Ecology Ottawa 2011 Annual Report

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ECOLOGY OTTAWA ANNUAL REPORT

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2011 Annual Report

ABOUT ECOLOGY OTTAWAEcology Ottawa is a not-or-prot organization working to make Ottawa thegreen capital o Canada. We believe that Ottawa residents are concerned aboutissues such as pollution, waste, and global warming, and that they want sustain-able communities where clean air and water, public transit, renewable energy,recycling, and green space protection take priority. We are working with resi-dents and community organizations to ensure that these concerns are heard atcity hall.

Ecology Ottawa is registered in Ontario, Canada as a not-or-prot organization,#1715290.

Our Supporters

We would like to thank the many individuals and organizations whose supporthas helped see Ecology Ottawa through a th year o success and progress inour collective eorts to make Ottawa a more environmentally responsible city:

Our fnancial supporters: Chez Lucien, Human Resource and Skills DevelopmentCanada (Canada Summer Jobs/Career Focus Program), Lumos Energy, Ontario

Trillium Foundation (Future Fund/Community Grants), YMCA o Greater TorontoArea (Environmental Youth Internship Program), and our many individual donors,as well as in-kind contributions rom Katimavik.

Our many volunteers, who gave more than 4,600 hours o their time in supporto Ecology Ottawa public events and outreach, policy, research, publications and

undraising.


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MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR

While many environmental challenges are global, national or regional in scope,most Canadians live in cities and a lot o the most important decisions get madeat city hall. Its here, at home, that we turn on the lights, run our taps, eat our ood,put out the garbage, commute to work, build our neighbourhoods, and play-inor pave-overour greenspaces. I we want to build a better world, we need tolearn how to build a better city.

And where better to do it than in Ottawa? Its a great place to live and there is alot to love about the rivers, arms, parks and neighbourhoods that surround us.

Ecology Ottawa is a growing community o people that are working together tomake this city a better place. We believe that there are hundreds o thousands opeople across Ottawa who value clean water, air and energy, world class parks,local ood, public transportation, and walkable and cycling-riendly communities.We also believe that there is an urgent need to protect our children, grandchil-dren, nieces and nephews rom air pollution, toxins and climate change, and weacknowledge our responsibility to help restore and respect the natural world.

I we want our leaders to hear us, and work with us to build the kinds o neigh-

bourhoods that we want to live in, then we need to organize rom the groundup. Thats what Ecology Ottawa is all about and we hope youll join us. We areproud o what we accomplished in 2011 and we hope you will enjoy reading allabout it in this Annual Report. None o this is possible without our hundreds ovolunteers and thousands o supporters, so I would like to take the opportunityto thank everyone involved or all you do. We are looking orward to an evenmore exciting 2012!

Graham SaulCo-ounder and Steering Committee Chair


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THE YEAR IN REVIEWIt was another banner year or Ecology Ottawa as we continued to build ourcommunity base o support, including in some exiting new areas. We reached5,000 subscribers to Ecology Ottawa Updates (our electronic newsletter) in2011, an important tool or keeping interested people in the region up to dateon what is happening regarding Ottawas environment. We operated inorma-tion booths at 19 events, including armers markets, universities, eco airs anddiaspora community estivals, to reach as diverse an audience as possible. Weonce again organized successul signature eventsour Annual Dinner and theGreat Glebe GREEN Garage Sale. We issued our th annual Council Watch Report,which summarized the rst year in oce o Ottawas new City Council rom anenvironmental perspective. Some highlights ollow.

THE NEW

Clean Energy Campaign Launch

On February 24, Ecology Ottawa ocially launched its Clean Energy Campaign atan event held at City Hall. More than 100 people attended, including several citycouncillors and MPPs, representatives rom Ottawas renewable energy industryand other community leaders. They learned about the two main initiatives othis campaignthe Community Energy Network o Eastern Ontario and BuildingCommunity Power. These initiatives, which are described in more detail on theollowing page, are being supported with unding rom the Ontario Trillium

Foundation, and aim to make use o opportunities presented by the provincesGreen Energy and Green Economy Actto bring together various local stakehold-ers who can benet rom making a transition to clean energy. Speakers at theevening event included Madeleine Meilleur, MPP or Ottawa-Vanier and Ministero Community and Social Services, Keith Egli, City Councillor and EnvironmentCommittee member, and Graham Saul, Chair o Ecology Ottawa.


