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Congratulations to all of the 2009 Green Toronto Award winners and finalists.
"We celebrate you for your leadership and the difference you are making right here and right now in Toronto. And we celebrate you because who you are as leaders, and what you have accomplished, paves the way for an even greener Toronto tomorrow. Your leadership makes it possible for other individuals, organizations and companies across the city to see new possibilities for themselves as they look to take action to green our homes, communities and workplaces."
- Mayor David Miller
And the winners are:
Community Projects Award
(sponsored by Loblaw Companies Limited)
The Community Projects Award acknowledges the work of volunteers engaged in community building and conservation.
Finalists video
2009 Green Toronto Award Winner
- Roscoe Handford
 Beginning in 1997, Roscoe Handford worked unceasingly to save the neglected Wychwood TTC streetcar repair barns from the wrecker’s ball. She mobilized community, gathered resources and built a collaborative vision for an eco-friendly paradise—the Artscape Wychwood Barns near St.Clair and Christie. Roscoe has demonstrated extraordinary leadership and imagination in helping to create a uniquely sustainable site in the middle of a residential community.
Awards of Excellence
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Greenest City
 Now in its third year, Greenest City’s “From the Ground UP” project engages Parkdale’s ethnically diverse residents who can’t afford to buy fresh, local, sustainable food. The project provides marginalized residents, including street youth, with the skills, support and space needed to grow their own food. In 2008 alone, hundreds of people participated in environmental action through the program’s workshops, gardens and events.
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Not Far from The Tree
 When Toronto’s fruit-tree owners can’t harvest their bounty, Not Far From The Tree dispatches teams of volunteers to pick fruit that would otherwise go to waste. Last spring, from just 40 trees they harvested some 3,000 pounds of delicious, virtually chemical-free fruit and split the bounty equally among fruit-tree owners, social service agencies and volunteers. This year, hundreds more tree owners will take part, helping to spread public awareness about how to eat locally.
Energy Conservation Award
(sponsored by Ontario Power Authority)
The Energy Conservation Award rewards successful, measurable improvements in operation or production processes that reduce consumption.
Finalists video
2009 Green Toronto Award Winner
- Enbridge Gas Distribution
 In 2008, Enbridge Gas Distribution walked the talk, building an innovative hybrid fuel cell plant that produces near zero-emission electricity. In a global first, Enbridge integrated two existing low-carbon technologies to capture unused pipeline energy generated during the normal distribution of natural gas. The plant, located at the company’s head office in Toronto, delivers up to 2.2 megawatts of ultra-clean energy, enough to power 1,700 homes.
Awards of Excellence
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SAS Canada
 SAS Canada headquarters on King Street East is Toronto’s first LEED-certified new commercial office building. Breaking ground in 2004, the project aimed to reduce energy consumption by 30% compared to an average Ontario office building. In 2008, it surpassed that target by over 100%. Among its many green systems, precipitation is reused for washrooms and the highly reflective white roof reduces air conditioning needs.
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Steam Whistle Brewing
 In 2008, Steam Whistle Brewing, already working to continually shrink its footprint, significantly reduced both its energy consumption and waste water output. Over the years, the brewer has implemented an assortment of environmental changes like eco-friendly packaging and 100% reliance on green electricity. Last year the company invested in 76,400 litres of bio fuel, a mix of soya fuel and recycled restaurant grease, to transport beer across Ontario.
Environmental Awareness Award
(sponsored by Toronto Hydro)
The Environmental Awareness Award is for an individual, group or company who has helped people understand the delicate balance of the natural and man-made worlds as they interact in the City of Toronto.
Finalists video
2009 Green Toronto Award Winner
- Green Thumbs Growing Kids
 Making ecological food production part of the inner-city school day for children, Green Thumbs Growing Kids reaches Toronto’s neediest communities. Its “edible schoolyard” concept allows children to watch seeds grow into food they actually eat, and its summer programming offers free healthy outdoor activities. In 2008, the group served 3,000 children aged four to 12. At evening drop-ins, whole families harvest produce and share it equally.
