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In My Backyard: Green Heroes Series, Season 1

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This title is a part of the series Green Heroes Series, Season 1


Catalogue Number:  CIN002
Producer:  CineFocus
Producing Agencies:  CineFocus Canada Productions
Subject:  Arts, Canadian Social Issues, Canadian Social Studies, Environmental Justice, Environmental Studies, Geography, Guidance, Health, Music, Science, Social Issues, Social Sciences, Social Studies, Women's Studies
Language:  English
Grade Level:  6 - 8, 9 - 12, Post Secondary, Adult
Country Of Origin:  Canada
Copyright Year:  2010
Running Time:  25:00


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These GreenHeroes have a lot in common. They are protecting the places they call home from industrialization and pollution of our fresh water sources and they are using the arts to get their message out to the masses.

  • Singer/Songwriter and Green Hero Sarah Harmer uses her music to help protect her own backyard. Growing up near Mount Nemo, Harmer realized how beautiful and important the Niagara escarpment was after so many years of touring all over the country and world. In 2004, when the company Lafarge wanted to remove 200 more acres of Mount Nemo, Sarah did her part to protect this UNESCO World Biosphere Preserve. In 2006, Harmer co-founded an environmental group called PERL (Protecting Escarpment Rural Land) to save Mount Nemo from becoming an open-pit quarry. She put together summer concerts featuring renowned musicians like Bruce Cockburn and Feist, and made an Album I'm A Mountain. 
  • Lead singer of the Tragically Hip, Gord Downie, became a water protector, and a Green Hero. Downie felt an empowerment when he realized that Lake Ontario belongs to the people in the public trust. So when there were unsafe practices of burning tires by the company Lafarge, Gordon teamed up with Lake Ontario Waterkeeper and raised enough money to make an appeal which in time they won the hearing against Lafarge. Gord Downie put his name on files and used his skills and platform to help raise money to protect Lake Ontario. Now, companies need to apply for a permit to pollute, requiring them to look at site specific things so that the environment is safe for the people nearby. 
  • Lawyer Mark Mattson grew up on Wolfe Island, in Lake Ontario. When he became concerned about the pollution reaching the shores of the lake, he founded Lake Ontario Waterkeeper to give a voice - through education, research, and advocacy - to the concerns of millions of people who live in the lake’s watershed. Mark wants people to reconnect with their watershed ecosystem and he is working for a swimmable, fishable, drinkable future.
  • Green Hero Annabel Slaight has bared it all to help save Lake Simcoe. Slaight enjoyed canoeing with her friends on the Maskinonge River until they noticed that the algae that had built up had made it difficult to move. In 2006, Annabel and Jane Meredith founded Ladies of the Lake, including over 100 women. The first action to save Lake Simcoe was producing an "In The Buff" calendar with 45 women joining the founders to pose for the photographer. Ladies of the Lake acted as a catalyst for the protection of Lake Simcoe; the Provincial Government subsequently committed millions in revitalization projects and passed the Lake Simcoe Act to regulate development and protect the natural habitat. Slaight hopes that Lake Simcoe will be a great example for other places hoping to be restired. Slaight was the founder of Owl Magazine.

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