2012

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MissionEmpowering individuals, businesses and institutions to engage in envi-ronmentally sustainable practives. We lead by example, creating aware-ness, educating, inspiring and demonstrating innovative solutions.

VisionA healthy, vibrant community, whose members adopt environmentally sustainable actions in their daily lives.

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AknowledgementsPresident’s ReportTreasurer’s ReportExecutive Director’s ReportStaff ReportsAudited Financial Statements

p. 6p. 7p. 8p. 11p. 14p. 24

Table of Contents

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Thank you for your support

Peace River Regional District (PRRD)Northern Rockies Regional Municipality (NRRM)City of Dawson CreekCity of Fort St JohnDistrict of ChetwyndLiveSmartEncana CorporationBC HydroRosenau TransportSpectra EnergyConocoPhillipsDestination ConservationSander, Rose, Bone, Grindle LLPGordon Gentles, Legal AdvisorNorthern Lights CollegeEco-DepotNortheast NewsNorthern Properties, Chetwynd

The Dawson Creek Daily & MirrorMooseFM RadioPeaceFMAstral MediaEnergetic CityAlaska Highway News & The NorthernerThe Dawson Creek Daily NewsCJDCPatch JavaThe North Peace Cultural CentreChetwynd EchoFerris Fast CyclesDown to Earth Health Food StoreEMCOHome HardwareShell CanadaFort Nelson RCMPDoug Tofte

Acknowledgements

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Report from the President - Jarrod BellDuring my 11 years in Fort St John I’ve said hello and goodbye to many great friends and colleagues. In 2012 we said goodbye to board members Moira Green, Bob Batchelor, and Danielle Smith. Work and changing family situations have become priorities for them and we wish them all the best. Each of them provided a unique and appreciated set of skills to the organization and they will be missed.

We have welcomed Siobhan Crawford in Fort Nelson, and Morgan Peltier as well as Doug McCracken in Fort St John to our board. Along with Bruce Kosugi and myself we are five members of the board. Varied work commitments have made it challenging to obtain quorum for board meetings in some months. We, with the help of friends of NEAT have actively pursued additions to the board to help meet the society’s needs.

Being part of the democratic process is more than voting on an Election Day. Volunteering with a community board is an amazing way to contribute to our local region and can often have an even greater impact along with your vote. For those of you who would consider joining the board, it is a minimum commitment of four hours and one meeting per month. While we currently have five directors, by our by-laws we can have nine directors. My intention is to see us grow our board membership in other communities NEAT serves in northeast British Columbia.

In 2012 we’ve enjoyed working with our new Executive Director, Dzengo Mzengeza, for his second full year. We had fun celebrations, made new partnerships and continued others that have enjoyed many seasons together. I celebrate every partnership opportunity as Team is an integral part of NEAT.

Our major fundraisers of Wine and Trees and Tires to Tiles were a success. Stop by Kin Park and see the outdoor gym, the recycled rubber flooring is a NEAT idea and partnership with the City of Fort St John. A second recycled rubber tiles project is taking off with the North Peace Airport.

In conclusion I encourage those of you for whom the environment and working together with partners are passions to please consider volunteering with NEAT, including on our board of directors. Thank you to our volunteers, members, staff, partners, and directors for helping to build a NEAT future!

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Treasurer’s Report - Bruce KosugiJanuary - December 2012

Sander Rose Bone Grindle LLP Chartered Accountants conducted a full audit of NEAT’s financial records. This full audit is required by the Peace River Regional District and is a requirement of NEAT’s directors’ insurance policy.

Separate records are kept for NEAT’s contractual Regional District activities’ revenues and expenditures.