Awards of Excellence
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FutureWatch Education and Development Partners (EDEP)
 In 2008, FutureWatch EDEP rolled out one if its environmental awareness campaigns, this time to hundreds of Hispanic and Somali newcomers and low-income tenants in Toronto. Newcomers are often excluded from environmental campaigns because of language and cultural barriers. Providing translated materials, the not-for-profit trained a group of tenants to teach their own communities, stimulating awareness and engaging individuals in local hands-on projects.
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The Toronto Wildlife Centre
 The Toronto Wildlife Centre (TWC) operates a hotline service offering free advice about a wide variety of delicate wildlife situations—now expanded to provide basic emergency information around the clock. The goal? To help humans and wildlife co-exist peacefully. TWC’s education team has worked to develop an extensive information resource to aid people responding to calls about wildlife from their communities. As the first resource of its kind, Answering the Call of the Wild: A Hotline Operator’s Guide to Helping People and Wildlife, will reinforce the profile of Toronto as a leader in the urban wildlife education field.
Green Design Award
(sponsored by Enbridge Gas Distribution)
The Green Design Award rewards the efforts of a company, project or group working with infrastructure, architecture or industrial design.
Finalists video
2009 Green Toronto Award Winner
- The Now House Project Inc.
 Now House™ is the near zero energy retrofit of a wartime home in Toronto that produces almost as much energy as it uses. Designed by Work Worth Doing, the project exemplifies the firm’s mission to create positive social and environmental change. With residential homes responsible for 24% of Toronto’s GHG, the Now House team hopes to inspire the retrofit of a million similar homes across Canada.
Awards of Excellence
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Artscape Wychwood Barns
 The historic Wychwood TTC street car repair barns, located in Toronto’s St.Clair and Christie neighbourhood, has been transformed into a 60, 000 square foot multifaceted community centre, that meets the highest environmental design standards. The Barns are now home to not-for-profits, artist studios, artist live/work spaces and a year-round greenhouse. Outside, a fenced off-leash dog park and separate playground areas bring much-needed community green space to the neighbourhood. Artscape Wychwood Barns is the first heritage project in Canada to seek LEED Gold certification.
- Monica E. Kuhn Architect Inc.
 Monica E. Kuhn, Architect Inc. specializes in green residential design, green roofs and the eco-friendly retrofit of existing homes. The firm hopes to boost the number of green homes in Toronto and change the perception that green homes are new, high-tech, expensive or “granola.” To showcase what’s possible, the firm created a green home and workplace out of a pair of 1889 semi-detached cottages in Cabbagetown.
Green Roof Award
(sponsored by Stantec)
The Green Roof Award recognizes an individual, company or project contributing to a healthy and beautiful city through the environmental, economic and social benefits of green roofs and walls.
Finalists video
2009 Green Toronto Award Winner
- Mahogany Management
 When developing a supportive housing building for tenants suffering from a history of mental illness, Mahogany Management - a small developer working on tight budgets -realized the potential of a green roof. The roof was designed with environmental and social benefits in mind, offering shady spots for quiet reflection, places for growing vegetables, a gas BBQ hookup—and space for neighbourhood gatherings that foster integration into the community.
Awards of Excellence
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Gardens in the Sky
 Proving what a green roof can do for an urban environment, the Training Academy for Toronto’s men and women in blue had one built in 2008 by Gardens in the Sky. Its modular LiveRoof trays, made of 100% recycled materials, reduce storm water runoff and the need for air conditioning. Almost best of all, its drought-tolerant plants create a habitat for butterflies, insects and songbirds.
