As the name implies, The Green Majority radio show aims to bridge the gap between polls that show Canadians want action on environmental issues and the political barriers to that happening. It's the "nation's first and only all-environmental newshour" and it airs live from here in Toronto at CIUT 89.5.

The show is produced and hosted by Jordan Poppenk, a UofT PhD Pyschology student who has been working on it in his spare time since 2005. He thinks his show is unique in that it "de-regionalizes" national environmental news by bringing to light stories from small communities you wouldn't otherwise be exposed to in the mainstream media. While each show covers Canadian and national headlines, there are also two 15-minute segments of "non-condensed" feature content, usually with an expert on an issue.

Take a good look because this house at 360 Winnett Avenue is about to be demolished in favor of a new "Eco-Modern" house to be built in its place.

Jeremy Bell and his wife have embarked upon quite a project- to document their experience designing and constructing a brand new home on the lot they have lived in for the last five years. They have set up a blog with the aim of sharing the details involved in choosing to build an eco-friendly home over simply buying something new.

Greening Greater Toronto is the name of a report released today by the Toronto City Summit Alliance. It has been mentioned in media reports (keep reading below) leading up to its release and will be made available online by the TCSA.

In a gesture of political support, the plan's launch was announced today at the Steam Whistle Brewery by Mayor David Miller.

The document is a plan put together collaboratively between local politicians, the business community, and major NGOs, to make Toronto "the greenest urban region in the world". The Greening Greater Toronto coalition will be releasing more recommendations in coming months but has started by identifying these major goals:

1) reduce GHG emissions;
2) improve air and water quality;
3) increase sustainable land use with more green space;
4) implement waste reduction that makes sense.

City planners have nixed the Berkeley Playing Fields, a sustainable design meets Toronto condo development project. The striking and imaginative design would have offered a modern counterpoint to the historic Berkeley Church, which was to remain standing (and protected!) under the new building.

"Make no little plans," celebrated Chicago architect and planner Daniel Burnham once remarked, "they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will not themselves be realized."

Apparently the opposite is true in Toronto, where un-magical condo after condo goes up - I can hardly tell one from another - and a stunning project like this only stirs the ire of city planners.

Snow storms are long gone, but over the last few weeks we've seen a barrage of wild spring storms. Torrential rain, thunderstorms, and even a rare tornado watch last week have had us wondering (as usual) whether or not these weather patterns are normal.

During the past relentless winter, city snow removal crews collected massive amounts of snow and debris from city streets and deposited it in a few locations, one being in a lot near Toronto Police 22 Division, not far from Kipling Station.

Back on April 1st, I posted a for-fun contest to see who could come closest (without going over) to guessing the date that the massive snow mountain would reach complete melt. On May 17th I provided an update and more photos. Most people guessed complete melt dates in May and early June, but the big brown mountain is still around.

Above is how it looks today, and below is a composite image that shows the melt progression from April 1st, to May 17th, to today. It looks like those guessing July or August may right after all.

Art exhibitions don't often catch my attention but FishNet's "The Great Lakes Craft & Release Project" certainly did.

I guess I'm a sucker for pictures of kids holding fish.

Students from local elementary schools were armed with life-size models of fish species from the great lakes, to create a walkable hatchery with over 1000 fish hanging from the gallery ceiling. It's called the "Release Phase" and is meant to be a virtual underwater tour of the Great Lakes including details of Great Lakes history and ecology.