In this monthly column Dr. Martin Kijazi discusses how we can be active participants in creating a healthy environment.

Earth Day Canada Green Initiatives

Celebrated every April 22, Earth Day is a worldwide environmental event — you may have heard of it, or even participated in the past. Last year when the Earth Day media buzz caught our attention, a friend asked me provocatively: “What is the point of putting so much emphasis on ‘Earth Day,’ ‘Earth Hour,’ and all these sorts of earth commemorations, while for the rest of the year people do little for the environment?”

I unassumingly responded, “Admittedly, I observe Earth Day casually. I believe that every day is earth day, and sustainable living should be routine.” Then I added, “However, such commemorations can be quite meaningful, just like celebrating our birthdays, anniversaries, New Year, etc. Green commemorations like Earth Day allow us to reflect on and celebrate green achievements, and catalyze future initiatives.”

But I wasn’t fully satisfied with my own answer, so I did more research on Earth Day, only to find that it is actually a day that marks a culmination of all year-round green initiatives. Hence, even though April 22 is still far away, I find it appropriate to bring awareness to Earth Day now, so that we can start to take advantage of Earth Day initiatives.

First launched as an environmental awareness event in the United States in 1970, Earth Day is celebrated as the birth of the environmental movement. Since then, this movement has unleashed a wide range of environmental legislation and environmental civil society organization worldwide. One of these organizations is the Earth Day Canada (EDC), founded in 1990. It provides Canadians with the practical knowledge and tools they need to lessen their impact on the environment. In 2008, it was chosen as Canada’s “Outstanding Non-Profit Organization” by the Canadian Network for Environmental Education and Communication.

There are a number of programs that EDC encompasses; for example, the Community Environmental Fund, EcoKids, EcoMentors, and EcoAction Teams, which work to help ordinary Canadians use water wisely, conserve energy, reduce waste, choose transportation alternatives, and make greener shopping choices.

The Earth Day Canada Community Environment Fund provides financial grants of up to $20,000 to support local environmental initiatives and projects in Ontario. It helps not-for-profit organizations, charities, and schools to develop sustainable projects that educate and inspire action in communities. To be eligible for a grant, applicants must clearly demonstrate benefits their project will have on the environment and the local community, and must be open to the public. The spring grant period application deadline is February 28; successful recipients will be notified May 1. The fall grant period application deadline is August 31, and successful recipients will be notified on November 1. For detailed information, visit http://www.earthday.ca/envirofund/. At this website you will also learn about other Green Funding and Awards offered by Earth Day Canada.

Do you want to get involved routinely in sustainable living beyond commemorating Earth Day? EDC programs and resources will help you organize a successful activity, event, or project in your organization or community. Please visit www.earthday.ca to learn more. When you visit the website, refer to the “Resources” tab for more information.

There are other things you can do too! You can join the EDC green movement. At the website, sign up and commit to all the eco-actions you can. You’ll be able to access hundreds of tips and measure your results online for free. Also, tell your friends and ask them to do actions with you. Visit EcoActions Teams blog or subscribe to their newsletter to stay informed and on track. You may also check out their Story Telling Contest Winners to see how EcoAction Teams participants are making a difference. If you are into social media, become a fan of Earth Day Canada on Facebook and help grow the movement.

Sixteen-year-old Estelle Ah-Kiow was born in Mauritius, a small island off the coast of Madagascar.

The native-French speaker moved to Mississauga, Ontario, four years ago and immediately took note of key differences. She says, “I grew up on a tropical island, so I never experienced a real winter. The language is also different. It was hard for me to adapt at first because I wasn’t fluent in English.”

Estelle also took note of similarities. “Sadly,” she says, “I saw that gender inequality is present in Canada, as it is in Mauritius and every other country in the world. Often, when thinking about all the injustice in the world, I couldn’t help but have feelings of anger, frustration, and helplessness. However, I realized that negativity won’t change anything, and instead, I’ve chosen to focus on the positive.”

