Earth Day, first celebrated in Canada in 1980, has integrated itself into our nation’s culture over the past thirty years. Celebrated from coast to coast, the country has seen some remarkable movements in preserving the environment.
To celebrate Earth Day, Enactus Canada is pleased to profile six of our participating universities and colleges from across the country who are running unique community empowerment projects aimed at helping the environment.
- The University of Calgary created a five level certification program to ensure restaurants stay green and encouraged the recycling of restaurant waste. This project has already impacted over 9,908 lives.
- Through the enterprise Instill Life, Okanagan College has distributed microloans to assist agricultural entrepreneurs in developing countries. So far, almost 300 elementary school students have fundraised monies for these loans and made a change in 36 countries, helping 141 entrepreneurs.
- Attempting to “dispose” of the disposable bottle craze, Acadia University is integrating water fountains back into schools through the Tap project. The school both designed and created four new water fountains and is receiving more production orders.
- Taking a different approach to the water bottle phenomenon is Memorial University, which implemented a project to teach collectors of recyclables entrepreneurial skills. Called the Bottlepreneur project, six bottle-collecting entrepreneurs have already learned how to increase revenue and improve their management skills. This model has been designed for use in other regions.
Lambton College has introduced an environmentally-friendly approach to solve electric and farming problems in a village in Zambia. By training farmers and children in technology and farming technique workshops, the One Seed project has multiplied revenue in the village and created a foundation to promote expansion in the community.- The Kenya Bee Project, created by Ryerson University, enhanced employment through honey and crop production, increasing Dago’s GDP and dedicating 8.658 acres of land to pollination. All of this was done through 10 local farmers through education on the benefits of bee keeping.
On Earth Day, we take the time to celebrate the work of Enactus student teams across the country who are positively impacting our environment and demonstrating that with ingenuity and hard work, we can help improve the health of our planet.