CBC and Cisco Launch One Million Acts Of Green Tonight!

Tune In - at 11 p.m.

The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos
Hosts the Official Kick Off Show and Launch of the OMAoG Website

TORONTO - One Million Acts of Green (OMAoG), a unique collaboration between CBC and Cisco, is officially underway! Tonight, Oct. 21, and tomorrow night, Oct. 22, The Hour at 11 p.m. local time (CBC-TV), will launch OMAoG with back-to-back ’green’ shows featuring Canada’s environmental authority, Dr. David Suzuki, acclaimed handy-man Mike Holmes (who is building a sustainable community near Okotoks, Alta.), award-winning, eco-conscious rock star Alanis Morisette, celebrated landscape photographer Edward Burtynsky, and even Oscar the Grouch (in support of waste reduction) will appear on the show.

OMAoG is not about overhauling your life; it’s about one act from each individual amassing to a million. Partnering with CBC, and demonstrating the power of the "Human Network" Cisco, through their technology, is helping to create powerful connections for the sake of the planet, one act at a time.

The OMAoG website www.onemillionactsofgreen.com will be live as of 11 p.m. on Oct. 21 to coincide with the program launch on The Hour. With a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) calculator designed by GreenNexxus, and peer-reviewed by the Pembina Institute this user-friendly website will be the hub of the campaign, allowing all participants to log their acts, share content and ideas, post photos and videos, create groups and challenge others to act.

OMAoG has recruited some big time environmental partners who will be on board for the duration of the campaign: Clean Air Foundation, The David Suzuki Foundation, Earth Day Canada, Environmental Defence, Evergreen, Green Street (managed by the Canadian Teachers’ Federation) and The Climate Project-Canada are all non-profit, ENGOs and are already connecting their extended network of environmental communities to the OMAoG cause.

Word about the launch of OMAoG has already mobilized Canadians to act, like The Canadian Federation of Students, currently on a Students For Sustainability Tour from Sept. 30 to Oct. 30. Stopping at 21 college and university campuses and focusing on a range of environmental issues, they have been handing out OMAoG seeded cards and rallying support from the near 600,000 students they’ll connect with along the way.

The "Earth Patrols" at Westglen Elementary School in Edmonton are students who are educating each other and their community about OMAoG. They will register as a school group on the OMAoG website where all of their acts will be counted and they can inspire others.

The Girl Guides of Canada have 100,000 combined guiders and staff who have created a "Top Ten" list of environmental actions and each guide has been issued a challenge to complete an act for One Million Acts of Green.

And, a number of schools across the country, from St. Bernard’s Elementary in Witless Bay, Nfld., to Forest Glen Elementary School in Moncton, N.B., have pledged their support, created or tied-in existing environmental programs and are distributing OMAoG seeded cards on our behalf. Armitage Village Public School in Newmarket, Ont. created a public service announcement just for us. A number of cities, from Mississauga, Ont., to Vancouver and Dawson Creek, B.C., and Calgary, Alta., are including OMAoG information and our seeded cards on their websites, in trade shows, and in city programs demonstrating their eagerness to be involved and support the collective goal of one million acts!

"One Million Acts of Green is a unique opportunity to demonstrate how technology can enable people to make powerful connections and effect change" said Nitin Kawale, president of Cisco Canada. "Cisco technology forms the foundation of the Internet and the Internet isn’t a network of computers, it’s a network of people"

"CBC is happy to support One Million Acts of Green" said Kirstine Layfield, executive director of programming for CBC Television. "Both from a programming point of view and from the engagement of our thousands of employees across the country, CBC has a tradition of helping to raise awareness of and participation with environmentally significant initiatives. One Million Acts of Green is certainly something that we look forward to encouraging"

One Million Acts of Green. One act at a time.
About Cisco

Cisco is changing the way people work, live, play and learn in new and more sustainable ways. Through our technology, we enable people to make powerful connections whether in business, education, philanthropy or creativity. Our technology forms the foundation of the Internet and the Internet isn’t a network of computers, it’s a network of people. We call this "The Human Network" - a network of people with the power to change the world we live and work in. We believe change is a good thing, and that technology can and should improve life. Because of Cisco’s solutions, people can come together in ways never before imagined. It doesn’t matter whether walls, borders, mountains, or oceans stand in the way, over the network, people can come together and transform business, communities, governments, schools, and lives. Together, we are more powerful than we ever could be apart. When the human network sets out to solve a problem, the result is a Human Network Effect. www.cisco.com/ca
About CBC

CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada’s national public broadcaster and one of its largest cultural institutions. With 28 services offered on Radio, Television, the Internet, satellite radio, digital audio, as well as through its record and music distribution service and wireless WAP and SMS messaging services, CBC/Radio-Canada is available how, where, and when Canadians want it. www.cbc.ca/thehour & www.onemillionactsofgreen.com