Environmental Action

The Cochrane Environmental Action Committee has been busy lately — check out our news and activities here:

Carpooling Service Connects Drivers and Riders

(April 27, 2012) 

A website that links potential partners for carpooling is being touted as one of the potential solutions to transportation and air quality issues resulting from increasing commuter traffic to and from the region.

A free carpool matching service available at http://www.carpool.ca (Carpool.ca) is expanding rapidly. In May, Carpool.ca is setting its sights on signing up more commuters outside of Calgary who travel in to the city to work. In particular, they are targeting the rapidly growing Town of Cochrane as a hotbed of potential carpoolers.

The project is a joint effort being coordinated by the Calgary Region Airshed Zone (CRAZ) with support from the City of Calgary, Carpool.ca, the Town of Cochrane and the Cochrane Environmental Action Committee (CEAC).  CRAZ is trying to increase awareness and acceptance of preferable commuting behaviours in order to reduce the increase vehicle occupancy rates.  Their goal is to reduce the amount of ozone (O₃) and particulate matter (PM) in the air, which would improve air quality.

“Commuters looking to carpool can easily find matches that are traveling within Cochrane or to communities outside of Cochrane, including Calgary,” says Tim Giese, spokesperson for CEAC.    The www.carpool.ca program is funded by the City of Calgary; however, the program is not just for people who live in Calgary.  In fact, approximately 20 per cent of commuter participants are from outlying communities such as Cochrane and Okotoks.

Carpool.ca assists both drivers and riders to find carpool partners.  Signing up is easy – simply visit www.carpool.ca and complete the secure on-line registration to receive a list of potential carpool partners.  All participant information is strictly confidential and users make no commitment by signing up.

“It’s important to note that carpooling doesn’t require a large commitment,” says Anne Marie Thornton, of Carpool.ca.  “Our desire to save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions tends to be secondary to our need for convenience.  Carpooling once or twice a week is a great start and manageable for most commuters.

As part of this CRAZ project, CEAC will be working with Carpool.ca to raise awareness of carpool options for residents over the next few weeks.  The campaign will include a booth at the Cochrane Trade Show on May 5 & 6, promotional materials, and public display items.  These will include banners displayed at various locations and chalk stenciled signs for walkways and sidewalks.

Carpooling has many environmental, community and personal benefits.  It reduces the number of cars on the road, which in turn means fewer emissions polluting our air. Carpooling also eases traffic congestion and lessens the demand for new roads and parking lots.  In addition, sharing the cost of fuel, insurance and vehicle maintenance can save drivers a significant amount of money each year.  In fact, according to the Canadian Automobile Association the annual cost of owning a mid-size vehicle that travels 12,000 km annually is $8,581.05, or $.71/km. These figures do not include parking fees.

The www.carpool.ca program is also available in Edmonton, Lethbridge, Fort McMurray and other smaller Alberta communities.  As more people register, carpooling becomes an even more visible and viable transportation alternative.  The www.carpool.ca site also provides useful information about commuting costs, carpooling etiquette and various resources to assist carpoolers. Carpool.ca is Canada’s fastest growing on-line carpool matching program with 10,000+ registrants nation-wide.

 

Permaculture comes to Cochrane

(April 21, 2012)

Your home garden always needs lots of water, and whenever you’re away, you find yourself always having to make sure someone’s available to keep watering it for you. Plus, you would like to use rainwater as much as you can because you because that makes sense to you, but you’re wondering what methods are available.

You have access to land and would like to turn it into a lush, healthy nutrient-dense garden, but you don’t quite know how to start. Perhaps you’re hearing stories of other gardens working well, and not-so-well, so you’re hoping to get a good grounding on what is important to know at the beginning stages.

You have a site that has a lot of problems, like excessive wind, no water (or too much water), pests, or is awkward and seemingly unusable; perhaps excessively shady, is tiny, or covered with concrete. This leaves you with a question like” What can I do with this space?” You really want to know what opportunities are available.

If any of the following points or situations resonate with you, the workshop presented by the Cochrane Environmental Action Committee and Big Sky Permaculture is for you.  Permaculture is a relatively new and very exciting field that develops systems based on nature’s design.  We mimic natural eco-systems and create sustainable environments that are functional, low maintenance and ever lasting.