In a review of the year’s finances, here is a quick summary:

Where does the money come from?• The four major sources of income are Peace River Regional District, PRRD ($302k) Grants ($225k), NRRM (Fort

Nelson) ($72k) and Donations ($34k)

Where does the money go?• The five major expenses include personnel ($351k), advertising ($62k), administrative expense ($56k), rent

($31k) and vehicle ($30k)• Personnel expense (includes 9 full time staff including the Executive Director, 11 part-time eco-educators and 1

part-time janitor). • The remainder of the expenses are broken down amongst many programs and related costs to support the

various NEAT initiatives

How do we compare to the previous year?• Revenue $ 728k up from 2011 ($ 626k) with increasing diversity of sources• Expense $ 688k up from 2011 ($634k)• PRRD revenue ($ 302k) higher compared to 2011 ($ 301k)• Personnel expense has increased ($ 351k vs. $253k in 2011) due significant increases in staffing for PRRD and FN

regional coverage• Advertising decreased ($ 62k vs $74k) with increased use of social media• Net surplus of $21k was realized compared to a net deficit of $27k in 2011 • Fund Balance $231k (equity) up from $ 210k in 2011

At the end of 2012, NEAT has 1 year remaining in 5-year contract with the Peace River Regional District for 2012-13.

NEAT continues to provide environmental leadership and stewardship in the Peace Region. Thanks to Dzengo, and the staff for all their dedicated efforts in 2012!

Bruce KosugiTreasurerMay 26, 2013

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Executive Director’s Report - Dzengo Mzengeza

It has been another exciting and challenging year for the Northern Environmental Action Team. This was my second year in office and I am very pleased with the progress we have made. NEAT remains focused on its mission. A big thank you goes to our staff, board members, and also our funders, partners, volunteers and supporters who make this success possible.

Our main focus remains promoting and educating the public on the need to reduce waste, to reduce, reuse and recycle where possible. Recycling tonnages statistics from the Eco Depot in Fort St John indicates a marked rise in the amount of recyclable materials being collected. We started monthly recycling round-ups in Fort Nelson in February in the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality and these have gone well; participation has steadily increased and it has become a popular event in the community.

Our greatest challenge is getting the Institutional, Commercial and Industrial (ICI) sectors and the multi-residential unit fully

participating in waste reduction. We started a multi-residential unit pilot project in Chetwynd to encourage the residents to recycle and this had some positive results. We hope that this can be duplicated in other multi-residential sites in Chetywnd and the other municipalities. We also hope to start pilot projects working with the ICI sectors to encourage them to recycle more.

Thanks to the Peace River Regional District and the Northern Rockies Municipalities for their continued support and funding of the waste reduction program. We also appreciate the role Paulo Eichelberger, the Solid Waste Co-ordinator, plays in supporting the Solid Waste Manager, Jeff Rahn; he has been of great help in coordinating the waste reduction program. In the Northern Rockies we are grateful for the support of Mike Gilbert in the supporting role he plays there.

Thanks to the grant from the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Natural Gas to continue the LiveSmart BC Small Business Program which carries out energy audits for the Small Businesses in the Northeast BC. The audits went well and we managed to contact over 500 businesses, completing about 160 audits. In total 24 upgrade projects were completed in the region.

We are grateful for other partners who support our programs including the municipalities of the City of Dawson Creek and the District of Chetwynd. In these two municipalities the focus was on water conservation. Encana Corporation again partnered with us this year and the highlights were the Arbour Day in Fort Nelson and the Xeriscape garden in Dawson Creek. The Arbour Day event has been growing each year with more and more people attending. People braved the rains to come out and plant trees 300 trees throughout the town.

We continue to partner with BC Hydro and had a more formalised agreement to undertake tangible projects and initiatives in Northern BC that emphasizes community leadership, education and environmental stewardship towards the fostering of a conservation culture. This included but not limited to energy efficiency awareness, knowledge and behaviours for businesses and residents throughout the Peace River Regional District and Northern Rockies Regional Municipality.

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We like to thank other funders that supported our other projects including Spectra Energy (Earth Hour), Conoco Phillips (Light exchange in Fort Nelson). Northern Rockies Maintenance and Cleaning (Fort Nelson Post Office Recycling Campaign) and the City of Fort St John (Recycled rubber tire project for the Kin Park gym)

In October NEAT in collaboration with the Climate Action Secretariat at the Ministry of Environment organized the Northeast BC Climate Action Exchange. The one day meeting was well attended and gave the opportunity to provide information, ideas and discussion to help prepare the region for climate change impacts while reducing carbon emissions and energy use.

