| Environmental groups desperate for more cash
Environmental organizations are finding it increasingly difficult to address the environmental issues arising from the rapid pace of urbanization and industrial development in Alberta due to lack of sufficient funding and resources.
"We can’t even scratch the surface," says Rob Buffler, executive director of the Yellowstone to Yukon Initiative. "Given how fast the pace of development is here in Alberta and the incredible natural values we have there’s even a greater need for rapid action to protect the environment."
Buffler says there’s a "great imbalance" between the resources of environmental groups and the resources of developers and industry.
"The conservation community is very small in relation to the amount of funding that’s going into developing our natural resource base," says Buffler.
Several organizations that provide funding to environmental groups, including the Calgary Foundation and the Alberta Ecotrust Foundation, held a conference on October 13 to try and convince Canadian and American funders to donate more money to support conservation in southwestern Alberta.
Pat Letizia, executive director of the Alberta Ecotrust Foundation, says American foundations and donors are currently a large source of funding for Alberta environmental groups because they recognize the international significance of southwestern Alberta. But she says more support is needed from Alberta and Canadian donors because Alberta receives close to the lowest amount of funding for environmental groups in the country. The only provinces that are worse off are the Maritimes.
"For us there’s an odd values gap in that we know the environment is important to people because they say it all the time and yet the investment in the environment is very low in relation to that value," says Letizia.
In 2004 Alberta Ecotrust Foundation surveyed environmental groups and found that only two per cent of the province’s organizations have four or more paid staff.
"The majority of the work is being done by volunteers," she says. "We’re seeing a lot of burnout."
Letizia says the low number of paid staff makes it difficult for environmental groups to take on all the issues that they feel are important. She says young environmentalists are also starting to quit working at environmental organizations because they don’t make enough money.
EnCana tower garners widespread approval
EnCana has unveiled its plans for a $1 billion, 59-storey office tower called The Bow, that will be the tallest office building west of Toronto.
The development will include a massive office tower for EnCana employees and a seven-storey building with 200,000 square feet for retail and for arts and cultural groups. The EnCana office tower will be constructed entirely of glass with diamond-shaped steel interlaced throughout the structure and three stories of gardens. The building will curve like a horseshoe.
Developers plan to preserve the art deco façade of the historic York Hotel and to restore the historic Regis Plaza Hotel and turn it into a 40-room, boutique hotel. The Bow will use 30 per cent less energy than the average office tower.
EnCana is hoping to begin construction of the building in the spring of 2007. |
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