Five fun ways to get greener

[attach]2066[/attach]Live Green Toronto Festival

Celebrate all things green at the Live Green Toronto Festival, Aug. 28 and 29 at Yonge-Dundas Square. Enjoy live music from Glass Tiger’s Alan Frew, Steven Page and Divine Brown and many more. Check out many eco-vendors — from food to fashion to worms and bikes. Pick up some local produce at a huge farmers market. Kids can play at a natural playground that’ll be set up. For more information and event schedule, visit [url=http://www.toronto.ca/greentorontofestival]toronto.ca/greentorontofestival[/url].

Fall harvest

The temperature may drop, but autumn brings with it all sorts of outdoor environmental activities, many to do with food!

The city’s parks department offers a free youth cooking program for participants 11 to 16. Youth learn how to make exciting, low-budget and simple dishes from local fresh vegetables. Participants can then sample their creations! Register now, ’cause there are only two more event dates, Aug. 21 and Oct. 2, at either Masaryk Cowan Community Centre or a location in High Park. For more information, call 416-338-5055 or email [email]kidsgrow@toronto.ca[/email]. To register, call 416-338-4386, or visit [url=http://www.toronto.ca/parks]toronto.ca/parks[/url].

For even more outdoor enviro-fun, mark Oct. 3 on your calendar. That’s when the Harvest Festival takes place at the High Park Children’s Garden (south end of Colborne Lodge Drive). A great day of family fun, including music, wagon rides, nature crafts, seed collecting and a Children’s Garden harvest lunch. The festival is a joint event with the Colborne Lodge Museum. 12–4:30 p.m.

Green sanctuary

There’s all sorts of ways to transform your home into a money-saving, carbon footprint-minimizing, eco-friendly sanctuary. For ideas, visit the next generation of green homes at the Archetype Sustainable House, located in Woodbridge’s Kortright Centre (9550 Pine Valley Dr.). Two semi-detached demonstration houses showcase sustainable technologies, materials and practices — it’s the holistic approach to home and community building.

Visitors can also sign up for hands-on energy or installation workshops that teach about various technologies and building design concepts, including solar modules. For more information, visit [url=http://www.kortright.org]www.kortright.org[/url].

[attach]2067[/attach]Eco-links

Did you know the GTA is home to an eco-friendly golf course?

The Bathurst Glen Golf Course (12481 Bathurst St.) is a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary dedicated to helping preserve and enhance wildlife habitat and protecting natural resources. The golf course is fun for the whole family. Junior golfers can receive a free round of golf (one child age 14 and under per paying adult). Or take advantage of the Driving Range Family special with a free small bucket of balls. Restrictions apply. The promotions are valid Monday to Sunday after 5 p.m. until Aug. 31. For more information, contact 905-773-4334 or email [email]info@bathurstglengolf.ca[/email].

Harvest Festival

The fall will bring many Harvest Festivals to the city. But get a head start Aug. 26 at the Community Orchard Harvest Festival. Check out Toronto’s first community orchard in a park. There’ll be free snacks and fruit, activities for kids, educational information about trees and pollinators as well as music and other fun. The event is being produced by local gardening group Growing for Green, the founders of the orchard, in partnership with Parks, Forestry and Recreation. For more information visit [url=http://www.communityorchard.ca]www.communityorchard.ca[/url].
5–8 p.m. at Ben Nobleman Park (across from Eglinton West subway).