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Community Energy Network o Eastern Ontario

Ecology Ottawa broadened it outreach signicantly with the creation o theCommunity Energy Network o Eastern Ontario. The network, with 72 membersrom the non-prot, business and public sectors, engaged in 12 dierent partso Eastern Ontario in 2011. We hosted 67 public education events attracting4,300 people, and gave workshops on energy eciency and renewable energy.Developing and sharing promising practices in renewable energy and energy e-ciency is an important unction o this network, and 250 institutions have beenidentied as regular recipients o promising practices in this eld. Partnering withthe Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization, we created a mentor-ship program or oreign trained proessionals interested in the renewable energysector. We also engaged job and career centres across Eastern Ontario to inormthem and their clients (those looking or work) o the many education, trainingand job opportunities in the emerging clean energy economy.

Building Community Power

In 2011, the Building Community Power program connected with local cleanenergy champions in the neighborhoods o Kanata, Westboro, City View,Britannia and Carlingwood. In each neighbourhood, Clean Energy Teams helpedhost workshops on solar power and energy eciency or homeowners. The pro-gram has also brought solar power to real estate agents, home builders, the hightech sector and environmental auditors through targeted workshops and solartours. Many o the teams continue to make strides toward a clean energy uturein their neighbourhoods.


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Leadership Development

The Leadership Development program constitutes a monthly leadership trainingsession called the Crat o Organizing, whereby key leaders in Ecology Ottawacome together to learn how to create eective social movements. This was elt tobe an essential tool as Ecology Ottawa works to become more active and presentat the local community level across the city and region.

Volunteer Teams

Ecology Ottawa has always relied heavily on our volunteer committees to lead

our work. This year we also had a number o volunteer teams that took on signi-cant responsibilities in support o our programming:

Ecology Ottawas bilingual Radio Team has been hosting morning radiosegments weekly in French on CJFO FM. These segments have providedthousands o listeners with inormation on environmental issues and waysto get involved in the environmental movement in Ottawa.

The Neighbourhood Research Team has been looking into the environ-mental awareness and interests o neighbourhoods across Ottawa. Thisteam has connected with neighbourhood leaders to identiy issues olocal importance, which has helped direct the outreach eorts o Ecology

Ottawa volunteers in those neighbourhoods.

The Writers Team has been learning about and writing eective articles andopinion pieces or local and city-wide newspapers, ensuring that key envi-ronmental issues are communicated using a local perspective.

Petitions, Ads to Promote and Save Clean Energy in

Ottawa, across Ontario

Ecology Ottawa was very active in 2011 promoting clean energy and energy

eciency to Ottawa-area politicians. In early March, we mobilized more than30 people to attend city hall. Wearing green hard hats, to signiy our desire orthe city to commit to clean energy and the creation o green-collared jobs, weattended council chambers to show support or clean energy while the city wasdebating its 2011 Budget. A ew days prior, we hand-delivered a Clean EnergyPetition, signed by 1,750 Ottawa citizens (representing every Ward in the city) toMayor Jim Watson.


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Willthey take awayour

CLEANENERGY

JOBS?Ontario has beencreating thousands o newjobs

incleanenergy. Workers are making and installing

windmills,solarpanels and smart grid technology.

But are all o ourelected ofcials onboard with

keeping and creating more greenjobs?

THEY SHOULDCOME CLEANABOUT WHERE THEY STAND

comeclean.ca

- C U IL C 1

Thanks to the Green Energy and Green Economy Act, weare on thebrink oa hugebreakthrough in

renewableenergy,clean air,green jobs and fghtingclimatechangein Ontario.However,iall political

parties do not continueto support renewableenergy incentives,such as theeed-in tariprogram,we

areat risk olosingthe momentum and gettingcut oat theknees just when weare gettingstarted.

