Earth Day

4 SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 2023 EARTH DAY 2023 "We head outside to collect as much litter as we can, with our Enviro team taking care of the removal of full garbage bags," Hardman says. "Participants are usually folks from different downtown offices, downtown residents, com- munity members and other supporters of down- town." Suffice it to say the goal of both the Take Pride Winnipeg and Downtown Winnipeg BIZ is to re- move a ton of litter from the streets, boulevards and sidewalks both downtown and throughout the city. "We want to cover all of Winnipeg, even towns outside of Winnipeg," Ethans says. "Let's do clean-ups all over Manitoba, and do them on a regular basis." Why are regular clean-ups so essential? "It's all about what a community looks like," he continues. "If an area looks good, you feel good. If it doesn't, you don't. It's about the im- pression you create on visitors. They decide whether a city is a great place or a bad place to visit based on the way it looks. We want to create positive memories." Part of that clean-up effort will extend from the spring through the summer, adds Ethans. "From May 15 to the end of July, we're going to have volunteers go out to collect and count cigarette butts," he says. "As unsightly as they are, they can be recycled, so there will actually be a purpose to collecting them. Even if you can come out and do it for an hour, it will help and add up dramatically." Ethans says keeping the city clean and tidy needs to be a collective effort. "We have a phenomenal province and a great city, and so many wonderful people who want to help. Taking an hour to clean up an area doesn't take much; neither does picking up a piece of lit- ter and putting it in the garbage. We can make a difference both collectively and one person at a time." Let's do clean-ups all over Manitoba, and do them on a regular basis." — Tom Ethans, Take Pride Winnipeg Photos submitted by Downtown BIZ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 A be Loewen is reducing the environmental footprint on his family's egg farm near Arborg, Manitoba. The Loewen family invested in solar panels to heat and cool their home, along with the entire 12,600 laying hen barn on their property. "We enjoy seeing how sunshine can produce energy for our farm," said Abe. "The solar panels produce 90% of the power required for the farm. The lights, the fans, feeding systems, water and pretty much everything else," said Abe's son Dylan Loewen, second generation egg farmer. The Loewens' investment has paid off in many ways; the system is working beautifully and is extremely low maintenance. The only requirement so far has been cleaning snow off the panels about half a dozen times throughout the winter. The family is also saving about $16,000 a year in energy costs. The Loewen family has proven to be early adopters as they were among the first egg farmers in the province to move away from conventional to new enriched housing. The enriched environment provides the birds with more space and enables them to express natural behaviours like perching, scratching and laying their eggs in private nesting areas. Regulated egg farmers like Abe Loewen are making huge strides in greening the egg industry. In fact, the environmental footprint of Canada's egg production supply chain declined by almost 50% between 1962 and 2012, while egg production increased by 50%. In March 2023, Egg Farmers of Canada announced its commitment to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 as the next step in the Canadian egg farming industry's sustainability journey. The commitment builds on five decades of work to embrace research, innovation and techniques that support sustainable agricultural practices. Egg farmers across Canada will continue working to make their farms even more sustainable in the coming years. Feel good about eating eggs anytime this Earth Day The eggs available in Manitoba grocery stores are produced by local egg farmers like the Loewen family of Arborg, Manitoba. Regulated egg farmers meet high standards in food safety and hen care. Nutritious | Affordable | Versatile Eggs SPONSORED CONTENT

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