NEAT has grown in the past few years and thanks to our funders we have more fulltime staff and we hope this will continue. Our aim in the next few years is to get improve the working conditions of our staff and have a staff retention plan in place. We are looking forward to get more partners and continued funding from our existing supporters.

I would like to thank the Board for committing their time to keep NEAT going in the right direction and for all the staff for the work they do and especially the Program Coordinator Karen who is full of ideas and does a wonderful jobs of leading the eco-advisors in various projects.

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“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you

haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when

you find it.” ~ Steve Jobs

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Program Coordinator - Karen Mason-Bennett

Looking back over 2012, I am impressed with the amount of growth NEAT successfully underwent in a relatively short period of time. We have added to our family, both personally and professionally, over the past twelve months making work/life balance an even more important goal for us all. We welcomed two new full-time staff members and one summer student in 2012 in addition to three part-time staff to help with the Fort Nelson Recycling Roundups and saw two new moms off on maternity leave.

I cannot express how proud I am to be working with such a dedicated group of people that believe whole-heartedly in their work; as Steve Jobs said, “the only way to do great work is to love what you do;” we are fortunate enough to have that love in spades. We have accomplished great things this year, from our (rainy) second annual arbour day in Fort Nelson to the Sustainable Laundry initiative, and regional composting conversations to our monthly stewardship themes. We have been thought provoking, innovative and active members of our communities, reminding residents and governments alike that positive change is a process, one that is worth the effort.

Throughout 2012, NEAT took on a historic role, hosting montly Recycling Roundups in Fort Nelson. We have seen unprecidented support from community members who collect and sort their recycling, sometimes working with their neighbours to ensure they do not miss the roundups. We have had regular and unwaivering support from Doug Tofte at the Northern Rockies Regional Municipality who has volunteered countless hours to make this program a success.

Our partnership with BC Hydro took a more formalized turn with a year-long agreement that saw us turn an old bicycle into a blender to let people experience just how much power is required to do some of our daily tasks. We were also able to expand some of our community programs like the Sustainable Laundry initiative to all of our communities.

Overall, 2012 saw all of our staff, myself included, rise to the challenges that were laid before us. We embarked on an ambitious plan and succeeded greatly.

Although NEAT’s mandate has not undergone tremendous change, our capacity to work towards our vision and mission has increased dramatically. We are stretching our skills and reaching beyond what we ever thought was possible for a little environmental organization in the heart of oil and gas country. Perhaps, the most encouraging sign is the number of community members, organizations and businesses that are traveling this road with us.

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Communications Coordinator - Tammy HrabNEAT grows each year and 2012 was no exception. We continued to maintain 2 websites, neat.ca and prrrdy.com, to keep the Peace Region informed of NEAT’s activities, promotions, programs and achievements. We also use them to keep the Peace residents aware of new recycling programs and restrictions implemented by the Peace River Regional District. We have continued with our 365 Tips on twitter and regularly share information and upcoming events. Facebook has been utilized in the same way, keeping fresh information flowing to our followers. NEAT has increased it’s followers to 379 on Facebook and 432 on Twitter. We were mentioned on Twitter by other users 325 times. Our peak reach on Facebook was over 2000 people. We find that these are cost effective ways to promote and share useful information.

We focussed on our radio reach this year. We secured a contract with Astral Media and PeaceFm and continued our relationship with Moose FM. These ads are primarily used to promote Prrrdy programs. All radio adds end with our new motto of “Together, we can build a NEAT future.” This particular theme came from the

participants of the Strategic Planning and it seemed to fit with Residential and Business efforts.

