Prince George Chamber of Commerce president Cindi Pohl (left); Barbara Otter, project manager; UNBC president Daniel Weeks; CN regional manager David Brogiatto; Sherry MacIntyre of PG AIR, and Mayor Lyn Hall announce the continuation of a carbon reduction program in the city.
Bill Phillips photo
BY BILL PHILLIPS
bill@pgdailynews.ca
It’s all about reducing the carbon footprint of local businesses.
The Carbon Reduction Project for Business is pretty simple. UNBC students help businesses that are interested by examining the operation and providing a carbon footprint analysis. They then provide the businesses with recommendations on how they can reduce their carbon footprint.
The project is funded by CN and operated through the Prince George Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with UNBC. And it’s going to continue.
On Wednesday morning a park bench was unveiled in Duchess Park commemorating the program and Dave Brogliatto, CN’s regional manager – environment, announced the rail company is committed to funding the project for three more years.
“Prince George is a key part of CN’s network with approximately 400 railroaders living in the city of Prince George,” Brogliatto said. “We have a stake in the city’s future. At CN sustainability is a core value for us.”
The students gathered information from local volunteer businesses on their energy consumption, fleet vehicles and paper usage to make their analyses. The program has helped many local businesses, said Chamber CEO Christie Ray.
“Many businesses, both large and small, are adopting a much broader Triple Bottom Line perspective when it comes to business health,” said Ray. “Balancing the financial well-being of a business, with attention to the social and environmental outcomes, can be challenging. We are proud to champion this program with the generous support of our partners CN, The Prince George Air Improvement Roundtable and UNBC.”
The Prince George Air Improvement Roundtable funded a summer intern position, filled by Leon Kennedy, a student from UNBC’s Environmental Engineering Program. He assisted businesses that wished to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels. Part of Leon’s work was to write feasibility studies addressing the identified needs for alternate solutions to business compost and another comparing paper towel versus hand dryer usage for businesses.
PG AIR’s Sherry MacIntyre used the analogy of the city being a bowl, which it is, but analogy was was that it is a bowl of fruit … there are large pieces and small pieces, just like there are large industrial players and small individual players when it comes to air quality.
“You can stir it, you can mix it, it’s still a bowl of fruit,” she said. “Everyone’s contributing. Every piece of fruit plays its part in filling up that bowl, it’s definitely a team effort in cleaning up the air quality.”
Course funding was provided by UNBC’s Undergraduate Experiential Service Learning program through unrestricted donations to UNBC.
“The Carbon Footprint Reduction Project provides UNBC students with opportunities to demonstrate leadership by working directly as consultants with local companies,” states UNBC President Dr. Daniel Weeks. “Through the Carbon Management course, students gain exposure to real-life business decision making and provide participating organizations with specific advice on how to reduce carbon emissions.”
The Chamber recognized the project’s success by dedicating a tree and park bench during a ceremony at Duchess Community Park as part of National Tree Day celebrations.
Mayor Lyn Hall was also on hand, pointing out that it when it comes to carbon reduction, it was appropriate to be next to the Duchess Park School.
“One of biggest we wanted to do when I was on the school board was address that and (Duchess Park School) was designated as one of the first LEED recognized schools in the province,” he said.
He praised the program for involving several partners in the city working together to get projects like this off the ground.
“It provides an opportunity for businesses in the city to learn more what it means to be carbon neutral,” Hall said. “That’s something we’re working on at the city.”
