Arctic Circle is a daily cartoon strip by Alex Hallet about three penguins, Oscar, Ed and Gordo, who have emigrated from Antarctica to the Arctic. The comic has an underlying environmental theme and regularly sees the humour in trying to live a more eco-friendly life in a 21st century world.

Every September 22, people from around the world get together in the streets, intersections, and neighbourhood blocks to remind the world that we don't have to accept our car-dominated society.

World Carfree Day, a showcase for just how our cities might look like, feel like, and sound like without cars, is an en excellent opportunity to rethink and rediscover our personal mobility and the urban environment we live in.

Come celebrate International Car Free Day and to promote clean air, safe streets and the many active transportation and making healthy and active transportation choices on Saturday September 26th 2009 from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm in Downtown Kelowna on Bernard Avenue by the Sails and Kerry Park.

There will be Free activities including live music in Kerry Park, skateboards and bike demonstrations, games for all ages, interactive booths and displays, you can explore a Double decker bus, street art and face painting and more!

Source: I-Go Central Okanagan

76,728 kg of CO2 emmisions were prevented from entering the atmosphere as a direct result of Bike To Work Week participants efforts.

During Bike To Work Week, between May 10-17, 6,167 Central Okanagan cyclists participated at least once. There were 1,135 new cyclists for this year's campaign. Cyclists travelled a total distance of 106,903 km, which is equivalent to cycling around the world 3 times.

Listed below are the winning teams:

• Educational Category - 1st Place: Spring Valley Middle School with 52.5 % participation
• Government/Health Care/Transportation - 1st Place: Parkinson Recreation Aqua Spinners with 53% participation
• Industrial - 1st place: PCL Constructors West Coast Inc.: 33.4% participation
• Media/Retail/Goods and Services (Professional and Consulting) - 1st Place: New Town Architecture and Urban Design with 21.28% participation
• Mini Team (10 employees or less) - 1st Place: Opus International Consultants Ltd. With 93.2% participation

The 2009 National Commuter Challenge Event exceeded 2008 results by 10,000 participants.

Here are the highlights:

• Registered Participants: 44,109
• Registered Organizations: 1,636
• Registered Cities: 159
• GHG Saved: 643,841
• KM Saved: 3,093,452
• Fuel Saved ($):    $186,928
• Calories Burned : 21,373,707

Kelowna and the Central Okanagan finished in second place in our population category. We finished fourth in the province.

Over 100 workplaces participated and here are the results:

• GHG Saved: 5,728.35
• Fuel Savings ($): 2,128.92
• Calories Burned: 387,960
• KM Saved: 30,797.40

Clean Air Day is a celebration of environmentally-friendly activities that promote clean air and good health across Canada. It is a great opportunity to make environmentally-friendly lifestyle choices, for you, your family and your community. This year Clean Air Day is on Wednesday June 3rd.

The Transit will be free. Tell the driver it's Clean Air Day. There will be complimentary breakfast from 7:00 to 8:30 AM at Queensway, Orchard Park and Westbank Transit exchanges.

Choices made by businesses, communities and individuals can lead to meaningful reductions in air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions.

Tips to reduce your greenhouse gas emissions:

• Leave the car at home. Walk or bike for short trips;
  
• For longer trips, take the bus; one busload of passengers takes 40 vehicles off the road, saving 70,000 litres of fuel, 175 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions and nine tonnes of pollutants per year.
• Don't idle your vehicles; Ten seconds of idling uses more fuel that restarting your engine and produces more air pollution
• Keep to the speed limit. Driving at 100 km/h burns 10 per cent more fuel than driving at 90 km/h. 
• On the highway, use cruise control to maintain a steady speed and reduce fuel consumption. 
• In the city, stop-and-go traffic means that your air conditioning can increase fuel consumption by as much as 20 per cent. At low city speeds, open windows can be a fuel-saving alternative.

6,800 residents commute via bus, bike or on foot

The City of Kelowna has its Bike to Work week in the beginning of May to further encourage the use of bikes as a mode of transportation to cut back on pollution and traffic congestion.

The commuters that don't use their own vehicles has increased 45% over the last decade. The City is adding Bike lanes, racks, parking to encourage more bike commuters.

For more information on Bike To Work Week, visit I-Go.ca