Who are we?
We are all volunteers involved in very exciting projects aimed at reducing the carbon footprint of our community... one emission at a time!
Oh, and we are also registered as a non-profit society with a mission and purpose that you can read here.
Contact Us
Email:
squamishcan@gmail.com
Phone:
604.892.0305
(Ana Santos, Coordinator)
Seasonal Foods of Sea to Sky
NEW! SQUAMISH CAN'S FOOD CALENDAR - Squamish CAN promotes seasonal eating with the Sea to Sky food calendar. Choosing to eat seasonal foods grown locally is good for our health, our community's economy and the environment.
The calendar promotes growing our own food by telling us what to grow and when and, if that's not possible, it shows us when produce is harvested so we can purchase in season at the farmers' market or at the grocery store. Read the full story as published in The Chief here and download the calendar here, or get your copy at your local farmers' market along the Sea-to-Sky Corridor.
Waste Reduction Champion
Squamish CAN wants to recognize your leadership in waste reduction! Reducing waste is more important than ever as the Squamish landfill reaches capacity this year.
Squamish Elementary student Katelyn Webb
Katelyn has pigs at home and has been collecting food scraps from three participating classrooms to feed them. During the week, students and teachers place their fruit, bread, vegetable and dairy waste in a large pail with a lid instead of throwing it in the garbage. Every Friday, Katelyn collects these scraps to feed her pigs that are raised for meat.
(left to right) Squamish CAN’s Stacy Metz and Squamish Elementary students Katelyn Webb, Kyla Triance and Ricardo Vivanco.
Katelyn Webb, Waste Reduction Champion December 2011.pdf
When asked how she thought of the idea and why it is so important, she responded; “We do it at home and I see so much waste in the trash cans. Collecting the fruits and vegetables reduces the carbon dioxide that kills the ozone layer. Collecting food for the animals is better for the environment.”
You don’t have animals to feed your scraps to? The District of Squamish has published a handy flyer called “5 Simple Steps to Making Compost in Bear Country - in Squamish!” Composting can be done in a way that doesn’t attract our furry friends (download it here).
Winter Farmers market 2011-12
After great success last year, the Squamish Winter Farmers Market returns to the Roundhouse at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park (39645 Government Road) as from November. It will take place on the following Sundays through the winter and early spring:
November 20, December 11, January 15 & 29, February 12 & 26, March 11 & 25, April 8
Highlights on the sidelines
Did you know that the quality of Squamish water is amongst the best in the country? Time to kick the bottle and take back the tap!
Congratulations to the District of Squamish for leading the way: Our municipality has decided to "take back the tap", improve access to public drinking water in our community, and phase out the sale and purchase of bottled water in municipal property. Read more here.
And why are we so concerned about bottled water? Well, take a look at The Story of Bottled Water and you'll get your answer!
(Click twice to enlarge video.)
Squamish CAN's Library
Squamish CAN's library is housed at ‘In the Raw Organics’ on Cleveland Avenue, downtown Squamish. For a small donation, you can borrow any movie or book, any time*. ‘In the Raw Organics’ is open 7 days a week; don’t forget the popcorn while you are there!
*Please note movies are exclusively for home use; many require a licence for public or educational use (for more info, contact us at squamishcan@gmail.com). Donations will go towards more movies.
Check out our movie list here (latest update, Aug 2011).
Last Christmas... was a 'Blue Christmas'
Environmental Public Art Installation – Reduction Project
Squamish CAN's 2011 Artists Challenge Winner is ‘Blue Christmas’
In collaboration with the District of Squamish, Squamish CAN and the Squamish Arts Council launched a Christmas competition amongst Squamish artists to create a special Christmas tree which would be used to spread awareness on waste reduction during the holiday period.
Endure Upcycled Designs’ Karen Yaremkewich’s ‘Blue Christmas’ creation was selected as the winner! The tree is made entirely from upcycled materials; election signage and used gloves from a local sawmill. The art piece is already being showcased around Squamish – find it at Municipal Hall, the Winter Farmers Market, Brennan Park, or Nesters, and remember… this Christmas, it is in our hands to give responsibly: let's give more needs than wants, let's give more quality than quantity, and let's do without the packaging.
Squamish CAN would like to take the opportunity to wish you all the very best for 2012.
Squamish's 2nd re-use-it fair delivered the goods - Oct 22, 2011
In collaboration with the District of Squamish, Squamish CAN’s Re-Use-It Fair event is already setting forward-looking standards and inspiring trends. On Sat Oct 22, hundreds of people came and went in approx. 185 vehicles. These brought a total of 72.3 tonnes of stuff which, by the end of the day, had changed hands! At clean-up time, only one Carneys container went to the dump (1.7T) – this can be reduced further and we will be working on that ;)
Congratulations to the entire community of Squamish for participating and putting so much effort into changing our collective behaviour. Remember, waste reduction makes sense, and not just in an environmental way. Our landfill is currently being expanded; it is a big hole in the land but also in our financial plan – millions of our taxpayer dollars are being spent to patch it up! And how long is the new landfill going to last? They say just 5 years – can we really be happy with that!?
