| 21 April 2009 |
| PETERBOROUGH IN CANADA IS AIMING TO BE AN ENVIRONMENT CAPITAL TOO! |
While people in Peterborough are working hard to become the UK’s Environment Capital, another Peterborough – in Canada – is aiming for environmental glory as well.
After reading on the internet about Peterborough’s environmental ambitions, the Canadian High Commission arranged for Jay Amer from Ontario’s Greater Peterborough Innovation Cluster to visit the city.
Jay met with Trevor Gibson, director of Environment Capital at Opportunity Peterborough, who arranged for visits to UKCEED, Pect, the Eco-Innovation Centre, and other partners working to realise the city’s environmental goals.
During his visit, Jay told of a project to build Canada’s most sustainable building, the Camp Kawartha Environment Centre, which aims to provide education for a sustainable future through delivering environmental programming to regional schools, showcase sustainable living practices to the community, and provide workshops to local teachers.
He was particularly impressed with the growing number of eco-schools in the city (currently 35) and the activities children get involved in, and talked about the Ontario EcoSchools project.
Jay said: “I enjoyed my trip to the UK and felt that numerous parallels could be seen between my home in Peterborough, Canada, and Peterborough in the UK, especially the desire to identify economic partnerships and share information on how to educate children and communities to live in a more sustainable way for a cleaner, greener future.
“I certainly have lots of ideas to take back to Canada with me and hope that both our shared name and our common goal of being recognised for our environmental credentials will re-establish links that our communities enjoyed in the 1950s and 60s to ensure a continued bond between our cities.”
Trevor said: “It was great to see so many environmental similarities between the two ‘namesakes’ and I’m sure we can learn from one another’s experience. We intend to keep in touch and explore the possibility of linkages and joint projects as we create the UK’s Environmental Capital.”
Peterborough’s Environment Capital aspirations are about delivering truly sustainable growth for the city, ensuring a cleaner, greener and healthier future for the people of Peterborough. The city’s Environment Capital Manifesto sets out challenging targets and action plans to encourage and support residents, businesses and organisations to make improvements to their quality of life while also enhancing Peterborough’s local, national and international environmental reputation.
Ends
Notes to editors
For more information or to arrange pictures/interviews contact
Rebecca Stephens at Opportunity Peterborough
Tel: 078 796 33 796
Email: Rebecca.stephens@opportunitypeterborough.co.uk
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