Glen Caradus (Singer-songwriter)
Music has long been effective as a means of communicating a message to a specific group.
In between the 1960s, Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger, to name a few, spoke to anti-war protesters and civil rights activists in a voice they understood and rallied around. Fast forward to the new millennium and Peterborough singer-songwriter Glen Caradus who, for some 20 years now, has, through his music, spoken to countless children and young people about the environment and nature and their developing role in the preservation of both.
As an educator with Camp Kawartha, Ecology Park and the Canadian Canoe Museum, Caradus’ exuberant and creative teaching style has seen him add his exceptional storyteller and puppeteer skills to the mix. Since 1999, The Paddling Puppeteers, a musical puppet show he created, has enlightened kids across the country on topics such as shoreline naturalization, a critically endangered prairie ecosystem and the geological history of the Peterborough region.
Able to play multiple instruments, Caradus is also an accomplished musician, having recorded three children’s CDs, each with an environmental or nature theme.
Caradus practices what he sings of. He cycles more than he drives, and his electric hybrid provides his ride when he does drive. His garden is home to native trees, shrubs and wildflowers that he gives away for free, and under the cover of darkness, he sometimes undertakes ‘guerilla re-wilding’ – the planting of native trees in parks and green spaces in a bid to improve biodiversity.
More recently, Caradus created The Ride for Climate. In 2021, he cycled 350 kilometres over 14 hours, raising money for Peterborough Green-Up. The following year, joined by his friend Nick Ormond, Caradus covered 421 kilometres in 20 hours, bringing in more than $10,000 for Camp Kawartha and Rowan Tree Children’s School’s nature-based programming. And in 2023, Caradus logged 280 kilometres, raising more than $5,000 to the benefit of For Our Grandchildren’s climate change education efforts.
First Nations and reconciliation awareness is also near and dear to Caradus’ heart and, on that front, he has been very active. In 2014, he partnered with the Rotary Club of Peterborough-Kawartha to create Adventure In Understanding, a since annual six-day/five-night culture-based canoe experience for First Nation and non-native youths aged 16 to 18. The 100-kilometre trek through the Kawartha Lakes culminates at Curve Lake First Nation. Participants engage in reconciliation by learning about First Nations in the region, connecting with Elders and the land and being together.
Meanwhile, the developmentally disabled have benefitted from Caradus’ voluntarism. Over the past three years, he has volunteered for the Dream Players, which performs musical theatre. Other benefactors of Caradus’ time and talents include the Five Counties Children’s Centre and, for 25 years now, Ecology Park where he helps with its gardens and tree nursery.
