Founded in 2006 in a living room in Ottawa, Ecology Ottawa has since grown into a city-wide movement. We work with Ottawa residents, organizations and businesses to advocate for more vibrant green space, healthier watersheds, safer streets and stronger action on climate change.
We're hiring a new Executive Director to lead Ecology Ottawa in the next chapter of our advocacy. Read on for the full job ad. The deadline for applications has now been extended.
Otto’s BMW on Hunt Club to Pave Over a Pine Forest
In the midst of a climate emergency and devastating urban tree canopy loss in Ottawa, the City of Ottawa has approved the plan for Otto’s BMW dealership on Hunt Club to pave over 1.57 hectares of pine forest to make way for an extended parking lot.
Ecology Ottawa is part of the Urban Climate Alliance, a network of four Ontario-based municipal environmental organizations working to take climate action at the city level. Other members include Environment Hamilton, the Citizens Environment Alliance and Toronto Environmental Alliance.
We know that cities are critical to climate action. Drawing from our collective experience, the Urban Climate Alliance prepared this handbook to help other cities tackle climate accountability.
In response to the Emerald Ash Borer crisis, we launched the Tree Ottawa initiative to raise awareness of the need for a healthy, city-wide urban canopy and to promote action to counter tree threats. The public’s reaction to this initiative was more than we could have hoped for and, together, we achieved numerous successes. These include garnering over 11,000 petition signatures among Ottawa residents demanding the City of Ottawa to develop a strong Urban Forest Management Plan, engaging 9 communities and 7 schools in tree planting and greening projects, sprearheading Ottawa's Million Tree Initiative, distributing over 30,000 saplings across Ottawa, and much more.
Ecology Ottawa mobilized nearly 10,000 Ottawa residents and demonstrated the broad-based public opposition to the proposed Energy East Pipeline. We’ve collected 8,800 signatures on a petition opposing the pipeline, distributed 200,000 loonie stickers and lawn signs across Ottawa and beyond, built partnerships among national and regional organizations, organized film screenings, panels, demonstrations and rallies, and intervened the review process through the National Energy Board. On October 5, 2017, TransCanada announced it abandoned the project.
The City of Ottawa adopted a Complete Streets Policy in 2013, and a Complete Streets Implementation Framework in 2015. These measures signal a potential game-changer in the urban form of Ottawa, and could positively affect our city’s transportation network for generations to come. Now, city planners and engineers will look at streets as more than through-ways for cars. Instead, they will systematically adopt a complete streets lens, looking at the complex interactions between various modes of travel and seeking ways to prioritize the user experience for pedestrians, cyclists and transit users.
We believe that Ottawa residents are concerned about issues such as climate change, pollution and waste, and that they want sustainable communities where clean energy, air, and water, public transit, active transportation and greenspace protection take priority. We provide residents with the information and tools needed to understand local environmental issues and promote environmental leadership at all levels impacting the City of Ottawa.
We watch over and engage closely with Ottawa City Council. We celebrate environmentally responsible actions, we bring to light the things that hurt our local environment, and we advocate for greater ambition across a range of local issue areas.
We work to create a mobilized constituency of Ottawans who demand action and leadership on the environment. We engage thousands of Ottawa residents each year at the door, at events and through their community associations. We do this so that we know – and they know – what local environmental issues are top of mind, and what can be done about them.
The environmental crisis can only be solved by an engaged community working together across various sectors and levels of government. We work to engage and mobilize support from Ottawa residents, political representatives, local businesses, community associations, industry and professional associations, cultural groups and citizens groups.
