I love the fall. The sun sets earlier and there are cooler nights, but there also gorgeous explosions of colour on trees.
In the fall, one of my favourite activities is to stroll in a Toronto ravine. Walking along the path, looking up at the tall trees, I feel like I can breathe easier. It’s peaceful. And it’s nature that is right on our doorstep.
The GTA some of the best natural features of any urban region in the world. We’ve got an amazing coastline to our south, spectacular farmland and natural spaces along our urban edge, and hundreds of parks sprinkled throughout.
But many of us overlook the beautiful river valleys that crisscross our neighbourhoods, the green strands that tie the pieces of our urban quilt together.
It’s time to give our ravines the love they deserve. Today, we’re helping to kickoff Love the Ravines, a new campaign designed to encourage Torontonians to explore, enjoy and protect our ravines.
Toronto’s ravines are vital to our city’s health and well-being. They provide 10,500 hectares of recreational space, improve our air quality, control flood waters, help keep us cool in the summer heat, attract tourism, and look amazing, no matter the season. As the city grows, these assets become more valuable and more irreplaceable. The ravines are an oasis of green within a city of concrete and asphalt.
To draw attention to these beautiful spaces, we’ve teamed up with our friends at Patagonia Toronto, Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation, Toronto Environmental Alliance and DOT DOT DASH to celebrate the ravines. Love the Ravines aims to remind Torontonians about the social, economic and environmental benefits of our ravines.
The timing couldn’t be more perfect. Recent steps taken by the province enable cities like Toronto to designate urban river valleys as part of Ontario’s Greenbelt, permanently protecting these features and connecting them to a wider network of green space that spans more than 1.8 million acres from Niagara to Peterborough.
Want to know more? Visit LovetheRavines.com and check out the video, and the crowd sourced map of photos and entrances to Toronto’s ravines
Want to show your love for the ravines? Sign the petition to make Toronto’s ravines part of Ontario’s Greenbelt. Share stories on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook about your love for the ravines using the hashtag #lovetheravines.
Let’s give Toronto’s ravines the love they deserve.
