What kind of world are you passing onto your children?
What hope do they have for the future of the planet?
What are you doing now to create a better future?
Together in this symposium, we will explore the above questions by looking at: Where we are now, how did we get here, the new story, what is possible now and where do we go from here?
The AWAKENING THE DREAMER, CHANGING THE DREAM SYMPOSIUM is part of a rapidly expanding global initiative of the Pachamama Alliance, in more than 80 countries in 16 languages.
It's a totally unique workshop -- live facilitation and participant interaction are combined with a tapestry of video interviews, drawing upon leading edge information and the wisdom of our time, with some of our most respected global elders, luminaries and leaders.
What you will get from this process:
An experience that will change the way you see the world
Reflection time away from your busy life
A mindset shift
Access to a strong community of passionate people
Seating is limited, and on a first-come basis (15 seats currently available).

Discover how you can help gain ground on global warming by accelerating what is already working. By donation.

Project Drawdown has identified, researched and modeled the 100 most substantive, existing solutions to address climate change, grouped into seven sectors. Put together, they reveal a path forward that can roll back global warming by 2050. 

The Drawdown Land Use Sector includes the protection and restoration of high-carbon ecosystems such as forests and wetlands, as well as the production of perennial timber and biomass crops. Deforestation and degradation of forest ecosystems are responsible for about 1/8 of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions today (IPCC, 2014). By 2015, solutions in these sectors could reduce CO2 emissions by 149.5 gigatons and save $1.20 trillion US dollars.

Ecosystems protection solutions include protecting forests and peatlands and legally recognizing forest tenure by indigenous peoples with claims to the land. The restoration of temperate forests helps sequester significant amounts of carbon. Timber and biomass crop solutions include planting trees for timber or other biomass solutions on degraded land, and producing perennial grasses and woody plants for bioenergy. 

In this informative evening:

• Learn more about the land use sector solutions identified and modelled by Project Drawdown
• Hear from experts who are making change with land use sector solutions at the individual, corporate and government level
• Build a long and local vision for land use sector solutions in Toronto 
• Offer what you can give and/or request what you need, to help move forward land use-related solutions in Toronto and reverse our greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Speakers:
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• R. Stacey Laforme, Elected Chief, Mississaugas of New Credit First Nation (MNCFN)- Born and raised on MNCFN, Chief Laforme has served his community for over fifteen years, being first elected to council in 1999. Chief Laforme is very active throughout MNCFN’s traditional territory which encompasses 3.9 million acres of Southern Ontario, not only as a Chief, but as a notable storyteller and poet. His dedication to the land, history, language and culture of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation are helping to guide his First Nation towards a prosperous future. - Chief Laforme will do the Opening and Keynote on Indigenous world view and traditional land management; How Indigenous land sovereignty is essential for reversing global warming. 
  
  
• Ryan Ness,  Corporate Strategy Lead, Toronto Region Conservation Authority and Humber River watershed specialist -- in interview with Kevin Best.  Ryan will provide an overview of the existing system of watershed governance in Southern Ontario and its limitations for engaging communities in meaningful social-ecological learning.  He and Kevin will discuss opportunities to draw on indigenous teachings to reinvent the governance of urban watersheds and bring about the transformation of worldviews of the relationship between self, community and land that is required to successfully address climate change.  Kevin represents Giiwayanjigaywin, an initiative to restore the role of Anishinaabek women in the protection and stewardship of water. 
  
  
• Andrew Knox, Andrew Knox is the President of Transition Toronto, the Toronto chapter of the global Transition Towns movement.  Andrew holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and is a full-time industrial energy efficiency consultant and part-time lecturer in Energy Policy at the University of Toronto.  Andrew co-founded Transition Toronto in 2009 and sees Transition Towns as an essential social force in the mitigation of climate change.  
  
  Andrew will discuss Transition Toronto's TreeMobile project, a project which reforests the urban landscape with food-bearing trees and shrubs.
  
  
• Leila Mireskandari, is a Certified Permaculture Designer who holds a Master's degree in Environmental Studies from York University. She is the founder of Kids' Growing City and Urban Guilds Permaculture, with the goal of transforming our school grounds and suburban yards into food forest oases. Leila is an educator holding Environmental/Sustainability Education diploma and a business woman, holding Business and the Environment diploma from Schulich School of Business. Leila believes in the power of socially conscious entrepreneurship to transform the world into a better place for all.
  