Therehas never been a moreimport ant timeor peoplewho support clean, renewableenergy to voicethat support.Iyou support clean,renewable energy pleasesign Ecology Ottawas petition today:

http://www.ecologyottawa.ca/take-action368233-0908

Addressed to the mayor and city councillors, the petition stated the ollowing:

Later that year, when the Green Energy and Green Economy Act(one o the mostimportant pieces o clean energy legislation in North America) was threatenedby a provincial political party, we acted again. In May, we launched an unprec-edented ad campaign airing roughly 100 radio ads on two Ottawa-area radiostations. The ads emphasized the good-paying jobs being created by the emerg-ing clean energy economy and the importance o using less dirty coal, as parto the provincial ComeClean.ca campaign. The 30 second radio ads, running onLake 88.1 and 1310 News, expressed concern that Ottawa area jobs will be takenaway because some politicians may not like solar power. The ads ask: Do they

like dirty coal? In September, we ran ull-page newspaper ads that urged peopleto sign onto the ollowing petition:

Just days prior to the election, we sent the petition (signed by more than 1,250Ottawans) to all the provincial political party leaders, all Ottawa-area candidates,as well as the Mayor and all Ottawa city councillors.

We, the undersigned, ully support clean energy in Ottawa. We recognize thatinvesting in clean and ecient energy systems is about saving money and doing

the right thing at the same time. With this in mind, we call on Council to invest in

the health and prosperity o our city and to make clean energy a unding priority

during the upcoming budget debate.

We call on our Mayor and all City Councillors to use Budget 2011 to show nancial

and political support or renewable energy productionsuch as solar panels on

municipally-owned buildingsenergy eciency improvements to social hous-

ing, a program to leverage community investment in renewable energy, as well as

incentives to ensure more green buildings are built in Ottawa.

Dear Municipal and Provincial Leaders,

Our uture depends on investing in renewable energy. Ontarios world class pro-

gram, the eed-in tarif program, is making us a leader in renewable energy by

providing incentives or all Ontarians to get involved.

In his 2011 Budget speech, the Mayor o Ottawa committed to making Ottawa the

number one city in Ontario in the uptake o renewable energy.

We support the mayors call or Ottawa to be a leader in the uptake o renewableenergy. We believe that the eed-in tarif program is a vital element to realizing a

renewable energy uture and we urge all politicians in Ontario to strengthen it.


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ANNUAL ACTIVITIES

Ecology Ottawa Annual Dinner

Ecology Ottawa hosted our th annual dinner on November 10. Having clearlyoutgrown our previous Centretown location, a larger venue was selected in SandyHill and once again we sold out in advance, with close to 300 tickets purchased.

Some 50 local businesses and individuals contributed ood, drink and silent auc-tion items. Fity-one volunteers, including an ever enthusiastic team o Katimavikyouth participants, helped with set up and clean up, ood and beverage service.

The annual dinner is Ecology Ottawas opportunity to celebrate achievementsand refect on the state o the local environment with other interested commu-nity members. We rely on our supporters to get the word out about the dinnerand were pleased to note a broad cross section o interests in attendance, includ-ing people rom: national organizations such as the David Suzuki Foundation,Oxam, Nature Canada, Canadian Labour Congress and Canadian Union o PostalWorkers; companies and organizations working to create a cleaner environment

like Marbek, Clearly Solar, Stratos, Delphi and Isolara Solar Power; other localorganizations that are also ocused on moving the city in a greener directionlike Sustainable Living Ottawa East, Ottawa Renewable Energy Coop, OttawaSustainability Fund, Tucker House, 1000 Solar Rootops and the Envirocentre.

We were also pleased to have a number o local elected ocials in attendance.


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Mayor Jim Watson, city councillors Rick Chiarelli, David Chernushenko and DianeHolmes, and MPP Madeleine Meilleur, all attended the dinner. Mayor Watson

gave the keynote address taking the opportunity to speak about environmen-tal and sustainability measures being undertaken by the City o Ottawa. Localauthor and musician Phil Jenkins entertained the audience with his music andmusings on a city he clearly values.

