Resources

The Ecology of Ottawa

Amidst the asphalt streets and towering skyscrapers, it’s easy for us to lose sight of the natural world.

We flick on a light switch without thinking about where the energy comes from.

We flush the toilet without knowing where the wastewater goes.

Our garbage is whisked off to some place called “away.”

But we are deeply connected to Ottawa’s water, land, and air.

It affects us, and we affect it, every single day, through the water, energy, and other resources that flow through our homes.

“The Ecology of Ottawa” booklet and website seek to make these connections clear, by identifying Ottawa’s key natural features and showing where our resources come from, where the waste products go, and what we can do to reduce our impact on the local ecosystems that we depend on for clean air and water.

Visit www.ecologyofottawa.ca for more information.

Greenprints: Policy proposals for a sustainable Ottawa

These two-page policy papers identify concrete steps that the City of Ottawa can take to reduce waste, fight pollution and climate change, limit urban sprawl, and otherwise decrease our city’s negative environmental impacts. They call on city council to bring Ottawa up to the standards of other cities by implementing solutions that have proven to be successful elsewhere.

Click here for more information.