About CCRI

The Cornwall Carbon Reduction Initiative (CCRI) is a grassroots organization dedicated to providing outreach and education activities to the public about climate change and greenhouse gas reduction. Through an approach tailored to our community, the CCRI promotes long-term behavioural change and directs measurable actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Cornwall's residential, commercial, and institutional sectors.

In the summer of 2006, former City Councillor Naresh Bhargava rallied local environmental experts and public figures to form the CCRI. With key community partnerships including the St. Lawrence River Institute of Environmental Sciences, St. Lawrence College, the Corporation of the City of Cornwall, Cornwall and Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Eastern Ontario Training Board, the CCRI has grown and developed a solid foundation.

Now an incorporated not-for-profit organisation, the CCRI has been developing and delivering educational programming to help raise local awareness of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. The CCRI's website houses a carbon calculator to help residents estimate their carbon footprint, then provides a number of actions that can be undertaken to reduce that footprint and combat climate change.

The CCRI's goals are to:

  • Increase public awareness about global warming and its effects on the environment;
  • Encourage community members to reduce their carbon footprint though various actions and activities;
  • Develop methods to quantify and monitor the community's carbon reductions and progress towards a set community goal;
  • Educate community members about energy conservation, renewable energy sources, and the latest "green" technologies as they become available; and
  • Support and conduct research and educational activities with the most current climate change science and information.

 

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