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Sustainability Today

2009 FCM–CH2M HILL Sustainable Community Awards
Has your municipality taken action on sustainability?
Does an initiative in your community merit national recognition?

The 2009 FCM–CH2M HILL Sustainable Community Awards celebrate excellence in sustainable community development by highlighting the best municipal initiatives that link environmental, social and economic goals.  The award-winning projects demonstrate that Canadian municipalities are not just thinking about sustainability — they are making it happen. FCM profiles all winners in a video and interactive DVD to share their lessons and encourage other communities to follow their lead. Awards will be granted in eight categories: brownfields, buildings, energy, planning, residential development, transportation, waste and water.

Applications will remain open until December 11, 2008.
For more information:
E-mail: awards@fcm.ca
www.sustainablecommunities.fcm.ca/FCM-CH2M-Awards

Homes and Businesses Go Solar With No Upfront Cost, Repay on Property Tax Bill
Renewable Funding is nowproviding a first-in-the-nation financial service allowing property owners to install solar panels and pay for them over 20 years through a voluntary line item on their property tax bills.

The company provides a complete financing and administration package to cities interested in offering this financial product to property owners. The City of Berkeley selected Renewable Funding to finance and administer its nationally recognized new solar and energy efficiency program.
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Communities in Bloom
Congratulations to Lloydminster, Weyburn, Denzil, and Wawota, our Saskatchewan municipalities that were finalists in the Communities in Bloom program and featured in the 14th National Edition of the Communities in Bloom magazine. Hundreds of communities participate each year in the program. Communities in Bloom is a Canadian program that aims to improve quality of life through beautification, community involvement, environmental awareness and heritage conservation. This national program assists Canadian communities of all sizes to improve their quality of life while encouraging community involvement and civic pride. Are you interested in getting your community involved? Check out their website at http://www.communitiesinbloom.ca/.

Help Your Municipality “Go Green”, and No We Aren’t Talking About the Roughriders
Municipalities across Canada are invited to partner with Earth Day Canada in bringing Canada’s most comprehensive resource conservation initiative to households in your community. Earth Day Canada’s EcoAction Teams Program is the program of choice for municipalities striving to build sustainable communities, reduce local greenhouse gas emissions, and save costs on municipal water use and waste management. The program is supported by a comprehensive, self-administered online savings calculator.

Municipalities have a strong interest in pursuing and achieving conservation objectives in the areas of GHG emissions, energy and water use, transportation impacts and household waste. The reciprocal benefit for partner municipalities is that the EcoAction Teams program provides them with co-brandable action resources that can be distributed via several vehicles to their citizens. They also get access to the most sophisticated Canadian conservation results measurement tool—EcoAction Teams Calculator.

Interested? Earth Day Canada is considering expressions of interest from municipalities interested in implementing the EcoAction Teams program for a one-year trial period. All EcoAction Teams resources and support will be provided electronically to participating municipalities. Visit www.ecoationteams.ca.

Protecting Our Watershed - Carrot River Watershed
Local people will take the lead in planning and decision-making for the long-term protection of the Carrot River watershed by participating in watershed planning. The Carrot River watershed has been selected as a watershed that would benefit from the watershed planning process, facilitated by the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority. Since 2003, residents and community leaders in six watersheds and one aquifer area have participated and developed source water protection plans through this process.
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