How do you "live green" in Toronto?
Judging by the recently announced winners of the
Live Green Toronto awards, start with resource-sharing ethic.
That was certainly the prevailing theme among the three organizations recognized last week for contributing to "a greener, more sustainable Toronto."
Fresh City Farms was recognized for its scale-able city-farming,
Baka Mobile for its free publicly-accessible solar charging station, and the
Toronto Tool Library for establishing Toronto's first tool-sharing program.
The winners of the annual City of Toronto contest, were chosen, in-part, by Toronto residents who voted for their favourite entries on the Live Green Toronto website.
To enter, each applicant submitted a video of up to 90-seconds accompanied by text of 500 words or less explaining to viewers their claim to being "Toronto's greenest." By the time voting closed on May 12th, entrants videos has amassed a total of 200,000 views.
The online votes counted for 49 per cent of entrants' scores, and jury selected by Live Green, the remaining 51 per cent.
Like the online voters, the judges gravitated to those projects changing the way we use our resources.
"[It's about] challenging our perceptions of ownership and reducing our impact on the plantet," said Toronto Tool Library co-founder Ryan Dyment in his submitted video. It's a sentiment that could describe all the winning initiatives.
In addition to the three organizational winners--the Toronto Tool Library for the "group" category, Fresh City Farm for "small business" and Baka Mobile for "corporate"--the contest also recognized city residents living green in their daily lives. Lucy Wang, the "youth winner," won for her green-living lifestyle and Vytautas Bruzga, the "individual winner," won for his sophisticated backyard farming.
Each winning project and individual was presented with an award last week at City Hall and provided with $2,500 courtesy of award sponsors.
"I am delighted to see such enthusiasm for the greening of Toronto – from youth to large corporations," stated Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly at the City Hall event. "On behalf of the City and the thousands of residents who voted to help select the winners, I thank you for your leadership and for sharing your inspiring stories."
Writer: Katia Snukal