Sober reflections and a flurry of green-themed announcements: Earth Day in Winnipeg had plenty of both this year.
Although many festivities took place last weekend or are scheduled for this weekend, some celebrated the environmental awareness day on Tuesday, like the Warehouse One employees who collected trash outside company headquarters on Notre Dame Ave.
A walkway at Oak Hammock Marsh is an inviting sight on a windy but warm Earth Day Tuesday.
Activities around the city included:
Kick-off of the Manitoba Climate Change Conference & Earth Forum, a gathering that drew roughly 60 people including environmental advocates, government officials and industry groups to talk about the ramifications of climate change in Manitoba.
An announcement by Mayor Sam Katz that all new city buildings will be environmentally friendly. Following through on a 2006 election pledge, the mayor said all new civic structures will be built to LEED (Leadership in Energy Efficiency and Design) silver standards, which means they will use less water and require less energy to heat and cool. The city will also strive to retrofit older buildings and make them more energy efficient, the mayor said. Buildings account for one third of the city's corporate greenhouse gas emissions.
The launch of University of Winnipeg's ecoEnergy for Personal Vehicles Program, run through the Centre for Sustainable Transportation. The project will study a group of drivers whose vehicles are outfitted with gadgets to monitor emissions and find out whether seeing the environmental effects of driving influences behaviour.
At the climate change conference, organized by the Manitoba Ozone Protection Industry Association, Climate Change Connection and the Manitoba Environmental Industries Association, sessions included talks on carbon footprinting and the science of climate change.
Warehouse One office staff, from left, Lyon Lloyd, Ryan Bruce, Jennifer Upton and Meaghan O'Neill, were among 45 employees doing an Earth Day spring cleaning around the company's headquarters.
For geologist David Hughes, a more pressing problem is dwindling reserves of non-renewable energy sources.
"We're on an aggressive uphill spiral in consumption of oil," said the keynote speaker and Geological Survey of Canada employee, who ran through an array of graphs to show how the world's insatiable appetite for energy is at odds with finite amounts of oil, gas and coal.
There are differing views on when peak levels of energy sources like coal and oil will be reached, he said, but in some cases it's estimated the peak has already passed, while other estimates put peaks two decades away.
"Will we be long-term visionaries and really plan this out and manage the transition, or will we just let it happen with inertia?" Hughes asked.
Conference guests also got a look at the Green Registry, an online portal expected to be tested this summer and unveiled by the province in fall.
The website will include a Manitoba-specific calculator to let individuals and groups calculate their carbon footprints from activities ranging from holding a wedding or conference to driving a car for a year.
A public Earth Day forum with former Manitoba premier and former governor-general Ed Schreyer was expected for Tuesday evening.
A tree-planting seminar by the Manitoba Forestry Association is scheduled for Saturday at Cooks Creek Community Centre, pre-register by calling 453-3182.
On Sunday the Living Prairie Museum will hold a celebration from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with free admission, native crocus plants for sale and live music, among other activities.
lindsey.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca
--with files from Bartley Kives
E-trash disposal
Free drop-off points for electronic trash like old microwaves, televisions, and computer monitors will be up and running around the province starting in May.
The temporary depots for residential e-waste are located around Winnipeg and at various points in rural Manitoba, and are aimed at keeping electronic waste like cell phones, printers, scanners, copiers and more out of landfills.
All e-waste collected will be taken for proper end-of-life recycling, according to the Earth Day announcement, made by Science, Technology, Energy and Mines Minister Jim Rondeau at the province's Climate Change Conference and Earth Forum.
The program hauled in more than 305,000 kilograms of e-waste last year -- equal to 30 semi-trailer loads -- at four Winnipeg collection points and 26 drop-offs in rural Manitoba.
Collection is set to start May 1 at a number of locations, including the following in Winnipeg:
Computers for Schools, 170 Wyatt Rd.
Miller Environmental, 1803 Hekla Ave.
Industries, 93 Gomez St.
Map locates e-waste locations in Manitoba.
Times and dates of collection, and more depot locations, will be announced over the next few weeks.
Updated information is available at www.greenmanitoba.ca or by calling 1-866-460-3118.
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