  
• Sean Thomas, professor at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Forestry -Dr. Thomas' research focuses on the functional ecology and ecophysiology of trees, forest community ecology, and their links to ecosystem processes, in particular the dynamics of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Current projects specifically address the "dark side” of forest ecology – namely the study of charcoal as a soil amendment (“biochar”) and of natural chars: their properties, distribution, and impacts on soil organisms, processes, and forest productivity. he will spek on "Forest restoration solutions for greenhouse gas drawdown".  ​

The EcoFair is a FREE, family-friendly event that informs and inspires greener choices in our homes and communities.  Learn about and celebrate the exciting programs, products and services of over 40 environmental not-for-profit organizations and eco-friendly businesses.

Sunday, November 4, 11-4, Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie St.
​
At the EcoFair:

• Attend eco-workshops & activities
• Test drive an electric car
• Have fun at the kids’ activities
• Explore solar energy & conservation
• Discover sustainable investing
• Enjoy healthy delicious food
• AND MORE!

This workshop is what inspired us to create Unify Toronto. It continues to ground and inspire us. Here's your chance to experience it too. 

What kind of world are you passing onto your children?
What hope do they have for the future of the planet?
What are you doing now to create a better future?
Together in this symposium, we will explore the above questions by looking at: Where we are now, how did we get here, the new story, what is possible now and where do we go from here?

Saturday, Nov 10, 2018
11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
(Registration at 11:30)
Location: 23 Diana Dr. (Keele/Sheppard)
Sliding scale: $25-40 (to cover materials)
RSVP to charlene@charleneday.com
RSVP required! You're welcome to invite friends.

The AWAKENING THE DREAMER, CHANGING THE DREAM SYMPOSIUM is part of a rapidly expanding global initiative of the Pachamama Alliance, in more than 80 countries in 16 languages.

It's a totally unique workshop -- live facilitation and participant interaction are combined with a tapestry of video interviews, drawing upon leading edge information and the wisdom of our time, with some of our most respected global elders, luminaries and leaders.
What you will get from this process:

• An experience that will change the way you see the world
• Reflection time away from your busy life
• A mindset shift
• Access to a strong community of passionate people
  
  

Seating is limited, and on a first-come basis (15 seats currently available).

Please join Unify Toronto in collaboration with Pachamama Alliance for "An Introduction to Drawdown." By donation. Students attend free.

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the constant stream of stories about Climate Change (aka Global Warming) that imply there's little we can do about it, or that it’s not really happening? Are you feeling despair that the proposed solutions are too little and too late? Having pangs of guilt that you aren’t doing more? 

Well there is a research-based project underway to actually reverse global warming - to pull carbon out of the atmosphere, as opposed to merely slowing down the rate of emissions. It is not only possible, but feasible and eminently practical. 

Come and find out what you can do to help reverse global warming!
​
This very interactive evening program will present an inspiring, uplifting and empowering approach to the issue, based on the latest research from a team of over 200 scientists and researchers from around the world.  

This four-session course is designed to take participants deep inside the work of Drawdown.org, including a much greater familiarity with many of the solutions presented in the book, Drawdown, edited by Paul Hawken. You will have a chance to actually get into action on one or more of your chosen solutions as well as learn how to communicate Drawdown to people in your life.

The course is full of useful tools and tips to empower you to have a real impact, as well as how work more effectively with others.
​
The course is 4 sessions of 3 hours each, with research assignments between sessions, and an "Action Break” between sessions 3 and 4 to allow you complete a learning project, either on your own or with a team from the course.

Dates and times:
Mondays: September 10, 17, 24 & October 22, 6:30-9:30

Promise of the Course

You will:

• Gain a basic understanding of how it is possible to reverse global warming, accelerate and expand the work being done
• Know yourself as someone truly making a difference in reversing global warming with a new attitude of hopefulness,
• Be engaged in one or more solution(s) and/or become an “ambassador” for Drawdown

Discover how you can help empower humanity's response to global warming by accelerating what is already working. By donation.

