Celebrating Canada’s 2008 Enviro Heroes

Since 2002, the Canadian Environment Awards has recognized more than 140 Canadian individuals and groups that are working on community, regional and national levels in the name of the environment. Congratulations to the 2008 winners!

Citation Of Lifetime Achievement 2008
Maude Barlow, activist, advocate and chair of The Council of Canadians, Ottawa, Ontario

For nearly 25 years, Barlow has toiled on the front lines as an advocate for the rights of Canadians and for Canadian sovereignty. A founding board member of The Council of Canadians, she has served as its chair since 1988. Barlow has worked as both an activist and an advocate for issues ranging from pesticide use and food safety and security to energy policy.

Barlow fearlessly protects our resources in both the political and the corporate arenas. “NAFTA is an environmental issue,” she says without hesitation. “International trade agreements happen behind the scenes as quiet treaties that are enforceable with lawsuits. They open up trade to the fewest barriers and restrictions, all in the name of creating a level playing field — but it’s one that is geared to the lowest common denominator.”

She is the author of Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water.

Ideas For Life Award
Edward Burtynsky, photographer, Toronto, Ontario

Burtynsky's most famous photographs are sweeping views of industrially scarred or altered landscapes: mine tailings, quarries, scrap piles, factories, recycling yards, ship yards, dams and mines. He photographs civilization’s materials and debris, but in a way people describe as “stunning” or “beautiful.”

These ‘manufactured landscapes’ raise questions about ethics and aesthetics as well as the overwhelming destruction of our environment.

In 2006, Burtynsky was the subject of an award-winning documentary film, Manufactured Landscapes, which was shown at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Documentary Competition. In April of the same year, he was named Officer of the Order of Canada.

Climate Change Category

Gold: Zerofootprint, carbon-reduction network for consumers and businesses, Toronto, Ontario

Silver: Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology Student Volunteers, Share the Warmth Home Energy-Efficiency Project, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan

Silver: Judith Sayers, Hupacasath First Nation/Upnit Power Corporation, Port Alberni, British Columbia

Conservation Category

Gold: Appalachian Corridor Appalachien, transborder conservation initiative, Lac-Brome, Quebec

Silver: Jon Lien, founder, Whale Research Group of Memorial University, Portugal Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador

Silver: Ocean Net, shoreline cleanup program, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador

Environmental Health Category

Gold: Jim Brophy and Margaret Keith, community health advocates, Windsor, Ontario

Silver: Clean Air Foundation, Switch Out and Switch the ’Stat, Toronto, Ontario

Silver: Evergreen, national program to create outdoor classrooms for play and learning, Toronto, Ontario

Environmental Learning Category

Gold: Club agroenvironnemental du bassin La Guerre, council for the promotion and development of sustainable agriculture, Saint-Anicet, Quebec

Silver: André Bélisle, clean-air and climate-change activist, Saint-Léon-de-Standon, Quebec

Silver: Établissements verts Brundtland, education for a sustainable future, Québec, Quebec

Restoration & Rehabilitation Category

Gold: Alberta Birds of Prey Foundation and the Town of Coaldale, community raptor rehabilitation and education centre, Coaldale, Alberta

Silver: Comité ZIP Jacques-Cartier, group for the enhancement of the St. Lawrence River at Montréal, Quebec

Silver: Gerard Nellestijn, Salmo Watershed Streamkeepers Society, Salmo, British Columbia

Sustainable Living Category

Gold: Local Food Plus, network for the certification and promotion of locally produced food, Toronto, Ontario

Silver: The Otesha Project, national youth-driven sustainability campaign, Ottawa, Ontario

Silver: The Sisters of Providence of St. Vincent de Paul, Heirloom Seed Sanctuary, Kingston, Ontario

The Green Team Challenge 2008

Junior:Dunrankin Drive Public School, Mississauga, Ontario

Senior: Henry Street High School, Whitby, Ontario

Visit Canadian Geographic to find read more about the winners or to send in your nominations for the 2009 winners.


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