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Mission Statement

Locally, we use the concept of “Greening” as the economic and inspirational guiding force to build a more sustainable Greenfield, so present and future generations can enjoy life in our beautiful, abundant valley. In short, we aim to make Greenfield, MA a more sustainable, resilient and vibrant place to live.

The Challenge

Locally, we are faced with challenges of high energy and food costs, loss of farmland and jobs, poor air quality, and extreme weather events. These are caused by human activities, both locally and worldwide, that are depleting our natural resources, sending our jobs overseas, and creating air pollution and climate change.

Our Solution

Build a more vital and resilient Greenfield by moving toward sustainability, which is “a system of thinking that strives to meet present economic, social, and environmental needs without compromising future generations’ abilities to meet their own needs.”  Brundtland Commission, 1987

Among other things, we work to help Greenfield reach its 2050 goals to reduce energy use by 80%, and reduce the funds leaving our community to purchase energy to ZERO.

We invite you to learn more about how you can join our efforts by attending events  joining our discussion listserv, attending our planning meetings, and much more! We invite you to share your experiences, thoughts, expertise and skills at our community events and workshops, our discussion listserv, and on this website!

HOW WE WORK

Greening Greenfield (GG) is similar to a Big Top tent with the canvas sides all rolled up to allow for easy communication with the larger community.

GG’s Monthly Meetings serve the following functions:  visioning, goals setting, project idea generation, general discussion and project blessing.  The General Meetings are composed of all GG members, and promote increased communication across the wider community (Greenfield and Franklin County).

Public Meetings link residents, business, and Town government to GG’s efforts and with other town and state efforts, enriching our knowledge of the regional efforts toward resiliency, and increasing membership.  They could include guest speakers or special programs and will be organized by several people headed up by a Project Coordinator and will be well advertised in the community-Greenfield and Franklin County.

Project Coordinators (PC) are self-selected individuals who decide to take the lead in making a project happen.  Advice and support will be offered by other GG members to assist in realizing the Project Coordinator’s vision.

Inclusivity: With the goal of being inclusive and empowering, we encourage other community efforts to invite us to attend one of your meetings and/or send someone to GG’s monthly meetings so that we can develop active communication and promotion of parallel efforts in improving sustainability and resilience in this community.

The following is a list of the types of projects we get involved in.  See “event” and “event archives” for present and past events, or check out our “accomplishments” for a LONG list of what we have done since our founding in 2006. Please contact us at info@GreeningGreenfieldma.org

I.   General Public Outreach & Collective Learning
II.  Working with Town government
III. Projects with Youth

If interested in proposing a project, or if interested in inviting Greening Greenfield to co-sponsor an event you have created, please contact us.

We aim to support all community efforts that further our mission of improving community resilience and sustainability through collaboration, sharing common and unique resources, and promotional support.

Contact:  mailto:info@GreeningGreenfieldma.org

Our ACTION STRATEGY includes:

  • Collaborate with individuals, groups, businesses, and town government. Hold workshops and films for cooperative learning, and collective visioning, and use the media to share ideas and Green Hero stories to make “greening” the new social form.
  • Improve Greenfield’s economy by reducing our need for costly and polluting fossil fuels, and supporting the creation of clean, local and renewable energy to meet our neds.  This supports our state’s commitment to Green Communities and Global Warming Solutions.
  • Support local businesses and quality food by encouraging sustainable land use and agriculture, green businesses, jobs and manufacturing.
  • Foster healthy and equitable lifestyles by promoting energy efficient housing; natural resource preservation, and quality education, health care, arts, entertainment; parks and recreation.