By Lindsay Page
Manager, Public Mobilization
They’re in Toronto’s Trinity Bellwoods park and at the Harbourfront, next to the sea in Halifax, and near a bridge in Edmonton. This year the Hot Docs documentary festival partnered with Rooftop Films for outdoor screenings on top of a parking garage in Toronto. People – particularly young people – seem to be moving beyond car culture. J.D. Power and Associates noted this shift in a November report, saying that “millennials don’t talk about cars the way previous generations did. Today young people care more about their cell phones than they do their cars.” So, why drive somewhere when you can be downtown on a roof, watching an indie flick and sharing the experience with “friends” on Facebook?
As part of Pin it for the Planet, Toronto and Ottawa took a trip back to 1982 (I got my older colleagues to tell me stories about what that time was like) and watched E.T. under the stars last week. In Toronto’s case, “stars” turned out to be rain clouds. But that didn’t discourage families and young people, on dates and on bikes, from coming out to relax with us. Toronto City Councillor Adrian Heaps, an avid cyclist, and Christina Topp, WWF-Canada’s VP of Marketing and Communications, along with our respective mascots, welcomed the crowd. A little mid-movie drizzle didn’t stop the show, which conveniently doubled as intermission entertainment for symphony guests at neighbouring Roy Thomson Hall. Passersby on King Street stopped in, surprised to stumble upon something – dare I say – so delightful.
(c) Kate Conrad / WWF-Canada
Tags: Pin it for the Planet, Transportation
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