- Paul Fryer
 Paul Fryer could have bought a 6x8-foot shed for 25% of his costs. Instead, he built his own, with siding made entirely from Canadian cedar and a base built from Canadian granite rocks and boulders. Integrated with a root cellar for storing vegetables in winter, the building has an angled roof. This way, its 90-plus drought-tolerant native plants can be more fully seen and enjoyed.
Leadership Award
(sponsored by Toronto Community Foundation)
The Leadership Award rewards an individual or company's effort that goes above and beyond the norm. The winner will have a track record of excellence in their contribution to the state of the city's environment.
Finalists video
2009 Green Toronto Award Winner
- Enermodal Engineering
 For almost 30 years, Enermodal Engineering has pushed traditional building design towards sustainability, long before it was popular. Now Canada’s largest consultant dedicated to creating resource- and energy-efficient buildings, it designs buildings that save about 50% energy and send 75% less waste to landfill. Enermodal has installed educational kiosks in buildings, and has certified 85% of the LEED buildings in Ontario, many in the GTA.
Awards of Excellence
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Burkhard Mausberg
 For over 20 years, Burkhard Mausberg has worked and volunteered at a dizzying number of important environmental organizations. At each, he has played key roles, whether working to phase out highly toxic chemicals from the Great Lakes, guiding Toronto towards developing its Deep Lake Water Cooling Project, co-writing the first-ever Green Tour guide for teachers, or alerting the City to the arsenic content in its playgrounds. Bukhard has a track record of consistent and effective actions that have helped green Toronto. Burkhard Mausberg is currently the president of the Greenbelt Foundation.
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Dr. Ron Dembo
 Dr. Ron Dembo has found a way to marry his passion for the environment with his strengths in software and risk management. Most people, he believes, have goodwill toward the planet and with the right information would make more sound environmental decisions. In 2005, he invested his own money to found Zerofootprint, offering businesses, organizations and individuals solutions for measuring and managing their carbon emissions.
Market Transformation Award
(sponsored by Green Living)
The Market Transformation Award recognizes the efforts of a manufacturer, retailer, NGO, marketing company, or an individual promoter or designer to utilize market forces successfully, to promote products, services and choices which lessen the impact on the environment and human health.
Finalists video
2009 Green Toronto Award Winner
- Deborah Doncaster
 A driving force behind Community Power, Deborah Doncaster is a founding member of the WindShare Cooperative (owners of the Exhibition Place turbine). She has spent the past decade developing projects, policy, education and funding that have progressively supported the role of Community Power in the province, culminating in her latest initiative—the development of the Green Energy Act in Ontario.
Awards of Excellence
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Fresh Coffee Network
 “Every bean counts.” That’s the business model for Fresh Coffee Network, which supplies fresh-roasted, high quality, fair trade, sustainable coffee to a local market. Committed to the least labour-intensive processing from seed to cup, the Network uses hand-packed biodegradable bags with soy ink labels. Its 65 clients include Whole Foods, and it shares profits and principles with a network of roasters and fair trade organic suppliers.
- F.T. Ross Ltd.
 F.T. Ross Ltd., already providing Canadians with biodegradable non-toxic Nature Clean products, has developed a new packaging concept for its industry that will reduce packaging plastic by over 80%. The benefits? Reducing waste in landfills and emissions from manufacturing and transportation. The new packaging, a plastic bag inside an unbleached cardboard box, makes reducing plastic easier for consumers, without the hassles of traditional bulk programs.
Water Efficiency Award
(sponsored by Toronto Water)
The Water Efficiency Award recognizes efforts to reduce and sustainably manage water use and promote water conservation.
Finalists video
2009 Green Toronto Award Winner
- Campbell Company of Canada
 Campbell Canada’s Water Recovery Program has resulted in nearly 100% recovery of the water used for cooling cans in its hydrostatic cookers. The heat from these cans is now captured and used in other areas of the plant that require hot water, saving 25 to 40-million litres a month. The project inspired staff to form a Sustainability Committee, which actively works on new environmental initiatives.
