Volunteers wanted for Eco Team Project 

Ecology Ottawa is looking for volunteers to get involved in this great local improvement initiative. Ecology Ottawa’s Eco Teams, working within the context of the Ecology Ottawa Community Network, will implement simple but effective ways Ottawans can reduce their carbon footprint and foster more energy-wise communities.

Why we need Eco Teams

Wasting energy undermines the local economy and helps drive air pollution and global warming. Recent
research shows that applying some health promotion and prevention strategies and behaviour change
models can contribute to more successful environmental stewardship programmes, and that indeed
changing environmental behaviour can improve not only the environment but also human health. 1

This project is based upon a successful model established by the Empowerment Institute to empower
individuals, neighborhoods and communities to adopt pro-environmental behaviors.

What Eco Teams will do

Eco Teams participants will learn more about their own greenhouse gas emissions and implement
simple but effective actions to reduce their carbon footprint. Ecology Ottawa will support our
Community Organizers and their Neighbourhood Teams throughout the project to reach out to the
community, establish a Neighbourhood Eco Team, organize training days, and finally, adopt a low
carbon diet and communicate the results.

A “Project Guide” will clearly outline the various project components and provide step-by-step
instructions on how Ecology Ottawa Neighbourhood Eco Teams can calculate the carbon ‘pounds lost’
due to their participation in the Low Carbon Diet program.

Project Partners

Greg Searle, Executive Director of BioRegional North America, will deliver the trainings on the Low
Carbon Diet. Ecology Ottawa will also reach out to local organizations that have been actively involved in
efforts to save energy, fight air pollution and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the City of Ottawa.