Media Releases

Tree Ottawa Will Plant One Million Trees for Canada’s 150th Anniversary in 2017

Ecology Ottawa, along with local schools, community associations, corporations, charities, and citizens will plant one million trees in the city for Canada's 150th anniversary (2017).

Tree Ottawa is a community-centered initiative for the Nation’s Capital to dramatically increase the scale and ecological diversity of the urban and rural tree canopy in Ottawa.

Watson says city will partner with Tree Ottawa Initiative

The incumbent Mayor has released his commitment on behalf of the city, to planting half of the one million trees that will be planted by 2017, for Canada's 150th anniversary!

You can see the full article here:

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/1010-watson

Join us, Tuesday, October 14th, as we formally launch our Tree Ottawa Initiative!

Exciting news! We are pleased to invite you to the formal launch of Ecology Ottawa's Tree Ottawa Initiative:

The event will be held outdoors, and we ask that you consider the weather when dressing for the event.

We look forward to seeing you there!

David Miller, tonight's keynote, on CBC

On CBC's Ottawa Morning today, David Miller, the keynote speaker at tonight's Ecology Ottawa annual dinner, the 2014 EcoGala, spoke with Hallie about cities and climate change.

Fortunately we have answered CBC's question "Which candidate in your ward is promising to tackle climate change?"

[audio mp3="https://ecologyottawa3.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/davidmillercbc.mp3"][/audio]

Media Release: Eco Gala in Ottawa this Evening: Over 560 people to attend and former Mayor of Toronto to keynote

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OTTAWA (October 9th, 2014) – Former mayor of Toronto and current President and CEO of WWF Canada, David Miller, will speak to a sold out crowd of more than 560 people in Ottawa this evening on the need for Canadian cities to take leadership on the environment and sustainability during Ottawa’s premiere environmental event of the year: the 2014 Eco Gala

Report on Rideau Rockcliffe (ward 13) candidate meeting on climate change

Many thanks to Governor’s Walk for providing the room for the Rideau-Rockcliffe all candidates discussion on Climate Change Thursday, October 2nd.

A lively discussion ensued about the issue of climate change and its predicted effects on the city between the audience and the five candidates who attended: Cam Holmstrom, Jevone Nicholas, Tobi Nussbaum, Sheila Perry and Penny Thompson. (The incumbent, Peter Clark did not attend)

National CBC Exposure

Ecology Ottawa's Executive Director Graham Saul was recently featured in a CBC investigation on grassroots environmental organizing.

The web-based feature began:

Environmentalists shift focus to more grassroots, less government - Facing a less friendly government, green groups leave Ottawa in pursuit of public support

Global warming is not the only kind of climate change environmental groups in Canada have had to deal with in recent years.

Election Reports

Ecology Ottawa asked all candidates in the 2014 municipal election a series of questions on important environmental issues. Follow these links to see the questions and learn their responses. See elections media coverage here.

By Topic

Climate Coffee House in River Ward

Vanessa Sutton, Jeff Koscik and Don Francis are three candidates for city councilor in River Ward who attended a Climate Coffee House on September 27.

What is a "climate coffee house" you may ask?

Those artsy enough will know that a coffee house is a kind of open mic night. It's a chance for people to share their playing of music in a casual way. But this time around an unusual though wildly important twist was added – the role of city politics in mitigating climate change. The result was an evening of guitar, piano, ukelele and voice. The most important of these being voice.

OREC Suggests Letter

From our friends at the Ottawa Renewable Energy Coop who suggest that their supporters write to candidates for the next city council.

Suggested Letter to Municipal Candidates

Dear Ward Candidate,

Many savvy investors and burgeoning economies are investing heavily in in renewable energy sources. The Ottawa Renewable Energy Cooperative (OREC) offers all Ottawa residents the opportunity to invest in community owned renewable energy systems. We have the technology, every reason to act together with eager community partners who are ready to embrace these opportunities

From Metro Newspaper - Maguire's rail plan makes no sense

Download PDF here

Media Release: Don’t Let Mike Maguire Kill Phase 2 Light Rail in Ottawa

For immediate Release:

September 29, 2014

(Ottawa): In response to today’s announcement that, if elected, Mayoral candidate Mike Maguire would scrap Phase Two of Light Rail in the City of Ottawa in exchange for an alternative and as yet unstudied plan, Ecology Ottawa’s Executive Director, Graham Saul, said:

“If this is a joke, it’s not funny. Why throw years of planning, thousands of hours of public consultation and millions of dollars in assessments out the window in exchange for a plan that is so full of unanswered questions that it might never happen? The next city council needs to focus on how to make our existing plans even better and this proposal would set us back five years and send us all back to the drawing board.