There will be a one-day Introduction to Permaculture workshop on April 27 at Glenbow School, followed by a Permablitz of a new section of the Cochrane Community Garden.  All this for $65 (includes the Friday workshop and invitation to the Saturday Permablitz and lunches for both days)

For more information contact CEAC at 403-851-0562

 

 

Revised Weed Manual Available From CEAC

(January 11, 2012)

Despite the unseasonably warm weather, summer probably still feels a long way away for most Cochranites. But with the release of their new weed control manual, the Cochrane Environmental Action Committee (CEAC) is hoping residents will have time to get well-versed about the invasive species that may be growing around town in a couple of months.

Read the full article in the Cochrane Times.

 

Weed Pull This Saturday

(July 19, 2011)

On July 23, the Cochrane Settlement Community and the Cochrane Environmental Action Committee will be partnering for their fourth annual July weed pull event in Caroline Godfrey Environmental Reserve in the east end of Cochrane. And the weed pull, which started out as a Canada World Youth and CEAC project, has reached the point where the people who are going back year after year are able to clearly see what a difference they’re making.

“It’s remarkable,” said Judy Stewart. “There were whole fields that used to be purple with thistles where now you can hardly find them. You really have to look. They don’t have that robust system anymore because of four years of pulling weeds.”

Check out the full story in the Cochrane Times.

 

Residents Band Together To Weed

(July 19, 2011)

For the fourth year now, Cochrane residents will gather to get rid of pesky weeds without the use of toxic chemicals.

The Cochrane Environmental Action Committee (CEAC) has partnered with the Cochrane Settlement Community Association to hold a weed pulling event July 23 at the Caroline Godfrey Environmental Reserve in Cochrane’s East End.

“The purpose of the weed pull is to continue to manage the invasive species that try to make their homes among the native plants, wildflowers and shrubs in the reserve,” said organizer Judy Stewart in a release.

The full story appears in the Cochrane Eagle.

 

Get ready to turn off the lights as Earth Hour approaches

(March 23, 2011)

Starting last year the Town of Cochrane began retro-fitting street lights to concentrate a beam of light downward, illuminating the street rather than the skies above.

Town communication co-ordinator Laurie Drukier explained in an e-mail that the retro-fitted lights are also more energy efficient, have less light pollution, increase street-level visibility and make astronomical observations easier — something that will come in handy for the fifth annual Earth Hour set to take place March 26 at 8:30 p.m.

Earth Hour has taken place once a year since 2007 when 2.2 million people and more than 2,000 businesses in Australia turned their lights off for one hour to take a stand against climate change.

You can read the full article in the Cochrane Eagle here.

 

Two Decades of Change: CEAC’s Volunteer Base Running Low
(August 2010)

The Cochrane Environmental Action Committee (CEAC) and its members are a testament to the power a small group of dedicated citizens can wield.

As 2009 draws to a close, so to does the 20th anniversary of CEAC. Twenty years of enacting environmental change in Cochrane by working with citizens, businesses and government to find a solution that is amicable to all.

Tim Giese, CEAC’s long-standing president, said CEAC members made a conscious decision from the beginning, way back in 1989, to remain apolitical and inclusive to those of different political stripes. Over time, this fostered respect in the community and allowed CEAC to accomplish many if its members’ goals.

“We don’t want to be adversarial. There are times where you should take a stance and say, look, this is an issue and we want to push this as far as we can, but we need to find a compromise,” Giese said.

Read the full article in the Cochrane Times here.

 

Cochrane Farmers’ Market providing something for all
(July 2010)

An increase in vendors at the Cochrane Farmers’ Market this season has squeezed its location at the Cochrane Ranche Historic Site to near capacity.

“It’s been just a real growing year for us,” said market organizer Valerie McCracken.

“We’re having challenges, but they are all good challenges in terms of allowing the growth of the community to be accommodated.”

Despite the rainy summer weather, come Saturday morning the conditions have been dry at the market attracting between 45 and 50 vendors per week compared to a few years ago when 25 to 30 vendors was the maximum.

The full article appears in the Cochrane Times here.

 

Town Left Out In The Dark
(July 2010)

The Town of Cochrane needs to go dark for one hour, argued a concerned environmentalist.

Nicholas David, from the Cochrane Environmental Action Committee (CEAC) approached council Feb. 22 to ask council to participate in Earth Hour on March 27 by turning off all street lights and lights in municipal buildings for one hour during Earth Hour starting at 8:30 p.m.

David said Cochrane has many examples of light which is wasted by shining into the sky at night, which not only uses electricity and the carbon fuels used to generate it, but pollutes the sky and changes the internal biorhythms of plants, animals and even humans.

“Street lights constitute the major source of light pollution in Cochrane,” David said, using an example of a street light across from his home which shines directly into his bedroom window.

You can read the full Cochrane Times article here.