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Press Release

ONTARIO MUSEUMS: A SHORT LIST OF “GREEN” INITIATIVES
MAY IS MUSEUM MONTH 2008

Black Creek Pioneer Village, Toronto
Black Creek Pioneer Village is the first museum in Canada to become a certified Eco-School (silver level) by the Toronto Board of Education, with special focus on waste minimization, energy conservation, and shade development. (416) 736-1733

Todmorden Mills Toronto
The Todmorden staff host seasonal walks through the native species Wildflower Preserve and into the valley beyond, showing visitors not only the impact of humans, but the gradual signs of returning wildlife. 416-396-2819

Muskoka Heritage Centre Huntsville
The site preserves 90 acres just one kilometre from downtown Huntsville. Part of the area is a natural wetland, and the site has placed a stronge emphasis on natural and built heritage protection, and has educated its visitors on First Nations wisdom based on a strong relationship to the natural environment. 705-789-7576

Region of Waterloo History Museum Kitchener
Region of Waterloo History Museum and Visitor Orientation Centre, being designed by architects Moriyama + Teshima will be silver-certified in LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental) standards. Administered by the Canada Green Building Council, the program is a rating system for designing, constructing, operating, and certifying the world’s greenest buildings. 519-748-1914

Morningstar Mill St. Catherines
Morningstar Mill is the only water-powered grist mill on the Niagara Peninsula. The buildings are heated primarily by stove-pipe heat and sunlight. Old barns and lumber were recycled for reconstruction wherever possible. The house gardens are being restored with plants that might have been grown on the site circa 1920. 905-540-8787

Fieldcote Memorial Park & Museum Hamilton Fieldcote Memorial Park & Museum's gardens have received numerous "gardening with nature" awards for pesticide-free practices, and the site is working towards revitalization of its grounds with a view to encouraging native Carolinian species and naturalization practices. 905-648-8144

Joseph Schneider Haus Kitchener
Joseph Schneider Haus’ current artist-in-residence is “urban repurposer” Lori Norwood, who is demonstrating the ancient “green” art of reusing common objects such as socks, bottles and cloth, to make useful objects. Its April lecture series featured topics such as organic gardening, sustainable development and creating a green interior environment. 519-575-4491

Halton Region Museum Hamilton
Halton Region Museum is at the base of the Niagara Escarpment (a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve), on a farm site in the heart of the 980-acre Kelso Conservation Area. The site features an original water turbine built in 1898 by former farm owner Adam Alexander III, and offers environmental educational programs for school groups such as the "escarpment walk" shown here. (905) 875-2200

Diefenbunker Museum Ottawa
The Diefenbunker Museum, built as a military base in the 60s, has one significant energy-saving aspect. The museum is underground, so it has had a “turf roof” for almost 50 years. Being underground, the building absorbs heat from the surrounding earth and from the lights that are on, so no auxiliary heating system is required. (613)839-0007

Royal Ontario Museum Toronto
The Royal Ontario Museum presents Green Gastronomy. Once a month from April to July, a celebrity Ontario chef, a regional farmer and vintner create a dinner and wine menu using local ingredients, and discuss sustainable food and wine production. The same team then creates lunch items in the Food Studio.416.586.7928

EcoHouse Hamilton
EcoHouse is a heritage building in Hamilton, which is the home office for GreenVenture, and has been adaptively reused as a demonstration site for sustainable living, a “unique blend of heritage and environmental behaviour”. 905-540-8787

Banting House National Historic Site London
The City of London has given Banting House National Historic Site land next to its parkette, on condition that it be used to expand its green space. "Unpaving a parking lot and putting up paradise", the site is creating a "Global Garden", which will include native carolinian species. It should be complete by mid-summer. 519-673-1752

Exhibition Place Toronto
Exhibition Place in Toronto is working on dozens of green/energy initiatives on site. For example, the Press Building built in 1905 and still being used today as office space for staff, is being retrofitted with a geothermal system, a ground source heat pump that recyles and reuses heat for all the different seasons.(416) 263-3611

Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre Southampton
On July 4, 2008 Bruce County Museum opens a brand new exhibit, Earth’s Climate in the Balance. This exhibit, which is being developed by the BCM&CC, answers many questions about climate change and will help to inform the public on this timely topic. will present topics which include what makes climate, the story of climate change not only through four billion years of geologic time but through historic time as well, global warming and how we can shape the future. 519 797-2080

For more information, please contact:

Marie G. Lalonde
Executive Director
ONTARIO MUSEUM ASSOCIATION
1-866-662-8672
mlalonde@museumsontario.com
www.museumsontario.com/mmweb/