EG Joins the Global Fight Against Climate Change

The earth needs our help and East Gwillimbury (EG) has joined the global efforts to help fight climate change. On Tuesday, April 18, 2023, Council formalized EG’s environmental commitment to help address climate change by declaring a climate emergency.

“East Gwillimbury is committed to protecting the environment, and this declaration, unanimously passed by Council, formalizes our concerns, and more importantly, the actions that Council and staff will take to continue to address the global climate emergency,” said Mayor Virginia Hackson.

Future actions and decisions will build on the Town's current environmental policies and initiatives. Currently, the Town is gathering feedback to develop its Environmental Strategy. This strategy focuses on elements that affect, and are affected, by climate change: land, air, water, biodiversity, and the community. The next step is to define a Climate Action Plan which will include adaptive actions to build resiliency at the corporate and community level. Later this year, the Town will update its Community Energy Plan to promote the reduction of corporate greenhouse gas emissions and seek opportunities for such reductions within the community. Next, the Town will update its Thinking Green Development Standards.

An important part of this journey is an ongoing dialogue with residents and businesses. The public can join the conversation by participating in future environmental events, joining the Environmental Advisory Committee, or by completing the online environmental strategy survey.

More importantly, everyone can help by taking small actions in their own day-to-day activities. This can be reducing waste production by making conscious decisions to reduce packaging and food waste, supporting energy consumption by carpooling, using alternative and public transportation, buying local, and repurposing, repairing, and/or sharing items. Every small action that we all take individually will have a huge impact globally.

Please visit www.eastgwillimbury.ca/environment to learn more and to watch the full climate emergency declaration presentation.