Grey County to join Clean Air Council

Grey County council has voted to join the Clean Air Council.

At its committee of the whole meeting on July 14, council voted in favour of joining the municipal environmental group for an annual cost of $1,800. At the meeting, Gaby Kalapos from the Clean Air Council made a presentation about the organization.

The Clean Air Council is a network of 30+ municipalities and health units across Ontario that have been working together on environmental issues such as clean air, climate change and sustainability.

“We do a lot of work across the network on advocacy,” Kalapos explained, noting that the council lobbies the federal and provincial governments to assist municipal governments with environmental issues. “We bring our collective brain power together.”

Established in 2000, the council is Canada’s largest peer-to-peer municipal climate network with 35 municipal members representing more than nine million people. Members of the Council have completed over 1,000 sustainability initiatives and have collectively reduced over 15 million tonnes of CO2 and generated operational energy savings of more than $500 million.

The organization offers its membership a number of benefits including: 20+ annual workshops, 15+ annual webinars, 25+ reports, direct assistance as needed, connection to peers, collective procurement and bi-weekly newsletters.

Manager of Climate Change Initiatives Linda Swanston urged members of council to support the county’s membership in the organization.

“Grey County should become a member of the Clear Air Council,” she said. “It’s important to include as many of the community and stakeholders as possible, so they become part of the solution.”

Swanston said county staff are planning a number of climate-friendly initiatives in the coming months including a public tree planting event at the county’s administration centre property this fall.

Owen Sound Mayor Ian Boddy noted that the cost to join is minimal.

“It’s two cents per resident. It sounds like a pretty good deal,” said Boddy.

The Blue Mountains Mayor Alar Soever joked that for residents of his town, the cost would be five cents per person.

“I say that in jest. Even at five cents, there is value in this,” said Soever.