| Stephen Harper’s Conservative government has decided not to renew funding to the one-tonne challenge program, leaving dozens of grassroots groups across the country, including Clean Calgary, scrambling for new funding.
The program was launched under the former Liberal government to try and get individual Canadians to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by one tonne to address climate change.
John Bennett, senior policy adviser on energy with the Sierra Club, says although some Canadians may only be familiar with the one-tonne challenge commercials done by comedian Rick Mercer, there was much more to the program than that. He says it was an attempt to educate Canadians on a grassroots level to bring about change.
"We’re talking about some real work on the ground that’s fundamentally important," he adds.
Karen Morrison, one-tonne challenge co-ordinator with Clean Calgary, says in 2005, the program’s first year, the emphasis was on building awareness about the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The second year, which was supposed to begin in April, was geared towards actual greenhouse gas reduction initiatives.
One initiative Clean Calgary had planned was to go into a specific community and work with citizens to help them to reduce the amount of waste they were sending to landfills. Landfills create methane, which is one of the greenhouse gases responsible for climate change.
"It would’ve allowed us to reach out, even household by household, to get the early adopters on board, and then use those early adopters as our team leaders to help influence and support the others in their community," she says.
Morrison says Clean Calgary is "disappointed," but already seeking alternative funding.
"We were aware that with the Conservatives, anything with Kyoto in it they would completely dis and dismiss. The Liberal program needed tweaks, but it had a good start to it. It had good bones and it was worth working around," she says. "They recognized that community groups and non-profits could make a difference and factor into promoting healthy change."
Climate Change Central, a provincial organization that promotes greenhouse gas reduction, also received some funding from the one-tonne challenge program. Courtney Oishi says the loss of funding won’t have a huge impact on the organization because it gets most of its money from the province, as well as some from private donors. But he says he’s concerned that the message the one-tonne challenge was trying to get out to Canadians won’t be delivered as strongly because grassroots groups like Clean Calgary won’t have funding.
"It’s disappointing the program isn’t going any further," he says. "As far as our organization is concerned, our mandate is to still continue to go out and talk about greenhouse gas reduction and energy efficiency."
Phone calls to Conservative government spokespeople were not returned. |
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