In 2012, we started focusing on a different BC Stewardship each month. These stewards are outside of the typical bottles, cans, paper, and plastic. This was our way to spread the word about the other recycling programs that people may forget about. Each month was surprising to learn how many people didn’t know you could recycle paint, motor oil, and even tires. Those phone calls confirmed that we were doing the right thing.

Facebook has been a great avenue to share the ideas of others. Along the way, we see great reuse, upcycling, or green cleaning ideas. We have been able to share those ideas with NEAT followers on our Facebook page.

2012 launched “That NEAT Shoppe.” NEAT wanted to provide some of the products that compliment NEAT’s message. All of the products that we included in the shoppe had to be reusable, or made from up-cycled materials. The only exception to these rules was our all-purpose cleaner. We found a non-toxic, botanical cleaner that is safe for animals and babies. You can actually read the name of every ingredient on the list. We took the Shoppe to the regional tradeshows with our pallet walls and spoon hooks.

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Eco-Advisor, Chetwynd - Jen SlaterMultip Residential Unit Recycling Project Following an extensive research report on the behaviours of MRU tenants, it was decided that NEAT would launch a pilot project in Chetwynd at 4 of the biggest apartment buildings in town. Eco-Deport out of FSJ donated money to purchase blue bins for distribution, thereby providing tenants with a no-cost “tool” and physical reminder to recycle. The bins were distributed in August 2012Before this pilot project began, visual inspections of the outdoor bins showed low participation in waste reduction. After the blue bins were distributed, weekly, then monthly visual inspections continued and the results were very positive. An estimated increase of 50% was noted. A follow up call to Northern Properties manager, Elsie, confirmed that residents were using their blue bins regularly on their trips to the garbage cans. Northern Properties has been very supportive in this endeavor and will continue to support NEAT and the PRRD to achieve their goal of zero waste.

Chetwynd Water Wise The District of Chetwynd approached NEAT in January 2012 to

develop a water awareness campaign, similar to the one launched in 2008. A proposal was done and quickly approved. Fortunately, water awareness was also the focus of the Dawson Creek Trade Show for the City of Dawson Creek so it was easy to tie this theme into the Chetwynd Trade show as well. The first order of business was a Chamber Presentation outlining NEAT’s role in this campaign, as well as some water-efficient education. NEAT also toured District’s Water Treatment Plant with Engineer of Public Works, Rob Crisfield and Echo reporter Liz Brown. The result was some much-appreciated knowledge of how the water treatment process works as well as a 2 page newspaper article. A total of 12 school presentations were done to students ranging from Kindergarten to Grade 7. NEAT also visited the “Top 4” local hotels to talk with managers and maintenance staff about water conservation and to gain an understanding of what these major-consumers are doing to promote water conservation within their businesses. 3 of these businesses had excellent policy already in place, while one admitted they could be doing more to encourage guests to conserve water. Overall, each meeting was met with positive communication and a willingness to have NEAT help with future environmental policy issues.

Trade ShowsAh, trade shows…What can I say? Always a delight….This year NEAT put together a ‘model landfill’, done inside a fish tank (whoever came up with that brilliant idea should be given a raise) so people could see a multi-dimensional view of the landfill process. We wanted to impress upon people that landfills aren’t just a random spot where we dump our garbage, but rather an intricate and well-designed system that requires constant attention and careful management in order to prevent environmental hazards to our surrounding soil and watershed. We also wanted them to see that there is not an infinite source of land for us to continue dumping waste onto, that waste diversion is a very important concept that we need to continue to strive for. Draw prizes for this event were a composter and rainbarrel. The contract with the District of Chetwynd allowed us a small spot at the DOC booth, where a water-saving showerhead was a draw prize.

Rainbarrel & Composter Distribution Once again, NEAT ordered a bulk shipment of rain barrels and composters for residents in the PRRD to take

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advantage of the low cost. This program has been successful in both 2011 and 2012. Getting the rainbarrels and composters to Chetwynd from DC in a minivan proved to be quite entertaining. The remainder of the supplies were brought back by a DOC employee who graciously picked up and delivered what the minivan couldn’t fit.