Four volunteers were recipients o Ecology Ottawas 2011 Volunteer o the YearAward:

Christine Epplett, or setting a standard or what is involved in being a coordina-tor o volunteers; Alison Harmon, who serves as Co-Chair o the Council WatchCommittee, thereby playing a primary role in producing the annual report card;

Irne Kumar, or providing timely translation services and helping Ecology Ottawaget closer to our goal o being a bilingual organization; and, Jennie Videto, orher signicant role in organizing Ecology Ottawas 5th Annual Dinner, as well asupdating the Calendar o Events on our website.

Ecology Ottawas Chair, Graham Saul, also spoke to the audience, sharing hisvision about how a light environmental ootprint can be achieved while build-ing a vibrant, prosperous, healthy and ecologically responsible city.

His points clearly resonated with the audience and set the tone or an inspiringevening much enjoyed by all.

Land-use patterns are one o the single most important determinants o peoples

greenhouse gas emissions. That means that we need to hold the line on the

urban boundary and build complete communitiescommunities that have a

mix o housing types, jobs, schools, daycares, shopping, and recreational oppor-

tunities all within a ten-minute walk. Communities where people rarely need cars

and when they do, most trips will be shorter. Done right, these are sae, vibrant,

people-centred communities that are beautiul and healthy places to live and

work.


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Council Watch Report

Our th annual Council Watch Report on the environmental voting record oOttawa City Council was released on November 23. Sweeping change at CityHall as a result o the 2010 municipal elections, with a new mayor and 10 newcouncillors, made or a very dierent council in tone and approach. In terms othe 12 votes related to environmental matters in 2011, there was less dierentia-tion over the previous council, with the majority o council members scoring inthe B and C ranges.

Transportation issues topped the list with six votes, ollowed by waste reduc-tion and diversion at three, and, one each related to clean energy, urban growthand land use, and water. While it could be considered a positive year rom some

perspectives (consider the attempt to hold the urban boundary [although thecity was overruled by the Ontario Municipal Board], rom the long-range plan tocombat Ottawa River pollution problems, and rom the victories or saer down-town cycling and increased O-Train requency), there were some losses o note.Decisions in avour o high-volume roads will impact the livability o communi-ties along the Alta Vista Corridor and King Edward Avenue. The $22 million cutto OC Transpos annual operating budget and route optimization exercise ledto major route changes, some cancellations, service reductions and disgruntledpublic transit users.


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Great Glebe GREEN Garage Sale

Many people consider the annual May Great Glebe Garage Sale as a communityevent not to be missed. Ecology Ottawa certainly shares this view as our ourthGreat Glebe GREEN Garage Sale was the most successul to date, raising about$8,000 rom enthusiastic bargain hunters and hungry shoppers. What made it sosuccessul? Our community o supporters

a 10-member volunteer Organizing Committee which spent three monthscreating a FUN-raising event to remember

more than 100 olk who donated items to the sale

more than 125 volunteers who worked the event, as drivers, sorters, haul-

ers, bakers, cooks, servers, salespeople, cleaners, photographers andperormers

24 local businesses and organizations, which donated ood, beverages,vans, equipment and even a second location

11 entertainers, who sang, played, massaged, hennad and ace painted,oering pleasant diversions and distractions or all ages

the amazing neighbours on Glebe Avenue who let us use their propertiesand lent us acilities to accommodate this growing event.

TV, radio, newspaper and social media coverage was also impressive and so very

important to the success o this event.

We are proud to report that in the spirit o good environmental practice 99%o the donated items were recycled directly by us through the garage sale orthrough donating the letovers to worthy local organizations and charities thathad expressed prior interest in certain types o goods like books or clothes. Inthe spirit o good community practice, we also contributed our 10% share, asrequested by Great Glebe Garage Sale organizers, to the Ottawa Food Bank. Sinceits inception in 2008, this one-day, once-a-year event has raised over $20,000,and priceless community goodwill and support.


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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITIONAs At December 31, 2011

ASSETS

Current Assets

CashAccounts receivablePrepaid expenses

LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS

Current Liabilities

Accounts payable and accrued liabilitiesDeerred Contributions

Net Assets

Unrestricted unds, beginning o yearNet revenue or the yearUnrestricted unds, end o year

Ray Folkins, CA completed the 2011 Ecology Ottawa independent audit. A com-plete copy o the audited nancial statements is available rom the oce uponrequest.