Now she is using her voice to help empower, inspire, and educate women and girls around the world. Estelle, who plans on studying Human Rights and Conflict Studies or International Relations after high school, adds, “I want to be a good role model for other young girls and help them understand that women are strong, courageous, and capable of anything.”

Last fall, she joined Plan Canada’s “Because I Am a Girl” campaign, designed to unleash the power of girls and women in the developing world. As part of its Speakers Bureau, Estelle has given lectures and facilitated workshops for about 100 girls at two “Girls Night In” events in the Greater Toronto Area. She has also encouraged fellow students to organize their own events and is mentoring a new member of the Speakers Bureau.

For over a year, Estelle has been contributing to the “Strength Within Girls Group” at swiggtalk.com, a non-profit online community of women and girls sharing stories, advice, and information with each other. A regular contributor to the swiggtalk blog, Estelle has used her writing to educate and inspire other teenage girls, with topics ranging from job interview skills to debunking diet myths.

The passion and power in her writing hasn’t gone unnoticed. Estelle has already won the “French for the Future” national essay contest, “Leaders of Tomorrow” essay contest, and the Gold Award from the Royal Commonwealth Society’s writing competition.

Liz Coulson, swiggtalk co-director, says of Estelle, “I have never known anyone at her age with such vision, commitment, conviction, and dedication. I can’t wait to see where she goes.”

And neither can we!

As part of International Development Week, the Ontario Council for International Cooperation (OCIC) is honouring five young women from across the province — including Estelle Ah-Kiow — for empowering and making a difference in the lives of women and girls in their communities and around the globe.

International Development Week 2012 is February 5-11, 2012. During that time, OCIC, an expanding community of Ontario-based international development and global education organizations and individual associate members working globally for social justice, will honour five young “Global Changemakers” for their work to promote gender equality in their communities and around the world.

This initiative is undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). To view a video profile of Estelle, and to learn more about International Development Week 2012, visit http://bit.ly/ocicIDW12.

Where are these photographs taken?

Be the first to answer correctly at info@goodnewstoronto.ca or 416-661-2556 and win a FREE Good News Toronto T-shirt. The answers will appear next month at in the Columns section

Answer’s to last month’s Places in Toronto:

Last month’s photographs were taken (top) Queens Quay West and Bay Street and (bottom) the Distillery District

This is a monthly column by Dr. Zahra Bardai in which she guides our path to well-being.

Ever consulted “Dr. Google” for that funny rash that developed last night? Where do you turn to become knowledgeable about the latest information on treating any number of ailments that may come up?

Traditionally, mothers, grandmothers, and a family doctor were part of that select group of people who’d be consulted first. These days, the internet is often the initial source of information people turn to in order to answer their health questions. Admittedly, there are lots of advantages to finding answers online, such as anonymity, 24/7 accessibility, and the availability of countless sources of facts and figures. However, the difficulty “Dr. Google” presents is interpreting the glut of good and not-so-good information that exists out there.

Health literacy is a complex idea with many definitions, but according to Wikipedia, it refers to our ability to read, understand and use healthcare information to make decisions and follow instructions for treatment. No small feat in today’s world filled with miles and miles of information thanks to a global cyber highway. The real challenge is finding the right filter to translate all the data out there.

There are some basic skills to acquire in order to be web-health literate. Learning to pull reliable information off the web involves being able to interpret and apply the information, graphics, and numbers that are relevant to your question. This means locating credible sources, and then evaluating the quality of facts presented by appraising and interpreting the health information as it applies to you. So how do you know that a site you are using is worth its salt?

There are established criteria that provide credibility of a site. Transparency and honesty of a website whereby the site and/or author’s contact information and credentials are posted is critical. The site’s intended audience and its purpose should be easily discernible, as should any funding bias (i.e., identification of who funds the site, which could therefore negatively impact the information posted). Information sources and the sources’ established authority in the field should be clear. There should also be an indication on how often information is updated. Accountability and privacy protection should be clarified by providing an area to report cyber abuse and incorrect or false statements.

