29th Annual Emerald Awards

Community Group or Nonprofit Association: Grassroots

Award Recipient

AWES – Trees are the Solution

Agroforestry & Woodlot Extension Society

The Agroforestry & Woodlot Extension Society (AWES) was formed in 2010 out of the Woodlot Extension Program, a government initiative to encourage sustainable development of private forests.

The non-profit restructured and added agroforestry to its mandate in recognition of the prevalence of agriculture within and around these forests.

“When it started in 2010, its primary purpose was education,” says executive director Noel St Jean. “We ...

Shortlist

There are no other finalists in this category.

Community Group or Nonprofit Association: Large Organization

Award Recipient

Municipal Climate Change Action Centre

Alberta Urban Municipalities Association and Rural Municipalities of Alberta

Municipal Climate Change Action Centre (MCCAC)

The Municipal Climate Change Action Centre (MCCAC) has partnered on over 500 projects with non-profits, municipalities and other organizations since 2009.

A collaboration of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association, Rural Municipalities of Alberta, and the Government of Alberta, the centre provides funding, technical assistance, and education to realize green projects across the province.

Director Trina Innes says municipalities are on the frontlines of ...

Shortlist

There are no other finalists in this category.

Education: School or Classroom

Award Recipient

W.I.L.D. Program for Outdoor Adventuring

Rocky View Schools – École Manachaban Middle School

École Manachaban School W.I.L.D. Program

In Australia, some schools include semesters spent at remote outdoor campuses where hiking and kayaking are regular features of the curriculum.

When Nancy Pollard returned after a few years teaching in the land down under, she wanted to bring that style of education to Canada.

“I just thought we have to make this happen,” Pollard says.

“There has to be a ...

Shortlist

There are no other finalists in this category.

Emerald Challenge: Climate Change

Award Recipient

Sustainable Development Project Phase IX Rooftop Solar Array

Cochrane High School Sustainable Development Committee

Around 2004, Stephanie Bennett helped jumpstart the Cochrane High School Sustainable Development Committee alongside another teacher.

The first iteration of the student-run club raised close to $50,000 and installed the first set of solar panels on the school’s roof.

“Everything just kind of took off from there and we just haven’t looked back,” says Bennett. “It’s just one group after another after another ...

Shortlist

There are no other finalists in this category.

Government Institution

Award Recipient

First Canadian Municipal Long Range Electric Buses

City of St. Albert

St. Albert Electric Buses

In 2017, St. Albert became the first municipality in Canada to own a fleet of long-range electric buses.

Mayor Cathy Heron, who served as a councillor from 2009 until being elected mayor in 2017, says the move fits in with residents’ concerns for the environment.

“They would have pushed us if we hadn’t gone down this road,” she says.

The city ...

Shortlist

There are no other finalists in this category.

Large Business

Award Recipient

Sustainability at the Edmonton Convention Centre

Edmonton Convention Centre

For more than a decade, sustainability has been a focus at the Edmonton Convention Centre (ECC).

The 150,000 square foot convention centre hosts over 500 events and serves 250,000 meals in an average year. The complex nestled in Edmonton’s river valley is a city-owned not-for-profit — a model that helps drive its environmental goals, according to the centre’s sustainability manager.

“It allows us ...

Shortlist

There are no other finalists in this category.

Lifetime Achievement

Award Recipient

Pres Winter

Pres Winter The Viking Bluebird Trail numbers more than 1200 nest boxes and stretches along 275 miles of road in Beaver County.

Pres Winter started the massive bluebird trail in 1977 with just 200 nest boxes given to him by the then-director of John Janzen Nature Centre. At 79 years old, he still tends and bands baby birds with no intention of missing the next season in 2021.

...

Shortlist

There are no other finalists in this category.

Public Education and Outreach

Award Recipient

Inside Education: Youth Environmental Leadership Summits

Inside Education

Steve McIsaac says when experiential learning group Inside Education started doing youth environmental leadership summits for students in 2011, they were answering a need that was already there.

“We believe and we have learned from students that they’re fundamentally disinterested in waiting until some magical day, in quote marks, ‘when I grow up,’ to make a difference,” he says.

The typical summit sees ...

Shortlist

There are no other finalists in this category.

Shared Footprints Award

Award Recipient

Dale Hodges Park

Sans façon; Watershed+; City of Calgary; AECOM; O2 Planning + Design; Source2Source; Wilco Contractors Southwest Inc.

Dale Hodges Park

Dale Hodges Park is at once a stormwater facility, a public park and an art installation.

That threefold purpose was born out of the City of Calgary’s WATERSHED+ program, which brings together planners from Parks and Water Resources as well as artists from Public Art.

Artists like Tristan Surtees of Sans façon.

“The idea was that artists would help create an ...

Shortlist

There are no other finalists in this category.

Small Business

Award Recipient

Waste to Energy Project (ConocoPhillips Surmont Plant)

Eco-Growth Environmental Inc.

Glen Smith remembers the night Eco-Growth Environmental first tested its biomass dehydrator. Employees loaded up around two hundred pounds of food waste and left for home in the wee hours of the morning.

“We weren’t sure if this was going to burn the building down or anything like that,” the company’s vice-president and director recalls.

Fortunately for the building, it was a success. The processor ...

Shortlist

There are no other finalists in this category.

For the first time, the 29th Annual Emerald Awards took place online, free for the entire province to attend, on June 2, 2020. If you missed it, you can still watch them on our YouTube channel and read the digital program.

Congratulations to the 29th Annual Emerald Award recipients!

Community Group or Nonprofit Association: Grassroots

Award Recipient

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Community Group or Nonprofit Association: Large Organization

Award Recipient

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Education: School or Classroom

Award Recipient

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Emerald Challenge: Climate Change

Award Recipient

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Government Institution

Award Recipient

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Large Business

Award Recipient

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Lifetime Achievement

Award Recipient

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Public Education and Outreach

Award Recipient

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Shared Footprints Award

Award Recipient

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Small Business

Award Recipient

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