Educate

Slow Ottawa Resources

The Slow Ottawa website provides local and general information on social, economic and ecological sustainability. The growing suite of Slow Ottawa Pinterest boards (such as the very popular Streets for Everyone board) includes images and videos on many subjects, such as this visual primer on Complete Streets with links to scores of presentation-ready images. If you’d like to invite Slow Ottawa creator Graham Larkin (PhD Harvard, 2003) to speak at your school or community group, please see the the “Invite me to Speak” section of the Support page.

Other Resources

For a general introduction to slow living I recommend the books and videos by Carl Honoré. Alternatives to the growth economy are explored in the The Degrowth Paradigm episode on CBC Radio’s Ideas and Michael Schuman‘s Local Dollars, Local Sense. For more information and links on degrowth see here and here. Annie Leonard’s video-based Story of Stuff Project is a pithy introduction to the hollow promises of consumerism. For food culture I recommend Carlo Petrini’s clear and principled defense of vernacular practices, and this incredibly entertaining and informative talk by food writer Michael Pollan. Jeff Speck’s Walkable City and Jan Gehl’s Cities for People are excellent introductions to slow urbanism.

Resources for Teachers and Students

The Ontario Ministry of the Environment provides this page of resources for promoting environmental education in the schools, including plenty of teachers’ tools and the kid-friendly Ezone. The Active & Safe Routes to School website has this terrific resource page for teaching kids how to get to school under their own steam. For local resources, see the illustrated overview of our relation to the natural environment see the Ecology of Ottawa brochure (PDF here), and these colourable placemats designed to teach kids about Ottawa’s waste system.

Slow Ottawa Pinterest Boards

As noted in the post Pinterest as a tool for Urban Advocacy, this image-sharing site is a remarkably effective way to share ideas. Start your own sustainability-themed board today, and sign up for some of these Slow Ottawa boards for fresh ideas every day.