2011

$ 108,9934,764

916$ 114,673

$ 6,02351,70057,723

39,01917,93156,950

$ 114,673


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The presentation o Expenditures have been reclassied or the purposes o theAnnual Report summary.

STATEMENT OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURESFor the year ended December 31, 2011

REVENUE

Donations

Foundations

Grants

Government Support

Special Events and Other

Total Revenue

EXPENDITURES

Administration

Events and Action

Education and Outreach

Resource Development

Total Expenditures

62,273

252,000

13,130

37,588

28,634

$ 393,625

28,932

77,824

233,210

35,728

$ 375,694

Grants3 %

Government Support

10 %

Special Events and Other7 %

Resource Development9 %

Donations16 %

Foundations64 %

Administration8 %

Events and Action21 %

Education and Outreach62 %


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WHO WE ARE

Steering Committee Members*Elizabeth Bernstein**

Mike Buckthought

Pam Foster

Paul Hannon

Maureen Hollingworth**

Dale Marshall

Alex Paterson

* Our sta are ex-ocio members o the steering committee** These members also serve on the Board o Directors o Ecology Ottawa

Committees

Council Watch

Waste Diversion

Public Transportation / True Cost o Roads

Governance

Personnel

Staf (unding sources)

Janice Ashworth, Community Organizer (Ontario Trillium Foundation Community Grants)

Sabrina Bowman, Coordinator [until January 2011]

Trevor Hach, Policy Coordinator (Ontario Trillium Foundation Future Fund)

Roger Peters

Stean Reinecke**

Graham Saul

Josh Snider

Ian Thomson

Jo Wood


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Interns and Summer Students (unding sources)Connor Chadsey (Katimavik)

Kevin Donaghy, Outreach Associate (HRSDC Career Focus Program)

Jessica Finkel (Katimavik)

Adam Harris, Outreach Associate (HRSDC Canada Summer Jobs)

Sarah Lone, Policy Intern (The Canadian Merit Scholarship Foundation)

Alexander MacKinnon (Katimavik)

Patrick Marchand-Smith, Research Intern (YMCA Environmental Youth Internship)

Valentin Mueller, Outreach & Administration

Jessica Rust-Smith, Communications Intern (HRSDC Career Focus Program)

Volunteer Coordinators

A list o several hundred volunteers interested in providing dierent types o support to Ecology Ottawarequires signicant oversight. The ollowing individuals volunteered their time in 2011 to ensuring thiscore aspect o our organization unctioned smoothly:

Jessica Dubinsky

Christine Epplett

Kanchan GautamNurul Haque

David Vargas

Consulting Services

Andrew Chisholm, Website

Roger Coady, Accounting

Positive Sum, Website

Alastair Warwick, Network & Server Technologist


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[email protected] | 613-860-5353

This annual report was designed by Maya Hum and printed and bound inCanada on 100% post-consumer recycled paper.

ECOLOGY OTTAWAGet involved with Ecology Ottawa and help make our city the green capital oCanada. We encourage you to:

Sign up or Ecology Ottawa Updates (our electronic newsletter), athttp://eepurl.com/cj4Zj. We will send no more than two updates a month,which provide inormation on local events and actions you can take to helpprotect Ottawas environment.

Check out our Calendar o Events at www.ecologyottawa.ca/calendar tostay inormed about outdoor activities, lm screenings, workshops, publicmeetings and other opportunities to get engaged locally on environmentalissues.

Volunteer you time with Ecology Ottawa. To nd more e-mail:

[email protected], phone: 613-860-5353 or visit:www.ecologyottawa.ca/volunteer-corner.

Make a donation. Ecology Ottawa is a legally registered, not-or-prot orga-nization that relies on the nancial support o people like you. Please makecheques out to Ecology Ottawa, and mail to:

Ecology Ottawa430-1 Nicholas StreetOttawa, ON K1N 7B7

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Ecology Ottawa 2011 Annual Report

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