As the eco-blogger for The JUNO Awards, I have made it my business to find all of the ways that the JUNOS are working to keep the environment top of mind. There are so many things and people involved in making the JUNOS happen and I think it’s really amazing that they are spending so much time and energy (human energy) to make sure that the events are as eco-friendly as possible. Last week my blog was about the launch of the JUNO campaign “What Do You Do?” and this week I’m going to tell you a little bit about what the JUNOS do to be more sustainable.
I saw a lot of this first-hand last year when I travelled to Regina for the JUNO Awards and was shown all of the little things behind the scenes and backstage. Everyone who was working, volunteering or performing was given a reusable water bottle, most of the food backstage was served on real plates (not paper or Styrofoam), so there was very little waste. There are hundreds of people involved in making the JUNOS happen and so these things that seem little, make a big difference when you add them all up.
Then there are the bigger things. Being eco-friendly means that you have to think about everything and all of the ways that you can do it better. For example, some of the banners that are used at all of the events over JUNO weekend are made out of recycled content and can also be recycled when they are finished with them. This is keeping more than 800 square feet of garbage out of the landfills. My mom told me that her first apartment was 800 square feet – so that’s a lot of garbage that we don’t need to worry about.
Here are some of the other things that the JUNO Awards are doing:
- 588 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions will be offset from heating/cooling of event venues and travel by organizers, production crews, CARAS members, nominees and JUNO Week event attendees. This will be equal of taking 120 cars off the road for one year.
- All JUNO Award events and hotel stays will be powered with 608 MWh of clean, renewable electricity. This will be the equal to powering 2,500 houses for one week.
- Using organic cotton to produce (the very cool) JUNO t-shirts. This will prevent 230 pounds of synthetic fertilizer from polluting the environment.
If there is one thing that I have learned in my journey as a change-maker, it’s that you need the support and efforts of a community to make things really happen. To make an impact, you need the support of your team and that team needs to include experts. The JUNOS are working with Bullfrog Power for the 7th year in a row and Less Emissions Inc. to power events with clean electricity and to help reduce their carbon footprint. Strategin Solutions oversees all of the eco-initiatives of the JUNO Awards, and together they work to create events that have positive outcomes for people and the planet.
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