Aug 10, 2020

Introducing our 2020 Earth Award Winners!

After a lengthy selection process reviewing numerous accomplished, driven and exceptional female candidates we are proud to announce that we have selected our winners for this year's 2020 LNBF Earth Award! (drumroll please...)

Congratulations to Amy, Brianna and Tara - founders of Carbon Conversations Toronto! We were thoroughly impressed with both the social and environmental impact they are making to educate the community through encouraging open conversation through events, seminars and open table discussions about carbon footprint and waste reduction. Here's their story below:

Carbon Conversations TO(CCTO) was founded out of the need to find renewed hope from the overwhelming truths of climate change. In Toronto alone, 78% of residents are concerned about climate change, yet 48% don’t know what to do about it and many of us are unwilling to act due to the anxiety generated by the complexity of climate change.

CCTO helps individuals find the motivation to reduce their carbon footprint by working through the anxieties and emotions causing environmental inaction. Our approach is based on the reputable Carbon Conversations materials developed by psychotherapist Rosemary Randall and engineer AndyBrown in the U.K. CCTO is 100% volunteer-run and our flagship offering is a 6-week program in which participants meet for 2-hours a week with a small group.

Each week participants discuss an area of their carbon footprint. CCTO goes beyond telling facts; instead, participants are able to explore their own values and feelings about climate change, while learning from each other in a supportive group environment.

Based on our experience with 36 participants, this resulted in a 52% reduction in the number of participants that felt overwhelmed by climate change. Participants started actions that have on average a potential 2.71 tonne CO2 reduction of their footprint annually. 62% of participants started an action during the program that went beyond their personal carbon footprint (e.g. talk to others, join a climate campaign, etc.)

This award will enable us to develop and host a facilitator training program this Fall to help individuals lead sessions about climate action in their community. Facilitators are crucial to the work that we do, because they create a safer space for people to talk about climate change and process their emotions, and ultimately, support more Torontonians to take action on climate change. Thank you LNBF!

The LNBF Team met the winners at their special meeting location, the Tollkeeper's Cottage in Toronto to hand them their prize as well as to snap a couple of photos!

Here's a little behind-the-scenes scoop from our fun shoot:

Read more about Carbon Conversations T.O by following this link: https://www.carbonconversationsto.com/take-action and follow them on their Facebook Page here!