Take the One-Tonne Challenge
You’ve probably seen the television ads featuring Newfoundland & Labrador’s own Rick Mercer challenging you to reduce your annual greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) by one tonne. But did you know that your decision to use public transit instead of driving a private vehicle already has you well on your way to reaching this goal? So why should you take the challenge? Every time someone drives a car, takes out the garbage, or does anything else that uses energy from fossil fuels, he or she contributes to GHGs that cause climate change. For the average Canadian, that's more than 5 tonnes of GHGs a year.

Add it up. Together, individual Canadians contribute more than a quarter of the country's total greenhouse gas emissions.

By using energy more efficiently in your daily activities, you'll not only reduce GHG emissions but also other emissions that contribute to air pollution and smog. We know that smog-causing pollutants are increasing our health care costs, affecting productivity and contributing to crop damage. Your efforts to reduce GHGs will give us cleaner air and healthier communities.

Many Canadian households already protect the environment through recycling, reducing and re-using. Now it's time to take the next step to slow climate change.

Take the Challenge - we owe it to our families, friends, and ourselves to ensure that future generations can enjoy our planet just as we do today. After all, if we're part of the problem, we can be part of the solution. You can make a difference.

For more information, please visit http://www.climatechange.gc.ca or call 1-800-O-Canada. [some parts of this article provided courtesy of the Government of Canada]

National Transit Action Centre
Do you want to tell your federal and provincial government representatives about public transit issues that are important to you? The Transit Action Centre, setup by the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA) makes it easy.

CUTA's Transit Action Centre is a user-friendly Internet-based resource designed to encourage federal advocacy for transit funding. The centre provides tools for effective communications with Members of Parliament and other influential decision-makers about the importance of investment in public transit. The Action Centre’s functionality automatically creates letters and postcards to Federal Members of Parliament and Ministers in support of transit. The letters can be customized by the user, who selects from a choice of representatives to whom they can send his or her message; this choice is localized through postal code references, which automatically identify local MP’s/MHA’s. You can visit the Transit Action Centre by visiting Metrobus Dot Com and clicking on the link provided from the main page. [some parts of this article provided courtesy of the Canadian Urban Transit Association]

Customer's Corner  A customer writes: "The bus driver was awesome. The weather was horrible (due to snowstorm) and road conditions were unreal. The driver was so in control and took great caution. I'm a very nervous person while driving in snow but I felt very safe. Thanks so much! Keep up with the excellent driving."