25 years of recognition and $25,000 for the environment

Thursday night was the 25th anniversary of the Eastern Townships Environmental Awards Gala. To mark the special event, the Estrie Foundation has awarded 25 Distinction Prizes, 5 Grand Prizes of Excellence, and launched the GEST program, which offers $25,000 in support of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reduction initiatives in the region, in addition to pushing forward environmental projects in schools and post-secondary institutions.

The Cherry River Marsh Association, the Creative Café le Croquis in Sherbrooke, Operation Nez –Rouge Sherbrooke, Challenge Polyteck, of Sherbrooke, and the start-up Entosystem received the Grand Prix of Excellence in Environment.

Accompanied by MNAS Christine Labrie, Geneviève Hébert and Gilles Bélanger, twelve organizations from the education sector received a Distinction Award for the excellence of their environmental projects. In addition, $3,000 in merit scholarships were awarded to the Carboneutre project at L'odyssée high school in Valcourt and the ITIN'ERE project for environmental students at the Université de Sherbrooke.

Foundation President Alain Webster presented a new greenhouse gas reduction program with the support of major partner Énergir.

"Given the magnitude of climate change issues, all sectors of society must innovate to reduce their emissions. One of the peculiarities of our program will be to assist with financial support of $25,000 and technical support to make the selected projects even more effective and creative,” he said.

Webster added that the five selected finalists will receive training from the Quebec Action Fund for Sustainable Development and will benefit from the expertise of renowned environmental organizations including Énergir, Cascades, Enviro-accès, the Ministry of Environment and the Fight against Climate Change, the Regional Environmental Council of Estrie, the University Center for Environmental Education at the Université de Sherbrooke and the Table des MRC de l'estrie.

The contest is open to municipalities and businesses with 100 employees or less in the Eastern Townships and the deadline to submit an application is December 21, 2018.