Encana Xeriscape This year, NEAT staff decided to choose a different location for the xeriscape garden as it was felt the DC Hospital was no longer an ideal spot. We selected the Rotary Manor in Dawson Creek as the perfect location, as their garden courtyard is used frequently by residents and their families. Instead of planting a brand new garden, however, we felt we could revamp the existing gardens into a water efficient oasis. Management of the Rotary house were incredibly supportive and hands-on with this project and worked very well with NEAT staff to make the event day a success. Dawson Creek Mayor, Mike Bernier also was on hand to flip burgers for the residents and staff as we celebrated this project with an outdoor BBQ.

Encana School Projects Two major school projects took place under the Encana contract; one focused on alternative energy sources such as wind-power, geothermal, and solar electricity. I had quite the “fly-by-the-seat” education in all three, as I had to do a presentation in front of 130 students! Students had a mini-science fair in which they did presentations and experiments on one of these alternative energy sources. Tours to Bear Mountain and the WAC Bennett dam were a fun way for students to gain first-hand knowledge on energy production. The other Encana school program focused on water conservation/education. Tours were done of the water treatment plant as well as the Waste Water treatment plant. I highly recommend all NEAT staff & board tour this amazing facility.

LED Light Exchange The LED light exchange was held on Friday, November 16th in partnership with BC Hydro and Chetwynd Home Hardware. This year was much more successful than 2011 due largely in part to advertising on social media sites. A total of 64kilo’s of out-dated lights were collected!

2012 Watersmart InnovationsInstead of attending RCBC or RCA conferences as originally planned, I found a conference in Las Vegas Nevada which focused soley on all things water. Having a contract with the DOC to teach and promote water conservation, I wanted to gain as much knowledge in this area as possible. Not only did I get to enjoy some beautiful 30 degree weather in October, I had the opportunity to partake in professional sessions, and workshops with some of the leaders in water conservation innovations. The end of the conference was topped off by a bus tour through the infamous Hoover Dam.

Co-op Recycles After getting the maintenance contract for the Chetwynd Co-op cardlock, one of my biggest concerns was the amount of deposit items being thrown in the trash there. Not only did it come to my attention that the Co-op didn’t have recycle bins, I realized none of the gas stations in Chetwynd did. I put together a formal request to head office in Dawson Creek to have outdoor recycling bins placed beside the garbage cans, and was rewarded several weeks later with brand new, steel blue bins for deposit items. I approached the local animal rescue group, On Our Way Home to ask whether they were interested in collecting the bottles on a bi-weekly basis and using those funds towards their non-profit group. They were more than happy to agree. A small article was run in the Chetwynd Echo detailing this success. My goal for 2013 is to have the remaining gas stations in town provide recycling bins for their customers.

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Eco Advisor, Dawson Creek - Kayla BoydI am currently attending Acadia University working towards a BSc in Environmental Science. I have been fortunate enough to have a year co-op placement with NEAT that provided me with hands on experience for my degree. Co-op not only gives its students practical work experience necessary for most job requirements after graduation, it also allows students to make contacts, learn new skills and gather an idea of what their future might hold. Working with NEAT has provided me with many opportunities that would otherwise be impossible for a student in school. From training to conferences, I have seen the benefit first hand of choosing co-op. I feel the experiences I have gained from working with NEAT will allow me to be more confident and as

graduate and potentially be the cause of future employment opportunities. My co-op placement with NEAT has been great, at times stressful and overwhelming, but that is reality and I learned to stick with it and work through it.

Xeriscaping Demonstration Garden Encana Project was a success. Not only did residence now have a beautiful garden, but it was planted using drought resistant plants as well as some edibles. This provided the residence of the manor with easy to nourish and edible produce. The project itself was a lot of labour but it was well worth the outcome!

