Sustainability : Featured Stories

The Stop food bank at the Wychwood Barns does much more than just give out free food. It's a community centre that thinks food and food security should be integrated into Toronto life, and they have fun doing it.

Two Toronto teachers search for a Canadian-made and non-toxic toy and find a solution by opening their own store. The 100-mile Child quickly went from a web-based home business to a retail space in the Carrot Common on The Danforth.

A chic Adelaide Street salon cuts its electricity bill by half, eliminated chemicals and reuses hair clippings, all without sacrificing any fabulousness and encourages other salons to do the same through the burgeoning sustainable salon movement.

As the big auto companies get ready to roll out their new electric vehicles, governments and other agencies in Toronto and Ontario are working to make it easy for drivers to go green with expanded e-car infrastructure projects and policies.

Residential Fruit Pickers Not Far From the Tree want to harvest more than just Toronto's wasted fruit bounty with their first fundraiser tonight, part of their plan to turn their sustainability work into a sustainable organization.

As Cleantech Practice Lead Advisor at MaRS and a renewable energy venture capitalist, Tom Rand knows how to spot a bankable sustainable energy idea. Yonge Street sat down with him to discuss how Toronto is fairing in the world of clean and green and which local company is going to be the next RIM.

The Light The Night project aims to increase safety and reduce electricity consumption by creating an unusual alliance between Toronto Police, hydro employees and a number of Toronto neighbourhoods.

Green is the new bling: while building Regent Park's first multi-use residential building, part of a massive renewal and rebuild of the neighbourhood, The Daniels Corporation overturned conventional assumptions about what would sell in Toronto's condo market.

Lake Ontario Waterkeeper has found a way to turn complicated environmental issues into something simple,heartfelt and even fun. In turn, they have influenced groups outside of Toronto and become an environmental force.

The MarketLink program, organized by the Canadian consulate in San Diego, has been enormously successful in partnering Canadian entrepreneurs with large technology companies in Southern California. This year, Sony met with three Canadian start-ups working on cleantech and smart-grid technologies in San Diego. 

Interest in cultivating organic vegetables is growing around the GTA and is both a choice for entrepreneurs looking for a new career and a way to teach youth new skills. Yonge Street talks to one of those new farmers as well as Justin Di Ciano, who runs the "Farm-in-the-Village" program.

Cycling isn't just for recreation as more and more Torontonians are pedaling around the city. Manual Cappel makes bikes and cargo trailers that help make that easy.

Interest in Toronto's urban forest is booming, and so are the businesses involved in taking care of it as new programs and companies sprout up all around the GTA.

Yonge Street Video goes to Parkdale and chats with Greenest City. They're not just encouraging neighbourhood green thumbs to turn this most urban neighbourhood into a working city farm, they're also growing a new generation of Toronto leaders.

Toronto's Ethical Ocean, a new e-commerce startup, is trying to change the way we consume by offering ethical choices. With lofty goals and considerable business ambition, they might just do it, one purchase at a time.