Project Drawdown has identified, researched and modeled the 100 most substantive, existing solutions to address climate change, grouped into seven sectors. Put together, they reveal a path forward that can roll back global warming by 2050. 

In this informative evening:

• Learn more about the materials sector solutions identified and modelled by Project Drawdown
• Hear from experts who are making change with materials sector solutions at the individual, corporate and government level:
• Build a long and local vision for materials sector solutions in Toronto 
• Offer what you can give and/or request what you need, to help move forward materials-related solutions in Toronto and reverse our greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

 

Join Unify Toronto for the fourth of seven Drawdown sector summits. Learn about building and city sector solutions to global warming that are already in place and in action in Toronto. Discover how you can help build humanity's response to global warming by accelerating what is already working. By donation.

Project Drawdown has identified, researched and modeled the 100 most substantive, existing solutions to address climate change, grouped into seven sectors. Put together, they reveal a path forward that can roll back global warming by 2050. 

Dense urban human settlement – the cities of the world and the buildings and infrastructure that comprise them – account for a significant percentage of human energy use, mostly for heating and cooling. This makes them a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. Rapid urbanization has led to inefficient design of buildings and infrastructure. 
For buildings, the ten Drawdown solutions identified include building automation, green roofs, heat pumps, insulation, LED lighting (both commercial and household), net zero buildings, retrofitting, smart glass, smart thermostats, and solar hot water. For cities, solutions modeled include: district heating, landfill methane, and water distribution.

In this informative and collaborative evening:

• Learn more about the buildings and cities sector solutions identified and modelled by Project Drawdown
• Hear from experts who are making change with buildings and cities sector solutions at the individual, corporate and government level:
• Build a long and local vision for buildings and cities sector solutions in Toronto 
• Offer what you can give and/or request what you need, to help move forward buildings and cities-related solutions in Toronto and reverse our greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Speakers at the Buildings and Cities Summit1. Lloyd Alter 

     - Adjunct Professor, Ryerson University 
     - Design Editor and Contributor treehugger.com 
2. Jenny McMinn  

     - Managing Director - Urban Equation, Sustainability Consultant
3. Mary Pickering 
     - Mary Pickering, VP, Programs & Partnerships - The Atmospheric fund
4. Jeff Ranson  

     - Regional director (Greater Toronto area) - Canada Green Building Council  
5. Larry Brydon 
     - Board Director - Building and LandScape Development Association (BILD)
     - Vice President business Development and Regulatory Affairs - Cricket Energy Inc
     - Board Director and Past Chair - Sustainable Buildings Canada 
6. Suzanne Wiltshire 
     - Business Development Representative - Commercial VRF & ERV Technologies
 7. Phil Fung

     - Managing Principal, SRS Consulting Engineers
     - Professor, Sustainable Buildings Design and Energy Modeling - Humber College
8. Donald Peckover  

     - Architectural Designer - SUSTAINABLE.TO 

Everyone welcome!

This is the fourth of seven sector summits:
April 25 - Food Sector Summit
May 16 - Transport Sector Summit
July 25 - Energy Sector Summit
August 29 - Building and Cities Sector Summit
October 24 - Women and Girls Sector Summit
November 28 - Land Use Sector Summit
January 30 - Materials Sector Summit
For reports on previous summits, go to www.unifytoronto.ca/events.
​
More about Project Drawdown and Unify Toronto’s Drawdown program:
Project Drawdown, founded by author and environmentalist, Paul Hawken, is a scientifically based, comprehensive plan to implement the top 100 solutions to reverse global warming by 2050. Reversing climate change is not only possible, but feasible and eminently practical. The New York Times bestselling book sets out the solutions, the math and the economics of how we can actually do this in an inspirational and accessible way. 

Unify Toronto's 13-month program aims to generate enough activity to make Toronto a hub of Drawdown activity in North America. It includes a series of introductions to Drawdown, seven sector summits, and a 4-session course, that will put vital information about how we can reverse global warming in your hands, connect you with other change makers, and galvanize your action with a new sense of optimism and agency. 

Access details of Unify Toronto’s full Drawdown program at www.unifytoronto.ca. 
Find out more about Drawdown at www.drawdown.org.

Learn about the Pachamama Alliance, creators of the Drawdown introduction and course, at www.pachamama.org.