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u -W.AlHi1(XILHIIONIClj-Wednesda) lune 5. my Sustaining momentum School project turned successful non profit helps businesses go green BY Manama DALTON m‘" if ' Chronicle Staff 4‘ . ‘ ike Morrice is a man with a vision - , ‘fi' ‘ a Mom: that marries bottom lines with '. __ .1 f- a; 4" substantiability and recruitment with ’ '-‘ “b carbon reduction ‘ ’V Morrice is the social entrepreneur behind ‘ . fi_ Sustainable Waterloo. a business-minded ‘ fi‘ nonprofit With a goal of making this region ‘ ' ‘ a national leader in corporate ecoâ€"responsi- . bility. é: '9.“ "There's real opportunity in environmenâ€" '; » tal substantiability. be it around cost effec- . " '1 ' ‘ . ; tiveness or mitigating risk.” he said. “There‘s . “ ‘ real opportunity. when you have an em» {3 . ’ a; . ' ‘ nomic crisis like we do. to see things in 3‘ ‘ i. " 1 through on the environmental side of 4 . ' things. I think those two line up really well." “ It's been less than a year since Morrice » 1 and classmate. Chris DePaul. developed the idea as an independent study on carbon ’/ policy at Wilfrid laurier University. fi They quickly realized. when it came to carbon reduction. the real issue wasn't the type of cap or tax or policy imposed. it was the business implications ofthat reduction. w A T E R The idea wasn't a hard sell to some of the . region's biggest names in business. who """ ' ' ’ ‘ have already signed on in support of the ' Envnronmentai [ eadersi‘io Hi \i project. last week. the organization added its . l sixth founding panner. Manulife Financial. ‘ and is now gearing up to launch their first . major initiative later this month. ” “We do a lot of things already on becomâ€" ing more green. so when we saw this. and all Mike Morrice. the founder of Sustainable Waterloo, is gearing up to launch the Regional Carbon initiative . The project will help local compa~ the support it had. we thought it was a very nies concerned about their carbon footprint find viable ways to reduce their emissions. “a.“ summon) worthy cause.” said Rahim ”ifl'i- CFO or their impact in a financially-intelligent way. and the first conversations were really, ‘Does Ernst and Young and Waterloo North Hydro. Manulife Canada. The concept was inspired by an already this make sense? is this aligned with what “Mike came to us early and we saw (he) "A! ”'16 start. it was really new and W9 successful initiative south of the boarder the city and the region and the industry real‘ had a passion for the environment, but also weren‘t sure where it W35 going ‘0 80- called Sustainable Silicon Valley. ly wants to be doing,” said Morrice. that he was very business-minded,” said ”BU" when they came back ‘0 us. we saw That organization aims to reduce emis~ “it was at that time that we got a bunch Rene Gatien. CEO ofWaterloo North Hydro. that ii had real legs and a real project and sions in Califomia's Silicon Valley to 20 per of thumbs up and started saying, ‘This could “He had a great business plan. and that's purpose behind h- A! that POW. we d9€id€d cent below their 1990 levels by next year. really work here.” what impressed us ‘ it W3 a 800d OPPOHUth-” Over the past seven years. the organization They went to work developing a business “He had a great idea and a great plan for The basic idea behind Sustainable Waterâ€" partnered with 97 organizations and plan and set out to find funding executing that idea. We looked at it and said. '00 is ‘0 link UP companies concerned about reduced emissions by more than 900.000 laurier's Centre for Responsible Organi- this isgood for our region. good for our envi- their environmental impact with experts tonnes. rations was the first to step up and pledge ronment and we felt it would bea success." who can help them set and reach sustain~ Morrice and DePaul saw promise in financial support, Sustainable Waterloo found more sup- ablc EOals. localizing the idea. given that several indus- Sustainable Waterloo then looked to the port in the city of Kitchener's Local Environ- The organization has amassed a network tries in Canada will soon be facing new caps business community. ofiering recognition as mental Action Fund. the Trillium Founda- 0f more than 65 environmental experts, on their carbon emissions. one of the organization‘s “founding part- (ion and the province’s Go»Green fund. with organizations and academics to help bUSi- "Our research professor got us in touch ners" for a minimum of $10,000 in project grants totaling $80,000. nesses calculate their environmental foot- with the right people a: (Zommunitcch. the funding. print and advise them on how to YEdUCB Region ofWaterloo and the City ofWaterloo Virtual Causeway stepped up. as did Continuedmpage l7 0 [I In 11er ' we et aid when i o o o o ‘ g P /\‘ 0, 41,, . // I I, -7 ~ ou et a1 a o o [. l a 1/7 I7 /,( morell kell . ‘ l l ~ .7 Personal Injury Law fi We fund ALL tttatton exenses. morellkelly.com 519.743.4443 ~