On Friday June 12th the Vancouver Aquarium will host their annual fundraising gala, Night at the Aquarium.
Tickets are available online for $250 and you can preview the silent auction items online as well. 100 percent of the proceeds from this event will go to the aquarium.
The evening will feature delectable dining options from Ocean Wise restaurants such as: Aqua Riva, Bishop’s, Blue Water Cafe & Raw Bar, C Restaurant, Culinary Capers Catering, Grouse Mountain: The Observatory, A Kettle of Fish, Le Gavroche Restaurant, O’Doul’s Restaurant & Bar, Vancouver Aquarium Catering, Wild Rice, Zen Japanese Restaurant, and the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts.
Over the last few years I have become re-acquainted with the Vancouver Aquarium and the work that they do. I’ve been fortunate enough to attend events, talk to staff, and even tour the jellyfish labs to learn more. Their mission is clear as they remain dedicated to research, conservation and education. Through the work that they do in Vancouver, across the province, through Ocean Wise, and things like the Shoreline Cleanup, I believe they are an organization worth supporting.
Canon has announced the Nurture Nature Awards, which is “an environmental program that encourages Canadians to help protect or improve the natural habitat of an endangered or threatened species in their community.”
They will be accepting applications online (from now until September 1st) containing your written plan on how to positively impact a threatened habitat in your area. Enter online by submitting a video, outlining your proposed plan along with a short written outline.
Three winners from across the country will be chosen in September and receive $20,000 to see their proposal come to fruition. They’ll also get decked out with a digital SLR from Canon as well as a video camera so they can document their projects.
Now is a great time to think about what you would do for your local ecosystem as we’re in the middle of Canadian Environment Week. This includes tomorrow’s Clean Air Day, the Commuter Challenge, and Friday’s World Environment Day.
Sunday June 14th is Car Free Day in Vancouver Day with festivals and street parties happening in four neigbourhoods.
Photo credit:
Rob__ on Flickr
The festival came out of the original 2005 car-free day on Commerical Drive, which lead to two events in 2006, another in 2007, and in 2008 we had the first city-wide event with several neighbourhoods going car-free.
The first annual Car-Free Vancouver Day, on Sunday June 15, 2008 ushered in the next phase in this bold experiment that had been gradually happening in Vancouver for many years. It took the car-free meme to the whole city, and represented the next level in our evolution toward healthy communities, authentic cultural celebrations, and car-free streets. On that day, FOUR communities presented their own Car-Free Festivals: Kitsilano, West End, Main Street, and Commercial Drive. Each Festival was envisioned and organized by the local core organizers, and each had a unique flavour.
Major sites this year include Kitsilano, Main Street, West End, and Commercial Drive. If you’d like to be a volunteer, performer, or vendor, you can contact your local organizing body through the website. They’re currently in need of volunteers to man barricades so contact the organization if you’re available to help out.
Each neighbourhood has its own feel so you’ll be able to join a knitting circle and roller disco on Commercial Drive, enjoy tunes from the music stages on Main, pop into the spoken-word tent in the West End, and visit a collection of block parties in Kitsilano.
You can download your own Block Party Toolkit if you’d like to host on in your nighbourhood. Whichever location you visit on June 14th, please remember to walk, cycle, or take transit.
Update: City Council has just approved car free Sundays in four Vancouver neighbourhoods this summer, as a part of “Summer Space”. On several Sundays this season Collingwood, Mount Pleasant, Gastown, and Commercial Drive will be closed to vehicle traffic. [CBC]
We had some more time to explore San Francisco this afternoon and our post diner breakfast walk turned into a 6-hour trek across town and back with John, Dale, and Duane.
Related posts: WordCamp Day Blog, San Francisco Photowalk. View my entire set on Flickr and John’s got some great pics as well.
Be part of the plan with TransLink on June 1st as they coordinate what will be the first of a series of public consultations throughout the month. Monday’s “Greater Vancouver’s Livability Forum” takes place at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel from 8:00am until 3:30pm and you can register online.
Developing a 30-year plan called Transport 2040, they would like to get as much public input and engagement as possible so 9 community consultation workshops will follow to discuss everything from bridges and bikeways to transit. Locations include Vancouver, Walnut Grove, Fleetwood, White Rock, Maple Ridge, North Vancouver, Burnaby, Coquitlam and Richmond. You can register online for the event in your community.
TransLink has also started a website for these discussions over at Be Part of the Plan or you can get updates on Twitter @bepartoftheplan.
