Montreal, Apr. 19, 2011 – Just in time for Earth Day, the Montreal Alouettes are pleased to announce the 2011 edition of their EnvironmentAls program, as well as two upcoming activities that will take place within the community. The Montreal Alouettes, who became the first carbon-neutral professional sports franchise in Canada, will do even more for the environment in 2011.
What’s new in 2011
In order to consolidate its leading role in the environmental community, the organization will take part in the “Défi Climat 2011” and will become a partner of the City of Montreal’s “2010-2015 Sustainable Development Plan”.
The Alouettes will continue to collaborate alongside both the David Suzuki Foundation and the Al Gore Foundation‘s Climate Project, distributing informational pamphlets at schools explaining to students what they can do to protect the environment. Additionally, a number of Alouettes players who take part in the CN Adopt-an-Alouette program have also received training from a representative of the Climate Project, and some of them will go on to become David Suzuki Foundation Ambassadors.
The EnvironmentAls program has become an important component of the CN Adopt-an-Alouette program which reaches over 70 000 students across more than 100 schools. In addition to initiating youth to environmental issues, fundraising activities are also being organized within some schools to finance environmental projects.
Activities during Earth week
The Alouettes will participate in the campaign “Le Saint-Laurent: Notre fleuve vivant” from the David Suzuki Foundation by educating youth in the CN Adopt-an-Alouette schools to the wealth of the St. Lawrence River, the main issues that threaten it and what they can do to help protect it.
Defensive end and current CN Adopt-an-Alouette mentor at LaSalle Community Comprehensive High School, John Bowman, will take part in a fundraising activity at the latter today, during which a group of students will sell reusable bottles to help finance further environmental projects all while reducing the use of plastic bottles.
The Montreal Alouettes intend to pursue their environmental action plan and vow to raise awareness of the fundamental principles of sustainable development to their fans, the community, their suppliers and their sponsors.
Retrospective of the 2010 season
Having already started sorting and recycling waste in 2008, the 2010 season saw the organization add composting to the list of environmentally-friendly activities in which it takes part. The Alouettes concluded their 2010 season with a diversion rate of 54.2%, an increase of 14% over the previous year.
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