| HRM established the SEMO office to serve as the corporate lead for sustainability and environmental policy, strategy, reporting, and performance monitoring. Since its establishment in fall 2004, SEMO and HRM have taken an integrated systems approach to the environment, focusing on clean land, energy, air & water. The SEMO office also coordinates internal and external education and awareness programs. Examples of activities falling under the land, energy, air & water areas are given below.
Clean Land
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Regional Plan – The Regional Plan started out as an environmental plan. This is quite significant because all the long-term policies to be established and implemented over the next 25 years – including those for water quality, open space, affordable housing, public transit, capital district, economic and others - are based on the Regional Plan and its environmental orientation. It is our over-riding policy document for HRM for the next 25 years.
Solid Waste Management - HRM’s Solid Waste Division, with the cooperation of our residents, businesses, corporations and industries, has achieved high and climbing waste diversion rates over the past several years. See here for further details about solid waste management in HRM.
Pesticide Use Reduction – Pesticide use has declined in residential areas and HRM Properties in recent years. This is due in part to sustainable landscape maintenance practices at both corporate and community levels, and to the success of the Pesticide By-law. Permit applications have fallen approximately ten-fold since 2003 to 440 in 2008, and complaints have fallen almost 20-fold in the same period. HRM’s effort has shifted from permitting and enforcement towards education and awareness. Click here for the 2008 overview report.
Clean Air
Clean Water
Clean Energy / Climate Change
Update on HRM Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency  Project/ Initiatives - December 2009. (PowerPoint)
Sustainability Funding Mechanism for Energy Efficiency
MindShift - Environmental Youth Education  -
The SEMO office has been partnering with the Adventure Earth centre on a number of sustainability initiatives.
Earth Hour 2010
HRM will once again be participating in Earth Hour in 2010. This year the event will be held on Saturday, March 27th at 8:30 pm.
What is Earth Hour?
Earth Hour is symbolic event where people around the world are encouraged to turn off their lights for one hour to show support for action on climate change. Millions of people around the globe turning off our lights together demonstrates that individual efforts, when taken together, add up to make a big difference and can be as easy as a flick of a switch.
Earth Hour is a World Wildlife Federation (WWF) event and it began in Sydney, Australia in 2007. It was such a huge success that in 2008, WWF decided to make Earth Hour a global event and its been growing ever since.
In 2008, millions of people in hundreds of cities in more than 30 countries turned off their lights for Earth Hour. In 2009, more than 4,000 cities in 88 countries participated!
Earth Day 2010
 HRM will also be participating in Earth Day - April 22, 2010. As we get closer to the date watch here for more details.
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