“We are excited to offset the carbon that we produce on an annual basis,” said Dan Youngs, Program Director at LiVE 88.5. “The LiVE team is proud to be associated with a local solution to a global concern.”

“We are excited to offset the carbon that we produce on an annual basis,” said Dan Youngs, Program Director at LiVE 88.5. “The LiVE team is proud to be associated with the RVCF who have been a great partner in helping us find a local solution to a global concern.”

The amount of carbon dioxide equivalent produced by the work of the 48 full time and 19 part time employees in the LiVE broadcast centre on Antares Drive in Ottawa was calculated through the Rideau Valley Conservation Foundation’s (RVCF) Carbon Neutral Program. Staff commuting and travel, office heating and cooling, energy consumption of all kinds was tallied using energy bills for a one-year period. Once the total energy consumption was known, a formula converted it into the number of trees needed to absorb or “offset” that same amount of carbon dioxide.

Over the next 80 years, these trees will absorb the same number of tonnes of carbon dioxide that the employees of the station inadvertently produce each year. The growing trees absorb carbon dioxide from the air taking greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere and locking it in the wood for up to 80 years.

“Planting trees to solve our carbon dioxide emissions is not an expense; it's an investment,” says Jason Kelly, RVCF Chair. “We are very grateful to the commitment and support of the LiVE 88.5 team. Their decision to go carbon neutral is a great gift to the community.”

The Foundation’s Carbon Neutral Program offers planting options suitable for business, events and families. “We continue to see a range of people stepping forward and going carbon neutral,” says Kelly. “I think people are surprised at how affordable it is to do such a good thing.”

The LiVE Forest will cover almost 43 acres of land. In addition to carbon abatement, each LiVE 88.5 tree is a little environmental cleaning station providing huge environmental goods and services to the people of Ottawa. The trees absorb greenhouse gas, produce life-giving oxygen, clean our water supplies, provide wildlife habitat, buffer noise and wind, improve the soil and reduce soil erosion. Collectively, they make the Ottawa area less vulnerable to the worst effects of unpredictable and unseasonal heavy storms and increasing summer droughts.

LiVE 88.5 FM is one of two local affiliates of Newcap Radio Inc. headquartered in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Newcap is one of Canada’s largest radio companies employing over 800 radio professionals across the country. Newcap holds 63 FM and 18 AM licences and is heard by millions of listeners each week throughout Canada.