For 30 years, Green Action Centre has been making environmental change happen and working to help Manitobans live greener lives. Your donation helps make it possible. A quick and secure way to donate is through the Canadahelps on-line service. Your gift goes to work to support greener choices in our province. Here are a few recent stories about success we have had in our community, with schools, policy makers, and partners!
Active and Safe routes to school Wins planning award
On February 23rd, School Travel Planning, a key project within ASRTS, was recognized with a Manitoba Planning Excellence Award. School Travel Planning was first piloted in Manitoba two years ago, and has since expanded to nearly 20 schools around the province. This project improves children’s safety, while benefits from engaging in STP include increases in health, improved air quality, and a more engaged populace, which builds a healthier community overall.
Green Action on the garbage and Recycling master Plan
Our Policy Committee worked hard to ensure that Winnipeg’s new waste plan was efficient, effective and just. In addressing Council about the plan before the final vote, Green Action Centre’s Policy chair, Peter Miller, urged councillors to “pass it, complete it, and improve it” – a position taken up persuasively by Mayor Katz in the subsequent debate. By lending our voice to the planning process, taking a stand in the media, and informing our members, Green Action helps get better policies passed.
Winnipeg Folk Festival Composts with Green Action
It occurred to our staff member, Sylvie Hebert, that much of the cooked food waste generated at our favourite Folk Festival didn’t need to go to the landfill – and a new volunteer crew was born! There are now over 25 volunteers dedicated to turning post-consumer food waste and compostable cups into garden fertilizer. The Winnipeg Folk Festival diverts over 15,000 lbs of organics to our local industrial scale composting facility, Samborski Environmental Ltd., and the program continues to grow each year.
Here are a few more stories from the feedback we have received at Green Action Centre!
- Following presentations by our Environmental Speakers Bureau at Ecole van Walleghem School in Winnipeg, students formed a school green team and started paper recycling in every classroom. They also posted facts on water in all the washrooms to encourage water conservation. And this year some classes have started vermicomposting as well.
- After trying transit during our 2010 Summer Smart Trips pilot program, a participant e-mailed to say she continues to take the bus and has begun purchasing monthly transit passes.
- Groups in Brandon and Morden asked Green Action Centre to do Master Composter training in the fall of 2010. We did. Now local volunteers in the two communities are actively spreading the word about composting.
- A school division in Winnipeg adopted walk-to-school as a goal of its division-wide sustainability plan after participating in International Walk to School Month co-ordinated by Green Action Centre.
Bravo to all these environmental change-makers! Their actions show how our work is helping green the lives of Manitobans at home and where they work and go to school.
Please consider a tax deductible contribution to Green Action Centre. Your donation of $35, $60 or $125 will help get more people composting, walking to school, choosing climate-friendly commuting, reducing waste, and learning greener ways of living. Gifts over $10 receive a charitable tax receipt. Donate securely on-line through CanadaHelps. Or send a cheque directly to Green Action Centre, 303 Portage Avenue, 3rd Floor, Winnipeg, MB R3B 2B4. Thank you!
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