The big question then becomes, what are the good sites to use when looking up your health questions? Of course there are a multitude of specialty sites, and which sites you use depends in part on what your question is and the level of information you need. My advice would be, for general information, stick to sites endorsed by established professional bodies such as the College of Family Physicians Canada (http://www.cfpc.ca/ForPatients/). If you are looking for something a little more specific, you can always ask your healthcare provider if there is a web resource that might be better suited to your individual needs.

Zahra Bardai is a family physician. If you have any questions about her topic please e-mail her at life@goodnewstoronto.ca

In her native Guyana, 16-year-old Atiyya Bacchus grew up reading the great classics of literature — Dickens, Twain, Brontë — unaware that her life was about to take a turn worthy of the great dramas she immersed herself in.

Five years ago, her family’s home was destroyed in a fire. Soon after, they set off to start a new life in Canada. After rebuilding their lives in Pickering, Atiyya often felt isolated in her unfamiliar surroundings, and began losing herself in books once again. She checked out 48 books at the Pickering Public Library, and breezed through them in two weeks. “I have an affinity for libraries,” she admits.

Her passion led her to become involved in a reading circle, and the development of a special friendship with a six-year-old girl with whom she works on a continual basis. Thus began a crusade to empower as many girls and women as should could, in her community and beyond, making many new friends along the way.

No event is too small or big for Atiyya to tackle. Locally, she has organized a car wash to raise funds for the Canadian Heart & Stroke Foundation, and she started a crocheting circle for young mothers. Through the Women’s Multicultural Resource and Counselling Centre of Durham, she has provided support and advice to other teenage girls who have recently immigrated to Canada, and she volunteered at an event bringing awareness to the issue of violence against women.

On the international front, Atiyya has volunteered in an AIDS clinic in Guyana, a nation with the second highest rate of HIV/AIDS prevalence in Latin America and the Caribbean. She has also raised funds for community development projects in Sierra Leone, after reading about the plight of its people.

Through the YMCA of Greater Toronto’s Youth Leader Corps (YLC) group in Pickering, she led a group in making paper lanterns containing peace messages, which were sent to Hiroshima, Japan, as part of a Global Peace Lantern project. Her efforts earned her the YMCA Peace Medallion for all of the Durham Region.
Atiyya says, “Empowering women and girls means providing them with the opportunity to find acceptance and peace within. We each have the potential to achieve something great. There is nothing to hold you back and to stop you from pursuing what you believe in.”

As part of International Development Week, the Ontario Council for International Cooperation (OCIC) is honouring five young women from across the province — including Atiyya Bacchus — for empowering and making a difference in the lives of women and girls in their communities and around the globe.

International Development Week 2012 is February 5-11, 2012. During that time, OCIC, an expanding community of Ontario-based international development and global education organizations and individual associate members working globally for social justice, will honour five young “Global Changemakers” for their work to promote gender equality in their communities and around the world.

This initiative is undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada provided through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). To view a video profile of Atiyya, and to learn more about International Development Week 2012, visit http://bit.ly/ocicIDW12.

Each month Azraa Janmohamed discusses timely topics relevant to teens

This February marks Good News Toronto’s fourth birthday, an exciting time for readers and writers alike! Upon hearing of this feat, I tried to remember back to my own fourth birthday. Seeing as it was thirteen years ago, I did not have much luck. I vaguely remember lots of people, music, and a princess cake, but other than those basics, I don’t really remember much. Nevertheless, this idea had me trying to reminisce about all my birthdays, the presents I received, and the memories that I had from them. I was surprised to find that in my memories, I could not separate one birthday from another. They just seemed like one large, long celebration, each following the same basic routine — friends, family, and presents. In my mind, there was nothing uniquely significant to distinguish my thirteenth birthday from my tenth or from my fifteenth. Had I really spent days, and even weeks, organizing the “perfect” birthday each year, just so that, a few years down the line, I would forget every intricate detail I had planned out? At this point, it sure seems that way.

