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CTV News
3 days ago
- Climate
- CTV News
Regina gives away 1,000 seedlings, living up to its ‘tree city' title
Wednesday morning in Victoria Park was a day of giving for the City of Regina, as 1,000 seedling trees were given to the public. The tree of choice this time around was known as Adam's Elderberry. 'It is nice and flowery in the springtime for your backyards,' said Veronica Schroder, who is the coordinator of forestry, pest and horticulture at the City of Regina. 'It [the elderberry] will fruit in the mid to late summer and then you'll be able to use the fruit for jams and jellies and other preserves such as that.' For six years Regina has been marked as a 'Tree City of the World,' which are cities that meet core standards in urban planning. Regina is one of 210 cities internationally and 21 across Canada with the distinct title. Despite not being in a natural green zone, the city is doing what it can to make sure citizens live in a city with more than 500,000 trees as part of a 'prairie landscape.' The city hopes to be a 100 per cent renewable community by 2050. 'Regina has a very specific climate,' said Schroder. 'It's very harsh, it has really cold winters and has very extreme heat in the summer at times. So, we have a limited plant palette of what will actually grow.' The city said there will likely be another tree giveaway on Sept. 24, which also happens to be National Tree Day.
Sydney Morning Herald
02-05-2025
- General
- Sydney Morning Herald
Planet Ark was unable to stay afloat in a harsh environment
Planet Ark, known for environmental campaigns and programs including National Tree Day and National Recycling Week, has been unable to sustain itself. Regrettably, the organisation's collapse has raised questions about the shelf-life of the not-for-profit sector confronting Australia's waste crisis, while government is being increasingly pressured to regulate packaging. The board of Planet Ark Environmental Foundation took the decision to go into voluntary administration following a review of its finances and future viability. The impact of COVID-19 on stakeholder support, current economic climate and ongoing funding challenges gathered to adversely affect the organisation. Nevertheless, the ground has moved since Planet Ark started in 1992. It has shifted from a largely campaigning and educational role – promoting circular economy principles and encouraging better recycling behaviour – into partnering with corporations and organisations on packaging sustainability. And not without criticism: one of its founders, Jon Dee, severed ties in 2012 over its new directions, including links with the timber industry. Some of Planet Ark's work and campaigns have been ground-breaking. After battles in Australia between conservationists, vested interests and governments over wilderness and rainforests in the 1970s and 1980s, a grudging recognition of climate change and new attitudes to environmentalism saw a number of organisations established in the 1990s that promoted sustainability and community involvement. Meanwhile, waste developed into an existential issue as consumer societies boomed, and a throwaway culture spread rapidly across the world. Households and governments were left to shoulder the burden of recycling. When not-for-profit organisations like Planet Ark stepped into the breach, their work was not only practical but instrumental in raising new awareness. Loading It is now widely recognised that climate change, sustainability and recycling are not only interlinked, but everybody's problem. The Herald 's environment and climate editor Nick O'Malley today writes on politicians across the world turning away from bold climate action, while noting Canada's new Prime Minister Mark Carney was widely known for a 2015 speech to London financial institutions warning that climate change presented a real and overwhelming economic tragedy: 'Though its impacts would be most devastating to future generations, it could only be addressed by our own. This was the tragedy.' The work of the not-for-profit sector has been blunted by corporations driven by profit. The companies bore little responsibility for the fate of their products after they had been used by consumers, and governments have been loath to introduce more stringent controls. That may change – in Australia the industry has come around to the idea of a mandatory scheme and the federal government has been consulting on the issue and plans to consider a preferred model for reformed packaging regulation.
ABC News
01-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Australia's environmental not-for-profit Planet Ark goes into voluntary administration
Planet Ark Environmental Foundation, one of Australia's largest environmental non-for-profits, has entered voluntary admission following a board review of the organisation's "financial position and future viability". Photo shows A collage of headlines about businesses entering voluntary administration Have you also been pretending you know what voluntary administration actually means? Don't worry. We asked an expert to explain in simple terms. The organisation's board attributed the current economic climate, the impact of COVID-19 on stakeholder support and ongoing funding challenges as factors that had significantly impacted their operations in recent years. In a statement, the board said the decision "provides an opportunity for an independent assessment of the organisation's affairs" and a chance to "explore potential options for restructuring that will allow the organisation to continue our important work". Established in 1991, Planet Ark was known across the country for their environmental campaigns and programs including National Tree Day and National Recycling Week. "Planet Ark has proudly worked for decades to inspire Australians to live more sustainably," the statement read. "We recognise the importance of the environmental mission we continue to pursue every day and sincerely believe that Planet Ark's contribution to that mission will continue with renewed strength beyond this process." Co-founder wants organisation to 'return to original values' Environmentalist and Planet Ark co-founder Jon Dee, who left the organisation in 2007 after sixteen years as managing director, said he was disappointed to hear the organisation had gone into administration. Photo shows Pat Cash and John Dee The founders of environment group Planet Ark say the charity has lost its way. Mr Dee, who co-founded the organisation in 1991 alongside tennis great Pat Cash, said he has held longstanding concerns on the direction Planet Ark took after his departure. "I set up Planet Ark so that it could create real and measurable change," he said in a statement. "As the person who headed up Planet Ark at its peak, I am interested in seeing what can be done to save the organisation," Mr Dee said, who is currently Chair of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) in Australia and New Zealand. "Like many others, I want to see Planet Ark return to the original values and approaches that made it so successful." In 2012, the two founders told ABC's 7:30 Report they were particularly upset over Planet Ark's links with the timber industry, accusing the organisation of selling out. The organisation allowed its logo to be used on advertisements for timber, paid for by Forest and Wood Products Australia (FWPA), which was part of a sponsorship deal in which Planet Ark received $700,000 from the timber industry. "The deal with the forest industry and the controversy around the Peter Maddison TV advert has eroded Planet Ark's credibility as an environmental organisation," Mr Cash said in a statement at the time. Mr Dee said he has reached out to administrators to arrange a meeting in the hopes to explore ways he can help restore the organisation and its future. ABC
