The Bonsai People in Ottawa – Doc & Discuss on microcredits and social business Thursday at the Hub

Jane Porter is the Community Lead at Hub Ottawa and sustainability consultant at Stratos. After a three year stint in Finland studying and working with sustainable startups, she’s jumped into the Ottawa scene face first to see what’s shaking, vibrant and green. 

Not quite the same as having Muhammad Yunus (the Nobel Peace winner who kickstarted microcredit) in Ottawa but close!

Tomorrow night we’ll be hosting our first ‘Doc & Discuss’ at Hub Ottawa with the feature length documentary film, the Bonsai People.  This film explores the work of Muhammad Yunus and his vision from microcredit to social business. Holy Mosher (Director and Producer) will be there to lead us through the group discussion, comments, and plans for continuing community actions. Popcorn is included! 

Date: April 12, 2012

Time:  7pm-9pm (doors open at 6:45) 

Place: Hub Ottawa 

Cost: $8

Registration: http://docdiscussbonsai.eventbrite.com/

Wait a minute, what’s this Hub Ottawa place you ask? 

hubottawa.org

Great question! It’s Ottawa’s hottest new social innovation studio. If international development, sustainability, arts and culture, or just making social change happen is your thing – then the Hub is your place to work, meet interesting people and get your own ideas off the ground! 

hubottawa.org

Opened just last month at 71 Bank St. (between Sparks and Queen), we’re happy to say that we have more than 100 members in Ottawa, and 4,000 social entrepreneurs globally through the Hub World network.

Come to the Doc & Discuss to check us out or drop by any time!

Thanks Jane!

Are you a closet ‘ideas’ person? Join Hub Ottawa during its pop-up weekend!

Hub Ottawa's new home is at 71 Bank Street (6th Floor)

Jane Porter (blog/Twitter) is a the Community Lead at Hub Ottawa and sustainability consultant at Stratos. After a three year stint in Finland studying and working with sustainable startups, she’s jumped into the Ottawa scene face first to see what’s shaking, vibrant and green. 

Do you dream up ideas to change the world (but then quietly tuck them away and put on your business clothes to get back to your day job?)

I remember a few years ago while away at school, I used to dream up all of these wonderful ideas about stimulating youth to think big and take on jobs that had meaning. My theory went that if we had more people “making change their day job,” our world would be a better place. Fast forward: I’m now back in Ottawa and – and doing just that in setting up Hub Ottawa!

What exactly is Hub Ottawa? Well, it’s a concept that combines dynamic work/think spaces, collaborative community and an accelerator to enable people to kick-start, grow and launch socially driven initiatives and enterprises that address pressing challenges we face. It’s also a place to brainstorm, meet, work, connect and innovate. At a Hub, individuals and groups can find the inspiration they need to kick-start an idea, find the support they need, and reach their goals faster when surrounded by a community of social innovators that makes everyone smarter and more effective.

The Hub team hard at work

While we’ve been at work for months now — working with such great teams as VRTUCAR and EF Magazine —  Hub Ottawa finally has a studio space  downtown where people with ideas to ‘change the world’ can work, play, connect and create.  We’re very excited to be (sort of) opening this weekend at 71 Bank Street, 6^th Floor (by  Bank and Sparks) with a  Hub Pop Up Weekend. Even better, we’re inviting YOU to help design the future space, which will officially launch in early 2012.

Check out the details below for this coming weekend:  

Designing the Space with Future Members
Friday, Nov. 25 from 5:30 pm to 8 pm
Open for our future members to go design crazy in the 3100 sq. ft. open space and help us co-create the collaborative work studio.  Professional designers/architects & students will be joining! If you want to be a member, let us know at hubottawa2011@gmail.com. 

Pop in for Pop UP! (Open to the public)
Saturday, Nov. 26 from 10 am to 5 pm, and Sunday, Nov. 27 from 10 am to 1 pm
Everyone is invited to drop in throughout the day to check out the buzz of Hub Ottawa, when you’ll be able to learn what becoming a member is all about. Pop in and talk to us! We’ll also be holding a Design Charrette.

