YOUTH ECO-INTERNSHIPS CANADA
Together for the Environment!
Preserving the environment is an increasingly important ambition for the YWCA Montreal’s employees and community. Thanks to financing from the Government of Canada’s Economic Action Plan and the YMCA/YWCA Canada’s Youth Eco-Internship program, the YWCA will be able to undertake a complete environmental evaluation of the building and operations.
We are looking at the YWCA’s consumption of energy, water, and materials, as well as the production of waste. The study will help us to identify and put into practice actions that will reduce our overall ecological footprint.
In an ecological spirit, environmental themes and activities are also organized each month. Visit this page again soon to learn about our findings, progress and environmental activities!
For more information, please contact: rhorwat@ydesfemmesmtl.org
February: Paper reduction month
In order to further encourage paper reduction at the YWCA Montreal, computers were configured to automatically print double-sided and to save ink. To help us remember, small stickers were distributed with the slogans: “Let’s use scrap paper!” and “Double-sides are sublime!”. New recycling bins for paper and cardboard have also been placed in all meeting rooms where they were absent before.
March: Climate change and energy saving month
On March 10th, the Climate Challenge Campaign (Défi Climat) will be launched in all regions of Quebec. For a second consecutive year, the YWCA Montreal will participate in this campaign. Also, an energy portrait of the building will be completed and we will remind ourselves to adopt simple actions to reduce our energy consumption each day, such as:
- turn off the lights in empty rooms;
- turn off the computer when not in use;
- configure the power saving mode on the computer;
- use the stairs instead of the elevators.
In 2009, the YWCA Montreal used the equivalent in energy of 113 average Canadian households. We are already curious to find out the equivalence of energy of households we can save with many small and significant changes. To be continued...
April and May: Waste characterization
In April, we performed a waste characterization exercise. This is a practice which is more and more widespread in organizations and allows us to find out the nature and quantity of waste material generated and to better understand the how this material is generated. Overall, the results demonstrate that 71% of our waste is thrown out and 29% is recycled. Now that we are aware of the situation, we can adopt concrete measures in order to improve the situation. To do this, we intend to optimize recycling and gradually introduce composting. With better long term management of our waste, 69% of our real waste can eventually be sent to recycling centres.
Défi Climat
(Climate Challenge Awareness Campaign)
Outcome of the Défi-Climat
From March 10th to April 30th, employees of the YWCA Montreal were encouraged to take part in the Défi-Climat. For the second consecutive year, this campaign concerning climate change was a success. The objective was to have 52 out of the 86 employees solicited to register in the program. At the end of the campaign, 50 participants committed themselves to pose new gestures allowing a reduction of 69,725 kg/year of CO2 emissions. Two documentary projections, a workshop on local food, a conference from The Climate Project Canada and an eco-market, also organized under this campaign, were huge successes. See you again next year!