My next birthday will be my 18^th. I always thought that I would make this the “biggest and best-est” one ever, in the words of my nine-year-old self. So the question arose — how do I make sure that that I have a memorable 18^th birthday? I then remembered Good News Toronto. My past couple of years with this amazing newspaper has taught me many things. One of the many lessons that I have learned from this opportunity is that the best way to have a memorable experience is to make it memorable for someone else. Being an avid volunteer, I decided that the way I could do this was by giving back to my community; by making someone else’s day, mine might just be made in the process as well. It’s a theory — one that I think has a lot of merit to it. I plan to test it for my upcoming birthday, and I hope you will join me as well!

The idea of giving back can be a daunting task to examine, so I came up with a few ideas of how I can accomplish my birthday goal:

1. Birthdays often mean presents. This year, why not try donating your gifts? You can drop off some of the physical items at a local Salvation Army spot, or find someone who is working with children your age in a third-world country, and ask if they would mind taking some gifts for those children. There is nothing like the feeling of making someone smile, and to have that on your birthday — well, that’s the best gift of all!
2. A lot of people give gift cards as birthday presents. This year, set up a fund for your favourite charity. Instead of people buying gift cards, ask them to donate the amount to your fund.
3. Build a Habitat for Humanity house. Grab your friends and get working!
4. Volunteer at a local camp to teach an activity that you love.

For my birthday this year, I am going to try to do numbers 1 and 4. Each year, I hope to add to this list, and do more and more activities! There are many options for us on our birthdays, so why limit ourselves to a plain old party? Try something new — I dare you!

In this monthly column, Marlon Teekah focuses on various aspects of fitness and answers questions you might have in order to encourage you to be your best in body, mind, and spirit.

Everyday Awesomeness at the Gym

The long-term benefits of exercise have been pretty well documented, and many people know what they are: getting physically active will help you with reducing cholesterol, lower blood pressure, and a ton of other things. All of these benefits are good — really good — but they can take a while to notice.

Unfortunately, many people don’t give themselves the time to see these benefits, since they’re so caught up in getting quick results (such as losing 20lbs in one month). Consequently, they stop exercising and wait until later to get in shape. For all my amigas and amigos who made it a resolution to get active for 2012, this urge to drop the dumbbells and start bicep curling the potato chips into their mouths may be starting to occur right about … now. But wait! I have a solution for you that may just help you to continue on with your fitness journey!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely not one to buy into short, quick results from the gym (such as losing 20lbs in one month). However, instead of using results as your motivating factor to keep in the gym, what if you re-evaluated your motivation? What if you started to pay more attention and appreciate the small, daily moments of everyday awesomeness at the gym? These examples below may help (and please e-mail me if you have any more):

1.  Mustering up the fortitude to leave your house for another day at the gym, despite not wanting to go when you woke up

2.  The warm welcome from the receptionist at the front (it’s icing on the cake if they know your name and/or if they are attractive)

3.  The beep of your card being successfully swiped in

4.  The click of the turnstile as you go through it

5.  Clean locker rooms

6.  Finding an empty day locker right by the showers

7.  The smell of freshly laundered gym clothes

8.  Walking on the gym floor and hearing your favourite song blasting on the radio

9.  Having a short catch-up conversation with a friend that you haven’t seen in a while

10. Jogging on the treadmill while the sun outside beats down on your face

11. The light sweat on your skin after a 10-minute warm-up jog

12. Hearing your favourite “pump-up” song right before you do your last minutes in the gym

13. Lifting a little more weight, doing one more rep, running a little faster, and/or stretching a little deeper than you did your last session (it’s paying off!)

