Mayor urges everyone to think and act green

April 22 was Earth Day; the largest, most celebrated environmental event worldwide.

According to Earth Day Canada (www.earthday.ca), more than six million Canadians join 500 million people in over 180 countries in staging events and projects to address local environmental issues. Furthermore, nearly every school child in Canada takes part in an Earth Day activity. As the Greenest Municipality in Ontario, I thought that I would take this opportunity to provide you with 10 ways to celebrate Earth Day.

1. Recycle your household batteries: Caledon has a unique household battery recycling program, where citizens can drop off household batteries at the following participating retailers - The Source and Canadian Tire in Bolton, Berneys Pro Hardware in Caledon East, the Palgrave Postal Outlet and the Alton Gas Bar. For more information, visit www.citizensforacleancaledon. org

2. Attend an upcoming Green Tea: Green Tea is a grassroots, not-for-profit organization. Each Green Tea focuses on an environmental theme and brings together members of the community with guest speakers from a variety of environmental organizations. For information on upcoming Green Teas, contact patti@pattifoley.com

3. Find out about financial incentives for environmentally related products, at www.incentivesandrebates.ca

4. Attend the Caledon Countryside Alliance Eat Local Caledon Dinner Series April 24 at the Consulate Dining Lounge in Caledon East. For reservations, please contact the Consulate. For more information on locally grown food and products, visit www.growninpeel. ca

5. Visit the Green Peel Expo or the Toronto Green Living Show: The Green Peel Expo is May 3 at the Mississauga Valley Community Centre. The Green Living Show is April 25 to 27 at the Direct Energy Centre at Exhibition Place. For more information, visit www.peelregion.ca/conservation or www.greenlivingshow. ca

6. Consider Energy Star when purchasing new appliances: The Energy Star symbol is an easy way to identify energy efficient products. For a listing of Energy Star qualified products, visit www.oee.nrcan.gc.ca

7. Find a carpool match at Smart Commute Carpool Zone: Smart Commute helps local employers and commuters explore different commuter choices like carpooling. Visit www.carpoolzone. smartcommute.ca

8. Purchase a water efficiency kit or rain barrel: Indoor and outdoor water efficiency kits are available for purchase at the Caledon Town Hall. Rain barrels can be purchased at the Bolton Community Recycling Centre, Caledon East Pro Hardware, Caledon Landfill Site and the Caledon Mountain Wildlife Supply. For more information on the rain barrels, visit www.citizensforacleancaledon. org

9. Explore Caledon's trails. There are more than 260 kilometres of publicly accessible trails within the Town of Caledon including 105 kilometres of the Bruce Trail. For more information, check out www.caledon.ca and click on "parks and trails" under Discover Caledon.

10. Learn more about the Town of Caledon's environmental initiatives: Did you know? • The Town is using B20 biodiesel blend for 16 trucks, turf mowers and sidewalk snow clearing equipment; • A Community Green Fund has been established to fund local community environmental projects; • The Town is purchasing Bullfrog Power (100 per cent green electricity retailer) for the Town Hall; • The Town has purchased two hybrid vehicles for the Building and By-Law Enforcement Department; • The Town recently provided idle free signs to all Caledon schools.

For more information, please refer to Caledon's 2007 Environmental Action Report at www.caledon.ca

Time to clean up the litter

Well it looks like spring has finally sprung.

The days are getting longer and the snow has almost melted. With that comes the unsightliness of garbage in front of our homes, in our ditches, on the side of the roads etc.

April is the month that we find Earth Day in. My suggestion is that each of us take a half hour and go out and clean up the garbage in front of our property. If we all did a little bit it would make a huge difference.

I know that Tim Hortons sponsors a community clean-up day and it is coming up May 10 and it would be wonderful if we all pitched in that day too and helped clean up our wonderful community.

I always try to look at the root of the problem and it appears that too many people throw their garbage on the ground. It also appears that some of us do not secure our garbage well enough when we put it out on garbage day. I know that living in the country the crows do a great job of spreading the garbage in front of our homes or spilling it over into the ditches. Now we put our garbage in a container so that it is much more difficult for the crows to interfere with it.

We all live in Caledon for a reason. Most love the outdoor amenities that this municipality has to offer with its outstanding trail system and the dedicated folks who help to clean the trails and keep their eye out for problems on the trails. Did you know that you can walk or ride your bicycle from one side of Caledon to the other? What a great day trip, approximately 33 km., with a lunch stop in one of our villages. Did you know that you can go from Bolton to Palgrave on the Humber Valley Heritage trail system? There again a great day trip with lunch in the village.

With spring in the air and a spring in your step, I hope that you will participate in cleaning up our community and take advantage of our wonderful outdoors, through our trail systems.

See you on the trail.