Encana Water Awareness This program was very successful in Dawson Creek. This program was carried out in two phases; a community event and a school event. The community water awareness was dubbed “It’s a NEAT Wave” in which community members attended the local Rotary Park Lake and enjoyed a free BBQ, games, draws, and water awareness information. With over 400 people throughout the day, our message was heard. NEAT, the City of Dawson Creek and Encana all participated on the day of the event.

The school water awareness program ended up being modified due to the time of year. Instead of taking water samples from various places, NEAT took two classes on a field trip to the DC Water Treatment plant and the Water Reclaim Facility. Students also attended a presentation by the water steward (Reg Witten) and worked with the planning for people online resources.

Green Cleaners WorkshopChild Care Resource and Referral was a fun hand on event. All supplies were provided and participants sat in on a short presentation then were instructed on how to make 2 different types of green cleaners. Each participant got to take their cleaners along with recipes home with them.

Sustainable Laundry InitiativeBC Hydro and the City of Dawson Creek teamed up for an initiative that ran for 4 weeks in the summer. The Health Food Centre and Canadian Tire generously donated and funded a portion of the prize packs. Ballot boxes at various locations throughout town were gathered each week and winners of a clothes rack and biodegradable detergent were announced on the local radio stations.

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Environmental AssessmentsPRRD was a difficult program to reach our goal numbers, since many organizations/companies were not interested in a waste assessment. However, those who were interested gained a lot from the assessments and were thankful for the extra push and new ideas/

Rural OutreachPRRD was mixed in with a variety of school presentations as well as rural fall fairs. During the rural outreach presentations, agricultural plastics were a main focus.

Destination Conservation Workshops held three times a year are a great way to engage environmental school groups in sharing their ideas and coming up with new ones. The students leave with an abundance of new information to share and teach their own schools.

School ProgramsPRRD have been effective in Dawson Creek and I look forward to continuing on with the school presentations

12 Days of WastelessPRRD had minimal participation this past year but providing we give teachers ample notice I think it can be a huge success. The students that participated had a great time participating and learning new things.

LED Light Exchange/Christmas at the MallThis BC Hydro/City of Dawson Creek initiative wasn’t a huge success. We believe that we have already surpassed the amount of old Christmas lights at this point and believe that this is why there was minimal participation. The program was also not advertised far enough in advance to get people to dig for those old lights. The mall location could also potentially be to blame for the lack of interest.

Business Energy Advisor, LiveSmart - Rochelle ThomasAs 2012 comes to an end so does my first official year at NEAT. It was busy and exciting - never boring. With so many great conversations to be had about upcoming projects I always felt that my opinion counted and collective input was of importance.

The majority of my time is spent as a part time Business Energy Advisor for the LiveSmart program. With Sarah as the full time representative we partner together, approaching businesses, making upgrades and helping access incentives for those going through the retrofit process. I have found that the businesses in our community are not just willing, they are eager for the advice we offer and the service we provide.

The planning of our 2nd Annual Fundraiser, Wine & Trees was a huge under taking and I found it quite time consuming, particularly the last 4 weeks leading up to the event. Come the big day I felt like the NEAT team knew what their particular tasks were & executed these responsibilities smoothly and professionally. Seeing this efficiency put my mind at ease and allowed me to relax (somewhat) and enjoy the evening. In the end Wine & Trees 2012 was a success. Many local businesses showed their support for NEAT by donating items for auction

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or a monetary contribution and in-kind donations alike all helped us exceed our goal of $10,000. Learning from past experience, this coming year there will be a couple of changes to the planning procedure and during the event as well. Also I expect the amount of hours spent working on the project to decrease, as work plans and contact information has been recorded for future use, not to mention the experience I gained will enable me to only be more productive in making the next fundraiser even better. In the end Wine & Trees was well received and there was definitely positive feedback!

During the School District 60 Science Fair I assisted Jen Bourke with a watershed demonstration geared towards the students, though I will say I learned a thing or two myself! I feel the interaction with teachers led to future classroom presentations. I also enjoyed representing NEAT at the Dawson Creek and Fort St. John Trade Shows, as well as, Arbor Day in Centennial Park where we sold composters and rain barrels.

