Go Green

Official Sponsor:

What is it?

Why is the Kelowna Chamber doing this?

How can my business get involved?

Eligibility

Entry form

What is it?
Take the Go Green Business Challenge and help your workplace become more sustainable while saving money at the same time. The Challenge encompasses three key elements:

• Green Business Office Essentials – The Kelowna Chamber is endorsing a green business e-learning tool called Office Essentials, created by the David Suzuki Foundation. This easy to use e-learning tool makes it simple for businesses to go green by focusing on five key goal areas of transportation, waste, energy use, healthy workplaces and water conservation.  For more information, click here.
• Oct. 27^th Breakfast – Join us for this continental breakfast event on October 27th from 8:30am-10:00am at the Best Western Inn, Kelowna. Learn about how Office Essentials can help your organization go green and save you money at the same time. Also hear from a panel of green business people about how their organizations went green, the challenges they faced along the way and how they overcame these challenges. Breakfast sponsors include Imperial Security Group, BFI Canada, Best Western Inn- Kelowna, Urban Harvest and FortisBC.  For more information, click here.
• Chance to win a car for a year - If your business wants to take the Go Green Business Challenge, you could be eligible for a chance to win a one year lease on a 2010 Prius Hybrid car, sponsored by Kelowna Toyota. For more details, please see the section below titled: How can my business get involved?

Why is the Kelowna Chamber doing this?
The Kelowna Chamber recognizes the importance of balancing the economic, environmental and social implications of sustainability. As a community, we need a strong economy to provide the tax base to address social and environmental programs. Economic prosperity and growth are in turn directly impacted by both the quality of our natural environment and by the quality and character of community life in our region.

Businesses and business organizations like the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce are the engines and stewards of the economy and as such must ensure that the actions and decisions that we take today do not impact negatively on future generations.

The Kelowna Chamber has a keen interest in assisting the business community in adopting sustainable practices. By acting as a catalyzing force and partnering with other community stakeholders, the Kelowna Chamber strives to contribute to making Kelowna a more sustainable city while helping its members to “do well by doing good”. The Chamber focuses its efforts on educating members about sustainability, advocacy of sustainability from a business perspective, and recognition of businesses that use sustainable practices and that are models of the strategic advantages of sustainability.

More and more businesses are recognizing the benefit of adopting sustainable practices into the organization that are both good for the environment and enhance the cost savings and competitiveness of the overall organization. The Go Green Business Challenge is a way to assist businesses in making those first steps towards creating a more sustainable organization.

How can my business get involved?
Get your business to take the Go Green Business Challenge with three simple steps:

1. Get your business to start using the Office Essentials e-learning tool

2. Brainstorm green practices to implement into your organization. This can be done by creating a Green Team at your workplace (if you don’t already have one) to work through the Office Essentials toolkit and identify green practices that would work in your organization. It could also be a topic of discussion at a series of staff meetings so that everyone is involved in the process of making your workplace more sustainable.

3. Fill out the entry form to be featured on the Kelowna Chamber website and for a chance to win a one year lease on a 2010 Prius Hybrid car, sponsored by Kelowna Toyota. To be eligible for the draw, an organization must be a member of the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce. The prize draw will take place at the Green Business Awards in April, 2011. For full eligibility criteria, see below.

Eligibility
To qualify for the Go Green Business Challenge:

1. A business must be a member of the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce.
2. Only one entry form per organization is permitted.
3. There must be a primary contact designated on the entry form to represent the organization.
   1. The primary contact should either be the proprietor, a senior member of the organization who has the authority to sign on to the Challenge on behalf of their organization, or the Champion, which is the person responsible for getting the organization to sign on to the Challenge.
4. The primary contact will be the declared winner of the prize if their entry is drawn. The primary contact must therefore:
   1. Hold a valid drivers license
   2. Be able to cover the cost of insurance
   3. Age of eligibility is 19 years or older
5. The entry form must be completed in full to qualify.

Entry form
To access the entry form, click form.

If you have any questions or require further information, please email: Jennifer@kelownachamber.org If your organization qualifies for the draw, your business will also be listed on the Kelowna Chamber website. The draw will take place at the Green Business Awards in April, 2011.

Media Sponsor: