L to R: Jed Goldberg, President, Earth Day Canada; Liz Benneian, 2009 Hometown Hero; Suzanne Blanchet, President & CEO, Cascades Tissue Group

Earth Day Canada is pleased to recognize Liz Benneian as the 2009 Canada’s Hometown Heroes Award winner. Liz, full-time volunteer President of the Oakvillegreen Conservation Association for the past four years, played an integral role in the creation of the Burlingtongreen Environmental Association and Miltongreen.

Liz has worked tirelessly in Oakville, Ontario, to create and deliver environmental solutions to the pressures of municipal growth, an unsustainable suburban lifestyle and a culture of over-consumption. Recognizing the need for policy change at the community level, Liz and the Oakvillegreen Conservation Association built an extensive communications network, worked with regional organizations and directly educated and organized citizens into an effective lobby.

With Liz as the lead, the Oakvillegreen Conservation Association

• Convinced the Government of Ontario to preserve the 24-acre Wildglower Woods
• Established a Tree Protection Bylaw protecting Oakville’s mature forest and halting clear-cutting of properties slated for development
• Established a Pesticide Bylaw forbidding cosmetic and chemical pesticide use
• Created the 650-acre Glenorchy Conservation Area in north Oakville
• Launched Oakville’s first community teaching garden
• Created a local volunteer group, Ground Breaks, which plants over 2 000 trees each year
• Founded Zero Waste Ontario to influence policy development and practices at the municipal, regional and provincial levels.