Please donate for #GivingTuesday
#GivingTuesday is today, and we are asking you to consider giving a gift to the environment by donating to the Manitoba Eco-Network. We are also giving back this year with a limited number of gifts for the first donors to give. Read more at the end of this post.
While Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the biggest shopping days of the year, #GivingTuesday on December 2nd marks something greater. It’s a simple idea: a day that encourages people to do good, to put aside consumerism and give back to those in need, and build stronger communities through generosity. The idea caught on and has grown around the world, inspiring hundreds of millions of people and organizations to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity.
At the Manitoba Eco-Network we give back everyday. We’re not just fighting the environment’s daily battles—we’re changing the rules of the game. By shifting laws and policies, we ensure Manitoba’s environment is protected for generations to come.
Please consider helping us out this Giving Tuesday by making a donation to the Manitoba Eco-Network. No donation is too small. Any amount helps.
Your donation helps us lay the groundwork for a future where the fight for environmental protection doesn’t have to happen every day. |
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Third day on the job multi-tasking — tree planting while brainstorming.
On June 18th, 2025, only three days after starting in the role our new Manitoba Eco-Network Projects Manager literally got her hands dirty. She helped out with the Orioles Park Tree Planting while chatting with our community partner about the next years work plans for the Climate Safe, Green City project. Sometimes we are really busy in the non-profit sector so we learn how to multi-task. [Photo credit: Christian Cassidy, Trees Winnipeg] |
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Making a list shows we do a lot, with very little.
Recently I sat down with our team, to review everything the Manitoba Eco-Network was working on over the next year or so.
We ended up with a list 33 different active projects, campaigns, or tasks.
As we were making our list and checking it twice, it was astonishing to see just how much we do with very little here at the Manitoba Eco-Network.
It was also notable that virtually all of the work we do here at the Manitoba Eco-Network is collaborative in some fashion.
This includes our ongoing work building climate resiliency from the neighbourhood level-up through our Climate Safe, Green City project, in partnership with West Broadway Community Organization, Spence Neighbourhood Association, and West End Resource Centre. |
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Manitobans care about impact assessment!
When a major development, like a quarry or new industrial site is proposed in a community, residents understandably want to know how it could affect their health, land, water, and way of life. That’s where impact assessment comes in.
Our recently released Putting People and the Planet First: What Manitobans Expect from Impact Assessment is a collaboration with the University of Winnipeg, the Public Interest Law Centre, and the nearly 500 Manitobans who engaged with us as part of this study.
It shows that Manitobans know how to make impact assessment better, and we are hopeful that this work will lead much needed reform.
This work included workshops across Manitoba, and we were particularly moved by participants in Brandon and The Pas who encouraged us to do a follow-up project on mining law reform project, so we have submitted some grant applications that will hopefully make that a reality in the coming year or so. |
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Our advocacy makes a difference.
Our advocacy efforts, including speaking to the Legislative Committee and meeting with Minister Wiebe, also recently ensured that The Public Interest Expression Defence Act, passed with amendments as suggested by the Manitoba Eco-Network. The need to protect the public from Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP suits) was a recommendation from our past work including the 2023 Final Report of the Healthy Environment, Healthy Neighbourhood (HEHN) project, environmental rights advocacy (2022-present), and our 2024 State of Environmental Governance Report, so we are proud to have had an impact on this important and needed piece of legislation. We are also thankful for our fellow collaborators in this campaign such as the Centre for Free Expression and the Robson Hall Rights Clinic. |
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Building a cross-border coalition to protect our water.
We have been working to bring together a broad cross-border coalition that includes Dakota Resources Council, Save Lake Winnipeg Project, Animal Justice, Abercrombie Citizens for Responsible Growth, CPAWS, Sierra Club ND chapter, Animal Justice, Manitoba Animal Save, Project Artemis, Food and Water Watch, and the Environmental Law & Policy Centre, Mukwa Miikana, and others together to oppose intensive mega-dairy operations in North Dakota that threaten lake Winnipeg as well as local North Dakotan water and ways of living. We wrote to the International Joint Commission in April, published an op-ed in May, held a press conference and met with Minister Moyes in June, attended and spoke at a rally on the steps of the Legislature in August, travelled to Grand Forks to speak to the Red River Watershed Basin in November, and we have been cooperating with Dakota Resources Council on a number of ongoing legal challenges as well. We still have a ways to go to stop these mega-dairy operations, but our efforts are having an impact with Manitoba announcing in October that a review of these North Dakota dairy project was welcomed. |
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We are still trying to decide who has been naughty or nice?