A design what?  Design Charrette (taken from Wikipedia): 

A charrette (pronounced [shuh-ret], often Anglicized to charette and sometimes called a design charrette) consists of an intense period of design activity.

Design and architecture students from Carleton U and Algonquin College, plus other young professionals, will be turning our future members’ ideas into reality during Hub Ottawa’s design charrette. Tell them what you’d like to see at the Hub throughout the weekend! Then, on Sunday from 10-12pm, we’ll be hearing their presentations.

YOU can help design the Hub Ottawa space this weekend by sharing your ideas

If you’re interested in joining the Hub, we’ll be having some crazy membership discounts available this weekend as well. Come to Pop Up to find out more! ALL TAKING PLACE AT 71 BANK ST. (6TH FLOOR) THIS WEEKEND.

Sorry to say that the elevator is currently out … but it’s a good workout.  

And just so you know, we’re not alone in doing this either. There are “Hubs” in over 30 cities around the world including: London, Helsinki, Johannesburg, Melbourne, Sao Paolo, Cairo, San Francisco and Halifax – and they’re all connected.  Very cool.  

Any questions? Register for the Pop Up Weekend here, and don’t hesitate to contact Jane or anyone on the Hub Ottawa team.

Jane Porter on going veg in Ottawa

The Green Door's hot buffet

Jane Porter is a local sustainability practitioner. After a three year stint in Finland studying and working with sustainable startups, she’s jumped into the Ottawa scene face first to see what’s shaking, vibrant and green. You can find her at www.janeporter.ca.

If you’re on a low-to no meat diet, or just want to try something fabulously different from the carnivorous norm, Ottawa has some great options. This is certainly not a full list – just a few of my favourites.

Let’s start with The Green Door Restaurant in Old Ottawa East. (198 Main St.)

The Green Door is Ottawa’s oldest (and some would say best) vegetarian restaurant. All food is locally produced and whole – no preservatives, nothing processed, just delicious goodness. Although I’ve heard much about it, I went here for the first time a couple weeks ago with a friend from the Natural Step (a sustainability based non-profit in Ottawa).

Located in Old Ottawa East, between the Canal and the Rideau River, it is a little out of the way of my main walking areas in Ottawa. All the more reason to go and explore! St. Paul’s University is right across the street and I couldn’t get over how pretty the scene was.

The food is setup like a buffet and you pay by the weight. For under $10, I had a fantastic mix of hot and cold dishes, including goat cheese lasagna, baked squash, beans, tofu, guacamole, bok choy, eggplant salad, brussel sprouts, kale, etc.

Yeah, I’m not so good at coordinating food at a buffet – I’m one of those people who likes to try almost everything in very small amounts. But reader beware: $10 is on the low-end – if you eat a lot, pile high with the light greens my friend!

Next Stop: The Wild Oat (Glebe)

The Wild Oat is a bakery/meals-on-the-go/sit down restaurant. You’ll notice by the amazing smell as soon as you walk in the door. It’s quite the hangout for moms during the day. Tons of kids and babies running around. Maybe not for everyone, but I enjoyed the cozy casual atmosphere.

Although the sandwiches looked amazing, I went for the bowl of buffet style hot food for $6. Kinda weird that I added some lasagna to my soup but again, I like to try everything! I’ve heard that it’s sort of expensive but I have to disagree. I was full of hearty goodness for six bucks. Loved it.

Continuing West to The Table (West Wellington)

Considering I’ve only been back in Ottawa for a couple months or so, I’ve hit up these restaurants pretty quickly. I went to the The Table in West Wellington with another friend just last week after the Social Media Breakfast at GCTC (as a side, see Joe’s writeup on the social media scene in LTOttawa here in Ottawa).

