November is here! With Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the holiday season around the corner, this month can often be a bit focused on consumption. Green Venture is a partner of Giving Tuesday, the international day of generosity happening on November 30, 2021.
What is Giving Tuesday?
Created in 2012, GivingTuesday is simply a day meant to inspire people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity. People can show their generosity in a variety of ways during GivingTuesday—whether it’s helping a neighbour, advocating for an issue, sharing a skill, or giving to causes, everyone has something to give and every act of generosity counts.
Every Tuesday this month, we’ll be catching up with Green Venture staff to highlight some of our programs that would not be possible without the support of our donors and sponsors. Today we’re catching up with our Urban Forest Project Coordinator, Bella, and our (new!) Energy Programs Coordinator, Moises!
What is your role at Green Venture?
My role here at Green Venture includes anything related to trees from planting more trees, educating the public about the benefits of trees and why they are so important, assessing the health of the trees and so much more! My main project focus is on our Tree Equity project, which includes taking tree inventory on City Housing Hamilton properties, connecting with the tenants and communities about trees, creating outreach programs and workshops to increase the communities awareness about trees, and developing a report to recommend future tree plantings at these sites.
Tell us why your project is important!
The Tree Equity project is very important as we want to bring equality across Hamilton properties by having everyone have equal access to the benefits of trees! Living in an urban environment can be difficult to connect with nature, so we want to bring back nature by planting more native trees and shrubs in the community.
What excites you most about your work?
What excites me about my work is going out to these stewardship events and tree inventory site visits and getting a thumbs up from the community! I love getting to know tenants and the general public and their personal attachments to trees. Although commuting from Toronto can be a hassle, making these amazing connections with the community makes it all worthwhile.
What’s a common misconception about the projects you work on?
“Are you cutting down this tree?” is a question I have gotten a few times throughout this past summer when I was assessing the City Housing property trees and I always tell them I want to save this tree and/or add more trees. Or people assume that I can do everything regarding pruning, cutting down, or adding trees at certain spots around the property in the blink of an eye.
Miyawaki Planting at EcoHouse
Who would you recommend your programs to?
I would recommend this program to anyone who just loves trees and wants to be outside connecting with nature.
Would you like to share any program milestones?
A few milestones had happened just recently such as inventorying almost 1000 trees at 20 different City Housing properties, and planting almost 900 trees through our various tree planting events!
What are you looking forward to in 2022?
Trees, trees, and more trees! Along with connecting more with the community and getting them involved in our programs/projects, as their input and involvements means a lot to us.
Learn more about Green Venture’s urban forestry programs here.
What’s your role at Green Venture?
As the Energy Programs Coordinator, I help homeowners from Niagara to Oakville save on monthly energy bills and lower greenhouse gas emissions.
Tell us why your program is important!
You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Getting a home energy evaluation lets homeowners know where they are losing money in energy costs every month and gives them insight to make the necessary improvements.
What excites you most about your work?
Educating and connecting with community members that are serious about taking action on issues like climate change. Also the ability to collaborate and strategize on program development with the Green Venture team at the office and from home.
Registered Energy Advisor Jordan Fysh
Who would you recommend your program to?
Any homeowner that would like to know what their homes’ energy efficiency rating is and what can be done to make life in their home more comfortable.
What are you looking forward to in 2022?
Growing our capacity! We are currently very busy with home energy evaluations and need to hire new members to keep up with demand.
We were thrilled to be able to welcome small groups of visitors back to EcoHouse in person this year, and we’re looking forward to hosting, educating, and connecting with more Hamiltonians in 2022. That’s why this year’s GivingTuesday Fundraiser will support our youth outdoor education programs at EcoHouse and in our community.
Want to support our programs? You can donate any amount or sign up to become a monthly donor here.
