Winnipeggers urged to act like every day is Earth Day
The Forks is celebrating Earth Day by promoting the big and little things people can do
Earth Day is officially one one day a year but The Forks hopes Winnipeggers celebrate it every day.
The Forks want to remind people about the big and little things that can be done to make the planet healthier.
"We like to think that every day is Earth Day at The Forks, but we wanted to highlight all of the things you can do on your own," said Kristin Pauls, communications co-ordinator for Forks North Portage Corporation.
Free tours and programming showcasing green initiative ran all day.
The Forks also took the opportunity to show off what it is doing for the planet through its "Target Zero" program which aims to achieve zero garbage, zero water waste and zero carbon emissions.
Three separate geothermal heat systems heat the market building. Organic waste from 15 food merchants and seven fresh food producers is composted which diverts 80 per cent of garbage from the landfill.
The Forks also converted maintenance equipment like the ice re-surfacer to run on used vegetable oil.
"We find that a lot of the simple steps that we can take to help our earth and minimize our carbon footprint are also things that are gaining financial benefit for us to and help us to reduce the costs," said Pauls.
For the 11th straight Earth Day, the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ organized two big community clean-ups. The first one tackled the grounds around ThunderBird House on Main Street and the second was a clean sweep of the Millennium Library Park. In the last decade, the BIZ says it have removed nearly 6,000 kilograms of litter out of the downtown.