14. Sipping on ice-cold water when you really need it

15. The moment right after you feel that tremendous burning in your muscles and abs

16.Walking to the stretching area with rubbery legs

17. Having a nice, long, slow stretching session at the end of the day

18. The click of the turnstile as you leave the gym

19. The first meal after you exercise

20. Feeling refreshed throughout your day (for those morning workout people)

21. Waking up the next morning and feeling muscle soreness (but still being able to function)

I can speak from personal experience when I say that whether I was in or out of the gym, I got caught up in wanting, in what’s happening next, in achieving long-term goals, in chasing. Essentially, I forgot to enjoy the ride, and took for granted all of the little things that were happening right in front of me. So, I challenge myself — and I challenge you — to be a little bit more mindful of the present moment while you are in the gym; to recognize and appreciate the small, amazing moments that are right in front of your eyes. If you want to be super ambitious, you can start to be more mindful of these things (i.e., warm songs on a cold winter day) in every aspect of your life, throughout your day. It might just make your life that much better. (If this resonates well with you, I suggest you checkout “The Book of Awesome”!) September 2010 Good News Toronto

See you next month!

Marlon

DISCLAIMER: The information provided in this article is recommended for the general population who are physically able to exercise. To determine if exercise is appropriate for you, please consult your physician before trying anything offered in this column or exercise in general. Marlon Teekah and Good News Toronto are not liable for your safety.

February 4, 2012

Each month Lindsay Holley, an at-home chef shares some of her favourite recipes with you .

It’s February, the month of love — and of sweets. So whether it’s for someone special, for family, or for friends, it’s nice to do something a little out of the ordinary this month to help stave away those winter blahs. These truffle brownies are decadent and delicious, and take the ordinary brownie to a whole new level with a rich, truffle topping. And, since our eyes eat first, it’s a nice step up to make these in a springform pan or pie plate. Share these with someone this month — they’ll love you for it.

TRUFFLE BROWNIES
Serves 8-10

Ingredients

For the batter:

• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
• 3 ounces good-quality unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the topping:

• 4 ounces good-quality semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 2/3 cup heavy cream

Directions

• Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter a 9-inch springform pan, and set aside.
• Make the batter: put the butter and chocolate in a heatproof medium bowl and set over a pan of simmering water; stir until melted. Let cool slightly.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
• Put the sugar and the eggs in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium speed with the whisk attachment until pale and fluffy, about four minutes. Add the chocolate mixture, milk, and vanilla, and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture; beat, scraping down the sides of the bowl until well incorporated.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a cake tester into the brownies (avoid centre and edges) comes out with a few crumbs, but is not wet, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan.
• Make the topping when the brownies are cool. Put the chocolate in a medium bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan on medium-high heat until just simmering. Pour over the chocolate; let stand five minutes. Gently stir until smooth. Allow the ganache to cool, stirring every 10 minutes until slightly thickened, 25 to 30 minutes.
• Pour the ganache over the cooled brownies in the pan, let set about 20 minutes. Refrigerate until cold, 30 minutes to an hour. Let brownies stand at room temperature at least 15 minutes before serving.
• Cut the brownies into wedges, wiping the knife with a hot damp cloth between each cut.

In this Q and A column, Communications Coach Vera Held explores with Good News Toronto readers important aspects of courage that surface in our personal and professional lives.

Q: I had to leave my small office of seven because my married boss was having an affair with “Stella,” the married office manager. The atmosphere was awful, and the work Stella didn’t get done got dumped on me and I was not being compensated for it.

A: Good for you. This workplace environment is toxic and will undoubtedly become explosive once the disgruntled spouses get wind of the affair. And there is no glory in “working for free” unless you’re just starting your career, building your reputation and your portfolio, and/or are doing volunteer/not-for-profit work for a cause that you believe in. Working for free simply means you are allowing someone to take advantage of you. Further, being exposed daily to the ongoing affair itself is a downer. Look after yourself in the new workplace and continue to move forward.

Q: I was telling “James,” a good colleague of mine, a story about something that happened to me 15 years ago at work. His response in the form of unsolicited advice was angry to the point of being hostile. We did not know each other then nor was the story connected to him in any way. I was disappointed in his behaviour.

A: It sounds as if the story triggered something in James that remains unresolved or that caused him pain or difficulty in the past, therefore he overreacted and responded personally and negatively to your retelling of an old story. As for giving unsolicited advice, this needs to be done with care. Often the actual content of the advice, albeit well-intentioned, is overshadowed by how someone gives feedback. Tone and word choice matter. If James has proven himself to be a good colleague, accept this one-off and carry on as always. However, if you’ve seen this behaviour before and want to problem-solve, you can readdress the issue to help James understand that his behaviour was inappropriate and unpleasant. To ensure future comfort, you are also welcome to set a reciprocal boundary where no unsolicited advice is given by either side.

