By Dawn Pond, Coordinator of GreenUP’s Downtown Vibrancy Project and Depave Paradise Program. Winter can leave us impatient for summer. In a world increasingly full of distractions, patience can seem like a rare quality. Winter is perhaps the best time to slow down and practice patience by spending time with nature, especially in a garden. […]

By Kristen LaRocque, Coordinator of the GreenUP Store & Resource Centre Here at GreenUP we like to encourage folks to tone down over-consumptive holidays. Reclaim authentic sentiments from mass-produced messaging and products that all too soon end up in the landfill. (If you want to learn more about the wasteful impacts of Valentine’s Day, click […]

By Leif Einarson, Communications & Marketing Specialist, and Jenn McCallum, Coordinator of Water Programs. Did you know that the idea of Valentine’s Day as a celebration of romantic love originates with a poem written in 1382? Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Parliament of Fowls” describes a gathering of birds on Valentine’s Day. Three male birds make passionate speeches […]

This Month’s Zero Waste Feature is Velvette Facial Oils, for oily, dry or mature skin types. Co-founders and sisters, Joyce Tse and Jenny Tse, launched Velvette in June 2017 after conducting extensive research on over 200 different plant oils. They selected only 20 organic oils based on texture, absorption, and nutritional profiles, as well as […]

By Lindsay Stroud, GreenUP Transportation & Urban Design Manager As we begin 2020, I would like to wrap up GreenUP’s #BikesCanDoThat series with some hopeful feelings of possibility, for you and for our community. Let’s examine how a shift towards using a bike for daily trips around town can work to decrease your personal emissions, […]

Community Leadership on Climate Change: local inspiration for necessary future action. By Brianna Salmon, Executive Director, GreenUP Click here to download and read the Peterborough Community Climate Action Resource. Peterborough is among a growing number of Canadian communities that have declared climate emergencies. These declarations are intended to acknowledge the seriousness and urgency of climate […]

By Leif Einarson and Kristen LaRocque Did you know that the bathroom in most households is full of single-use plastics and materials that are not friendly for our environment? It seems a bit odd that the room we get clean in should be so wasteful. Here are six ways you can reduce the waste that […]

December’s Zero Waste Feature is a category: local and sustainable soap! With the holidays fast approaching, you may be thinking of gifting bar soap to friends, family members, or acquaintances. Bath sets and soap products seem like such great universal gift items, but they often come in plastic packaging, which cannot be recycled or repurposed. […]

By Leif Einarson, GreenUP Communications and Marketing Specialist The next Global Climate Strike is this Friday, November 29. That also happens to be Black Friday. The contrast is striking. The annual peak of waste-intensive, linear consumer culture versus the #GlobalClimateStrike and #FridaysForFuture movement. Here in Peterborough, however, these two things are finding harmony. Local actions […]

We’re all familiar with Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The hottest deals of the season can be found at both brick and mortar and online retailers as we search for the perfect gift for our loved ones.  After two days of intense consumerism, Tuesday, December 3nd , 2019, has been marked as a day to give back. […]