One of the key highlights of the 2011 Green Expo is a line up of topnotch speakers. The keynote address will be given by CBC’s award winning science journalist Bob McDonald at 3:00 p.m. McDonald will give an hour-long engaging presentation called “Perspectives on a Planet” which will remind us just how small our world really is and why it’s such a special place.

Dr. Rick Smith, Executive Director of Environmental Defence will be speaking at noon. Dr. Smith, co-author of the best selling book Slow Death by Rubber Duck, will be giving an enlightening talk aimed at providing insight into the dangers of common household chemicals.  Titled “Protect Yourself & Your Family: Toxic Chemicals & Secret Dangers of Everyday Things,” Smith will provide easy solutions to protect yourself and your family.

“Bob and Rick are sure to both be crowd favourites,” said Adrienne Richard, Green Expo coordinator. “We are thrilled to be able to bring such wonderful speakers to Peterborough to engage and inform about important environmental topics.”

In addition to McDonald and Smith there will be a full line up of local speakers talking about a variety of relevant topics. David Whitehouse from Peterborough Utilities Group will discuss water metering in the city of Peterborough, Tina Therrien of Camel Back Construction will talk about sustainable reconstruction in Haiti and her recent visit to the country, and Stephen Collette of Your Healthy House will discuss “Healthy Renovations.”

In addition to speakers, there will also be a full slate of workshops to empower environmental learning and knowledge. Running every half hour, workshops will cover a variety of topics from local environmental experts. Topics include composting, container gardening, sourcing and preparing local, seasonal food, and water conservation.

Residents of Northumberland and Peterborough Counties and the City of Kawartha Lakes are encouraged to watch their mailbox for the full Green Expo guide being distributed via local Sun Media newspapers.  The full colour guide includes an exhibitor listing, speaker bios and schedule of events for the day.

The Expo is proudly sponsored by Peterborough Utilities Group, CHEX-TV, the Peterborough Examiner, Energy 99.7, Country 105, BOB FM, Classical 103.1, Bullfrog Power and Notix Technical Solutions.  The Expo is owned and operated by Peterborough Green-Up, a not-for profit registered charity.  Full information on the Expo can be found at www.GreenExpo.ca

Green Expo 2011 Speaker and Workshop Schedule

Speakers

Morning

10:15     Axel Tscherniak , Executive Director of Peterborough Green-Up: Welcoming Address

10:20     Dorothy Taylor, Curve Lake First Nations:  Traditional Anishinabek Water Blessing

10:30     Liz Nield, Lura Consulting: Sustainable Peterborough

11:00     Tina Therrien, Camel Back Construction: Sustainable Reconstruction in Haiti

Afternoon

12:00     Rick Smith, Environmental Defence: Protect Yourself & Your Family: Toxic Chemicals & Secret Dangers of Everyday Things

1:00        David Whitehouse, Peterborough Utilities Services Corporation:  Water Metering

2:00        Greening Sacred Spaces Excellence Awards

3:00        Bob McDonald, CBC: Perspectives On A Planet

4:00        Stephen Collette, Your Healthy House: Creating Your Healthy House – Healthy Renovations

5:00      Alex Mortlock, Energy Services, Peterborough Green-Up:  Energy Conservation in your home and business

Workshops

Morning

10:30    Water Conservation 101:  Practical ways to save water and money at home, Mike Gibbs, Lakeland    Alliance

11:30     Composting 101: The Art of Making Black Gold, Paula Anderson, Peterborough Green-Up

Afternoon

12:30     Living Water: Water as a Human Right, Cathy Mitchell, Coordinator, Greening Sacred Spaces

1:30       Container Gardening: Exploring the Balcony Salad, Jillian Bishop, Ptbo Community Garden Network

2:30        Urban Forests, Cathy Dueck, Peterborough Green-Up

4:30        Sourcing and Preparing Local, Seasonal Food – Donald Fraser, Farm to Table Catering

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The Green Expo is capitalizing on the widespread use of smartphones and is excited to announce the show will be using QR (Quick Response) technology to provide instant access to the Expo’s website, show schedule, speakers bios and more. Not only will this be a major convenience to show attendees, it will also reduce the Expo’s environmental footprint by cutting down on the number of paper copies of material handed out during the day-long event.

“We’re really excited to be able to offer this technology to people attending the Green Expo,” said Expo coordinator, Adrienne Richard. “We think this will be a huge hit among smart phone users, and we’re really thrilled to be the first large scale event in the area to make use of this technology in an effort to reduce waste.”

QR technology works on a barcode basis. Smartphone users simply find the Green Expo barcode that will placed throughout the Evinrude Centre and scan it with their phone to get access to the latest information. They will have the option to fill out a short survey, link to the Expo website, find out what time the various workshops and speaker presentations will be happening and a whole lot more.

The QR technology is made possible through a unique cross-border partnership. After hearing about the Green Expo via Twitter, California based Notix Technical Solutions wanted to be involved and came aboard as a Green Expo sponsor. Notix is responsible for the development, design and implementation of a special website for mobile phones which will be released April 30^th, the day of the event.

