Green Teams need hero with chequebook to help make volunteer group fly
Credit to Author: Randy Shore| Date: Mon, 06 Jan 2020 02:00:58 +0000
In just eight years, B.C.’s Green Teams have attracted more than 7,600 volunteers to 630 actions, blitz parties that include everything from clearing invasive species and picking up garbage in parks to replanting native shrubs and trees.
And while these young heroes show up with their backs, hands and hearts ready to tackle the work, a different kind of hero is really needed — one with a chequebook.
Green Teams is B.C.’s biggest environmental volunteer organization and with just two employees it has a minuscule overhead, even by non-profit sector standards.
“Sustainable funding would be a game-changer,” said founder Lyda Salatian, who runs a Green Teams Canada program for the Lower Mainland. “When you look at what we’ve already done, imagine how much more we could do.”
The Green Teams are the climate change vanguard. Tangibly improving urban green spaces and wild places is the right cure at a time when “people are overwhelmed and feeling hopeless about the climate crisis,” she said.
Dozens of young people — almost 5,000 Green Teams volunteers are youths — spent four weekends in Langley’s Routley Park to close out last year, removing a choking infestation of Himalayan blackberry.
If you live in Port Coquitlam, you can thank GTC for removing six cubic metres of invasive plants from Gates Park. A Port Moody work party extracted 40 cubic metres of English Ivy and blackberry from Rocky Point Park, with recruits from three local schools.
Green Team volunteers remove invasive plants in Routley Park in Langley.
“I enjoyed helping the environment and our native plants by removing invasive species, said volunteer Alex. “And even though I showed up not knowing anyone, I still had a really good time and met lots of new people.”
The kids who get involved tackling the root causes of climate change and restoring ecosystems also tend to change their own habits and consumption patterns to align with those values, said Salatian.
Respect for nature and hands-on investment charts a clear path to “responsible environmental behaviour,” she said.
If any local billionaires or real estate moguls are willing to step up with an annual donation, there could be Green Teams all over B.C. and eventually across the country. A second Green Team is already busy in Victoria.
GTC subsisted for several years on one-time grants from foundations, but the organization grew so fast that it wasn’t enough to keep the lights on.
“We switched to a fee-for-service model a few years ago and if we hadn’t, we wouldn’t exist,” Salatian explained. “We provide a valuable service, but it’s one that has been undervalued. Climate emergency declarations are starting to change that.”
Local governments, educational institutions and land trusts create mutually beneficial partnerships with Green Teams to meet their strategic goals and climate objectives.
Right now, thousands of volunteers are organized by two staffers. And while fees are keeping the lights on, more partners and donors are required. The group is registered as a Canadian charity and provides tax receipts.
“There is so much more we could do with the equivalent of one more salary,” she said. “We could scale up and potentially start other Green Teams.”
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