Environmental challenges are increasingly pervasive at the local level. Government cannot solve these challenges alone. Grass-roots community engagement is critical but citizens cannot fill all the gaps. GEL supports the needs of community outreach, strategic planning and capacity building for environmental improvement in Guelph and Wellington County.For a number of years GEL has been working with Guelph’s Green Plan Steering Committee (GPSC) as a key resource to move the community toward environmental sustainability – in harmony with economic and social development. In 2005, the Green Plan celebrated its tenth anniversary, which gave GPSC and GEL a perfect opportunity to report on major accomplishments made by the City and community over the years. It has also allowed us to merge past efforts with current and future progress of Green Plan implementation.
Check out environmental accomplishments over the last ten years in the City of Guelph Green Plan Review and Update.
Let us know what priorities are important to you! Please answer our Environmental Surveys.
ACTION AGENDAS
GPSC and GEL are now developing community-wide action agendas to advance environmental improvement in the areas of land use and development, water, energy, transportation and waste management. Key steps in our development of agendas are listed below:
Establish partnerships
facilitate planning, identify stakeholders and construct a common vision to work together at achieving targets
Outline environmental priorities
identify local priority issues, data on existing conditions, tools available and obstacles/opportunities for action by sector
Design action projects
create working groups to recommend actions, identify targets and indicators by priority and develop action items and evaluation methods
Oversee progress and evaluation
assist planning and implementation, conduct community outreach, analyze and integrate information and create reporting system