MooseFM and NEAT joined forces in the Totem Mall parking lot tossing pumpkins onto a bullseye. Despite the freezing cold the general public seems to like to watch this kind of destruction! The NEAT team is the strongest group of like-minded people that I have had the privilege of being part of and I believe that because of this, we are a powerful group making a big difference!

Business Energy Advisor, LiveSmart - Sarah McKenzieWow, what a wonderful and productive year! In January 2012, I returned to NEAT to cover the Dawson Creek Eco-Advisor position while Catherine Henry was on maternity leave. During my time in this position, I helped get the wheels in motion for the Community Compost Pilot Project for Fort St. John, revised the Environmental Assessment template and participated in our annual tradeshows. I also conducted post inspections for BC Hydro’s Product Incentive Program and Direct Installation.

In June I joined Rochelle under The Province of BC’s LiveSmart BC: Small Business Program as the full time Northeast Business Energy Advisor. I love this position!

I was excited for the challenge to help small businesses become more energy efficient while benefiting from government and BC Hydro incentives. Rochelle and I make a great team!

In July we had a face-to-face meeting with all of the BEAs in the province. It was incredibly beneficial to learn all of the other techniques and methods that the other BEAs found successful. In August and September, I shadowed a few BEAs in their territories. I wanted to witness their processes and learn any useful tools that we could transfer to the program in the northeast. The day I trained with Sorin in Prince George was the most beneficial as we deal with similar climate, businesses and people.

I travelled to several rural communities and visited each business that qualified for the program. These communities include Pink Mountain, Mile 72, Pouce Coupe and Hudson’s Hope. Most of the businesses in Dawson Creek and Fort St John have been contacted to participate in the program.

In early December, Rochelle and I attended two workshops in Victoria organized by the Ministry of Environment. The training helped us gain more knowledge in regards to establishing the benefits of energy management; the importance of integrating technical, organizational and behavioural aspects; and basic energy

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conservation.In 2012, we met with 516 businesses, completed a total of 162 assessments and assisted with 24 projects. We exceeded our energy saving target goal for 2012 and helped businesses save over 84,000 Kwh in energy.

Eco-Advisor, Fort St John - Tiffany VlietOn October 31st 2012 I began to work with the Northern Environmental Action Team as a temporary Eco-Advisor, in place of Jen Bourke while she is enjoying maternity leave. I remember being so excited to be welcomed in to such a friendly, like minded environment. NEAT’s entire team genuinely encouraged me from that first day and have continued to inspire me while I settle in to the position. On my second day of work we were already out in the community participating in the Annual Pumpkin Plunge. It was awesome to see business and community come together to have an exciting evening, while participating in composting their organics, laughing and learning along the way.

Within days Jen and I began creating a Holiday Challenge for the schools. We collaborated to create 12 challenges for class rooms to participate in that would help them learn about the 3

R’s, community involvement and teamwork. The city of Fort St John generously donated a class skating pass as a prize for the winning class.

Soon after; Sarah and I zoomed off to Fort Nelson to help Liz prepare for the LED light exchange, along with the clothing exchange. While the light exchange was not as busy as previous years, the clothing exchange was an extreme success, with more than half of the clothes collected being discovered by new owners to be worn and reused another day. In my mind, this one event revealed how much of a difference NEAT is making in the communities it serves and this was only one day! My time in Fort Nelson was also spent accompanying Sarah on varies Energy Assessments to assist and see how they are performed.

I accompanied Jen to a home vermicomposting presentation and multiple school presentations before she took her leave. These were a great introduction to the school programs that NEAT performs for the Peace River Regional Distict. We completed presentations concentrating on the 3R’s and litter-less lunches. The students were very receptive and it wasn’t difficult to hold their interest in these subjects at all. I also joined Kayla in Dawson Creek to help with holiday crafts which we reused materials for and talked to the kids about the importance of reducing waste during the holidays and the value of reusing items.