Not as busy at the Green Door or the Wild Oat (or was that because I went at 2:30 p.m.?), but same style as the Green Door. A full hot and cold buffet of healthy, fresh, vegetarian options. Again, my meal was under 10 bucks and I had interesting dishes I had never heard of before.

At both the Table and the Green Door I got into wonderfully deep philosophical discussions about the fate of our world and what we can do about it.  Now, I don’t want to go as far as say that these   places stimulate this sort of debate, but it sure feels good to know that just by eating at these sort of places, I am doing my part in a way to make this a more sustainable Ottawa.

Whether you’re a vegetarian or not, these restaurants have great food at okay prices. Go out and explore Ottawa’s vegetarian restaurants!

Bon appetit!

The Green Door's cold buffet

Which vegetarian restaurants do you frequent?  Please share!

Happy Craft-mas Ottawa! Jane Porter on Ottawa’s Spins and Needles

Jane Porter is a local sustainability practitioner. After a three year stint in Finland studying and working with sustainable startups, she’s jumped into the Ottawa scene face first to see what’s shaking, vibrant and green. You can find her at www.janeporter.ca.

I have to be honest, I didn’t quite know what to expect when I entered the Legion on Kent at Somerset last night. I heard the tunes coming from a rocking old folks party upstairs and the mixing beats in the basement. I ventured down.

We were greeted by a nice S&N gal who showed us some craft instructions and were told to grab a seat at one of the round tables. Supposedly, had we come 20 minutes earlier, we wouldn’t have had a spot. Our first thought though was – this is it? It looked like there was a total of 20 people at four tables. Not so cool… what was I thinking bringing a dude to some small craft making event?

But then we turned the corner and it was crazy – the back room was FULL of people and all were busy sewing, snipping and gluing away while tapping their feet or bopping their heads to the beat. Nice. We grabbed some beer and picked out some coloured felt, thread and sequins, and grabbed a seat.

It reminded me of being back in elementary school where my friends and I were “queens of the bulletin boards” and had the joy of free access to the supply cupboards.  Unfortunately, I quickly realized that my crafting skills of  years passed have sort of vanished.  My friend and I were laughing at how slow we were.

Two and a half hours later with two beers under my belt I had made two somewhat sad Christmas ornaments and he had made one beautiful felt tree ornament.

We made friends with a couple at the table who sported black felt staches in the spirit of either Movember or just pure classiness.The four of us worked away, chatted and enjoyed the fantastic DJ (sorry, wish I could describe the music in some better way – but every song played got me moving and smiling).

All in all, I couldn’t have come up with a better way to spend a Friday night.

Spins and Needles was so good that time slipped, the music stopped and we realized that we were, in fact, the last to leave.

Thanks Jane! Did you have some fun this weekend in Ottawa that you want to tell LTOttawa about? Send us a note!

Plans for tonight? Spins and Needles (DJ + DIY arts and crafts)

Jane Porter is a local sustainability practitioner. After a three year stint in Finland studying and working with sustainable startups, she’s jumped into the Ottawa scene face first to see what’s shaking, vibrant and green. You can find her at www.janeporter.ca.

Jane will be back with another guest post tomorrow, to tell us what she thought of this event!

As a recent returner to Ottawa, I’ve never been to this annual craft-mas installment, but what could be better than listening to good tunes while attempting to sew xmas stockings?

Spins and Needles is Canada’s traveling Crafts + DJ event. Started in 2005, they’ve gone international with their “mixing beats and making stuff” concept. One of the founders (and the DJ for tonight) is Jason Pelletier, a local.

I know many people have tried to stave off the fact that Christmas is approaching fast but get to your holiday decorations/gifts early – without going to the mall.

And hey, it snowed today in Ottawa. All the more reason to get into the holiday spirit!

When: TONIGHT Friday November 26th @ 8:00p.m. onwards
Where: Legion Hall (330 Kent St. @ Somerset St. W.)
Cover: $8 – includes access to all materials and instructions, 19+
Info: http://www.spinsandneedles.com/upcomingevent.htm

See you there?