Toronto Chapter

Upcoming Events

Current Projects in Toronto

Faith & the Common Good is encouraging faith groups to explore how to serve their communities by helping vulnerable members prepare for and cope with climate induced extreme weather impacts (ex. extreme heat, ice storms, flooding). Why is this work important? Extreme weather events are no longer once-in-100-year occurrences. The Insurance Bureau of Canada reports that claim payouts from severe weather have doubled every five to ten years since the 1980s. Municipalities and traditional emergency response actors are struggling to meet the overwhelming needs of simply maintaining critical infrastructure in the face of these unprecedented stresses. Too frequently, our most...

Energy Benchmarking

Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area Energy Benchmarking Program: Project Completed “You can’t change what you don’t measure.” – Understanding your energy use is the first step in reducing it. Why Benchmark? Supports stewardship of environmental and financial resources. Allows you to target carbon consumption (buildings account for about 42% of a typical faith community’s carbon footprint). Saves time and money, allowing you to target lowest hanging fruit. Assists future reporting requirements. Launched in 2017 and completed in 2020, Faith & the Common Good’s Energy Benchmarking Program helped over 100 faith communities from across the GTHA take their first steps towards...

Renewing the Sacred Balance

We at Faith & the Common Good believe that the environmental crisis is, at its root, not merely a crisis of pollution and extinction, but a crisis of alienation and fragmentation, a crisis of the spirit. Only when we can work together and communicate meaningfully with one another at the heart and soul level can we hope to bring about the necessary changes required to live in peace, harmony, and health. Renewing the Sacred Balance requires fundamental reconciliation with the whole Earth community. We cannot remain silent, nor remain isolated in our actions when so much of the world is...

Greening Sacred Spaces

Greening Sacred Spaces (GSS) is our longest-running program. A practical program, GSS assists faith communities with both the educational and spiritual dimensions of greening as well as the “how to” side of audits, retrofits, and generally reducing a faith community’s footprint. We have developed a number of resources to help faith groups become community leaders in working towards a more sustainable future for all. Click on the links below to find out more about our: videos and webinars, case studies, posters, guides, tip sheets, building audits, energy benchmarking, certification, awards Visit your local chapter page or contact your local animator...

Islamic Foundation of Toronto Community Garden

August 10, 2021 · 1 reaction

Guest blog by Sajeda Khan, Social Services Coordinator

The Faith & the Common Good community garden project is an amazing project. To begin, the excitement of sharing our sacred spaces was marvellous, especially for common ground.

The senior volunteers and gardeners were looking forward to spring and their favourite hobby is to plant plants, especially native plants and vegetables.

We began with planting the native plants.

Monarda Fistulosa is a wild flower in the mint family, widespread and abundant. It is a native plant of North America. It’s also known as bee balm.

Echinacea Purpurea, commonly called purple coneflower, is a coarse, rough –hairy, herbaceous perennial that is native to most prairies.

Asclepias turnerosa, commonly called butterfly weed, is a tuberous rooted, Missouri native perennial which occurs in dry and rocky open woods, glades, prairies.

Energy Efficiency at Eglinton St. George's United Church

December 09, 2020

Energy efficiency work pays forward for Eglinton St. Georges’ United Church at no cost!

Eglinton St. George's United (ESG Toronto) received $50,700 funding this summer, in order to improve energy efficiency at their building. The total cost of the project was paid for by the funds received. The project is part of an 18-year ongoing greening journey at ESG.

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Resources

How to Access your Faith Building Data Webinar

Recorded April 16, 2020

How to access you Faith Building Data

View Webinar (55 minutes)

Learn more about saving energy at your faith-building, by reading our 62-page practical "Do-It-Yourself" Faith Building Energy Audit Guide DIY Walkthrough Guide

For information about How to Access your Data, please contact your David Patterson, by email [email protected].

Runnymede United Lighting Case Study Webinar

Recorded November 20th, 2019

Runnymede United Lighting Case Study Webinar: Costs, Savings and Payback Periods from Energy Conservation in your Faith Building.

Watch and listen to the webinar (59 minutes)

Download Don Dewees' PowerPoint presentation

To provide learning and ways to reduce your building footprint, we have created a 62 page Do It Yourself Faith Building Energy Audit Guide.

We would like to thank Enbridge Gas Inc. for providing funding to Faith & the Common Good.

Enbridge Gas Inc. has a more than 170-year history and is Canada's largest natural gas distribution company. Enbridge Gas delivers safe, reliable natural gas in more than 100 communities across Ontario and is a leader in promoting energy efficiency programs.

For information about Enbridge incentives, contact your Enbridge Energy Solutions Consultant, Jeffrey Blunt, at 416-795-8346 or email [email protected] to learn more about their programs and incentives or visit enbridgesmartsavings.com/business

Native Plant Garden Guide

Native Plant Garden Guide New in 2018! This guidebook is designed to help faith communities plan and maintain a successful native plant community garden. It was created by our Greening Sacred Spaces Toronto Chapter in 2018 with the assistance of the North American Native Plant Society.

Download PDF (2.7 MB)

Extreme Weather Toolkit

This Extreme Weather Tool Kit will help your faith group think through the essential components of an extreme weather response plan. It is tailored for faith groups in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) who want to support their most vulnerable community members to better withstand extreme weather emergencies.

Download PDF (3.5 MB)

Community Garden Presentation

Community Gardens ppt

This pdf document is a presentation for use with your faith community or garden team to kickstart or support your community garden program. It is a companion to the Edible Community Garden Guide.

Download presentation (4.5 MB)

Download one-page gardening group facilitation sheet (258 kB)

Community Garden Guide

Greening Sacred Spaces has developed a community garden guide for faith communities creating a community food garden. This comprehensive how-to guide includes information on:

setting up a garden
forming a volunteer team
planting a garden, including depth and drainage, organic matter, container gardening, rooftop gardening, tools, and other options
maintaining a garden – weeding, watering, and pest control tips
harvesting the garden – picking, monitoring, and chronicling the crop, freezing and fermenting, storing and replenishing soil
a garden resource list

Download PDF (1.8 MB)

See also the companion Community Garden Presentation.

Extreme Weather Resilience Case Studies

Solar Case Studies

The Neighbourhood Extreme Weather Resilience pilot project, completed in 2015, explored how Toronto’s diverse faith communities could be better utilized as local service centres to help vulnerable populations during extreme weather emergencies. These case studies give a sense of the potential of this work by providing a snapshot of the action plans and community partner engagement at each of the project’s faith pilot sites.

Download PDF (4.05 MB)

The Green Rule Poster

The Green Rule

Faith & the Common Good derived the Green Rule poster from the classic Golden Rule found in major faith traditions.

“Do unto the Earth as you would have it do unto you.”

Each Green Rule was chosen from the great texts of the world’s major religions and spiritual philosophies. The texts all acknowledge the natural world as an essential phenomenon through which we may better come to know the divine and our oneness with it.

The Green Rule poster is approximately 22" x 28".

See also:

Green Rule study guide (orderable with poster)

How to use the Green Rule (PDF download)