Tides Canada’s Top 10 Canadian grassroots initiatives

Vancouver – The 2011 Tides Canada Top 10 were recently announced, recognizing the nation’s most innovative and forward-thinking projects and organizations that have demonstrated outstanding leadership, vision and real-world impact in addressing today’s most pressing environmental and social problems.

This year’s Tides Top 10 includes organizations working from coast to coast to coast across the country – addressing complex problems in the areas of energy, food security, water, community well being, youth and discrimination. Highlights from this year’s top ten include FarmStart, Not Far From the Tree and Waterlution.

Check out Tides Canada’s Top 10 overview below:

One deserving group in the top ten, Climate Smart, was chosen for their work in the arena of “energy,” helping small and mid-sized businesses calculate emissions, and measure and reduce their carbon footprint while cutting costs. Tides Canada recognized their ongoing excellent work with nearly 550 companies to date:

• providing training, technology, and expertise to build private sector capacity for measurable behaviour change and a reduction in carbon consumption;
• measuring close to 400,000 tonnes of CO2e — that’s over 76,000 cars, 77,700 hot air balloons or 165,000 households; and
• creating a social enterprise that builds business with a positive vision for a prosperous low carbon future.

“The businesses we’ve worked with are on average reducing their energy, electricity, travel and waste based carbon emissions by 7 percent in their first year – close to double what provincial targets are,” reveals Sheehan. “At a time when international governments are folding on the challenge of climate change this award allows us to demonstrate that there is a strong business case for measuring and reducing carbon.”

“Each of this year’s Tides Top 10 initiatives is working on a unique set of environmental and social challenges, and each one is ground-breaking in their approach to social change,” says Ross McMillan, President and CEO of Tides Canada. “Through innovation and solutions-oriented approaches, the Top 10 recipients are empowering others to drive positive change.”

Related articles

• Merran Smith: promoting Canada’s clean energy future (vancouverobserver.com)

Update: Tides Canada is now MakeWay

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