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Environmental
& Community Commitments |
Blue Moose
and its principals are supportive and
actively involved with the issues of promoting balanced, environmentally and
socially responsible policies and procedures, and in maintaining policies of environmental
sustainability, both locally and globally, within our organization - and beyond
where possible.
Sustainability
Mission Statement
- Respecting the limits of our planet's environment,
resources and biodiversity to improve our environment and ensure that the
natural resources needed for all life are unimpaired and remain so for future
generations. Meeting the diverse needs of all people in existing and future
communities, promoting personal well being and social cohesion and inclusion,
and creating equal opportunity for all.
We are active supporters of the following organizations:
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Plant A
Tree Today - carbon credits are purchased to offset all Blue Moose
vehicles and to offset all required air travel. |
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| Click
Here to find out more about this program and to learn how you may
become involved yourself. |
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World Vision Canada
- sponsored children (Nirojini) every month since 1997. |
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| Click
Here to find out more about this program and to learn how you may
become involved
yourself. |
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BC
Children's Hospital Foundation - active members and donors every month
since 2003. |
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| Click
Here to find out more about this program and to learn how you may
become involved yourself. |
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World Wildlife Fund
- active members and donors every month since 2001. |
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| Click
Here to find out more about this program and to learn how you may
become involved yourself. |
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Adopt an Animal
- adopted a Tiger in and a Polar Bear. |
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| Click
Here to find out more about this program and to learn how you may
become involved yourself. |
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Adopt a
Chimp
- adopted 2 Chimpanzees (Jethro & Regis). |
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 Most
of us think chimps are cute. Well, they
are. Reality is though, what we see on
TV
though are only chimpanzee babies. After they
are 4-6 years old they are just too large to handle. However they live to about
45 to 50+ years and get surprisingly large after which, they are
often sold into medical research. Worse still, many
are born into it, where they can live in cages for 40-50 years being used
repeatedly for research and as biomedical guinea pigs.
The
Fauna Foundation is a chimpanzee sanctuary in Canada and has been featured
on PBS. All
combined, the Fauna Foundation chimps survived approximately 250 years in
biomedical research. The subjects of everything from liver biopsies to
experimental HIV drugs, most have spent the majority of their lives in
pain and isolation.
However, these
chimps are remarkably forgiving smart, gentle and, well, incredibly
human-like.
One adult chimpanzee
bit off
three of his own fingers after medical experiments before arriving at Fauna. He was born into captivity
and lead a life of medical experimentation. Finally released to the Fauna
Foundation, after some time they let him outside onto a newly built island
constructed so they could run wild but not escape. After 35 years, it was the first time
he had looked at the world without the filter of bars and cages. It was
the first time he had stood on grass - something other than concrete. It was remarkable, powerful and
compelling.
Click
Here to find out more about this program and to learn how you may
become involved yourself.
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Ethical Funds
- invested in socially and corporately responsible ethical funds since 1997. |
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| Click
Here to find out more about this program and to learn how you may
become involved yourself. |
Click
Here to view letter of thanks from the Terry Fox Foundation
BLUE MOOSE
SUSTAINABILITY PRACTICES:
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Supported
Haitian relief in 2010 via the Red Cross and World Vision Canada
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In
2008, in an ongoing commitment towards earnest sustainability and actively
doing all we can to reduce our environmental footprint, Blue Moose worked to
develop a paperless, virtual catalogue alternative and have encouraged
others to do the same. We are so very pleased and proud to announce that we
were the FIRST CANADIAN DISTRIBUTOR to lead the way and do so. As you
may know, we would go through hundreds, if not thousands, of catalogues each
year, including our own annual Blue Moose Idea Book Catalogue. In 2009, the
catalog industry as a whole sent out more than 20 BILLION catalogues -
that's 67 catalogues for every man, woman, and child. Crazy. Endangered
forests like the Canadian Boreal and the U.S. South are being devastated in
the process. It takes millions of trees to produce the catalogue industry's
appetite for mountains of catalogues that are simply disposed of each year.
Worst of all, many of those catalogues have no recycled content and are
discarded without ever being looked at. Sears alone produced around 425
MILLION catalogues in 2008 with their Lands' End and Sears brand catalogues.
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Plant-A-Tree-Today - Carbon
tax credits are purchased from PATT to offset carbon footprints of all Blue
Moose vehicles and all required air travel.
- World Vision Canada - sponsored children (Nirojini
in Sri Lanka) every month since 1997.
- BC Children's Hospital Foundation - active members
and donors every month since 2003.
- World Wildlife Fund - active members and donors
every month since 2001. In 2007, through the WWF we helped to protect marine
wildlife in the Grand Banks by pushing the NAFO to commit to a cod recovery
strategy, fight climate change by pushing for increased standards for energy
efficiency and reduced energy use, save endangered species like the
critically endangered Hawksbill sea turtle, safeguard freshwater by helping
to create Canada's first National Marine Conservation Area on Lake Superior
and conserve forests by helping to secure protection of more than 10 million
hectares of pristine wilderness in the Mackenzie River Basin.
- Adopt an Animal - adopted a Tiger in 2003 and a
Polar Bear in 2004 though WWF.
- Adopt a Chimp - adopted 2 Chimpanzees (Jethro &
Regis) in 2006 through the Fauna Foundation.
- Nature Conservancy Canada - bought an acre in 2007.
- Greenpeace - donated in 2007 to stop the Japanese
whaling hunt plans to kill 1,000 whales including humpbacks.
- Attend and support Ducks Unlimited events.
- Governments at all levels (municipal, provincial and
federal) are actively lobbied and challenged consistently to adopt greener
policies and to both maintain and encourage practices of sustainability and
congratulated and thanked when doing so.
- Media such as radio, TV and newspapers are actively
and consistently contacted to raise issues public awareness and the need for
greener policies and environmental sustainability when there are perceived
shortcoming such as the dangers that fish farms present towards the pending
extinction of Pacific wild salmon.
- All paper, plastic and glass products are recycled.
- All industry suppliers and association members are
actively encouraged to use recycled paper for printed material deemed
necessary such as catalogues.
- All green waste is composted.
- Toner cartridges are recycled.
- Computers are turned off each night except one
computer which is backed up each night.
- Hot water tanks are wrapped and insulated.
- All lights possible switched to
CFL's.
- Christmas lights switched to LED's.
- All new appliances are energy star appliances.
- 2008 active participants in
Earth Hour March 29 8:00pm.
EXAMPLES OF SUSTAINABLE PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS:
- Reusable shopping bags
- Flower Seeds
- USB drives (encourage paperless practices)
- Biodegradable pens
- Recycled paper pens
- Recycled paper products (i.e. notebooks)
- Gardening kits
- Seeded bookmarks
- Reusable lunch bags
- Crank radios and flashlights (reduce batteries and
waste)
- Biodegradable balloons
- Stapleless staplers
- Earth shaped items
- Stress balls - earth shaped, CFL's, recycle symbol
- Key chains - earth shaped
- Recycling garbage cans (also mini sized pen holders)
- White boards (encourage paperless practices)
- Books on going green and environmental issues
- Colouring books on going green and environmental
issues
- Pedometers (to promote activity)
- Yoga mats
- Solar-powered pedometers
- Recycled material products (lanyards, bags, caps ..)
- Travel Mugs (reduce paper)
- Biodegradable cups
- Organic options for clothing, bags, caps - cotton,
bamboo, hemp.
Many more options available - talk with a Blue Moose
Representative today
Other note-worthy links:
Take the nature challenge at www.DavidSuzuki.org.
Please
let us know if you think we could be doing more today!
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