Media Releases

Cycling Audit CBC Coverage and Next Steps

Ottawa Centre Ecodistrict organized a cycling route audit on Sept 14 that got coverage on CBC. Here's the CBC web post and here's the audio from Ottawa Morning with Hallie Cotnam interviewing Don Grant.

[audio mp3="https://ecologyottawa3.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/bikeaudit.mp3"][/audio]

Ottawa Centre Ecodistrict will be having a follow up meeting Tuesday, September 22 5:30 to 7:00 PM at Ottawa City Hall in the Colonel By Room where participants and interested individuals are invited to give feedback on their ride and the state of observed cycling routes.

"Marked with an X" - EAB Exhibit at Nuit Blanche

An Artists Display of the Emerald Ash Borer Devastation

Tree Ottawa has long been saying that we will loose 25% of Ottawa trees due to the Emerald Ash Borer. That's over 20 MILLION trees! A number so high its near impossible to imagine, or visualize. Yes it's 1 out of every 4 trees we see, but what does that really mean in the big picture? How will this effect Ottawa's tree canopy?

Do you have ~3 acres and want it re-planted?

Tree Ottawa Collaborator, local real estate company Avison Young, to plant 325 trees! And we need to find the land.

As Ottawa is in the wake of the Emerald Ash Borer’s devastation, local organizations, companies, and citizens are standing up to protect the future of our treescape. One local Real Estate company, Avison Young, has decided to be the change they want to see!

Tree Ottawa at Waste Reduction Week Eco-Fair October 22, 2015

Tree Ottawa is excited to announce that our organization will be an exhibitor at the "Waste Reduction Week Eco-Fair" in Ottawa. The Eco-Fair will take place at The Community Information Centre of Ottawa (347 Preston St) on Thursday, October 22nd from 12pm to 1:30pm in the Main Lobby.

Waste Reduction Week takes place the third week of October in communities all across Canada. The goal of Waste Reduction Week is to encourage all Canadians to reduce waste and save resources using the six R's: “Rethink, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair and Recycle”.

What's happened to environmental protection in Canada

It’s difficult to overstate the negative impact of the current Conservative government on federal environmental policy. You could make a strong argument that this government is the worst in the history of Canadian environmental policy. There are multiple lines of evidence that there has been:

gutting of environmental laws and regulatory reviews of major industrial projects in Canada; and

This Could be Close

It's no secret. Ottawa-area ridings like Orléans and Ottawa West—Nepean are two of around 70 swing ridings spread across the country. All of the parties know that ridings like these are critical to their success on election day - October 19th.

Ecology Ottawa is working hard to promote environmental leadership in the federal election, but we need your help to make a difference in these two Ottawa-area ridings. Along with our friends at LeadNow, we're raising money to carry out two opinion polls, one in September and one in October. We want to know where the Conservatives, Liberals, NDP and Greens stand in relation to each other, so that our supporters can make an informed decision on October 19th.

Carbon613 Events

EnviroCentre has initiated Carbon613 and is promoting two upcoming events:

GHGs 101, October 1st, 2015

What does it mean to calculate your carbon footprint? What are you doing when you establish your GHG emissions baseline and reduction target? This Lab will walk you through the basics of GHG accounting, starting with the basics of greenhouse gases, emission factors and the differences between Scope 1, 2 & 3 emissions. Register here.

Celebrate National Tree Day with The City of Ottawa!

Starting with a celebratory launch on September 23^rd 2015 the City of Ottawa will be developing an urban forest management plan. This plan will provide a structured approach to protecting and enhancing the environmental, social and economical services provided by the urban forest.

While the City of Ottawa currently has many programs, initiatives, policies and regulations related to trees the development of the urban forest management plan is an opportunity to create an overarching long-term vision and plan for our urban forest.

CBC Coverage of Ecology Ottawa Door to Door Election Work

As broadcast on Sept 8, 2015, CBC's Amanda Pfeffer talks about how people are thinking about strategic voting and the work that Ecology Ottawa is doing to help inform them with respect to environmental issues for this 2015 federal election.

To help you can

Breakthrough on the proposed Energy East pipeline

The August 13, 2015 report by the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) to the Ontario government is clear: the tar sands pipeline’s economic benefits are not balanced with the environmental risks to Ontario. Public input made it clear that the risky project does not have the support of communities along the pipeline route in Ontario.

The report also highlighted concerns of Métis and First Nations that TransCanada’s duty to consult has not been sufficiently fulfilled. This is alarming as yet another pipeline project risks ignoring Aboriginal rights.

Solar Energy Milestone for Ottawa

Announcement: Ottawa now has solar panels generating power from the Sun on 1,000 rooftops in every corner on the City. This event will profile the 1,000th Project, and highlight opportunities for more clean, renewable and beneficial renewable energy opportunities in the months and years ahead for Ottawa residents, community organizations and businesses.

Tree Ottawa Volunteer Opportunities

Are you passionate about making your community more green and environmentally friendly? Volunteer with Tree Ottawa! Many opportunities will be coming up, so check our website often for updates. Right now we are looking for volunteers to join our team for the following projects:

The Tree Ottawa Boothing Team :

Tree Ottawa is looking for volunteers who can come out to events and help run the Tree Ottawa booth. The Tree Ottawa Boothing team gets sent out to various events to encourage people to sign the tree petition and spread the Tree Ottawa mission. We’re looking for volunteers who are comfortable talking to people, outgoing and enjoy being at all the events Ottawa has to offer. In the past our boothing team has gone to The Dragon Boat Festival, The ByWard Market, Herb Fest, and various other events. No experience or expertise required. If you have time available on weekends or during the day in the week and are a people person this is a great volunteer opportunity for you.