Environment & Climate Change

Lowertown is fortunate to be bordered by both the Ottawa River and Rideau River, to have numerous parks and greenspaces. 

Residents consistently say they value a healthy, sustainable community and want us to do all we can to create a green Lowertown, and Ottawa. Residents of Lowertown care about healthy rivers, trees and air, safe streets and active transportation options, and reducing our carbon footprint. Residents of Lowertown walk and cycle more than other residents in Ottawa, with about 40% of Lowertown residents either biking or walking to work.

The Environment & Climate Change Committee promotes:

• year-round walkability and active transportation through walkability audits, sidewalk clearing monitoring, and lobbying the city to implement a complete streets approach to ensure safe and comfortable streets for pedestrians, cyclists and the mobility impaired.
• healthy rivers, trees and air, and the reduction of our carbon footprint.
• All measures to reduce or mitigate the effects of climate change

LCA volunteers work on all of these elements to create a healthier greener community by protecting and planting trees, encouraging urban gardening, cleaning up shorelines and lobbying to keep contaminants out of rivers. The Committee meets with the Mayor and Councillors to press for changes in City policy and action on transportation and environmental matters. Its recommendations to the City also include improvements to public spaces with added benches, shelters, trees, water fountains, public toilets and public art throughout the community; walking and biking;  reduction of flow-through traffic and, the revitalization of the ByWard Market to make it a world-class public space.

Other initiatives of the LCA Environment Committee

We participate in other initiatives as they arise, such as those related to waste, encouraging recycling and the green bin programme, parking studies, Market revitalization issues, the campaign to ban bottled water in City buildings and events.

Monitoring the City’s Environment Committee
Our current Councillor, Mathieu Fleury, sits on the Environment Committee and we continue to monitor and share the activities of this committee and input where related to our environmental priorities.

Encouraging the support of our elected representatives
During election periods, we ensure environmental issues are raised at all-candidates debates.

Transportation
LCA believes the transportation choices we make on a daily basis affect not only the liveability of our community but the environment as well. Walking, cycling and other forms of active transportation help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote a healthy community.

Collaborations
• City planning decisions have a direct impact on our environment, and, the walkability, safety, and accessibility of our community, and as such we work closely with the LCA Planning Committee on development issues.
• LCA is an active member of the Community Association Forum on Environmental Sustainability, a group of downtown community associations’ environment committees and focal points working together on a variety of issues
• As a member of the Federation of Citizens Associations in Ottawa, we also share information and participate in joint actions related to the environment.

Clean rivers and streams

Several Lowertown residents volunteered for the Ottawa Riverkeeper’s May 2013 shoreline cleanup.
Lowertown is fortunate to be bordered by both the Ottawa River and Rideau River, so it is important to us to clean up our rivers.

Our community association has partnered with groups including Ecology Ottawa, the Ottawa Riverkeeper, the Ottawa Rowing Club and others in annual shoreline cleanup events.

But this is not enough. Every time it rains, a cocktail of contaminants–including bacteria, chemicals, fuels and heavy metals–washes off our streets and runs straight into our rivers and streams via the underground storm sewer system. This amounts to hundreds of millions of litres of sewer water tainted with untreated sewage being dumped directly into the Ottawa River. The City of Ottawa has a plan to stop this and LCA residents joined 10,000 Ottawans in signing a petition ensure there is funding available to implement the plan. The City has asked the Federal Government and the Provincial Government to each contribute a third, and LCA contacted our representative MPP Madeleine Meilleur to do so. The Ontario provincial government agreed, including it in the budget in 2014. We also contacted MP Mauril Belanger and the federal government has indicated they will do so in the 2015 budget.

LCA is also encouraging the City of Ottawa to follow-through on its commitment to develop a Water Environment Strategy that will improve storm water management, reduce flooding, protect our streams, and make it safer to swim and fish in our rivers.

Trees

In the coming years, millions of trees across Ottawa (up to 25 percent of Ottawa’s tree canopy, including in Lowertown) will die as a result of the emerald ash borer infestation.

Lowertown residents care about saving our tree canopy. Residents have joined a new city-wide initiative called TREE Ottawa, together with the City, to launch a bold new vision to plant a million trees in the run-up to Canada’s 150th birthday celebration in 2017.

Indeed, we planted the first tree to launch the initiative in Bingham Park in October 2013, with Diana Beresford-Kroeger, author, botanist and tree expert, and Sarah Harmer, activist and musician. In January 2015, we hosted Tree Ottawa to tell us about the ash trees in our midst, the possibilities for planting and caring for trees and how we can get involved. We want to continue to work with others to take better care of existing trees, plant new trees, across Lowertown.

We also partnered with the Lowertown East Community Resource Centre, Hidden Harvest and Treenuts.ca to take a walkaround in Lowertown East in September 2013 to learn about the nut trees of Lowetown East. Urban nut trees give all the benefits of other kinds of trees, plus an edible crop bonus. We plan another walkaround for Lowertown West in the fall of 2014.

We welcome anyone interested in this work. Send us an email or complete the volunteer form.