Post by Prabhjit Banga

Oh, Canada… it’s nearly time again to celebrate this great country of ours with parades, parks, food and fun as the 2010 Canada Day celebrations kick off tomorrow. It’s a great time to come together and enjoy the sense of community that is so much a part of everyday Canadian life.

Besides celebrating Canada, it’s also important to go a step further by celebrating part of what makes Canada so great — our environment and our achievements in protecting the environment. Earth Day Canada’s Hometown Heroes program recently recognized Heather MacFadyen of Canmore, AB and GreenHere of Toronto, ON as environmental leaders. Heather’s work has been instrumental in seeing a functional wildlife corridor established between Wind Valley, Bow Valley, Spray Valley and Banff Park. GreenHere is a not-for profit organization dedicated to planting trees and developing tree stewardship programs in Toronto in order to protect urban ecosystems and long-term air quality. Thanks to the efforts of Canadians like them, we have made some great strides to protect Canada’s natural heritage.

Canadians have always celebrated the spectacular natural bounty that makes us one of the most beautiful and prosperous nations on Earth—from oceans and coastlines to mountains and foothills to prairies and grasslands. If we continue to work together, we can ensure that we and our children and grandchildren will have much to celebrate long into the future. Give back to Canada this year by thinking green and reducing your impact!

Happy 143rd Birthday Canada!

A construction worker works on the G20 security fence.

Walking down the streets of Toronto it’s hard not to notice the large amounts of police officers, steel fences and empty streets. This is all preparation for The G20 summit, which starts tomorrow. The G-20 leaders are meeting to discuss ways to address the financial crisis. The heads of state will attempt to create new international frameworks to govern global finance and the global economy.

A man dressed as Prime Minister Stephen Harper leads protesters covered by oil down the streets of Toronto.

Post by Prabhjit Banga

On one afternoon in June, volunteers from Earth Day Canada and Aeroplan got their hands dirty planting trees for the Black Creek Conservation Project . Partially funded by Earth Day Canada’s Community Environment Fund, the Black Creek Conservation project is about preserving and rehabilitating the Black Creek through community involvement.

More than 20 volunteers traveled on a school bus out of the downtown core and arrived at Downsview Dells Park in North York. Although some of us were first time tree planters (including myself) we managed to plant 222 maple sugar, black maple and white oak trees in just 2 hours – even the rainfall didn’t stop us from completing our task!

At the end of the planting, though cold and wet, we felt great knowing that our planted trees would help to rehabiliate the Black Creek watershed.

Here are a couple of photos from the event:

My first tree

Cheryl and I planting away

The team of volunteers- Earth Day Staff and Aeroplan Employees

For many more tree planting action shots check out our Facebook page!

Post by Prabhjit Banga

The World Cup is a celebration of the world’s favorite game (go Brazil, go!) and an opportunity for people to express their national pride. It’s also the planet’s largest sporting event.

With the world’s eyes focused on the opening game today, I decided to take a look at the environmental initiatives of the host cities in South Africa and FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association).

The “carbon footprint” for this year’s tournament is estimated at 2.75 million tons of carbon dioxide, nine times higher than the World Cup in Germany in 2006. This massive footprint is a consequence of  air travel, inter-city transport, energy use and stadium construction and materials.

Organizers, teams, NGOs and certain countries, are attempting to offset the carbon footprint through various programs. For example, since November 2009, many cities have committed to solar and wind energy projects spurred by FIFA’s Green Goal commitment to use green energy to power sport venues during the tournament. Over 1,200 recycling bins were installed in Cape Town and in the airports of host cities for the games with plans for tens of thousands of such bins to be installed around the country over the next few years.

Additionally, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) has provided $1 million to help retrofit solar panels on public street lights, traffic lights and billboards around stadiums in the six cities hosting the games.

Many local NGOs and environmentalists feel that all of these initiatives will not be enough to offset the 2.75 million tons of CO2 produced from the event – what do you think?