The Expo is proudly sponsored by Peterborough Utilities Group, CHEX-TV, the Peterborough Examiner, Energy 99.7, Country 105, BOB FM, Classical 103.1, Bullfrog Power and Notix Technologies. The Expo is owned and operated by Peterborough Green-Up, a not-for profit registered charity.  Full information on the Expo can be found at www.GreenExpo.ca

Peterborough Green-Up has scored one of Canada’s most influential environmentalists as a speaker for the 2011 Green Expo this spring.

Rick Smith, a prominent Canadian author and environmentalist and executive director of Environmental Defence Canada, will be one of the speakers on tap for the April 30 expo.

Smith was co-author of the 2009 national best-seller Slow Death by Rubber Duck, a book exploring how plastics poison our daily lives.

A biologist by training, Smith completed his doctoral research on an endangered subspecies of freshwater harbour seal in Arctic Quebec with a nearby community of Cree hunters.

From 1997 to 2002 he was executive director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare’s Canadian office.

Smith led successful high-profile public efforts to end Ontario’s spring bear hunt, won a groundbreaking Supreme Court of Canada ruling striking down the patenting of higher life forms and spurred the adoption of Canada’s first federal Species At Risk Act.

As executive director of Enviro n m e nt a l Defence Canada, Smith is considered one of the country’s leading environmental campaigners with efforts such as the high-profile Toxic Nation campaign, which has tested prominent Canadians for measurable levels of pollutants in their blood.

Other new government policies that he has played a leading role in shaping include the Greater Golden Horseshoe Greenbelt, the largest in the world, Ontario’s Endangered Species Act and Canada’s recent decision to become the first jurisdiction in the world to ban bisphenol A from children’s products.

Peterborough Green-Up runs the annual Green Expo, which is held at the Evinrude Centre.

The theme of the 2011 expo, which runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., is Water: Every Drop Counts. Green-Up is marketing the event throughout Peterborough and surrounding area, and into Belleville, Quinte, Northumberland, City of Kawartha Lakes and Durham Region.

NOTES: The event features exhibits, speakers and information about products and services available that can help promote an ecofriendly lifestyle…. Science journalist Bob McDonald will be the keynote speaker…. A new website has also been launched at www.greenexpo.ca

geagle@peterboroughexaminer.com

All money raised from the Green Expo stays right here in our communities. Being owned and operated by Peterborough Green-Up, a not-for-profit registered charity, any and all funds raised go to Green-Up to fund important environmental education programs that operate in our area every week.

Peterborough Green-Up partners with local school boards, the County-City Health Unit, municipal governments and variety of other organizations to get out the message of environmental conservation and sustainability out to an ever increasing area. Green-Up touches people in a wide area,  including Durham Region, City of Kawartha Lakes,  and Northumberland, Hastings and Haliburton Counties.

Sponsoring the Green Expo not only gets your company’s name out to thousands of people across central Ontario, but you can rest assured you’re helping one of the regions better known and long standing charities.  For sponsorship inquiries, download the package here or contact us.

Unlike many trade shows, every dollar raised from the Green Expo stays right here in our communities to support environmental education efforts.  We’re happy that so many local businesses are eager to support these efforts.

Peterborough, Ont (November 24th) As consumers shift towards more eco-friendly buying habits, raising awareness of what products and services are available in their own communities is important. This is the principal reason why Peterborough Green-Up is busily planning the 2011 Green Expo.

Building on the success of previous organizer, Laurie Collette, Peterborough Green-Up is determined to make the 2011 Expo the largest and most successful to date. The Peterborough-based non-profit environmental organization is happy to announce it has secured one of Canada’s most recognized science journalists, CBC’s Bob McDonald, to be the keynote speaker at the event.
“We’re very excited to have Bob coming to Peterborough,” said Axel Tscherniak, Peterborough Green-Up Executive Director. “As Canada’s foremost science journalist, we’re confident his presentation will be of great interest to people from all walks of life throughout central Ontario.”

McDonald is host of CBC Radio’s Quirks and Quarks and also serves as commentator on the CBC News flagship newscast, The National. McDonald will be speaking to the 2011 Green Expo theme “Water: Every Drop Counts.”

For the first time, the Expo will move its focus beyond the immediate Peterborough area and target consumers and businesses from the Belleville, Quinte, Northumberland, Durham and Kawartha Lakes Regions. As one of Ontario’s first and most successful environmental themed consumer events, expansion into new areas was the next logical step for the event.

Also new for 2011 will the introduction of expanded hours. Feedback from Expo attendees showed that longer hours were important. The day-long event, which is being held at the Evinrude Centre in Peterborough, will be open from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. on April 30th.

Peterborough Green-Up is also excited to bring on board for the first time local radio stations Country 105 and Energy 99.7 in Peterborough and BOB FM in Lindsay and as media partners. The organization also wants to acknowledge the generous support and partnership of the Peterborough Examiner for this important annual event.

Peterborough Green-Up is also excited to announce the launch of the new Green Expo website. The site features downloadable exhibitor and sponsorship packages as well as easy access to all the latest info on the event. The site can be accessed at greenexpo.ca.

Being a not-for-profit registered charity, all money raised from the Green Expo stays in our local communities, going to continue the environmental education efforts of Peterborough Green-Up throughout the area.

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For more information contact:
Matt Higgs
Communications Coordinator, Peterborough Green-Up
1-888-745-3238 x 206 / 705-745-3238 x 206.