Q: I’m a laboratory technician and I’m good at what I do. The psychiatrist who is essentially the departmental boss talks down to all the staff, including me. As he always upsets me, I don’t attend the meetings.

A: This talk-down artist has a problem. But don’t make it yours. Your avoidance strategy only partially works: you avoid him, but you also miss out on the meetings, the information gained there, the departmental interaction, and being with your peers. People who talk down to and about others usually aren’t feeling particularly good about themselves. The sign of a truly healthy individual is one who always talks across, meaning someone who goes out of his/her way to include rather than exclude people, regardless of rank, level, status, knowledge, and salary. He’s a poor leader and deep down this shrink knows it. Pity him and get yourself to that next meeting and make a valuable contribution. No doubt your colleagues would love to have you there, participating and making a difference.

View Vera Held on Breakfast TV:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/DiOEy6iA-5s?rel=0

In this monthly column, Etta Kaner shares some of her favourite children’s books written for a variety of ages.

Dear Reader,

We all want our children to be healthy and we do our best to make sure that they eat nutritious food, practice good hygiene, and engage in exercise. To help your children internalize these positive health practices and turn them into life-long habits, you might want to share these books with your children.

To help your 9- to 12-year olds understand how their bodies work when they exercise, I recommend Move Your Body: Bones and Muscles by Steve Parker (published by Raintree). Parker’s straightforward writing style allows readers to understand the roles that different bones play in our body, the physiological construction of bones, muscles, and joints, and how they interact when we move. Full colour photos and illustrations as well as the text encourage the reader to engage in exercise. Frequent use of analogies helps clarify explanations; e.g. vertebrae are “joined like links in a chain” or the synovial fluid of a joint is “thick like the egg white of a raw egg and it can also act as a shock absorber.” A unique feature of this book is a glossary that appears in a bar at the bottom of most pages as well as at the end of the book.

Yoga Bear: Yoga for Youngsters by Karen Pierce (published by NorthWord Press) is a great book for parents to use with their two- to six-year olds as well as with children with special needs or limited mobility. Each of the 22 yoga positions in this book are presented in three ways: a full-page colour photograph of a child doing the pose, a brightly coloured illustration accompanied by a short rhyme, and instructions to parents with details on how to achieve the posture and its physical benefits. Young children will be attracted by the whimsical illustrations and will easily relate to the children demonstrating the yoga poses as well as to the fact that most of them imitate elements of nature — both plants and animals.

If you’re constantly reminding your kids to wash their hands after going to the bathroom, you might think twice about it after you’ve read Gee Whiz! It’s All about Pee by Susan E. Goodman (published by Viking). Written in an upbeat voice with a great sense of humour, author Goodman entertains us with incredible historical information about pee, as well as the roles pee plays among animals, in medicine, in outer space, and in food. No matter who reads this book, he/she won’t be able to resist sharing its fascinating and often humorous facts with the whole family. Did you know that during hibernation bears recycle their pee into protein and use it as food? Or that ancient Roman spies used “pee as invisible ink to write secrets between the lines of their official documents”?

Reading It’s All in Your Head: A Guide to Your Brilliant Brain by Sylvia Funston and Jay Ingram (published by Maple Tree Press) is a good way for your kids to exercise their minds. Filled with “brain benders,” challenges, and experiments that demonstrate the information in the text, this book will engage even the most reluctant reader. Full-colour illustrations and photographs support clear explanations of how the human brain functions when we use our senses, when we think, and when our memory and emotions are involved. Much of the clearly written text includes descriptions of scientific experiments that often have surprising and interesting results. For example, I was amazed to learn that when blindfolded volunteers were taught to read Braille, they had difficulty doing so when the vision centres in their brains were temporarily put out of commission.