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One step closer to the Centre for Green Change

Published February 26, 2013

by iris_author

The Centre for Green Change is going to be a community-driven sustainability centre in the heart of Toronto’s Jane and Finch neighbourhood. After months of collaboration with community members, staff, academics, and business owners, the project took another major step on Valentine’s Day.

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Nine of us came together on the Wood Farm in Essa, Ontario, to select the material we plan to use for the furniture in the new centre. Thanks to the generous donation, we were able to find stunning pieces of 100+ year old solid wood with a rich history; Professor David Wood, the owner of the farm, tells us that the wood is from the trees that were originally on the farm, and were later used as boards inside the house . Beneath the wallpapers lie layers of newspaper from 1890’s and pieces of denim fabric. It’s here that we realise what we are about to do with the wood is nothing new, but rather a continuation of long history of “sustainability”. Our plan for the wood, and the centre, is not limited to creating a harvest table for the kitchen/café (see the beautiful sketch that our volunteer furniture designer and maker, Lubo Brezina, has created since the trip!); our goal is to honour the stories we have inherited throughout the process.

Table

This project is about far more than just saving trees: It’s about all the people that collaborated on a joint-vision. Not just the nine people that came together on Valentine’s Day, but everyone who has participated in the process; anyone who has ever shared their ideas during the design charrettes in Jane/Finch, the coordinators that have worked relentlessly on every single detail of the project, the furniture designers/craftsmen that have dedicated their time and expertise (including Emanuel Calleja from Old-Fashioned Restoration, and the generous donors that have opened up new doors for Our Green Change. It’s this continuous sharing of ideas and stories that have made the project complicated and wonderful at the same time. And I’m looking forward to the changes and challenges that lie ahead in the upcoming months.

collage iris cgc wood

To learn more about the project and its many contributors, please see the following links:

Posted in: Blogs | Students Speak

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