottawa public interest institution the Institute On Governance to organize a live, in-person mayoral candidates debate. A youth theme will run through the debate, but of course, everyone will be welcome to attend.
Another particularity of our debate, we’ll be utilizing social media tools. We’re a blog after all! If you’re not able to make it to the debate proper, fear not, you’ll be able to send your questions via Twitter, YouTube and other platforms.
While the debate is slated to take place after the nomination period is over, we’ll need your help soon. We hope Apartment613 and IOG readers will give us a hand in deciding what issues should be discussed at this debate. We’re also working on building a number of partnerships to ensure the success of the event.
Stay tuned to iog.ca and apt613.ca for more details…
A big thank you to seamesse, Jim Watson for Mayor and mbpowell for letting us use their respective photo.
June 11, 2010 from 8:30am-4pm
Jean Pigott Place-Ottawa city Hall, 110 Laurier avenue west
Choosing our Future is hosting a Sustainability Summit to listen, learn, and be inspired by community leaders with ideas about how we can become a more sustainable, resilient and livable community. For Choosing our Future to succeed it needs to reflect the creative imagination and pragmatic advice from all sectors of the community. Together we can put forward our best possible ideas for creating our collective future.
Please register at www.choosingourfuture.ca If you have any questions, please call Diana Knight at 613-580-2424, ext. 14686 or e-mail info@choosingourfuture.ca
Environment week film festival
June 2-6th, 2010
240 McLeod st.
The Environment Week Film Festival, presented by the Canadian Museum of Nature, in partnership with the Planet in Focus International Film & Video Festival, will take place from June 2nd to 6th. Twenty environmental film documentaries on important contemporary issues will be shown in the Museum’s new theatre over three evenings and a weekend. The schedule and film descriptions can be found here and tickets can be purchased at 613-566-4791 or at the Museum reception desk.
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