Thank you for being part of the Creatively United community. We are honoured that Guy Dauncey has endorsed CreativelyUnited.org as the go-to-place to post and find local thought-provoking events, information and resources.
This past year we have seen our community grow significantly with more than 5,000 subscribers and lots of new Facebook followers.
What a year it has been! We helped two Earth Day related festivals launch; participated in an arts-based eco program at Reynolds Secondary and Braefoot Elementary School; hosted our first livestream event, featuring 21 interviews with a variety of island innovators in just 105-minutes; partnered with Conversations for a One Planet Region; are involved with One Planet Saanich; plus helped start and host the Community Trees Matter Network.
Thanks to a Greater Victoria Acting Together listening campaign hosted by the Sierra Club late this past summer, a number of us were introduced to share our interest and passion for trees. What we found was that each of us has some knowledge about trees, municipal planning processes and a desire to protect, preserve and see the planting of more trees.
In just a few short months, the Community Trees Matter Network has grown into a region-wide, citizen-led coalition of people who value urban trees and want to work with regional municipal authorities to ensure more is done to protect, preserve, plant and encourage more respectful development.
Our hope is that through our combined efforts we can help support projects that involve trees.
We have found councils and mayors very responsive. In the past few weeks, a number of us have presented to Victoria City Council, Saanich Council and Esquimalt Council.
Victories include: Victoria council and mayor agreeing to explore other site options for the Crystal Pool project that don’t involve cutting established trees and destroying adjacent park space, plus forward movement on implementation of the 2013 Urban Forest Management Plan and tree preservation bylaw updates; support for saving mature trees on Grange Road in Saanich; and Haro Woods finally receiving more protection.
We’ve had interviews on the CBC, CHEK TV, plus many letters published by the Victoria News and the Times-Colonist. You can also find the Trees Matter Network on Facebook. If you’d like to take a stand for our trees, please let us know.
We’d also like to welcome Jack Barker to our board and thank Brian Bury as he steps down this year after being with Creatively United since our inception in 2012.
Thanks again for your interest in healthy, happy communities. Here’s wishing you a very happy holiday season and a positively wonderful New Year!