Awards of Excellence
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SMART Watering Systems at Yorkdale Mall
 Although Yorkdale Mall only has 3 1/2 acres of landscape, vandalism and aging infrastructure were resulting in significant potable water use. SMART Watering Systems stepped in, identifying water waste—and remedies. It installed efficient nozzles and central control technologies that allow Yorkdale to use water efficiently and only when needed. The end result? Water savings of nearly 12-million litres and a GHG reduction of 2,400 kilograms.
- St. Michael’s Hospital
 In 2008, St. Michael’s Hospital saved 85,000 cubic meters of water—enough to meet the daily needs of 1,200 Toronto homes. Its newly converted closed-loop chilled water system also enabled the hospital to create a safety backup system for its critical MRIs, which require chilled water to function. The heat generated from cooling water is recovered in the loop and cycled back to pre-heat domestic hot water.
Youth Award
(sponsored by TD Friends of the Environment)
The Youth Award highlights the efforts of young people (18 years of age and under on December 31, 2008) who show leadership in greening projects.
Finalists video
2009 Green Toronto Award Winner
- Kipling CI EcoTeam
 Kipling C.I.’s EcoTeam takes a practical approach to its environmental mission, focusing on community needs. With Planet Aid, the team brought a used clothing drop box to the school to promote, reuse and serve local low-income residents. The club regularly campaigns to reduce food-container garbage at school. To reflect the school’s diversity and signal inclusion, members planted a PEACE garden with plants from across the world. This EcoTeam delivers its environmental message in several languages. Reaching everyone is a major goal for Kipling C.I.’s EcoTeam.
Awards of Excellence
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Ban the Bag Brigade
 What began as a grade 5 project outlining 10 things students at The York School could do to shrink their environmental footprint, grew to a city-wide campaign. The 10-year-olds, fired up about the problems of plastic bags, realized there was a simple, low-cost solution. Then, making two deputations to City Hall, they were part of the effort to convince the City to require stores to charge a fee for plastic bags.
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Bethune Environmental Action Team (B.E.A.T)
 Why settle for gold? Dr. Norman Bethune CI is a gold-certified EcoSchool working hard to become the first school to attain the new platinum level for promoting environmentally sustainable practices. Its student-led Bethune Environmental Action Team conceives, plans, promotes and implements each of its projects—such as the sophisticated Recycling Centre housed in the main foyer, signalling the school’s pride in its environmental commitment. B.E.A.T.’s mentoring program continues to inspire other students to take action and establish environmental clubs in their own schools.
Bob Hunter Environmental Achievement Award
Named in honour of the late Bob Hunter, this award acknowledges the actions of the City's own organizations towards improving environmental quality in the City of Toronto.
Finalists video
2009 Green Toronto Award Winner
- Toronto Food Policy Council
 Toronto Food Policy Council (TFPC) has worked for 17 years on fostering partnerships and building consensus among food-movement groups that are often at odds in other cities. Its staff and volunteers generate ideas, writing popular books and detailed policy papers. TFPC has tirelessly advocated for food to be recognized as a critical environmental issue with the same urgent needs as energy efficiency, wildlife protection and climate change.
Awards of Excellence
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Toronto Public Health, Community Right to Know
 For three years, Toronto Public Health (TPH) created, spearheaded and promoted the “Community Right to Know” bylaw, which passed last December. The bylaw—a Canadian first—will require thousands of small and medium-sized businesses to disclose which harmful chemicals they use and release into the environment. TPH also created an innovative program to help businesses learn to replace toxins with safer alternatives.
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Toronto Water, Service Programs
 Setting out to reduce water use by 15% by 2011, the City of Toronto’s Water Efficiency Program came up with effective ways to achieve that goal. Its cash rebates and incentives convince consumers and businesses to replace inefficient fixtures, equipment and technology with greener alternatives such as low-flush toilets or computer-controlled irrigation. Already, these measures are saving 55-million litres of water each day.
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