Protecting biodiversity in the GTA: How the Y is doing its part
“Biodiversity is all around us — it’s the variety of life on Earth, from the tiniest insect to a vast northern forest. Biodiversity is also about being connected — no species, including people, can live without others to provide it with food and habitat. All living things are part of this life system.” — Ontario Biodiversity Council
Did you know that biodiversity has a big impact on our daily lives in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA)? We rely on a healthy, biodiverse world to help clean our air, grow our food, and even build our homes.
When biodiversity survives and thrives, we do, too. So, at the YMCA of Greater Toronto, we try to do our part to help keep our communities and environment healthy.
Why and how is biodiversity important?
An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals, other organisms, weather, and landscape work together to form a bubble of life. A healthy ecosystem can include thousands of species, each depending on the others in a delicate ecological balance that allows life to thrive. It’s the balance and variation of elements — the biodiversity — that enables ecosystems to clean our air, provide us with crops that become food, and resources that fuel our everyday lives.
Healthy, biodiverse ecosystems provide us with the essentials for living, such as:
• Water: Forests, plants, and wetlands help filter and clean our water and air.
• Food: Soil and pollinators like bees help ensure we can grow food.
• Shelter: Wood from trees is essential to building homes and infrastructure.
If a species becomes at risk, endangered, or goes extinct, the balance of an ecosystem is thrown off, threatening its survival (and, ultimately, ours). To maintain biodiversity, we must protect species and habitat, increase green space, reduce pollution, and more.
Did you know? The GTA is home to a variety of biodiverse ecosystems, including bluffs, wetlands, beaches, forests, and meadows. There are even small biodiverse ecosystems along sidewalks with trees, shrubs, and garden plantings.
How does the Y support biodiversity?
Across all 16 of our owned facilities — and in leased locations where possible — we work to support biodiversity.
At our rural sites, we’re:
• Expanding green spaces for members to enjoy and to provide habitat for diverse species.
• Continually doing reforestation work at the 263-acre YMCA Cedar Glen Outdoor Centre to improve timber quality, promote the natural regeneration of native hardwood species, and enhance biodiversity.
At our urban sites, we’re:
• Using green roofs to support local ecosystems and bring nature into cities for our members.
• Designating biodiversity areas in our green roofs, including beehives to support the honeybee population at Cooper Koo Family YMCA (we have bees at Cedar Glen, too).
• Participating in a tomato seed saving program with Seeds of Diversity.
Did you know? Bees help us grow the food we rely on! They’re an essential pollinator — honeybees help to pollinate many of the world’s crops.
How can you support biodiversity?
We’re greater together, and let’s be greener together. Here are some ways you can help support biodiversity at the Y and beyond.
• Visit the green spaces regularly at our urban and rural sites. There, connect with our teams to learn more about what we’re growing and why.
• Reach out to your local conservation authority to learn more about biodiversity in your community.
• Avoid chemical pesticides, insecticides, and fertilizers because they are harmful to ecosystems and us.
• If you have a lawn or a garden, diversify your green space with native species and a variety of different shrubs, flowers, grasses, and more. Flat green lawns make it hard for species to thrive.
Did you know? At the Y, we offer programs, including child care and camps, that let children experience nature and biodiversity firsthand.
