With much of the news focused on tumbling oil and commodity prices, you might think environmental issues had fallen off the public radar. Yet many of the nation's most progressive organizations have been quietly building remarkable environmental initiatives that have become part of their organizational culture. The best of these were recognized today as winners of this year's Canada's Greenest Employers competition.

 

"Building environmental awareness improves the culture of an organization far beyond the confines of the 'green' debate," says Richard Yerema, Managing Editor at the Canada's Top 100 Employers project at Mediacorp Canada Inc., which organizes the competition. "Creating a culture of sustainability attracts people to the organization who are interested in new approaches to problems."

 

The winners of this year's competition offer a catalogue of best-practices for any organization interested in making environmental values central to their culture. Here are a few of their initiatives the editorial team highlighted:

The City of Vancouver offers reward points to employees who engage in healthy and sustainable lifestyles, such as walking or cycling to work.

 

In Mississauga, Ontario, LoyaltyOne Inc. operates one of Canada's largest rooftop solar photovoltaic installations above its 50,000 square-foot call centre, with real-time displays in the lunchroom to let employees know how much of their work is being powered by the sun.

 

Outdoor equipment and apparel manufacturer Arc'Teryx Equipment Inc. of North Vancouver, BC, has been able to divert over 90% of the waste created by its manufacturing process, from scrap metal to leftover fabric.

 

Cheque processor Symcor Inc. publishes a dedicated e-newsletter on the company's green initiatives, with eco-friendly prizes offered to employees who develop the best Earth-friendly initiatives.

 

Vaughan, Ontario-based PowerStream, Inc. operates a fleet of company-owned vans that allow employees of this electricity utility to carpool to work.

 

Now entering its 9th year, Canada's Greenest Employers recognizes employers that lead the nation in creating a culture of environmental awareness. The employers selected by the editors have developed exceptional earth-friendly initiatives and are attracting people because of their environmental leadership. This award grew out of two remarkable speeches by Al Gore and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at the annual editorial conference on the Top 100 project in 2006 and 2007.

 

See the full list of this year's winners here http://www.canadastop100.com/green