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Articles by GreenUP

GreenUP
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For more than 30 years, Peterborough GreenUP has been central and eastern Ontario's leading environmental organization focused on education, sustainability, and stewardship. GreenUP is a non-profit charitable organization and an active community organization that offers dozens of programs and services to those living in Peterborough and Kawartha Lakes. For more information, visit greenup.on.ca
AbZolutely Choir Peterborough-Kawartha artistic director and founder Abby Zolz (right) leads the choir in a performance with purpose during their 2024 year-end concert, which was a fundraiser for One City Peterborough. The group has chosen GreenUP to benefit from their 2025 year-end concert happening Monday, May 26 at Murray Street Baptist Church in Peterborough. (Photo: Ian MacCready)

AbZolutely Choir singing for sustainability in Peterborough at May 26 concert

GreenUP Ecology Park's native plant propagation program to benefit from ensemble's year-end concert at Murray Street Baptist Church.
GreenUP Ecology Park in Peterborough is home to a small section of the iconic 28,000-kilometre Trans Canada Trail. In 2025, GreenUP will be working with friends at the Trans Canada Trail to restore the tree canopy at the park by planting 12 large specimen trees and two large specimen shrubs, as well as installing educational signage describing what makes these trees so special. (Photo: Vern Bastable / GreenUP)

Peterborough GreenUP teaming up with Trans Canada Trail to plant new trees in Ecology...

Volunteers are invited to help restore the park's tree canopy, damaged due to the Emerald ash borer, the May 2022 derecho, and this year's ice storm.
Madeleine Endicott and Steve McMurtry have reduced their total energy consumption by 43 per cent and their greenhouse gas emissions by 86 per cent by installing cellulose insulation in the interior walls of their century home near Bonnerworth Park in Peterborough, improving their attic insulation, and replacing their natural gas furnace with air source heat pump. The City of Peterborough's new Better Homes Peterborough program provides city homeowners with low-cost financing to complete similar energy efficiency retrofits that enhance residential building performance. (Photo: Clara Blakelock / GreenUP)

New City of Peterborough program offers homeowners low-interest loans for energy-saving upgrades

Better Homes Peterborough will help city meet its climate change action plan goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
Rain gardens are not only visually pleasing, they are designed to hold water for up to 24 hours after a heavy rain, and also act as mini habitats. The City of Peterborough Rain Garden Subsidy program, delivered in partnership with GreenUP, offers up to $1,000 toward the cost of installation for city residents. (Photo: GreenUP)

Why rain gardens are taking root in Peterborough

The specially designed gardens reduce runoff into the strained stormwater system, filter contaminants, and support urban biodiversity.
Environmental champions and generous GreenUP donors Sue Sauvé and Ian Attridge smile knowing they will make a difference in protecting local biodiversity this spring. Can the community match their $10,000 donation? They hope so! (Photo: Yvonne Hollandy / GreenUP)

Peterborough couple challenges community to match $10,000 donation to GreenUP

Sue Sauvé and Ian Attridge are supporting the native plant propagation program at Ecology Park to protect local biodiversity.
Bike mechanic and outreach manager Jean Greig conducts a workshop for Shifting Gears participants about the A, B, and Cs of bike maintenance at B!KE: The Peterborough Community Bike Shop in downtown Peterborough. The annual Shifting Gears May Challenge administered by GreenUP invites Peterborough residents to shift the way they move for the month of May, whether by walking, cycling, taking public transit, or carpooling. (Photo: Lili Paradi)

GreenUP invites Peterborough residents to change their transportation habits this spring

Walk, cycle, take transit, or carpool during the Shifting Gears May Challenge and win prizes.
The March 2025 ice storm caused extensive damage to trees and hydro infrastructure, leaving tens of thousands of Peterborough and area residents without power for extended periods. Climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather events. This photo shows some of the storm damage at GreenUP's Ecology Park. (Photo: Clara Blakelock / GreenUP)

How Peterborough plans to reach a net zero future and what it means for...

City council approves a new climate change action plan that would eliminate greenhouse gas emissions and save the city nearly a billion dollars by 2050.
Taking the time to mend clothes and other textile items helps extend their life cycle, saves money, and prevents waste. GreenUP's home energy program manager Clara Blakelock mended her child's shoes after they ripped in multiple spots. Mending textiles is not only good for the environment, but it provides an opportunity to customize clothes and adopt a new hobby. (Photo: Clara Blakelock / GreenUP)

Four ways to avoid ‘fast fashion’ and minimize your textile waste

Canadians continue to buy low-quality clothing and discard around 500 million kilograms of textiles every year.
Norm Lamothe of Woodleigh Farms in Cavan stands in front of his new pyrolysis unit. This machinery is part of a system that will ultimately produce biochar, a carbon-sequestering beneficial soil amendment, from waste wood. (Photo courtesy of Lamothe family)

Woodleigh Farms in Peterborough County is capturing carbon in first-of-its-kind-in-Canada project

Cavan farmer Norm Lamothe is transforming waste wood into carbon-sequestering biochar, which can be used to improve soil quality and reduce the need for fertilizer.
Green Communities Canada (GCC) green infrastructure program lead Jenn McCallum (middle) and GreenUP native plant propagation coordinator Hayley Goodchild (right) install a row of fruit trees and perennials at One City Peterborough's Trinity Community Centre in 2024. The Green Infrastructure project, supported by the GCC Living Cities Canada Fund, was designed to improve stormwater management, access to shade, and opportunity to tend food plants at Trinity Community Centre. (Photo: Laura Keresztesi / GreenUP)

Peterborough community invited to attend GreenUP’s annual general meeting and open house on March...

The open house offers an opportunity to meet the GreenUP team, explore programs, connect with coordinators, and learn how to get involved.

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