After coming across this blog, Karen, from Ontario, volunteered her responses. Thank you Karen!
1. What city and province (or territory) do you live in? Is it a big city, small town, or out in the country?
I live in London, ONtario. It is in the southwestern part of Ontario down in between the Great Lakes of Huron, Ontario and Erie. The population is about 380,000 and so is considered a fairly big city.
2. What is the weather like where you are? Is it very cold?
We have all four seasons just like up state New York. In the winter it can be as cold as -30 degrees celcius. That’s about -22 Farenheit. This winter we have lots of snow! Just this week 2 feet of snow fell all in 2 days. It took all day to shovel our driveways!
In the spring time it is usually around 15 C (59F) and in summer can be as hot as 35 C (95F). In the fall it is beautiful – so many colours on the trees and usually sunny and about 15 C again.
Usually when winter ends, our spring season is very short. It starts late in April and by end of May things are starting to heat up. By end of May it starts to get really hot and humid from May through to August. In September, it starts to get nice again until late October when the weather gets cooler at about 5 to 10 C (40-50F). December we are getting really cold days and that lasts through to February.
3. What kind of animals do you see?
We have lots of animals but I don’t think there is anything very interesting. Maybe just because I’m used to them! We have different kinds of birds but mostly plain ones. The most interesting are cardinals, blue jays, humming birds and yellow birds. We have one called Kildeer too which makes a sound like it’s called. They run on the ground screeching “Kildee, kildee”. They have long legs and are brown colour.
We have lots of cows in the country side and some horses, pigs, sheep. Many people have dogs for pets and cats. Oh yes – we have lots of bunnies running around in our back yards and lots of squirrels.
4. What are some of the most beautiful things about where you live?
I think it is the Great Lakes. I grew up just one mile from Lake Huron where the most beautiful sunsets are. Now, I am about a 45 minute drive from that same lake and I love to go there in the summer evenings. The beaches are beautiful and during spring and summer, boating and fishing are very popular. The water gets very warm in summer and people like to swim and water ski too.
5. What do you or people you know do for fun?
Our city is not known for a lot of activities but it is growing in that respect. We have a fairly new concert/arena /stadium facility and so get lots of good music talent as well as sporting events. So, that is popular – it’s called the John Labatt Centre and is attracting some interesting entertainment talents such is Lenny Kravitz, Martina Mcbride and David Copperfield.
Outdoor activities are also popular – skiiing, water sports, hockey, soccer, baseball and golfing.
6. What sports are popular in your area?
We are home to the London Knights hockey team – hockey is very popular. My son’s high school has won the Ontario High School Association hockey tournaments the last couple of years. They have also competed and won the soccer high school tournaments.
Soccer and hockey are very popular – children start playing as young as 5 years of age and there are plenty of adult teams so they keep playing all through their lives.
7. What kind of music is popular or important to your area?
Country music is very popular through all generations. For the teenagers, pop and rap are popular.
8. How do people use the environment for enjoyment?
Again, the Great Lakes are a valuable resource to Southwestern Ontario that we are trying to protect.
10. What is an environmental concern where you live, and what’s being done to fix it?
Our city is growing quickly and so with the increasing population comes a concern for air polution. There are many incentives for use of public transit and for car pooling. Websites have been created for people to search for car pooling options in their neighbourhood. Our university tuition includes a fee for use of public transit to encourage students to not drive everywhere. There are tax programs designed to improve and increase the public transit in London which means more peopel want to use it.
Energy consumption is also a concern and so we have daylight savings time as well as participation in a program called “earth hour”. At 8:00 pm on March 29, 2008 our city will participate in Earth Hour where everyone is encourage to turn off non-essential lights. This really saves energy. Also, Ontario will ban the sale of inefficient incandescent light bulbs by 2012. Our government expects that replacing the 87 million incandescent bulbs in use across Ontario with more efficient bulbs would save six million megawatt hours every year — enough to power 600,000 homes.
We are concerned about the earth too – On June 12, 2006, the City of London passed a By-law to regulate the use of pesticides on all public and private property except under certain conditions. The Pesticide By-law applies to everyone including commercial applicators, private residents, golf courses and property managers.
One other program we have in London is called “Green and Clean” . One day each spring is for volunteers to join in an annual clean up day. Usually 4,000 to 5000 volunteers clean up litter, remove graffiti and plant trees to more than 100 sites across our city.
Finally , here is the web link to our “Clear Network” which is where Londoners can go to get all kinds of environmental information – information to help us to be more aware and environmentally friendly. http://www.london.ca/d.aspx?s=/Environment/Air_Quality_main.htm
Lastly, the big question(s) related to your region:
Ontario – How has the huge population of Ontario affected nature? As the population continues to increase and spread out, what is being done to minimize human impact in your region?
Please see my notes under your question # 10 above. Most cities in Ontario have an environment awareness offices and it is a growing concern with growing participation. I work at the University of Western Ontario and there are save the environment programs all the time. Recently, we have introduced reusable Tim Horton’s coffee mugs on campus. Everyone has one instead of using thousands of paper Tim Horton’s coffee cups daily on our university campus alone. (Tim Hortons is Canadian’s coffee shop of choice and so this is making a big difference to our landfills)
Thank you very much for taking the time to answer our questions!
YOu are very welcome. And, thank you again for your interest in Canada! We are proud to be your neighbour.
