Week 6 - One Million Acts of Green, Outcome

At the time I am writing this blog, on February 15, 2009, @ 6:00 PM

The One Million Acts of Green website showed:http://green.cbc.ca/

Total Acts of Green
1,120,841
Greenhouse Gases Saved:
64,272,816 kg

The concept began on OCTOBER 21, 2008.

CBC on the "Hour" with George Stroumboulopoulos mobilized Canadians to do One Million Acts of Green. The concept for "the campaign is that one small act can make a big difference."
It’s about individual acts, even the simplest of green transformation like efforts to recycle and changing light bulbs are included up to a million. Other examples are: fluorescent light bulbs, starting a recycling program, or walking to work.

This movement and demonstration is open to all Canadians across our great land. "All you have to do is go to this website and register one act or more." There is a green calculator, designed by GreenNexxus, to estimate the impact of those acts on the environment in kilograms.
One Million Acts of Green encourages schools and universities, cities, communities, business, politicians, and even celebrities to take an act. George and The Hour challenged other CBC programs to take an act, including; CBC News, Kids’ CBC, Steven & Chris, Living, and CBC Sports. But most of all, YOU.

"One million acts of green, one act a time."

One Million Acts of Green by The Hour on CBC (George Strombo Show) inspired healthy competition in Alberta, in the month of December as the town of Okotoks issues a formal challenge to the town of Airdrie on December 15. It will be the first city/town challenge issued on behalf of OMAoG and clearly "The Greenest Town" title is on the line.

Not sure which these two towns won the battle for the green belt; but I wonder where is the greenest town in Canada? And what would it be like if Victoria or the entire Vancouver Island came one large green community that was off the grid, and was self sufficient like Cuba.

One million acts of green began on OCTOBER 21, 2008. On February 4, 2009 - The Hour proudly announced that One Million Acts of Green (OMAoG) has reached its goal of 1,000,000 registered online at http://www.onemillionactsofgreen.com/ acts of green. This remarkable achievement even exceeded George's expectations and even shocked supporters such as Dr. David Suzuki in the short period the goal was reached. Suzuki even remarked that his own foundations movement of achieving acts of green, "the nature challenge" (list of 10 acts on his website http://www.davidsuzuki.org/NatureChallenge/Default.asp) is four years old and has only achieved approximately 400,000.

1 million acts of green in less than 4 months shows communities, Canadian citizens and even celebrities are willing and aware of the global environmental crisis at hand and are acting the part. This clearly shows that Canadians want change and are willing to do so themselves without

waiting for proper instruction or leadership from the government. Citizens are taking matters in their own hands and demonstrating in great numbers the small changes that add up to great reductions to impacting our planet.

Hats off to George, the Hour, CBC and Cisco (for sponsoring) the first of many great green movements by Canadians.

Highlights/Key Facts:

CBC and Cisco congratulate Canadians on reaching the goal of One Million Acts of Green (OMAoG), a campaign that was launched on Oct. 21, 2008 on CBC's The Hour.

On Feb. 4, 2009 members of OMAoG's Web site logged their one millionth act of green. During the campaign, participants logged an average 9,435 acts per day, 7 acts per minute.

GreenNexxus calculates the total acts to date represent a reduction of nearly 56,000,000 kgs of greenhouse gas.

Initial expectations hoped to achieve the goal in early summer, but Canadians mobilized to meet the one million challenge much quicker than anticipated, setting an example for the world.

The campaign demonstrates that we are stronger together that we are apart. Together, people and technology are able to make positive changes for the sake of our planet. That's the Human Network Effect.

The active participation of university and school groups was instrumental in reaching the one million mark early. Trent University and Dalhousie University led the way in terms of most members and most acts of green.

The challenge capability has proven popular, inciting fierce competition from many groups including the City of Airdrie and the Town of Okotoks, Alberta with Airdrie leading the way with more than 19,000 acts.

Many of Canada's leading corporations including BMO Financial Group, MTS Allstream and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts have joined OMAoG and are complementing the program with innovat

ive employee engagement and customer-facing initiatives.

Who's the Greenest?

OMAoG's "greenest" provinces are: Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia and Nova Scotia

The top 12 groups, in order of most acts committed are: Trent University, Dalhousie University, City of Airdrie, Bishop Strachan School, Havergal College, BMO Financial Group, MTS Allstream, Town of Okotoks, Hamilton's Delta Secondary School, Cisco Canada, Acadia University and North Bay, Ontario.

http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/global/canada/news/2009/pr_02-05.html

Why isnt Royal Roads on this list? hmm

Counter at the end of this blog: Febraury 15th, @ 9:00PM

Total Acts of Green
1,121,583
Greenhouse Gases Saved:
64,305,472 kg