Green UP

GreenUP is proud to be celebrating our 30^th anniversary. Since 1992, GreenUP has worked diligently to empower climate action and inspire lasting change. Through programming that reaches over 10,000 children each year, working with 700+ businesses, and services that have already supported 40% of all Peterborough homes, GreenUP is this region’s leading environmental charity.

Fast approaching is the year 2030. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) continues to emphasize that drastic emissions reductions must be reached globally by 2030 in order to avoid catastrophic climate change. Knowing this is quickly approaching, GreenUP reflects on 30-years of success and looks to the coming 30-years with the clear knowledge that there is an urgent need to ramp up the scope and scale of our collective action on climate change.

If the urgency of the next three decades is eclipsed by anything, it is the overwhelming sense of empowerment and inspiration GreenUP feels when we reflect on all that we have accomplished with our partners, residents and educators in the past three decades. Together, GreenUP and our supporters have been able to implement empowering and innovative change across our region – as a result, we know that it is possible for positive action and response to happen quickly, especially when we work together as a community.

In the coming decades, GreenUP will grow our reach and support our region in many innovative and exciting ways. Three major areas of focus will be our work with residents, businesses, and youth. First, we will support residents in building their own knowledge and taking action on issues that matter to them. Secondly, we will engage businesses and provide them with the tools necessary to create positive change. Thirdly, we will continue to deliver exceptional environmental education for young people. In all of these areas, GreenUP will continue to leverage our partnerships with municipalities and serve as community experts in how to successfully achieve needed change.

During the 30 years yet to come, our work will continue to teach, act, and engage our community. Climate change is a multiplier of all other challenges we face, from housing affordability to food systems to transportation and infrastructure. It is far more cost-effective, healthier, and more inclusive to learn about and work together to address these challenges now rather than to delay.

GreenUP is humbled to reflect on the work our community has done already to address climate change since 1992. Looking forward to 2052, GreenUP sees a future in which collectively, we have invested deeply in making necessary changes to stabilize the climate, while celebrating the diversity and success of our region.

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In 2017 GreenUP celebrated its 25th anniversary. Over the years, so much has changed, but GreenUP has remained a critical resource in our community, offering immersive and impactful programming that addresses emergent concerns, enables meaningful citizen action, and supports long-term environmental sustainability.

We’re so grateful for the community support and numerous partnerships that have grown stronger year after year, and we’re excited to highlight our many innovative programs as part of this year’s Organizational Profile.

GreenUP’s work is diverse, not only with respect to the issues addressed, but also our approach to change-making. Over the past 25 years, we have offered groundbreaking sustainability education designed to provide people with the knowledge and skill necessary to create change in their own lives. We do this through hands-on educational programs and workshops for persons of all ages, on topics from beekeeping to cycling, vermicomposting to rain gardens. Many of our programs continue to take place at the GreenUP Ecology Park, a vibrant teaching and demonstration site located on City parkland.

But sometimes, very real barriers to change exist – barriers that knowledge alone cannot overcome – and GreenUP works to address those, too. We do this by supporting ecological regeneration and green infrastructure projects that enable the kinds of change we want to see, and that help us to reduce the inequity of environmental risk and vulnerability.

Finally, because addressing complex environmental issues can feel challenging, we work to create a culture of resilience and celebration. We do this through community building events and activities that recognize the work that is being done and the people that are doing it, and that helps citizens to feel connected to, and part of, a broader movement. And we don’t do this alone. GreenUP contributes to a number of exciting community collaboratives that strengthen our relations and deepen our impact. Our sincere gratitude to all of our partners and funders – thank you for your vital and ongoing support.