Philanthropist Carol Newell will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 11th Annual PEAK Awards Gala May 13. Carol, heiress to the Newell Rubbermaid fortune and founder of Endswell Foundation and Renewal Partners (and SharedVISION’s February cover girl!), has given tens of millions of dollars to companies committed to social justice and environmental sustainability. womeninfinance.ca; endswell.org; renewalpartners.com
Dag Falck, organic program manager at Nature’s Path Foods, received the Canadian Health Food Association’s Organics Achievement Award last month. Nature’s Path, based in B.C., is North America’s largest organic breakfast cereals manufacturer. Dag and other luminaries in the Canadian natural health and organic industry were honoured last month by the CHFA for their outstanding contributions to the sector. chfa.ca; naturespath.com
Vancity wants your business to go green—and will help you get there. Canada’s biggest credit union became the first bank in North America to go carbon neutral last month thanks to a rigorous emissions-reduction program. Now, Vancity has announced it will pay for 25 small- to medium-sized businesses to participate in Ecotrust Canada’s Climate Smart Workgroups, launched last year in partnership with the David Suzuki Foundation and the Pembina Institute, to help organizations reduce their CO2 emissions. ecotrustcan.org; vancity.ca
Students at Vancouver’s York House School took top honours in the Rogers Phones-for-Food High School Challenge last month. York House beat out four other schools to collect the most old cellphones for recycling—and thus diverting them from the landfill. Proceeds from sales to the remanufacturing industry go to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society. As for the kids, they were awarded $3,000 for their graduating class’s commencement activities. rogers.ca; think-food.com
Metro Vancouver is eager to hear your trash talk. The City is seeking input on two waste management plans, one for the region’s yearly 3.6 million tonnes of solid waste, and the other for the 440 billion litres of sewage we produce per annum. Fire off your comments by May 23 to icentre@metrovancouver.org, or post to Metro Vancouver, Public Involvement Division, 4330 Kingsway, Burnaby, B.C., V5H 4G8. metrovancouver.org
Help on greening your home is now just a click away, thanks to the B.C. Real Estate Association. The organization has launched its online Green Tool Kit to educate both consumers and real estate professionals on the benefits of greener homes. The site also provides suggestions for homeowners on how to make sustainable renovations, and offers links to juicy rebates and incentives. greentoolkit.ca
Call the landlord! Happy Building, a new business in town, aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in apartment buildings by giving owners greater control over energy consumption. Happy Building’s wireless thermostat, designed to heat parts of a building based on occupancy instead of heating the whole building at once, eliminates unnecessary energy use, the company claims, by 30 to 40 per cent. happybuilding.com
We’ve ditched plastic bags in favour of more sustainable options, yet those spontaneous stops at the supermarket ensure a few still creep into our homes. You can’t relegate them to the Blue Box, but you can take them to London Drugs and other stores for recycling. To find a participating retailer near you, visit myplasticbags.ca (click on “Stores Collecting Bags”).
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