We feel like the Manitoba Government deserves a big lump of coal in their stocking for committing to spending more than $3 Billion on three new fossil gas-fired powered plants. Our friends over at Climate Action Team have just released a great Policy Brief on The Immense Potential of Wind, Solar, and Storage in Manitoba that helps to show the way forward without fossil fuels.
We have also been trying to push for decarbarbonization through our ongoing collaboration with Environmental Defence, and retained Elson Advocacy to represent us in Public Utility Board (PUB) hearings. We are using these regulatory processes to demonstrate that we don’t need more fossil fuel powered energy.
We presented to the PUB on the 2025 Centra Gas rate hearing, we are interveners in the ongoing Manitoba Hydro 2026-28 rate hearing, we are engaging in Manitoba Hydro’s ongoing Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) process and based on our meetings with government official, including Minister Sala, we anticipate the IRP being sent to the PUB as well.
The best thing for consumers and the planet is make smart plans that move us towards debcarbonization. This means more wind and solar, more energy storage, and using our energy more wisely through activities such as better insulating our homes and workplaces. Not more fossil fuels. |
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Your donation motivates us.
If you count, you will see I have only written about 8 of the 33 projects and tasks that are currently on the Manitoba Eco-Networks list. It would be too long to write about them all, but hopefully you can see the immense value of making a donation to the Manitoba Eco-Network.
Everyday we hear at the Manitoba Eco-Network are working for a better world. We are always looking to find new opportunities to collaborate with others to promote good environmental governance, support and build capacity, advocate for environmental justice, and act as a bridge between environmental organizations, the public, and all levels of government.
It is an honour to do this work. But it can also sometimes be tedious and tiring. It can often be frustrating, especially when it seems like we have to be fighting the same battle over and over again.
This is why your support is so important. Not only does it help the Manitoba Eco-Network financially, but it is also a vote of confidence It motivates us here at the Manitoba Eco-Network to keep going on those tough days.
Please give generously this #GivingTuesday. |
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Speaking of making homes more energy efficient homes.
Soon we will be launching our Manitoba’s Home Energy Use Map, in collaboration with with Sustainable Building Manitoba. This project brings a community-powered tool to understand, compare, and improve how Manitobans use energy at home and to serve as a catalyst for change to help Manitobans reduce their home energy use. We are currently in the process of bringing the map to the community of St. Pierre-Jolys this Spring, and then subsequently the rest of Manitoba. Stay tuned for more. |
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Tax receipts, hot sauce and stickers
Of course your donation is eligible for a Canadian charitable tax receipt, which can help you to save money on your taxes.
In addition to a tax receipt, this year we are also giving back with a limited number special gifts for donors on a first donate basis.
For the first 25 donors that give $25 or more we will mail you one of our hot off the press Manitoba Eco-Network stickers.
For the first 14 donors that are able to give more than $350 we will mail you a bottle of our own locally made small batch hot sauce: The Tipping Point.
The Tipping Point hot sauce is a collaboration between the Manitoba Eco-Network and 1882 Fruit Based Hot Sauce. The sour cherries and super hot peppers (Carolina Reapers and Dragon’s Breath) were lovingly grown by yours truly (Manitoba Eco-Network Executive Director James Beddome) before they were turned over to hot sauce master Patrick at 1882 Fruit Based Hot Sauce. If you are looking for a great holiday gift idea,1882 Fruit Based Hot Sauce has a variety of hot sauces available for sale through their Instagram and Facebook pages. However, Patrick let us know that he sold out of The Tipping Point Hot Sauce weeks ago, so the only way to get one these remaining bottles is to donate to the Manitoba Eco-Network.
When enough of us “tip” toward action, small gifts become powerful change. Your #GivingTuesday donation—whatever you can afford—helps push us past a tipping point where we can change the rules of the game so future generations won’t have to fight so hard for environmental protection.
Thank you for your support.
James Beddome
Executive Director, Manitoba Eco-Network |
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