Kayla scheduled a water treatment tour in Dawson Creek which I also attended with her. It was really enlightening to see the location of water sources and how quickly they could be depleted along with the real need for water conservation, specifically in the Dawson Creek area. The treatment tour itself was interesting since numerous ways for treatment exist.

Much time has been spent performing Environmental Assessments and reports. I am really looking forward to helping businesses make responsible environmental changes in the future. As well, with direction from Karen, I have performed many office administrative duties; including, Ask NEAT articles, information sheets, steward invitations, metrics and additional reporting. Even in these office tasks, I find I am learning all the time and gain a sense of accomplishment.

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Through the last two months, I have really enjoyed the work I have been doing for NEAT. Time has been passing extraordinarily fast and I feel as though I’ve known everyone here for much longer than two months. I am so eager to start 2013 and participate in the summer events and all the projects that are just in the planning stages for the New Year!

Eco-Advisor, Fort Nelson - Liz BiggarLast year was tremendously successful, with our recycling efforts diverting over 37 tons of materials from the landfill. Every month we saw more and more families joining us at the monthly Recycling Round-Ups, which continue to grow with more people talking about it. Arbour Day was another success, with over 150 people showing up to plant trees in the pouring rain.

We added a new event for 2012, the Pumpkin Plunge, where we partnered with the Fort Nelson Fire Department and Overwaitea Foods. In this event, we had the community bring their leftover pumpkins to use where we then hoisted them up the fire truck ladder, 75 feet in the air. They were then tossed onto a bull’s eye. There were three winners and all of the 2500 pounds of pumpkin were composted afterwards.

The most rewarding event for me was definitely the clothing exchange, although it is the most work. We partner with Encana to collect the community’s unwanted clothing, clean them and organize them to be

presented at the exchange where people are allowed to take whatever they want for free. This year we even had four grad dresses and two wedding dresses donated to hand out. We enlisted the Grad Class and hosted a fashion show to help break the stigma of using second hand clothes. The fashion show raised over $2500 for the Grad class and it was a lot of fun.

Fort Nelson NEAT has continued to make great partnerships with many different companies in town, making events and workshops so much easier as now I can go back to these partners for their help and expertise, making things more community minded the more people that get involved.

My favorite school presentation is the “Toxic Tours”. With these we take classrooms to the dump where they get to see where their garbage really goes. The kids are always very interested and shocked by how little Fort Nelson currently recycles.

I look forward to another year of success and accomplishments from the community of Fort Nelson.

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Thank You To the Following People, to Whom,“Awareness into Action” is a Verb.

2012 Board of Directors

Jarrod Bell, PresidentBruce Kosugi, TreasurerMorgan Peltier, DirectorSiobhan Crawford, DirectorDoug McCracken, DirectorRuthAnn Darnall, Honorary DirectorMoira Green, Secretary (retired)Bob Batchelor, Vice President (retired)Dayna Manning, Director (retired)

2012 NEAT Staff

Dzengo Mzengeza, Executive DirectorKaren Mason-Bennett, Program CoodinatorTammy Hrab, Communications CoordinatorJennifer Bourke, Eco-Advisor, Fort St JohnLiz Biggar, Eco-Advisor, Fort NelsonSarah McKenzie, Business Energy AdvisorRochelle Thomas, Business Energy AdvisorJennifer Pimm, Business Energy AdvisorCatherine Henry, Eco-Advisor, Dawson CreekKayla Boyd, Eco-Advisor, Dawson CreekJen Slater, Eco-Advisor, ChetwyndPaula Langille, Eco-Advisor, ChetwyndLorn Kennedy, Eco-Advisor, Fort Nelson (recycling roundup)Ashley Kennedy, Eco-Advisor, Fort Nelson (recycling roundup)Meaghan Rae, Eco-Advisor, Fort Nelson (recycling roundup)Aaron Thompson, Summer StudentHeather Stark, JanitorShannon Alberding, BookkeeperTracey Stevens, BookkeeperSally Emory, AdvisorSue Popesku, Consultant

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