The success of events like the re-use-it fair tells us this is far from the case. We are obviously learning to be responsible not just over what we consume but in the way we dispose of our stuff too! :)
Special thanks to all our volunteers and supporters, including; the District of Squamish, Squamish Lions Club, Tumblewoods, Squamish Terminals, Triack Resources Ltd, Squamish Scrap Metal, Carney’s Waste Systems, Miller Capilano, Squamish Insurance, Switchover.ca, Squamish Chamber of Commerce, Squamish Sustainability Corporation and last but not least… the Sea-to-Sky Fiddlers!
See the event photos below and read the media story here.
Photos
Introducing... Tammy Tap Water!
Keep you eyes open for Squamish CAN’s newest mascot, Tammy Tap Water – together with Landfill Larry, she will be hitting the streets this fall with some pretty refreshing educational programs! In the meantime, remember - it is time to kick the bottle and take back the tap!
A million thanks to Karen Yaremkewich from Endure Upcycled Designs for the creativity employed in creating our costumes.
Squamish CAN's Bike-rack Brigade
The Bike-rack Brigade at the Farmers' Market & Pavilion Park!
July 2011 - Squamish CAN’s Bike-rack Brigade has worked in collaboration with Dobra Design and the District of Squamish to bring two bike-racks to Pavilion Park and the Farmers’ Market area. Every Saturday morning, it is wonderful to see so many bikes downtown; it was about time we had some racks so they are not all over the place, lying around. The demand is such, we do not expect two bike-racks will take care of it all, but Squamish CAN will continue to work to add more. Check out other Bike-rack Brigade missions here.
Photo: Farmers’ Market Manager Carolyn Morris (left), Squamish CAN Coordinator Ana Santos (centre) and DoS Operations Supervisor Scott Lamont (right).
April 2011 - Used veggie oil powered bus hits the road!
GUESS WHAT!? Powered by used veggie oil, our bus will save us a lot of money at the pump ($0 to fill up!) and it will save the environment a lot of greenhouse gas emissions (over 5 tons of CO2 per year!) Every year, this bus is used to transport over 2,500 youth during completion of outdoor and environmental programs, as well as hundreds of Squamish CAN supporters during events and field-trips. The bus will now become the perfect educational tool to complement these activities and spread awareness in the whole community.
Thanks to funding from Squamish Savings, the collaboration of Squamish CAN, Switchover.ca and Camp Summit has resulted in Squamish’s first used veggie oil powered bus on the road.
This is a community improvement initiative brought to you by Squamish CAN in collaboration with Squamish Savings, Switchover.ca and Camp Summit.
Pick of the month
Our pick of the month goes to local musician Tessa Amy, who has managed to turn our thoughts into music.
(Click once, then twice on video to enlarge it.)
New EcoEnergy Program!
New EcoEnergy grant program just introduced by the federal government! Currently, home owners can get both federal and provincial grants for home energy upgrades – don’t miss your chance; they are the best grants ever!
Click here for the federal EcoEnergy grant program.
Click here for the provincial LiveSmart BC grant program.
Waste alerts!
Composting in bear country is possible!
Download the new District of Squamish's flyer "5 Simple Steps to Making Compost in Bear Country - in Squamish!" right here.
Squamish Styrofoam recycling initiative debuts
As from right now, and thanks to Nesters’ store manager Sean Daly, there is a place for Styrofoam in our community!
Read more about this recycling program here.
Feedback or questions? Email Squamish CAN at squamishcan@gmail.com
What happens to our recyclables?
Squamish residents have asked Squamish CAN this question time and time again. Well, Carneys' answer is finally here!
See also Squamish CAN's Waste pages here and here to learn what we do with the rest of our so-called waste.
Any comments? Send them to squamishcan@gmail.com
Questioning the phase-out of incandescent bulbs? Unsure about Compact Fluorescent Light-bulbs (CFLs)? You may find the information here, here and here useful.
The choice is yours to make, but remember that, in Squamish, we can recycle all types of bulbs*, incandescent and CFL.
Squamish CAN has partnered with Rona and the District of Squamish to offer convenient collection points. Place your used bulbs in the containers provided at Municipal Hall (2nd Avenue) and Rona (Discovery Way).
(*) Due to safety issues, long fluorescent tubes must be taken directly to Rona. All bulbs are sent to Aevitas Inc., Rona’s recycling partner in Ontario.
NEW used household battery recycling program – now FREE!!
Squamish CAN is pleased to announce that a FREE program to collect and recycle used household batteries has now been established Province-wide through a collaboration between the BC Ministry of the Environment and the non-profit Call2Recycle. Read more here.
In Squamish, take your used batteries and cell-phones to Nesters Market, Changes at Save On Foods, Extra Foods, Municipal Hall and the Squamish Adventure Centre, and place them in the boxes provided (see image below). You will notice that bags are provided – please bag only rechargeable & lithium batteries and cell phones.
Turn to our Waste group's Projects page for more info.
Disclaimer
-DISCLAIMER-
Please note that Squamish CAN does not necessarily endorse any companies, products or services mentioned in this website. Our intention is to inform, not to endorse, and we expect everybody to apply due diligence and take responsibility for their own choices.
© 2012 Created by Ana Santos.
